Smitten Polish Aqua Opal

Aqua Opal was released by Missouri-based indie polish maker Smitten Polish as part of the Opalescent Elements collection in May this year. I featured Ignis Opal from this collection earlier this month and figured I best show you the others I purchased before fall gets here, although here in NC that'll be a while in coming.

Aqua Opal has a vivid medium-toned azure jelly base that is absolutely packed with iridescent flake shimmers. I think they might have originally been gold, but they read as green with hints of gold through the azure base. The combination of the base with the flakies gives the polish a teal lean in low and incandescent light, kind of like an electric bondi blue, very dramatic and jewel-like. Bright indirect light preserves the azure blue of the base while allowing the clouds of tiny irregularly shaped flakies floating within to flash a bright grassy green. This is one of those polishes that while interesting in the bottle doesn't really come into its own until you get it on the nail, where it assumes a brilliant mermaidian splendor. 

Application was great! The consistency of Aqua Opal is fluid, light and surprisingly smooth for a polish as stuffed with flakies as this one is. Said flakies are extremely well-behaved and go on without tumbling, stickups or an undue amount of free edge protrusions. Being a jelly, the base is translucent and quite sheer on the first coat. But with the help of the flakies, opacity builds quite rapidly. Two coats provides wearable coverage with a skosh of visible nail line. Three coats more or less eliminates the visible nail line with fully opaque coverage and that's what I used for this manicure. Cleanup is easy as long as you catch those flakies before they've had a chance to dry, when they become a bit sticky. Aqua Opal dries naturally in good time to a silky smooth, slightly flat finish. Topcoat adds gloss and accentuates the presence and iridescence of the flakies.

Photos show three coats of Aqua Opal over Pretty Serious Rock On treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Smitten Polish Aqua Opal

Smitten Polish Aqua Opal

Smitten Polish Aqua Opal

Smitten Polish Aqua Opal

Smitten Polish Aqua Opal

Smitten Polish Aqua Opal

Smitten Polish Aqua Opal

Smitten Polish Aqua Opal

Smitten Polish Aqua Opal

Smitten Polish Aqua Opal

Smitten Polish Aqua Opal

Smitten Polish Aqua Opal

Smitten Polish Aqua Opal

Photos don't do justice to this polish. The blue is more brilliant, the flakies flashier in person. Outdoors it's like you've got shiny pieces of clean blue sky on your nails, such a happy color! I'm normally one for murkier blues, but this one really lifts the spirit. It's gorgeous -- and a great shade for the last long days of summer.

love,
Liz