INDIE POLISH: Starrily Moon Glow
As I continue to try out more of these gorgeous shimmer polishes from Starrily, I am seriously, seriously impressed with the formulas. Honestly, I'm not often drawn to shimmer shades, but these ones have no only really, really impressed me with formulas, but the choices when it comes to the actual shades. I have a pretty significant nail polish collection at this point and what has been drawing me to indie polish so much lately is the uniqueness of so many of the shades. Even a shade like Moon Glow*, which may look sort of basic in the bottle, has such a unique look to it that it really does stand out.
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Described as "a stunning gray creme nail polish containing a copper shimmer complimented with the perfect amount of micro holographic flecks," this polish is another that has pretty basic components but creates something special when combined. The grey base is really neutral, but that copper flash warms it up and really makes it feel like a fall grey, if that makes sense. The holo is pretty subtle in it, but definitely adds a little something special and gives it that added dimension that you maybe can't quite place. What really makes it shine for me - both literally and figuratively - is that copper shimmer though. It's just... gorgeous. I love when a polish contains a shimmer that you don't quite expect.
Starrily recommends two coats and that's what I did for these swatch photos, but honestly... this is opaque in one for me. If you're just looking for a quick application, I definitely think you can get away with one coat of this, but two does give you that bit of volume to the look of the polish that I personally think always works best. Applying this is just so easy, honestly. It's got the right thickness for me that allows me to get a really crisp application and even coverage, which I love. There are some brushstrokes through this when you first apply, but they really even out and disappear as the polish dries for a really even finish. Honestly, I can't say enough good things about every aspect of this polish.
Of course, I always like to pop a cool indie base with some stamping, and immediately I wanted to pair this with burgundy stamping. I chose this image from the WhatsUpNails B010 Texture Me Nature Stamping Plate along with Maniology Wolfish Stamping Polish because it just felt super right. (I don't know why I make the choices I make, but I'm super happy with this one.) I wanted to do some reverse stamping with this and sort of really randomly fill in some parts of the image I chose and choosing the colors that I went with was actually a bit of a process, but ultimately I landed on two shades that are very similar in tone but also really, really in finish.
Polished For Days Eudaimonia is this really pretty neutral mauve cream shade but it's packed with holo and flakies while Girly Bits The Shaft is more bronzey in tone and has a lot more shine and holo to the finish. Like I said, these polishes are really similar in tone and pair really well together while still looking completely different. Am I making any sense here? Anyway, I just sort of randomly filled in some of the spaces with these two shades, mindful not to overwhelm because I really was trying to pop that base colour. Also, on my first finger and pinkie, I removed parts of the image so that it would only cover half the nail when I applied it.
I used a sticky base coat to adhere the reverse stamped image, crisped up the edges with a clean up brush dipped in acetone, and then sealed in the image with water based top coat. Once the water based top coat was completely dry, I finished with a coat of glossy top coat and voila!
I continue to be completely impressed with Starrily's formulas. The pigmentation is always super on point and the formulas give a really, really smooth, even application - although with that high pigmentation, I would take your time in applying so that you don't end up making a mess. It can be a little tricky to clean up just because there's so much pigment in the polish. Seriously, though, if you've been sleeping on Starrily, you should definitely check them out.
This polish was gifted to me from NailStuff.ca and is available for purchase there. If you're interested, feel free to use affiliate code TRYSH for 10% off your order of anything on their site!
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