ILNP Cherry Luxe

Cherry Luxe was recently released by Nevada-based boutique polish maker I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) as part of the Holiday 2015 collection. Like XO and most (but not all) of the other Holiday 2015 polishes, this is a new addition to ILNP's Ultra Metallics line of colors composed with superabundant high quality metallic flakies. Cherry Luxe has a vibrant cardinal red jelly base that is lively and full of scintillating sparkle thanks to the copious silver flakies it bears, which glisten in bright shades of red and pink from within the base. Plus there's a sprinkling of holo pigment that lights up in prismatic sparks of color in direct sun. This polish gave me an earworm!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Everywhere you go 
Take a look in the five and ten
Glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes aglow

That last line is practically embodied by Cherry Luxe. I don't know how could I have doubted the spirit of this polish, but any misapprehensions were whisked away by its gleaming presence on the nail. With that semi-metallic reflective foily finish, it's like Christmas wrap, ribbon and ornament in one!

Application was wonderful -- another perfectly formulated polish from ILNP. The consistency is fluid, smooth and eminently paintable with a seemingly effortless glide over the nail and excellent self-leveling properties. The flakies go on gracefully without tumbling or protrusions and lay flat to the nail. Coverage is excellent with near opacity in one coat and completely even opaque coverage in two. Cleanup is fairly straightforward. The red base presents no particular cleanup difficulties, but those flakes.... Suffice to say, I attempted to chase them down but then they just seemed to come at me all at once, everywhere I looked there were silver flakies, so I just gave up. Cherry Luxe dries naturally in very good time to a shiny finish with just the slightest pebbly texture from the flakies, easily smoothed completely with a layer of topcoat. 

Photos show two coats of Cherry Luxe over Pretty Serious Rock On treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. My pics turned out a little dark -- it's overcast and raining here today with temps around 70°F. Ugh.

ILNP Cherry Luxe

ILNP Cherry Luxe

ILNP Cherry Luxe

ILNP Cherry Luxe

ILNP Cherry Luxe

ILNP Cherry Luxe

ILNP Cherry Luxe

ILNP Cherry Luxe

ILNP Cherry Luxe

ILNP Cherry Luxe

ILNP Cherry Luxe

ILNP Cherry Luxe

Still images of Cherry Luxe seem to give it a slightly chaotic quality, which it doesn't have at all in person. It's sleek as a seal and just as ebullient -- sort of like how you'd like to feel yourself around this time of year. I know Christmas isn't the be all for everyone, but this polish will buoy your spirits a little if you let it.

love,
Liz