Lacquer Slacker Liz

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Priti NYC Moonstone Cactus

Priti NYC recently had a 20% off sale for fall and I took advantage of the discount to order four lovely polishes from my wishlist, essentially doubling my small Priti collection. One of them is Moonstone Cactus from Priti's core line, a venerable shade that's been around since 2011 at least. Officially described simply as an "opaque blue-grey," this color is a beautiful example of Priti's flair for creating subtle complex hues with a modern, grownup sensibility. It's a lovely blend of slate and azure producing a medium-toned creamy crepuscular grey-ish blue that's a near perfect non-metallic match for Crayola's shadow blue. Leaning more to blue or grey depending upon the circumstances in which it's viewed, Moonstone Cactus has a fetching duskiness that makes it well-suited for those days when you want something gentler than the traditional fall fare of vampy deep-toned hues.

Application was delicious. The consistency of Moonstone Cactus is fluid, light and very creamy, with a buttery, self-leveling glide over the nail. Although quite fluid, it has a very nicely balanced viscosity for painting with no running or pooling. Pigmentation is excellent, with wearably opaque coverage in one coat. Adding a second coat gives a richer, deeper look to the color, highlighting its complexity. Cleanup is easy and straightforward with a teensy bit of pigment travel but no residual staining. Moonstone Cactus dries naturally in good time to a glossy finish.

Photos show two coats of Moonstone Cactus over treatment and basecoat with a slightly bubbly topcoat of Seche Vite.

Priti NYC Moonstone Cactus

I think Moonstone Cactus is at its prettiest in low light, where the color develops a subtle undertone of soft twilight purple that is unexpected and really lovely. I wish I could have captured that look!

Up at the gym, I was doing bicep curls when my personal trainer remarked that this polish reminded her of a certain slatey blue paint color similar to what was once known as Williamsburg blue, a shade that probably reached its apogee of popularity in the 1980s when it was often referred to around here as "country" blue and commonly paired with a flat peachy pink in "country" decor schemes. Ugh. Personally, I find Moonstone Cactus much softer, creamier, more luminous and altogether more unusual than that old chestnut, but grudgingly admit a vague resemblance.

To me, Moonstone Cactus is actually kind of like a deeper, stormier cousin to Essie's Cocktail Bling. They have a similar subtleties to their coloring and share a certain hushed anticipatory aspect, like an overcast sky before a snowfall.

love,

Liz

Monday, October 26, 2015

Colors by Llarowe Lake of the Pines

Lake of the Pines was released by Colorado-based indie polish maker Colors by Llarowe as part of the Fall 2015 collection last month. Creator Leah Ann describes this one as a soft linear holo in deep pine green with blue undertones. It is stunning! From the online swatches I'd seen, I was expecting the color to be more of a teal blue with a heavy cerulean bias. But in person, Lake of the Pines is indeed a deep green-leaning teal, a dark tone of cyan along the lines of pine or skobeloff green with dusky Atlantic blue undertones, bearing abundant finely-milled holographic pigment. It's a profoundly saturated, luxuriously rich color in a creme holo formula, which is reflected by the subtle yet pervasive quality of the holographic effects. In bright indirect light, a gorgeous shaft of dark cerulean occupies the center of the nail, shading to a smoky pine at the sidewalls. Direct light produces a gently-defined flare in shades of cerulean and Atlantic blue, edged by a misty corona of prismatic sparks in spring green, aqua blue and gold. Under low light and from a distance, the polish reads mostly as a deep inscrutable skobeloff green.

Application was amazing. The formula of Lake of the Pines is nail polish perfection, with a fluid, creamy, dense consistency, a plush self-leveling glide over the nail, and one-coat coverage. I had a near perfect first coat and almost left it at that as it was completely opaque and self-leveled so well that every nail ridge had vanished. But no! I just had to apply a second coat to try and even out a few lines, ended up overstepping them in a few places, and so had cleanup to do. Cleaning up after a polish this well-pigmented is fairly straightforward, but the pigment does travel and does leave residual staining especially on dryer areas. If you have a steady hand, however, there's no reason why you should have much if any cleanup to do. Lake of the Pines dries naturally in very good time to a silky smooth finish with a certain soft glossiness that is extremely flattering. You'll be tempted not to topcoat it, but I always advocate topcoat, which does not interfere with the holo effects in any way.

Photos show two coats of Lake of the Pines over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. We're having a grey sky day here today with occasional moments of weak sunlight, which I tried to take advantage of while photographing this polish. But the light wasn't quite sufficient enough to render the holo effects at their fullest, so keep that in mind as you view the pics.

Colors by Llarowe Lake of the Pines

Delicious! The lush color of Lake of the Pines has tremendous depth despite its darkness -- it gives you the sense that if you fell into it, Alice-like, you would find yourself in the midst of a dense, hushed coniferous forest at twilight.

I expect this will want to stain upon removal. Taking the precaution of moisturizing prodigiously beforehand and using a fresh surface for each nail to limit contact of pigment to skin will help to keep it to a minimum. A quick wipe down with cuticle remover afterwards will clean up most of any trace color that remains.

love,
Liz

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Pretty Serious Hell on Wheels

Hell on Wheels was released by Australian indie polish maker Pretty Serious Cosmetics as part of the Hit the Road collection in late June 2013. The polishes in this collection were inspired by famous automobiles in cinema and television, and Hell on Wheels is Pretty Serious' tribute to Christine of the eponymous 1983 action psychological horror film based on the novel by Stephen King.

'58 Plymouth Fury [sic] Christine (source)

Hell on Wheels is a gorgeous medium-dark saturated red creme polish. The color is a perfect crimson, a cool-leaning cherry red that is rich and intense enough for a bold, classic look and bright enough to wear year round. There's a bit of crelly-like translucence to the formula that allows it to really glow on the nail. It's the sort of bombshell red that is absolutely timeless.

Application was dreamy. Hell on Wheels has a superb formula. The consistency is fluid, creamy and dense with a buttery glide over the nail, a beautifully-balanced viscosity for painting and excellent self-leveling properties. Pigmentation is also excellent, with completely opaque coverage in one coat. You can wear it this way for a brighter, cherry popsicle look or add another coat, as I did, for full bottle color. Cleanup is fairly straightforward with some pigment travel and residual staining as you'd expect from a well-saturated red creme. Hell on Wheels dries naturally in good time to a beautiful glossy finish that makes adding topcoat feel redundant.

Photos show two coats of Hell on Wheels over Pretty Serious Rock On treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Pretty Serious Hell on Wheels

Love this red! So lickable!

I was a big Stephen King fan in high school and college and got every book as soon as it was published. The movie Christine was just ok although it did have some great regeneration scenes of the car. For me none of the movies based on his books ever lived up to Stephen King's own consummate ability to tell a scary story... well, with the possible exceptions of Misery (oh that Kathy Bates!) and the original 1976 Carrie directed by Brian De Palma, even though I found Amy Irving's presence in the film an annoying distraction. I've always hated the Stephen King movie that everyone seems to love, 1980's The Shining. I don't care if it WAS directed by Stanley Kubrick, it doesn't hold the first hint of a candle to the book and Jack Nicholson being married to Shelley Duvall was just WRONG.

love,
Liz