WingDust These Broken Wings

A number of bloggers are declaring #WingDustWednesdays so I figured I would join in the fun. I recently received a bottle of These Broken Wings, "a soft lavender sometimes periwinkle toned base, aqua/rose shimmer, silver flecks, iridescent flakes, linear holo, and 12 kt white gold leaf". So many of my favorite things collected in one beautiful bottle! 

I generally do standard 5 finger manicures but when I deviate, I tend to refer to different manicure styles after the friends that I associate with those styles. In this case, painting the middle and ring finger differently than the other three is something often done by the brilliant and talented woman behind Polished Pathology, and so I refer to this style as a Jenne mani. If by some chance you have not yet started following her, I suggest you do so immediately. Her polishing and photography skills are exceptional, and her write-ups are a delight. 

Today I chose to pair These Broken Wings with Enchanted Polish's Ice Castle over a base of Zoya Carey. I thought the blue/purple color shifting glass fleck in Ice Castle would compliment the colors and shimmer in These Broken Wings. 

I am wearing 3 thin coats of These Broken Wings and 2 coats of Zoya Carey topped with one coat of Ice Castle, all on top of CND Stickey and topped with HK Girl topcoat. The WingDust is ever so slightly bumpy on my thumb but I suspect that was an application error since it is the only nail to not lay flat. 

In sunlight the holo in Ice Castle comes strongly to the forefront and changes the appearance of the polish significantly.

I really love the look of this manicure. Soft greys and purples are among my very favorite colors and the visual interest provided by the color shifting qualities of the glass fleck, the iridescent flakes, the shimmer and holo make these polishes fascinating to look at on the nail. 

WingDust Collection polishes are available on etsy although the store is currently closed. They can be tough to obtain but These Broken Wings was made available as a preorder last time (along with its sister polish, Steel Town Girl). Enchanted Polish is available from various stockists as well as the Enchanted Big Cartel site but they are in very high demand and sell out quickly. You can sign up for email notifications about restocks on the Big Cartel site. Zoya can be purchased at some retail outlets as well as online at zoya.com. They are currently running their annual Earth Day promotion which lets you exchange your old nasty dried up bottles of polish for new Zoyas for half price (but there is a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 24, see the link for full details).

A brief disclaimer

I have not been very active here on the blog but those of you who follow me on Facebook know that we recently adopted a dog. He is a special needs dog and the experience has been considerably more involved than we anticipated, leaving me very little spare time. Sadly, it has also meant that I have been subjecting my hands to exposure and neglect, and they are much the worse for wear. My cuticles are in horrendous shape and my nails are not much better. I am choosing to start posting again anyway and hope that you can look beyond the ragged skin and even less-perfect-than-usual nails in favor of the attributes of the polishes themselves.

Emerald and Ash Aurora

Emerald and Ash recently released their Photometry Collection, based on the colors created by various light phenomena. As a lifelong sky gazer and science geek I am so excited for these polishes that I can hardly see straight. There are 5 colors in all and they are fabulous. So strap in as I go full-on excitable girl and start gushing!

Aurora are one of nature's most beautiful light displays. They occur when earth's magnetic field traps charged particles from the solar wind. These energetic particles then collide with atoms in the atmosphere and cause them to emit light. The color of an auroral display is dependent upon the type of atoms affected.  The most common color is a green produced by emission from oxygen atoms at middle altitudes in the atmosphere. This is the color celebrated by Emerald & Ash in their polish Aurora. They describe it as: "a charming softened green shimmer with pops of red and green micro flakies and a slight touch of holo. Full coverage at 2-3 coats depending on your application." I love that they included the red and green microflakes because the second most common auroral display involves a mixture of red and green!

I used 2 thin coats of Aurora over a base of CND Stickey for these photos and no topcoat. Application was straight forward and trouble free. The polish has an incredible glow that is simply stunning and is strongly reminiscent of its namesake.

ottlight

sunlight

This next photo demonstrates how prominent the flakies can be when they pop into view. This polish has so much visual interest between the shimmer, the flakes and the holo, I just adore it!

sunlight

This is a photograph by Ole Salomonsen Photography who kindly agreed to let me use it here to show how wonderfully Emerald & Ash captured the look of the aurora in their polish. Their Facebook page is full of exquisite aurora photographs and is well worth a look! 

Aurora tend to be most commonly visible from high latitudes but can occasionally be seen from points farther south (or, more precisely, at lower latitudes). Here in Indiana I have seen them 5 times, but I am hampered by the fact that we have a lot of cloudy skies. It is always a thrill to see the elusive colors against the nighttime sky and I love that this polish lets me revisit that thrill on my fingertips whenever I wish.

Aurora is available from the Emerald & Ash website and you can get information about upcoming colors from their Facebook page.