Ethereal Prototype - Aqua & Lavender

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 The man picked "purple" when I was stumped for a color, but I was feeling very pastel instead of vampy and this little gem fit my mood just right.

indoor, bright CF lighting

Ethereal has a certain aesthetic she sticks to most of the time, and this polish falls right within that type - it is indeed ethereal, cool-toned and sheer, with enough sparkles for a faery queen.

outdoor, shady/overcast daylight

This particular example starts with a softly sheer lavender base - I file polishes by color, and this one is with other lavender purples - that is absolutely filled to the brim with a duochromatic shimmer that's a metallic light aqua in direct light, then shifts to a lavender almost the same color as the base at angles.

outdoor, bright angled sunlight

Added to the sparkle factor, this proto has a very finely milled linear holo that's beautiful in bright light and fully hidden by the contrast shimmer in lower light.

indoor, bright CF lighting

You can see a bit of VNL in some but not all of these photos, and that was just as true IRL.  In a lot of lighting conditions the shimmer masked my free edge, though it was occasionally visible.  For most dark or crème-based colors I'd consider that a fault, but in a light cool-toned shade like this I actually like the subtly sheer look.

outdoor, shady daylight

I'm showing 3 coats here, and each coat was smoothly even.  I could have layered this over an opaque lavender in 1 or 2 coats to amp up the base color without any weird streaking, but as per usual with stuff that's intended to be a bit sheer I prefer the solo look.

outdoor, shady daylight

I'm quite convinced this shimmer is the same one in Ethereal's Whimsy, a topper from way back in the day that has the same aqua-to-purple shift. 

indoor, CF lighting

Rating:  4 out of 5 stars for this ethereally pretty prototype.  The formula was smooth and self-leveling and went on with zero problems.  The sheer base made cleanup almost unnecessary.  This wore more quickly than ideal, but the soft pastel color meant that wasn't very obvious.

Where to buy:  this was from a prototype sale a couple of years ago, and as far as I know it may be a one-of-a-kind.

~Michelle

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