Lacquer Slacker Liz

Monday, January 27, 2014

Pretty Serious Claris

Today I have for you another pink shimmer polish from Australian indie polish and cosmetics maker, Pretty Serious. Claris was released in late summer 2012 by Pretty Serious as part of it's In The Night collection. In The Night was based on a 1990's Sega Saturn game called Nights into Dreams and Claris is the name of one of the characters in the game. After yesterday's CGA, you kind of get the gist of what sort of pop culture geekery and intellectual fun they get up to at Pretty Serious!

I've actually swatched Claris in a group post once before, but decided it needed it's own post.

Claris is a "milky pink jelly with tiny golden flakes," according to the Pretty Serious website and that's entirely accurate. It's a medium brightened shell pink with relatively large sized golden flaky shimmers. The base is deliciously translucent and allows the pretty, convivial shimmers to show in any light, giving the pink a warm glowing quality on the nail.

Application was easy peasy. The consistency was lighter than CGA's but just as smooth and easy to control. Because of the native translucency of this polish, coverage is buildable. Claris has a slightly better self-levelling propensity than CGA, which I very much appreciated. It's glorious to watch the furrows of fiercely ridged nails disappear after the first coat, even if there were a few streaks. The second coat evened out the color but there was still a trace of VNL so I added a third for 100% coverage and a bottle color match. Claris dries naturally in average time to a glossy finish.

Photos show three coats of Claris over Seche Rebuild and Butter London Nail Foundation basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite to ensure that all layers dried in good time and protect against potential dent gremlin shenanigans.

Upon viewing the photos, I found it wasn't entirely successful in the last regard. I blame the cop who gave me a speeding ticket on Rt. 86 (78 and in a 55 -- burnin' out that carburetor build-up doncha know) in Caswell County NC on the way home from Charlottesville last month. How so, you may ask. Well if he hadn't been so diligent with his little radar gun, I wouldn't have had to call my lawyer today to get it worked out so I wouldn't have to go to court, which is when I figure the dent gremlins got a mini whack at the tip of my right ring finger nail.

Sure!

Pretty Serious Claris

Forgot about the chagrin de jour (aside from having to call my lawyer): dry flaky skin on fingers and hands. So sorry you had to see it up close.

Flaky skin aside, isn't this just a luscious little bonbon of a pink? So bright, fresh and, to borrow a phrase, juicy sweet! It has a lively youthful feel to it, but that won't stop an old bat from enjoying the heck out it. Makes the gnarly old digits feel sweet and girly... it's like having posies on my finger tips!

love,
Liz

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Pretty Serious CGA

CGA was released by Australian indie polish and cosmetics maker Pretty Serious in 2012 as part of its Hello World collection. The name CGA is a reference to one of personal computing's early icons: the Color Graphics Adaptor. IBM's first generation graphics card, it became the color display card for the IBM PC in 1983.

In tribute, Pretty Serious CGA is a light magenta polish and when you compare the bottle to a CGA color output palette, you can see the heritage. This is a nacreous purpley pink polish with finely milled pale cyan blue shimmer that floats over the base color like a sheer glowing veil of pearlescence. It is very much a cool-toned floral color that would fit in well with a palette analogous to Radiant Orchid, Pantone's 2014 color of the year.

Application was buttery. CGA has a fluid but dense, smooth consistency that goes on evenly over the nail and stays where you put it. Pigmentation is good with satisfactory opacity in two coats, but three provides a richer look with more of the purple tones apparent. CGA dries naturally in average time to a smooth shiny finish.

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


Pretty Serious CGA

Pretty Serious CGA

My favorite shot of CGA was taken outdoors backlit by direct sun in late afternoon. I couldn't even see the camera display when I took this because the sun was so bright, but it turned out beautifully.

Pretty Serious CGA, outdoor shot

You can really see the how the shimmer creates a pearly sheen on the purpley pink base color in that photo, so lovely -- graceful and elegant, with a silky quality.... As someone who tends to go for warmer pinks, this cool toned lavender-leaning orchid pink is unusually appealling. Could be the fact that it was created by the formulary awesomeness that is Pretty Serious Cosmetics has something to do with that!

love,
Liz

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Hare Polish Wonderland Wanderlust

Wonderland Wanderlust, like Oh What Fun it is to Love, was released by Hare Polish late last year as part of the Bohemian Holiday collection for 2013. It's a classic Hare glitter creme/jelly hybrid bearing an eclectic mix of glitters in various shapes and colors. The medium-dark slightly dusty steel blue crelly base has a wintery feel to it and included in its depths are golden circle glitters, bright red mini square glitters and beautiful shardy flakes in red, gold and rosy pink. Together they create an intricate colorful festive look with an exquisite anticipatory quality to it, like the potential of careful preparation -- a beautifully decorated room right before the guests arrive or a carefully wrapped gift waiting to be opened by the recipient.

Application of Wonderland Wanderlust was fun. It has an easy, fluid consistency and each brushful carries a nice representation of components that for the most part lay down smoothly and evenly on the nail. I had a few instances of glitter stacking and there was protrusion of glitters over the free edge but these kinds of things are not unexpected with a glitter polish. Coverage is very good with opacity at two coats and even bottle color at three. Wonderland Wanderlust dries naturally in good time to a smooth shiny finish with very little detectable texture from the glitters.

Photos show three coats of Wonderland Wanderlust over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

Hare Polish Wonderland Wanderlust

It is both magical and interminably poignant when a collage of elements and colors elicits an emotional response that is quick and keen but almost impossible to describe. I often find myself in this state when addressing Nikole's creations.

Something about Wonderland Wanderlust reminds me of walking the dog late on wintery nights in my mother's old neighborhood of Brookmont in Bethesda, MD. In my memory it was always intensely cold during these walks, and part of the joy of it for me was voyeuristically catching views of lit interiors through the windows of the closely spaced homes. I don't remember ever seeing the inhabitants of these rooms, just the spaces with their lamplit dimensions marked by bookshelves or artwork on the walls, warm and waiting for life to fill them up. At least, that's how I felt about it.

I live in the country now and there's no walking the dog late at night on State Road 1008 or whatever it is. We have a real for true big fenced-in pen on our two plus acres here and I can take Chi out and let her loose to do her thing while I watch my breath float in the illumination of the security light and scan the night sky through the twisty bare branches of plum and redbud trees for recognizable constellations and high flying aircraft. Perhaps in another place I'll have memories of these times called back to me by something as singular as a nail polish.

I'll be looking forward to it.

love,
Liz