Il Était Un Vernis Keep Calm & Follow the Dragon

Keep Calm & Follow the Dragon was released last month by French boutique polish maker Il Était Un Vernis as part of their latest collection, Mystical Fantasy Club. I've been itching to get this one on my nails from the minute I saw the first swatches on Vernis En Folie (Bé's blog) and De Tout Et De Rien (Stéphanie's blog)! Described as a chartreuse with a metallic heart and a velvety holographic effect, the color is indeed a consummate chartreuse yellow or traditional chartreuse, a greenish yellow that can lean more to pear or to lemon depending upon the skin tone of the wearer, viewing circumstances and the aesthetic and eye of the beholder. Superabundant moderately-sized holographic pigment particles glisten brightly within the base, giving the polish a luminous, subtly metallic shimmer. They also produce a traveling dimensional prismatic flush of orange and turquoise in ambient light that becomes more expansive and sparkly in the sun. 

Application was fantastic. The consistency of Keep Calm & Follow the Dragon is fluid, light and very smooth with a medium viscosity and a silky, biddable, self-leveling slip over the nail, an eminently paintable formula that is a joy to finesse with IEUV's sleekly compact, flattened style brush. Pigmentation is very good. Slight sheerness on the first coat builds easily to wearably opaque coverage with the second. Cleanup is easy with little apparent pigment travel or trace staining. Keep Calm & Follow the Dragon dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat does not affect the holographic properties in any way that I could tell.

Photos show two coats of Keep Calm & Follow the Dragon over KBShimmer Fillin' Groovy basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. I am disappointed than many of these aren't as sharp as I would haved liked, because the particles that create the shimmery look of this polish are so suited to capturing in a still image. But the sky went all dark and poured rain as I went to take them so the light just wasn't the best.

Il Était Un Vernis Keep Calm & Follow the Dragon

Il Était Un Vernis Keep Calm & Follow the Dragon

Il Était Un Vernis Keep Calm & Follow the Dragon

Il Était Un Vernis Keep Calm & Follow the Dragon

Il Était Un Vernis Keep Calm & Follow the Dragon

Il Était Un Vernis Keep Calm & Follow the Dragon

Il Était Un Vernis Keep Calm & Follow the Dragon

Il Était Un Vernis Keep Calm & Follow the Dragon

Il Était Un Vernis Keep Calm & Follow the Dragon

I love this shimmery chartreuse polish! I choose to see the color more on the pear side of the green/yellow fence because it feels richer and cleaner to me that way, but it really can go either way. My pasty pinkage is not the best showcase, however. This would be just extraordinary on those with warmer, richer skin tones! It's certainly an awesome shade for summer, and I can see how it's edgy ambiguity would even lend itself to use as a striking accent color any time of the year. Excellent polish, well done!

xo,
Liz