Lacquer Slacker Liz

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Color Club Otherworldly

Otherworldly was released by Color Club as part of its Starry Temptress collection for summer 2011. This collection featured six neon polishes containing a mix of tiny hex glitters in white matte and silver holo together with an iridescent glitter topper. Otherworldly is the blue of the collection and while I wouldn't call it neon it is a very bright medium cerulean blue creme/jelly hybrid. It contains the aforesaid mix of small hex glitters in white matte and silver holo, which provides a fabulous effervescent effect. Looking closely at this polish almost gave me vertigo -- the white glitters look just like bubbles rising to the surface with a flash of color every now and then from a holo glitter in just the way bubbles will flash when the light catches them.

Application was a cinch! The consistency was smooth and light despite the glitter and the polish self-leveled surprisingly well. Pigmentation is very good considering there is a certain amount of translucence to this polish, and I got great coverage in two coats. Cleanup was easy with no staining left behind. Otherworldly dries in very good time to a satiny matte finish that is smooth, another surprise with all the glitter it contains. I expect removal will be a chore, but worth it for this bubbly little gem.

Photos show two coats of Otherworldly over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of HK Girl.

Color Club Otherworldly

Color Club Otherworldly, a little blurry, apologies -- my macro refused to focus on these tiny glitters!

Color Club Otherworldly

I am really enjoying wearing this polish and stopping everything to gaze at it repeatedly. It is giving me fantasies about diving into a deep pool of clear blue water and rising to the surface along with the bubbles, or settling happily up to my neck in a bubbling hot tub with a flute of champagne somewhere nearby. Oh, if only! Well, any polish that puts me in that state of mind is a winner with me.

love,
Liz

Saturday, February 22, 2014

American Apparel Mouse

Mouse was part of American Apparel's foray into nail polish, released with other core polishes late in 2009, and is still part of their line up. It is a medium-light taupe creme, nicely balanced between grey and beige.

I have a small herd of American Apparel polishes in my collection and Mouse is the lightest color I own. It doesn't apply as beautifully as the darker ones, in my opinion, but one coaters are a hard act to follow! The consistency is fluid, light and a little sheer, and so goes on sheerly and a little unevenly. Opacity must be built and I used three coats before I was happy with the coverage. In particular, the self-leveling quality of Mouse was not what I'd hoped based on my experience with other American Apparel lacquers, and part of the reason for needing three coats was to bring my nail ridges into submission. Mouse dries naturally fairly quickly to a glossy finish.

Photos show three coats of Mouse over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of HK Girl.

American Apparel Mouse

I think Mouse is a particularly well-balanced taupe and works pretty well with my cool-toned coloring. In keeping with the other American Apparel polishes I've tried, the finish is lovely and is enhanced by the addition of topcoat but it is glossy enough not to need topcoat if you didn't want to use it for whatever reason.

If you're looking for a lighter taupe to balance out some of the darker ones in your collection, I'd definitely recommend this one. It's a nice creamy neutral that's wearable all year round.

love,
Liz

Friday, February 21, 2014

Deborah Lippmann Between the Sheets

Between the Sheets was released as part of Deborah Lippmann's colors for summer 2010. Lippmann's website describes it as fuchsia, a "perfect hybrid of purple and hot pink" and I agree. This is a beautiful rich medium well-saturated fuchsia, perfectly balanced between purple and magenta. It's a supremely feminine color with an easy elegance to it.

Application was lovely. Between the Sheets has a fluid, creamy consistency that lays down smoothly and evenly over the nail and self-levels like a dream. Pigmentation is very good with complete even opacity and bottle color in two coats. I had no application problems at all that weren't of my own making, ie shaky hand swipage. Clean up was easy and quick with no staining left behind. Between the Sheets dries naturally in very good time to a gorgeous glossy finish.

Where I did have difficulty was in capturing the color of Between the Sheets accurately on camera. I use a point and shoot Canon PowerShot A3000 that's getting a little long in the tooth for my photographs and Between the Sheets just freaked it right out. I took dozens of photos indoors and out, and my camera consistently registered the color as pinker and slightly lighter than it is in person. As you view the pics keep in mind that although it is just as bright and saturated, it is slightly deeper and has more purple in it than they show.

Photos show two coats of Between the Sheets over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Deborah Lippmann Between the Sheets

Here are the most color accurate shots:

Deborah Lippmann Between the Sheets

In the reviews and swatch photos that I looked at online, the most accurately rendered image was from the blog Polish or Perish -- you can see her post with this photo here. Between the Sheets seems to be very similar to NARS Ratin Jot. There's an excellent review of all of the polishes from the Thakoon for NARS collection including Ratin Jot at Kai's Obsessions, here. L'Oreal Violet Vixen appears to be another similar fuchsia. I found a swatch wheel comparison of Violet Vixen, Ratin Jot, and Between the Sheets on Micheleista the Beauty Hunter. See her post here.

This is another shade that would be perfectly at home in a palette analogous to radiant orchid.

love,
Liz