Sunday, October 25, 2015

Pretty Serious Hell on Wheels

Hell on Wheels was released by Australian indie polish maker Pretty Serious Cosmetics as part of the Hit the Road collection in late June 2013. The polishes in this collection were inspired by famous automobiles in cinema and television, and Hell on Wheels is Pretty Serious' tribute to Christine of the eponymous 1983 action psychological horror film based on the novel by Stephen King. 


'58 Plymouth Fury [sic] Christine (source)

Hell on Wheels is a gorgeous medium-dark saturated red creme polish. The color is a perfect crimson, a cool-leaning cherry red that is rich and intense enough for a bold, classic look and bright enough to wear year round. There's a bit of crelly-like translucence to the formula that allows it to really glow on the nail. It's the sort of bombshell red that is absolutely timeless. 

Application was dreamy. Hell on Wheels has a superb formula. The consistency is fluid, creamy and dense with a buttery glide over the nail, a beautifully-balanced viscosity for painting and excellent self-leveling properties. Pigmentation is also excellent, with completely opaque coverage in one coat. You can wear it this way for a brighter, cherry popsicle look or add another coat, as I did, for full bottle color. Cleanup is fairly straightforward with some pigment travel and residual staining as you'd expect from a well-saturated red creme. Hell on Wheels dries naturally in good time to a beautiful glossy finish that makes adding topcoat feel redundant. 

Photos show two coats of Hell on Wheels over Pretty Serious Rock On treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. 

Pretty Serious Hell on Wheels

Pretty Serious Hell on Wheels

Pretty Serious Hell on Wheels

Pretty Serious Hell on Wheels

Pretty Serious Hell on Wheels

Pretty Serious Hell on Wheels

Pretty Serious Hell on Wheels

Pretty Serious Hell on Wheels

Pretty Serious Hell on Wheels

Pretty Serious Hell on Wheels

Pretty Serious Hell on Wheels

Love this red! So lickable!

I was a big Stephen King fan in high school and college and got every book as soon as it was published. The movie Christine was just ok although it did have some great regeneration scenes of the car. For me none of the movies based on his books ever lived up to Stephen King's own consummate ability to tell a scary story... well, with the possible exceptions of Misery (oh that Kathy Bates!) and the original 1976 Carrie directed by Brian De Palma, even though I found Amy Irving's presence in the film an annoying distraction. I've always hated the Stephen King movie that everyone seems to love, 1980's The Shining. I don't care if it WAS directed by Stanley Kubrick, it doesn't hold the first hint of a candle to the book and Jack Nicholson being married to Shelley Duvall was just WRONG.

love,
Liz

6 comments:

  1. This polish has me wanting to immediately go paint my nails red! Wowzer - it is gorgeous! I saw someone today call nails that were painted red 'granny nails' - LOL. Isn't it funny how different nail polish colors affect different people and how they view them? It's silly, I know, but when I have red-polished nails, I pretty well feel invincible. As in, Don't EVEN mess with me! When I see it on my nails, I feel serene and centered. Weirdly enough, though, I never liked to wear red clothing or shoes. (I do have a dark red leather bag I love, though!) And I really, really don't like any red on or in a car. That often asked question - what is your favorite color... I would have to ask back - for what or where? My favorite color, the one that thrills me, has always been lemon yellow. But I have never had any yellow clothing or shoes. I would love a nice yellow bag, though. At one time, I thought I wanted a yellow kitchen but it finally dawned on me that what I actually wanted was a white kitchen with accents in lemon yellow. And a few graphite touches thrown in! Hmm, that is giving me an idea for a nail art design! LOL

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    1. The aesthetic of anyone who refers to a red manicure as "granny nails" is questionable at best. Anyone who knows anything about nail polish knows red is the premier power color and utterly timeless as well!

      I love red clothing and adore red cars. I used to do restorative auto detailing and my absolute favorite color car paint to work on was red! It tells you everything you need to know to make it beautiful. You couldn't tear me away from detailing a red car, I've been known to polish through the night to get that paint as glossy as possible.

      Your kitchen sound tres chic, Lara! White, lemon yellow and graphite make a wonderful decorating palette. Clean and contemporary. Our kitchen here is a little dated: white walls, cathedral ceiling, pale grey-ish green cabinets, black countertops (ugh!) and a brick floor.

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  2. Oh - yes! I totally agree - The Shining book gave me the shivers and scared the bejesus out of me. The movie had none of the real nuances and anticipated threats the book had. And while Jack Nicholson does look like the devil, still - he and Shelly didn't translate well as the boy's parents. And don't get me on the idiotic way they directed the boy.

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  3. This is a pretty perfect red as it is 1) cool-toned, 2) juicy-looking, and 3) a crelly. I love red in a crelly. But I always need 4 coats to cover VNL, and even that doesn't really work all that well.

    I've never seen Christine, or Carrie, or The Shining all the way through. I like The Green Mile and love Misery.

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    Replies
    1. Hell on Wheels looks like a crelly but behaves more like a creme. I'd bet you'd be able to banish any hint of Mr. VaNeli in two coats.

      Oh, The Green Mile! I never read the book but I did like that movie a lot!

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