Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Pretty Serious The Crimson Pearl

The Crimson Pearl was released by Australian indie polish maker Pretty Serious Cosmetics at the end of June this year as part of the second batch of polishes from creator Kaz's ongoing Naileontology collection, a series of polishes based on discontinued and vintage lacquers. This is a rich dark red-violet or Tyrian purple, a deep claret sort of color, bearing profuse fine particulate shimmers with a blue/violet color shift strewn with pinpoint particles of sparkling pink. It's a magnificent vampy shade, very sleek and sexy! In low and indirect light, the finely-milled blue-violet shimmers are rather stealthy and contribute a subtle blue-ish haze to the polish, but upon closer viewing and especially in direct light, they add a glistening veil of bright indigo twinkling with pink sparks that appears suspended just below the surface. 

Application was delicious. The consistency of The Crimson Pearl is fluid, creamy and dense, with velvety glide over the nail and excellent self-leveling properties. I'm always a little intimidated by the application of very dark polishes, probably for the most part because I'm a messy painter, but this polish has such a buttery, easy-to-manipulate formula that I soon forgot my fear and found myself reveling in the experience. Pigmentation is excellent, with near opacity on the first coat and completely even, opaque coverage in two. Cleanup is something you never want to have to do a lot of
with a dark, well-pigmented polish, and I did encounter some pigment travel under the cuticles and across the skin. The Crimson Pearl dries naturally in good time to a gorgeous plump, glossy finish. Topcoat seems to intensify the appearance and effects of the color-shifting shimmers.

Photos show two coats of The Crimson Pearl over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.


Pretty Serious The Crimson Pearl


Pretty Serious The Crimson Pearl


Pretty Serious The Crimson Pearl


Pretty Serious The Crimson Pearl


Pretty Serious The Crimson Pearl


Pretty Serious The Crimson Pearl


Pretty Serious The Crimson Pearl


Pretty Serious The Crimson Pearl


Pretty Serious The Crimson Pearl


Pretty Serious The Crimson Pearl


Pretty Serious The Crimson Pearl


Pretty Serious The Crimson Pearl

Just gorgeous! The Crimson Pearl has a brooding, mysterious, seductive presence on the nail, the sort of presence you could imagine sidling up to you in the night to whisper secrets that, for better or worse, will surely make their way into your dreams.

love,
Liz

6 comments:

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    1. I didn't know there was a second round of Naileontology discoveries, that is excellent news! Do we know which ancient polish this one is based upon?? This is such a good Liz color :)

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    2. Ach whoops how do I have so many problems leaving comments successfully??! :P You should've seen me trying to blog in Alaska, but really I'm glad you didn't because it was just too painful, haha.

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    3. Yes! Three new Naileontology shades have been released! My knowledge of vintage polishes is not sufficient to hazard a guess about the heritage of any Naileontology shade, but Michelle of Lab Muffin (http://www.labmuffin.com) said of The Crimson Pearl that it was "in the vein of Chanel Mythe or Hard Candy Scam or Naturistics Aura Pearl." Of course I don't know any of those polishes, but having googled them I'd said she's right on target, especially with Chanel Mythe. In her review of the three new Naileontology polishes she speculates about the other two as well, check it out http://www.labmuffin.com/2015/07/pretty-serious-naileontology-collection-2/

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  2. Buttery. Now that i have used good nail polish I know what that means.

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