Whispering Waves was released by British boutique polish maker A-England as part of creator Adina's ongoing Heavenly Quotes collection late last year. I'd been waiting rather impatiently to get my hands on this new beauty and finally found it at Live Love Polish, where unfortunately it is now currently sold out, though I'm sure it will be restocked at the earliest opportunity.
Adina's inspiration for this polish comes from the poem The Recollection by British Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822).
The whispering waves were half asleep,
The clouds were gone to play,
And on the bosom of the deep
The smile of Heaven lay;
It seem'd as if the hour were one
Sent from beyond the skies
Which scatter'd from above the sun
A light of Paradise!
This is a brilliant medium-toned blue-green scattered holographic polish bearing beacoup ultrafine duochromatic shimmers with a pink to golden green color shift. The color, described by Adina as turquoise, is more blue than what I usually think of as turquoise -- to my eye, it's something along the lines of a deep sky blue, an azure-cyan hue with a fresh countenance. The holographic effects softly shade the base with dimensionalizing tones of cerulean and sea green and produce a gentle prismatic bloom of bright spring green sparks in direct light. Slightly more prominent to the eye are the effects of the duochromatic shimmers, giving the polish a gorgeous transparent pink glow along the axis of light that shifts to golden green at oblique angles, as well as a gleaming, semi-metallic finish.
Application was fantastic. The consistency of Whispering Waves is fluid, smooth and dense with a medium viscosity and a silky glide over the nail. Although the formula self-levels well, the semi-metallic appearance does have the propensity to show irregularities such as ridges and brushstrokes. I found this easiest to minimize with medium to medium-thick coats applied with a light touch from a generously loaded brush, but my nail ridges turned out to be quite apparent even so. Pigmentation is excellent. Although very nearly wearable in one coat, two coats is best for most even opacity, especially if you are dealing with nail ridges. Cleanup is easy and straightforward. Whispering Waves dries naturally in very good time to a smooth shiny finish. Topcoat accentuates the presence and effects of the shimmers.
Photos show two coats of Whispering waves over treatment and basecoat with a rather bubbly topcoat of Seche Vite.
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| A-England Whispering Waves |
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| A-England Whispering Waves |
Both the holographic and shimmer effects but especially the latter are much more immediately visible and prettier in person than you would expect from my photos. In fact, I found Whispering Waves to be one of the most elusive polishes photographically that I've ever tried to capture. Others have done a better job -- check out the review photos on Lucy's Stash, Lacquered Obsession or The Polishing Life for a truer, more comprehensive look at this radiant, jewel-like polish.
xo,
Liz
Yeah, this one may just have tipped me over the edge into buying aEngland. Just - WoW.
ReplyDeleteWell, you need to do that regardless!
DeleteThis dazzler is something of a departure for Adina. I'm so used to the more grounded subtle richness that's been her signature from the get-go that I find it a little startling. It'll be wonderful for summer!
Startling- haha! You definitely captured it's saturated depths more holistically; I didn't such richness from other's images. As ever I'm so happy to have a NPBFF as particular about color as I- definitely azure, definitely not turquoise. I love the poetic inspiration, and the whole thing puts me in the mood for early spring :)
ReplyDeleteAzure seems to be a tipping point when mixed with other hues. It tips purple into perwinkle and cyan into sky blue, both of which are odd ducks when you compare them to other shades in their respective families.
DeleteI wish I could get the blue-green hues of aqua and turquoise straightened out in my head. Is it a transparency/opacity thing or is it more about weight? I keep thinking that if I were a trained colorist I would be able to find the right words. Everything I know I picked up from my book designer boss at Duke Press. She was a genius at accurately articulating the attributes of color and typeface!
Some of the most beautiful complex descriptive writing I've ever read comes from blog posts by perfume enthusiasts. Scents can be so ephemeral and tangled with other senses, to write well about them requires a facility with detail that is extraordinary. I wish I had more of that sort of interdisciplinary approach when it comes to color.