Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Il Était Un Vernis Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir was released by France-based boutique polish maker Il Était Un Vernis as part of the Grand Crus collection in September 2015. Founded by two bloggers and lab manufactured in Australia, Il Était Un Vernis launched its first collection in late 2014. Sabine's December 2015 post about Pinot Noir on My Polish Stash transformed my peripheral curiosity about the brand into something much more focussed and I placed my first order in early January. I suspect it will not be my last!

Pinot Noir is described as a deep but bright ruby with aspects of cherry and raspberry and a velvety holographic appearance. Perfect! The creamy color is saturated and intense with a plush dimensionality provided by abundant holographic pigment, which gives the polish a smoldering lit-from-within illumination at the center of the nail before shading to near burgundy at the edges. Deep but resplendent and full-bodied, this is a sophisticated, poignantly beautiful, utterly delicious red.

Application was dreamy. The consistency of Pinot Noir is fluid, creamy and dense with a medium viscosity and a near-effortless, buttery glide over the nail. Beautifully formulated, it is easy to work with and displays excellent self-leveling properties. Pigmentation is also excellent, with close to one-coat coverage. Of course you'll want a second to make the most of the rich, luxurious color and holographic effects. Cleanup was surprisingly easy. There's a bit of pigment travel but nowhere near what I was expecting, and really no residual staining to speak of. Huzzah! Pinot Noir dries naturally in very good time to a silky smooth, shiny finish. 

Photos show two coats of Pinot Noir over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.


Il Était Un Vernis Pinot Noir


Il Était Un Vernis Pinot Noir


Il Était Un Vernis Pinot Noir


Il Était Un Vernis Pinot Noir


Il Était Un Vernis Pinot Noir


Il Était Un Vernis Pinot Noir


Il Était Un Vernis Pinot Noir


Il Était Un Vernis Pinot Noir


Il Était Un Vernis Pinot Noir


Il Était Un Vernis Pinot Noir


Il Était Un Vernis Pinot Noir

Kinda takes your breath away, doesn't it? The holographic effects here are scattered rather than linear, generating the kind of fabulous Pointillist speckling that gives the polish such indefinable depth. You almost feel like you could swim down into it and lose yourself completely. 

I wore this to an appointment with my shrink today, carrying the bottle with me in case she admired it. She doesn't do manicures but loves to sport a nice pedi. Sure enough, she noticed right away, and I was very happy to gift her with it on the spot! I love doing that!

ttyl,
Liz

2 comments:

  1. September? Wow, has it been that long since this collection came out! I remember seeing it and loving this particular polish. I have been interested in this brand since it came out, after seeing their first collection swatched and used in manis. It was easier to resist when they had to be ordered from France. Now that Beautometry stocks it, I have tried to avert my eyes! (I go through the same thing with aEngland...) But I don't know, this polish is just SO gorgeous!
    I've got a 'thing' with my polish inventory. I hate to add new polish brand names anymore! (The Superficially Colorful polish you recently reviewed was the first new name brand I have ordered/added in a long time!)When I first started collecting polish, I picked it up here and there. Consequently, I've got several brands that I only have one or two polishes that they make. That drives me nuts when I scroll through my spreadsheet! I often think of destashing them. Just another quirk of my mind, though - I do, in theory, love minimalism but it is so difficult to let anything go! I do admire how you can give away your beautiful polishes just because someone comments on the color. Do you keep any, do you have favorites you have to keep (a slippery slope for me! LOL ) or are you able to reason that you will always have more/new polish to swatch and review? This brand and particular polish, after seeing it again with your great photos, will probably make its way onto my spreadsheet! LOL - omg, HOW can you bear to give this polish away, especially to someone who most likely won't treasure it as you would!!! LOL, yeah, I know, I'm a nail polish addict in the worst way!

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    Replies
    1. What, no a-england in your collection? Did I read that right? Lara! This is a brand that unites polish enthusiasts everywhere in admiration and is eminently worthy of collecting. Even though I completely understand about building on already-owned brands, I'm still a bit shocked that you would deprive yourself of the excellence of a-england.

      When I started collecting, I kept everything. Then I began to donate by brand, and was able to cull a lot of odds and ends that way. I still do that, mostly because it's easier to give away a whole slew of polishes by one maker than it is to pick and chose which ones to keep. I recently destashed all of my Butter London and Deborah Lippmann polishes except for a few Butter Londons that I haven't tried yet. Mainstream polishes are easier to destash that way than indies, but indies are not immune to the destash. No polish is immune. This past summer I sent all of my Pretty Serious and Superficially Colorful polishes to my cousin. Seeing those Superficially Colorful polishes go was a little difficult, but I reckoned it was much better that they be enjoyed by someone else than to sit on my shelf in a box.

      You've curated your collection with great care, an investment of time and attention that is worthy of protecting. I'm a sloppy curator, so its much easier for me to let things go. But sometimes it seems like the more I love something, the easier it is to gift. Even though the polish may not be precious to someone else for the same reasons it was precious to me, I always feel certain that they will appreciate it just as much in their own way. A gifted polish is not something that you forget. It's a karma/RAOK kind of thing, a generosity that you put out into the universe with the belief that it will self-procreate and in general be a force for good in the world.

      I do reason that there will always be new polishes to review... because it's true! I find this fact exciting -- it keeps my enthusiasm stoked and precludes collection claustrophobia.

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