Bee's Knees Concilium

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I think we all know that I'm a complete sucker for polishes that contain shifting Clarins 230-type pigment, or any of the so-called "UP sisters," and when a fortunate happenstance was sitting on my desk along with this beauty, well, it jumped right to the front of the line.

Bee's Knees Concilium
indoor, CF lighting
Bee's Knees recently released a whole collection of UP and sister UP polishes themed around the Seven Wonders that the witches perform in season 3 of American Horror Story, each named for a different act of magic from the show.  Concilium is a plummy eggplant purple jelly, loaded with a green to blue shifting shimmer.

Bee's Knees Concilium
outdoor, bright sunlight
For some of her other sheer polishes of this type, Bee's Knees has also offered matching undies in a more opaque crème or crelly formula, though I generally prefer the squishy translucency of jellies on their own.  This polish does build up in about 4 coats, though, so was sold solo.  By luck, another polish that arrived on the same day, Enchanted Polish Blackberry Jam, was a nearly exact match and happened to be opaque enough to stamp with.  POOF!  Polish plan activated!

Bee's Knees Concilium
window-filtered bright sunlight
Enchanted Polish Blackberry Jam is underneath Concilium to a different degree on all my nails. here.  The stamped portion is using this same polish with some swirling floral design from Nicole Diary 091.  My thumb and index finger are 1.5 coats of Blackberry Jam brushed on as per usual.  Once this had dried, I added 2 coats of Concilium over everything.

Bee's Knees Concilium
window-filtered bright afternoon daylight
The shimmer certainly pops more over the darker, more opaque base, but it sparkles nicely even by itself.  In direct light, the shimmer is a slightly blue-tinged electric green, that shifts toward aqua with just a bit of an angle:

Bee's Knees Concilium
outdoor, bright sunlight
And then over to a lovely cobalt blue:

Bee's Knees Concilium
outdoor, bright sunlight
All of the colors complimented or contrasted the base shade without a color clash in sight.

Bee's Knees Concilium
indoor, bright CF lighting
Rating:  a lovely 4 out of 5 stars.  I still can't decide whether I like it more solo as a subversive neutral, or with undies as a vampy shimmer.  This did wear very much like a jelly on me, showing obvious edgewear after just a couple of days, but was well worth re-wrapping my tips and carrying on.

Where to buy:  direct from Bee's Knees.

~Michelle

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