Octopus Party Nail Lacquer Steel Wolf
Steel Wolf was released in late December 2015 by Connecticut-based indie polish maker Octopus Party Nail Lacquer (OPNL) as part of the OPNL/Carpe Noctem Cosmetics Winter 2015 collaboration duo. Dave, partier-in-chief and mixologist of OPNL, describes this as a concrete linear holo with gunmetal flakies, and I agree. It's a medium-toned achromatic grey of the wet cement/battleship variety that's right in the middle of the dark/light spectrum, bearing abundant finely-milled holographic pigment and gently speckled with gleaming metallic flakies in a deeper grey for some subtle visual texture. Equally creamy and dimensional, it has a semi-translucent formula that allows light to penetrate and activate its holographic properties, which produce a luminous blond sheen in bright indirect light. In direct light, there's a compact linear flare with sparkling bands of bright prismatic colors framing a shimmering semi-metallic blaze of hazy silver grey.
Application was great! The consistency of Steel Wolf is fluid, light and creamy with a medium viscosity and a smooth, easy flow over the nail. This is a polish that begins to set up and surface dry fairly quickly, so even coats deftly applied make for the happiest application experience. Pigmentation is somewhat sheer but builds quickly to wearable opacity in two medium coats, although I used three for the photos, which I think added to the creamy aspects of the polish. Cleanup is easy and straightforward. Steel Wolf dries naturally in fairly good time to a smooth, shiny finish.
Photos show three coats of Steel Wolf over Pretty Serious Rock On treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.
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Steel Wolf has a sleek, substantial look on the nail with a shimmering, diffusive, dimensional quality provided by the holographic properties that adds a bit of feminine grace to a shade that might otherwise have a more industrial demeanor. It's a delicately engineered linear holo that uses its magical aspects to let the color be the star of the show.
I like it. I like it very much.
xo,
Liz
Oh mah gawd! I love this polish! I do like a lot of grays but this one is fantastic. That tone of gray is so pretty and the holo makes it simply chic. Yep, I want!
ReplyDeleteThis one has a very direct, substantial feel on the nail that I thought was unusual for a grey, particularly a grey holo. So many grey holos have a metallic aspect to them -- not this one. Very chic, indeed! (I was dying to use that word to describe this polish in my review but never could seem to work it in -- thanks for doing that with your comment!)
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