Literary Lacquer: Community Collaboration wrap up

Products provided by Literary Lacquer for review.

Going out with a bang from 2013 into 2014! Happy New Year!
My last post of the year wraps up the Community Collection from Literary Lacquer. You can see the other six polishes in the collection here, here and here! They are all excellent and delightful to wear.

Thermodynamics is a sheer cherry red jelly polish with a blue glass fleck and a touch of blue iridescent glitter and was designed by Alex of Sparkly Vernis to represent the course load currently occupying all available space in her brain..

I wore two coats over white and its the most eye-catching, on fire, neon coral I've ever laid eyes on. PLUS + + it has purpley shimmer!!! Heart. Stolen. Its beautiful and super squishy like a fresh cherry jello pop with sun rays beaming through it! Its also a multi-tasking polish, wear it over other colors for a completely different effect or make a glitter sandwich with a glitter topper! Could this polish be any more amazing than this?




Perhaps stamped (Vivid Lacquer plate VL 001) and layered over black?


Sidewalk's End is a semi-sheer grey holographic polish with multicolored glass fleck and was designed by LA Salzy, one of my (Amy's) biggest supporters and also one of my (Amy's) favorite nail polish fanatics! The polish represents Where the Sidewalk Ends, a hysterical and sometimes poignant collection of children's poems by Shel Silverstein.

I read this book a lot as I was growing up and I still love each poem in it. The polish suits the book so well! Its a lovely almost white holographic polish. I wore two coats over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls to try and keep it as close to its true color as possible. Perfect for any occasion and skin tone, definitely one to pick up!




As the Waltz Was Ending is a delicate pinky-purple crelly holographic polish designed by Lacey of My Boyfriend Hates Makeup to represent one of her favorite books, As the Waltz Was Ending by Emma MacAlik Butterworth. The book is a beautifully written autobiography of Emmy's experiences when her career as a ballerina at the Vienna Opera is cut short by the Nazi invasion of Vienna and the Russian occupation during World War II.

I was so happy when Pantone announced that orchid is the color of the year! I'm a purple fiend and this is one of those shades that I can never say no to. Amy has bettered the color of the year by adding a stunning holographic sparkle! Insanely beautiful, opaque in just two coats, perfect formula as usual, need I say more?




Shift of Fate is a green to gold color shifting linear holographic polish designed by Olivia Farr of Morning Nailspiraton to represent one of her favorite books, Jackaroo by Cynthia Voigt.

My other favorite color is green and this one is gorgeous! Its opaque in two coats, super vibrant linear holo, gold highlights at some angles and, of course, a perfect formula!




I have to say, I have been very impressed with Amy and her Literary Lacquers this year. I'm so thankful I had the chance to work with her and try out her polishes. I don't typically do top lists, but this one would be up there in the top five if I ranked them. I say top five because I'd have to do some serious side by side comparing of each aspect of polish to decide which one would get the top slot, so in my mind, without doing a comparison of said polishes, its a tie. :)

OH YEAH! Did you want a link to get these and other stunning LL polishes of your very own? And perhaps a discount code for 20% off? Have a peep at her shop and use code: HAPPY2014 Stay in the know via the facebook page.

Happy New Year to you all! Be safe!

Urban Lacquer: Winter Collection phase 2

Products provided by Urban Lacquer for review.

Urban Lacquer's Winter Collection phase 2 is comprised of three polishes, a glitter and two color shifters, one with holo!

Frost Covered Berries is a microglitter polish with white, silver, pink, brown, and red glitter in a clear base. It can be worn without topcoat for a texture polish effect in just two coats! All but the white glitters twinkle like crazy! Application was smooth and if applied a bit heavy, one coat will suffice. The only other polish I can compare to this one is UL's other micro glitter called Board Games from Santa which is an all matte glitter/texture polish. Both are unique in my collection.





Oh gosh, love love LOVE this multichrome called Peace! It shifts from copper to brown to a SMOKEY PURPLE! I am in LOVE love love I say! Peace is definitely unique among other multichrome polishes; at least, I have never seen one like this! Its ridiculously beautiful, I can't even! I wore two coats, but you can do it in one if a heavy coat is used. Instead of the usual three photos, I took two of each pose in different lighting and then the macro. I wanted to show off all the beauty in this polish and hope that you fall in love with it too!







MMXIV is a deep, dark grey multichrome holographic polish. I used Brenda's description because this polish looks a different color every time I look at it! Its got this smokey undertone that sometimes shows as grey, sometimes blue, sometimes green, and even reddish copper and purple in some lights! I took three shots of each pose except for the macro, again to show off the beauty of this polish. The holo is so magnificently vibrant in nearly every light! It even shows in the studio lit photos, which is rare for holos!








If you're not quite convinced, take a look at some nail art I did with Peace, MMXIV and striping tape! Each nail was done in a different desgin, three of which came from other bloggers:
Index nail design from Wink and Blush
Middle nail design from The Nailasaurus
Ring nail design was a simple striped pattern that I'm sure I've seen before, but it came to mind before I began looking online for other designs to do.
Pinky nail design is a variation from Dressed Up Nails

I hope you enjoy it, this was the very first time I've ever used striping tape and I was shocked with how easy it is to use! If nail art eludes you, try this! I know you can do it if I can!




I loved each and every one of these three polishes, but if I had to choose MMXIV would be my pick. It only won over Peace because of its holographic spark! Brenda at Urban Lacquer has really outdone herself with this trio.

Grab yours on Saturday 12/28 at 3:00pm Central from the Urban Lacquer shop and follow the facebook page for updates.

Literary Lacquer: Community Collaboration

Products provided for review.

I have two more beautiful Literary Lacquer Community Collab polishes to share with you today! If you'd like a little more information about the collaboration, check the first entry here and to see two others, check the second entry here.

Love You Forever is a medium blue crelly holo polish. It was created by Crisdee Michie and her daughter Keera and was inspired by the sweet children's book Love You Forever, by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Sheila McGraw. This book is a tearjerker, but in a good way!

Oh blue, how I love thee! I was so excited to see that the collection included a beautiful turquoise blue. Simply perfection, not too green no no no, perfectly turquoise blue and HOLOGRAPHIC! -gasp- Gasp! Can you hear that? Its a crowd applauding! What a sunny day at xoxoJen, not a cloud in the "Love You Forever" sky! I did not want to remove it! I wore two coats over WnW Teal Slowly and See.




Goodnight Moon is a sheer jelly glitter polish, the base is a twilight blue jelly and it's full of holographic sparkle, chrome silver glitter, and blue holographic and silver moon shaped glitters. It can be worn alone at three thin coats with some placement of the large glitters but is best layered over another polish. Goodnight Moon was created by Amy's friend Tami Stapp Fournier, of the up and coming blog The Manicured Mermaid

Since I couldn't bring myself to remove Love You Forever, I topped it with one coat of Goodnight Moon! Isn't it glorious and sensational!? There is something totally exciting yet absolutely serene about this! It can be worn alone but the layering options are many! Just look at the index nail in the first photo, how it morphs from the blue underneath to a beautiful purply shade! Sheila wore it over As the Waltz Was Ending and it is stunning - I wonder how it'd look over black or white, or maybe a dark purple or navy blue?




You can purchase these and other Literary Lacquer polishes at the Etsy shop for $10 each or the whole Community set for $90 and you can keep updated by following their facebook page.

If you've enjoyed my post and photos, why not share the love by following my facebook page?

Holiday Link Party!

Welcome to Our Holiday Nails of 2013 blog hop hosted by Sparkle Queen! This link party has one purpose: to share our holiday manicures with each other!

Everyone is welcome to share ALL of their holiday nails and manicures. You don’t have to be a blogger to enter either, as long as you can link to your holiday nails, you can enter. So if you are sharing your pictures on Nail Art Gallery, uploading to Pintrest, Instagram or Twitter, or anywhere else, you can enter too. You’ll just need the URL of where your pictures are shared.

Bloggers can use THIS CODE to add the link party into their posts.

Party Details:

*You can enter as many holiday nails as you like, but they must all go to a specific page, they can’t just go to your home page.

*Link as many entries as you want.

*The link party will stay open till shortly after the New Year so any new year’s inspired nails can get added too.

*Nails must be holiday related one way or the other. Maybe the polish you are wearing for Christmas, or your snowy nail art scene. Any and all are welcome.

*Video tutorials are OK as well, as long as you can upload an image for the thumbnail.

Make sure to check out the other entries and show some love to your fellow nail ladies!

Happy Holidays!

Literary Lacquer: Community Collaboration

Products provided for review.

I have two more beautiful Literary Lacquer Community Collab polishes to share with you today! If you'd like a little more information about the collaboration, check the first entry here.

84, Charing Cross Road is a sepia taupe subtle holographic nail polish loaded with silver glass fleck designed by Sheila of Pointless Cafe. The book, 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff is about a correspondence between a New York writer and a London bookseller, it's a great read and a terrific movie!

One of my favorite polish colors (besides purple and green) is a nice cool taupe without red tones. That color has proven difficult to find until recent years, but especially difficult to find in holographic polish. When I first unwrapped the bottle, I was in love! Not only does it have a subtle holographic sparkle but it also has beautiful glass flecks in it! The polish is quite sheer so I wore two coats over my favorite nude, Theoretically Nude from Vivid Lacquer, and I think they were made for each other!





My Red Hair shifts from orange through copper into red and was created by Debbie Crumpet of The Crumpet, my British Nail Blogger soulmate. She was inspired both by her own hair and by Sylvia Plath's poem Lady Lazarus. The poem can be read at poets.org

I thought at first this was simply a metallic copper but its so much more! The gorgeous copper shifts to red at different angles and is sprinkled with gold glitters! Quite beautiful! I wore three thin coats with Clearly On Top top coat.




Debbie writes:

"I was 16 when I first read Sylvia Plath. At an awkward and impressionable age, I was ready to be awestruck by the visceral power of her writing and the brutal language of her poems. I quickly became obsessed with her, and the great literary tragedy of her marriage to Ted Hughes, and her life, her triumphs and her struggles, have influenced and empowered me like nothing else in my life.
My Red Hair is inspired by her most famous poem, Lady Lazarus, where the heroine, a born sufferer, tortured and abused to the point she has to commit suicide every 10 years to have a chance at a better life, vows that “Out of the ash / I rise with my red hair / And I eat men like air.” It’s a chilling line: a whisper, a shriek, a manifesto, and a promise as a cold as dead lover’s kiss.."

And there ya have it! Two more beautiful polishes from the collab set makes four, so there are six more to share with you in the coming days! Which is your favorite so far?

The Community Collaboration is available at Literary Lacquers on Etsy and stay in the know by following the brand on facebook.