Saturday, August 31, 2013

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

John William Waterhouse, A Mermaid 1901 (source)

Mermaid's Dream by Deborah Lippmann has been on my wish list since I began keeping a wish list. I mean, how could I not want a polish called Mermaid's Dream? I tried over and over again to score it at auction on ebay, where it appears regularly starting at two-thirds to three-quarters of it's retail price, but was never successful until recently. My time had come, nobody overbid me and I won my prize. 

Mermaid's Dream is a glitter/shimmer confection. It has a transparent base swimming with tiny shardy highly reflective metallic seafoam green shimmers and also contains quantities of pale blue and golden square microglitters and sparse small teal blue sequin glitters. The reflective shimmers have a duochrome shift from seafoam green to turquoise blue depending upon the angle of light. Mermaid's Dream is a thing of beauty in Deborah Lippmann's classic architectural square bottle, and has been sitting on my bathtub surround for a couple of weeks now, waiting.

This polish has an excellent formula. It is quite fluid and applies very easily considering it is so jam packed with shimmer and glitter. It is a bit sheer, but the components disperse evenly over the nail surface without any dragging, stacking or patching at all. Impressive, truly. The coverage builds with each coat, and I achieved an opacity on my nails that I was happy with after the third coat. Dry time is fast, so layering coats is easily done. Mermaid's Dream dries to a sandy textured finish and I've read that it is topcoat-thirsty and will take a good two coats to become glossy and smooth. Actually I quite like the textured finish and feel it complements the visual texture of the polish extremely well so I did not add topcoat.

Photos show three coats of Mermaid's Dream over treatment and basecoat. 

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream, bottle shot

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream, macro shot in the bottle

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

So Eleanor, I think this polish would be FABULOUS on you, at one coat it would be a little sheer but still seafoamy green and shimmery enough for a beautiful mermaidian look. What do you think? If you've ever dreamed of being a mermaid, you must try this polish!

I think Mermaid's Dreams with its textured finish was ahead of its time when it was released early last year. None of the textured polishes that are all the rage this year have a thing on it. It's a superb poolside polish, very tropical and beachy with it's speckled shimmering sandy finish and oceanic shifting colors, and a perfect encapsulation of the magical creature we've all been fascinated with at one time or another.

love,
Aunt Liz









Friday, August 30, 2013

Ludurana Fascinante

I have an exotic for you today, Eleanor. It's a multichromatic polish from Brazilian polish maker Ludurana called Fascinante. A multichrome polish is one that shifts between three or more different colors depending upon the angles of light and visual reference and the type of light.

Fascinante is a shimmer polish with a metallic appearance that has a beautiful series of color shifts, from a deep purpley burgundy to brilliant sparkling magenta to deep pink to copper to orange to gold to greenish gold. The shifts are not shy! At any given time you can see at least two and often three colors on the nail simply due to the natural curvature of the nail bed. It is completely captivating to watch. No way could I drive a car safely with this polish on my nails!

Similarly to Impala and Jade, the other Brazilian brands that I have in my polish collection, Ludurana offers it's polish in small tapered 8ml bottles. The brush is larger than you'd expect from the bottle size, and holds a lot of polish. The formula is dense with good flow but I feel like I never really got the hang of applying this polish. It seemed like I always either had too much polish on my brush and nearly overloaded the nail or too little and caused balding, which is when a brushstoke pulls the pigments instead of depositing them creating a visible bald patch.

My application of Fascinante was such that it took longer to dry than I expected and was extremely vunerable to smudging. I ended up redoing six nails altogether because of inadvertent doinks and smudges. But in the end, it was worth it.

Superabundant photos show three coats of Fascinante over treatment and basecoat plus a topcoat of Seche Vite.


Ludurana Fascinante, bottle shot


Ludurana Fascinante, bottle shot


Ludurana Fascinante, bottle shot



Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante


Ludurana Fascinante

Oh polish, beautiful polish. Polish full of... shift. *wink*

I love the autumnal burgundy-pink-copper-gold shift in Fascinante, it's my favorite shift in the multichromatic polishes that I've seen. Ozotic, an Australian polish maker, makes one of these as well -- its on my wish list. 

One thing I forgot to mention about this polish is that it's scented! It has a faint violet fragrance, only noticeable when you put your nose right on your polished nails but definitely there.

So will we have time to do some swatching while you're here this weekend? I can't wait to see you!

love,
Aunt Liz