Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Illyrian Polish Blood of Unicorns

I have another lacquer from Texas-based indie polish maker Illyrian Polish for you today. It's Blood of Unicorns, released in 2015 and described as a dark candy red base with strong fuchsia/blue and red iridescent microflake shimmers. To my eye, the translucent jelly base is a deep, slightly murky red violet lying about halfway between flirt and wine. It's a purple-berry color, kind of like a plummy variation of jazzberry jam, with enough red in it to give it a rich, feminine look. Twinkling within are abundant fuchsia and blue microflakes shimmers as well as a modicum of iridescent red microflakes, which read as magenta and bright red through the base. The combined shimmer components add a delicate, transparent purplish glow to the polish in natural ambient light, and under incandescent light there's a beautiful bright reddish magenta flash.

Application was great! The consistency of Blood of Unicorns is fluid, full-bodied and smooth with a medium viscosity and plush, self-leveling glide over the nail. Pigmentation is very good, rendering evenly opaque coverage in two medium coats. Cleanup is straightforward with a tiny bit of trace staining. Blood of Unicorns dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish that shows a bit of jelly-ish squish after topcoat.

Photos show two coats of Blood of Unicorns over basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.
Illyrian Polish Blood of Unicorns
Illyrian Polish Blood of Unicorns
Illyrian Polish Blood of Unicorns
Illyrian Polish Blood of Unicorns
Illyrian Polish Blood of Unicorns
Illyrian Polish Blood of Unicorns
Illyrian Polish Blood of Unicorns
Illyrian Polish Blood of Unicorns
Illyrian Polish Blood of Unicorns
Illyrian Polish Blood of Unicorns
Illyrian Polish Blood of Unicorns

 Red violet is one of my favorite colors for nails, so this is a win for me!

 love,
Liz
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , ,
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2016 at 12:03 AM

    That color seems to brighten your skin - looks great on you. The hues in this range are all so pretty. It's just such a feminine tone, even when some murkiness or duskiness is thrown in. I've been seeing all these fall color collections come out and am not sure I am ready for them, nail-wise. I do look forward to some naturally cooled air but I'm not a big fan of the icy nail polishes I see in winter. However, some of the darker colors are growing on me. And I always love the jewel-toned ones! Don't they give you such a feeling of richness and luxury!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownSeptember 8, 2016 at 8:50 PM

      Thanks, Lara! You're right, this kind of red-violet color does great things for my skin -- all the more reason to love it!

      After a two-day respite following Hermine, we're right back to mid-90 temps and accompanying humidity, which always feels particularly oppressive and unnatural once you get into September, like being swaddled in a hot wet blanket.

      I love those icy blues, they remind me of the hush of snow and low leaden skies. But right now I find myself longing for deeper blues and blue-greys... and variations of red! I was watching Property Brothers on HGTV the other day and there were magnificent turning leaves all over the landscape. How I wished that I could see those bright colors right then, it almost brought me to tears! John thinks I have pseudobulbar affect. He may be right.

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)