ILNP Celeste

Like Avalon and Nexus, Celeste was released earlier this month by ILNP as part of the Spring 2018 collection. This one is described as a lilac holographic polish with gold shimmers. The color is indeed a desaturated lilac that is heavily silvered by ILNP's signature holographic mix of particles and microflakes. It's also packed with loads of tiny, highly reflective pale gold microflake shimmers that light up as light travels over them and create a warm golden flash. In combination with the holographic components, they give this polish an especially lacy, ethereal look. The prismatic effects are strong, with a prominent mobile prismatic flush in ambient light and a moderately dispersed linear flare in direct light.

Application was great! The consistency of Celeste is fluid, light and smooth with a medium viscosity and a fluent, easy, self-leveling slip over the nail that is amenable to thin or thicker coats as preference dictates. Pigmentation is very good. Some sheerness on the first coat builds easily to wearable opacity in two. There's a bit of component scattering with cleanup. Celeste dries naturally in very good time to a gently textured finish, easily smoothed by topcoat.

Photos show two coats of Celeste over KBShimmer Love You Strong Time treatment and KBShimmer Fillin' Groovy basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

ILNP Celeste

ILNP Celeste

ILNP Celeste

ILNP Celeste

ILNP Celeste

ILNP Celeste

ILNP Celeste

ILNP Celeste

So pretty! I love the delicate, lacy look of this polish, it reminds me of a springtime landscape when the dogwoods are in bloom everywhere or the flowering plum trees here on our place when the breeze releases the tiny petals to fall like light snow. Between the shimmers and the holographic components, there's all kinds of sparkly lightplay too, and the pastel lilac color is the perfect springtime backdrop. Exquisite!

love,
Liz

Colors by Llarowe Young Turks

Young Turks was released in February 2014 by Colorado-based indie polish maker Colors by Llarowe as part of the Spring 2014 collection. Described simply as a "bright turquoise holo," the color is bright, saturated, medium-toned cyanic blue from the pool blue family, but it's so lush and intense that it actually kind of transcends that category. I searched for something similar on Wikipedia and the closest seems to be Pacific blue with aspects of process cyan, but you might also call it a summer sky blue or a Malibu blue. It is hypnotically beautiful, a luxuriant marine shade from the most brilliant seascape of your imagination.

Abundant finely-milled holographic pigment makes it a linear holo, but the saturation, richness and intensity of the color is such that the prismatic properties inform the color rather than stand out from it. In ambient light, lush hues of ultramarine, cerulean, deep turquoise and misty hints of sea green nuance and dimensionalize the base. Bright direct light elicits a brilliant linear flare with an ultramarine heart and sparkling arcs of azure and spring green.

Application was fantastic. The consistency of Young Turks is fluid and creamy with a medium viscosity and a fluent, buttery, self-leveling slip over the nail. Superb! Pigmentation is excellent. Wearable opacity can be had in one medium coat, but two does better justice to the color. Cleanup is surprisingly easy for such a saturated shade, with only a tiny bit of pigment travel and little perceptible trace staining. Young Turks dries naturally to a smooth finish with a satiny shine. Topcoat does not affect the holographic properties of the polish in any way.

Photos show two coats of Young Turks over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. As is common with cyanic shades of this kind, my camera skews to blue. It's even richer in person, with a touch more green to it.

Colors by Llarowe Young Turks

Colors by Llarowe Young Turks

Colors by Llarowe Young Turks

Colors by Llarowe Young Turks

Colors by Llarowe Young Turks

Colors by Llarowe Young Turks

Colors by Llarowe Young Turks

Colors by Llarowe Young Turks

This is, hands down, a must-have polish in my opinion. Don't fool yourself, as I did for far too long, by thinking that it's just another bright blue holo. There's a reason that it's still around and available after four years! It will evoke startlingly visceral visions of the most profusely blue sea on the clearest day you can think of, transporting you there in an instant. For the seasonally-minded, Young Turks not only makes for an absolutely stunning summertime manicure, but is certainly bold and brilliant enough to hold its own amongst winter jewel-tones as well. SO GOOD!

Incidentally, CbL's Spring 2014 collection was also the fountainhead for two other highly prized and venerable core shades, The Mighty Red Baron and My Big Girl Panties. An amazing collection, for sure.

love,
Liz

ILNP Nexus

Like Avalon, Nexus was released earlier this month by Nevada-based indie polish maker ILNP as part of the Spring 2018 collection. It's officially described as a raspberry holo with red/pink/gold color-shifting shimmers.

The color is a translucent but vibrant, medium-dark variation of red-violet with a strong magenta lean, similar to red-purple or Crayola's cerise, with aspects of rose and Mexican pink. It has an intense, energetic quality on the nail with a lively semi-metallic flash. Luminous, tiny color-shifting microflake shimmers read mostly as a bright pinkish-red or deep pink within the base, shifting through flame to gold as you turn your fingers into the light and giving the look a fiery red sheen at certain angles. Holographic microflakes create a loose net of silvery flecks in ambient light that ignites into a scattered field of bright prismatic sparkle in the sun.

Application was great! The consistency of Nexus is fluid, light and smooth with a medium consistency and a silky, self-leveling glide over the nail. Pigmentation is sheer and requires three coats for most evenly opaque coverage and best color presentation. Cleanup is easy with minimal scattering of the holographic microflakes. Nexus dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish.

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

ILNP Nexus

ILNP Nexus

ILNP Nexus

ILNP Nexus

ILNP Nexus

ILNP Nexus

ILNP Nexus

ILNP Nexus

This brilliant raspberry pink lacquer with it's twinkling shimmers and bright, semi-metallic flash has a jewel-tone quality that I usually associate with winter polishes. It is highly animated, bold and showy on the nail, and the flash gives it a little of that decorative, "gift wrap ribbon" sensibility that I love. The scattered prismatic sparkle in the sun is a perfect accompaniment.

love,
Liz