Lacquer Slacker Liz

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Pretty Serious Peace on Earth

Peace on Earth was released last month by Australian indie polish maker Pretty Serious Cosmetics as part of the Ghosts of Christmas Past collection. It's a cool pastel green with ultrafine coppery pink particulate shimmers, a doppelganger to Yves Saint Laurent's coveted limited edition lacquer Peace Green of last spring. Kaz excels at recreating hard-to-find classic lacquers, and this is a beautiful example of her expertise. The color is a pale, milky, cyanic pastel green that is similar in depth and tone to Crayola's magic mint. Superabundant pearly pink shimmers give it a creamy, nacreous sheen and a pale pink effervescence along the axis of light, and it has a dimensional luminosity on the nail that reminds me of fine silk satin.

Application was dreamy. The consistency of Peace on Earth is fluid, full-bodied and super creamy with a medium viscosity and a lux, buttery, self-leveling glide over the nail. It has remarkably even coverage for a shimmery pastel shade and provides uniform opacity in two coats without streaks or brushmarks. To lessen the appearance of my nail ridges in the photos, I added a third coat, but would happily wear it at two otherwise. Cleanup is easy. Peace on Earth dries naturally in average time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat intensifies the presence and effects of the shimmers.

Photos show three coats of Peace on Earth over KBShimmer Love You Strong Time treatment and KBShimmer Fillin' Groovy basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Pretty Serious Peace on Earth

The base color has a blue cast to my eye in these pics -- in person, it is more unambiguously green. This is an astonishingly beautiful polish in person, more so than a photo can show. I had one coat on my nails and found my mouth opening into a jaw-drop of wonderment and admiration, complete with silent "oh WOW!" The effervescent pink shimmers give the base a certain vitreous translucent quality, and their contrast with the milky green, the exquisite creamy sheen and the resplendent glow of this polish on the nail create an almost visceral sense of luxury. Extraordinary!

love,
Liz

Monday, January 2, 2017

Lollipop Posse Lacquer Dishing Just Desserts

Dishing Just Desserts was released in November 2016 by Ohio-based indie polish maker Lollipop Posse Lacquer as part of the Christmas Kiki collection, a series of polishes inspired by the 2012 song "Let's Have a Kiki" by the American glam rock/disco/alternative band Scissor Sisters. Creator Karen describes this as "a matte, hot pink shade filled with red-purple shifting shimmer." The color is kind of like a cross between hot pink and shocking pink, a strong, bright, medium-dark pink with a rosy aspect, similar to the Xona.com colorlist shade deep pink light. The utterly bewitching, velvety matte/satin suede finish furthers amp up the intensity of the color, and abundant superfine red-to-purple shimmers shade it with a dimensionalizing blush, creating a purple-kissed pink glow along the axis of light.

Application was great! The consistency of Dishing Just Desserts is fluid, full-bodied and smooth with a medium viscosity to which I added a squirt of polish thinner because I am a pathologically fearful creature and wanted to give my application the best possible chance of success. I needn't have worried so much. It adapts easily to thin coats and has a fluent, silky glide over the nail with unexpectedly excellent self-leveling properties -- matte finishes are often quick to reveal nail bed imperfections like ridges, but this one not so much! Pigmentation is very good. Two coats nets completely even, opaque coverage. Cleanup is easy. Dishing Just Desserts sets up and surface dries fairly swiftly, but remains tender underneath for a while longer. To guard against accidental marring and ensure a nice matte finish, allow the first coat to dry for as long as you can before adding the second.

Photos show two coats of Dishing Just Desserts over treatment and basecoat, no topcoat.

Lollipop Posse Lacquer Dishing Just Desserts

This polish stunned me with its beauty from the moment I saw the first swatch on cdbnails. I find the shimmery satin suede finish just ravishingly beautiful -- it makes an irresistible siren's song out of the brilliant color, and the uncanny dimensional glow is to die for! I was a little apprehensive about not being able to rely on a quick-dry topcoat because I'm so susceptible to self-fulfilling prophecies (oh, I wonder if this will ding my polish... DING!), but I managed. Double plus worth it!

Alternatively and for a different look, you could topcoat the matte. Beckie's pics in her review of the Christmas Kiki collection on Polished by Beckie do an excellent job of showing the difference between au naturel and glossy.

love,
Liz

Sunday, January 1, 2017

ILNP Arctic Lights

Like Caesar, Arctic Lights was released last month by Nevada-based indie polish maker I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) as part of the New Year's 2016 collection. It's another Ultra Metallic, formulated with loads of ultra thin metallic flakes, here in silver. The base color is a slightly murky, leaden variation of azure along the lines of RAF blue, heavily silvered and considerably brightened to more of a metallic sky blue appearance that's similar in depth and tone to Pantone's sky blue with perhaps a touch more grey to it. Superabundant silver flakes give it a bright, reflective foily finish and tremendous sparkle, augmented by a generous dusting of holographic microflakes, which deliver a gorgeous scattered field of prismatic sparks in the sun.

Application was fantastic. The consistency of Arctic Lights is fluid, light and very smooth with a medium viscosity and an easy, fluent, self-leveling slip over the nail, exactly the kind of eminently-paintable, user-friendly formula that ILNP is known for. Pigmentation is very good with evenly opaque coverage in two coats. Cleanup is easy save for releasing beaucoup silvery flakes onto the nail environs, most of which will disappear with a good handwashing. Arctic Lights dries naturally in good time to a silky smooth, shiny finish.

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

ILNP Arctic Lights

ILNP's Ultra Metallic formula transforms this murky azure to the absolutely perfect dressy light-to-medium blue for winter, icy and sparkling. It's an inherently showy, eye-catching kind of look, and even if you don't generally cotton to semi-metallic polishes, you'll be hard pressed not to admire it! The combination of this particular blue with silver is genius for winter and the foily finish is remarkably dimensional and flattering on the nail. Love it!

xo,
Liz