Lilacquer Polishes

Yep, me again. Two posts in one day—it's a miracle or something. Okay, that's overstating it, but it is a rare thing and will remain so as long as I have to keep working a regular job to make money to buy polish.

Way back in January, I swatched three handmade duochrome topcoats a friend of mine had created and found them captivating, so much so that I spent much time outside in the Michigan winter, taking photos and tipping my hand this way and that to see the color shifts. That same friend has recently mixed up some polishes with colored bases, which I've got swatches of today, and which are available for sale along with the three original duochrome topcoats at her Etsy shop, Lilacquer Polishes. Together, the colors are the Shapeshifter collection, all named after creatures which can change form. The topcoats which didn't have names when I tried them are now called Lycanthrope, Kitsune, Selkie.

There are two green-based polishes in the collection, Leshy and Púca.



I swatched these together (on alternate nails), using two coats over Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine Black Creme. Top to bottom: Leshy, Púca, Leshy, Púca.



These both have a green to gold shimmer, and Leshy also has red-orange to green in its mix. Púca on top, Leshy on the bottom:



Since it was sunny the day I swatched these (or did I swatch them because it was sunny?), I headed outside for more photos. Below is the sunshine version of those same two nails as you saw in the lightbox above:



Here's a different angle on things that makes the green recede and the gold pop (left to right: Púca, Leshy, Púca, Leshy):



Below, top to bottom: Púca being more green, Leshy being gold and red-orange, Púca being more gold.



There are two red-based shades, Tengu and Bakeneko.



I did two coats of Tengu over black with an accent finger of two thick coats of Bakeneko (I should have done three but I was conserving my bottle because I only bought minis). Tengu has red-orange to green shimmer and Bakeneko has gold to green shimmer. Tengu's base leans more to the plummy-purple side of red than Bakeneko's does.



You can see glimpses of the green side of Tengu in these detail shots below; the green in Bakeneko was a bit more shy.





Of course I headed out into the sunshine with these. The green bits didn't so much feel like coming out to play for my camera outside for some reason.





Encantado has a lilac base and a delicate blue to green shimmer. I paired it with my new favorite Essie, Bikini So Teeny. I used two coats of Encantado over two of Bikini So Teeny, except on my ring finger, which I left Encantado-free so you can see the difference.



These nails are both Encantado-enhanced:



Outside in the sun, the shimmer definitely popped more; I even got a few of the green bits to show their faces.







Because the color in these does shift, you may want to peruse more swatches of these before you decide which to add to your stash. You can see the whole Shapeshifter collection at Spaz & Squee. There are swatches of the three non-colored base polishes (the ones in my January entry) over at Polished. I'm pondering which ones I might need full sized bottles of.