Lacquer Slacker Liz: duochrome

Showing posts with label duochrome. Show all posts

Sunday, December 10, 2017

ILNP Party Favor

Party Favor was just released in November this year by Nevada-based indie polish maker ILNP as part of the Holiday 2017 collection.

This is a sparkly shimmer polish with colorshifting and holographic elements in a fantastic blue tourmaline colorway, primarily a bold, vivacious, medium-dark blue-green or indicolite color that slips effortlessly through royal blue to an intense ultramarine or paraiba shade at certain angles to the light, with corner-of-your-eye hints of mallard green and purple along the way. Super showy! It has a transparent blue-green base bearing multitudinous bright metallic blue and holographic flakies, which read in variations of green, blue-green and blue depending upon viewing circumstances and give this polish an almost glittery sparkle. We're under precipitating wintry skies here again today but I expect that direct sun would add a blanket of bright prismatic sparks to the mix.

Application was a pleasure. The consistency of Party Favor is fluid, light and smooth with a medium viscosity and a fluent, self-leveling slip over the nail that was easy to manipulate with ILNP's compact, flattened-style brush. Pigmentation is sheer on the first coat but will build to a wearable opacity in two. However, I think that the addition of a third adds substantially to the depth, density and richness of the color and that's what I recommend for this polish to look its very best. Cleanup was surprisingly easy. Party Favor dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat seems to accentuate the duochrome-like color shift.

Photos show three coats of Party Favor over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. Between the sparkle and the low light, it was difficult for my camera to focus and some of these are not as clear I'd like.

ILNP Party Favor

So much wow! Party Favor is an excellent name for this remarkable jewel-tone -- it has a bold, flamboyant, celebratory feel that just screams New Year's Eve to me. Represent! There's a particularly unusual range of flake size in this polish, from tiny microflake-like bits to larger, more irregular, true flakies, and their metallic nature and reflectivity add a glistening foily aspect to the look that contributes to the ornate character. Party on, Wayne!

love,
Liz

Monday, October 24, 2016

A-England Katyusha

Katyusha was released in June this year by British boutique polish maker A-England as part of the Russian Soul collection, a series of five polishes inspired by Russian music and dance. The name Katyusha comes from the Russian wartime song composed in 1938 by Matvei Blanter with lyrics from Mikhail Isakovsky, which combines elements of the heroic upbeat battle song with a peasant song depicting a girl longing for her absent love.

Creator Adina describes this as a "dramatic and unique flashing of rainbow hues, like a light opal on a precious holographic base." It is primarily a soft, smooth, luminous silver metallic with a bit of that brassy hue that sterling takes on as it oxidizes, and appears to contain duochromatic pigment with a green/purple shift. Heavily silvered, these are not powerful, abrupt shifts. They are gentle nuances, subtle but noticeable, in response to different kinds or angles of light. They generate a certain abstract abalone kind of vibe and are responsible for how differently this polish can appear from moment to moment, now with a cast of pale silvery sea green, then shaded by a faint penumbra of lavender grey. In the sun, the holographic properties are in full force with a brilliant display of fine prismatic sparks in a loose linear fashion surrounding a semi-metallic lick of violet-tinged silver.

Application was great! The consistency of Katyusha is fluid, creamy and dense with a medium viscosity and a silky, fluent, self-leveling slip over the nail that is a pleasure to manipulate with A-England's round, flexible brush. A light touch will help prevent brushstrokes from showing, as this polish is quite sensitive in that respect. Pigmentation is excellent. I used two coats for this manicure but it is almost wearably opaque in one. Cleanup is easy. Katyusha dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat does not appear to inhibit the holographic properties in any way.

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

A-England Katyusha

From what I've seen, Katyusha is a fan favorite as a background for nail art. Its subtle complexity lends it to this purpose, I think, and makes it a sophisticated choice. It's quite moody for a silver holo, which also may be attractive to experienced nail artists. I find it rather otherworldly, quite unlike any other silver holo in my experience.

xo,
Liz

Sunday, February 7, 2016

A-England Whispering Waves

Whispering Waves was released by British boutique polish maker A-England as part of creator Adina's ongoing Heavenly Quotes collection late last year. I'd been waiting rather impatiently to get my hands on this new beauty and finally found it at Live Love Polish, where unfortunately it is now currently sold out, though I'm sure it will be restocked at the earliest opportunity.

Adina's inspiration for this polish comes from the poem The Recollection by British Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822).

The whispering waves were half asleep,

The clouds were gone to play,

And on the bosom of the deep

The smile of Heaven lay;

It seem'd as if the hour were one

Sent from beyond the skies

Which scatter'd from above the sun

A light of Paradise!

This is a brilliant medium-toned blue-green scattered holographic polish bearing beacoup ultrafine duochromatic shimmers with a pink to golden green color shift. The color, described by Adina as turquoise, is more blue than what I usually think of as turquoise -- to my eye, it's something along the lines of a deep sky blue, an azure-cyan hue with a fresh countenance. The holographic effects softly shade the base with dimensionalizing tones of cerulean and sea green and produce a gentle prismatic bloom of bright spring green sparks in direct light. Slightly more prominent to the eye are the effects of the duochromatic shimmers, giving the polish a gorgeous transparent pink glow along the axis of light that shifts to golden green at oblique angles, as well as a gleaming, semi-metallic finish.

Application was fantastic. The consistency of Whispering Waves is fluid, smooth and dense with a medium viscosity and a silky glide over the nail. Although the formula self-levels well, the semi-metallic appearance does have the propensity to show irregularities such as ridges and brushstrokes. I found this easiest to minimize with medium to medium-thick coats applied with a light touch from a generously loaded brush, but my nail ridges turned out to be quite apparent even so. Pigmentation is excellent. Although very nearly wearable in one coat, two coats is best for most even opacity, especially if you are dealing with nail ridges. Cleanup is easy and straightforward. Whispering Waves dries naturally in very good time to a smooth shiny finish. Topcoat accentuates the presence and effects of the shimmers.

Photos show two coats of Whispering waves over treatment and basecoat with a rather bubbly topcoat of Seche Vite.

A-England Whispering Waves

Both the holographic and shimmer effects but especially the latter are much more immediately visible and prettier in person than you would expect from my photos. In fact, I found Whispering Waves to be one of the most elusive polishes photographically that I've ever tried to capture. Others have done a better job -- check out the review photos on Lucy's Stash, Lacquered Obsession or The Polishing Life for a truer, more comprehensive look at this radiant, jewel-like polish.

xo,
Liz

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

A-England Captive Goddess

Like Incense Burner, Captive Goddess was released by British indie polish maker A-England as part of the Rossetti's Goddess collection in May this year. This collection was inspired by the life and works of English poet and painter, Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-82), and most specifically by his painting Proserpine. The model for this painting was Rossetti's lover and muse Jane Morris, who was married to his friend and fellow painter William Morris, with whom she had two daughters.

Captive Goddess is described by creator Adina as a "complex holographic blend of cerulean blue, aquamarine green and muted purple veiled by a silver grey shadow." Such a lovely poetic portrayal and entirely accurate as well! This polish has a medium-light grey base, speckled and silvered with finely-milled holographic pigment and bearing abundant ultrafine duochromatic particle shimmers with a color shift from bright glacial blue to violet. The shimmers appear to float above the speckled grey base, creating a sleek, smoky steel blue appearance. Incredibly athletic and light-responsive, they issue a radiant electric blue flash at the slightest provocation. In low light, you can see both colors of the shift, with aqua at the center edged by shadowy blue-violet. Direct sun elicits a warm prismatic display from the holographic pigment, adding a beautiful golden lavender pink central flare to the mix that tapers to a slatey grey. There's a lot to see in this graceful, mesmerizing chameleon!

Application was a pleasure. The consistency of Captive Goddess is fluid and smooth, with a silky, self-leveling glide over the nail. Pigmentation is very good, with wearably opaque coverage in two coats although I added a third to ensure the non-appearance of my nail ridges, which were giving the polish a faceted appearance on a few nails. Cleanup was easy and straightforward. Captive Goddess dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, somewhat satiny finish. Topcoat enhances the presence and effects of the shimmers.

Photos show three coats of Captive Goddess over Pretty Serious Rock On treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite, again today fairly bubble free. Thank goodness for small favors, eh?

A-England Captive Goddess

This polish is named in part for the mythological story of Proserpine, or Persephone as I learned it. In Greek myth, Persephone was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, goddess of the harvest. One day while Persephone was out picking flowers, the ground split open and Hades, god of the underworld, rose from the depths in his chariot, snatched up Persephone and carted her off screaming to his palace in the underworld to make her his wife. While Persephone did marry him and become a goddess queen of the underworld, she pined for her mother and the world above ground. Demeter could hear her cries of grief and longing and searched unsuccessfully for her daughter for many years, ignoring her duties. The land was barren, no crops grew and there was massive starvation among the mortal inhabitants of earth. Finally Zeus sent his son Hermes, messenger of the gods, down to Hades to fetch Persephone and reunite her with Demeter. Mother and daughter rejoiced, the earth burst into flower, crops grew and the starvation was ended. But Persephone had eaten seeds of the pomegranate, fruit of the underworld, while in Hades' palace, and so was obligated to return. A compromise was reached wherein Persephone would spend part of the year on the surface with Demeter, returning to Hades for the other part. Thus we have the characteristic seasonal periods of growth and dormancy.

Proserpine's plight parallels that of Rossetti's model and muse Jane Morris, torn between her husband and the father of her two daughters, and her lover. She shared a profoundly deep emotionally intimate relationship with Rossetti in addition to a sexual one, and inspired his poetry and the creation of some of his best paintings. Her discovery of his dependence on chloral hydrate, taken for insomnia and to relieve the pain of a botched hydrocele surgery, eventually led her to distance herself from him, although they stayed in touch until he died in 1882 of kidney disease.

You can see the tremendous scope of Adina's inspiration for the Rossetti's Goddess collection, and I think she has acquitted herself brilliantly. Captive Goddess, with it's pervasive icy blue hues and lush prismatic display, is a particularly poignant tribute to Rossetti's complex relationship with his model and muse.

love,
Liz