Pahlish The Wicked Years Duo: Mother Yackle and The Grimmerie

Mother Yackle and The Grimmerie make up The Wicked Years duo for February from Arkansas-based indie polish maker Pahlish, released earlier this month. This twosome was inspired by The Wicked Years series of books by American novelist Gregory Maquire. Amazingly, it's been almost two years since my last purchase of one of creator Shannon's monthly duos, Don't Hesitate. About time I tried another!

Mother Yackle is the base polish of the two, and is described as a blued-lilac cream. On me, it ended up as a light creamy blue-violet along the lines of tropical indigo, although it does go through some color changes during application. The light purple of the bottle color dries to a slightly bluer hue on the nail, and when I applied topcoat it developed random darker streaks and patches. Don't know what's up with that except that something in this polish obviously don't play well with Seche Vite. I was hoping that the streaking would be temporary and fade/even out as everything dried, but that didn't happen. You'll see what I mean in the photos.

Application was good. The consistency of Mother Yackle is fluid and creamy with a medium viscosity and a velvety glide over the nail. There's a bit of translucence to the formula that requires an even hand for most uniform coverage, which from what I've seen in other reviews can be had in two coats. My nail ridges and application required a third coat for consistent opacity across the nail. The way I paint often seems to result in coverage that is heavier in the center of the nail and thinner at the edges, especially if I'm using a brush that's a little bushy, as Pahlish's is. But hey, I got it on there! Cleanup is easy and straightforward. Mother Yackle dries naturally in good time to a beautiful glossy finish.

Photos show three coats of Mother Yackle over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. I'm not comfortable foregoing topcoat for photographs, but if I wasn't taking pictures I'd leave it off and go right for the topper.

Pahlish Mother Yackle

Pahlish Mother Yackle

Pahlish Mother Yackle

Pahlish Mother Yackle

Pahlish Mother Yackle

Pahlish Mother Yackle

Pahlish Mother Yackle

Pahlish Mother Yackle

Pahlish Mother Yackle

The Grimmerie is the topper of the duo. It has a clear suspension base bearing a mix of iridescent glitters, ultrachrome flakes in blue, magenta and purple, satin lavender dots and scattered soft gold holographic hex glitters. It's really pretty, with a nice random sparkle. The consistency was a bit viscous for me, and I added a generous amount of polish thinner to my bottle. After that I had no trouble with application and all components went on smoothly and lay flat to the nail. The glitter payoff wasn't as dense as I had hoped, so after painting on one coat I gingerly dabbed on a second and was happy with the look.

Photos show two coats of The Grimmerie over the Mother Yackle manicure above with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Pahlish The Grimmerie over Mother Yackle

 

Pahlish The Grimmerie over Mother Yackle

Pahlish The Grimmerie over Mother Yackle

Pahlish The Grimmerie over Mother Yackle

Pahlish The Grimmerie over Mother Yackle

Pahlish The Grimmerie over Mother Yackle

Pahlish The Grimmerie over Mother Yackle

Pahlish The Grimmerie over Mother Yackle

Pahlish The Grimmerie over Mother Yackle

Pahlish The Grimmerie over Mother Yackle

Pahlish The Grimmerie over Mother Yackle

It's been so long since I've had glitters that weren't micro-sized on my nails, I don't know how to act. Nor do I remember any of my old tricks to photograph a glitter polish so that it doesn't look like party leftovers, and even if I did I doubt that they'd work with my new camera. The Grimmerie has a much less chaotic feel than the pics might lead you to believe, the sparkly bits are nicely balanced and it allows plenty of the base to show and give coherence to the look.

Despite the unstable pigmentation of Mother Yackle, I'm really enjoying the twinkling speckled appearance of this duo and the pretty colors of the iridescent components as well as the random sparkles from the larger holographic hexes. And I love love LOVE those wonderful glowing satin lavender dots!

Now I'm off to go feed the dog and figure out what's for dinner -- all the while admiring my glittery tips, you can be sure... yes indeed, allow me to twirl my fingers in the air as I dish out this kibble....

ttfn,

Liz