Lacquer Slacker Liz

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Ever After Polish Playing With Fire

Playing With Fire was created by Rachel of Ohio-based indie polish maker Ever After Polish especially for the "Gem & Gemstones" January 2018 edition of Polish Pickup. Inspired the black opal, it has a black jelly base packed with orange, red and green color-shifting flakes as well as tiny blue holographic hex glitters and even tinier green microglitter squares.

This is a deeply cool lacquer! There are so many blue holographic glitters in there that the base, which is a translucent black, almost takes on a bit of a midnight blue/indigo vibe. The translucence of the base allows great light penetration, and all of the component colors are easily visible. Copious irregularly-shaped metallic flakies, which range in size from tiny to medium, gleam brightly as light travels over them, predominantly in variations of flame with bright green and gold being the rarest, surrounded by a galaxy of twinkling sparks in all kinds of blues from ultramarine to azure to deep turquoise.

Application was a little tetchy. The consistency of Playing With Fire is fluid and packed with components, with a thin-to-medium viscosity and a fluent, self-leveling flow over the nail. Component pay-off is excellent. You definitely feel the flakies as you apply, and I experienced tumbling with occasional stickups and attempted protrusions over the free edge. A light, careful touch will minimize this, and you can gently press any stickups down while the polish is tacky. Pigmentation is very good. Some sheerness on the first coat builds to wearable opacity with two, but I like the look at three better. Be sure to wrap your tips with every coat to avoid any sheerness there. With all of the potential for sticking components, I did my cleanup as I went along and had no issues. Playing With Fire dries naturally in good time to a shiny, gently textured finish that's mostly smoothed with topcoat.

Photos show three coats of Playing With Fire over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Girly Bits Glitter Glaze.

Ever After Polish Playing With Fire

This is an awesome fantasy polish! The radiant black opal colors translate incredibly well and stand out beautifully in the black base, just like the real thing. The look of those flame-colored flakies with the bold blue sparks of the glitters just slays me -- so stunning! I thought the formula was excellent considering its component load, and any extra care needed during application is absolutely worth it for this amazing look. Here's the inspiration pic Rachel used for Playing With Fire:

Black opal cabochon

See what I mean? So cool!

Kiersten of The Busy Nails has the BEST photos of this polish -- you can see everything! Check them out here.

love,
Liz

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Different Dimension As Long As The Stars Are Above You

As Long As The Stars Are Above You was released earlier this month by Indiana-based indie polish maker Different Dimension as part of the I Do Trio, three polishes created by Missi in celebration of her wedding on 13 January 2017.

This particular polish was made to match Missi's wedding shoes, and is described as a "Tiffany blue/robin's egg blue linear holographic polish with sterling silver flakies and silver holographic micro-glitters." The base color is indeed a true Tiffany blue, with subtle sky blue aspects that I suspect are holographically generated. The holo pigment reads as pale gold within the base and there's a delicate golden prismatic flush along the axis of light, especially in the sun. Abundant sterling silver flakies gleam brightly as light travels over them, and copious holographic microglitters light up in tiny, twinkling prismatic sparks. These components give the finish a finely flecked appearance with oodles of lightplay, adding a certain foamy, effervescent sensibility to the look and feel of the polish on the nail.

Application was fantastic! The consistency of As Long As The Stars Are Above You is fluid, smooth and slightly fluffy with a medium viscosity and an easy, plush, self-leveling slip over the nail, a gorgeous formula that is surprisingly biddable for a component-laden lacquer. Pigmentation is very good. Two coats nets completely even, opaque coverage and full bottle color. Cleanup is straightforward, with a bit of stickiness on the part of the components. As Long As The Stars Are Above You dries naturally in very good time to a slightly flat, gently pebbled texture that is completely smoothed by a single layer of gel-effect or glitter-smoothing topcoat, which adds a becoming shine.

Photos show two coats of As Long As The Stars Are Above You over KBShimmer Love You Strong Time treatment and KBShimmer Fillin' Groovy basecoat with a topcoat of Girly Bits Glitter Glaze.

Different Dimension As Long As The Stars Are Above You

What a beautiful polish -- I love every little thing about it! The lovely, serene color, the delicately gleaming and twinkling components, the pale gold prismatic effects -- all work together to give the polish an intricate yet cohesive, diaphanous quality that is simply exquisite! It is a perfect vision of loveliness, and makes me think of Aphrodite rising from the sea.

The name of this polish is taken from the lyrics of "How Long Will I Love You" by English singer/songwriter Ellie Goulding.

xo,
Liz

Sunday, January 21, 2018

ILNP On The Rocks

Like Rogue, On The Rocks was released this past November by Nevada-based indie polish maker ILNP as part of the Winter 2017 collections. It's part of ILNP's Ultra Metallic line of metallic-finish polishes specially formulated with ultra-thin metallic flakes, and is described as a java-brown.

The base color is a cool, taupey kind of shade, medium-dark in tone, similar to coyote brown. It is considerably lightened by superabundant, highly reflective metallic flakes in what appears to me to be silver, creating a look that is more along the lines of beaver in color, with aspects of champagne, bronze and café au lait and a brilliant foily metallic finish with tremendous sparkle. There's a sprinkling of holographic particles in there also, which are kind of lost amidst all of the reflectivity and sparkle until you get the polish into the sun. There, the piecey, foil-like visual texture of the flakes seems to smooth out a bit and a loose net of brilliant rainbow-colored sparks adorns the finish.

Interestingly, there's a surprising purple aspect to the color that comes out under LED lighting.

Application was fantastic. The consistency of On The Rocks is fluid, light and smooth with a medium viscosity and a fluent, easy, self-leveling slip over the nail that went on best for me in medium coats from a moderately-loaded brush. There is no discernible texture from the flakes, which go on flat to the nail without tumbling, stickups or protrusions over the free edge. Pigmentation is very good. Two coats nets completely even opacity and full bottle color. Cleanup frees countless tiny reflective flakes to ensconce themselves happily over the nail environs, difficult if not impossible to sweep away completely. I did my cleanup as I went along and still had sparkly nail surrounds -- best to go for as clean a manicure as possible from the outset with this one. On The Rocks dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, reflective finish.

Photos show two coats of On The Rocks over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

ILNP On The Rocks

This polish is much more stunning in person than it is in a still image -- you really need to see it on the move to appreciate the wonderful dynamics of the light play. It's a dazzling foily metallic look that just radiates elegance and glamour. The cool, metallic champagne-taupe color acts as a particularly stylish neutral, more interesting and, I think, even classier than gold or silver. I'm telling you, this polish is money! Dressy enough for black-tie but not in the least over-the-top or pretentious. Love it!

A clutch would be killer in this look, and shoes! Some graceful, pointy-toe kitten heels -- OMG!

xo,
Liz