In its listing in Illyrian's big cartel shop, creator Vanessa describes Helter Skelter as a "purple jelly base with copper holo glitters, blue iridescent flakes, purple shimmer and tiny gold glitter." The color is a gorgeous dark purple, close to eminence from Xona.com Color List, a magical mind-expanding midnight kind of purple that takes me back to summertime in the early 70s and the guitar riffs of Smoke on the Water. The translucent jelly formula allows light to penetrate and fire up the abundant components, most notably the copper holo glitters and fabulous blue flakes. Glowing sparks of color appear and disappear in a twinkling effect as light travels over the polish, which has a glistening, near-metallic appearance as all of the reflective bits it carries gleam from within the polish. Far out!
Application was surprisingly agreeable for a jelly glitterbomb. The consistency of Helter Skelter is fluid, light and smooth with a thin-to-medium viscosity and a limber glide over the nail. This is a fast drying polish that appreciates swift, deft application. Glitter payoff is great and the components are well-behaved until the polish begins to set up and dry, in which case all bets are off, so overworking is verboten (or at least not a good idea). Pigmentation is sheer and somewhat patchy on the first coat but builds remarkably well. I used three coats for an opacity I was happy with, but those with a more skilled and even hand may only need two. Deliberate tip-wrapping with each coat will help avoid any sheerness there. Cleanup is pretty straightforward. The glitters are a little sticky, but no more so than you'd expect. Helter Skelter dries naturally in very good time to a relatively smooth, shiny finish with a gently pebbled texture from the components. I didn't want any irregular surface texture interfering with my enjoyment of this polish, so I applied a layer of dedicated glitter-smoother before topcoating. Topcoat really pops the components, particularly the iridescent blue flake shimmers.
Photos show three coats of Helter Skelter over treatment and basecoat with a layer of Pretty Serious Plump Up the Volume followed by a topcoat of Seche Vite.
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| Illyrian Polish Helter Skelter |
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| Illyrian Polish Helter Skelter |
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| Illyrian Polish Helter Skelter |
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| Illyrian Polish Helter Skelter |
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| Illyrian Polish Helter Skelter |
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| Illyrian Polish Helter Skelter |
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| Illyrian Polish Helter Skelter |
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| Illyrian Polish Helter Skelter |
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| Illyrian Polish Helter Skelter |
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| Illyrian Polish Helter Skelter |
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| Illyrian Polish Helter Skelter |
Look at those blue flakies go! Such a beautifully constructed glitter polish, it's damn near perfect. On the nail, it's dark enough to almost fly under the radar at a casual glance as long as you're not standing in the sun or under some other bright direct light source. The closer you get to it, the easier it is to see how much is really going on and the more magical it becomes. It's got fantastic stage presence, if you know what I mean.
The lovely Lexa of Glitterfingersss has some outrageously good macros of Helter Skelter in her post, here, where you can better see all the glitters and shimmers this polish contains. Check it out!
ttyl,
Liz
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