FUN Lacquer Starry Night of the Summer

Starry Night of the Summer was originally released in 2014 by Singapore-based indie polish maker FUN Lacquer as part of the Summer 2014 collection. After a reformulation it has been re-released as part of the Summer 2016 collection, launched at the beginning of last month. The original was described as a midnight blue holo and version 2.0, as polish bloggers have been calling it, is characterized as navy blue. I don't know the original polish, but from what I understand and have seen from photos of both, 2.0 is lighter and brighter, "slightly bluer" as creator Yuin says.

The color of this dark blue linear holo is vivid and clean and to me it's a beautiful deep shade of ultramarine with subtle hints of violet, almost an indigo but not quite. Sumptuous and velvety on the nail, it shows a deep indigo heart in ambient light surrounded by a holographic shading of misty sapphire. In direct sun there's a sparkling linear prismatic display predominated by arcs of indigo and azure, trimmed by a slender band of deep spring green that segues into a trailing corona of yellow, orange and red sparks.

Application was dreamy. The consistency of Starry Night of the Summer is fluid, dense and very creamy with a thin-to-medium viscosity and a silky, self-leveling slip over the nail. It sets up fairly quickly but not so soon that you don't have a chance to finesse your application -- just a lovely formula to work with! Pigmentation is excellent. It's opaque at one medium coat, although the color is noticeably deepened and enriched with the addition of a second. Cleanup is straightforward, with a skosh of pigment travel but very little visible residual staining, unusual for a dark blue as well-pigmented as this. Starry Night of the Summer dries naturally in very good time to a slightly flat finish that wants a good topcoat to look its best. Topcoat does not inhibit the holographic effects at all and actually seems to give the holographic particles more sparkle, especially in ambient light. 

Photos show two coats of Starry Night of the Summer over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. Please excuse any tiny glitters hiding out in my sidewalls, they are holdouts from the removal of yesterday's glittery manicure.

FUN Lacquer Starry Night of the Summer

FUN Lacquer Starry Night of the Summer

FUN Lacquer Starry Night of the Summer

FUN Lacquer Starry Night of the Summer

FUN Lacquer Starry Night of the Summer

FUN Lacquer Starry Night of the Summer

FUN Lacquer Starry Night of the Summer

FUN Lacquer Starry Night of the Summer

FUN Lacquer Starry Night of the Summer

FUN Lacquer Starry Night of the Summer

FUN Lacquer Starry Night of the Summer

Apologies for the lack of sun shots, it clouded over before I could take them. But you guys know holos well enough to imagine the dazzle of this polish's prismatic display in the sun!

This is another of FUN's most popular polishes and I can see why. The glorious deep ultramarine color and romantic name seem to generate a poignant sense of nostalgia that goes beyond simply recalling memories of summer nights passed. It's about a memory that we've all had at some point, of a particular time in a particular place marked by the sort of profound natural beauty that evokes an intensely-felt, spiritual sense of being intimately connected to marvel of life. It's a feeling that this beautiful polish has the capacity to conjure up, and it's a large part of what makes it so very special and appealing. 

love,
Liz