This is the purple of the collection, officially described as a grape but slightly warmer than that to my eye, a true, vibrant, medium-toned purple along the lines of purpureus. It's packed with purple shimmers as well as a smorgasbord of holographic elements -- pigment, microglitters and flakies -- giving it loads of dimensionality on the nail with a rich visual texture that is practically effervescent with light play. The twinkling prismatic sparks from the microglitters are especially sweet, adding, as they always do, a heady dose of Old Hollywood glamour to the look. We are lacking sun here at the moment (and the downstairs windows this morning were all misted over from humidity -- ugh!), so I can only imagine the kind of prodigious prismatics this gets up to in direct sun. I mean, it's fabulous and lively as all get out even under overcast skies. Perhaps the cloud cover will burn off in time for the photos.
Application was just as sweet as those twinkling microglitters! The consistency of Stayin' Alive is fluid and dense with components, with a medium-to-thicker viscosity to which I added polish thinner at the outset for a fluency more commensurate with my skills. Thinned, it had a remarkably smooth, easy, self-leveling glide over the nail without any stacking or stickups on the part of the components and just a couple of attempted protusions over the free edge by the flakies. Pigmentation is great, and the components contribute to the coverage, which is evenly opaque in two coats. I did my cleanup as I went along and had no issues. Stayin' Alive dries naturally in very good time to a textured finish that was admirably smoothed by a layer of Girly Bits' Glitter Glaze topcoat.
Photos show two coats of Stayin' Alive over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Girly Bits Glitter Glaze.
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| Girly Bits Stayin' Alive |
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| Girly Bits Stayin' Alive |
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| Girly Bits Stayin' Alive (the sun came out, hooray!) |
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| Girly Bits Stayin' Alive |
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| Girly Bits Stayin' Alive |
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| Girly Bits Stayin' Alive |
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| Girly Bits Stayin' Alive |
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| Girly Bits Stayin' Alive |
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| Girly Bits Stayin' Alive |
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| Girly Bits Stayin' Alive |
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| Girly Bits Stayin' Alive |
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| Girly Bits Stayin' Alive |
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| Girly Bits Stayin' Alive |
Full monty artisan nail polish eye candy, is what -- more so than can be captured in a still image. And all that audacious shimmer and sparkle is so sleekly and satisfyingly corseted within the rich purple color, it's like a curvy figure in a perfectly fitted gown. Just wow!
Needless to say: LOVE! The only problem is that I am now deeply regretting not buying the whole collection (which, if you do so, comes with a bonus gift-with-purchase eighth polish eponymously called Sequins & Satin Pants, a silver holo bearing matte neon pink glitters).
Hmm. One other (potential) regret: I was in such a hurry to get this puppy on my nails, it wasn't until I was well into my second coat of polish that it occurred to me to wonder whether I should have used a peel-off basecoat. Uh-oh. I will add a postscript after I remove it and let you know how it went.
You're welcome for the earworm. ;)
love,
Liz
ps. It took a little bit of scrubbing, but the polish came off completely without having to resort to tinfoil or anything. Still, I think I may use a peel-off basecoat with the other two polishes that I purchased from this collection when I swatch them.
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