Shifty Duo from Great Lakes Lacquer

Today I have two beauties from Great Lakes Lacquer that have been languishing in my stash waiting for their day to shine: Making Peace With Past Indiscretions and Resolve.

 

Making Peace With Past Indiscretions is a multichrome shimmer that's deep green shifting to purple, with shades of blue and even gold in between depending on the light. It has scattered holo microglitter, too, to add even more interest.

 

I used two coats for my swatch and that was plenty. Straight on in indirect light, it mostly showed its rich green base, with hints of purple at the edges.

 

Start changing the angles and the shifts appear:

 

 

 

Out of the lightbox under direct light, it looked like a gorgeous night sky:

 

Resolve has small shifty glitter pieces that go green to blue to purple along with a holo microglitter scatter in a clear base, so it pairs very well with Making Peace.

 

I put one coat of Resolve over Making Peace and added clear topcoat. Loved this combination!

 

Resolve is so sparkly and it seemed to really enchance the shift in Making Peace.

 

 

 

One more of the combo in direct light:

 

On the one hand, I have so many pretties I haven't worn, so at least swatching them so I get to enjoy them for a little while is a good thing. On the other hand, seeing them on my nails just makes me want to go look for more pretties. We shall see if my commitment to a low buy survives the post-Thanksgiving rush.

Great Lakes Lacquer The Deadlights

Last year when I was barely getting out of the house, I spent a lot of my nail polish budget on indies, and a lot of that on collab boxes and things like Polish Pickup and Hella Handmade Creations. Many of those polishes are still languishing in my "to be swatched" boxes but now and then I pull one out to try, like today's beauty from Great Lakes Lacquer: The Deadlights, from the September 2020 PPU. It's an orange jelly base packed with shifty pink/orange/gold flakies.

 

The Deadlights looks great at two coats. I didn't even have to add topcoat to bring out the flakies.

 

 

 

I tried adding more flakes plus some shimmer in the form of Great Lakes Lacquer Glass On, a topper I swatched last fall. I left The Deadlights alone on my index finger and added one coat of Glass On plus clear topcoat on my other digits. I don't think the pink/purple shifty shimmer in Glass On is the best companion for the orange of The Deadlights, plus it seems to obscure the flakes in The Deadlights. The combination does make an interesting glowing shade of pink in some lights, though.

 

I did like the shifts visible when I moved my fingers around, with some of the green popping off the flakies.

 

To wrap up my play with The Deadlights, instead of using a topper on it, I used it as a topper, over these three cremes: Sally Hansen Insta Dri Pump-kid (orange), Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Kook-a-mango (red orange), and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Out for Oxblood (maroon).

 

Starting with my index finger at the top, it's Deadlights alone, then over Pump-kid, over Kook-a-mango, and over Out for Oxblood.

 

Another view; I can say it works quite well as a topper:

 

My favorite combination was The Deadlights over Out for Oxblood. I mean, just look at it—such depth and contrast. I am going to have to remember this come autumn, because it would be perfect for that season.

 

Now that I'm getting out in the world more and buying polish in stores again, I've eased back on my indie buying, but swatching polishes like The Deadlights has me wondering what I've missed in the months I've been ignoring PPU and HHC, distracted by the novelty of being able to pick up polishes and study them in person before buying. Probably best I don't know. I have plenty of unswatched pretties to keep me occupied for quite a while.

Juicy Flakies from Great Lakes Lacquer

I know Valentine's Day was yesterday, but pink and pink-adjacent polishes are seasonless. Today I have two flakie beauties in that family from Great Lakes Lacquer's Island Horizon collection: The Real Boss and Bug ON.

 

Bug ON is a deep berry packed with shifting flakies: I see pinks, orchid, orange, green, and maybe even gold.

 

Two coats of Bug ON were ample for full coverage. I added clear topcoat to add depth and shine. This one is so rich looking.

 

 

The Real Boss is a pinky coral base with flakies that shift from pink to orchid to orange to gold.

 

I did two coats plus topcoat for my swatch of The Real Boss as well. I know I said pinkks are seasonless, but this one really makes me think of summer.

 

 

I sponged Bug ON over The Real Boss for a subtle gradient, smoothing things over with clear topcoat. I really liked this combination.

 

 

I suspected that the crelly base of The Real Boss was light enough to allow it to be used as a topper, so of course I had to experiment. I first put down an ombre of creme base colors: Color Club You're Making Me Blush (light pink), Sally Hansen Insta Dri Bubble Gum (pink), Sally Hansen Insta Dri Wild Watermelon (coral pink), and Sally Hansen Insta Dri Razzmatazz (deep pink).

 

I then put one coat of The Real Boss over the cremes and added clear topcoat. The Real Boss was powerful enough to make the two lightest pinks into the same color as its own crelly base, but the two darker pinks did change the hue. To do an ombre with this, I'd start with the pink base on my index and work to a deep berry on my pinky.

 

 

These are both delicious colors. And both still available on the Great Lakes Lacquer website last I checked, which was over the weekend when I knew I'd be writing this up for today.

Great Lakes Lacquer Olive Succulents

Even though I didn't have anywhere to go, I took yesterday off blogging for the MLK holiday (I also took it off skiing since I wanted to avoid all the visitors who came up to the mountain for the long weekend). Today I'm back, not with the swatches of the polishes I used in the Northern Lights mani that are now at least a week overdue from when I'd hoped to get them up, but with a quick look at a polish from Great Lakes Lacquer that I picked up last year: Olive Succulents. It was a custom done for a Facebook group, which generally I try to pretend I don't see because I can't keep track of every group and every box and every collab, but I saw a swatch of this one in the GLL fan group and it just grabbed me, so I joined the Olive Polish group so I could buy it. It has a dusty green base with shifting shimmer and some scatteered holo pigment.

 

Though this wasn't sold as a topper, I had to try it as one since I'd seen swatchers using three coats (or even four thin ones). So I put Essie Exposed, a dusty olive green creme, on my index and middle fingers before I opened my bottle of Olive Succulents. I left Exposed alone on my index for comparison purposes, then added a coat of Olive Succulents over it on my middle finger. My ring finger and pinky got three coats of Olive Succulents by itself.

 

Tipping my hand just slightly got the shift in the shimmer to show; where once there was blue, now there was lilac. It was more visible over the darker olive base, but still showed on its own.

 

 

 

In direct light, the holo particles added some sparkle, but the shifty shimmer was still the star.

 

I'm glad I grabbed this one. The green base makes it more interesting than if the same shimmer had been put in a more mainstream color. I've been tempted by some of the other group customs since I joined the olive group, but haven't gotten them since they haven't been from brands I like as well as Great Lakes Lacquer.

Great Lakes Lacquer Glass On

My indie polish buying has ramped up again lately; I figure it's supporting small businesses and since I'm not spending any of my travel budget over the holidays this year, I can afford it. Today's flakie topper from Great Lakes Lacquer is one of my recent acquisitions. Glass On has pink/orange to green shifting flakes and blue/purple shifty shimmer in a translucent base.

 

I tried Glass On over cremes from light to dark. Top to bottom, 1 coat of Glass On plus clear topcoat over SinfulColors Quick Bliss Climaxx, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri The Un-Red, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Purple Heart, Funky Fingers Dark Knight (black). Over the lightest base, Glass On gave an opal effect; over the darkest, it really showed its colors.

 

 

 

It was fun to tilt my hand this way and that and see the different colors showing up.

 

 

Glass On was released last year as part of the Toppers Trio collection, but I grabbed it not too long ago direct from the Great Lakes Lacquer website (the shop is closed temporarily right now but will reopen).

Indie Expo Canada Cocktail Party Wrap-Up

Continuing my effort to clear out my folders of nail photos, today I've got the last batch of IEC cocktail party exclusives that I swatched last fall and then failed to post. My nails haven't been this long and healthy since then ... though summer is coming up again and they usually do better in that sort of weather so maybe I'll have nice long nails again in a few months.

First up is Orchid-ing Me Right, a warm lilac holo shimmer from Girly Bits (in a special IEC label).







LynB Designs Cocktail Swag is a muted teal shimmer with a subtle pink flash and scattered glitter highlights.







Last but most definitely not least, I have Great Lakes Lacquer Pam Told Me To, a blue violet shimmer with a purple/green shift.









I happened to be swatching Pam Told Me To as the sun was setting outside my studio and thought it looked really interesting in the warm fading light when I pulled my hand out of the lightbox ... almost like a galaxy mani without having to do all the work.





I'm sad that there wasn't an IEC this year, but that's how it goes during these times. I hope Pam decides to re-start the event at some point because it's such a good time and there are always such pretty polishes.