Colors by Llarowe Fire to the Rain

Fire to the Rain was released in May 2016 by Colorado-based indie polish maker Colors by Llarowe as part of the Summer 2016 collection. It's described as a "candy apple red crelly that's squishy like a jelly and loaded with shimmer," but I'm going with Sassy Shelly on this and calling it microglitter. The color is a dark, semi-translucent ruby with aspects of crimson and claret and a squishy, syrupy look on the nail that reminds me of the raspberry syrup that my father used to make sodas for us kids with his red siphon seltzer bottle. The tiniest of silver microglitters read as bright red and fuchsia within the base, twinkling like tiny stars in direct light.

Application was ok. The consistency of Fire to the Rain is fluid, dense and slightly sticky with a thicker viscosity to which I added polish thinner at the outset. Thinned, it still retained a dense feel, with a full-bodied, self-leveling flow over the nail that was a little tricky to manipulate. Pigmentation is very good, delivering evenly opaque coverage in two medium coats. Cleanup was surprisingly easy for a dark red. Fire to the Rain dries naturally in good time to a slightly flat finish with a tiny bit of discernible texture from the microglitters, easily smoothed to glossy perfection with topcoat.

Photos show two coats of Fire to the Rain over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Girly Bits Glitter Glaze.

Colors by Llarowe Fire to the Rain

Colors by Llarowe Fire to the Rain

Colors by Llarowe Fire to the Rain

Colors by Llarowe Fire to the Rain

Colors by Llarowe Fire to the Rain

Colors by Llarowe Fire to the Rain

Colors by Llarowe Fire to the Rain

Colors by Llarowe Fire to the Rain

In direct light, this polish definitely has that classic, twinkling ruby slippers kind of sparkle similar to China Glaze Ruby Pumps and Essie Leading Lady, but daintier, subtler, with a more refined look and feel, and the red is darker, almost vampy. It's also much stealthier -- the sparkle hides in low light and shade. Resonant and romantic even so, perfect for Valentine's Day!

love,
Liz