Colors by Llarowe Lotus

Lotus was released for pre-order towards the end of last month by Colorado-based indie polish maker Colors by Llarowe (CbL) as part of the Cremes, Jellies and Shimmers subset of the Summer 2016 collection. Officially described as a "bright orchid pink crelly with intense gold and pink shimmer," to my eye this a vibrant, saturated orchid purple with aspects of magenta. Potato/potahto? Perhaps. Superabundant microflake shimmers in gold and bright pink give a warm lean to the appearance of the color and create an interior semi-metallic pink sheen, producing a lit-from-within glow in direct light that is just fierce! The microflakes are discernible enough to add an interesting dusty visual texture to this sheen that you don't usually see with lit-from-within shimmers. In low light and shade the color deepens considerably as the magenta aspect comes to the fore, and the underlying sheen becomes more covert, taking on a finely-grained look.

Application was great! The consistency of Lotus is fluid, light and smooth with a thin-to-medium consistency and a breezy, self-leveling slip over the nail. It went on best for me in thin coats with a bit of drying time in between. Pigmentation is very good, delivering evenly opaque coverage in two coats, although I added a third for the photos. Cleanup is fairly straightforward. There's a skosh of stickiness on the part of the microflakes but surprisingly little pigment travel for such a saturated color with almost no residual staining, hooray! Lotus dries naturally in good time to a slightly flat finish that wants a good topcoat to look its best.

Photos show three coats of Lotus over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. These were taken in bright indirect natural light.

Colors by Llarowe Lotus

Colors by Llarowe Lotus

Colors by Llarowe Lotus

Colors by Llarowe Lotus

Colors by Llarowe Lotus

Colors by Llarowe Lotus

Colors by Llarowe Lotus

Colors by Llarowe Lotus

Colors by Llarowe Lotus

Colors by Llarowe Lotus

Colors by Llarowe Lotus

I've included one direct sun shot, but to me it's not as accurate a rendering of how the polish looks in person as the ambient light photos. However, compared to photos that others have taken, my ambient light pics are much more purple. What you see when you wear it will depend quite a bit on viewing circumstances. Chameleon polish!

CbL Lotus, direct sun

The relatively chunky shimmers are a bit smoothed out in this pic for my liking, but it does show the glinting effect they reveal as light catches the surface of individual microflakes. The translucence of the base gives it a dusty, cloudy look over that interior sheen that is really striking, I think, and adds a touch of artisinal edginess to the overall appearance of the polish. 

Definitely one for the sun!

love,
Liz