Lacquer Slacker Liz: Digital Nails

Showing posts with label Digital Nails. 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.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Digital Nails Tauping Mechanism

Tauping Mechanism was released last month by Texas-based indie polish maker Digital Nails as part of the inaugural Crème à la Mode box, a quarterly box collection of creme polishes from four indie polish makers. Creator Raphaelle describes this as a perfect neutral, and I'm inclined to agree. It's actually more of a grey than a taupe, but let's not mess with the wonderful homonymic pun in the name. The color is a pale putty or cement grey, very nearly achromatic. Some would call this a palate cleanser, but I prefer to think of it as industrial chic. It has an exceptionally creamy, sleek presence on the nail that is graceful and understated as well as uber professional. It looks like it's ready to get things done!

Application was dreamy. The consistency of Tauping Mechanism is fluid, very creamy and dense. It is thick in a good, well-put-together way, drapes itself over the nail like heavy silk and self-levels remarkably well for a polish with so much white in it. As such, it likes a very even hand and as few strokes as possible. I used medium to thicker coats with a generously loaded brush, which worked out pretty well. Pigmentation is excellent -- opaque in one coat! Of course I added a second to ensure the non-appearance of my nail ridges and to fill in a defect left when I extracted an incredibly long fiber (reminded me of that tapeworm from a certain episode of House) from a semi-wet nail. That nail actually took one more coat, for a total of three, to even up the surface, so this is not the most forgiving formula when it comes to that kind of stuff. Cleanup is easy and straightforward. Tauping Mechanism dries naturally in good time to a beautiful glossy finish.

Photos show two coats of Tauping Mechanism over Pretty Serious Rock On treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. Apologies for the slightly shredded cuticle on my right ring finger.

Digital Nails Tauping Mechanism

I always crave putty-colored polishes, the creamy neutral coloring is so clean and efficient-looking. This one is about as perfect as it can be and entirely suited for year-round wear. For what is basically a tinted white, the opacity and formula in general are amazing. I hope that Raph makes more of such tints for future Crème à la Mode boxes.

While the inaugural box is all sold out, each of the makers that contribute to it now has the option of offering their polish for sale in their respective online shop. Perhaps we shall see them again as part of future collections from these brands.

love,
Liz

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Digital Nails Que Sera Serra

Que Sera Serra by indie polish maker Digital Nails was inspired by the character Inara Serra, played by actress Morena Baccarin, from the awesome tv series Firefly and its movie spin-off Serenity.

This polish is a shimmer bomb! It has a transparent suspension base bearing relatively fine gold, red, pale yellow and silver irregularly shaped shimmer flakes. In concert, they have the appearance of a finely grained shimmering metallic copper foil, a true new penny color complete with pinkish overtones. The closer your eye gets to the polish the more clearly you see the individual shardy flakes that comprise this graceful composition -- the red flakes in particular catch the eye. In dim light, Que Sera Serra has dramatic gleam with a fiery red copper flash. In direct light, there is plenty of scintillating sparkle as the individual shimmer flakes reflect tiny bursts of light.

Application was good. The consistency of Que Sera Serra is fluid and slightly thick with a bit of stickiness to it that I suspect is a consequence of the suspension base. Never the less, it lays down on the nail in an even, self-leveling manner and because the shimmers are so finely milled there is no problematic tumbling, stacking or protrusions over the free edge. Coverage is buildable, and the shimmers disperse evenly enough for this polish to serve as a topper or gradient at one coat or layered over a brown, orange, gold, silver or coppery polish at two coats. I chose to wear this by itself and attained opaque even coverage with three coats. Although this polish has a thicker suspension based formula, it actually goes on thinly and three coats dries down to very little polish on the nail. It dries naturally in very good time, too, to a silky smooth finish with a burnished shine to it.

Cleanup is a bear, a big grumpy bear, and I recommend doing it as you go along or you'll end up with limpet-like shimmers everywhere, as I did. The lighter color and reflective quality of the shimmers makes getting crisp edges a matter of multiple coats placed with precision exactly following the parameters of the coat before, and I could have done a better job with this too.

Photos show three coats of Que Sera Serra over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Digital Nails Que Sera Serra

As you know, I adore a foily finish and Que Sera Serra does not escape my affection. It has that beautiful, hand-beaten metallic look that makes me swoon with happiness. Copper polish lovers, take note -- this is a stand out!

love,
Liz

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Digital Nails Let Zygons Be Zygons

Let Zygons Be Zygons was released by indie polish maker Digital Nails as part of the 50th Anniversary Hoopla collection in homage to the 50th anniversary of the awesome BBC tv show Dr. Who in November 2013. This polish is a medium-dark rusty burgundy with undertones of burnt sienna and violet. It has a translucent ruby red jelly base packed with iridescent color-shifting mica pigments and prodigious shardy golden flake glitters. The look is rich and quintessentially autumnal. Golden flakies gleam in colors of copper, cerise, scarlet, wine and violet through the russet jelly base, which twinkles with a dusting of tiny rainbow sparks thrown from the mica pigments. The color shift shows up as golden glow at certain angles and nudges the burgundy towards auburn. In shade, dim and artificial light it has a gorgeous coppery orange flash.

Application was a little bit of a bear, a baby bear. The consistency of Let Zygons Be Zygons is thick, gel-like and dense with components. The base itself is very sheer, and thick and sheer don't bode well for painting. It was too thick for my skills, so I went at with a vengeance with polish thinner. It took quite a bit to loosen it up enough so that I could hear the mixing ball hit the inside of the bottle when I shook it. Once thinned, it has a good flow over the nail with a certain amount of tumbling by the flakes, which have a tendency to stack and protrude over the free edge. But with additional thinner it became smoother and more docile and I was able to use thin to medium coats, which is really the way to go with this one. Thick coats are not helpful. Coverage was sufficient for opacity at two coats but I went with three for maximum visual depth and richness of color and it was worth it. Cleanup is best done as you go along because of the flakies, which love to adhere tenaciously wherever they land. If someone out there has a tip for cleaning up after sticky components, I'd appreciate some advice in this department! Let Zygons Be Zygons dries naturally in very good time to a smooth glossy finish. Topcoat really pops the components.

Photos show one thick and two thin to medium coats over Seche Rebuild treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Digital Nail Let Zygons Be Zygons, macro shot in the bottle

Digital Nail Let Zygons Be Zygons

Those who live for fall colors will love Let Zygons Be Zygons. It is so dimensional and visually rich on the nail, with every turning leaf color apparent to the eye. I adore this look! It was worth the trouble of a learning curve and copious additions of thinner to get this polish to work for me. I can't wait to wear it in the fall!

love,
Liz

Friday, August 1, 2014

Digital Nails So Sparkle

So Sparkle was released by indie polish maker Digital Nails as one of a trio polishes making up the Doge collection, a reference to the hilarious shibe doge internet meme. Because I do indeed live under a rock, I had to go find out what this doge thing was all about. Several hours and abs aching from overstimulated hilarity later, I get it. Many fun! If you're curious, you may want to take a look here.

Here is what Raphaelle, owner and creative force behind Digital nails, has to say about the composition of So Sparkle: "So Sparkle is a hodgepodge of everything I love about indie polish. It has Multichrome pigment, actual silver coated flakies, holographic glitter, color shifting glitter, and other shinies that will make you temporarily blind, should you stare at it too long. Be careful while you're driving, y'all. This polish looks completely different in all different lighting - it changes from charcoal, to purple, to steel blue, even bordering on a silvery aqua sometimes! The teeeeny holo glitters are the little sisters to our polish Supernova, so you KNOW how those react to sun. Bring on the sunglasses!"

Such righteous! This puppy (hahaha) is an amalgamate bastion of nail polish forces for good in the world, all suspended in a color-shifting purple jelly base. Superabundant tiny glitters of various types and colors rub shardy shoulders with beautiful relatively large luxe silver-coated flakes, which lend this polish a lustrous gleam on the nail. The visual texture is amazing! Of the color shifts, the one I am most enamoured with is the shift from purple to silvery aqua, with the aqua aligning itself along the axis of light and the purple creeping in from the edges. In direct sun, the teensy holo glitters burst forth from the gleaming miasma with rainbow sparks of light. It is a delectable feast for the glitter lover in us all, a feast of radiant sparkly goodness in a bottle.

Application was fascinating. The consistency of So Sparkle is thick, a bit sticky and dense with components. Not trusting my skills, I took polish thinner to it, adding a squirt at a time and shaking until I could hear the mixing ball hit the sides of the bottle. Then I painted on a thin coat, just enough to give the polish a base track to layer itself on. I followed with one medium coat and a final thin coat just because I couldn't bear to stop. Pigmentation is not the point of this polish. The components provide the coverage, and they go on smoothly and evenly without any tumbling or stacking. I had a few protruding glitters over my free edge, but that may have been because I insisted on wrapping the tips with every coat. In any case, the glitters are so small it's not much of an issue. Cleanup is best done as you go along, because when these tiny components get a hold of the skin they are tenacious. As it was, So Sparkle went on so easily and cleanly I only had to stop a few times for clean up. This polish dries naturally in good time to a fairly smooth satiny finish with a tiny amount of texture from the components. I finished with topcoat, which was almost immediately absorbed but did leave an added shine to the surface of the polish.

Photos show three coats of So Sparkle over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Digital Nails So Sparkle

This is so much fun I can hardly stand it! It's a glitter explosion into a fantastical tapestry perfectly encapsulated on each nail. My photos can't do justice to it, this is one you'll need to see in person to completely grasp its awesomeness because it has such a dynamic interplay with light. It is especially mind-blowing outdoors, where the multichromatic shifts pour over the surface of the nail like a silky liquid and the sparkle from the holo glitters revs into high gear.

Much amaze!

love,
Liz

ps. Doge du jour....