Great Lakes Lacquer Cuddly Soft Covers

Cuddly Soft Covers was released around mid-November this year by Michigan-based indie polish maker Great Lakes Lacquer as part of the My Winter Survival Kit collection. Creator Mariah describes it as a "midnight violet with sparks of blue, holo micro flakes, and a linear holo finish," and it's just as wonderful as it sounds. The color is a deep but vivid true indigo that may appear to lean to violet or to blue depending upon viewing circumstances and the eye of the beholder. Tiny azure-colored metallic microflake shimmers compound that native ambiguity by creating a subtle semi-metallic sheen within the polish that reads as ultramarine, tricksy! The finish is flecked with silvery holographic microflakes that burst into a field of bright prismatic sparks in the sun, rather dispersing the linear effect of the holographic pigment, which mostly serves to add a shimmering dimensionality to the look. 

Application was awesome. The consistency of Cuddly Soft Covers is fluid, full-bodied and smooth with a medium viscosity and a luxurious, creamy, self-leveling glide over the nail. It's a user friendly formula that is easy to control and lends itself well to patching and touch ups. Pigmentation is excellent, delivering wearable opacity in one medium coat, although I think two is best to ensure most even coverage and richest color. Cleanup is easy with remarkably little pigment travel for such a well-pigmented lacquer. Cuddly Soft Covers dries naturally in very good time to a silky smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat does not affect the holographic properties at all and really brings out the violet in the color.

Photos show two coats of Cuddly Soft Colors over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Great Lakes Lacquer Cuddly Soft Covers

Great Lakes Lacquer Cuddly Soft Covers

Great Lakes Lacquer Cuddly Soft Covers

Great Lakes Lacquer Cuddly Soft Covers

Great Lakes Lacquer Cuddly Soft Covers

Great Lakes Lacquer Cuddly Soft Covers

Great Lakes Lacquer Cuddly Soft Covers

Great Lakes Lacquer Cuddly Soft Covers

Great Lakes Lacquer Cuddly Soft Covers

Great Lakes Lacquer Cuddly Soft Covers

Great Lakes Lacquer Cuddly Soft Covers

Great Lakes Lacquer Cuddly Soft Covers

Great Lakes Lacquer Cuddly Soft Covers

Great Lakes Lacquer Cuddly Soft Covers

Looking largely blue in my pics, this leans a bit more to violet in person I think. Those cunning little blue microflakes in the indigo base really play with your eyes! The minute I'm thinking that it's reading more as violet, I see blue, and vice versa, a wily visual effect that speaks to how beautifully constructed this polish is and how well-balanced the components are. I love it when Mariah does deep, richly colored holos like this, she delivers the prismatic splendor simultaneously with a sense of intensity and saturation that, as a lover of vivid color generally, I very much appreciate.

xo,
Liz