Girly Bits The Shaft
The Shaft was released in August by Canadian indie polish maker Girly Bits
as part of the 2015 What Really Happened in Vegas collection, a series
of polishes based on humorous and memorable events that creator Pam and
other polish makers and bloggers experienced during the week of
CosmoProf North America Las Vegas this year. The name of this polish refers to a conversation overheard while riding the elevator in the enormous pyramidal Luxor Hotel.
Described as a "bronzey brown holo with a metallic finish, accented by beautiful bronze flakes," this is a light raw umber-based greyish brown, sort of a beaver brown, richer than taupe, with creeping violet overtones. Swimming with superabundant highly-reflective golden bronze flake shimmers that give it a scintillating sparkle, it has a finely-grained semi-metallic appearance on the nail. The holographic display in direct light is nothing short of magical. The bright, fully prismatic flair, its vivid bands of rainbow colors slightly dispersed and variegated by the glimmering flake shimmers, has the resplendent glowing tapestried richness of woven silk. Truly breathtaking!
Application was delicious. The consistency of The Shaft is fluid, light and dense with shimmers. With a creamy, self-leveling flow over the nail, it has a beautifully balanced viscosity for painting and a user-friendly formula that is amenable to thin or thicker coats and does not run or pool. Girly Bits' slightly bushy flattened flexible brush occasionally becomes splayed with shimmers, but closing the bottle and giving it a quick shake will restore it to relative sleekness. Pigmentation is very, very good with completely even opacity and full, rich color in two coats, although it's nearly opaque in one. Cleanup is a largely a matter of chasing down rogue shimmers dispersed by acetone, and I did a rather poor job of it as you will see by the sparkly bits here and there on my nail surrounds. (But I have to admit that some of those may be microglitters leftover from my removal of yesterday's polish... oops!) The shaft dries naturally in very good time to a silky smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat does not inhibit the holographic properties of this polish in any way.
Photos show two coats of The Shaft over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.
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I included an inordinate quantity of sun shots here to try and convey just how fantastical The Shaft's holo propensities are, but looking at them now, none of them really do the job. In person, they are much richer and more colorful than my camera could capture. Of course nobody necessarily wants or can afford to stand around in the sun all day because of a nail polish, but don't be surprised if you find yourself seeking out the sunny spots of your daily environs to stretch out a glimmering-taloned hand and gaze at the wonders thereof. It does it's magic under bright artificial light as well, but sunlight is the ultimate provocateur of this polish's secret radiance.
It's a sleeper, for sure.
love,
Liz
That is a beauty! From the photos, it seems to have the qualities of being both kinda quiet but also attention-getting. I am having more than a moment with polishes in this general color range of taupe/brown/bronze (?) and then to add holo on top - wow! I do admire your splendid descriptives of it! Thank you for the fantastic review and photos!
ReplyDeleteThank YOU, Lara, for your kind words. If you're into bronzey brown holos, The Shaft is a total shoo-in. It's classy and understated out of direct light and so freakin gorgeous in the sun. I recommend it wholeheartedly!
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