Nine O'Clock Lilac
CrèmeA soft violet that stays grey in low light.
$15 · 15 ml
Lacquer studio · est. 2016
Colour mixed by hand, forty bottles at a time
We are a two-room studio on the east side of Portland. Every shade in the range is written as a formula, milled, trialled on tips, rolled for ten days and filled by hand — which is why there are twenty-one of them and not two hundred.
10-free formulaNone of the 10 ingredients on our exclusion list
VeganNo animal-derived pigments, waxes or testing
Poured hereMixed and filled in Portland, Oregon
Batch numberedEvery bottle carries the code of its pour
Poured this season
four shades from the current run
One from each collection, all filled in the same fortnight and carrying batch codes in the 26-04 range.
Peach Static
CrèmeWarm peach that leans pink indoors.
$15 · 15 mlOpal Hour
MultichromeViolet to rose to a faint green edge.
$15 · 15 mlPale Comet
GlitterLavender base with holographic micro flake.
$15 · 15 ml
Why the range is small
A pour is forty bottles, and we would rather it stayed that way
Larger runs would be cheaper per bottle and we have decided against them twice. At this size the person mixing the pigment is the person who fills the bottle and writes the batch code, and a shade that comes out half a tone wrong gets poured away rather than sold as close enough.
About the studio
The formula
What is not in the bottle
Our suspension base is bought from a formulator in the Pacific Northwest and excludes 10 ingredients. Pigment, flake and tint are added here; nothing else is.
- formaldehyde
- formaldehyde resin
- toluene
- dibutyl phthalate
- camphor
The remaining exclusions and the full ingredient statement are printed on every carton and listed on the studio page.
Formula and process
Underlay
Ridge-filling base coat
$14Glasshouse
Fast-set top coat
$14Nightgarden
Cuticle oil
$18Softwash
Acetone-free remover
$12
In the studio
Two rooms, one roller, a lot of waiting
The front room holds the pigment shelf and the mill; the back room is where bottles sit on the roller. Nothing ships until it has turned for ten days, because a multichrome that has not settled will separate in the bottle within a month.
- Batch sizes of forty bottles, occasionally eight0 for a repeat shade
- Every trial painted at one, two and three coats before it is signed off
- Batch code and fill date on the base of every bottle
Worn in
How the colours read on the hand
Photographs taken in the studio and by customers, all in daylight and none colour-corrected.
The range
Four collections, twenty-one shades
Each collection is a group of shades that share a base and a way of behaving, not a season.
Duskfall
six shadesMuted violets, storm blues and a grey-rose that reads differently at every hour. The colours we mix most often in the winter half of the year.
Collection detail
Sugarveil
five shadesSoft milk-tones and pastels with enough pigment to cover in two coats, which is unusual for colours this pale.
Collection detail
Opal Hours
five shadesMultichrome and duochrome pigments that shift through two or three tones as your hand moves.
Collection detail
Static Sugar
five shadesGlitter and flake mixes in a clear or tinted suspension base, made to sit flat under one coat of top coat.
Collection detail