Kelara Lacquers Fantasy Collection - Dragon Scales

Good morning lovelies! It is dark and dreary here today, which is fitting since I'm feeling dark and dreary. I had another major nail break on my photo hand, so I'm back to nubbins. However, my right hand is still long, so I'm swatching on that hand until my left grows back out. Have you ever tried to photograph with your non-dominant hand? It's awkward and frustrating. I'm going to have to play with my lighting since my usual lighting doesn't work as well for my right hand, and half the time my hand won't stay in position - it wants to just flail about and do other things. And, adding insult to injury, the nails on my right hand have some wonk going on. I asked my Doc about it one and was told it's from the deep calouses from the way I hold my pen/pencil, but my opinion is that those nails are just genetically wonky. But hey, wonky is better than nothing, right? Right!

First of all, if you haven't done so yet, Head on over and enter the Giveaway!! Gini and I worked hard to come up with some great prizes for you guys!

In Polish news......I'm spending today swatching brand new A-England for you! Woohoo!

Today I have a little gem from Kelara Lacquers to share with you. Kelara Lacquers is an Indie Brand named for its creators, Kellen and Tara, a husband and wife team. How cool is that? As an added bonus, both have Science-based degrees, which means that you can bet that these polishes are high quality and have been tested to the Nth degree before being released. I don't know about you, but being a nerdy science loving polish fanatic, that really appealed to me!

Dragon Scales is part of Kelara's Fantasy Collection. This polish boasts a lovely green shimmer packed with golden gleck. It really does remind me of Dragon Scales (you can bet that I'm going to be doing some Dragon Scale nail art with this baby!). I've really been digging greens this year, and this is definitely a fave.

I do have to mention that this is the first time I have photographed my right hand, so please be gentle. I was unable to locate my tripod (I don't use it for my left hand), so balance was rough. Also, my camera had a hard time capturing the true beauty of this polish with no natural light in sight. . IRL it's a light, almost freshly mowed grass kind of green and the golden shimmer is very prevalent. I took close to 300 shots of this against several different backgrounds and my camera just wouldn't get it right - it insisted on making it lean teal. It's close, but not exact. Darn rainy days!

This is 2 coats of Dragon Scales over A-England The Knight and topped with The Shield:

Despite my lack of photo skills with my right hand, isn't this color awesome?? I really wish that I had been able to capture its glow, but trust me....it's there. My camera does bring out the teal in this, which IRL is only evident in lower lighting.

Formula:
I found this to a bit on the thick side, so I did add a few drops of thinner. However, I tend to use very thin coats, so if you're not all OCD about it it's usable out of the bottle. I think the thickness has alot to do with the shimmery pigment and the gold fleck - those types of pigments just tend to be thicker than others.

Application:
Dragon Scales flowed nicely onto the nail, although I did have some dragging on the first coat. Once I let the first coat dry, the second coat applied smoothly and evened out nicely. This girl stayed right where I put her with minimal cleanup needed. If you do cleanup with this, you will get a touch glittery due to the fleck. I think we're all used to that though! Dry time was fast, even without top coat. It does dry a bit textured, and retains that semi-textured look with top coat, but it gives it a cool 3D effect.

Overall I'm digging this polish. I simply cannot wait to do some nail art with this one! And the green combined with the gold fleck is simply gorgeous.

If you like Dragon Scales, then wait until you see what I have coming up from Kelara Lacquers! You can find Dragon Scales and much more at Kelara Lacquers on Etsy. All Kelara Lacquers creations are 3-free and retail for $9  for full sized bottles and mini bottles for $4.50. They do have some sales going on at the moment, so don't forget to check them out! Also, the names of some of their Collections and Polishes are just awesome!!

Are you feeling greens this year? What's your favorite Green Polish?

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber