Pink Panther Strikes!

*Note: This is a very word-heavy post. I hope you'll bear with me, it's very rare that I do a post that is purely a polish review as I usually keep them for the reviews section of my blog. If you make it to the end, I salute you!

I received my first ever indie polish on Friday, and while I was itching to try it out I already had my fireworks nails planned for the weekend. Judging by the lifespan of my fireworks nails I clearly couldn't wait any longer to try out my first indie, so without further ado, here's Lush Lacquer's 'Pink Panther':

I was a bit apprehensive about indie brands at first, not really sure what I'd be getting, but after reading many rave reviews I decided to give Lush Lacquer a go. According to their website, 'Pink Panther' is "a strikingly beautiful clear sheer base with a mixture of glitter...all different sizes of matte pink , matte black and matte white glitters are used to make this gorgeous polish. We use fine, medium and a few larger hexagonal matte glitter."

I'd say that's a pretty accurate description.

I've layered one coat of 'Pink Panther' over Revlon's 'Minted', and due to the matte finish of the glitter I've decided to use Essie's 'Matte About You' as my top coat. I've seen 'Pink Panther' used very effectively over pastel greens and blues (I imagine it looks amazing over China Glaze's 'For Audrey'), but I'd also love to see it over a lilac or even a grey. I'll have to have a bit of a play ;)

Now for the important bits: application. 'Pink Panther' is absolutely PACKED with glitter. In fact, it's so packed that you can barely see any liquid in the bottle! In spite of this I still found myself fishing for glitter. Don't get me wrong, the brush picked up enough glitter to do each nail without needing to go back for more, but I found myself fishing for more black glitter as I never felt I had an even ratio of black/pink/white. Maybe I'm just a bit OCD?

The consistency of the polish isn't terrible, but not great either. It does tend to be a bit 'gloopy' (for lack of a better word), but I will give the girls at Lush Lacquer credit as they did warn that thinner might be required. I found that the best technique for application was to wait until my base colour was completely dry before putting a blob of 'Pink Panther' on my nail and moving the glitter around to where I wanted it with the brush. I found that if I applied it as you would normal polish all the glitter just ended up at the nail tip. Of course, my method of application had drawbacks, it meant the polish was a bit on the thick side. It dried reasonably fast with a coat of INM's 'Out The Door' before I added my matte top coat though.

My only other comment is about the packaging, I'm not sure whether or not there are any steel balls in the bottle, but I definitely can't see any. Maybe they're just lost in all that glitter? Due to the thickness of the polish though the air bubble in the bottle once you use a bit tends to move the glitter around so I'm not too concerned.

You can find Lush Lacquer on etsy here. I've also added a link to their page in my 'useful links' section on the right hand side of my page.  These are links to companies that I've ordered from and have been happy with the service and product they've provided. I won't add any links that I don't recommend you guys check out. You'll notice I've also added a link to 'Rainbow Honey'. They are another indie polish brand who I have pre-ordered from just tonight, so watch out for those polishes when I receive them!

Have you fallen in love with any indie brands? If so, who?

*** For those who aren't familiar with the term 'indie', it's simply short for 'independent', meaning that these indie polishes are made by people just like you and me in their own homes, usually by hand. Of course, there are pros and cons with indie polishes. While indie polishes are generally unique in appearance, they can sometimes have extended turn around periods as they don't have the same production facilities and staff numbers as the large factories, and there can be minor inconsistencies between batches.