OPI Sonic Bloom + koi pond leadlighting

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I don't remember who or where or what pointed me in the general direction of OPI's Sonic Bloom, but you, anonymous hero(ine) of the internet, are fabulous.

indoor, CF lighting
Sonic Bloom was from the 2005 Brights collection, and that it certainly is.  It has a somewhat sheer, sorta watery formula (reminiscent of Austin-tatious Turquoise), only it was magically close enough to opaque at just 2 coats, and only flooded my cuticles a little bit.  It's a beautiful summer-sky blue, with this killer acid green flash on top.

The interwebs recently tipped me off to the magic of NanaCoco Love Black as the ultimate black stamping polish, and I'd just received a passel of sheer jellies for leadlighting, so this ocean became a koi pond, using Bundle Monster plate BP-725.

indoor, office fluorescents
DAAAAAAAYYYYUM.  Love Black rocketed beyond expectations.  Perfectly opaque, supremely easy to work with (doesn't dry so fast you have to be The Flash, doesn't smear all over the place with top coat), and wicked cheap.  It's a huge winner.  While wearing just the blue with the stamping, I discovered that the already stunning green flash actually turned bright pink at angles:  woohoo, surprise duochrome!

outdoor, bright sunlight.  pink was even MORE pink IRL.
Then I used a dotting tool to dab in a little of OPI Landscape Artist (grassy green), Essie Muse Myself (butterscotch yellow) and Essie Highest Bidder (wine red) to fill in the solid black outlines, like painting stained glass.

outdoor, overcast daylight for all below


BAM.  Leadlighting is supremely easy - this was my first attempt, and the coloring-in part of things took maybe 10 minutes total for both hands.  Just dab a heavy drop of each color onto your work surface (plastic bag, aluminum foil, silicone mat, whatever), and use that as the source to replenish your dotting tool - much easier than opening and closing each bottle a number of times.

Rating:  Sonic Bloom is a fantastic color and gets a solid 4 out of 5 stars.  It wore rather well, too, considering what a sheer jellyish formula it has.

Where to buy:  this one is of course long discontinued, so shop ebay or Amazon.  Ebay also hooked me up with the Essie and OPI sheers at about half the retail price.

~Michelle

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