Reprise: Hare Polish Electric Flame

Welcome, friends! Yesterday's convivial tête-à-tête with the shimmering orange goodness that is Zoya Beatrix inspired me to try again with an orange polish that kinda broke my heart last summer, Electric Flame from indie polish maker Hare Polish. Electric Flame was released as part of Hare's fantastic four-polish Illuminate Life collection for fall 2012. Inspired by marine bioluminescence, each polish represents a different example of this very cool phenomenon. I love this collection, each and every polish!

Electric Flame is based on the otherworldly Electric Flame scallop, a marine bivalve mollusk with vivid reddish orange mantle and tentacles and a strip of bioluminescent tissue on the edge of its mantle that pulses with blue light. The polish is a peachy melony pastel orange jelly with neonesque qualities filled with iridescent blue hex glitters and glowing blue and purple glass flecks. 

My difficulties with this polish last time around had to do with two facts: a) peachy melony pastel neonesque oranges aren't the best with my skin tone, and b) my insistence on trying to layer it over a base polish. The former is incontrovertible, but my polish aesthetic has developed enough flexibility in this area that it no longer bothers me. The latter will be rectified right now as I'm going commando with Electric Flame this time around. 

I expected application to be filled with panic and frustration and it totally was not. I prepared for the slightly thick and sticky gel-like consistency of this polish by adding some polish thinner, which worked like a charm. Still, Electric Flame has a certain fluffiness or bulk to its formula that may set off alarm bells but should really just be ignored because it slims down as it dries. Pigmentation was a bugaboo for me last time and the cause of my abortive layering attempts. I decided then and there that the next time I tried Electric Flame I was going to accept and welcome its native translucence as a feature (not a bug), and that's what I did. 

Given that my natural nails are hellishly ridged and polish-stained, I was prepared for multiple coats. If you have shorter, less stained nails than mine, three coats of Electric Flame will do you. For me, I did four thin coats and though I can still see visible nail line at least the staining and ridges have been rendered moot. Electric Flame dries naturally in fairly good time, which was helpful. The natural finish is semi-matte and wants a nice glossy topcoat to looks its best and show off the gleaming iridescence of the glitters and glass flecks. 

Photos show four coats of Electric Flame over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite, which worked like a charm to even out this not-so-wanting-to-self-level polish and give it a shiny finish.

Hare Polish Electric Flame

Hare Polish Electric Flame

Hare Polish Electric Flame

Hare Polish Electric Flame

Hare Polish Electric Flame

Hare Polish Electric Flame

Hare Polish Electric Flame

Hare Polish Electric Flame

Hare Polish Electric Flame

Hare Polish Electric Flame

Hare Polish Electric Flame

My camera tends to oversaturate colors like this but I do not think it misrepresents Electric Flame here. The more direct the natural light, the brighter the orange becomes and because the formula's translucence really lets the light in, it can get really really bright and fluorescent. But away from direct light, in the shade, it has a milky/pastel pinkish melony look that is creamsicle sweet. I love how the iridescent hexes and the glass flecks in this polish take on a pink/purple glow against the orange base and add their splashes of pink, it's unexpected and quite fetching really. Against a darker more tawny skin tone, Electric Flame would be a delicious, unusual alternative to summer neons. 

Anyway, hurray for second (and third, and fourth) chances and the freedoms of an ever-expanding flexible aesthetic! And thanks for reading!

love,
Liz

Sinful Colors Nirvana and Hare Bury the Hatchetfish

So here's the fourth and final Hare from their Illuminated Life collection of polishes. It's called Bury the Hatchetfish. This polish was the second of my purchases from Hare via Llarrowe. I had purchased my first Hare Polish, Ancient Affairs, and while waiting with much anticipation for it to arrive was showing Fuzzy the photos of it on Llarrowe. Before I could even get to the Ancient Affairs page, Fuzzy spotted Bury the Hatchetfish and said, oh I want to see THAT one!

Needlesstosay, I went back and purchased Bury the Hatchetfish shortly thereafter.

As you know, the Illuminated Life collection polishes were inspired by marine bioluminescence. Bury the Hatchetfish is of course a send up to the hatchetfish, a semi-deepsea fish with bioluminescent photospores that run along along it's underside. This bioluminescence camouflages the hatchetfish from deeper-dwelling predators, as it distorts the profile of the fish when seen from below. In addition, the hatchetfish has a deep and compressed body shape. 

marine hatchetfish showing bioluminescent photospores (source)

marine hatchetfish Argyropelecus affinis (source)

marine hatchetfish (source)

That last photo is something else, no?

Bury the Hatchetfish is a medium-light rosy purply brown jelly with small glowing blue hex glitters, fuchsia microglitters and iridescent glass flecks. It is semi-translucent, allowing the glitters and glass flecks to refract their colors through the layers of polish. It is deeply cool.

Although it can be layered to opacity fairly easily I decided to use underwear for this manicure. As luck would have it, I have in my collection a polish that does a pretty good job of matching the base color of Bury the Hatchetfish. It's by Sinful Colors and it's called Nirvana. Nirvana is a milky muted medium brown creme polish with purple undertones. As a creme it is actually a little bit darker than Bury the Hatchetfish's jelly base, but they share the same purply brown tone.

(Just so you know that I know, I inadvertently lied when I told you in a previous post that I only had two brown polishes. I've discovered that I actually own four: Misa Bourbon on the Rocks, Pretty Serious Morning Java, Deborah Lippmann Super Star -- brown glitter hello! -- and this one. Ok so five if you count Bury the Hatchetfish.)

Nirvana, like other Sinful Colors cremes that I've tried, applied beautifully. It is well-pigmented with a liquid but controllable consistency and dries to a glossy finish. It could be a one-coater for someone with more application finesse than me. Photos show two coats over my basecoat duo without topcoat.

Sinful Colors Nirvana

Sinful Colors Nirvana

Sinful Colors Nirvana

at the window...

Sinful Colors Nirvana

Sinful Colors Nirvana

Sinful Colors Nirvana

Sinful Colors Nirvana

Nirvana has enough grey in it that might well classify it as a taupe. Sinful Colors did a great job with this one. The look is sophisticated and business chic.

Bury the Hatchetfish applied beautifully as well. I was so pleased! Fantastic even glitter spread, no stickiness or clumping. It dries quickly to a slighty textured matte-like finish. Photos show two coats of Bury the Hatchetfish over the Nirvana manicure pictured above, with a coat of Seche Vite to top it off.

Sinful Colors Nirvana and Hare Polish Bury the Hatchetfish

Bury the Hatchetfish, macro shot in the bottle

Hare Polish Bury the Hatchetfish in the bottle, Bury the Hatchetfish over Sinful Colors Nirvana on my nails

Hare Polish Bury the Hatchetfish over Sinful Colors Nirvana

Hare Polish Bury the Hatchetfish over Sinful Colors Nirvana

at the window...

Hare Polish Bury the Hatchetfish over Sinful Colors Nirvana

yes! the sun came out today!

Hare Polish Bury the Hatchetfish over Sinful Colors Nirvana

Hare Polish Bury the Hatchetfish over Sinful Colors Nirvana

Hare Polish Bury the Hatchetfish over Sinful Colors Nirvana

near macro shot on the nail...

Hare Polish Bury the Hatchetfish over Sinful Colors Nirvana

Hare Polish Bury the Hatchetfish over Sinful Colors Nirvana

Hare Polish Bury the Hatchetfish over Sinful Colors Nirvana

LOVE!

Hare Polish Bury the Hatchetfish over Sinful Colors Nirvana

The coolness factor of Bury the Hatchetfish is so high that it's hard to separate out the look and feel of this manicure from what Nikole has accomplished with this polish. It is my favorite of the Illuminated Life collection, I think. It's the most understated of the four, but it shares with them the organic romanticism of their inspiration. The look is sleek yet soft and low-key. The brown color has a slight preternaturally bluish glow about it with a misty veiled look that reminds me very much of Girly Bits January Morning. Of course, the subtlety lasts only until you get it into direct sunlight, where all bets are off and it is instantly vivacious and dazzling. At that point it's magic.

love,
Aunt Liz

Orly Gorgeous and Hare Polish Atolla

I have a lot to say about the polishes in this post, so gird up those lexicological loins my dear! First up will be Gorgeous, a lovely shimmer polish by Orly. After that and layered over top of it I'll be showing you a[nother] wonderful polish from Hare called Atolla.

Orly Gorgeous is a vivid medium dark fuchsia crelly fully loaded with blue/purple duochrome (able to appear either blue or purple) microshimmer. This polish is a diva with a shimmer pistol in her pocket. It has a profoundly changeable look depending upon lighting and angle of view. At times it affects a metallic magenta, at times a metallic purple. Other times it's a deeply saturated hot pink with a bright blue otherworldly glow. At still other times it's a dark almost plummy magenta with gleaming blue/purple overtones.

The formula is thin, very liquid and prone to cuticle drag. The microshimmer can show brushstrokes, so I found that applying it with a light hand and the brush at the smallest angle possible to the nail to be the best way for me to achieve even non-brushstrokey coverage. Even so, the microshimmer did tend to sort of settle into the furrows between my AWESOME *snort* nail ridges, but after two coats the appearance diminished enough to be not really noticeable by anyone but me. 

Two coats gets a decent opacity (provided you have no cuticle drag, ahem) but if I were to wear this as a full manicure I would apply a third coat for maximum richness and effect of the shimmery duochrome and for more complete elimination of VNL (Visible Nail Line).

Gorgeous dries naturally to a shiny but not glossy finish. There is something hinky about the way this polish dries, though. I don't know if I can put my finger on it (no pun there...*pfft*). It's like the initial drying or film forming happens fairly quickly but the surface is sticky, tender and uber vulnerable to contact. Underneath the surface film, the polish remains quite liquid for longer than I was aware of. Then I caught the tip of one thumb nail with the tip of the other thumb nail during camera maneuvers and took off a patch right down to the basecoat. *groan* More fun than throwing up, that was. Luckily, a carefully placed blobbette of polish did an admirable job of leveling and filling the offending bare patch so I didn't have to redo the whole nail.

Photos show two coats of Orly Gorgeous over basecoat with a topcoat of Sec 'n Dry to protect against da smudge demon.

Orly Gorgeous, bottle shot

Orly Gorgeous

Orly Gorgeous with a skosh of VNL and shimmer settling into nail ridge furrows, DEAD SEXY baby!

Orly Gorgeous

Orly Gorgeous

Orly Gorgeous

Orly Gorgeous

Orly Gorgeous

Orly Gorgeous, at the window...

Orly Gorgeous

Orly Gorgeous

Orly Gorgeous

Atolla by Hare Polish is another polish from their Illuminated Life collection. This is the third polish from that collection that I've shown you so far. The Illuminated Life polishes, as you know,  were inspired by the phenomenon of marine bioluminescence. Atolla is named for the Atolla jellyfish aka Atolla wyvillei, a species of deep sea crown jellyfish. 

Atolla wyvillei (credit: michaelaw.com, source)

Atolla wyvillei with bioluminescent display (credit Edith A. Widder, source)

Atolla wyvillei (credit Kim Sharpe, source)

So cool. Makes me want to go watch the deep sea episode of Blue Planet.

Nikole, the founder and creative force behind Hare Polish, describes Atolla as "a very pink based red jelly with glowing blue glass flecks and hexes." I've said it before and will certainly say it again in the future, Nikole's polishes are always greater than the sum of their parts. 

To me, Atolla's base is a well-saturated vivid cerise or deep raspberry color with very strong pink overtones. Especially in sunlight, the abundant bright blue hex glitters and glass flecks sparkle and glow from the crimson depths of this polish exactly as you'd imagine bioluminescence does in the depths of the ocean. Photos cannot capture the full effect but let me tell you it is masterful and awesome to see.

I think I've finally got the application of these Illuminated Life polishes under my belt -- it's about time. For happiest results application must be quick, careful and decisive with a medium loaded brush and only the bare minimum amount of brushstrokes. Atolla is fluid but can fast become syrupy if overworked. Glitter distribution is smooth and even across the nail and it dries very quickly. Once it has dried, you can go back and apply additional polish to even up the coverage if you need to, as I did along the edges of nails where Orly Gorgeous didn't get completely covered.

Photos show one coat of the beautiful and fascinating Atolla over the Orly Gorgeous manicure above, topped with Seche Vite. Apologies for the flaky skin on my fingers, I'm not sure what that's all about but I'm working on it I promise.

Hare Polish Atolla, bottle shot

Hare Polish Atolla, macro shot in the bottle

Hare Polish Atolla over Orly Gorgeous

Hare Polish Atolla over Orly Gorgeous

Hare Polish Atolla over Orly Gorgeous

Hare Polish Atolla over Orly Gorgeous

Hare Polish Atolla over Orly Gorgeous

Hare Polish Atolla over Orly Gorgeous

Hare Polish Atolla over Orly Gorgeous, near macro shot on the nail (I took many pics of this kind, the intricate effects of the microenvironment created by this polish on the nail just compels scrutiny!)

Hare Polish Atolla over Orly Gorgeous, at the window... ho hum I'm just another dark pink polish... NOT!

Hare Polish Atolla over Orly Gorgeous

Hare Polish Atolla over Orly Gorgeous

Hare Polish Atolla over Orly Gorgeous, direct sunlight

Hare Polish Atolla over Orly Gorgeous, direct sunlight

Hare Polish Atolla over Orly Gorgeous, direct sunlight

Hare Polish Atolla over Orly Gorgeous, direct sunlight

Hare Polish Atolla over Orly Gorgeous, direct sunlight

Gosh, I'm just so engrossed in its magnificent mechanics that I don't even know if I can describe the way this polish feels on the nail. Truly! When I look at my nails or catch them out of the corner of my eye, my immediate response is to try and detect the blue flashes of Atolla's glitters and glass flecks or the blue shimmer of Orly Gorgeous beaming through from below. 

The base color is what you see first, very strong and direct but there's a secret stealthiness to it too because you KNOW what lies beneath mwuahahaha. The contrast between the deep saturated powerfully feminine fuchsia and the mystical magical blue elements hidden within is compelling and a little startling. Like when you find something out for real that, in retrospect, you actually knew all along.

There's a cool kind of synergy going on in this layering combination that I'm very pleased with. But really I think anything you layered Atolla over would make a great combo because Atolla is a fabulous polish. It totally showcases the innovation and creativity that are intrinsic to the best of indie polish making.

We love them, those indie polish makers. We love them, yes we do! Almost as much as I love YOU!

xoxo,
Aunt Liz