Alchemy Lacquers Guanxi

Guanxi (pronounced GWAN-she, or thereabouts) was released in October this year by Pennsylvania-based indie polish maker Alchemy Lacquers as part of the Alchemy in the Abstract collection. It is officially described as an "avocado green nail lacquer with a linear holographic finish and coral-orange/gold/green/blue multichrome flakes." The color is indeed a perfect avocado, a slightly murky medium-dark yellow green that shimmers with finely-milled holographic pigment. It is absolutely packed with metallic multichromatic flakies ranging in size from tiny to relatively large. Their most prevalent color is a coppery coral-orange with a touch of pink, a sunset hue that contrasts very nicely with the avocado base and creates a rosy flame-colored glow along the axis of light with a lit-from-within look, a striking and beautiful effect. The finish has a semi-metallic quality with a coppery flash and an interesting visual texture from the gleaming flakies.

Application went very well. The consistency of Guanxi is fluid and dense with flakies, with a medium viscosity and a fairly even, self-leveling glide over the nail. It's remarkably tractable for such a component-laden polish, with only a little tactile feedback from the flakies, and went on best for me in medium coats from a moderately loaded brush. There's a degree of built-in translucence to the base so coverage is provided in part by the flakies, but it builds easily to wearable opacity in two medium coats. Cleanup is best done as you go along, since those flakies stick like tiny limpets once the polish is dry. Guanxi dries naturally in very good time to a shiny finish with a skosh of gentle texture from the flakies, easily smoothed with a single layer of topcoat. 

Photos show two coats of Guanxi over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Alchemy Lacquers Guanxi

Alchemy Lacquers Guanxi

Alchemy Lacquers Guanxi

Alchemy Lacquers Guanxi

Alchemy Lacquers Guanxi

Alchemy Lacquers Guanxi

Alchemy Lacquers Guanxi

Alchemy Lacquers Guanxi

Alchemy Lacquers Guanxi

It's heavily overcast and raining here today so I didn't get a chance to see this in the sun, but it's so amazing in this kind of diffuse ambient light where you can see all the shifting multichromatic colors that I really can't imagine liking it better in the sun. I absolutely love the coppery flame-colored bloom. In person, it's more prominent and encompassing than what you see in the photos above, and serves to pull all of the elements together in a coherent look. I think it's magical! 

love,
Liz