Colors by Llarowe The Fallen

The Fallen was released by Colorado-based indie polish maker Colors by Llarowe as part of the Fall 2015 collection in mid-September. This is a complex jelly holo with color-shifting flakes and particulate shimmers in addition to abundant finely-milled holographic pigment. The base color is a medium-dark reddish berry, a red-violet along the lines of smitten from the Resene Style New Zealand color list. Duochromatic particulate shimmers with a copper to red shift give this deep purpled pink a gorgeous coppery glow, and variably-sized multichromatic flakes gleam from within the translucent jelly base in fiery colors of red, salmon, orange and gold. In direct sun, there's a brilliant diffuse prismatic display of infinitesimal colorful sparks surrounding a central glittering blaze of reddish copper. This is a rich and dynamic composition, with loads of light play that features constantly shifting gleams, sparks, and flashes of analogous autumnal colors: reds, coppers, and oranges.

Application was great! The consistency of The Fallen is fluid and dense with flakes. It has an even, self-leveling flow over the nail with a slight pull from the flakes. The flakes go on fairly smoothly and lay flat to the nail but do seem to like to protrude over the free edge, easily rectified with a tip-wrapping swipe of CbL's flattened flexible brush. Pigmentation is sheer on the first coat as you would expect from a jelly, but builds quickly to even, opaque coverage with the second coat. Cleanup is easy and straightforward with no pigment travel or residual staining and only a tiny bit of recalcitrance on the part of the color-shifting flakes. The Fallen dries naturally in good time to a shiny finish with a slightly discernible texture from the components. This smooths out for the most part with a layer of topcoat, which also serves to accentuate the brilliant colors of the flakes and shimmers and doesn't diminish the holographic effects of the polish in any way. 

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

Colors by Llarowe The Fallen

Colors by Llarowe The Fallen

Colors by Llarowe The Fallen

Colors by Llarowe The Fallen

Colors by Llarowe The Fallen

Colors by Llarowe The Fallen

Colors by Llarowe The Fallen

Colors by Llarowe The Fallen

Colors by Llarowe The Fallen

Colors by Llarowe The Fallen

Colors by Llarowe The Fallen

Colors by Llarowe The Fallen

Colors by Llarowe The Fallen

Colors by Llarowe The Fallen

Colors by Llarowe The Fallen

Colors by Llarowe The Fallen

I really love the look of this polish! It's a gorgeous bright variation of the burgundy/wine colored polishes we see a lot of around this time of year, distinguished in part by a notable pinkishness to the color that I find extremely flattering. The gleaming copper of the components plays with the purplish holo nuancing so beautifully you could eat it with a spoon, and gives the look a stunning fiery semi-metallic aspect on the nail that just glows. It may be a holo, but to me the shimmers and flakes are the stars of this show!

love,
Liz