Great Lakes Lacquer Leaves in the Lake + HITS Boca Seca

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The recent Chicago Polish-Con was a big deal to the indie polish world, and though I couldn't go, several makers offered their exclusives after the event - sweet!  Not very long after Great Lakes Lacquer sent me Leaves in the Lake it was time to take it for a test drive.

indoor, bright CF lighting
Leaves is a rich navy blue jelly absolutely crammed full of gorgeously shifty ultrachrome flakes, with the final effect looking exactly how it's named.  The first coat went on smoothly enough that if you wanted to try it as a topper over other blues, it should work fine.

indoor, window-filtered daylight
I've paired Leaves here with Hits Boca Seca from the "Gio Antonelli Senescoes" collection.  Not at all sure how this rich mahogany copper equates to a dry mouth (the name's translation), but damn, Hits made some nice polishes and I wish there was still a stockist that carried them.

indoor, window-filtered daylight
Boca Seca is nearly a one-coater, with 2 coats here just to make sure I didn't miss a spot, but that 2nd one didn't deepen the color or amp the shimmer.  Both of these polishes wore nicely, and I loved the coppery call-out to the flakes with this pair.

indoor, bright CF lighting
The gorgeously shifty flakes of Leaves look best in cloudy or indirect light, since the brighter the light (full sun, for example), the blue jelly starts to look a little uneven due to the metallic flakie flash.  Fluorescent lighting is great for this one, which means that it's a fantastic office polish.

outdoor, overcast daylight
I've stamped Boca Seca with Emily de Molly blue/gold using the elegant deer under the tree divided image from HK-06.  This plate is absolutely the kind that gives beginning stampers a headache - it's very finicky as to which stamper/polish/scraping combo it'll work with.

Rating:  Leaves in the Lake is a gorgeous 5 out of 5 star polish, and Boca Seca gets 4 stars.  Both are real keepers!

Where to buy:  tricky for both, now, sorry.  Leaves was sold directly by Great Lakes for a few weeks after Polish-Con, but is now off her site.  I have no idea about the feasibility of ordering directly from Hits, but if anyone tries it, let me know!

~Michelle

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