| shi-mər |
"to shine with a light that seems to move slightly" - Merriam-Webster
How's the weekend coming along, lovelies? To those celebrating the long Chinese New Year weekend, feast on!
Before I get started on the post proper, I'd like to express a huge apology to Cindy of Shimmer Polish for the mega overdued review of the polishes. She had kindly sent a bunch of polishes for review a few month back, but I couldn't get down to finishing a review post. I did not anticipate the un-copable onslaught of work and personal commitments towards the last quarter of 2013. But even after all this while, I'm fanning myself in excitement at the sight of the beauties. In no particular order, here are the first 2 - Astrid and Jacki.
First Impressions
Cindy has been in the indie nail polish business with Shimmer Polish since early 2012, delivering fantastical concoctions of glitter-packed polishes to nail enthusiasts all over the world from her home in Orange County, California, USA. Long before Shimmer Polish made their way to my home, I had 2 distinct impressions of the brand; the polishes are inspired by and named after significant family and friends of the maker, and it has a repertoire of amazing glitter polishes.
The polishes are contained in a round bottle with a slim black cap, with a single round semi-reflective label where the brand and polish names are printed on. What I love is the tiny touch of glitter in the shape of a heart, in a color that complements the polish, on the label.
Astrid
| ahs-tree |
"A female given name: from Scandinavian, meaning "divine strength"." - Dictionary.com
It is simply but aptly described as an "Amethyst Opal Holographic Glitter Polish". It is a pretty lilac, shades of purple holo and opalescent hex glitter topper in a clear base. Very ethereal-looking.
In a single coat:
The formula glided on smoothly, and the glitter spread evenly over the nail effortlessly. Here's a close-up:
In various number of coats:
From left: 1 coat, 2 coats, 3 coats and 4 coats of Astrid over bare nails.
Although it is densely packed with glitter by the fourth coat, it doesn't give full coverage, but being a topper polish, it's all good. Even with 4 coats, it wasn't crazy bumpy for a glitter polish.
Instead of instinctively layering Astrid over an opaque base colour, I went ahead and conceal the visible nail line in a glitter gradient with the second Shimmer Polish in this review - Jacki.
Above: 2 coats of Jacki in a gradient over Astrid, topped with Glisten & Glow HK Girl topcoat.
I'm loving the dirty-pretty spin Jacki adds to the glitter gradient mix. *suppresses 'frostbitten' thoughts*
Jacki
| j(ac)-ki |
"as a girl's name is a variant of Jackie and Jacqueline (French, Hebrew), and the meaning of Jacki is "he who supplants". - Think Baby Names
The tiny glitter mix glided on smoothly and spread itself out pretty evenly without having to fuss around in a dabbing motion. The base of this polish is a near-black brown-plum jelly.
Close-up:
In 3 coats, topped with Glisten & Glow HK Girl topcoat:
It took 3 coats to reach opacity, and very densed with glitter. Visually, it felt like a galaxy packed with stars, asteroids and all that space junk!
Here's a close-up:
Despite the amount of glitter, the grit was minimum and one coat of topcoat sufficed in giving an even finish.
So, I couldn't resist another glitter gradient, so here's Astrid over Jacki:
This was 2 coats of Astrid in a gradient over Jacki.
Final Thoughts
These first 2 Shimmer Polish has me hooked! The formulas were very cooperative despite being loaded with glitter. The suspension stood well and did not thicken the consistency too much.
Shimmer Polish can be purchased via email/ visiting her blogsite, where she has also compiled posts of swatches for each of her polishes. You can also purchase through her Etsy store (she ships internationally), or through international stockists such as Harlow & Co. (based in Canada) or Dazzled (based in Hong Kong).
If you have tried Shimmer Polish, which are your favourites? And can there ever be too many glitter (indie) nail polishes?
Stay tuned for swatches of more Shimmer Polish and have a superb Sunday!
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥To Leave a Comment: I've noted that OnSugar's Comment feature has caused a few readers frustration by not accepting their input. While OnSugar works on rectifying it, I did a trial and error and found that comments don't get red-taped if you enter your information in the "Name" field without any space, ie. "ALacqueredAffair" instead of "A Lacquered Affair". I hope this works. As much as I want to, OnSugar doesn't allow the disabling of Captcha.
Disclaimer: Shimmer Polish were sent for review. However, all opinions expressed are my own, and will always be.
