Pahlish Imperial Theatre

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 Apparently I'm not quite done with soft shades, because when the man picked blue for my next color, I didn't reach for cobalt or sapphire or multichrome, but instead went for this earthy sky.

indoor, CF lighting

I fell utterly in love with the first one of Pahlish's crushed gold flake crellies that I tried, and then snapped up several more here and there as they've made appearances in a few of her collections.  

outdoor, shady/overcast daylight

Imperial Theater was from her collection themed around Russian ballet, and this soft, dusty, ever so slightly greyed-out cadet blue just nails that inspiration for me.  The base color feels both old-world and old-fashioned, and the lovely metallic gold flakes dial that up to understated opulence. 

indoor, bright CF lighting

The grey in here makes this as neutral as it's possible for a blue to be, with zero glimpse of lobster hands in any lighting situation, and I think quite wearable for most skin tones if you like this sort of dusty, unsaturated color.  

outdoor, direct sunlight

The gold flake is not an in-your-face blingy addition in this base shade, more a subtle visual texture to the color.  Darker and more saturated colors with this gold flake appear more dramatic, but the soft blue with gold ends up  looking nearly organic, like a magical bird shell. In order to let that flake stand out smoothly, the formula is a little sheer, and I'm wearing 3 coats to get to the opacity you see here. 

outdoor, shady/overcast daylight

In keeping with the understatedly elegant feel, I've added accent nails in a brocade design from Stampholic 2 in my brightest, boldest gold - El Corazon Fragrant Mimosa.  Interestingly, more antique or soft golds simply vanished into the background color, while this one stood out without looking brash.  

indoor, bright CF lighting

Rating:  4 out of 5 stars, a lovely springtime or fall shade.  The flakes behaved without any need to be manipulated or pushed back into place, and laid perfectly flat with a single regular layer of topcoat.  I did get a bit of edgewear quicker than I'd like with this one - it wore very much like a jelly - but if getting it more opaque at less coats would impact the flakie appearance, nah, it's worth it. 

Where to buy:  direct from Pahlish, though I'm not sure if this collection will be restocked.

~Michelle 

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