Monday, August 20, 2012

Zoya Carly & Lynnderella Mercurial

Where to start with this polish...sigh. Ever since I saw steffels. pictures of Mercurial way back when, I wanted it so badly. Those giant hexes made me swoon and the gunmetal color just caught my interest. When I had the chance to buy it at retail, I jumped at the chance. Bought it, put it with my other polishes and of course, it drowned in a sea of untrieds. 

Then, some other indies came out, there were reports of taco glitter, which is when hexes curl so badly that they resemble a taco shell. At the time (March), I didn't have that many indies, so I decided to check them all. Oh my sadness when I could clearly see my Mercurial completely taco'ed in the bottle (not reflective curling), then I swatch it on a nail wheel and my heart dropped. The hexes were completely unwearable. $15 for a homemade polish is a lot for me (we won't even talk about $700!) and when I saw this, I was disheartened. I was granted a refund because the whole reason I wanted this polish were for the hexes.

Take today. To celebrate a special day with the boy, I decided to match my dress. I started with one coat of Zoya Carly, which positively glows. I thought I didn't want this one, but picked it up during the Earth Day promo. One coat is all you need! It's amazing. I then used another Earth Day purchase, Zoya Nova, which completed my Zoya Ultra Glitters collection. I used one coat to make Carly sparkle. Nova has a tinted base, but it was sheer enough to not alter Carly's color.

Mercurial is a mostly gunmetal glitter in various shapes in a lightly tinted grey base. It also has some black and lavender glitter, but they are sparse. I attempted to swipe on one coat of Mercurial but that was impossible. When I swiped, the glitter just stuck in clumps and would not spread out evenly (ie: my thumb). Also, I managed to get out six large hexes without digging, but only one was completely flat :-/ When I saw a hex was coming out, if it was curled (literally some "hug" the brush, that's how curled they are), I put them on my curlier nails, like my pinky and ring finger. Next time, I plan to thin it out with some thinner and possibly avoid the large hexes all together. Some nails needed FOUR+ coats of top coat (pesky thumb).

My apologies for the Zoya Carly and Nova pictures. I always do my nails at night and I really need to make a light box!

One coat Mercurial over one coat Zoya Nova and Carly
One coat Zoya Carly in natural light

Zoya Carly with Zoya Nova. Color is NOT this bright


I love these giant hexes; they make the polish for me.


See what I mean about clumping? This stuff stuck the minute I put the brush down.
All in all, it took my way too long to maneuver these hexes but I do think the end result was beautiful.  What do you think?

11 comments:

  1. love the end result! But hate how frustrating glitter can be sometimes! :(

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    1. I'm thinking of thinning it to see if it will make application easier, but I don't think I can handle the tacos again!

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  2. It does look gorgeous but it sucks that it wasn't all you dreamed <3

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    1. I also have a shiny for you <3 http://alira23.blogspot.ca/2012/08/eleven.html

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  3. I was never a huge fan of Mercurial, it did the clumping thing with me too but I think you rocked it out here! It looks gorgeous over that burgundy color!

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    1. I think that most people put it over a black or gray and I don't love it so much over those colors. I think purples/maroons show it off way better! Did you try thinning yours?

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  4. Replies
    1. Thank you! I totally forgot to take a picture of my nails with my dress, but it really worked together

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  5. I still dread opening mine, it is the only of my Lynnderellas that I haven't worn - but looking at the bottle is not comforting :'(

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    1. Lauriestrode, I would definitely go check your bottle. I didn't even post pictures of the tacos of my nail wheel. Straight up 3D nails. I'm hoping it's only mine though!

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  6. hi, i nominated you for the versatile blogger award, rules are in my post: http://paintednubbs.blogspot.com/2012/08/versatile-blogger-award.html

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