Lacquer Slacker Liz: Great Lakes Lacquer

Showing posts with label Great Lakes Lacquer. Show all posts

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Great Lakes Lacquer A Warm, Bright Flame

Like In Brightness and The Cold Hour of Dawn, A Warm Bright Flame was released this past November by Michigan-based indie polish maker Great Lakes Lacquer as part of the Holiday 2017 collection, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Match Girl."

Officially described as a "magenta base filled with red, purple and gold shimmer touched with a scattered holographic finish," the color is an incredibly rich and saturated, medium-dark red-violet or magenta dye with plummy overtones. Tiny particulate and microflake shimmers emit a luminous, dimensionalizing magenta glow from within the base, twinkling as light travels over them. Scattered holographic pigment particles give the polish a subtle but glamorous prismatic sparkle in direct light.

Application was lovely. The consistency of A Warm Bright Flame is fluid, dense and smooth with a medium viscosity and a full-bodied, velvety, self-leveling glide over the nail. Pigmentation is excellent, nearly a one-coater but use two to make the most of the color and components. Cleanup is straightforward with a skosh of pigment travel but little to no residual staining. A Warm Bright Flame dries naturally in good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat accentuates the presence and effects of the shimmers.

Photos show two coats of A Warm Bright Flame over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Great Lakes Lacquer A Warm, Bright Flame

I am thrilled with this polish! The color is just glorious -- deep, lush and dramatic -- and the twinkling shimmers are the perfect accompaniment and give the polish a bright magenta flash. I love the subtlety of the holo in this, the delicate scattered sparkle is like a diaphanous twinkling prismatic veil, so classy!

xo,
Liz

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Great Lakes Lacquer So Sweet And So Cold

Like From Darkness Comes Light, So Sweet And So Cold was released in January this year by Michigan-based indie polish maker Great Lakes Lacquer exclusively for members of the Hella Handmade Creations (HHC -- formerly Hella Holo Customs) Facebook group. Creator Mariah describes this one as "a light lilac based linear holographic boldened by holo micro flake and brightened with blue, purple, aqua, and green shimmer."

To my eye, the color here is more of a creamy, translucent, light-to-medium periwinkle gently underpinned by lavender. It's packed with a mix of metallic microflake shimmers in the colors of iridescence -- azure, purple, aqua, green -- that gleam within the base as light travels over them. Azure is the most prominent of these, and creates a glistening sky blue sheen along the axis of light. Abundant silvery holo flakes give the polish a delicately-flecked visual texture and light up in scattered, pasteled prismatic sparks in direct light, where there's a stealthy hint of a linear flare, mostly dispersed by the components.

Application was great! The consistency of So Sweet And So Cold is fluid, light and slightly fluffy with a medium-to-slightly-thicker viscosity and a smooth, self-leveling glide over the nail that went on best for me in medium coats. Pigmentation is somewhat sheer on the first coat, building to wearable opacity in two to three coats depending on how you paint. Cleanup is straightforward. So Sweet And So Cold dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, mostly shiny finish. Topcoat adds a becoming gloss and highlights the presence of the microflake shimmers.

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

Great Lakes Lacquer So Sweet And So Cold

The shimmers in this polish are easily visible on close scrutiny and add an unexpected artisanal touch that is both ephemeral and a little exotic. I love the periwinkle color for spring, especially with the additional oomph of the components. The holographic sparkle in the sun is so pretty -- reminds me of Easter!

love,
Liz

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Great Lakes Lacquer The Cold Hour of Dawn

Like In Brightness, The Cold Hour of Dawn was released this past November by Michigan-based indie polish maker Great Lakes Lacquer as part of the Holiday 2017 collection, a quartet of lacquers themed around Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Match Girl."

This polish is officially described as "a royal blue soft holographic filled with shimmer that shifts from magenta and red to bronze to green." The base color is a translucent, medium-dark variation of web royal blue. The degree of translucence gives it a softened, misty quality that I find unusual for this kind of shade, a quality that is enhanced by superabundant color-shifting shimmers glistening within, reading most readily as magenta and creating a wide, bold swath of it along the axis of light with a shift through bronze to green at oblique angles. The power of the shimmers is such that the polish takes on the appearance of a Munsell purple or vivid violet when in motion, and a darker eminence purple in low and incandescent light. The holographic effects have more of a supporting role in this polish, creating a finely-grained visual texture and a dimensional, mobile prismatic flush of azure in ambient light.

Application was lovely. The consistency of The Cold Hour of Dawn is fluid, light and loamy with a medium consistency and a fluent, smooth, self-leveling glide over the nail that sets up fairly quickly and does not appreciate being messed with after that. Pigmentation is very good. Two to three medium coats will net evenly opaque coverage -- two only for shorter nails and two to three for longer. Cleanup is straightforward. The Cold Hour of Dawn dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish.

Photos show three coats of The Cold Hour of Dawn over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Great Lakes Lacquer The Cold Hour of Dawn

Needless to say, the shimmer is the star of this show! The translucence of the blue base has light-gathering properties that make the polish particularly luminous on the nail -- it's an elegant showcase for those wonderful, glistening magenta shimmers. Beautifully done!

love,
Liz

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Great Lakes Lacquer From Darkness Comes Light

From Darkness Comes Light was released last month by Michigan-based indie polish maker Great Lakes Lacquer as one of four custom, limited edition polishes for January 2018 created exclusively for members of the Hella Holo Customs Facebook group. Creator Mariah describes it as "a green leaning teal linear holographic with gold to bronze multichrome flake and shimmer that shifts from blue to purple."

The color is a semi-translucent, medium-dark variation of blue-green that is similar to ming from the Xona.com Color List, deep and mysterious. Holographic pigment creates lush nuances of ultramarine, cerulean and misty golden olive that dimensionalize the polish on the nail, over which the blue-to-purple color-shifting microflake shimmers cast a transparent blue-violet sheen. Small multichrome flakes glow in contrasting shades of bright yellow-green and bronze within the base as light travels over them, and combine with the luminous color-shifting microflake shimmers to give the look a rich, tapestried visual texture. In the sun, there's a glorious linear prismatic display, slightly dispersed from the components but extra sparkly because of them, with flame-shaped arcs of ultramarine, azure, yellow-green and reddish-orange.

Application was awesome! The consistency of From Darkness Comes Light is fluid, light and loamy with a medium-to-slightly-thicker viscosity and a fluent, self-leveling glide over the nail. Components go on smoothly and disperse beautifully without stacking or stickups. Pigmentation is very good, delivering fully opaque coverage in two to three coats depending on how you paint. I used three, and thought that it made the most of the polish's intrinsic richness. Cleanup was surprisingly easy, even with all of the tiny flakes. From Darkness Comes Light dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat accentuates the presence and effects of the components and does not interfere with the holographic properties.

Photos show three coats of From Darkness Comes Light over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Great Lakes Lacquer From Darkness Comes Light

There's a lot going on in this polish and it all comes together splendidly for an especially luxurious look on the nail. I love how the multichrome flakes and microflake shimmers piece together like a minute, shimmering mosaic within the base to give the polish that rich visual texture -- they glisten like tiny, embedded gems and add an extra sense of opulence to the color, which is already pretty sumptuous. A gorgeous polish with a luxe, almost regal sensibility, it reminds me of Cleopatra. I think she would approve!

love,
Liz

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Great Lakes Lacquer In Brightness

In Brightness was released in November 2017 by Michigan-based indie polish maker Great Lakes Lacquer as part of the Holiday 2017 collection, a limited edition series of four lacquers based on the 1845 short story "The Little Match Girl" by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen.

And she quickly struck the whole bundle of matches, for she wished to keep her grandmother with her. And the matches burned with such a glow that it became brighter than daylight. Grandmother had never been so grand and beautiful. She took the little girl in her arms, and both of them flew in brightness and joy above the earth, very, very high, and up there was neither cold, nor hunger, nor fear--they were with God.

Described as a "soft purple linear holo with shifts of blue, pink, bronze, orange and green," the base color is a gentle, semi-translucent shade along the lines of the web color medium purple or deep lavender. It's absolutely packed with multichromatic microflake shimmers, which read mostly as azure, turquoise and magenta but also shift to flame, bronze and, finally, green at oblique angles. This polish is as shifty as any multichrome you can think of, and those tiny flakes also emit a twinkly sparkle as light travels over them. In direct light, the look is blanketed with fine, scattered prismatic sparkle in every rainbow color.

Application was lovely. The consistency of In Brightness is fluid and full-bodied with a medium-to-slightly-thicker viscosity and an even, smooth, self-leveling glide over the nail. Pigmentation is sheerish on the first coat but will build to wearable opacity with the second using medium coats. I added a third for the photos. Cleanup is straightforward. In Brightness dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat accentuates the presence and shifts of the shimmers.

Photos show three coats of In Brightness over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Great Lakes Lacquer In Brightness

You can't really tell it from the photos, but the shifts in this polish are incredibly dynamic -- there's a new look with every move of your fingers, and the magenta shift plays much more prominently than it shows here. I love that the shimmers sparkle as well. Not only does it fit in beautifully with the story, I think, but the way that those microflakes light up gives you contrasting sparks in any given field of color, like magenta sparks in a field of purple or turquoise and azure sparks in a field of magenta. Nice!

love,
Liz

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Great Lakes Lacquer Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan was released in July 2016 by Michigan-based indie polish maker Great Lakes Lacquer as part of The Great Ones collection, a genius series of five polishes inspired by the Great Lakes of North America. The lone holo of the collection, Lake Michigan is described as "a deep teal linear holographic with multi chrome flake that shifts from a deep blue to light green and shimmer that mimics those flakes." With all of the component shiftiness going on, whether blue or green is most prevalent in the general appearance of this polish depends entirely upon viewing circumstances, but the base color is a translucent medium-dark blue-green.

That said, the combination of the multichrome flakies, which range in color from bright primary green to electric blue, and the blue/green color-shifting shimmers make this polish a truly dynamic chameleon. A cloud momentarily crossing the sun will transform the look from a resonant sea green glimmering with hints of emerald and pine to a lush, oceanic cerulean, with innumerable subtle variations of tone in between. The multichrome flakies and holographic pigment give it a rich, dimensional visual texture, with gleaming, jewel-like metallic flakes mixing with the finely-grained, Pointillist-style ambient color to create a shimmering tapestry of blues and greens. And in the sun, there's a sparkling, analogously-hued prismatic display.

Application was lovely. The consistency of Lake Michigan is fluid, full-bodied and smooth with a medium viscosity and an even, self-leveling glide over the nail with a bit of pull to it if using thin coats, which I recommend. The flakies range from tiny shards to relatively large pieces, but all disperse easily and randomly over the nail with no clumping, stickups or protrusions over the free edge. Pigmentation is sheerish and meant to be that way. I think that three coats creates the richest presentation, and I found thinner coats best to avoid any bulkiness. Cleanup is surprisingly easy, with just a skosh of trace staining. Lake Michigan dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish.

Photos show three coats of Lake Michigan over KBShimmer Love You Strong Time treatment and KBShimmer Fillin' Groovy basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Great Lakes Lacquer Lake Michigan

The flakies incorporate with the holo beautifully here, much more so in person than my photos would suggest, and there's a sort of semi-metallic quality to the finish that serves to encapsulate all of the visual texture and give the polish a really dressy, ornate feel. The linear holographic display in the sun is slightly dispersed by the components, but the colors are so brilliant and rich that this somehow only manages to make it even more stunning. Wonderful!

love,
Liz