Lacquer Slacker Liz: Aliquid Lacquer

Showing posts with label Aliquid Lacquer. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Aliquid Lacquer Such a Delicious Scheme

Such a Delicious Scheme was released by indie polish maker Aliquid Lacquer as part of the Austentatious collection on the first of this month. This collection was inspired by the Bennet sisters from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and is a series of colors featuring ultrachrome flake shimmers. Such a Delicious Scheme is a creamy medium-dark berried plum bearing a modicum of multichromatic flakies in blue, green, pink, gold and purple and, from what I see, a sprinkling of holographic pigment. This is just such a perfect Jane Austen heroine shade, dark but richly colored with a sense of Victorian propriety plus a touch of the tempestuous. I'm totally digging it! The effects of the flakies in this deep hue are very subtle, but in the sun especially the flashes of color combine with tiny rainbow sparks from the holo pigment to produce a splendid glistening tapestried look.

Application was lovely. The consistency of Such a Delicious Scheme is quite fluid but not runny, creamy and smooth with a trouble-free glide over the nail. The ultrachrome flakies are relatively small in size and apply smoothly with no stickups or free edge protrusions. I kind of wish that there were more of the flakies in this polish, because unless they are right up at or near the surface they tend to be hidden by the deep color of the base, but then perhaps the polish wouldn't apply as nicely as it does now. The flakies do disperse evenly across the nail and do not clump. Pigmentation is very good, with opaque coverage in two coats, which is what I used for this manicure. Thanks to my uneven hand and a slight translucence in the polish formula, there's a little bit of variation in the opacity across my manicure. Note to self: even coats are key! Cleanup is easy and straightforward, with almost no pigment travel and no residual staining. Such a Delicious Scheme dries naturally in good time to a smooth shiny finish with a tiny bit of visual texture from the flakies.

Photos show two coats of Such a Delicious Scheme over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Aliquid Lacquer Such a Delicious Scheme

This is a great polish for professional circumstances and the like, when your polish must be somewhat discreet but you still want it to have some of that creative pizazz that lets you express yourself through your polish, which is one of the reasons we love the unusual, inventive creations of indie polish makers. Such a Delicious Scheme's composition is subtle but nicely balanced and still packs a sweet dose of artistry to warm the cockles of a polish enthusiast's heart.

love,
Liz

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Aliquid Lacquer Puppy Love

I can't remember exactly where I saw the first swatches of Puppy Love from indie polish maker Aliquid Lacquer, but I know that the next thing I did after seeing them was get on over to Alison's shop and snag a bottle. Until I learned about this polish I did not know that October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, and in a generous act of creativity and support Alison is donating $5 from the sale of each bottle to the ASPCA in honor of her adopted dog, Trudy, whose silhouette graces Aliquid's logo.

All but one of the dogs my family has had the privilege of sharing our lives with have come from shelters or were rescues, so this is a cause dear to my heart. My current dog, Chi, was abandoned as a young dog in the rural countryside near Saxapahaw, NC. A farmer living nearby picked her up but already had five dogs of his own. Through an intermediate home and mutual friends she eventually crossed my path and has been my darling comfort pup for the past ten years. She's a beagle/boxer mix, sweet as pie, a spooner and a total goofball. We adore her! More about her later, let's take a look at this awesome polish....

Puppy Love is a medium-toned vibrant blue-green shimmer polish, sort of a green leaning teal or a minty deep turquoise. It's laced with beautiful microflake shimmers in iridescent pink and gold along with a handful of holographic particles that give it a dusting of rainbow sparks in the sun. The beautiful shimmers are especially apparent in bright indirect light, and complement the blue-green creme/jelly hybrid base perfectly. It's a graceful, happy composition, easy to wear and pleasing to the eye.

Application was delicious. The consistency of Puppy Love is fluid, smooth, creamy and dense, with an easy flow over the nail and excellent self-leveling properties. It has an ideal balance of fluidity and viscosity for painting and is easily manipulated with Aliquid's round flexible brush. Being a crelly, there is a bit of translucence to this polish and opacity must be built with multiple coats. I used three for this manicure. Cleanup is easy too. The microflakes do like to hang around and I wish I had taken a little more care with my cleanup but overall the polish applies so effortlessly that I imagine most folks will have very little cleanup afterwards. Puppy Love dries naturally in good time to a smooth shiny finish. Topcoat enhances the presence of the shimmers.

Photos show three coats of Puppy Love over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of HK Girl.

Aliquid Lacquer Puppy Love

So pretty! A wonderful, very special polish for an important cause, I'm proud to have Puppy Love in my collection and grateful to Alison for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the ASPCA in this way.

Of course I couldn't finish this post without including some photos of Chi!

Chi, my beloved beagle/boxer rescue modeling her new "no-smell" collar from Dublin Dog -- her stubby tail is natural... she also has a boxer's climbing ability and affinity for small children.

Sweet pup!

Chi quickly learned to jump up on any platform at the command "table" -- she's very smart, highly treat motivated and was easy to train.

Queen of all she surveys, here she is in her pen... she's a good watchdog (no need for a doorbell on this house), but once introduced doesn't know a stranger, is a graceful hostess and never jumps up or puts her paws on anyone -- but she will poke her nose under your hand or elbow for some attention.

Chi demonstrates her ability to "Wait!" -- note the dog biscuit on the corner of the red bench... she also adores playing "Find it," a game where we have her sit and stay, then hide treats in another room for her to sniff out.

Me and Chi having fun with Apple's Photo Booth in my messy office....

Chi out in her first snow, one of my favorite photos of her....

That's my honey pup! Thanks for reading!

love,
Liz

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Aliquid Lacquer Unending Night

Unending Night was just released by indie polish maker Aliquid Lacquer as part of the Angel in Hell collection for Halloween 2014, a collection inspired by The Phantom of the Opera.

Alison describes Unending Night as a "blackened blue-purple linear holographic polish with copper and red sparks." To my eye, this polish is not so much blackened as it is muted and subtle. It has a dark dusky violet base sprinkled with particle shimmer in copper and red and liberally dosed with fine holographic pigment. It has two distinct personalities. In shade and indirect light it is a deep sleek violet with fine, subtle sparks of copper and red that provide amazing depth, and a silvery sheen that reminds me of silk velvet. In direct sun more of the blue can be seen in the base, which bursts with a strong, bright linear prismatic display. The two faces do overlap in very bright indirect light, with a rainbow of sparks from the holo pigment combining with the copper and red shimmers to light up the entire nail. I am super impressed with this classy, elegant creation.

Application was wonderful. The consistency of Unending Night is fluid, creamy and smooth, with a silky glide over the nail and excellent self-leveling properties. Pigmentation is also excellent -- it's very nearly a one coater. I used two coats for this manicure and that's what I would recommend for fullest, richest color and completely even opaque coverage. Cleanup is a snap, with absolutely no trace of staining or trails of pigment across the skin. Unending Night dries naturally in fairly good time to a smooth shiny finish.

Photos show two coats of Unending Night over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Aliquid Lacquer Unending Night

Sorry I don't have any direct sun shots for you. The ones I took turned out too dark to adequately represent what this polish looks like in full holographic regalia, but I think you can see enough of how reactive the holo pigment is in indirect light to imagine the brilliance of the display in the sun, where the base flashes a deep but brilliant blue.

But the violet with its pinkish copper and red sparkles amidst the holo's rainbow twinkles just sends me. Such a rich, grown-up purple! I love how it has depth and luster and plenty of visual interest while maintaining a graceful low-key presence. And as good as it looks, that's how nicely it goes on. Unending Night is just a bottle of all around win, and I recommend it with all my heart to anyone who loves deep, sophisticated, well-groomed colors with that something special in them that makes them unique. Well done, Alison!

love,
Liz

Monday, August 25, 2014

Aliquid Lacquer Yooper

Today I have a beautiful deep green shimmer to show you. It's called Yooper, and was released by indie polish maker Aliquid Lacquer as part of the recent Two Pleasant Peninsulas collection, a tribute to creator Alison's home state of Michigan. The inspiration for this particular polish was Michigan's Upper Peninsula, whose residents are colloquially referred to as "yoopers," thus accounting for the appellation.

Yooper has a dark slightly murky translucent foresty green jelly base that is just packed with a simply gorgeous combination of irregularly-shaped flecky shimmers in dark emerald, azure, gold and a lovely warm coppery brown, plus a twinkly mist of holographic particles. It comes together just perfectly, with the engrossing finely-grained, mini-mosaic dimensionality that I adore in a shimmer polish, a field of deep strong green sparkling with flashes of color from the shimmer flecks and holo particles. I adore this beautifully constructed polish, it's shot immediately to the top of my favorite dark greens.

Watching the shimmers go on was just blissful. Yooper's jelly base is consistent with its nature, gel-like and a little sticky. I added polish thinner to my bottle to get a more fluid, easier to apply consistency as my skills with thicker polishes are not so hot. Thinned out, the flow over the nail was smooth, even and self-leveling, very paintable. The first coat goes on a bit sheerly as you would expect, but this polish builds to opacity quite easily. Two coats would probably be enough for regular wear but for richest color and the photos I did three and I'm glad I did. Cleanup was a snap, with no trace of staining. Even the flecks of shimmer graciously allowed themselves to be swept away with the cleanup brush and did not cling to skin and cuticles as some shimmers are wont to do. Yooper dries naturally in good time to a silky smooth shiny finish. A layer of topcoat helps to pop the shimmer colors.

Photos show three coats of Yooper over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Glisten and Glow HK Girl.

Aliquid Lacquer Yooper

This is one of those polishes that intrigues from afar and then becomes more and more interesting the closer you get to it. Looking at it just makes my eyes so happy! And I love the intoxicating dark green that Alison has turned out here, it's blue enough to be immediately foresty and yellow enough to be totally organic. The shimmer colors are perfect in that green, they animate it in a way that is eminently true to Alison's inspiration. Really, could she have done her state more proud? I think not!

Wonderful polish!

love,
Liz