Octopus Party Nail Lacquer Kin Peaks
I was so enamoured with the look of light blue on my nails after Glam Polish Catch Me If You Can that I couldn't resist the opportunity to do it again with another light blue that only just arrived in the mail. Kin Peaks was released for pre-order by Connecticut-based indie polish maker Octopus Party Nail Lacquer (OPNL) during the second week of December 2015. This is a light to medium azure blue linear holo bearing tiny silver particulate shimmers. To my eye the color shows gentle grey overtones, generated in part by the holographic properties of the polish I think, and reads as something along the lines of iceberg blue. It is sleek and serene on the nail with a soft surface twinkle from the silver shimmers, a subtle glistening aspect that suits the blue beautifully. The base color brightens up considerably in direct sun and becomes very Cinderella/Alice in Wonderland-like, displaying a delicate, sparkling linear prismatic flair in the subdued rainbow palette that customarily accompanies light-colored holos.
Application was truly wonderful. The consistency of Kin Peaks is fluid, light and very, very smooth -- unequivocally the creamiest and most buttery formula I have experienced in a long time. How is this even possible? I mean, it's a light blue for crying out loud! Yet it goes on like butter, self-levels like nobody's business and is generally just a dream to work with. Pigmentation is excellent for a paler blue, another miracle. Two thin coats will render smooth even opaque coverage for most people. Camouflaging my nail ridges required three. Cleanup is a breeze. Kin Peaks dries naturally in very good time to a beautiful glossy finish. Topcoat accentuates the presence of the shimmers and does not interfere with the holographic properties of the polish in any way that I could detect.
Photos show three coats of Kin Peaks over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.
 |
| OPNL Kin Peaks |
 |
| OPNL Kin Peaks |
 |
| OPNL Kin Peaks |
 |
| OPNL Kin Peaks |
 |
| OPNL Kin Peaks |
 |
| OPNL Kin Peaks |
 |
| OPNL Kin Peaks |
 |
| OPNL Kin Peaks |
 |
| OPNL Kin Peaks |
 |
| OPNL Kin Peaks |
 |
| OPNL Kin Peaks |
 |
| OPNL Kin Peaks |
 |
| OPNL Kin Peaks |
 |
| OPNL Kin Peaks |
 |
| OPNL Kin Peaks |
 |
| OPNL Kin Peaks |
This polish is too photogenic for my camera to capture the delicate grey overtones that I see in person. In fact, it's looking like quite the Carolina blue in my pics. Could it be because there's a Carolina/Georgia Tech basketball match up this afternoon? Nah, even Dave couldn't pull that off. Or could he?
OPNL's polish names are frequently allusive. Besides the Twin Peaks synonym, I pondered whether Kin Peaks could also be an homage to Kim Peek (1951-2009, RIP), the American megasavant and inspiration for the character of Raymond Babbit in the 1988 film Rain Man. I'm sure there's more in there, the results of Dave's supranaturally-focused synapses operating at full tilt. I'm not very good at puns. Skin Peeks? Unlikely. Sounds like a marital aid... or something you do with one of those 15X magnifying mirrors....
Oh cephalopod,
Your random bits of knowledge
Often frighten me.
I'll be wandering around muttering to myself and staring at my finger nails, if anybody asks.
love,
Liz
Fantastic writing and excellent pictures!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
DeleteIf this were on my nails, I would be outside (sunny here) all day in a daydream, staring at the oh-so-elegant beautiful holo flame of this polish. Besides being so pretty, it sounds like one of those polishes that just make you wiggle and squeal while applying it because it has such an affinity for the nail. (While there are so many wonderful polishes out there, very few have that magical quality - when I run across one, it makes me round my mouth and Ohhhh comes out!)
ReplyDeleteLove your color sense, and that you often supply links to the universal color of the polish. Sometimes choosing colors for me is like a visit to the optometrist. You know, the machine with lenses that you look through while they constantly change lenses asking which is clearer "This one or this one?". Hahahah, I hate that one, especially when it has narrowed to two choices and you can't decide which is better. They need a machine you look into that then senses what you need and spits out the information!
Okay, back to topic... When I was arranging my polish in a rainbow, there were some colors that could have fit in two or even categories. I did some paper swatching and was surprised at some, like one that I always thought was baby blue and it was really a pale lavender (but with a strong light blue lean). I used a bright white paper (versus a clear plastic) and felt since they were all swatched on it that that leveled the playing (color) field. I don't know, maybe some colors have more of an affinity for a white base. The paper was cheaper, though, since I have a ream or so of it, and it was also easier to take clear photos. After a bit of that, I did one of those color quizzes online and aced it, so all that color apparently didn't make me blind to the color wheel. :D
I know that feeling, the one that washes over you like a wave when you're working with an exceptional polish formula. I call it polisher's bliss. Suddenly your mouth falls open and every brushstroke is perfection, one after the other.
DeleteYou must have a very strong aptitude for visual discrimination, Lara, where you have the ability to notice the tiniest differences between things. Using a natively powerful aptitude is like breathing, you're going to do it whether you're conscious of it or not, but I think visual discrimination is an exceptionally rewarding and enjoyable aptitude to possess because it keeps your mind focussed on and interested in everything you process visually, literally everything you see!
When I was in college I went to the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation in Washington DC and did their in-depth aptitude testing. Visual discrimination and rhythm memory were my two strongest aptitudes. A decade later I got a job at Duke University Press as a production editor, which I loved, and it was almost immediately apparent to me that this job was using my strongest native aptitudes on a daily basis.
Johnson O'Connor was originally founded to aptitude test for the US military shortly after WWI, where they saw too many soldiers get killed too quickly. The military wanted a way to screen potential soldiers for their natural talents so they could be placed in jobs that they already had the fundamental skillset for, and thus not only utilize the men in a smarter, more productive way but also in roles where they were less likely to be killed because they were naturally better at them.
Pretty fascinating stuff, I think! Here's the website if you're interested: http://www.jocrf.org/