Here we go with the Asian lacquer naming conventions. Instead of calling this Etude House lacquer, OR202, I'm going to call this Big Red, because it reminds me of Heinz Tomato Soup.
The formula on Big Red is, as my French mother would say, comme ci, comme ca.
It glides on easily enough, is opaque in two coats and dries super duper fast. That's the good part.
The bad part is the finish. This doesn't dry matte. It doesn't dry shiny. It dries dull. That's the only way to describe it. It looked like my hands had been dunked into a bowl of tomatoe soup and left to dry in the sun. Blurgh.
The swatch on the left is with two coats of Seche, which was the only way I could vibrant this colour up. With Seche, it looks great, but I don't think I shoud have to work that hard to make a lacquer look good.
This is a beautiful flakie. It has green, gold and purple through it and makes my nails look like they are literally on fire. Definitely click to see the close up because there are so many colours running through this.
I love how this takes a fairly basic lacquer and transforms it into something gorgeous.
A few comments regarding the formula. The brush is a little diddy, but the flakes go on beautifully and evenly. The finish is quite smooth but, as with flakes, you will get flakes hanging off the edge of the nail or - most annoyingly, nestled right against the cuticle.
What do you guys think? A fitting way to welcome in the Year of the Tiger.
