Monday, December 28, 2015

Literary Lacquers A Sensible Rabbit

A Sensible Rabbit was released by New Mexico-based indie polish maker Literary Lacquers as part of the 2015 Community Collection at the beginning of this month. For the third year in a row, creator Amy has collaborated with specific polish bloggers and enthusiasts to design a series of polishes inspired by their favorite books. A Sensible Rabbit was created according to a design by Cassandra Pio of Fierce Hearts Wildlife Rehabilitation, which was inspired by the character of Hyzenthlay in the 1972 classic adventure novel Watership Down by English author Richard Adams.

This is a light taupe linear holo sprinkled with the tiniest of microglitters in black, a nail polish impersonation of rabbit fur. It's also filled with finely-milled particulate shimmers in gold, giving the polish a gently gilded mien that has something of an antique quality to it, like the patina on old silver. The holographic pigment produces a milky greyish-blue nuance to the base color, almost opalescent in character, which adds a beautiful dimensionality to the polish. Direct sun, of which we had only brief moments today, generates a lovely sparkling prismatic flare in pasteled prismatic colors with pale blue predominating, edged by sparks of green, yellow and red before ultimately shading to a creamy medium taupe at the edges of the nail. The speckling of black microglitters, in perfect ratio to the other elements of the polish, is utterly delightful!

Application was a pleasure. The consistency of A Sensible Rabbit is on par with what I've learned to expect from Literary Lacquers: on the thicker side but still paintably fluid, smooth and dense with a bit of pull to it. It has a plush glide over the nail and very good self-leveling properties. Pigmentation is very good also, with evenly opaque coverage achieved in two coats. I added a third to diminish the appearance of my ridged nail beds, which were still a little too visible for my taste at two coats. Cleanup was fairly straightforward. The black microglitters required some extra attention, but gave up the ghost without too much trouble. A Sensible Rabbit dries naturally in very good time to a matte finish with a slightly sandy texture from the microglitters, easily smoothed by topcoat. 

Photos show three coats of A Sensible Rabbit over Pretty Serious Rock On treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. As I mentioned, the sun was out for just a few brief moments this afternoon -- not long enough for me to capture any pics, unfortunately. But I think you'll be able to see a bit of prismatic color in some of these shots, which will hopefully give an idea of what this lacquer can get up to in direct sun. I encourage clicking on the photos to view the enlargements so you can see all the wonderful details of this beauty!


Literary Lacquers A Sensible Rabbit


Literary Lacquers A Sensible Rabbit


Literary Lacquers A Sensible Rabbit


Literary Lacquers A Sensible Rabbit


Literary Lacquers A Sensible Rabbit


Literary Lacquers A Sensible Rabbit


Literary Lacquers A Sensible Rabbit


Literary Lacquers A Sensible Rabbit


Literary Lacquers A Sensible Rabbit


Literary Lacquers A Sensible Rabbit

Pied beauty, indeed! Gerard Manly Hopkins would surely have loved this polish. I know I do! It's a masterful composition by Amy that does full justice to its inspiration, just as perfect as it can be and unique among taupe holos with its overt golden shimmers and delicious, stealthy black speckles. Its neutral color and somewhat demure presence on the nail is belied by a rich golden flash in most circumstances, and even though I am generally not a fan of how gold looks on me, I am in awe of this wonderful creation. 

Amy Milder, I salute you! 

love,
Liz

2 comments:

  1. That polish is gorgeous. I normally am not a fan of polish that has black speckles in it - I want to keep brushing off the pepper specks hahaha - but the effect in this polish is more neutral. And to have that pretty sparkly holo also!

    It doesn't seem that long ago when I first really started appreciating polish that I would look at taupe and wonder how people could like it enough to put on their nails. This year, however, I have found that these interesting taupe polishes have become some of my favorite polishes. This particular one is really calling to me!

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    1. You pretty much have to get really close to A Sensible Rabbit before you notice the black microglitters -- at arms's length you can't even see them. Mostly what you notice about this polish is its golden glow and the holo display in the sun, which is really pretty.

      I love taupe polish! Especially darker taupes and purple-ish ones. Taupe holos sometimes have a bronzey look to them that I like a lot. I think this one could have gone that way if it weren't for the gold shimmers. If you like gold, Lara, you will enjoy this polish!

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