Barielle Rachel Red

I love random swaps of polish. You never know what discoveries await when a big box o' polish arrives from a fellow polish enthusiast, as one did here recently courtesy of my favorite polish fairy, the delightful Marisa of Tiny Twinklings. Such a wonderful box, thank you so much my dear! I'm still sorting through all the goodies therein, but I squealed in delight when I came across today's polish, Rachel Red from Barielle. Oh this color! I knew it needed nail time ASAP!

I know that Rachel Red is part of Barielle's core line, but that's about all the provenance I can give you. It's officially described as a "fire engine red," and I agree. As I was applying it, I was like, oh hello there Zoya Janel dupe -- Janel being the deeper of the two reds that belong to Zoya's new Focus collection for fall 2015. But after studying images of Janel I'm waffling on that duplicate status. They're both medium-dark cool-leaning red cremes, but Rachel Red feels slightly cleaner and more blue-toned to me, with less of an autumnal demeanor. I love blue-based reds and Rachel Red is delicious. It's not what I think of as vampy, but it's definitely deep enough to mean business if you know what I saying. At the same time, the color is rich and saturated, with a certain vibrancy to it that allows it to access the vivacious, flirty aspect of feminine energy without relinquishing the sense of power and potency carried by all deep red polishes.

Application was luscious. What a nice formula! The consistency of Rachel Red is fluid, creamy and dense, with a silky glide over the nail and outstanding self-leveling properties. I'm not the biggest fan of Barielle's brush -- the bristles have always seemed a little stiff to me -- but this polish goes where you put it and stays there without running or pooling. Pigmentation is also outstanding; this beauty is a one-coater. I used a second coat to finesse some of my lines, but it made no difference to the opacity or the color. Cleanup, on the other hand, is a bear due to copious pigment travel the instant the polish comes in contact with acetone and the residual pinkish staining to skin and cuticles. The only thing to be done in such cases is to effect as clean a manicure as possible from the outset, a task make considerably easier with a superb formula like this one. Rachel Red dries naturally in good time to a beautiful glossy finish. 

Photos show two coats of Rachel Red over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Barielle Rachel Red

Barielle Rachel Red

Barielle Rachel Red

Barielle Rachel Red

Barielle Rachel Red

Barielle Rachel Red

Barielle Rachel Red

Barielle Rachel Red

Barielle Rachel Red

Barielle Rachel Red

Barielle Rachel Red

Rachel Red is available singly for $8USD or as part of a $25USD five-pack of red polishes called Red Haute Mamas, which also includes Bold n' [sic, really...] Confident, Vivacious, Katalicious and Elle's Spell, a nice selection for you red lovers out there.

love,
Liz

Barielle Polished Princess

Polished Princess was released by Barielle as part of the All Lacquered Up collection for fall 2009, a collaborative effort between Barielle and Michelle Mismas of the venerable polish blog All Lacquered Up. If you would like to read her post featuring Polished Princess, you can find it here.

This polish is a vibrant medium golden green shimmer. It has a slightly swampy yellow-green base with warm mossy olive undertones to it containing superabundant finely milled golden shimmer, which gives it a bit of a frosty creme rinse character although it does not show brushstrokes as much as a typical frost does. The golden shimmer throws sparks of bright spring green, aqua and coppery orange through the strata of polish and has a scintillating sparkle in the sun. In shade and indirect light, this polish has a striking golden green glow.

Application was quite satisfactory. Polished Princess has a fluid, smooth, slightly oily consistency with a nice density for painting. It has excellent even, self-leveling flow over the nail and is easy to control and manipulate. I had no problems with running, pooling, patching or any other sort of unruly polish behavior. Pigmentation could be better, though. Polished Princess was quite sheer and fugly-looking on the first coat. After the second, there were still sheerish areas and visible nail line in a few places and to be honest I almost decided to take it off right then. But then with the third coat I got fully opaque coverage and the true character of this strange green shimmer suddenly coalesced for me. However well it applies, this polish really doesn't come together unless you get to that point. Cleanup was easy and straightforward. Polished Princess sets and surface dries in fairly good time but the polish underneath takes longer than average to dry completely. The natural finish is smooth and shiny. 

Photos show three coats of Polished Princess over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite, which helped substantially with the dry time. I wouldn't try wearing this polish without a quick dry topcoat.

Barielle Polished Princess

Barielle Polished Princess

Barielle Polished Princess

Barielle Polished Princess

Barielle Polished Princess

Barielle Polished Princess

Barielle Polished Princess

Barielle Polished Princess

Barielle Polished Princess

As I was swatching this all I could think about was the story about the princess who kissed a frog that turned into a prince. Metaphors aside, if the genders were reversed and a prince kissed a frog that turned into a princess, this is the nail polish she'd be wearing. Can't you just see it? 

I have to admit that I was prepared not to like this polish even though it's been on my wishlist for the longest time. As I began applying it, I thought: what was I thinking? But after that third coat, it all comes together and you have a lively, chic glowing green polish with an air of casual elegance to it that is completely unexpected. It really does look fabulous on the nail, unusual and lithe and athletic somehow. Like if I gave it something to do it would get done tout suite, and done well at that.

I think I'll keep this one on for a while and let it grow on me some more!

love,
Liz

Barielle Blackened Bleu

Blackened Bleu was released in 2009 as part of Barielle's All Lacquered Up collection in collaboration with Michelle Mismas of the fantastic polish blog All Lacquered Up. It is a dark shimmer polish that has a translucent charcoal/black jelly base swimming with abundant bright capri blue shimmers. In low light, Blackened Bleu comes off as almost a dark navy or very blackened teal. Direct bright light summons up an explosion of brilliant sparkling capri blue shimmers across the point of impact, which look especially stunning against the darkened edges of this polish. Kinda like "lit from within 2.0" or something.

Application was not the nightmare I was expecting. On the contrary, Blackened Bleu is an extremely well-behaved polish. It has a liquid but thick, almost oily consistency, glides easily onto the nail and is immediately self-leveling. I experienced neither patch pulling nor bounce back. Opacity, as you'd expect from a polish with a translucent base, is buildable with the first coat being terrifyingly sheer. Coverage totally blooms from coat two onwards. I opted for three coats for maximum opacity, depth and richness of color. Blackened Bleu dries in very good time to a beautiful glossy finish. I added fast dry topcoat only to accelerate the drying process and protect against smudging.

Photos were taken in the kitchen under the halogens and show three coats of Blackened Bleu over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Barielle Blackened Bleu

Barielle Blackened Bleu

Barielle Blackened Bleu

Barielle Blackened Bleu

Barielle Blackened Bleu

Barielle Blackened Bleu

Barielle Blackened Bleu

Barielle Blackened Bleu

Barielle Blackened Bleu

Barielle Blackened Bleu

Barielle Blackened Bleu

Barielle Blackened Bleu

Barielle Blackened Bleu

As much as I like this polish, I did experience tip pull on several nails. I made sure to carefully wrap my tips with both the polish and topcoat, so I think the tip pull may intrinsic. The jelly base of Blackened Bleu just has that kind of feel to it, that it would shrink as it dries, and being as sheer as it is any shrinkage is going to show. With a dark polish like this, that would exaggerate the inevitable tipwear that naturally occurs with use over time. I'm inclined to call this a dealbreaker. It greatly diminishes the joy of spending time and care on a well-manicured look to see those hateful little light stripes across the tips of your nails in a matter of hours.

Granted, the tip pull is more apparent to me than to someone else looking at my manicure, but really that's beside the point because I don't do my nails for other people, I do them for myself. I'm going to give Blackened Bleu another chance because it's a pretty polish and I don't have many blackened polishes in my collection... yet. But you know I'll be on the look out now!

love,
Aunt Liz

Grey: Chick Gr8 Gray Owl, Misa Grey Matters and Barielle Out-Grey-Geous

The other day I herded a small flock of untried greys into my swatching chute and now I'm ready to try them out.


The first grey I have for you is Gr8 Gray Owl from Chick. Chick is an indie polish maker on a mission to make our lives less toxic -- more power to them! Their handcrafted polishes are vegan-friendly and free of carcinogens, and come in neat rectangular bottles with a carefully selected high-end round brush and a sweet chick logo on the front. I purchased Gr8 Gray Owl as part of a stout Llarowe haul early this past spring. It's a beautifully formulated light-medium Gainsboro grey creme with a smooth fluid consistency that flows easily onto the nail. The brush reminds me of Essie's in size, it has a petite diameter and flexible bristles that do not overload and fan out nicely over the nail when applying.

Gr8 Gray Owl is a superbly balanced grey. To my eye, it wants to lean cool on my nails but swatching on the wheel reveals it's perfect neutrality. It has a soft presence as you would expect and creamy sleek look. It dries naturally to a glossy shine.

Photos show two coats of Gr8 Gray Owl over treatment and basecoat plus a topcoat of Poshe.

Chick Gr8 Gray Owl

Chick Gr8 Gray Owl

Chick Gr8 Gray Owl

Chick Gr8 Gray Owl

Chick Gr8 Gray Owl

Chick Gr8 Gray Owl

Chick Gr8 Gray Owl

Chick Gr8 Gray Owl

Chick Gr8 Gray Owl

Chick Gr8 Gray Owl

Chick Gr8 Gray Owl

Chick Gr8 Gray Owl

Chick Gr8 Gray Owl

Chick Gr8 Gray Owl

The second grey for today is Grey Matters from Misa. Grey Matters is a light silvery grey creme with very fine iridescent shimmers and dainty charcoal flecks. The components really give this nicely balanced neutral a certain special je ne sais quoi (hey, FRENCH!), aka visual texture. The iridescent shimmers are only barely noticeable on the nail, but their presence adds a subtle overall glow, not quite metallic but light reflective in that way. The charcoal flecks are a delicious counterpoint to the light grey of the base and give Grey Matters an interesting speckled egg look that I find extremely fetching. This polish has a silkier and slightly lighter feel on the nail than Gr8 Gray Owl.
Application was easy and smooth. Photos show two coats of Grey Matters over treatment and basecoat plus a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Misa Grey Matters

Misa Grey Matters

Misa Grey Matters, with bonus dirt crumbles, nice... NOT!

Misa Grey Matters

Misa Grey Matters

Misa Grey Matters, with bonus doink

Misa Grey Matters

Misa Grey Matters

Misa Grey Matters

Misa Grey Matters

Misa Grey Matters

Misa Grey Matters

Misa Grey Matters

Misa Grey Matters

The third and final grey of this post is Out-Grey-Geous by Barielle. Out-Grey-Geous was released in 2009 as part of their All Lacquered Up collection, which was a collaboration between Barielle celebrity manicurist Elle and polish blogger Michelle from All Lacquered Up. It's a great collection and I own several polishes from it.

Out-Grey-Geous is a medium metallic charcoaly grey shimmer polish with golden glitter flecks in addition to loads of silvery shimmers. I adore mixed metals, I think they are the height of sophisticated chic when done well, and I love the concept of this polish. If I could redo the construction of it, I'd take away about three quarters of the silver shimmer and replace it with grey pigment. As it is, Out-Grey-Geous is somewhat sheer and -- dare I use the "f" word? -- frosty.

Frosts were the height of nail polish couture in the 1980s and since that time have been in an ever more rapid and steep decline. At present, the word alone is enough to trigger gag reflexes in the majority of nail polish enthusiasts, including me. To me, a frost is a polish that a formulator wasn't well-budgeted enough to finish properly so they threw in a boatload of highly reflective shimmer along with the towel. I'm sure there are folks out there who disagree with this somewhat cavalier assessment, but that's how I feel.

So it's no surprise that Out-Grey-Geous is my least favorite polish of the three in this post. Still, the inclusion of gold glitters in the silvery charcoal grey is a beautiful touch. If the polish had a less shimmery finish, they would stand out even more than they do. As it is, close scrutiny and the right angle of light are required to give them the appreciation they deserve.

Because it was so sheer, I applied Out-Grey-Geous right over my Misa Grey Matters manicure. Had I started without a base polish, I would have needed at least three coats possibly four to achieve aesthetically pleasing opacity. Photos show two coats of Out-Grey-Geous over the Grey Matters manicure above with a topcoat of Seche Vite. My application and clean up on this manicure left something to be desired, my apologies.

Barielle Out-Grey-Geous

Barielle Out-Grey-Geous

Barielle Out-Grey-Geous

Barielle Out-Grey-Geous

Barielle Out-Grey-Geous

Barielle Out-Grey-Geous

Barielle Out-Grey-Geous

Barielle Out-Grey-Geous

Barielle Out-Grey-Geous

Barielle Out-Grey-Geous

Barielle Out-Grey-Geous

Barielle Out-Grey-Geous

Barielle Out-Grey-Geous

Barielle Out-Grey-Geous

So there you have it, three grey polishes. The spectrum of this comparison reminds me of a discus throw: you start with the creme, then there's the point of release with the flecked creme and then there's a good bit of distance to the shimmer. To continue the metaphor further than necessary or tasteful, probably farthest out, the landing spot for the disc, would be a stark black and white glitter mix in a clear base like Lynnderella's Connect The Dots.

To me, grey polish is less about drama and more about satisfaction, hitting that sweet spot that gives you a little spiritual boost. Of course, there are times when drama IS the sweet spot, in which case colors other than grey are called for. But when the yen is for something effortlessly classy and sophisticated, grey is an excellent choice. 

I think I'll be on the look out for more of those "sweet spot" greys after this post!

love,
Aunt Liz