Saint(s) and Sinners

Despite the fact that this gorgeous Zoya polish is the exact pink-tinged periwinkle of a perfect Bachelor Button, the name of Saint is an apt one – during the Renaissance period, these sorts of blues were reserved for paintings of only the highest ranking of biblical figures.  Blue pigment – particularly that of the cerulean or purple-leaning variety – was both expensive and exceedingly difficult to come by; as such, only your top tier saints were garbed in blue.  So there’s a fun little trick for picking out the important people in Renaissance paintings.  The things you learn in a day, right?

And what I learned today is that this polish, a very recent purchase from Nail Polish Canada’s Black Friday sale, is stupendous.  I adore polishes like Saint – clear, vibrant jellies infused with pink micro-shimmer.  The resulting look is quite oil slicky, with a deep purple streak that makes the polish look like it’s glowing from within.  One of my favourite polishes to use this effect is Girly Bits Cosmetics’ Dead Man’s Toe, a dark khaki creme that looks like queasiness in a bottle (and I mean that in the best possible way!) But Saint, with its pink-hued shimmer and glassy, periwinkle hue, is beauty divine, no caveat (or names that invoke cadavers.)

Except here comes one small caveat.  Being a jelly, Saint wants to pull back from the edges of your nails, an effect that’s exacerbated by quick dry topcoats.  So when applying, run the polish (I used three light coats for this manicure) right up to the edges of your cuticles. By the time it’s dry, it will have shrunk a bit, leaving you with a nice little frame around the edges of your nails that hopefully won’t require too much cleanup.  Zero sinning.

Waking the Dead

Like most everything in life, the nail polish world sees its fair share of trends. Textured polishes were all the rage four or so years ago, followed by magnetic polishes and then thermals.  A novelty by their very niche nature, most of these polishes enjoyed an initial honeymoon period in which they could do no wrong, followed by a downfall owing to total market saturation, plus the fact that all of them have rather limited functionality.  But some of these polishes managed to extend their 15 minutes of fame, including last year’s trendy pick, the mighty, mighty flakie.  I adore my handful of flakie polishes, particularly the chromatic type. I love the way the slightly raggedy bits of colour-shifting flakes nestle smoothly into the base polish, while still looking a little bit “undone.”  And unlike their iridescent counterparts, which I’m not so fond of, chromatic flakies remove with the ease of a creme polish, a very nice touch indeed.

2016 has yet to reveal its big trend, so until then, I’m jumping back a year to a polish that I’m so glad was more than just a flash in the pan, Polish Me Silly’s Stop Flaking on Me, here over Girly Bits’ zombie green creme, Dead Man’s Toe.  One of the things I really love about chromatic flakies, and Stop Flaking on Me in particular, is the softness of the finish. These polishes always highlight and compliment the base they’ve been layered over, perking up even somber ones like this camo green one, without obscuring the original look of either polish.  Very cool.

Dead Men Toe No Tales

Hey-oh!  Just a little Pirates of the Caribbean-nail polish humour for you there.

So this is dope, right?  Maybe a smidge out of season, but frankly, I’m feeling a bit burnt out on all the bright and sparkly and festive these days. Perhaps what I’m looking for is a polish whose hue can most charitably be described as cadaver-esque?  This is Girly Bits Cosmetics’ Dead Man’s Toe, a purple shimmer-infused, zombie green creme from their Fall 2015 collection. The shimmer in this one does all sorts of tremendous things for the creme base, giving this army green polish an almost oily type of sheen.  That actually sounds sort of unpleasant, in retrospect.  Um, Dead Man’s Toe is the colour of queasiness, but in a good way?  Okay, that’s no better.  Dead Man’s Toe is a beautifully unique polish with a gorgeous formulation and tons of rich visual interest?  Bingo!