Darling Diva It Is What It Is

The best thing about Christmas are those unexpected gifts. Like we received from Fuzzy's housekeeper, Maria, who stopped by on Christmas Eve day bearing a foil-wrapped stack of crispy sugared flour tortillas and a large ziploc full of her wonderful handmade tamales. Or the gift box of selected holiday teas from Adagio Teas, sent by my brother and his wife that came accompanied by an extra pouch of our shared favorite Tardis blend, the tea with which I introduced them to Adagio a couple of years ago. Or the photos of my father, from whom I had been estranged for decades until recently, posing with my Christmas gift to him considerately posted on Facebook by my awesome sister.

And then came the mother of all surprises, a beautiful box full of nail polish and treats specially curated for the season with a lovely handwritten note from my nail polish bff, Marisa in Missoula, MT. Compassionate, enthusiastic and generous with a delightful buoyancy of spirit, a tender heart and a onomatopoeic love of sparkle, this woman can put together a gift like no one else I know -- to the very taping of the box, secure enough for shipping but strategically placed to open gracefully with a few easy cuts.

There were several venerable indie polishes from Christmas collections past in the box, and It Is What It Is by Darling Diva Polish is obviously one of them -- aptly-named, coincidentally enough, because I could find no reference to it anywhere online. This polish has a white creme/jelly hybrid base in which is suspended a generous flock of variously-sized square, hex and microbar glitters in green, red and gold, some of them holographic. The way things are going, we may not see snow at all this year in central NC (hopefully that declaration tempts fate!) so I consider this classic wintry white crelly with its festive glitter mix a perfect Christmas snow stand-in. 

The formula had thickened a bit in the bottle but with a few squirts of polish thinner became compliantly fluid and creamy. I laid down a thin careful coat of Sinful Colors Snow Me White to get it off to a running start and help avoid any show-through of the polish staining on my nails. It Is What It Is went on like butter with very good glitter payoff, dispersing easily and laying perfectly flat to the nail without tumbling, stickups or protrusions over the free edge. I applied two coats, which dried naturally in very good time to a shiny finish with only a hint of texture from the components that evened out to a glassy smoothness with a layer of topcoat. Sweet!

Photos show two coats of It Is What It Is over treatment, basecoat and a layer of Sinful Colors Snow Me White with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Darling Diva It Is What It Is

Darling Diva It Is What It Is

Darling Diva It Is What It Is

Darling Diva It Is What It Is

Darling Diva It Is What It Is

Darling Diva It Is What It Is

Darling Diva It Is What It Is

Darling Diva It Is What It Is

Darling Diva It Is What It Is

Darling Diva It Is What It Is

Darling Diva It Is What It Is

Darling Diva It Is What It Is

I was delighted to show this polish to Fuzzy, well aware that her tenaciously held misgivings toward glitter polish are easily incited. Something about my expression must have given me away, because she eyed my hands with suspicion as I approached. "What is that? It looks like nougat." Which it kind of does, to be honest. Then, after a peremptory examination, I was rewarded with the customary declaration of doubt as to whether ANY nail polish should contain "big chunks" of glitter, because it is "unnatural" and just looks "wrong." 

*lol* So gratifying!

Surprisingly, I own no other Christmas-oriented white glitter crellies, a void that definitely needed filling. I had actually given some thought to acquiring KBShimmer's Holly Back Girl this year but forgot to get around to it before Christmas was upon me. Enter Santa's sprightly little helper, Marisa! Thank you, my dear, for your sweet generosity and for your friendship. I treasure our shared polish adventures!

love,
Liz