Lacquer Slacker Liz: neon

Showing posts with label neon. Show all posts

Sunday, August 6, 2017

Cirque Game Over

Game Over was released in June this year by NYC-based indie polish maker Cirque Colors as part of the Vice 2017 collection, a series of six neons/brights plus a holographic topper. Creator Annie describes this one simply as "a neon red creme." The color is a brilliant, intense coquelicot or poppy red, a high-octane variation of scarlet with a strong orange-red aspect, brighter, cleaner and less pink than what you'd expect from looking at the bottle.

Application was fantastic. The consistency of Game Over is fluid, full-bodied and creamy with a medium viscosity and an exceptionally smooth, lush, self-leveling glide over the nail. Pigmentation is excellent -- it's almost a one-coater! A tiny bit of translucence to the formula makes two coats best for completely even opacity. Cleanup is straightforward with a little bit of pigment travel. Game Over dries naturally in very good time to a shade that's slightly sharper than bottle color and a smooth, matte finish.

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

Cirque Game Over

Game Over leans strongly to orange-red in bright and direct light and reddens in lower light and shade to a great-looking, corally red color but still maintains its brightness. It's a great shade for summer nights, vivacious and exuberant. Compared to Sin City from last summer's Vice collection, it's sharper and clearer and lacks the hints of rosy pink that Sin City has.

love,
Liz

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Fair Maiden Polish Cruel Summer

Like Sunglasses at Night, Cruel Summer was released earlier this month by Minnesota-based indie polish maker Fair Maiden Polish as part of the Summer 2017 collection. The polish shares its name with the 1983 song "Cruel Summer" by British girl group Bananarama, which reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 during summer 1984.

Officially described as "a juicy neon melon with purple shimmer," this color is hot! It's kind of like if you took a creamy, dense medium-light rosy pink like Baker-Miller pink, amped up the intensity bigly and gave it electric tea rose orange overtones. It's filled with tiny light purple microflake shimmers that create a radiant, cool, misty swath of hot pink along the axis of light, dimensionalizing the look and contrasting nicely with the searing orangey-pink tinge that resides around the edges of the nail.

Application was delicious. The consistency of Cruel Summer is fluid, light and smooth with a medium viscosity and a nearly effortless, creamy, self-leveling slip over the nail, a fantastic formula that goes right where you put it and stays there and is amenable to thin or thicker coats as preference dictates. Pigmentation is very good. A bit of sheerness with a dark streak or two on the first coat builds easily to evenly opaque coverage with the second, although I added a third coat, which it really didn't need. I could have sworn I saw smile lines, but when the effect persisted after the third coat I realized it was an illusion created by the intensity of the color. Now you know, it only needs two, no matter what your eyes tell you!

Cleanup is fairly straightforward -- the shimmers like to stick to the nail a little bit but they will come off with patience. Cruel Summer dries naturally in very good time to a silky smooth, semi-matte finish. Topcoat accentuates the presence and glow of the shimmers, which appears to diffuse the natural glossiness of the topcoat somewhat -- another visual effect in this polish's bag of tricks.

Photos show three coats of Cruel Summer over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Fair Maiden Polish Cruel Summer

Fabulous! You gotta love it!

xo,
Liz

Friday, July 28, 2017

Different Dimension Tropic Like It's Hot

Tropic Like It's Hot was released at the beginning of this month by Indiana-based indie polish maker Different Dimension as part of the Sun of a Beach collection, a series of five jelly-based neon polishes with added color-shifting glitters and holographic microflakes. This is the orange of the series, and it's a vibrant, expansive, "primary" sort of neon orange, very clean and nicely balanced by a milky translucence that reminds me of fresh-squeezed oj and gives it a bit of that sunbleached vibe. The energy is buoyant and convivial, not stark or frenetic. Really pretty! It's packed with glitters and silvery holo flakies, which create a flecked visual texture and emit variously-sized sparks and gleams of amber, orange and red-orange.

Application was very nice. The consistency of Tropic Like It's Hot is fluid, light and fluffy with a medium consistency and a fluent, even, self-leveling glide over the nail. There's slight sense of extra bulk to it from all of the components, with a bit of tumbling on the part of the glitters but no egregious stacking and no stickups at all. Pigmentation is sheerish, building to evenly opaque coverage in three coats for me. I did my cleanup as I went along and had no issues. Tropic Like It's Hot dries naturally in very good time to a shiny finish with considerable texture from the glitters. For a glassy smooth look, I double topcoated with a layer of gel-effect topcoat followed by quick-dry.

Photos show three coats of Tropic Like It's Hot over basecoat with a double topcoat of Pretty Serious Plump Up the Volume plus Seche Vite.

Different Dimension Tropic Like It's Hot

This is a most companionable neon -- it feels like it's actually happy to be on your nails! I love the fresh, clean quality of the color, which adds a certain sweetness to its intensity and flatters the nails. I also like the sparkle, it strikes me as a graceful accompaniment to the color. This would make a great summer pedicure shade, I think. I've always done my own nails and have never been to a nail salon, but maybe this is the polish for that first salon pedicure....

love,
Liz

Friday, July 21, 2017

Colors by Llarowe One Headlight

One Headlight was released at Polish Con NYC in April this year by Colorado-based indie polish maker Colors by Llarowe as a stand-alone charity polish. All proceeds from its sale go to the One Headlight Charity Fund to benefit swatcher and nail artist Janna Miller aka The Girlie Tomboy, who is undergoing treatment for Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC).

Officially described as "a neon pink leaning coral crelly base with intense aqua blue shimmer and aqua blue glass fleck," the base color of One Headlight is particularly sharp and bright, even for a neon. It's almost like an especially intense neon version of brink pink. Take a somewhat cool but vivid medium pink like deep pink light and give it hot raspberry overtones and fluorescent corally glow -- voilà! Blue glass fleck shimmers glisten within the base along the axis of light, cooling the color there just enough to create a distinct contrast with the warm reddish pink that dominates the edges of the nail. The color brightens and sharpens even further in the sun, and the shimmers evolve into a twinkling net of delicate blue sparkle over the nail.

Application was great! The consistency of One Headlight is fluid and full-bodied with a medium viscosity and a plush, self-leveling glide over the nail. Pigmentation is slightly sheerish. I could still see dark hints of nail line after two coats, so applied a third and was happy with the coverage. Cleanup is easy, just be patient with sticky glass flecks. One Headlight dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, matte finish. Topcoat adds a becoming gloss, which makes the most of the neon color and accentuates the presence and effects of the shimmers.

Photos show three coats of One Headlight over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Colors by Llarowe One Headlight

This brilliant neon has such an intense glow that it almost seems to float over the nails. It is less fluorescent in low light and shade than I expected, but the brilliance of the color more than makes up for that. There's a stealthy rosy aspect to it as well, very pretty and feminine in spite of the intensity and the glass fleck shimmers make it unique. Fabulous!

love,
Liz

Saturday, June 24, 2017

KBShimmer Please Don't Glow Girl

Please Don't Glow Girl was released the first week of May this year by Indiana-based indie polish maker KBShimmer as part of the All The Bright Moves collection. In keeping with the late 80s/early 90s theme of the collection, the name of this polish is a play on the 1988 song "Please Don't Go Girl" by American boy band New Kids on the Block.

This is a neon orange polish with a creme/jelly hybrid type of formula. The color is indeed, as it is officially described, "blazing," a full-on neon with all the intensity and fluorescence you could ask for. It far outstrips anything I could find in the pantheon of oranges in terms of brightness, but quite a few reviewers have likened it to a traffic cone, or safety orange. In terms of red/yellow balance, I'd say it leans slightly to the former, but only just enough to make it juicy. Interestingly, it shows aspirations to coral under incandescent light.

Application was great! The consistency of Please Don't Glow Girl is fluid, light and smooth with a thin-to-medium viscosity and a fluent, even, self-leveling slip over the nail, an excellent formula that is a joy to work with and went on best for me from a moderately loaded brush. Pigmentation is very good, delivering evenly opaque coverage in two to three coats depending upon how you paint. I used three for the photos to ensure I didn't have any darkness around the nail line, and would probably opt for three even if I weren't taking pictures of it, but your mileage may vary. Cleanup is straightforward. There's a tiny bit of pigment travel and a skosh of residual staining but mostly its just not enough to really notice. Please Don't Glow Girl dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, fairly shiny finish, unusual for a neon.

Photos show three coats of Please Don't Glow Girl over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

KBShimmer Please Don't Glow Girl

When you've got this on your nails, it's like someone just threw a giant beach ball into the pool -- SO FUN! It is intensely convivial, the life of the party, and sure to bring a grin to your face. Awesome!

love,
Liz

Friday, May 26, 2017

KBShimmer Color Me Rad

Color Me Rad was released during the first week of this month by Indiana-based indie polish maker KBShimmer as part of the All The Bright Moves collection, a series of six super bright polishes inspired by the late 80s and early 90s of creator Christy's childhood. This polish is described as a "bright watermelon color, a neon red with warm pink undertones." In the bottle, it has a decidedly pink look that evolves on the nail into a neon variation of carmine along the lines of a very saturated version of Crayola's fluorescent shade wild watermelon, with aspects of orange-red and electric crimson. Intensely radiant with a creamy quality, it's definitely one of those neons that plays sly appearance tricks on your eyes -- is it red? orange? coral? what? -- and leans strongly to orange in low and incandescent light and to more of a crimson or cerise shade in the sun.

Application was fantastic. The consistency of Color Me Rad is fluid, light and silky smooth with a medium viscosity and an easy, even, self-leveling slip over the nail, a beautiful creme/jelly hybrid sort of formula that all but paints itself onto your nails. Pigmentation is very good, delivering evenly opaque coverage in two medium coats. Cleanup is easy. Color Me Rad dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, flat finish that wants a glossy topcoat to look its very best and make the most of its neon properties.

Photos show two coats of Color Me Rad over KBShimmer Love You Strong Time treatment and KBShimmer Fillin' Groovy basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

KBShimmer Color Me Rad

You can see this coming from across the room, and it's glorious!

love,
Liz