Lacquer Slacker Liz

Monday, August 25, 2014

Aliquid Lacquer Yooper

Today I have a beautiful deep green shimmer to show you. It's called Yooper, and was released by indie polish maker Aliquid Lacquer as part of the recent Two Pleasant Peninsulas collection, a tribute to creator Alison's home state of Michigan. The inspiration for this particular polish was Michigan's Upper Peninsula, whose residents are colloquially referred to as "yoopers," thus accounting for the appellation.

Yooper has a dark slightly murky translucent foresty green jelly base that is just packed with a simply gorgeous combination of irregularly-shaped flecky shimmers in dark emerald, azure, gold and a lovely warm coppery brown, plus a twinkly mist of holographic particles. It comes together just perfectly, with the engrossing finely-grained, mini-mosaic dimensionality that I adore in a shimmer polish, a field of deep strong green sparkling with flashes of color from the shimmer flecks and holo particles. I adore this beautifully constructed polish, it's shot immediately to the top of my favorite dark greens.

Watching the shimmers go on was just blissful. Yooper's jelly base is consistent with its nature, gel-like and a little sticky. I added polish thinner to my bottle to get a more fluid, easier to apply consistency as my skills with thicker polishes are not so hot. Thinned out, the flow over the nail was smooth, even and self-leveling, very paintable. The first coat goes on a bit sheerly as you would expect, but this polish builds to opacity quite easily. Two coats would probably be enough for regular wear but for richest color and the photos I did three and I'm glad I did. Cleanup was a snap, with no trace of staining. Even the flecks of shimmer graciously allowed themselves to be swept away with the cleanup brush and did not cling to skin and cuticles as some shimmers are wont to do. Yooper dries naturally in good time to a silky smooth shiny finish. A layer of topcoat helps to pop the shimmer colors.

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

Aliquid Lacquer Yooper

This is one of those polishes that intrigues from afar and then becomes more and more interesting the closer you get to it. Looking at it just makes my eyes so happy! And I love the intoxicating dark green that Alison has turned out here, it's blue enough to be immediately foresty and yellow enough to be totally organic. The shimmer colors are perfect in that green, they animate it in a way that is eminently true to Alison's inspiration. Really, could she have done her state more proud? I think not!

Wonderful polish!

love,
Liz

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Cirque Midsummer Night

Midsummer Night was released just last month by NYC-based indie polish maker Cirque Colors as part of the limited edition Kontiki collection, a trio of jelly polishes containing color-shifting multidimensional shimmers. Midsummer Night is a gorgeous saturated deep cobalt blue bearing abundant multichromatic shimmers that shift from bright reddish pink/orange to gold/green depending upon the angle and type of light, as well as a modicum of holographic microglitters that throw rainbow colored sparks amidst the clouds of glowing shimmers like stars against the wider cosmos. The most likely face you'll see on this polish is also my favorite, glowing pinkish red shimmers contrasting beautifully with the cobalt base. Since it is translucent, it catches and holds light very well. Outdoors in natural light the cobalt just glows with brilliant color under the plump and squishy jelly finish that characterizes the best polishes of this type, and if you're in the sun the holo microglitters sparkle like crazy.

My bottle of Midsummer Night was a bit thick and sticky for my skills, so after the first coat I added polish thinner until it achieved a more fluid consistency. In this state, it had a very smooth, even flow over the nail. Being a jelly, it required multiple coats to build to an opacity that I was comfortable with. I applied three coats. This is a fast drying polish that will become a bit sticky if overworked, but with the addition of thinner I had plenty of painting time before it began to set. Cleanup was surprisingly easy for such a saturated blue. There was a bit of cleanup that I overlooked around my runty pinky finger nail, but be assured this was user error on my part and not staining. Midsummer Night dries naturally in very good time to a slightly flat finish that wants a good topcoat to fulfill its full potential as a jelly and to pop the shimmer colors.

Photos show three coats of Midsummer Night over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite, sans bubbles. Apologies for eyelash, and for the bit of flotsam attached to the middle finger of my right hand in some of these shots, I didn't notice them until I was editing the photos.

Cirque Midsummer Night

Cirque Midsummer Night, somewhat blurry macro shot in the bottle

Cirque Midsummer Night

The shimmer color shift to gold/green was a bit shy, and I was only able to catch a couple of pics....

Cirque Midsummer Night

Annie makes such wonderful premier quality lacquers! Everything about them tells you that you are using a artisinal quality polish created with the greatest of care and attention to detail. I love the whisper soft floral scent of them, infused as they are with essential oils, and the way the cap sounds as it clinks against the neck of the bottle. Annie's formulations are always spot on. Midsummer Night is a magnificent example, it's exactly how a perfect jelly polish should look. I would love this polish even without the holo microglitters and the unexpected glow of the shimmers floating in frozen free-fall like some kind of magical cosmic precipitation.

It's a very special polish.

love,
Liz

Saturday, August 23, 2014

A-England Perceval

Perceval was released by British indie polish maker A-England as part of the Mythicals collection in 2011. This is a stunning medium-dark cool-toned rich ruby red polish with finely milled tone-on-tone shimmers that give a molten semi-metallic aspect to its finish. It has that distinctive lit from within quality, with the center of the nail a fiery glowing red deepening to an almost blackened appearance along the edges. Many polish enthusiasts declare that Perceval numbers among their favorite reds, and it is a truly sumptuous example of the glamour and mysterious, powerful femininity that characterizes red nail polish.

Today was a very shaky hands day so I did make kind of a mess getting this manicure on. That said, Perceval applies like liquid velvet. It has the fluid, creamy, dense, eminently paintable consistency that distinguishes so many of Adina's lacquers. Perfectly balanced between fluidity and viscosity, this polish glides over the nail and self-levels like a dream. Pigmentation is outstanding with completely opaque even coverage attainable in one coat. But two coats brings an added richness and depth to the color, and that's what I recommend. Cleanup, as you can imagine with a polish as well-pigmented as this, needs to be thorough lest you leave trace stains of red on the skin and cuticles. But with a steady hand very little cleanup will be required. Perceval dries in very good time to a smooth glossy finish that looks almost like it has topcoat built into it. Exquisite!

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

A-England Perceval

Words can only do so much justice to this siren polish. I love reds and have plenty of red creams, shimmers, holos and glitters, but none of them holds a candle to this glowing ruby masterpiece. The burnished opulence of the semi-metallic finish puts it in a class of its own. Add to its beauty the superb formula and you've got a rare jewel indeed.

love,
Liz