Unicorn pee is lacquerhead-speak for a discontinued sheer purple shimmer polish made by Clarins and officially known as Clarins 230, made with special colorshifting pigment that displays a rainbow spectrum of shifts, especially if layered over black. Discontinued in 2008, it quickly became as rare and hard to find as, well, unicorn pee, but is still sought after by collectors and hard-core enthusiasts and lists for as much as $175 on ebay. People buy it, too! It's just that precious.
That's the short answer. For a more comprehensive, tongue-in-cheek explanation, head over to Simply Nailogical and watch Cristine's video on The History of Unicorn Pee. You will have to separate the grains of wheat from considerable hilarious chaff, but you will have fun doing it.
Nowadays, although polish makers have all kinds of colorshifting/multichromatic pigments available to them, unicorn pee is still referenced. There very well may be a particular type of colorshifting pigment that reproduces the effects seen in Clarins 230. I don't really know. It's all part of the mystique that keeps the unicorn pee designation alive and meaningful in a polish enthusiast's lexicon.
On to today's polish! The base of The Search is Over is a medium-dark, semi-translucent but intense variation of violet that is similar to vivid or extreme violet. It has a strong purple aura, which mixes with the prominent red shift of the multichromatic shimmers to produce a color that's more along the lines of Mardi Gras in appearance. Those colorshifting shimmers are entirely overt, creating a glowing, dimensional red mist along the axis of light that appears to emanate from deep within the polish and sharpens to a cloud of bright red sparks in direct light. Other shifts, most noticeably orange and gold, are visible at oblique angles.
I over-thought my application of this polish and kind of psyched myself into a rather anguished and messy experience, which I'm absolutely sure was the result of my own mental idiosyncrasies and not to be construed in any other way. Suffice to say that the consistency of The Search is Over is fluid, full-bodied and smooth with a medium viscosity and a plush glide over the nail that has a bit of pull to it. Self-leveling properties are amazing. It's the kind of polish that will level out a fingerprint in partially dry polish to complete, glassy smoothness in a skinny minute -- ask me how I know! Pigmentation is very good. It can produce wearably opaque coverage with a skosh of visible nail line in two medium coats and completely opaque coverage in three. Cleanup is easy, hooray! The Search is Over dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, flat finish that wants a good topcoat to look its very best and maximize the effects of the colorshifting shimmers.
Photos show three coats of The Search is Over over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.
 |
| Dreamland The Search is Over |
 |
| Dreamland The Search is Over |
 |
| Dreamland The Search is Over |
 |
| Dreamland The Search is Over |
 |
| Dreamland The Search is Over |
 |
| Dreamland The Search is Over |
 |
| Dreamland The Search is Over |
 |
| Dreamland The Search is Over |
 |
| Dreamland The Search is Over |
 |
| Dreamland The Search is Over |
 |
| Dreamland The Search is Over |
 |
| Dreamland The Search is Over |
 |
| Dreamland The Search is Over |
The name of this polish comes from the 1985 song "The Search is Over" by American rock band Survivor. Good times, right? Or not. Watch out for earworms!
This is a gorgeous, deeply cool polish. Wearing it is kind of a cosmic experience! The colors are so rich and vibrant, the shimmer effects so entrancing, that it really makes you feel like you've got a million-dollar manicure on your nails!
Now that the pre-orders have shipped, I'm pretty sure that Noelie will be listing this and the other Power Ballads polishes on the Dreamland website in the very near future. Keep your eye on the site or follow Dreamland on Facebook to find out exactly when, and then go get yourself some of this unicorn pee!
love,
Liz
I LOVE this polish ...colour....finish....shimmer....EVERYTHING!! But I adore your post & explanation of *Unicorn Pee* even more :) Reading through, I had a some giggles - and by the time I got to your 'overthinking' paragraph, and further into the 'fingerprint' episodes, I was almost Unicorn Peeing my pants! Wonderful post!! Thank you :)
ReplyDelete*lol* Thank you so much, Cath, it makes me very happy to know you enjoyed the post!
Delete