Lacquer Slacker Liz: Nail Hoot

Showing posts with label Nail Hoot. Show all posts

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Nail Hoot Autumn Fire

I have another Polish Pickup lacquer for you today -- Autumn Fire, created by Brandie of Nail Hoot for the "Fall Foliage & Fun," September 2017 edition. This is described as "a cherry red jelly with gold, pink, and orange flakies." The color is a bright, medium-light, cool-toned red with the two somewhat antithetical characteristics of being both very translucent and of near-neon intensity, giving the color a kind of hard candy sensibility, like a cinnamon pastille. It's packed with regularly-sized, glowy metallic flakies in gold, pink and orange, which combine with the base color to produce a brilliant, fiery shade that's similar to red-orange, with aspects of watermelon and maraschino cherry. The flakies also give the finish a flashy, foily, semi-metallic quality with tons of sparkle, especially in the sun.

Application was most agreeable! The consistency of Autumn Fire is fluid and slightly fluffy, with a medium viscosity and a fluent, smooth, self-leveling glide over the nail. Pigmentation is sheer. Coverage is provided in part by the flakies, and builds to opacity in three coats. Cleanup frees tiny reflective flakies that love to stick in the sidewalls. Autumn Fire dries naturally in very good time to a silky smooth, shiny finish.

Photos show three coats of Autumn Fire over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Nail Hoot Autumn Fire

Wow, this is bright! Showy too, with loads of lively flash and that reflective, gift-wrap-ribbon look that bright, foily shimmer polishes can have. The color is an outstanding polish translation of the poignantly intense red-orange/flame color you see in sugar maples in the fall, with a heady, almost ecstatic kind of energy that's just off the charts. Zing!

love,
Liz

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Nail Hoot Holo-Maniacs Custom #32

Holo-Maniacs Custom #32 was released this month by Missouri-based indie polish maker Nail Hoot as an October 2017 limited edition polish designed especially for members of the Holo-Maniacs Facebook group. Inspired by a night-time photograph of a beach pier under a round, golden moon, this polish is described as a blue linear holo with gold flakies.

The color is a medium-toned shade of azure with aspects of blue-grey and steel blue, very similar to Pantone's silver lake blue. It's absolutely packed with tiny golden flakes, which gleam brightly as light travels over them and give the polish a softly reflective, semi-metallic sort of look on the nail that has a silvery flash. The holographic effects are responsive and athletic, creating a gorgeous prismatic flush in ambient light that has that delicious, bronzy "toasted" effect. Once again it's overcast with aspirations to rain here today, but I expect the holographic flare in the sun will be of the "loose linear" or "tightly scattered" variety from all of those gold flakies, but extra sparkly because of them too.

Application was most agreeable! The consistency of Custom #32 is fluid, light and loamy with a medium viscosity and a plush, silky soft, self-leveling glide over the nail that's amenable to thin or thicker coats as preference dictates. Pigmentation is very good. Slight sheerness on the first coat builds easily to fully opaque coverage with the second. Cleanup is easy. Custom #32 dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat accentuates the presence and effects of the flakies and does not alter the holographic effects in any way that I could tell.

Photos show two coats of Holo-Maniacs Custom #32 over basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. Unfortunately, the holographic effects kind of commandeered the camera in these pics -- in person, it's quite clear that this is more than a simple, straightforward holo.

Nail Hoot Holo-Maniacs Custom #32

This is a beautiful polish. The blue has a lovely, soft, shadowy sensibility with an indeterminate semi-metallic nature that highlights neither gold nor silver but sort of a mixture of the two. The holographic properties create a silvery swath along the axis of light that deepens to a richer, sharper blue at the edges of the nail, dimensionalizing the look, which has a super-fine, all-over, glistening sparkle that's like light off water in the distance. Here's the inspiration pic that creator Brandie used to design this lacquer:

I think she did a wonderful job translating the dreaminess of that photo. Holo-Maniacs Custom #32 is available for purchase through the end of October on the Nail Hoot website.

love,
Liz

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Nail Hoot Sea of Galilee

Sea of Galilee was released by Missouri-based indie polish maker Nail Hoot as a limited edition custom polish for the Nail Hoot Fan Group on facebook. This is a bright medium-toned cerulean blue scattered holo bearing superabundant iridescent purple microflake shimmers. There's a degree of translucence built in to the jelly formula that imparts a washed, gentle feel with a certain dusty quality from the components in low light and shade that evolves into a lovely aquatic sparkle in brighter ambient light. The holographic pigment works to nuance the base color with subtle azure and sapphire hues, and the microflake shimmers create an ethereal indigo glow along the axis of light. In direct sun, there's a brilliant scattered prismatic display with a vestigial linear flare at oblique angles.

Application was great! The consistency of Sea of Galilee is fluid, light and smooth with a medium consistency and an effortless, silky slip over the nail. It is quite fluent with no trace of the stickiness that can sometimes accompany a jelly formula. Self leveling properties are excellent and pigmentation is very good. Wearable coverage with a wee bit of translucence can be had in two medium coats, but three gets you closer to full bottle color and that's what I'd recommend for this polish to look its best. Cleanup is easy and straightforward. Sea of Galilee dries naturally in fairly good time to a smooth finish with a soft shine. Topcoat amps up the sparkle and accentuates the presence of the shimmers.

Photos show three coats of Sea of Galilee over Pretty Serious Rock On treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Nail Hoot Sea of Galilee

I love this color, it has a Mediterranean flavor to me that is very well in keeping with the name of this polish.

The town of Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee, known variously as Kinneret, Lake of Gennesaret, and Lake Tiberias. Situated in northeast Israel between the Golan Heights and the Galilee region in the Jordan Rift Valley, it is the largest freshwater lake in Israel and the lowest freshwater lake beneath sea level on the planet. (source)

Like the other two Nail Hoot lacquers I've experienced, Sea of Galilee has the buildable jelly formula that is easy to apply and displays its components beautifully that I've come to think of as one of creator Brandie's signatures. She's certainly mastered this sort of formulation, so if jellies are your thing I recommend giving her creations a try.

love,
Liz

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Nail Hoot Event Horizon

Like Nebula, Event Horizon was released by Missouri-based indie polish maker Nail Hoot as part of the Space Galaxy Trio Part II in February this year. Creator Brandie describes this as a green scattered holo with gold highlights. There are oodles and oodles of golden microflake shimmers in this polish, which combine with the base to produce a golden olivey green, sort of a soft light-medium artichoke hue. The base color is hard to distinguish exactly, but I think it may be a darker slatey blue-green, as I can see subtle hints of slate blue in the finish of this polish that adds a certain shadowy complexity to the mellow artichoke green, patinated by the golden microflakes to a shimmery sleekness on the nail. In direct sun, a cloud of prismatic sparkle, amped considerably by the gold shimmers, blankets the nail, to include a delineated rainbow flare in its midst, a twofer!

Application was great! The consistency of Event Horizon is fluid, light and loamy with a medium viscosity and a plush, self-leveling glide over the nail. The eminently paintable formula is easy to finesse with Nail Hoot's compactly-sized flattened flexible brush, which I love. Pigmentation is very good. There's a certain amount of translucence built in to the formula and the first coat is sheer-ish, giving the impression that full opacity might turn out to require three coats. But no! I had evenly opaque coverage after the second coat. The color is so gentle that I debated on adding a third, but it really wasn't necessary. Cleanup is easy and straightforward, albeit with some stickiness on the part of the microflake shimmers. Event Horizon dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny, foil-like finish.

Photos show two coats of Even Horizon over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Nail Hoot Event Horizon

Event Horizon is soft and sleek on the nail, with a delightful pale gold flash. It's gentle colors remind me of ivy somehow, and the dusty quality that ivy has. I grew up in an old Georgian brick house that had ivy growing up all over the back. It sent curling tendrils into the windows, which I'm sure was not good for the house but I loved those venturesome shoots. This polish has a certain nostalgic quality because of that, I think. It puts me in mind of the conflux of vine and stone such as you would find in an old and venerable garden.

The holographic effects are of course much stronger and more sparkly than I could capture in a photo, but I like this polish best in indirect light, with its subtle green and blue hues mixing with the foily golden flakes. Understated but quite graceful and soothing. Win!

ttyl,
Liz