Indie-Licious Review: Fanchromatic Nails Part 1

Hello!

Today I have one of my favorite indie brands to show you. Fanchromatic Nails was actually one of the first indies I tried; I was sucked in by the prettiest red-brown polish I've ever seen, The Iron Price (you can see the post I did about it by clicking here). I originally bought a mini of this polish, and I loved it so much that I had to have a full size. And of course when I ordered that, I had to try out a few minis of her new polishes...I can already see the endless cycle forming...

But on to the review, lol. I have 6 polishes to review, and several of them I tried both alone and layered over another polish--all of this means a lot of pictures, so I'm going to split this up over two posts.

First up I have The Sea Of Grass. The Sea of grass is a light taupy-green crelly with hex glitters in shades of green, brown and yellow. The larger hexes are lighter in color, while the smaller glitters contain light and dark glitters; this creates an interesting contrast that highlights the muddy color of the base polish (muddy in a good way):

Fanchromatic Nails The Sea Of Grass in direct light

Fanchromatic Nails in indirect light

Angle shot FTW

This polish demonstrates what I like so much about Fanchromatic Nails polishes. Most polish-makers (including myself if it had been left up to me, and I would have been wrong!) would have made this a light green in an more typical avocado or lime shade, and would have put brighter yellow glitters. But Lynae takes it just a shade or two in another direction, and gives her polishes edge and distinction, and the polishes are better and more interesting for it. This isn't what you might think of as a 'pretty' color in a classic pink/purple/red way, but it certainly is exotic and beautiful.

This is one of a number of polishes in her line that is inspired by Game Of Thrones. I haven't read the books or seen the show, but these polishes have convinced me that I need to, lol.

In terms of formula, this went on evenly and well; the pictures show two coats. Oh, and btw? There is no topcoat on in the above pictures. None.


Next up: Bearded Lady. This is a burnt-orange crelly with fuchsia glitters in small, smaller, and mini-bar form:

Fanchromatic Nails Bearded Lady, indirect light

Fanchromatic Nails Bearded Lady, direct sun

Angle shot, anyone? Please ignore the tipwear, that was my fault, not the polish's.

I love the way the teeny glitters look a bit like stubble--but maybe that's just me, lol. Again this is a polish that most polish makers would have made a slightly different way--maybe a brighter orange--and I like the edge that the burnt orange gives the overall effect, I think it makes the polish so much more unique and interesting. Again this is two coats, although I do have topcoat on this, and banged up the tips a bit and didn't notice until I was processing the pictures. Formula was fine, no special care needed.

As I say, I love this polish--but it did not like me, and my skin did not want to play nicely with it. I sat down and talked the matter over with my skin, explained the value of teamwork and of positive collaboration--and it still refused to cooperate. Skin can be that way sometimes, sadly.

Because of that, when I experimented with this polish layered over different colors, it looked really gorgeous on the wheel--but not against my skin. So I'm going to do something I very rarely do, and show you Bearded Lady over China Glaze Swanky Silk and several China Glaze Greens,  but on nail-wheel shots:

Bearded Lady over  China Glaze Tree Hugger, Starboard, and Def Defying

Bearded Lady over China Glaze Swanky Silk

Finally (for today), I have Pack Of Freaks. This is a shimmery olive-green base polish with a combination of different glitters in gold, green, blue, red and purple. Some of them are small, some are large; some are hex, some are square. Unfortunately, between the shimmer, the holographic glitters, the regular glitters, and the incredible depth this polish gets with more than one coat, this polish freaked my camera out completely, and I had a really hard time taking pictures of it. I couldn't get it to focus on more than one nail, and often only one part of one nail.  Here is the best I could do--click on them to get a better look, and also check out the stunning pictures of this she has on her site:

Fanchromatic Nails Pack Of Freaks

This is two coats of the polish, with topcoat. I am more bummed than I can say that I couldn't get a stunning picture of this polish, because I adore it. I'm not normally a fan of glitters with a lot of different colors in them, but for some reason, this one really works and the colors speak to me. It's inspired by the show Carnivale (as is Bearded Lady), and it does have a definite circus feeling that makes me happy.

I like this polish on its own, but I like it a little better layered over another polish--I think this is because I'm cheap and only got a mini and just want it to last longer, lol. So I chose two colors to layer it over; first, China Glaze Def Defying:

Fanchromatic Nails over China Glaze Def Defying

And then, second, over Color Club Ultra Violet:

Fanchromatic Nails Pack Of Freaks over Color Club Ultra Violet

Even just putting these pictures into the post I find myself staring at the different glitters. So...much...prettiness...

That's it for now, but day after tomorrow I'll post another three polishes from Fanchromatic Nails for your viewing pleasure. In the meantime, you can find these and many other polishes at the Fanchromatic Nails Etsy shop by clicking here. Lynae offers both full size bottles and mini bottles of her polishes; most are $8.25 and $4.25 respectively, although some that contain specialty ingredients are slightly higher. Her polishes are of course three-free and cruelty-free. :) And for those of you in the US like me, shipping is a flat rate of $3 per order! I love that...

Thanks for looking, and please do check out her shop. You can't help but find something (many things!) that you'll love.

Xoxox,
M.

(The Sea Of Grass and Pack Of Freaks were purchased with my own money. Bearded Lady was sent for my honest review.)