Lacquer Slacker Liz: Creme a la Mode

Showing posts with label Creme a la Mode. Show all posts

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Digital Nails Melonade

This is my last sneak peek at what's coming in the Summer 2016 Creme a la Mode box, to be released this month. It's Melonade from Texas-based contributor Digital Nails!

This is a fabulous neon coral, a sumptuous, electric pink-orange with just enough red in it to give it a lush all-over glow, kind of like the way that tanned skin glows if it gets a little burned, and there's a creamy aspect to it that makes it just that much more delicious! On me, the color has an undeniable salmony lean in most lights, but there's quite a bit of rosy pink goodness in there too so it's actually quite difficult to determine just how orange it really is. The color is so intense that trying to figure it out makes my eyes feel like they're attempting a hyperspace jump!

As with the other polishes from this box that I've shown you over the past few days, application was a profoundly gratifying experience. The consistency of Melonade is fluid, full-bodied and super smooth with a thin-to-medium viscosity and a luxuriously creamy glide over the nail that self-levels beautifully. Just an awesome formula! I recommend thinner coats with a bit of dry time in between for happiest application. Pigmentation is very good, delivering wearably opaque coverage in two to three coats. This polish becomes more densely opaque and creamier looking with each coat, so its kind of a matter of personal preference as to how many coats. I used three for this manicure. Cleanup is straightforward with some pigment travel and just a skosh of residual staining. Melonade dries naturally in very good time to a beautiful glossy finish, unusual for a neon.

Photos show three coats of Melonade over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. Despite how grey my skin looks in these pics, I assure you that I am not dead (yet). That's just how very bright this polish is!

Digital Nails Melonade

Unequivocally NEON!!! So fresh! ... exciting... she's so inviting to me.... Yes, I went there, don't judge! Anyway, this is the kind of juicy neon that everyone should have access to in the summer. Good thing that the Summer 2016 Creme a la Mode box is coming soon!

To recap, Creme a la Mode is a quarterly box featuring a creme polish each from four indie brands: Digital Nails, Indigo Bananas, Literary Lacquers and Octopus Party Nail Lacquer. The polishes that make up the upcoming Summer 2016 box are today's Digital Nails Melonade, Indigo Bananas Creme Bluelé, Literary Lacquers Cyan-Tifically Proven and OPNL You Me and Daiquiri. Follow Creme a la Mode or join its Fan Club on Facebook to keep up with the latest info about the impending release of this awesome box o' polish!

love,
Liz

ps. This polish was provided for my honest review.

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Literary Lacquers Cyan-Tifically Proven

Like Creme Bluelé and You Me and Daiquiri, today's polish will be featured in the upcoming Summer 2016 edition of the Creme a la Mode box to be released later this month. It's Cyan-Tifically Proven, from New Mexico-based Creme a la Mode contributor Literary Lacquers.

Cyan-Tifically Proven is a beautiful true medium turquoise, a lush creamy cyanic shade with aspects of light sea green and a gently muted quality that reminds me of the polished gemstone from Nevada's Royston mine or older Kingman turquoise from Arizona. There's a certain amount of translucence to the color that allows some light to suffuse and bring out its brilliance. I read that in general, turquoise is approximately 70% blue and 30% green. This one to me has a greenish edge to it in most lights, like something along the line of pearl mystic turquoise. But interpretation of the color and whether it leans more to blue or to green will probably be a highly personal matter, I expect, and influenced as well by the wearer's own skin tone.

Application was wonderful. The consistency of Cyan-Tifically Proven is fluid, light and creamy with a thin-to-medium viscosity (my favorite) and a smooth, fluent glide over the nail. It's a user-friendly formula, amenable to thin or thicker coats and easy to manipulate with Literary Lacquers' round flexible brush. Self-leveling properties are excellent and pigmentation is very good. Two coats delivers evenly opaque coverage to shorter nails. If you have long nails or use very thin coats, you might want a third. I used three thin-to-medium coats for this manicure. Cleanup is easy. Cyan-Tifically Proven dries naturally in very good time to a gorgeous glossy finish.

Photos show three coats of Cyan-Tifically Proven over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Literary Lacquers Cyan-Tifically Proven

In person, there's just a touch more green to the color than what you see here, which plants it a bit more and gives it more weight. Combined with its sleek glossiness, this gives the polish a substantial and stylish presence in addition to the uplifting, balanced serenity that is a hallmark of turquoise. They say that in times of stress and fatigue, if you spend a few moments concentrating on something turquoise you will find a sense of calm and gentle invigoration. I've never tried it, but maybe I should!

Don't forget to follow Creme a la Mode or join its Fan Club on Facebook to keep up with the latest info about the impending release of the Summer 2016 box!

ttyl,
Liz

ps. This polish was provided for my honest review.

Friday, July 1, 2016

Octopus Party Nail Lacquer You, Me, and Daiquiri

Like yesterday's Creme Bluelé, You Me and Daiquiri will be included in the upcoming Summer 2016 Creme a la Mode box, a collection of four cremes, one each from hosts Digital Nails, Indigo Bananas, Literary Lacquers and Octopus Party Nail Lacquer (OPNL), that will launch sometime this month. You Me and Daiquiri was created by Dave of OPNL.

This is a creamy pastel peach, desaturated to a tender, barely-there tint. It is particularly nicely-balanced, with a subtle infusion of pink that maintains an unmuddied aspect and makes it more wearable for those with cool-based complexions like me. I usually cannot wear peach, but I really like this polish! Chic and summery, I expect it will pop like crazy against a tan with the luminosity of a sun-bleached neon, but a sleeker and more discerning sensibility.

Despite initial trepidations, application was actually quite agreeable! The consistency of You Me and Daiquiri is fluid and super smooth with a medium viscosity. Dilettante that I am, I immediately added polish thinner to bolster my confidence. *lol* Thinned, it has a light, creamy glide over the nail that's not without a bit of grab but self-levels quite well as it sets up. I found it to go on most evenly for me in thin coats from a well-loaded brush with a bit of dry time in between layers to avoid pulling patches. Pigmentation is very good and I expect that some folks out there will be able to turn out a wearably opaque manicure in two coats without thinning the polish a bit. I am not one of those folks, though, and ended up using three thin-to-medium coats for coverage I was happy with. Cleanup is easy. You Me and Daiquiri dries naturally in very good time to a beautiful glossy finish. Topcoat helps to smooth and level out any lingering unevenness.

Photos show three coats of You Me and Daiquiri over Pretty Serious Rock On treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a slightly bubbly topcoat of Seche Vite.

Octopus Party Nail Lacquer You, Me, and Daiquiri

Such a sweet and creamy color, like the blushing baby peach of your imagination! It has a more delicate nature than looking at it in the bottle would lead you to expect and blooms beautifully on the nail. As I said, I generally try to stay away from peach because it tends to become coarse and muddy against my skin, but this one has won my heart. If you love peach but feel like it doesn't do you any favors, try this one. It uses its powers for good!

Follow Creme a la Mode or join its Fan Club on Facebook to keep up with the latest info about the impending release of the Summer 2016 box!

xo,
Liz

ps. This polish was provided for my honest review.

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Indigo Bananas Creme Bluelé

Today I have a sneak preview of one of the polishes from the upcoming summer 2016 edition of the Creme a la Mode box, to be released sometime in July. Creme a la Mode is a quarterly box featuring a creme polish each from four indie brands: Digital Nails, Indigo Bananas, Literary Lacquers and Octopus Party Nail Lacquer. Today's polish is Creme Bluelé, created by Andrea from Indigo Bananas.

The color is a medium-toned, highly-energized azure with apects of cornflower, a marvelous vault-of-heaven blue that is luminous to the point of Dodger blue in its intensity with an accompanying oomph reminiscent of a neon (if neon blues were actually a thing). There's a gently translucent aspect that makes it somewhat changeable depending upon the kind of light in which its viewed, but by and large it is lighter and milkier than my beloved Indigo Bananas Klein Trink Wasser while sharing a bit of that polish's intense nature. It is especially striking under incandescent light, where it takes on a lush, almost violet-tinged ultramarine look.

Application was a blissful affair. The consistency of Creme Bluelé is fluid, dense and ultra smooth with a medium viscosity and a luscious, creamy, self-leveling glide over the nail. It's a fast-drying polish but not so fast that you don't have the opportunity to finesse your application before it sets up, and went on most happily for me in medium coats from a bead-loaded brush. Pigmentation is excellent, with near one-coat coverage and completely even opacity in two coats. Cleanup is easy and straightforward with a skosh of pigment travel as you might expect but very little residual staining. Hooray! Creme Bluelé dries naturally in very good time to a rubbery/satin sort of finish that takes topcoat beautifully.

Photos show two coats of Creme Bluelé over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Indigo Bananas Creme Bluelé

Gorgeous, eh? Gazing at Creme Bluelé in the bottle did not prepare me for such a dazzlingly vibrant presence on the nail -- there's a wow factor at work here, for sure! I dare say that if you're looking for the right blue to rock with your favorite summer neons, this adorably-named lacquer is certainly up to that task.

Over the next three days I'll have sneak peaks of the other three polishes from this edition of the Creme a la Mode box for you to see. Follow Creme a la Mode or join its Fan Club on Facebook to keep up with the latest info about the impending release.

As in the past, contributors to the Creme a la Mode box will have the option to list the polishes they created for it on their respective sales platforms at a later date, so if you miss the pre-order window for the box, you may have the opportunity to purchase the polishes singly in the future.

love,
Liz

ps. This polish was provided for my honest review.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Indigo Bananas Dark Side of the Maroon

Dark Side of the Maroon was released last month by California-based indie polish maker Indigo Bananas as part of the inaugural Crème à la Mode box, a quarterly box collection of creme polishes from four indie polish makers. Described as a berry-maroon on the Crème à la Mode website, this is a dark rich boysenberry color, like a Tyrian purple with hints of red. It is vampy-deep, but retains its red-violet nature in dim light and doesn't look black. To me, this polish has an arcane, seductive feel on the nail that speaks of spell-casting and other magical powers, the sort of shade a dark enchantress would wear.

Application was lovely. The consistency of Dark Side of the Maroon is fluid, light and very smooth, with an effortless silky glide over the nail and excellent self-leveling properties. Pigmentation is buildable. There's a degree of crelly-like translucence to this polish, so very even coats are necessary for most uniform coverage. Wearable opacity is achievable in two coats, but I used three for this manicure to get the most consistent coverage I could for the photos. Cleanup was surprisingly easy considering the deep coloring, with just a little pigment travel and a skosh of residual staining. I am always supremely relieved when dark colors don't run rampant at the touch of acetone. Dark Side of the Maroon dries naturally in very good time to shade that's slightly darker than it looks in the bottle and a beautiful glossy finish.

Photos show three coats of Dark Side of the Maroon over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Indigo Bananas Dark Side of the Maroon

While I was editing these photos (which, incidentally, show the color as brighter than it appears in person), I got in a big argument with myself about exactly what shade of berry best represented the color, boysenberry, mulberry or dark raspberry. Basically, they're all deep purpled shades of red-violet, and it's difficult to articulate the differences between them because they do overlap. I settled on boysenberry, but I'm not entirely comfortable with that. What about burgundy?

Perhaps I should let creator Andrea have the last word. Berry-maroon it is!

love,
Liz