Chaos & Crocodiles Essence of Nostalgia

Essence of Nostalgia was released in last month by Maryland-based indie polish maker Chaos & Crocodiles as part of the Snowbound collection. Creator Sarey details the components: "purple shimmer, two sizes of red/green shifting iridescent glitter, holographic microglitter, and holographic pigment in a purple base." The base color is clean and bold, a medium-dark French violet with a shimmering Munsell purple underlay and flash. It has a satiny, semi-metallic sheen on the nail, with the scattered sparkle of glitters and microglitters creating a starry twinkling effect from within while ultrafine holographic pigment particles light up in drifting prismatic clouds across the surface. 

Application was fantastic. The consistency of Essence of Nostalgia is fluid, full-bodied and very smooth with a medium viscosity and a lush, buttery, self-leveling glide over the nail. Glitter components go on smoothly and randomly and lay flat without stacking, stickups or protrusions over the free edge. Pigmentation is very good to excellent, delivering evenly opaque coverage in two coats. Cleanup was remarkably easy for a darker polish with glitters in it. Other than a touch of pigment travel, I had no issues. Essence of Nostalgia dries naturally in very good time to a shiny finish with only the tiniest bit of texture from surface glitters, easily smoothed with a generous layer of topcoat. 

Photos show two coats of Essence of Nostalgia over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. 

Chaos & Crocodiles Essence of Nostalgia

Chaos & Crocodiles Essence of Nostalgia

Chaos & Crocodiles Essence of Nostalgia

Chaos & Crocodiles Essence of Nostalgia

Chaos & Crocodiles Essence of Nostalgia

Chaos & Crocodiles Essence of Nostalgia

Chaos & Crocodiles Essence of Nostalgia

Chaos & Crocodiles Essence of Nostalgia

Chaos & Crocodiles Essence of Nostalgia

Chaos & Crocodiles Essence of Nostalgia

Chaos & Crocodiles Essence of Nostalgia

 Essence of Nostalgia is definitely a fantasy, galaxy-effect kind of polish, with those beautiful colorshifting iridescent glitters standing in for planets, the prismatic microglitters for farther stars, and the drifts of holo pigment for galaxies. I especially love the brilliant red of the colorshifting glitters (although they came out pink in the photos for some reason), so impactful against the violet and purple of the base. And no worries when it comes to removal -- despite the glitters, it's no more difficult to remove that a shimmer. Hooray!

love,
Liz