Lacquer Slacker Liz: Colors by Llarowe Life is a Highway

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!