Lucky 13 Lacquer - Special Hell

     Sooo... Work has been full of tiresome high school level drama, the weather has been bipolar, and my bottle of Seche Vite reached the point where it probably had more thinner in it than top coat. Bleh. At least one of those issues has been rectified, so I'm able to resume posting. :) I tend to cease communication when I feel annoyed or stressed out, often for weeks at a time. My friends are used to this occasionally happening, but I promise I'll try to not do it to y'all. I actually look forward to blogging, especially when I love a polish as much as the one I have for you today. Just please be understanding if I don't post for a couple days because of, you know, life and such...

      I'm not going to profess my love for all things Joss Whedon. I'm not going to tell you that I'm obsessed with most of the projects he's been involved in. I'm not going to call him a genius. (While all of those things are true, I'll save my nerdy fangirling for another day.) What I am going to do is show you a polish from a collection inspired by Whedon's Firefly/Serenity series. Say hello to Lucky 13 Lacquer's Special Hell.

     Oh. My. Glob. I own a lot of red polishes. A lot of red polishes that I love but don't wear. I want to wear this. Over and over again, I want to wear this.

     Special Hell is from Lucky 13 Lacquer's Ballad of Serenity collection. If you're a fan of the series, then you'll care that this polish is inspired by our Mrs. Reynolds, Yolanda/Saffron/Bridget. It's an orange leaning red jelly, full of holographic red squares and ruby red micro hex glitters. And it's amazing. I normally prefer reds that lean towards the cooler side, but this polish has a gorgeous fiery glow that made me fall for it instantly. The red squares are constantly changing, flashing yellow/orange and pink/purple, while the tiny glitters add depth and visual interest.

     Application did take a little bit of effort, but I wouldn't call it problematic by any standards. The base is on the thicker side. This is good, because it keeps the squares suspended (no fishing required!) and you can push them around on the nail a bit if you're picky about placement. They can sometimes drift towards the edges if you're not careful. It took some patience for me to figure out how much polish to put on the brush so that I wasn't globbing it on. You could layer this over another red, but why would you want to do that? I used three thin coats, and the depth of this polish was fantastic. (All those holo squares suspended in the jelly? Love.) By the third coat, the base had started to thicken, so I'll add a few drops of thinner before I use it again. This polish did dry on the dull side and slightly bumpy, so you can guess what happened next. A coat each of Gelous and Seche Vite and...

     Shiny! I tried my best to capture the beauty of Special Hell, but like so many polishes, it's even better in person. I would recommend clicking on the pics so you can better see that wonderful depth. I've worn this mani for a little over three days now, including two days at work. All pics are from days two and three. So, you can see for yourself the amount of tipwear I ended up with. No chips at all, minus the one piece of square glitter that was hanging off the edge of my nail getting (thankfully) knocked off. I could probably wear this for a few more days with no problems, and part of me really wants to.

     Slightly blurry pic, you can see that the tiny red glitters sparkle, too! In lower light and in the shade, this polish leans cooler, more true red. The squares glimmer and twinkle. Throw some light on it, and it totally looks more orange. Check it out...

     My male friend at work that always notices my nails loooved this polish. (He doesn't have a fetish or anything. He's just detail oriented. And fabulous.) He didn't think of Firefly, though. "Ooooo! Ruby red slippers!" I can definitely see that...

     I purchased six of the polishes from the Ballad of Serenity collection as a gift to myself for my birthday. Lucky 13 Lacquer was a new to me brand, but I had to have them. (Okay, what really happened was that I saw polishes inspired by something that I love, and they happened to be gorgeous. All of them. I freaked out, and was barely able to stop myself from buying the entire collection at once.) I'm very impressed with the quality of this line so far. I plan on getting the other five Ballad of Serenity polishes soon, and I'll order a backup of Special Hell while I'm at it. Yep. I never thought it would happen, but I want a backup of a red polish. I don't want to ever not have this.

     Special Hell is available from Lucky 13 Lacquer here for $8. The shop is on a mini vacation at the moment. You can still place polish orders, but they won't be processed until around the end of the month. Follow Lucky 13 Lacquer on Facebook so you can stay updated. You'll be glad that you did. :)

XOXO,
Riotbettyx