Lacquer Slacker Liz: April 2018

Monday, April 30, 2018

A-England Oberon Fairy King

Like A Midsummer Night's Dream, Oberon Fairy King was released last month by British indie polish maker A-England as part of the new Shakespeare's Fairies collection. Creator Adina describes it as a complex dark smoky green hologram with additional iridescent glimmer. The color is a medium, slatey grey-green, heavily silvered by finely-milled holographic pigment that gives it a delicately-grained, Pointillist visual texture and infuses the look with a luminous, dimensional mist of pale greenish gold edged by subtle hints of rainbow hues that come and go depending on viewing circumstances. The scattered holographic flare in the sun is a wonder -- shimmering, mobile swaths of intense, finely-gradated prismatic color that sweep around a glowing swath of lavender along the axis of light and shade to gunmetal at the edges of the nail.

Application was fantastic. The consistency of Oberon Fairy King is fluid and creamy with a medium viscosity and a fluent, buttery, self-leveling slip over the nail that is amenable to thin or thicker coats as preference dictates. Pigmentation is very good to excellent and produces completely even opaque coverage in two coats. Cleanup is easy. Oberon Fairy King dries naturally in very good time to a beautiful glossy finish. Topcoat does not affect the holographic properties of the polish in any way.

Photos show two coats of Oberon Fairy King over KBShimmer Love You Strong Time treatment and KBShimmer Fillin' Groovy basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

A-England Oberon Fairy King

Gosh, I love this so much! It's actually much more noticeably holographic in ambient light than you'd guess from these pics, and feels just perfect for Shakespeare's Oberon and the illusion-filled atmosphere of A Midsummer Night's Dream -- a stormy grey mist within which bloom ephemeral, poignantly beautiful rainbows. The prismatic effects are exquisitely rendered, sometimes subtle, sometimes intense but always incredibly elegant and beautiful -- the very essence of what makes holographic nail polish so magical. Extraordinarily graceful and gratifying on the nail, I feel like I could wear it forever.

xo,
Liz

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Dreamland Eep Opp Ork Ah Ah

Eep Opp Ork Ah Ah was created by Noelie of Missouri-based indie polish maker Dreamland Artisan Nail Lacquer especially for the April 2018 "Across the Universe: Planets and Galaxies" edition of Polish Pickup. It was inspired by Noelie's favorite "Win a Date with a Jet Screamer" episode of the venerable animated sitcom The Jetsons, and you can see the clip that gave it its name here.

Officially described as an "indigo jelly base with sparkly holo glitter and blue/purple shifty shimmer," the color is a deep zaffre shade, a dark but bright stained glass kind of blue that's like a mix of cobalt and ultramarine, very potent. Superabundant holographic glitters blanket the polish with twinkling azure sparks and create a bright semi-metallic azure reflect, giving the polish strong aspects of modern royal blue in ambient light. The shimmers add to the richness of the blue, which shifts through indigo to a glowing royal purple as you turn your nails into your light source as well as under incandescent light. But this polish really comes into its own in the sun, where the zaffre hue takes on an incredibly rich, bold, fathomless quality and the holographic glitters burst into a dense, starry field of bright prismatic sparkle.

Application was a little tetchy for me. The consistency of Eep Opp Ork Ah Ah is fluid, dense with glitters and somewhat fluffy with a medium-to-thicker viscosity to which I added a bit of polish thinner to at several points to keep a viscosity I was comfortable with. It has a full-bodied flow over the nail that sets up quickly and went on most easily for me in generous coats. Pigmentation is excellent for a jelly -- it's nearly opaque in one coat. I used two for this manicure. I did my cleanup as I went along and experienced some glitter scattering but little to no pigment travel or trace staining. Eep Opp Ork Ah Ah dries naturally in good time to a gently textured, matte-ish finish that wants a nice, thick glossy topcoat to look its best.

Photos show two coats of Eep Opp Ork Ah Ah over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Girly Bits Glitter Glaze.

Dreamland Eep Opp Ork Ah Ah

Bold and full of sparkle, just as you'd want for a cosmic, intergalactic kind of look! The extravagant depth and vibrancy it takes on in the sun is extraordinary, and the color-shifting shimmers cast hints of indigo and purple along the contours of the nail in various viewing circumstances, adding that bit of complexity that lets you know that this is not just another glittery dark blue. Fantastic!

love,
Liz

Friday, April 27, 2018

A-England A Midsummer Night's Dream

Hello, I've returned! Charlottesville was beautiful. It's a couple of weeks behind Chapel Hill as far as spring goes, so while the dogwoods are petering out here, they're in full bloom up there and there were loads of white and pink dogwood blossoms everywhere, suspended like lacy clouds in the misty spring green of the landscape. My 79-year-old father and his new wife were married at noon outdoors on a cool, bright, sunny spring day in front of a venerable deciduous magnolia that was covered in big, bursting purpley-mauve blooms with the rolling hills of the Virginia piedmont as a background.

Today's polish is the first of eight holographic creations from British indie polish maker A-England's new collection, Shakespeare's Fairies, released in March and inspired by the fairies of William Shakespeare's popular comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream. The polish I have for you today is the namesake of that play, officially described as a delicate rose hologram with iridescent shimmers.

The base color is a pale, silvery queen pink bearing beaucoup finely-milled, luminous violet shimmers, which read as lavender on the nail and combine with the base color to give the polish a general appearance similar to Pantone's pink lavender, but more desaturated and silvery. It's the sort of misty, lightly-tinted silvery holo that Adina does so beautifully. There's a gentle, mobile golden prismatic flush in ambient light that explodes into a dense, sparkling scattered holographic flare in the sun with a certain dusky quality to it that surprised me.

Application was wonderful. The consistency of A Midsummer Night's Dream is fluid, light and smooth with a medium viscosity and a fluent, creamy, self-leveling slip over the nail that goes on naturally in thin-to-medium coats from A-England's excellent, flexible, paddle-style brush. Pigmentation is very good, delivering evenly opaque coverage in two coats. Cleanup is easy. A Midsummer Night's Dream dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat accentuates the presence of the violet shimmers and does not affect the holographic properties of the polish in any way.

Photos show two coats of A Midsummer Night's Dream over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

A-England A Midsummer Night's Dream

This is a beautiful, supremely elegant polish, smooth and serene on the nail with that gorgeous, misty, dimensional prismatic bloom that makes you want to be constantly flexing your fingers to see it travel up and down the nail. The shimmer effects are particularly prevalent, producing a soft, unambiguous pink-lavender color that's graceful and flattering. Very nice!

love,
Liz

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Cirque Dusky Skies

Like Taos and Palm Springs, Dusky Skies was released earlier this month by NYC-based indie polish maker Cirque Colors as part of the Desert Bloom collection. This polish shares the same vibrant pink shimmer and delicate holographic sparkle as the other two, here in what is described as a deep blue-violet base.

The color is a medium-dark to dark but vibrant modern royal blue, also known as web royal blue. It combines with the pink shimmers to produce a gorgeous, shifty blue-violet melange with aspects of ultramarine, color wheel violet, indigo, electric indigo and Munsell purple that vary in prominence and depth of hue according to viewing circumstances. Running along the axis of light is a broad, dimensional mist of visible shimmers that ranges in appearance from pink in direct light to a rich Munsell purple in low light and shade. Tiny, scattered holographic microglitters with a dainty, unobtrusive prismatic twinkle complete the look.

Application was wonderful. The consistency of Dusky Skies is fluid, light and smooth with a medium viscosity and a fluent, even, self-leveling glide over the nail. Pigmentation is very good. Some sheerness on the first coat builds quickly to a wearable opacity with the second if using medium coats. Thinner coats will require three. Cleanup is easy. Dusky Skies dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, satiny finish that wants a glossy topcoat to look its best.

Photos show three coats of Dusky Skies over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Cirque Dusky Skies

Beautiful! This my favorite of the three Desert Bloom polishes that I purchased.

My father is getting married on 21 April and I'll be driving up to Charlottesville, VA tomorrow to attend the wedding, staying for the weekend and into next week so I'm not sure exactly when I'll be posting again. Probably not for a week or so. Not to worry, I'll be back!

love,
Liz

Monday, April 16, 2018

Colors by Llarowe Life is a Highway

Life is a Highway was released in April 2016 by Colorado-based indie polish maker Colors by Llarowe as part of the Tribute to a Wonderful Friend collection, and is described as a "magenta pink jelly with scattered holo and magenta and purple iridescent micro glitter." The color is indeed a vibrant, medium-dark variation of magenta that reads as a pinker violet-red in bright direct light and a redder telemagenta in lower light and shade. It's packed with minute microglitters in pink and purple for a subtle sparkle in ambient light that explodes into a brilliant, glittery field of twinkling sparks in the sun, complete with scattered prismatic sparkle in all of the rainbow colors.

Application was great! The consistency of Life is a Highway is fluid and dense with microglitters, with a medium viscosity and a full-bodied, self-leveling flow over the nail that went on best for me in medium-to-thicker coats from a well-loaded brush. Pigmentation is excellent. You could wear this at one coat for a brighter, pinker look or two to three for a darker, more bottle-color look. Cleanup is straightforward with some scattering and stickiness of the microglitters as well as a little bit of pigment travel with a hint of residual staining. Life is a Highway dries naturally in very good time to a sandy-textured, matte finish that smooths to glossy perfection with a layer of glitter-smoothing topcoat.

Photos show two to three coats of Life is a Highway over KBShimmer Love You Strong Time treatment and KBShimmer Fillin' Groovy basecoat with a topcoat of Girly Bits Glitter Glaze. All nails have two coats except for the middle finger nail, which has three. In person, the difference is almost unnoticeable but you can really see it here!

Colors by Llarowe Life is a Highway

Love this rich, deep magenta color and the twinkling, disco-ball sparkle in the sun is outrageously pretty and so much fun! Excellent!

love,
Liz

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Painted Polish Blush Babe

Like Ruffles & Romance, Blush Babe was released earlier this month by California-based indie polish maker Painted Polish as part of the I Love Blush collection. Described as "a nude leaning blush ultra holo with added silver holographic glitters," this polish is like a sparkly, iridescent bronzer for your nails.

The color is a complex, toasty tan-leaning nude, say equal parts tan and unbleached silk with champagne pink highlights, but it's so holographic and flashy that you don't really see an exact color -- more like an impression of a color. There's a prominent prismatic flush in misty hues of lavender, pink and palest azure edged with gold and a whisper-thin thread of red in ambient light, and a gleaming, highly-reflective pale coppery-gold underlay with a brilliant flash, the whole dotted with bright, twinkling prismatic sparks from the holographic glitters. Direct sun elicits a textbook linear prismatic flare featuring the full retinue of rainbow colors.

Application was fabulous. The consistency of Blush Babe is fluid, light and smooth with a thinner-to-medium viscosity and a fluent, silky, self-leveling slip over the nail that goes on naturally in thin coats from a moderately loaded brush. Pigmentation is sheerish on the first coat but will build to a wearable opacity in two with a medium second coat. I added a third for the photos. Cleanup is easy, even with the glitters. Blue Babe dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat does not interfere with the holographic properties of the polish in any way.

Photos show three coats of Blush Babe over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Painted Polish Blush Babe

This is really rather stunning! My skin tone is not the best showcase considering the native warmth of the color, but I love it anyway. Like I said, it reminds me of bronzer but for your nails, with a glamorous, beachy, bain-de-soleil kind of vibe and that delicious "toasted" quality that frames the prismatic effects. The prominence of the holo and all the sparkle and flash makes it really showy and eye-catching on the nail. Glorious!

xo,
Liz