More from ILNP! Short Circuit, also part of the Spring 2018 collection and also an Ultra Metallic "Bright," is described as a "mind-numbingly radiant" yellow with subtle green undertones. It's a blast! The color is a metallic chartreuse yellow or traditional chartreuse, a greenish yellow with lemon-lime aspects that's composed of superabundant, highly-reflective, flat metallic particles in a transparent base. Bold and beaming on the nail, this will be a crazy-good alternative to neon yellow come summertime. The metallic color is softly reflective in the way of foil polishes, with a finely-grained, piecey visual texture, loads of scintillating sparkle and a lively, gleaming flash. It absolutely glows, even in low light.
Application was great! The consistency of Short Circuit is fluid and smooth with a medium consistency and a silky, self-leveling slip over the nail that is a pleasure to manipulate with the brand's flexible, flattened-style brush. Coverage is provided by the metallic bits, which seem slightly more plentiful and dense here than they did in Hi-Fi, delivering a wearably opaque look in two medium coats. I added a third for the photos. As with Hi-Fi, cleanup looses a legion of shiny, sticky metallic bits to ensconce themselves about the nail environs, adhering to skin and nail like little limpets. I recommend going for as clean a manicure as possible from the outset and doing any necessary cleanup very carefully while the polish is still wet. Short Circuit dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish.
Photos show three coats of Short Circuit over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.
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| ILNP Short Circuit |
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How about that?! The color can lean more to yellow or to a fresh, new-leaf green depending upon the kind of light in which it's viewed, and is brighter in person than it appears in the pics. It's definitely an in-your-face 24/7 sort of look, but I think that it's most striking in low light, where the burnished, show-stealing glow really ramps up the amperage.
love,
Liz
Hi-Fi was just released this month by Nevada-based indie polish maker ILNP as part of the Spring 2018 collection. This and six other colors make up the Ultra Metallic "Brights" subset of the collection, foily polishes "formulated with premium ingredients for truly superior metallic finishes and effortless removal."
Described simply as a purple, Hi-Fi is a true medium purple, a kind of amethyst-esque shade also known more officially as web medium purple. As a foil, it's composed of minute, flat, highly-reflective metallic pieces that give it a softly-reflective, finely-grained visual texture that always reminds me of tin foil that's been crumpled and smoothed out. I used to do just that obsessively with Wrigley's aluminum foil gum wrappers (which the company replaced with paper in 2010, btw, in order to make their packaging more cost effective) and a pencil during class in middle school because: a. I was bored, and b. I loved the piecey mirror of the smoothed out foil. But being obsessive about quirky stuff like this is pretty much the raison d'être of every middle school student, no? Maybe it was just me.
Anyway, the foily metallic finish of Hi-Fi is gloriously glowy and loaded with fine, scintillating sparkle, especially in the sun.
Application was quite agreeable. The consistency of Hi-Fi is fluid, light and smooth with a medium viscosity and a silky, self-leveling slip over the nail. Pigmentation is somewhat sheer, especially on the first coat. Two medium-to-thicker coats will net a wearable opacity, but I think the polish looks best in three thinner coats. Any visible brushstrokes that appear during application vanish as the polish dries. Cleanup scatters tiny purple bits far and wide. Hi-Fi dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish.
Photos show three coats of Hi-Fi over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. Any magenta-ish spots you see are my shirt reflected in the polish.
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I don't seem to gravitate as much toward foils these days as I used to, but wearing this one reminds me of how much I love that special foily radiance and sparkle, and the way the tiny metallic pieces fit together on the nail like a mini mosaic -- at least, that's how I like to think of it. It's a totally different look from the super smooth, chrome-like reflectivity of straight metallics, and foils are much more forgiving to apply and do not show nailbed imperfections like straight metallics do either. I also have Short Circuit (yellow) and Love Me Not (red) from this line to show you, and I'm thinking that I may just have to go back for Blueprint and possibly Sugar Coated (rose) as well.
What about you? Do you like to wear foils? Did you pick up any of ILNP's new Ultra Metallic "Brights"?
love,
Liz
Like Rogue, On The Rocks was released this past November by Nevada-based indie polish maker ILNP as part of the Winter 2017 collections. It's part of ILNP's Ultra Metallic line of metallic-finish polishes specially formulated with ultra-thin metallic flakes, and is described as a java-brown.
The base color is a cool, taupey kind of shade, medium-dark in tone, similar to coyote brown. It is considerably lightened by superabundant, highly reflective metallic flakes in what appears to me to be silver, creating a look that is more along the lines of beaver in color, with aspects of champagne, bronze and café au lait and a brilliant foily metallic finish with tremendous sparkle. There's a sprinkling of holographic particles in there also, which are kind of lost amidst all of the reflectivity and sparkle until you get the polish into the sun. There, the piecey, foil-like visual texture of the flakes seems to smooth out a bit and a loose net of brilliant rainbow-colored sparks adorns the finish.
Interestingly, there's a surprising purple aspect to the color that comes out under LED lighting.
Application was fantastic. The consistency of On The Rocks is fluid, light and smooth with a medium viscosity and a fluent, easy, self-leveling slip over the nail that went on best for me in medium coats from a moderately-loaded brush. There is no discernible texture from the flakes, which go on flat to the nail without tumbling, stickups or protrusions over the free edge. Pigmentation is very good. Two coats nets completely even opacity and full bottle color. Cleanup frees countless tiny reflective flakes to ensconce themselves happily over the nail environs, difficult if not impossible to sweep away completely. I did my cleanup as I went along and still had sparkly nail surrounds -- best to go for as clean a manicure as possible from the outset with this one. On The Rocks dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, reflective finish.
Photos show two coats of On The Rocks over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.
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This polish is much more stunning in person than it is in a still image -- you really need to see it on the move to appreciate the wonderful dynamics of the light play. It's a dazzling foily metallic look that just radiates elegance and glamour. The cool, metallic champagne-taupe color acts as a particularly stylish neutral, more interesting and, I think, even classier than gold or silver. I'm telling you, this polish is money! Dressy enough for black-tie but not in the least over-the-top or pretentious. Love it!
A clutch would be killer in this look, and shoes! Some graceful, pointy-toe kitten heels -- OMG!
xo,
Liz
High Tide was released in March by Nevada-based indie polish maker ILNP as part of the Spring 2017 collection. Described as a bright blue-green holo with gold and green microflake shimmers, the base color is a perfectly radiant pigment cyan. Its intensity appears to grow exponentially as it combines with superabundant gold and green metallic microflake shimmers to produce a brilliant, foily, tropical blue-green with an almost duochromatic sort of shiftiness to it. The shimmers create a glistening metallic golden-green underlay with a reflectivity that rises, gleaming, along the axis of light, creating subtle, dimensional gradations of tropical sea blues and blue-greens in its wake as it does so. Holographic pigment adds a net of scintillating sparkle to the look, and bursts into a bright field of scattered prismatic sparks in the sun.
Application was fantastic -- the formula is everything we've learned to expect from ILNP, which is to say: it's superb! The consistency is fluid, light and very smooth with a medium viscosity and a perfectly fluent, silky, self-leveling slip over the nail that is amenable to thin or thicker coats as preference and personal technique dictate. It is easy to manipulate with ILNP's flattened-style brush, and allows plenty of time for finessing before it sets up. Love! Pigmentation is very good, delivering evenly opaque coverage in two medium coats or three thinner ones. Cleanup is straightforward with a little stickiness and dispersal on the part of the microflake shimmers but no pigment travel or trace staining. High Tide dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish.
Photos show three coats of High Tide over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.
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The color has a touch more green to it with a more complex and dramatic shifty quality in person.
This is a showy, irrepressible extrovert of a polish, perfect for that diva mermaid within. You will not be able to hide your light under a bushel in any way with this on your tips or toes, especially in the sun, so prepare to be noticed! I love the effervescent visual texture that the holo particles bring to the foily, semi-metallic finish -- with the exceptionally brilliant color, it's like a double dose of panache. Woohoo!
love,
Liz
Like Caesar, Arctic Lights was released last month by Nevada-based indie polish maker I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) as part of the New Year's 2016 collection. It's another Ultra Metallic, formulated with loads of ultra thin metallic flakes, here in silver. The base color is a slightly murky, leaden variation of azure along the lines of RAF blue, heavily silvered and considerably brightened to more of a metallic sky blue appearance that's similar in depth and tone to Pantone's sky blue with perhaps a touch more grey to it. Superabundant silver flakes give it a bright, reflective foily finish and tremendous sparkle, augmented by a generous dusting of holographic microflakes, which deliver a gorgeous scattered field of prismatic sparks in the sun.
Application was fantastic. The consistency of Arctic Lights is fluid, light and very smooth with a medium viscosity and an easy, fluent, self-leveling slip over the nail, exactly the kind of eminently-paintable, user-friendly formula that ILNP is known for. Pigmentation is very good with evenly opaque coverage in two coats. Cleanup is easy save for releasing beaucoup silvery flakes onto the nail environs, most of which will disappear with a good handwashing. Arctic Lights dries naturally in good time to a silky smooth, shiny finish.
Photos show two coats of Arctic Lights over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.
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| ILNP Arctic Lights |
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ILNP's Ultra Metallic formula transforms this murky azure to the absolutely perfect dressy light-to-medium blue for winter, icy and sparkling. It's an inherently showy, eye-catching kind of look, and even if you don't generally cotton to semi-metallic polishes, you'll be hard pressed not to admire it! The combination of this particular blue with silver is genius for winter and the foily finish is remarkably dimensional and flattering on the nail. Love it!
xo,
Liz
