Hey guys! As many of you may know, April 2nd is World Autism Day and they are asking people and organizations to "Light it Up Blue". You can find out more about World Autism Day and Autism Month at Austism Speaks. The nail polish blogging community is also getting into the spirit by wearing blue manis to show their support and help shine a light on autism.
 |
| I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) Exodus |
Today's mani is I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) Exodus. This is two coats of Exodus with HK Girl topcoat, though it was almost completely opaque in one coat. I used an initial thin coat that was smooth and self-leveling, but when held up to the light I could see just a few patches that needed some extra coverage. The formula was very easy to work with, but even
with careful
application I did get polish on my skin. Part of this is due to what I
consider a very stiff brush that sometimes makes application a little
bit tricky. Depending on how you apply your polish, you may need only one coat, but for the camera I needed two. The second coat covered up all the patchiness and smoothed everything out nicely. The topcoat helped bring out a bit more of the shimmer hiding in the base.
ILNP describes the polish "Exodus is a marvelously deep blue polish packed with an array of incredibly beautiful sparkles along with a hint of color shifting multichrome pigment. The subtle touch of multichrome pigments provide a wonderful light and shimmery blue (almost teal) color in direct light and an deep navy in low-light around the curves of your nail."
ILNP describes the polish "Exodus is a marvelously deep blue polish packed with an array of incredibly beautiful sparkles along with a hint of color shifting multichrome pigment. The subtle touch of multichrome pigments provide a wonderful light and shimmery blue (almost teal) color in direct light and an deep navy in low-light around the curves of your nail."
 |
| I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) Exodus |
While ILNP describes Exodus as teal in direct light, I describe Exodus as a blackened blue and don't personally see any shift in the polish except for how it translates onto the nail. It is much darker on the nail than it is in the bottle. In the bottle the polish looks much lighter and more "blurple" than teal and the shimmer is much more evident than on the nail. In low-lighting Exodus looks almost black with a hint of shimmer, but in direct lighting the shimmers in the base stand out a bit more and the edges are black while the centre has a lit from within blue glow.
 |
| I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) Exodus |
During cleanup my nails and
cuticles were stained and I ended up with Smurf skin. After cleaning up
and letting my polish dry I had to scrub my skin with a nail brush to
get it off. I recommend doubling up on basecoat to protect against staining the nail. When removing with
polish remover or acetone, your skin will likely turn blue.
If you have a peel off basecoat like Nail Pattern
Boldness Glitter A-Peel, then soak your fingers in warm water for a few
minutes before using a cuticle remover to gently peel up a corner of the
polish and it should remove easily in one piece. If it doesn't come up
easily then soak your fingers a little longer in warm water to loosen
up the base before trying again.
Hopefully the Smurf skin doesn't scare you too much as this polish really is beautiful and worth a little bit of scrubbing. Leave me a comment below if you have any tips or tricks you use to minimize staining on your skin and nails and thanks for reading!
Exodus and many other gorgeous polishes are available on ILNP's site and prices range from $10.00 to $12.50 and shipping is available to Canada and starts at $9.80 for one polish.
Don't forget to check out some other bloggers sporting blue for World Autism Day.
