Lacquer Slacker Liz: April 2017

Sunday, April 30, 2017

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer The Siren's a Callin'

The Siren's a Callin' was released in March this year by Georgia-based indie polish maker Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer as both an Encore Siren Shade and a new addition to the 'It Got Away From Me, Yeah...' Dr. Who collection. Creator Julie describes it as a "navy blue with silver holo microglitter, fine turquoise shimmer, aqua shimmer, and turquoise glass flecks," and I'm telling you, this polish is dead sexy. The deep cobalty blue base and lighter, more cyanic components combine to give the appearance of a rich, dark cerulean or midnight blue sort of color, with a radiant, glistening teal blue shimmer effect along the axis of light, twinkling teal blue pinpoint sparkles throughout and aspects of indigo around the edges of the nail.

Striking and profoundly glamorous, it has this sultry/smoky/jazzy vintage feel to it that's difficult to describe. It makes me want to put on something sparkly and go have cocktails and listen to jazz in a dark, tucked away club to the wee hours.

Application was great! The consistency of The Siren's a Callin' is fluid, full-bodied and dense with a thicker viscosity to which I added a couple of squirts of polish thinner at the outset. Thinned, it had a luxuriously plush, even, self-leveling glide over the nail that went on best for me in medium coats from a well-loaded brush. Pigmentation is very good to excellent, delivering evenly opaque coverage on the first coat and full, rich bottle color with the second. Often very fine shimmers like this will show brushstrokes, but this one does not. Cleanup is fairly straightforward with a bit of pigment travel and some trace staining. The Siren's a Callin' dries naturally in good time to a flat, gently textured finish that is easily smoothed by a generous layer of topcoat, which also accentuates the presence and effects of the components.

Photos show two coats of The Siren's a Callin' over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. The color of the polish leans very blue in the pics. In person, there's a touch more green to it.

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer The Siren's a Callin'

It's even better in person. Richer. More sultry.

This polish really doesn't come together completely until you get topcoat on it. You start to get an idea of the potential with the second coat, but a glossy topcoat really brings out the true nature of this superbly-composed beauty. The color is deep, lush, mysterious and ornate, and the shimmers and tiny twinkling sparks are an exquisite complement. And although it definitely has an after midnight vibe, it's breathtakingly beautiful in the sun as well, where the color brightens and the twinkly clouds of tiny sparks take on a gorgeous prismatic quality.

Perfectly named, utterly fabulous!

love,
Liz

Saturday, April 29, 2017

Top Shelf Lacquer Liquid Courage

Liquid Courage was released in March this year by Ohio-based indie polish maker Top Shelf Lacquer as part of the Neon Lights (2017) collection. Described as a "super bright neon pink with subtle blue shimmer," the color is quintessentially neon in every way, with the day-glo fluorescence and all of the eye-baffling appearance tricks that neons share. It's essentially nicely balanced between cool and warm, with a radiant rosy quality and tinges of hot orange at certain angles, much like an electrified version of brink pink, one of my favorite pink shades. The ultrafine blue shimmers infuse it with a luminous plume of blue-ish hot pink along the axis of light, adding a bit of dimension to the mind-boggling brilliance of the color.

Application was stellar. The consistency of Liquid Courage is fluid, full-bodied and creamy with a medium viscosity and a plush, self-leveling glide over the nail, a user-friendly formula that is amenable to thin or thicker coats as preference dictates. Pigmentation is very good. For those with regular nailbeds two coats will net a wearable opacity, but my nail ridges were still showing up faintly as darker streaks after two so I added a third. Cleanup is easy. Liquid Courage dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, flat finish that wants a glossy topcoat to look its very best.

Photos show three coats of Liquid Courage over KBShimmer Fillin' Groovy basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Top Shelf Lacquer Liquid Courage

Pinks, corals and reds are my favorite neon shades, and this is one fabulous neon pink! The color feels like electric jubilation -- just insanely happy and bright! It will make a marvelous summer pedicure color, too -- I can almost see those tan, happy toes! Creator Amy included a sweet card with my order in which she noted that Liquid Courage is one of her personal favorites from the Neon Lights collection. I suspect it may be mine as well!

love,
Liz

Friday, April 28, 2017

Lollipop Posse Lacquer We're Gonna Serve

We're Gonna Serve is the fourth and final polish of the Kiki Vol. 2 collection by Lollipop Posse Lacquer (LPL). Described as "a matte, blue-leaning teal that is packed with shifting shimmer and on-tone micro flakies," the color is a vibrant medium-toned variation of blue-green that lands somewhere between Pacific blue and Bondi blue on the light/dark spectrum, leaning more to Pacific blue in bright ambient light and direct sun and deepening slightly to more of a Bondi blue in lower light. Swimming within are superabundant microflake shimmers, which give the polish a delicately stippled visual texture on close inspection and create a dimensional glow along the axis of light. With its silky soft, luminous matte finish, it reminds me of brightly colored beach glass.

Application was most agreeable! The consistency of We're Gonna Serve is fluid and smooth with a medium consistency and a fluent, even, self-leveling glide over the nail. Like the other Kiki Vol. 2 mattes, it sets up quickly and appreciates a deft hand using as few brushstrokes as possible, but I found it a pleasure to work with even so. Eminently paintable! Pigmentation is very good, delivering evenly opaque coverage in two medium coats. Cleanup is easy. We're Gonna Serve dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, matte finish.

Photos show two coats of We're Gonna Serve over treatment and basecoat, no topcoat.

Lollipop Posse Lacquer We're Gonna Serve

What an amazing blue! It's definitely greener and more tropical than LPL's Bid Adieu to You Ennui from the Christmas Kiki collection but shares the same opulent, saturated jewel-tone kind of quality, which is only enhanced by the luxurious velvety matte/satin suede finish. I mean, the color just about jumps off the nail, even in low light! The look is vibrant, sexy and high-end, and something about it just makes me want to put on some sueded silk, spritz myself with Chanel Coco pure parfum and roll around on a big, soft leather sofa with Sam Elliot.

We're Gonna Serve is tied with I Hope You're Up Girl for my favorite of Kiki Vol. 2, but Karen did a superb job of curating the colors for this collection and I love seeing all four of them together a la Amy McG's collage photo in her review on Polish Etc. The review also includes excellent photos of each polish with a glossy topcoat in addition to the natural matte finish, so be sure take a look if you're curious about how they look glossy.

love,
Liz

Thursday, April 27, 2017

Lollipop Posse Lacquer Spilling Tea

Another from the Kiki Vol. 2 collection by Lollipop Posse Lacquer for you today, and it's a yellow! I haven't featured a matte yellow polish here since Literary Lacquers' Curious Yellow in July of 2015, and I think today's is only the third matte yellow ever in my stash (if you count Zoya's PixieDust Solange as a yellow).

Spilling Tea is described by creator Karen as "a shimmery, golden mustard matte." For some reason, it's much more difficult for me to visually discriminate between shades of yellow than other colors, and I kind of made myself a little crazy trying to determine the exact nature of this one. It's a warmer yellow with a strong amber aspect, and to my eye it's very close to Pantone's cyber yellow. While it does contain a moderate amount of ultrafine shimmers, this one does not have the added flakies that the other Kiki Vol. 2 polishes do, so the effect is more subtle, a delicate glistening. They also contribute to the softly glowing luminosity of the velvety matte/satin suede finish.

Application was awesome! Yellows are often streaky and just generally difficult to apply. Not this one! The consistency of Spilling Tea is fluid, smooth and dense with a medium-to-thicker viscosity to which I added a couple of squirts of polish thinner at the outset. At a thin-to-medium viscosity, it had a light, fluent slip over the nail with outstanding self-leveling properties for a matte polish. As light a color as it is, pigmentation is a touch more sheer than yesterday's I Hope You're Up Girl. I used three coats to get an opacity that adequately camouflaged the smile lines on my swatching hand, although I found it to be wearable at two for the shorties on my Cinderella hand. Cleanup is easy. Spilling Tea dries naturally in good time to a smooth, matte finish.

Photos show three coats of Spilling Tea over treatment and basecoat, no topcoat.

Lollipop Posse Lacquer Spilling Tea

The ambery look of this yellow makes it very wearable -- it's almost like a pastel orange. I realize that my pasty pinkage is not the best showcase for this kind of color, but I still appreciate the look and the visual tactility of the matte finish is deeply cool. To me, it's much more appealing and unusual than a shiny yellow. It has more of an abstract geometric color block style a la Piet Mondrian that really makes a statement, with a very modern, chic feel on the nail.

love,
Liz

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Lollipop Posse Lacquer I Hope You're Up, Girl

The next polish from the Kiki Vol. 2 collection released this month by Lollipop Posse Lacquer is I Hope You're Up Girl, described as "a matte berry shade that is filled with blue shifting shimmer and pink to blue shifting micro flakies." The color is a medium-dark variation of magenta along the lines of telemagenta or smitten from the Resene Color List, a rich, feminine hue that takes a slightly muted quality with the velvety matte finish. It reminds me of sueded silk. The shimmers and microflakes give the plush finish a gorgeous blue glow along the axis of light.

Application was a delight. The consistency of I Hope You're Up Girl is fluid, smooth and dense with a medium viscosity and a silky, even slip over the nail that sets up quickly but is very easy to work with even so. Self-leveling properties are fantastic for a matte polish and handled my ridges with aplomb. Pigmentation is excellent, delivering evenly opaque coverage on the first coat that deepens to full bottle color with the second. Cleanup is easy. I Hope You're Up Girl dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, matte finish.

Photos show two coats of I Hope You're Up Girl over treatment and basecoat, no topcoat.

Lollipop Posse Lacquer I Hope You're Up, Girl

You guys know how I feel about red-violet and darker magenta shades, so the fact that I love this will surprise no one. Really, it is just so complimentary and beautiful on the nail, and the velvety matte/satin suede finish with its soft blue glow adds a certain mysterious, almost elusive quality to it, as though it would slip away from you if you tried too hard to grasp its true nature. Very romantic and feminine.

love,
Liz