IQs has a black jelly base bearing violet iridescent flakies, superabundant red particulate shimmers and ultrafine holographic microglitters. On the nail, the holographic microglitters twinkle like stars over the terraforming community on LV-426, with gleaming flashes of violet and magenta from the flakies emerging from the darkness and clouds of glowing red shimmers showing up along the axis of light. Knowing the inspiration for this polish makes it a little discomforting to contemplate, and I appreciate Carrie's creativity in constructing a polish that so precisely mirrors the ambiance of the film.
Application was a little tricky for me. The consistency of IQs is simultaneously quite fluid (but not runny!) and dense with components. It's not a bulky polish, but the violet flakies are relatively large and somewhat unruly. I experienced some tumbling and a fair amount of free edge protrusions. Thankfully the base is fluid enough that you can easily reposition the flakes before the polish begins to set. I found it easiest to apply in medium to thicker coats using a floating technique, which seemed to better allow the flakes to settle flush with the nail. A tip-wrapping swipe of the brush picks up flakes that are protruding over the free edge or nudges them back onto the nail.
The base of this polish is fairly sheer to allow the components to peek through, but builds easily to wearably opaque coverage in two medium coats. That said, it really felt like it wanted an additional coat so I added a third and was glad I did. It made the coverage feel more even and the abundant components better suspended. Cleanup was fairly straightforward with some pigment travel and residual staining. IQs dries naturally in very good time to a slightly flat finish with some texture from the flakes. I used a surface-smoothing coat of Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter Food to help even up the finish before applying topcoat. There is still a bit of discernible texture but I'm ok with that.
Photos show three coats of IQs over Pretty Serious Rock On treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a layer of Glitter Food followed by a topcoat of Seche Vite.
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| Darling Diva Did IQs Drop Sharply While I Was Away? |
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| Darling Diva Did IQs Drop Sharply While I Was Away? |
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| Darling Diva Did IQs Drop Sharply While I Was Away? |
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| Darling Diva Did IQs Drop Sharply While I Was Away? |
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| Darling Diva Did IQs Drop Sharply While I Was Away? |
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| Darling Diva Did IQs Drop Sharply While I Was Away? |
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| Darling Diva Did IQs Drop Sharply While I Was Away? |
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| Darling Diva Did IQs Drop Sharply While I Was Away? |
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| Darling Diva Did IQs Drop Sharply While I Was Away? |
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| Darling Diva Did IQs Drop Sharply While I Was Away? |
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| Darling Diva Did IQs Drop Sharply While I Was Away? |
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| Darling Diva Did IQs Drop Sharply While I Was Away? |
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| Darling Diva Did IQs Drop Sharply While I Was Away? |
I don't know why, but this polish actually reminds me most of the final scene of Aliens where Ripley tucks Newt into her hypersleep tank before getting into one herself. By that point, of course, I'm always exhausted by all of the suspense and action and ready to get into my own hypersleep tank. Last year I re-watched both Alien and Aliens with my 16-year-old nephew, who had never seen them and liked both of them a lot, which, coming from a child raised on CGI, is saying something.
But I haven't yet seen the Special Edition of Aliens, which from what I understand includes helpful character-building kinds of scenes that were cut from the theatrical version of the film. If Fuzzy can get that one through Netflix, it would be a gas to watch with her.
"I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
love,
Liz
Love your references to the franchise! One of my favorites. And, yes, it is a disturbingly accurate homage to the above factory shots. Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lara! Swatching polishes from this collection got me all excited to see the first two movies again, with my mom this time. She's never seen them. Bwahahaha!
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