Lacquer Slacker Liz: pink

Showing posts with label pink. Show all posts

Sunday, June 10, 2018

Girly Bits Slushie Lips & Tips

Slushie Lips & Tips was released in May this year by Canadian indie polish maker Girly Bits as one-half of the brand's serial Color of the Month Duo. Creator Pam describes it as a bright popsicle pink with an intense pink shimmer and a very reflective, almost chrome-like finish.

The base color is a brilliant, cool, medium-dark pink with a rosy aspect that's a good match for Mexican pink. Superabundant finely-milled metallic shimmers in magenta sharpen the color to more of a shocking pink appearance, giving it a glowing, semi-metallic quality on the nail with a bold, purplish-pink flash and loads of scintillating sparkle in the sun.

Application was wonderful. The consistency of Slushie Lips & Tips is fluid, light and smooth with a medium viscosity and an easy, fluent, self-leveling slip over the nail. Pigmentation is excellent -- evenly opaque in one medium coat although I used two for this manicure. Cleanup is straightforward. Slushie Lips & Tips dries naturally in amazingly fast time to a smooth shiny finish.

Photos show two coats of Slushie Lips & Tips over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Girly Bits Slushie Lips & Tips

Such a gorgeous, showy color, a power pink! Reminds me mostly of spring and petunias, but of course is awesome for summer and I think it has the oomph to hold its own amongst winter jewel-tones as well. The flashy, semi-metallic aspect gives it an almost ecstatic quality on the nail, but the native rosiness keeps it from being too shrill or flighty and imbues it with a certain affectionate, vivacious sensibility. Sweetness with substance!

love,
Liz

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Picture Polish Blossom

Like Cactus and Heaven, Blossom was released in March this year by Australian boutique polish maker Picture Polish as part of the Spring Autumn 2018 collection. This is yet another Collaboration shade, created with Paulina of Paulina's Passions, according to her design. You can view her post about Blossom here.

Officially described as a "shifting soft baby pink to lilac" jelly with pink glass fleck shimmers and PP's signature mix of holographic flakes, the color is a cool-toned, pastel tint of pink that's similar to a desaturated version of Pantone's Fairy Tale, milky and delicate. It has gentle lilac undertones that seem to assert themselves more or less depending on viewing circumstances. Subtle, scattered flecks in an ever-so-slightly brighter tone of pink glisten as light travels over them, and fine holographic flakes sparkle in hues of silver, pale gold and pastel pink and azure in the sun.

Application was a pleasure. The consistency of Blossom is fluid, light and creamy with a medium consistency and a fluent, easy glide over the nail, a lovely formula that's really more of a crelly than a jelly and self-levels beautifully for a pastel. It is semi-translucent by design and a tiny bit of streakiness, mostly ridge-related, built steadily to evenly opaque coverage in three coats for me, although I think it's also beautiful at two with a touch of visible nail line. Cleanup is straightforward with a bit of stickiness on the part of the pink glass flecks. Blossom dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish.

Photos show three coats of Blossom over KBShimmer Love You Strong Time treatment and KBShimmer Fillin' Groovy basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Picture Polish Blossom

I haven't always been a fan of pastels, but this one really is so pretty and the formula exceptionally user-friendly. The cool, pale, milky pink is clean and graceful on the nail and not stark like I was expecting, a more subtle, grownup pastel shade that feels particularly flattering on the nail.

I picked this polish for today knowing that I will be wearing it for a while as Fuzzy is going in for knee replacement surgery tomorrow and I'll be staying with her in the hospital until they send her off to rehab at the end of the week. It's delicate and unobtrusive with a certain serene sensibility to it that I think will make it a good companion before and after the surgery, for me and maybe for Fuzzy as well.

love,
Liz

Monday, May 7, 2018

A-England Mustardseed A Fairy

I have another polish from A-England's new Shakespeare's Fairies collection for you today: Mustardseed A Fairy, which Creator Adina describes as a light coral pink hologram with additional iridescent glimmer. This one surprised me, because I'd had it and the other Shakespeare's Fairies lined up on a table in my office under an incandescent lamp, where it looked like a bricky orange/ terracotta.

In bright natural light, however, the color adjusts to a rosy medium pink along the lines of rose pompadour. It's filled with countless, light-catching holographic particles that glow in rich sunset shades of orange, amber, pink and light red, adding a warm, salmony aspect the color and giving the polish a dimensional, Pointillist appearance on the nail. There are hints of raspberry and violet edging the prismatic flush in ambient light that increase in intensity in the sun, where the scattered holographic flare features bright sparks in all of the sunset hues above plus lavender and violet.

Application was wonderful. The consistency of Mustardseed A Fairy is fluid and creamy with a medium viscosity and a fluent, even, self-leveling glide over the nail. Pigmentation is very good, close to a one-coater using thicker coats but use two thin-to-medium for fullest expression of color and holographic effects. Cleanup is easy. Mustardseed A Fairy dries naturally in very good time to a glossy finish. Topcoat seems to accentuate the warmth of the holographically-generated sparkle.

Photos show two coats of Mustardseed A Fairy over KBShimmer Love You Strong Time treatment and KBShimmer Fillin' Groovy basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

A-England Mustardseed A Fairy

This color is beautiful, a rich, warm, grownup pink with a touch of that sunburned, organic quality that makes it feel quite natural on the nail. Love, love, love the prismatic effects! It's one of those polishes where the closer you get to it, the lusher, more fascinating and more incredibly gorgeous it becomes.

xo,
Liz

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Cupcake Polish One in a Melon

One in a Melon was released last month by Texas-based indie polish maker Cupcake Polish as part of the Fruit Salad Trio, and is described as a coral shimmer polish with heavy gold shimmer. The base color is actually cooler than you might expect given the look of this polish on the nail, kind of like a vibrant French pink, creamy and dense. Abundant tiny gold metallic microflake shimmers read as a fine, luminous golden mist within the base that twinkles in direct light and combines with the pink to add that kiss of orange that brings the color to a beautiful, melon-y coral pink with a bit of that summery, glowing neon-esque sensibility, especially in low light and shade.

Application was great! The consistency of One in a Melon is fluid and full-bodied with a medium-to-slightly-thicker viscosity and a plush, creamy glide over the nail that went on most easily for me in medium coats from a generously-loaded brush. Pigmentation is very good. Evenly opaque coverage can be had in two medium coats. Cleanup scatters some shimmers, which like to stick to nail and skin. One in a Melon dries naturally in good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat accentuates the presence and reflective quality of the shimmers.

Photos show two coats of One in a Melon over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Cupcake Polish One in a Melon

Seems like every spring by the time May gets here I am itching to see the bright, glowing pinks, corals and reds of summer on my nails. Well, this polish definitely scratches that itch and omg, it feels SO GOOD! With a lean to its pink side in bright direct light and to its salmony/coral side in low light and shade, it has the vibrant, beachy, neon-esque pop that I associate especially with summer nail color. Would be amazing with tan and a matching swimsuit, but it's pretty darn wonderful even without them.

love,
Liz

Friday, April 27, 2018

A-England A Midsummer Night's Dream

Hello, I've returned! Charlottesville was beautiful. It's a couple of weeks behind Chapel Hill as far as spring goes, so while the dogwoods are petering out here, they're in full bloom up there and there were loads of white and pink dogwood blossoms everywhere, suspended like lacy clouds in the misty spring green of the landscape. My 79-year-old father and his new wife were married at noon outdoors on a cool, bright, sunny spring day in front of a venerable deciduous magnolia that was covered in big, bursting purpley-mauve blooms with the rolling hills of the Virginia piedmont as a background.

Today's polish is the first of eight holographic creations from British indie polish maker A-England's new collection, Shakespeare's Fairies, released in March and inspired by the fairies of William Shakespeare's popular comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream. The polish I have for you today is the namesake of that play, officially described as a delicate rose hologram with iridescent shimmers.

The base color is a pale, silvery queen pink bearing beaucoup finely-milled, luminous violet shimmers, which read as lavender on the nail and combine with the base color to give the polish a general appearance similar to Pantone's pink lavender, but more desaturated and silvery. It's the sort of misty, lightly-tinted silvery holo that Adina does so beautifully. There's a gentle, mobile golden prismatic flush in ambient light that explodes into a dense, sparkling scattered holographic flare in the sun with a certain dusky quality to it that surprised me.

Application was wonderful. The consistency of A Midsummer Night's Dream is fluid, light and smooth with a medium viscosity and a fluent, creamy, self-leveling slip over the nail that goes on naturally in thin-to-medium coats from A-England's excellent, flexible, paddle-style brush. Pigmentation is very good, delivering evenly opaque coverage in two coats. Cleanup is easy. A Midsummer Night's Dream dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat accentuates the presence of the violet shimmers and does not affect the holographic properties of the polish in any way.

Photos show two coats of A Midsummer Night's Dream over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

A-England A Midsummer Night's Dream

This is a beautiful, supremely elegant polish, smooth and serene on the nail with that gorgeous, misty, dimensional prismatic bloom that makes you want to be constantly flexing your fingers to see it travel up and down the nail. The shimmer effects are particularly prevalent, producing a soft, unambiguous pink-lavender color that's graceful and flattering. Very nice!

love,
Liz

Monday, April 16, 2018

Colors by Llarowe Life is a Highway

Life is a Highway was released in April 2016 by Colorado-based indie polish maker Colors by Llarowe as part of the Tribute to a Wonderful Friend collection, and is described as a "magenta pink jelly with scattered holo and magenta and purple iridescent micro glitter." The color is indeed a vibrant, medium-dark variation of magenta that reads as a pinker violet-red in bright direct light and a redder telemagenta in lower light and shade. It's packed with minute microglitters in pink and purple for a subtle sparkle in ambient light that explodes into a brilliant, glittery field of twinkling sparks in the sun, complete with scattered prismatic sparkle in all of the rainbow colors.

Application was great! The consistency of Life is a Highway is fluid and dense with microglitters, with a medium viscosity and a full-bodied, self-leveling flow over the nail that went on best for me in medium-to-thicker coats from a well-loaded brush. Pigmentation is excellent. You could wear this at one coat for a brighter, pinker look or two to three for a darker, more bottle-color look. Cleanup is straightforward with some scattering and stickiness of the microglitters as well as a little bit of pigment travel with a hint of residual staining. Life is a Highway dries naturally in very good time to a sandy-textured, matte finish that smooths to glossy perfection with a layer of glitter-smoothing topcoat.

Photos show two to three coats of Life is a Highway over KBShimmer Love You Strong Time treatment and KBShimmer Fillin' Groovy basecoat with a topcoat of Girly Bits Glitter Glaze. All nails have two coats except for the middle finger nail, which has three. In person, the difference is almost unnoticeable but you can really see it here!

Colors by Llarowe Life is a Highway

Love this rich, deep magenta color and the twinkling, disco-ball sparkle in the sun is outrageously pretty and so much fun! Excellent!

love,
Liz