Top Shelf Lacquer Midnight Toast

Midnight Toast was released by Ohio-based indie polish maker Top Shelf Lacquer as part of the Holiday Night Caps collection last month. Creator Amy describes this as having a "navy blue base with navy and gold holo microglitter." To my eye, the color is more along the lines of a deep cerulean blue. In bright direct and indirect light, a dense sparkling net of infinitesimal blue and gold holo microglitters light up in all of the rainbow colors, most noticeably blue and green. It has a translucent jelly base that really lets the light in to catch those microglitters and show off the beautiful cerulean base, which does sort of take on a navy appearance in low incandescent light. This is very much a "starry night" sort of polish, evoking a night sky full of stars, especially in direct light where the sparkle is tremendous!

Application was great! The consistency of Midnight Toast is fluid, smooth and dense with a lush glide over the nail that has a little bit of pull to it. Self-leveling properties are very good. As a jelly, coverage is buildable and the first coat is sheerish, but I was able to achieve evenly opaque coverage in two medium coats. If you paint in thin coats, you may want to add a third. Cleanup is easy and straightforward with very little pigment travel and no residual staining. Midnight Toast dries naturally in good time to a matte finish that wants a glossy topcoat to look its best.

Photos show two coats of Midnight Toast over Pretty Serious Rock On treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. Interestingly, the camera rendered the cerulean as more green leaning than it is in person, where it's most definitely blue.

Top Shelf Lacquer Midnight Toast

Top Shelf Lacquer Midnight Toast

Top Shelf Lacquer Midnight Toast

Top Shelf Lacquer Midnight Toast

Top Shelf Lacquer Midnight Toast

Top Shelf Lacquer Midnight Toast

Top Shelf Lacquer Midnight Toast

Top Shelf Lacquer Midnight Toast

Top Shelf Lacquer Midnight Toast

Top Shelf Lacquer Midnight Toast

Top Shelf Lacquer Midnight Toast

Top Shelf Lacquer Midnight Toast

Top Shelf Lacquer Midnight Toast

Top Shelf Lacquer Midnight Toast

Top Shelf Lacquer Midnight Toast

Top Shelf Lacquer Midnight Toast

 This is a beautifully-crafted microglitter jelly in a color I adore, so of course I love it! As I mentioned above, it's showing slightly greener in my pics than it is in person. The green lean gives it a sense of turbulence, but in person the color has a much more peaceful, equanimous presence that is very easy to live with. That is, until you get into direct light, where the glitters light up and it's all about that festive sparkle. 

love,
Liz