Thursday, March 17, 2016

Great Lakes Lacquer Out Like a Lion

After placing an order with Michigan-based indie polish maker Great Lakes Lacquer (GLL) recently -- gettin' in on some of that Sunset Dissected action! -- creator Mariah messaged me on facebook to ask whether I would be interested in reviewing a couple of upcoming monthly Limited Edition polishes for April. Could she stick a few in with my order? Why, yes! Yes, I would, and yes, she certainly could! My blogging style doesn't exactly recommend itself to swatching collections but is well-suited to limited edition polishes that can be reviewed individually, and I was so delighted to be asked that I may or may not have peed my pants a little.  

Out Like a Lion is one of five monthly Limited Edition polishes for April scheduled to launch at 3pm on April Fool's Day, 1 April 2016, in GLL's etsy shop. Mariah says of the name of this polish: 
Winter likes to trick you into thinking that it's gone when it's not. This year it spared us all the way up til the end. Then walloped us before it left.
Well, isn't that what it supposed to do up there in Michigan? I mean, great white north and all that. Ha, I shouldn't poke fun -- we had a big March snow just a couple of years ago here in the piedmont of NC and growing up in Charlottesville, VA folks regularly flipped the traditional idiom in this way to characterize what March was like there.

Out Like a Lion is what I'd call a crelly flakie polish. It has a white creme/jelly hybrid base bearing superabundant flakes: two different kinds of microflake shimmers and two different colorways of multichrome flakies. The flake size ranges from micro to petite, so at a point it becomes difficult to tell exactly what is glistening at you from within the base, but I think I see aqua and pale pink iridescent microflakes and a blue/purple/magenta shifting multichrome flakie plus a gold/orange/red shifting multichrome flakie. These multichrome flakies are profuse enough to transform the translucent snowy base into a delicate grey on my nails, and emit tiny gleaming flashes of color as light travels over them interspersed with pinpoint iridescent sparks in aqua, pale green and pink. The overall impression is of a deliciously-speckled pale lavender grey tint of white that comes alive with twinkling flecks of color as light catches those flakes just right. 

Application was awesome! Knowing my penchant for thinner viscosities, Mariah made a point to urge me not fear this formula, of which she has every reason to be proud. Out Like a Lion has a fluid, light, creamy consistency with a medium viscosity and a fluent, self-leveling glide over the nail. The excellent formula stays that way throughout the manicure without thickening or becoming sticky. It is thoroughly user friendly, amenable to thin or thicker coats as your preferences dictate and easy to manipulate with GLL's flattened flexible brush. The components are perfectly behaved; they go on smoothly and lay flat to the nail without stacking, stickups or protrusions over the free edge. Pigmentation is fantastic for a translucent white crelly-based polish. Those with pristine, stain-free nails will be happy with the coverage at two coats, I suspect. I added a third to prevent my yellowed staining from interfering with the look of the polish, but it really wasn't needed for opacity otherwise. I cleaned up as I went along and it is very much to the polish's credit that I didn't need to do very much of it. Out Like a Lion dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, glossy finish with minimal visibly discernible texture from the components. After one layer of topcoat I could still detect a tiny bit of surface variation, so if you're going for a glassy look you may want to apply two.

Photos show three coats of Out Like a Lion over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.


Great Lakes Lacquer Out Like a Lion


Great Lakes Lacquer Out Like a Lion


Great Lakes Lacquer Out Like a Lion


Great Lakes Lacquer Out Like a Lion


Great Lakes Lacquer Out Like a Lion


Great Lakes Lacquer Out Like a Lion


Great Lakes Lacquer Out Like a Lion


Great Lakes Lacquer Out Like a Lion


Great Lakes Lacquer Out Like a Lion


Great Lakes Lacquer Out Like a Lion

Perfect for early spring wear, snow or no snow, and just about any other time as well! Milky crelly flakie polishes are an indie staple these days, for good reason -- polish enthusiasts love the indie flavor of the abstract speckling with its dainty flashes of color. You just cannot find this kind of polish among mainstream brands. 

Out Like a Lion is beautifully constructed with just the right component to base ratio to give you maximum effect without taking away from the delicate crelly base color. The formula is outstanding -- as easy to work with as your favorite creme and absolutely no application issues at all. It camouflaged my ridges and yellowing without even breaking a sweat, gotta love that!

This and the rest of April's Limited Edition polishes will be released Friday, 1 April at 3pm (not sure if that's EDT or CDT) in the Great Lakes Lacquer etsy shop, where they will be available for purchase until 7pm, 2 May.  


Links!


This polish was provided for my honest review.

xo,
Liz

6 comments:

  1. Gorgeous on your nails! Thank you!

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    1. Thank you, Mariah! So glad you like the post!

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  2. When I rediscovered a love for nail polish at an advanced age, the first thing that caught my attention was white crelly polishes with small, colorful flakies and/or glitters. I still love them, especially in Spring, which in my opinion they epitomize! This one is so pretty!

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    1. I love them too, but don't buy many. Those that I do purchase tend to get associated with certain times of the year, like fall and spring. I have a glitter crelly from KBShimmer that I like to wear every fall called You Autumn Know. I'm not usually as drawn to the flakies as much as the glitters, but Out Like a Lion is a great one and so easy to wear. Even Fuzzy liked it!

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  3. I received my 3 today. I bought Out Like a Lion solely based on your beautiful swatches and love for the formula. I can't wait to try them out.

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    1. Excellent! I hope that you love it just like I did, it's a wonderful polish. Enjoy!

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