Thursday, May 4, 2017

Top Shelf Lacquer Take Life One Sip at a Time

Take Life One Sip at a Time was released in March this year by Ohio-based indie polish maker Top Shelf Lacquer as part of the Pastel Brights (2017) collection. Officially described as a "soft teal neon pastel creme," the color is a perfect celeste or Italian sky blue, a creamy pastel variation of cyan with a clean, smooth, fresh look. 

I've always found white-based colors like pastels tricky to apply and approached this one with apprehension. I needn't have worried so much. The consistency of Take Life One Sip at a Time is fluid and super creamy with a medium viscosity and a lush, buttery glide over the nail. Self leveling properties are very good, a little streaky at the outset but smoothing out nicely as the polish sets up. Pigmentation is also very good, delivering wearably opaque coverage in two coats for shorties and three for longer nails or nails with irregular beds, which tend to show areas of unevenness as darker streaks. Cleanup is easy. Take Life One Sip at a Time dries naturally in good time to a beautiful glossy finish. Topcoat serves to further level out any spots that need it. 

Photos show three coats of Take Life One Sip at a Time over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. 


Top Shelf Lacquer Take Life One Sip at a Time


Top Shelf Lacquer Take Life One Sip at a Time


Top Shelf Lacquer Take Life One Sip at a Time


Top Shelf Lacquer Take Life One Sip at a Time


Top Shelf Lacquer Take Life One Sip at a Time


Top Shelf Lacquer Take Life One Sip at a Time


Top Shelf Lacquer Take Life One Sip at a Time


Top Shelf Lacquer Take Life One Sip at a Time

I used to declaim pastels because I never could seem to get in the hang of applying them evenly and because I felt the pale colors accentuated the pinkage of my skin tone and the plumpness of my fingers. I still have trouble with even application, but I've tamed my biases and now welcome pastels into my aesthetic and my collection -- but only those with the best formulas! Take Life One Sip at a Time is a beautifully formulated pastel polish. Creamy and smooth, it's a gorgeous, luminous shade of blue that reminds me of polished Sleeping Beauty turquoise, and has a distinctively clean and fresh presence on the nail. I like it. I like it a lot!

love,
Liz

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