Tonic Polish Dragon Tears

Like Stars at Twilight, Dragon Tears was released about two months ago by Iowa-based indie polish maker Tonic Polish as part of the Holiday 2016 collection. It's a multichromatic polish, "made from the shiftiest multichrome pigment I’ve found," says Lindsey, with shifts in a "green-blue-purple-red-peach-gold" spectrum, a sprinkling of silver holographic microglitters and a scattered holo finish. 

There is no one identifiable base color in this polish -- it's all shift, all the time. I found myself thinking about the color shifts as two distinct camps, although on the nail they meld together seamlessly. One is the peacock green/turquoise/azure camp, which mostly appears to enjoy occupying the area of the nail that is the point of impact for light in any given set of circumstances. The other is the blue/violet/purple/fuchsia camp that mostly hovers outside of the point of light impact. Finely-milled holographic pigment dusts the scenario with golden motes in ambient light, while tiny holographic microglitters offer up a loose net of bright prismatic sparkle. Can you say galaxy nails? In the sun, the holo components burst into a field of rainbow sparks that appears to float above the sleek, shifting multichrome colors.

Application was great! The consistency of Dragon Tears is fluid and very smooth with a thicker viscosity than I am generally comfortable with so I added polish thinner at the outset. Thinned to a medium viscosity, it had a fluent, light, self-leveling glide over the nail, going on best for me in medium coats from a well-loaded brush. Pigmentation is sheer on the first coat but builds surprisingly well to a wearable opacity after the second. I added a third to get the most out of the multichrome pigment, and I think the colors are a bit brighter and more substantial that way. Another approach would be to layer the polish over black, but it's definitely not necessary. Cleanup is easy. Dragon Tears dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. 

Photos show three coats of Dragon Tears over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Tonic Polish Dragon Tears

Tonic Polish Dragon Tears

Tonic Polish Dragon Tears

Tonic Polish Dragon Tears

Tonic Polish Dragon Tears

Tonic Polish Dragon Tears

Tonic Polish Dragon Tears

Tonic Polish Dragon Tears

Tonic Polish Dragon Tears

Tonic Polish Dragon Tears

Tonic Polish Dragon Tears

Tonic Polish Dragon Tears

Tonic Polish Dragon Tears

Tonic Polish Dragon Tears

Heady stuff! From what I've seen, Dragon Tears appears to be the fan favorite of this collection -- with good reason, obviously! And no matter how many photos of this polish that you look at, nothing will adequately prepare you for the experience of seeing all of those colors for yourself in person, on your own nails. As the ever-hilarious and talented Dianna of Snacks on Rotation says, "My brain literally stopped holding my mouth closed on this one." And it hasn't shut yet!

Now in addition to the Tonic Polish Etsy shop, you can also purchase Tonic from Color4Nails (when they restock) and Girly Bits (which is where I got this one). Go. Be free. Be whoever you are, do whatever you want to do, just so long as you don't hurt anyone. (I'll send my bottle of Dragon Tears to the first person that can tell me where those words come from.)

love,
Liz