Ethereal Lacquer Grímnismál

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I'm on a HHC/PPU kick lately, apparently itchy to see how all these LE one-and-done polishes stack up in reality to the glory of their inspirations.  This time, I actually did switch over to a neutral color...

Ethereal Lacquer Grímnismál
indoor, bright CF lighting
Ethereal Lacquer seems to be making her brand name into her esthetic, releasing a slew of delicately ethereal sheer polishes glowing with fiery shimmer.  In the bottle, Grímnismál from the January 2019 mythology-inspired PPU fits right in with these, full of color-shifting shimmer.

Ethereal Lacquer Grímnismál
outdoor, overcast daylight
Assuming this one was super sheer, I started with one coat of Sephora OPI Frankly I Don't Give A-dam, which is nearly a one-coater itself (having thickened up slightly from when I got it new).  It's a true mid-tone grey, leaning neither blue nor brownish, and to my eyes was 100% dead on for Grímnismál's base color as visible around the corners of the bottle.

Ethereal Lacquer Grímnismál
indoor, CF lighting
The aurora shimmer leaps out of this one, easily visible as a red to gold to green sheen even in low lighting.  I'm wearing 2 coats of Grímnismál over A-dam.

Ethereal Lacquer Grímnismál
outdoor, direct sunlight
As with Ethereal's The Dark Mark, this is absolutely the type of aurora pigment that comes close to the same shift range as Clarins 230-type shimmers.  It's a vibrant ruby red in direct, bright lighting, that then shifts to bronzed gold and on over to peridot and emerald greens.

Ethereal Lacquer Grímnismál
outdoor, cloudy daylight
Turns out Grímnismál really isn't that sheer at all, and my initial plan was to use it as a stamping polish, since the shimmer is definitely dense enough to do so... but I picked my base color too well, and the contrast was only visible in very specific lighting.  Oh well, it's lovely as is, so I'll try again at some point with a more contrasting base color.

Ethereal Lacquer Grímnismál
outdoor, bright sunlight
Ethereal Lacquer Grímnismál
indoor, bright CF lighting
Rating:  4 out of 5 stars for this fantastic modern neutral.  The concrete grey is edgy in a 90s sort of way that gets a big thumbs up from me, and I think we all know how I love shifting shimmers. 

Where to buy:  though I'm sounding like a broken record lately, PPU and HHC are sales with a single, fixed pre-order, but both do have a brisk after-market reshuffling, so keep your eyes out for destashes letting this one go.

~Michelle

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