Captive Goddess is described by creator Adina as a "complex holographic blend of cerulean blue, aquamarine green and muted purple veiled by a silver grey shadow." Such a lovely poetic portrayal and entirely accurate as well! This polish has a medium-light grey base, speckled and silvered with finely-milled holographic pigment and bearing abundant ultrafine duochromatic particle shimmers with a color shift from bright glacial blue to violet. The shimmers appear to float above the speckled grey base, creating a sleek, smoky steel blue appearance. Incredibly athletic and light-responsive, they issue a radiant electric blue flash at the slightest provocation. In low light, you can see both colors of the shift, with aqua at the center edged by shadowy blue-violet. Direct sun elicits a warm prismatic display from the holographic pigment, adding a beautiful golden lavender pink central flare to the mix that tapers to a slatey grey. There's a lot to see in this graceful, mesmerizing chameleon!
Application was a pleasure. The consistency of Captive Goddess is fluid and smooth, with a silky, self-leveling glide over the nail. Pigmentation is very good, with wearably opaque coverage in two coats although I added a third to ensure the non-appearance of my nail ridges, which were giving the polish a faceted appearance on a few nails. Cleanup was easy and straightforward. Captive Goddess dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, somewhat satiny finish. Topcoat enhances the presence and effects of the shimmers.
Photos show three coats of Captive Goddess over Pretty Serious Rock On treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite, again today fairly bubble free. Thank goodness for small favors, eh?
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| A-England Captive Goddess |
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| A-England Captive Goddess |
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| A-England Captive Goddess |
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| A-England Captive Goddess |
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| A-England Captive Goddess |
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| A-England Captive Goddess |
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| A-England Captive Goddess |
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| A-England Captive Goddess |
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| A-England Captive Goddess |
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| A-England Captive Goddess |
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| A-England Captive Goddess |
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| A-England Captive Goddess |
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| A-England Captive Goddess |
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| A-England Captive Goddess |
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| A-England Captive Goddess |
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| A-England Captive Goddess |
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| A-England Captive Goddess |
This polish is named in part for the mythological story of Proserpine, or Persephone as I learned it. In Greek myth, Persephone was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, goddess of the harvest. One day while Persephone was out picking flowers, the ground split open and Hades, god of the underworld, rose from the depths in his chariot, snatched up Persephone and carted her off screaming to his palace in the underworld to make her his wife. While Persephone did marry him and become a goddess queen of the underworld, she pined for her mother and the world above ground. Demeter could hear her cries of grief and longing and searched unsuccessfully for her daughter for many years, ignoring her duties. The land was barren, no crops grew and there was massive starvation among the mortal inhabitants of earth. Finally Zeus sent his son Hermes, messenger of the gods, down to Hades to fetch Persephone and reunite her with Demeter. Mother and daughter rejoiced, the earth burst into flower, crops grew and the starvation was ended. But Persephone had eaten seeds of the pomegranate, fruit of the underworld, while in Hades' palace, and so was obligated to return. A compromise was reached wherein Persephone would spend part of the year on the surface with Demeter, returning to Hades for the other part. Thus we have the characteristic seasonal periods of growth and dormancy.
Proserpine's plight parallels that of Rossetti's model and muse Jane Morris, torn between her husband and the father of her two daughters, and her lover. She shared a profoundly deep emotionally intimate relationship with Rossetti in addition to a sexual one, and inspired his poetry and the creation of some of his best paintings. Her discovery of his dependence on chloral hydrate, taken for insomnia and to relieve the pain of a botched hydrocele surgery, eventually led her to distance herself from him, although they stayed in touch until he died in 1882 of kidney disease.
You can see the tremendous scope of Adina's inspiration for the Rossetti's Goddess collection, and I think she has acquitted herself brilliantly. Captive Goddess, with it's pervasive icy blue hues and lush prismatic display, is a particularly poignant tribute to Rossetti's complex relationship with his model and muse.
love,
Liz
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