Crowstoes Indian Summer (with ILNP Birefringence and some gold leaf!)

Crowstoes Indian Ocean with ILNP Birefringence and Gold Leaf

I love Duochromes! When I first saw Crowstoes Indian Summer on Ida's blog Ida Nails It, I just HAD to have it! Ida called it the motherofallpolish and I have to agree! It's magenta/red/purple duochrome and totally fantastic. I just used two coats without undies of any sort for this mani - I prefer the squishy, jelly sort of look. Ida did a comparison of Indian Summer *commando* and over black - check that out at the link above!

Application, as I'd expect from Crowstoes, was flawless. Lauri has been making polishes for a while now, and they are always superb. She has a fantastic eye for colour too.

Crowstoes Indian Ocean

In some artificial light, Indian Ocean looks like a red shimmer - but sadly I couldn't get a decent picture because when it was reddest the room was rather dark and my photos came out all fuzzy. Boo!

This macro I took in daylight really show the depth and complexity in Indian Ocean, you can see the magenta shift around the edges of my nails:

Crowstoes Indian Ocean

After a couple of days I decided I'd add a gradient with another super Indie duochrome, I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) Birefringence. Birefringence is a blue to purple duochrome, with an underlying shimmer very similar to Indian Ocean, so I thought I could combine the two in a gradient to make a super-duochrome...........

Crowstoes Indian Ocean with ILNP Birefringence

It's just a simple sponge gradient; I always use a slightly dampened sponge. I think this idea worked; I was well pleased with it anyway! Here's a shot in bright, direct sunlight to show the colour shifting pigments glowing RED!

Crowstoes Indian Ocean with ILNP Birefringence

My final addition to the mani was some real gold leaf. I don't own a gold leaf topper, but I do have a gold leaf..... it's very easy just to pull bits off and press them onto your nails. And the advantage of doing it like this is that you can get just as much or little gold onto your nails as you want, and pieces the size you want them, where you want them. Maybe I'm just a control freak but I had great fun adding the gold and I love how it turned out. Sort of *regal* with the gold and purples!

I topped this off with a layer of non-quick drying topcoat then Seche Vite to get a good gloss. I was a bit vary of adding SV onto what was effectively a four day old mani, I think it might have caused shrinkage.

Crowstoes Indian Ocean with ILNP Birefringence and Gold Leaf

I purchased Crowstoes Indian Ocean from Rainbow Connection UK - the polishes seem quite pricey but when you factor in the difference in shipping costs it works out about the same as buying indies direct from the US. And it's quicker and less risky with the mail. Internationally, the best place to get Crowstoes is Llarowe. ILNP Birefringence came to me via a friend but you can buy direct from the ILNP Etsy Shop. My gold leaf came from Waitrose but I guess you can find it in most supermarkets in the baking aisle!