Lacquer Slacker Liz: Frenzy Polish

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Frenzy Polish Nature Walk

Nature Walk was released by Pennsylvania-based indie polish maker Frenzy Polish as part of the Fall 2015 collection last month. Like its stablemate, Sage & Saffron, this is a creme holographic polish bearing variably-shaped metallic flakies. The color is a medium moss green with an olive drab vibe. It is liberally dosed with fine holographic pigment as well as gleaming iridescent metallic flakies in bright green and gold. There's a lovely dimensionality to this polish in indirect light especially, where it has a glistening, almost loamy look with flashes of yellow gold and bright spring green from the iridescent metallic flakies, which also appear to be capable of throwing flashes in bright magenta. In direct sun, the base color settles to a glimmering olive drab with a loose linear prismatic display floating above that is predominated by brilliant sparks of bright green, blue and orange. With its interesting combination of greens, Nature Walk evokes a certain nostalgia for summer while maintaining an eminent suitability for fall.

Application was great! The consistency of Nature Walk is very like that of Sage & Saffron: on the fluid side but not the least bit runny, with a smooth, creamy glide over the nail and very good self-leveling properties. Similarly to Sage & Saffron, this polish sets up quickly and appreciates a like application technique. Pigmentation is very good with completely even opaque coverage in two coats. A thinner first coat followed by a more generous second gave an easy, enjoyable application experience, and if you find your brush becoming a little gummy just close the bottle, give it a shake and you'll be good to go. Cleanup is easy and straightforward with just a tiny bit of recalcitrance on the part of the metallic flakes but no pigment travel to speak of. Nature Walk dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, flat finish that loves a glossy topcoat to look its best.

Photos show two coats of Nature Walk over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Frenzy Polish Nature Walk

Olive is such a quintessential fall green, and I love it paired with metallics of all kinds. Creator Rachel has ingeniously constructed Nature Walk to take advantage of both aspects, with its shimmery mossy base combined with small bursts of color from the metallic flakes, reminiscent of autumnal leaves. The look is supremely chic for the season, I think.

I believe that Rachel is restocking her website at the moment and getting ready to release a sweet-looking trio of polishes for Halloween. I can't wait!

love,
Liz

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Frenzy Polish Sage & Saffron

Sage & Saffron was released by new-to-me Pennsylvania-based indie polish maker Frenzy Polish as part of the Fall 2015 collection the second week of September. I will guess that creator Rachel gave this holographic polish it's lovely poetic name for the metallic microflakes it carries in green and orange, which are pretty much only visible under close scrutiny unless you're in the sun, when each tiny flake emits a gleaming spark of pale bright green or coppery orange that pretty much upstages the scattered prismatic display.

The base color itself is of the sort that my friend Melissa of Lacquer Reverie might call ambiguous. It's kind of like if you took an antiqued silver, threw a pinch each of copper and gold, veiled it with a delicate wash of sepia, added green and orange microflake shimmers and then dosed it generously with finely-milled holographic pigment.

This is sort of a puzzle of a polish with a true chameleon soul (aided and abetted by copious shadings from the holo pigment and those metallic microflakes) that leads it to morph its appearance with even slight changes in viewing circumstances. At times, it reads as a browned silver with golden highlights. At others, it has a distinct earthy loden green overtone. At still others, it's a sandy bronze with a blush of pale coppery peach. Above all, Sage & Saffron is unusual, fascinating and beautifully autumnal, with a certain burnished warmth to its coloring that, while gentle and understated on the nail, is far from demure.

Application was lovely. The consistency of Sage & Saffron is quite fluid but not runny, light and creamy with a buttery slip over the nail and very good self-leveling properties. This is a fast drying polish that appreciates a nimble application technique, although its initial fluidity does allow a certain grace period for overstroking if you happen to be of that inclination, like me. But once this polish starts to set up any further brushstrokes will lift the microflakes and cause tumbling. Pigmentation is very good with even opaque coverage and full bottle color in two coats. Cleanup is easy and straightforward. Sage & Saffron dries naturally in very good time to a matte finish, and wants a nice topcoat to look its best.

Photos show two coats of Sage & Saffron over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. It is overcast yet again today as well as hot and humid as any dog day of summer could be, so not only do I have no real sun shots to share but my fingers are positively florid. You have my sympathies.

Frenzy Polish Sage & Saffron

Frenzy Polish Sage & Saffron, a little blurry -- my bad!

Frenzy Polish Sage & Saffron, in weak sun

Frenzy Polish Sage & Saffron

I wish I knew how Rachel herself characterizes this polish, but she has omitted any text descriptors in the listings for her creations in her big cartel shop. So naughty, making us think for ourselves like this!

This reminds me of a more rustic version of A-England's The Virgin Queen. The components have a chunkier effect here that is easier for my eye to see than the refined characteristics of The Virgin Queen, but I understand the latter much better now than I did when I featured it here last December.

Sage & Saffron is one of those polishes that becomes more interesting and beautiful the closer you get, so please do click on the photos and take a look at ~~my flushed fingers~~ the enlarged versions to see everything that's going on in this metamorph. Just about every time I look at it, I see something new. And you gotta love a polish that can do that!

love,
Liz