Lacquer Slacker Liz

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Cupcake Polish Crazy Mod Love

Crazy Mod Love was released in July this year by Texas-based indie polish maker Cupcake Polish as part of the Mod About You collection, a series of six polishes inspired by the 60s. Described as a bright berry pink super linear holographic polish, the color is a rich, vibrant, medium-dark Barbie pink with aspects of red-violet and raspberry. Abundant finely-milled holographic pigment gives it an effervescent visual texture, a glowing violet heart and dimensionalizes the base with shades of French raspberry, crimson-rose and misty thulian pink in ambient light. In the sun, there's a brilliant linear holographic display predominated by twin arcs of azure and bright red edged by a shifting corona of prismatic sparkle.

Application was a messy affair, through no fault of the polish. Shaky hands and a sudden, unexplained fit of awkwardness wielding Cupcake's round brush are to blame for that. The consistency of Crazy Mod Love is fluid, dense and buttery smooth with a slightly thicker than medium viscosity and a lush, even, self-leveling glide over the nail. Pigmentation is excellent -- a one-coater for some. I used two. Cleanup is remarkably easy for such a well-pigmented shade, with a skosh of pigment travel but little to no trace staining, even where I flooded my sidewalls (told you it was messy). Crazy Mod Love dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat does not affect the holographic properties of the polish in any way that I could tell.

Photos show two coats of Crazy Mod Love over basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Cupcake Polish Crazy Mod Love

What an awesome deep pink holo! The color is gorgeous -- bold and clean and other than a holo's natural finely-grained visual texture and effervescence, absolutely no silvering from the holographic pigment. A powerfully feminine look -- I love it!

xo,
Liz

Friday, August 25, 2017

Glisten & Glow Spirit of Chicago

Spirit of Chicago was created by Jill of Connecticut-based indie polish maker Glisten & Glow for Polish Con September 2017 and was released as part of the ongoing Road to Polish Con series on the Polish Con website at the end of last month.

Described as an indigo purple linear holo with violet and blue shimmers and silver microflakes, the color is a shimmery medium-light variation of indigo along the lines of pigment or web indigo, closer to violet than blue and subtly silvered courtesy of the holographic pigment and silver microflakes. It's packed with minute metallic microflake shimmers in blue and purple that combine with the silver flakies to give the polish a heathered, semi-metallic appearance that is almost foil-like. Sleek and reflective on the nail, it has a gleaming semi-metallic lavender pink underlay. The holographic effects are quite strong, especially in the sun, where there's a full linear prismatic flair.

Application was great! The consistency of Spirit of Chicago is fluid, light and slightly loamy with a medium viscosity and a fluent, even, self-leveling slip over the nail, and all of the tiny flakes go on smoothly, laying flat to the nail without stacking, stickups or protrusions over the free edge. Pigmentation is very good. A tiny bit of translucence on the first coat builds easily to evenly opaque coverage with the second. Cleanup is fairly straightforward except that the touch of acetone frees up all of those sparkly shimmers to roam about the nail environs and ensconce themselves in the sidewalls -- but most of them will disappear with a good handwashing. Spirit of Chicago dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat accentuates the presence of the blue and purple shimmers especially, and does not in any way compromise the holographic effects.

Photos show two coats of Spirit of Chicago over basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Glisten & Glow Spirit of Chicago

I expected this polish to be a simple linear holo, and although it looks like a simple holo in photos there's more to it in person. Beautifully constructed and perfectly balanced, it has the abundant light play that you see in foily polishes seamlessly combined with the color and dimension-generating qualities of the holo, neither overshadows the other.

love,
Liz

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Turtle Tootsie Polishes Turquoise Embers

Turquoise Embers was released this month by Pennsylvania-based indie polish maker Turtle Tootsie Polishes as Holo-Maniacs Custom #28 for August 2017, a limited edition polish designed especially for members of the Holo-Maniacs Facebook group. Creator Chrissy describes this as "a blue teal/turquoise holo polish with gold flakies and gold shimmer." The color is a creamy variation of light sky blue, almost the exact color of prized gem turquoise from the now-closed Sleeping Beauty mine near Globe AZ, a milky, azure-leaning shade with aspects of jordy blue and iceberg. Abundant small golden flakies dapple the finish, gleaming when light hits them just right, and holographic pigment together with fine golden shimmers give it a bit of twinkling effervescence. In the sun, there's a vestigial prismatic flare, slightly dispersed by the flakies and shimmers, predominated by bright sparks of azure and spring green.

Application was really nice. The consistency of Turquoise Embers is fluid, light and smooth with a medium-to-thicker viscosity to which I added a small amount polish thinner at the outset. Slightly thinned, it was just lovely, a perfectly-paintable formula with a silky, even, self-leveling slip over the nail that goes right where you put it and stays there, simply wonderful to work with. Pigmentation is very good, delivering evenly opaque coverage in two coats. Cleanup is fairly easy with a tiny bit of stickiness on the part of the flakies. Turquoise Embers dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat adds a becoming gloss and accentuates the presence of the components.

Photos show two coats of Turquoise Embers over KBShimmer Fillin' Groovy basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Turtle Tootsie Polishes Turquoise Embers

This polish reminds me of ceramic glaze for some reason. I can't quite put my finger on what makes it stand out to me, but it does -- in a good way! The formula is an absolute dream to work with, it's one of those that almost seems like it really wants your manicure to be perfect. It dries down beautifully to a thin, compact layer and the color is particularly even and opaque even though there is a bit of translucence to the formula. I don't know -- something about it just really hits the spot! An excellent polish!

The inspiration for Turquoise Embers, a macro photograph of polished gem turquoise with a gold matrix, was selected by majority voting by members of the Holo-Maniacs Facebook group. It is only available for the month of August.

love,
Liz