Lacquer Slacker Liz

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Dreamland Lacquer Kenyan Sunset

Like Bengal Tiger, Kenyan Sunset was originally released in August 2015 by Missouri-based indie polish maker Smitten Polish, now Dreamland Lacquer, as a limited edition custom polish for members of the Hella Holo Customs (HHC) Facebook group. This is a gorgeous, saturated medium-dark magenta or berry red color, a perfect match to magenta dye, deep but incredibly rich and vibrant. It's filled with finely-milled holographic pigment, creating analogous hues of plum, red violet and raspberry within the base that dimensionalize and further enrich the appearance of the polish in ambient light. A brilliant, gleaming semi-metallic underlay of hot magenta appears along the axis of light in direct sun, surrounded by a dramatic linear flare with arcs of glowing violet and scarlet trimmed with a trailing corona of prismatic sparkle before shading to deep red violet around the edges of the nail.

Application was fantastic. The consistency of Kenyan Sunset is fluid, light and creamy with a thin-to-medium viscosity and a silky, self-leveling slip over the nail, eminently paintable and easy to finesse with Dreamland's flattened flexible brush. Pigmentation is excellent, delivering wearably opaque coverage in a single medium coat, but two are best for fullest color and holographic effects. Cleanup is straightforward, with some pigment travel and a skosh of residual staining, not unexpected for a color this saturated. Kenyan Sunset dries naturally in very good time to a smooth shiny finish. Topcoat does not interfere with the holographic properties of the polish in any way.

Photos show two coats of Kenyan Sunset over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Dreamland Lacquer Kenyan Sunset

The color is so dazzlingly rich and vivid that you can practically taste it! It's not the least bit silvered by holo pigment, yet so very holographic. Showy, sleek and feminine -- truly stunning!

love,
Liz

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Dreamland Lacquer Bengal Tiger

Bengal Tiger was originally released in August 2015 by Missouri-based indie polish maker Smitten Polish, now Dreamland Lacquer, as a limited edition custom polish exclusively for members of the Hella Holo Customs (HHC) Facebook group. It is a spectacularly holographic orange polish, officially described as a burnt orange but I think that it's much livelier and more exotic than that. The color is lighter, brighter and more coppery -- kind of like if you took carrot orange, mixed in a little persimmon and skosh of rust, and infused it with bright new-penny copper.

Rich and misted with golden sparkle, it is shaded and dimensionalized by holographically-generated hues of glowing violet, flame, and red orange, with a dazzlingly bright coppery flash. Direct sun elicits a stunning linear flare. There's a beautifully contrasting inner arc of mixed violet and indigo trimmed by tiny blue and green sparks that segues to a broad sparkling ribbon of gold, orange and red, all framing a lick of brilliant semi-metallic coppery orange. Awesome!

Application was marvelous. The consistency of Bengal Tiger is fluid, light and creamy with a thin-to-medium viscosity and a buttery, self-leveling glide over the nail. Pigmentation is excellent, delivering wearably opaque coverage in a single coat, although you'll want to add a second for fullest, richest color and to make the most of the polish's holographic properties. Cleanup is easy and straightforward with only a tiny bit of pigment travel and almost no residual staining. Bengal Tiger dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat does not inhibit the holographic effects in any way.

Photos show two coats of Bengal Tiger over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Dreamland Lacquer Bengal Tiger

"Autumnal!" was Fuzzy's pronouncement upon seeing this polish. I was too enamoured with the sumptuous color and gleaming, semi-metallic apects of the finish to argue. Not that I would! Bengal Tiger is a fabulous polish for fall, no doubt about that, but it is too gorgeous and exuberant to relegate to any particular season. It's immediately become my new favorite orange polish and I will wear it all year round!

xo,
Liz

Monday, July 25, 2016

Il Était Un Vernis Born to be Rad

Born to be Rad was released at the beginning of June this year by French boutique polish maker Il Était Un Vernis as part of the Welcome to Paradise collection. Co-creators Bé and Stéphanie describe this as a purple and so it is in certain circumstances, but this little holographic chameleon will alter it appearance radically depending upon the kind of light in which you view it. To me, generally, it's a deep but vibrant nicely-saturated indigo with a violet lean, especially in the sun. Despite the intense coloration, the jelly-ish formula possesses a degree of translucence that allows light to penetrate and fire up the color, perhaps accounting in part for its protean attributes. Ultrafine holographic pigment gives it a delicate silvery grain and Il Était Un Vernis' signature velvety quality in ambient light. In the sun, there's a fine spray of infinitesimal prismatic sparks.

Application was wonderful. The consistency of Born to be Rad is fluid, light and smooth with a thin-to-medium viscosity and a silky, self-leveling slip over the nail that is easy to manipulate with Il Était Un Vernis' sleekly compact flattened-style brush. Pigmentation is very good, with some translucence and unevenness on the first coat building to wearably opaque coverage with the second. If painting in very thin coats, you may want to add a third for most even opacity and richest color. Cleanup is easy and straightforward with a tiny bit of pigment travel but no residual staining to speak of. Born to be Rad dries naturally in very good time to a beautiful glossy finish. Topcoat does not inhibit the holographic properties of the polish in any way that I could tell.

Photos show three coats of Born to be Rad over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Il Était Un Vernis Born to be Rad

Changeable, right? I think that it's most charismatic in direct sun where it's at its brightest and most purple, but it's also quite beautiful under incandescent light, a rich and velvety violet.

love,
Liz