Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Literary Lacquer: Ultimate Outlaw Collection [1]


The Ultimate Outlaw: Polish inspired by literary outlaws and rebels, created by Literary Lacquers.
In this collection, there are eight polishes and I'm sharing three of them today but will be reviewing the other five as well. I was pretty excited when I opened the package and saw that all three of my favorite colors were part of this collection, so I swatched them first!

These polishes have some really great inspirations so I've included those along with Amy's comments in the quote blocks, my comments are outside those blocks.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than we— Of many far wiser than we— And neither the angels in Heaven above Nor the demons down under the sea Can ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride, In her sepulchre there by the sea— In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Edgar Allan Poe is the father of the modern horror genre and Annabel Lee is the last poem he completed before his death. Annabel Lee represents one of Poe’s favorite themes, the death of a young, beautiful woman. Poe’s fascination with love, death and insanity permeates all his works; his version of horror is a psychological one. His enduring popularity owes a great deal to his image as a tortured soul who married his teenaged cousin and after losing her to consumption, spent the rest of his short life drowning his sorrows in brandy and opium, before dying penniless at the age of 40.

Annabel Lee is a sparkle packed grey crelly which is sheer enough to wear over a color - imagine the possibilities!
I chose Zoya Dove, a near perfect shade match to show off the base color of Annabel Lee. I wore one coat in the photos, but if you want even more sparkle go for two! Speaking of sparkles, this has iridescent, holographic and opalescent ones!

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer - Annabel Lee
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer - Annabel Lee
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer - Annabel Lee

I received almost all the Vivid Lacquer stamping plates for Christmas and I was inspired by the poem to create nail art with them! I chose black and white to signify death and life and I chose the heart pattern to signify the love he describes.



It was all unknown to me then, as I sat on that white bench on the day I finished my hike. Everything except the fact that I didn't have to know. That is was enough to trust that what I'd done was true. To understand its meaning without yet being able to say precisely what it was, like all those lines from The Dream of a Common Language that had run through my nights and days. To believe that I didn't need to reach with my bare hands anymore. To know that seeing the fish beneath the surface of the water was enough. That it was everything. It was my life - like all lives, mysterious and irrevocable and sacred. So very close, so very present, so very belonging to me. How wild it was, to let it be

Wild is Cheryl Strayed's first-person memoir of her 1,100-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail through California and Oregon to the border of Washington State. After Cheryl’s mother died, she was on a downward spiral - heroin and one night stands which led to the destruction of her marriage. After her divorce, with very little left to lose, she decided to embark on a challenging hike despite having very little experience. She hoped to save her own life as she explored the wilderness. The book is jam packed with truth and vivid description, from the importance of the right footwear to how to accept grief without allowing it to obliterate us. This book literally made me laugh and cry, sometimes in the same paragraph.

Mysterious Irrevocable Sacred is perfection. is flawless. is best. and awesome. in a bottle. on the nail. in any light. formula. irresistible. gahhh!!
Yep - this is how my brain was thinking with the first stroke of the brush. I couldn't form sentences or complete thoughts; I was speechless. If you love this shade of polish, you neeeeeeeeeeeed to have a bottle, because its all that and a bag of chips!
LA Salzy, a nail friend of mine, had a custom created by Amy from LL and this polish is based on that custom of hers - a deep blurple holo with blue and purple glass fleck.
Please don't lick the screen...unless you really really want to! I wore two coats for opacity.

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer - Mysterious Irrevocable Sacred
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer - Mysterious Irrevocable Sacred
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer - Mysterious Irrevocable Sacred

I remembered a couple of other polishes that Amy had made that I was gaga over like this one and they both go perfectly with M.I.S. and also go with the story. Moons meaning a new day is ahead or to reach for the stars and the blackened glitter gradient rising up the nail to signify that dark place of the past and how she rose out of it. First I layered Goodnight Moon over the entire nail and next, the free edge is covered in Camille Sepharial D'Artigo and gently brushed upward to create a slight glitter gradient.

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer - Mysterious Irrevocable Sacred

The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.

On the Road by Jack Kerouac is a largely autobiographical work that was based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-20th century America on a quest for meaning and belonging in a changing world. It is a defining work of the postwar Beat Generation that was inspired by jazz, poetry, and drug experiences. It rejected the societal norms of the time and ushered in a new concept of personal freedom and the ideals of the Beat Generation and their longing to find meaning in life.

The Mad Ones is a beautiful mint green holo and its a morpher depending on the lighting. In full sunlight it is more of a creamy mint and in warm lighting it leans lime! The photos were shot under lamps indoors and the color is close to how it looks in full sun, but not quite as pastel. Definitely one of those polishes that people want to grab your hand to study a bit closer! I used two coats and topcoat for the swatches.

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer - The Mad Ones
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer - The Mad Ones
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer - The Mad Ones

More stamping! I'm having fun learning how to use those plates and this was the first time I got all the stamps how I wanted on the first try! I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. :) I chose the fireworks stamp from plate VL015 and a golden polish because of this line: "yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars." I shot both a gloss and mattified image to show more detail.
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer - The Mad Ones

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer - The Mad Ones

I hope you've had fun reading the quote snippets and learning a bit about the authors with me. I don't read books, so I found this all very interesting!
The entire Ultimate Outlaw collection launches March 26 at 10am CDT at Literary Lacquer's Etsy Shop. You can follow Literary Lacquer on Facebook too!

xoxo, Jen signature

Thursday, March 20, 2014

April Indie-Go Box: Literary Lacquer Leaping Greenly



Today is the first day of Spring!!! Yippeeee!
What better way to celebrate it than sneak previewing a vibrant green polish for April's Earth Day themed Indie-Go Box? Right!?

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer Leaping Greenly for Indie-Go Box

Leaping Greenly is a warm spring green where sprinklings of copper glass flecks dance around the holo rainbow! Can't ya just feel it? Warm sunny rays, moderate temperatures, grass and leaves bursting forth, flower buds about to blossom... -wistful sigh-
I am so ready for it, how about you?

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer Leaping Greenly for Indie-Go Box

Leaping Greenly is inspired by the poem "i thank You God for most this amazing" (1950):

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings;and of the gay
great happening ilimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any - lifted from the no
of all nothing - human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

– e.e. cummings

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer Leaping Greenly for Indie-Go Box

The new formula Amy is using for new polishes now is awesome! It is buttery smooth and very easy to work with during application. The scent of the new base is the same as the original and the dry time is about the same. I wore two coats to achieve opacity and I've only just applied it before writing this entry so I cannot comment on wear time, but I hear it wears like iron!
I told Amy that the newly formulated base had tough competition because I really love her original formula. I'm very pleased to say that the new formula has won me over. :)

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer Leaping Greenly for Indie-Go Box

The other three contributors to the April Indie-Go box are: Ethereal Lacquer, Stardust Polish and Love, Angeline. The April box will be available for pre-sale at 2pm CDT on March 21-23 at the Ethereal Lacquer shop.

You can see the Literary Lacquer polishes I've reviewed previously at the following blog entries:
Community Collaboration:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Literary Liquors
The polishes in the five reviews linked just above and more can be found in the Literary Lacquer Etsy shop.

xoxo, Jen signature

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Profound Glass: Crushed Opal polish


I recently stumbled on a shop called Profound Glass that makes lab created opals. They have some absolutely beautiful work - I enjoyed perusing their webpage and thought I'd share one of their creations with you first so you can see how beautiful it is when whole.

Rough Opal

Nate, the artisan at the shop, thought it would be fun to crush the opal and make it into a nail polish. And he was right, as soon as I saw it, I bought it. Like...in less than 5 seconds. The bottle arrived, and what I hadn't realized was that it was a mini sized bottle (they now also offer full size). The listing where the bottle size was written was in a FAQ list that I didn't read before purchasing, so it was my own fault. I went ahead and wrote to Nate to let him know about my experience. His response was kind and showed that he really cared about his customers experience. He took steps to make sure the bottle size was more prominent in the listing. We emailed a few times and he offered to send a prototype that has larger opal shards in it which he is considering launching. I told him I'd love to try it out and I offered to do a review to compare them both, so this is it! :)

I wanted to show it over both black and white polish so I decided to stamp some water lillies from plate VL012 at an angle so that the nail was about half white and half black. I then layered the crushed opal over my index nail (1 coat) and ring finger (2 coats). I used the prototype on my middle finger (1 coat) and pinky (2 coats). I also took a few close ups and bottle shots for you to see and compare.

xoxoJen's swatch of Profound Glass Crushed Opal

Indoor lighting doesn't really do these polishes justice, they need sunlight to really show off the fire in the opal pieces. I was able to catch a few in the photos. The sparkle shows over the white part of the nail but its not as noticeable as it is over black and nearly impossible to see in the photos.


xoxoJen's swatch of Profound Glass Crushed Opal

I used extra top coat over the ring and pinky finger, and unfortunately the topcoat bubbled because I put it on too thick. woops!

xoxoJen's swatch of Profound Glass Crushed Opal

In the photo above, the original crushed opal polish is on the top and the prototype is on the bottom.

Even though the prototype's shards are more noticeable on the nail, I prefer the original crushed opal polish to the prototype. The larger opal pieces in the prototype tend to sink in the base and require more layers of top coat to smooth.

The original crushed opal polish is available in both mini and full sized bottles at the Profound Glass online shop.

The prototype is still in the testing stages and Nate hasn't determined whether it will be launched.

Which one do you think you would like best?

xoxo, Jen signature

Monday, March 17, 2014

Lumina Lacquer: Luck O' the Irish


I love a chunky glitter and green is one of my favorite colors so I absolutely could not pass up this green glitter bomb from Lumina Lacquer!
Luck O' The Irish has clovers, stars, gold coins, green coins, green hexes and micro glitter. A lot of those glitters are holo so there's a rainbow in the bottle too!
How perfect for St. Patrick's day, yes?

No fishing with this glitter at all; Lumina Lacquers are amazing like that. I wore one coat over Elevation Cuernos del Paine.

xoxoJen's swatch of Lumina Lacquer Luck O' The Irish

xoxoJen's swatch of Lumina Lacquer Luck O' The Irish

xoxoJen's swatch of Lumina Lacquer Luck O' The Irish

I hope your St. Pat's is awesome! Are you wearing green or did you get pinched!?

xoxo, Jen signature

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Sinful Shine: Wisp


I'm prepping to do some stamping and thought I'd do a quick review of Sinful Shine's white called Wisp. Its quite pigmented and gooey/thick so I wore two coats and topcoated it to smooth it out. Its not streaky but the brush is stiff and causes a striping effect where some of the bristles scrape against the nail and pick the polish up. With a better brush and a little thinner, I think this could possibly be the perfect white polish. I have to wonder how it would do for stamping - have you tried it with stamping?

xoxoJen's swatch of Wisp from Sinful Colors
xoxoJen's swatch of Wisp from Sinful Colors
xoxoJen's swatch of Wisp from Sinful Colors


xoxo, Jen signature

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Hot Pink Holographics!


Sparkles are a Girl's Best Friend
from Colors by Llarowe (CbL) is my favorite hot pink holo polish. Its a one coater. Its got a beautiful bendy rainbow. Its such a perfect shade of pink, a bright vibrant shade, almost berry but not quite - which has been impossible for me to find until this polish.

The flat brush allows for super easy control of where the polish lands and is fairly soft so there's no streaking. The formula is perfection and I've found that layering these CbL holos with Gelous, sandwich style, makes them last for nearly two weeks!

xoxoJen's swatch of Colors by Llarowe - Sparkles are a Girl's Best Friend
xoxoJen's swatch of Colors by Llarowe - Sparkles are a Girl's Best Friend
xoxoJen's swatch of Colors by Llarowe - Sparkles are a Girl's Best Friend

I wore the CbL for a few days and decided I wanted some..... GLITTAH!!!

Lumina Lacquer's Smooth Operator is the perfect topper for it. Its a hot pink holo glitter topcoat which happened to be nearly identical in color! Such a perfect color. Smooth Operator was very easy to apply and I LOVE glitter so I used two coats. This polish makes a good texture-like polish without topcoat, but I went for the gloss and topcoated it!

xoxoJen's swatch of Lumina Lacquer - Smooth Operator
xoxoJen's swatch of Lumina Lacquer - Smooth Operator
xoxoJen's swatch of Lumina Lacquer - Smooth Operator

I love a good hot pink nail polish, especially when it sparkles in rainbow colors like these! What's your favorite holo polish color?

xoxo, Jen signature

Friday, March 7, 2014

Freaky Friday with Vivid Lacquer


So, freaky Friday? Perhaps I should have called it fast Friday because this is a really quick swatch and blog entry about a one of a kind sample I scored from Vivid Lacquer in last week's sale.
I decided to do a sort of speed post to challenge myself and because she's having another sale TODAY with more one of a kinds for just $5!!

If you follow Vivid Lacquer, you probably know that sales at her shop are quite a rarity. I was excited about last week's sale and then she went and set up another one for today!
So I wanted to share my experience with last week's sale in case some of you were hesitant or hadn't heard the news yet!

xoxoJen's collage of wtf f12 14 from Vivid Lacquer

The polish I scored is called WTF F 12 14 and it came in the mail today! As soon as I opened it I knew I had to put it on my nails right away. I love it more than I thought I would when I saw the shop photos Friday last week.

On my swatching hand I currently have one finger of pink glitter called Smooth Operator from Lumina Lacquer that I tried out this morning to check opacity for when I wear it. On the rest of my fingers is Red Dog Designs Shamrock Shake texture with top coat except that my ring finger is also topped with I'm Drinking Stars from Literary Lacquer. I looked at my nails and thought, hmmm pink goes good with green and so my swatch of Vivid Lacuqer WTF F 12 14 was born. And then. Freaky Friday became a name for it, like ten minutes ago as I was typing the title. :D

I didn't do much clean up, so those teeeeeeeeny awesome black speckly glitters may show up on my skin in some of the photos. But that's ok, right? Cause look at the glitter! ;)
I wore one coat and did not dig or fish or redip for glitter at all. This was brushed on just like any other polish I'd wear.
xoxoJen's swatch of wtf f12 14 from Vivid Lacquer

xoxoJen's swatch of wtf f12 14 from Vivid Lacquer

You can really get a good look at those little tiny black glitters sitting on top of the white skull in this macro shot. I LOVE those!!!

xoxoJen's swatch of wtf f12 14 from Vivid Lacquer

Now, can you believe this polish was scratched from production, offered as a one of a kind and only $5? I know I keep repeating that but I just can't believe what a steal it was.

Are you still here? Reading? What!? Go Shop!
Not only is she offering one of a kinds and small batch protos, but she is also discontinuing several polishes from her core line and those are also only $5!

xoxo, Jen signature

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Red Dog Designs does St. Patrick's Day!



xoxoJen's collage of St. Patrick's Day polishes


I had fun with the Red Dog Mardi Gras polishes and now I'm getting lucky with the St. Pat's trio! Gina has done a nice job of capturing the holiday with these three polishes, there's even a rainbow in every bottle!

Póg Mo Thóin!!! - Soft linear holo in a creamy sage color base.

I really love the shade of this polish its such a bright happy spring green! Perfect for St. Pat's or Easter and it has a golden shimmer in addition to soft holographic rainbow. I took a bottle shot outside in the sunlight to get a better capture on camera. It does show on the nail but because I shoot indoors, the lighting tends to soften it. I used three coats with topcoat for the swatch photos.

xoxoJen's swatch of Póg Mo Thóin!!! from Red Dog Designs
xoxoJen's swatch of Póg Mo Thóin!!! from Red Dog Designs
xoxoJen's swatch of Póg Mo Thóin!!! from Red Dog Designs
xoxoJen's swatch of Póg Mo Thóin!!! from Red Dog Designs


Shamrock Shake - Hex, square, and circle glitters, in finishes of holo, matte, and metallic, in various hues of green, and iridescent color change green-lime-gold glitters, including metallic green ‘shamrock’ glitters, sprinkled with micro holo glitter, in a clear base. (16 Different Glitters)

Jas and I both love this time of year when McDonald's offers their Shamrock Shakes so I grinned when I saw the name of this polish. I rolled the bottle in my hand and oooed and aaahhhed at all the green, gold, and rainbow holo glitter in there and then I spotted the clovers, so cute! I wore one coat over Póg Mo Thóin!!! I redipped the brush a few times to get two more clovers.

xoxoJen's swatch of Shamrock Shake from Red Dog Designs
xoxoJen's swatch of Shamrock Shake from Red Dog Designs

The accent nail features a water marble done in a clover shape with China Glaze Entourage and Jolly Holly topped with a holo topper from Vapid Lacquer. I learned how to do the water marble from watching the youtube tutorial from My Simple Little Pleasures. This was my second try and I'm pretty pleased with it as compared to the first time I tried it in 2011 following the other tutorial she made.

xoxoJen's swatch of Shamrock Shake from Red Dog Designs


Blarney Stone - Various sized hex glitters, in shades of holo gold, holo green hues, holo black, and green, sprinkled with micro silver, green, and holo glitter, in a mossy green base. (10 Different Glitters) (THIS IS A TEXTURED POLISH)

Kissing the Blarney Stone is an old tradition said to endow the kisser with the gift of the gab. I've not kissed it myself, but I learned what it was because of this polish!
I wonder if rubbing this polish counts? I like the feel of textured polish and often rub it with my fingertips! Blarney Stone has a semi-rough texture compared to the rougher Zoya pixies you may be familiar with. I like Blarney Stone best because it doesn't seem to catch on things as much as the Zoya did, yet its still got a nice grit to it. The first three images are two coats alone and in the last three images I've added a topcoat.

xoxoJen's swatch of Blarney Stone from Red Dog Designs
xoxoJen's swatch of Blarney Stone from Red Dog Designs
xoxoJen's swatch of Blarney Stone from Red Dog Designs

Topcoated:

xoxoJen's swatch of Blarney Stone from Red Dog Designs
xoxoJen's swatch of Blarney Stone from Red Dog Designs
xoxoJen's swatch of Blarney Stone from Red Dog Designs

The store and other information is available at the Red Dog Designs links below:
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