The Underdogs

Here’s a couple of polishes I forgot I even owned (renos, man – you’ll misplace every single thing you ever owned, and then spend the next three months trying to hunt it all down again) Dance Legend’s Sun Still Sleeps from their Candy Flakes collection, and Layla’s unfortunately-named CE52.  Both of these polishes are OLD – at least four years – but relatively unused (because I keep forgetting I own them) so they’re still in excellent condition.  I can’t even remember where I bought these (think I got the Layla one from Nail Polish Canada, and I know the Dance Legend one was an import, because DL is a Russian brand.)  I’m sorry, I’m becoming a really crap nail blogger in my advancing years – too many polishes that all vaguely look the same!

Like these two!  The only thing that separates these two polishes, aside from the companies that produce them, is one is blue and one is purple.  Otherwise, they’re both jelly bases (that’s what gives them that squishy sort of look, even when topped with a matte topcoat) loaded with red-to-green iridescent flakes.

That red/green combination is a popular one in the world of nail polish, because when it’s paired with darker shades, like this blue and this purple, it creates these incredible linear rainbows that run alongside the bottle, and the edges of your nails.  It’s such a pretty look.

But a MESSY look.  After taking this polish off, I remembered why I don’t use these flakie-type polishes very often – because when you do take them off, the acetone will strip off the colour immediately, leaving you with nothing but flakes, all of which will be resolutely stuck to your nails.  So get ready to put some elbow grease into it, because these polishes do not remove easily.

If you’re in love with either of these long-in-the-tooth, probably discontinued polishes, you can recreate this exact look with a blue and purple polish of your choice, topped with an iridescent flakie topper.  Just about every manufacturer has at least one of these fun, colour-changing “effects” polishes, even the drugstore brands, so there’s lots of choice out there.  Enjoy!

Blue Flame Grass Clippings

That’s like some horrible slam poetry/word association misfire there.  But if my last post was a purple flame, that makes today’s, featuring a polish that is its nearly identical twin, a blue flame, right?  Except the kind of red-to-gold flakies used in both polishes – purple CE52 from Layla Cosmetics and this pretty blue gem, Sun Still Sleeps from Dance Legend – look completely different against a dusky blue background, taking on less of a burning embers look and more of an iridescent grass clippings kind of vibe. But very pretty grass clippings!

I purchased this polish – an import, if you will, from Russian company Dance Legend – a couple of years ago through a now-defunct online stocklist (defunct for a pretty good reason as far as my experience is concerned; I received some abysmal customer service from them the one and only time I ordered.)  That’s a shame, as I now have no clue where to procure Dance Legend’s fun, pretty and vast assortment of lacquered goodies.  So I’ll have to make do with my one and only bottle of Sun Still Sleeps, one of those polishes I made a mad dash to the checkout line to purchase.

Although now that I’m comparing it to the purple Layla polish (virtually identical in formulation, despite being from an altogether different manufacturer), I prefer the effect of the flakes as against the rich purple, as opposed to Sun Still Sleeps’ deep ocean blue. Sun Still Sleeps also required about four more coats for full opacity than the Layla polish, remaining stubbornly sheer at the tips well into its sixth coat.  Having to paint on umpteen layers of polish is no deal breaker for me when it comes to lightweight jelly polishes, although I will note that this now means there will be that many more flakies to wipe off come removal time, and the type of iridescent flakes in Sun Still Sleeps are a ferocious pain in the arse to remove (said removal actually not being the issue; it’s more that colour-shifting ghost flakies cling stubbornly to your nails and the surrounding skin long, long after you’ve acetoned and re-polished, acetoned and re-polished.  Them flakes be in it for the long haul.  But so am I, because this polish, minor quibbles aside, is just lovely.)

Purple Flame

I have no idea what the title of this post means, but I ask you this – did the Bangles know what an Eternal Flame was?  I think not.

But what I do know is that this polish, Layla Cosmetics’ Ceramic Effect in the unimaginatively named CE52, looks like tiny, hot embers embedded in the rich, dusky purple jelly base.  Flame on!

The flakes in CE52 are of the colour-changing, iridescent variety, which means they’re a pain to remove cleanly, but I’m willing to put up with a bit of acetone aggravation for the cool rainbow effect these flakies take on in the shade, where polishes like CE52 always do their best work.

Best of all?  This older polish is still available at Nail Polish Canada!  NPC has CE52 listed as The Butterfly Effect on their website, too, which I think we can all agree is so much better than a numerical rank and file, yes?