Nire's Desire: Techno Collection -Phase Two

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Erin from Nire's Desire sent three of the six polishes from her Phase Two of the Techno Collection. The set was created to make the perfect ombre manicure.

Levitate is a beautiful medium shade of turquoise with bright turquoise shimmer and holographic particles. The holo is subtle in most lighting but more vibrant in the sunlight. Erin said that she was so happy with this color that she felt as if she were floating - and I would bet that's how it got its name! I wore two coats with topcoat for the photos.





Crush is a beautiful royal blue with purple and silvery blue sparks and holographic pigment. It's such a vibrant color that it looks like it's glowing! Check the bottle in those photos and you'll see what I mean, its really difficult to capture but I did my best! The polish went on like butter in two coats.
Erin changed up the packaging recently, and I love the new flat brushes. They allow easy control of where the polish lands on the nail and help make those nice straight edges around the curve of the nail. She also has new easy to read bottle labeling and sexy curvy bottles!





For An Angel is my favorite of the three. It's a bluish purple with blue and pink sparkles that add depth to the holographic polish. I keep looking at the bottle and thinking Erin must have magical pixies helping her make this polish! It's a beaut, and a one coater! Yep, I just wore one coat and topcoat for the photos.





This is my second review of the Nire's Desire brand and I am pleasantly surprised with the packaging improvements she's made in what seems to me like such a short time. Her formula is consistently good and she is very open to any sort of feedback. I enjoy working with her and hope that you've enjoyed the review and photos!

You can see the rest of the Phase Two collection and grab your own set at Erin's shop: Nire's Desire.
Be sure to follow the brand on facebook.

Liquid Sky Lacquer: Wyld Pixie and Tripindicular

Purchased by xoxoJen

I have been on the hunt for an almost purple pink, and its been impossible to find. I had high hopes for Tripindicular when I spotted it at Liquid Sky Lacquer's shop. I bought it immediately and was super excited to have it in my hands.

It arrived, and it was more of a coral color, like LSL's Glistening Coral. I wrote to Carolyn because I wondered if I'd gotten a mislabeled bottle. In a week she replied and assured me that I had the correct product so I let her know that I was disappointed and she replied almost immediately and offered to send another color to me.
I let her know about my endless hunt for the perfect magenta/berry color with very vibrant linear holo and I sent a quickly made collage of images to help demonstrate the color I was after.



She replied and offered to mix up a color for me based on those images! I couldn't believe what I was reading! How awesome is that of her? I can see why her company gets rave reviews! She sent the polish to me in just a few days and it was not an exact match but nonetheless gorgeous! In bright sunlight it leans more blue and is at it closest match to the collage; however, in other lighting it sometimes leans a little more to the red side, even bordering on a burgundy-ish color. I don't have anything else like it. The name she chose for it was super cute too, Wyld Pixie -- and here she is!



I wore two coats with topcoat in the photos above. The formula is smooth as a baby and that holo!
OMG THE HOLO.
It lights up like a Christmas tree, even in dim lighting. I have the room lights off right now so my only light is the computer monitor. Holding my hand about two feet from it, I can't really tell what shade is on my nails but I can STILL tell that there's a holo rainbow on them. Pretty amazing!



I suggested that she release it in her shop and I just noticed yesterday that it was released on April 19th!



A quick comparison of Wyld Pixie (index/pinky) and Tripindicular (middle/ring). Trip has that beautiful shade of purple popping out of the holo rainbow and has a very peachy/coral pink base! These two polishes are quite different shades, eh? Need them both? I think so. :)



Many thanks and big bear hugs to Carolyn! :D

Get your awesome holos at the Liquid Sky Lacquer Shop! Follow her on Facebook too!

Literary Lacquer: Ultimate Outlaw Collection [3]

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And the final three from the Literary Lacquer Ultimate Outlaw collection are just as beautiful as the first five! If you want to see those, check part 1 and part 2.

As with the other parts, I'll put the inspiration and Amy's notes in the blockquote, and my comments outside it. Let's get started!

Ether Binge, inspired by Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, a shimmering aquamarine holo with blue-green glass fleck.
The trunk of the car looked like a mobile police narcotics lab. We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers . . . and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls . . . Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. And I knew we'd get into that rotten stuff pretty soon.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas chronicles (semi-autobiographically) the Las Vegas adventures of Raoul Duke and his attorney, Dr. Gonzo, as they chase the American Dream and ponder the failure of the 1960s counter-cultural movement in a drug-fueled hallucination-filled haze. On assignment from a sports magazine to cover "the fabulous Mint 400"--a free-for-all biker's race in the heart of the Nevada desert--the duo stumbles through Vegas in hallucinatory hopes of finding the American dream (two truck-stop waitresses tell them it's nearby, but can't remember if it's on the right or the left). They never get the story, but they do commit the only sins in Vegas: "burning the locals, abusing the tourists, terrifying the help."

Ether Binge is a beautiful bright turquoise - the perfect color for spring or summer! Looking at the polish certainly takes me to the land of daydreams! Imagining the perfect island paradise with rainbows and waters the color of..Oh! polish, yes yes. :) I wore three coats for full opacity, as I found this one to be just a touch on the sheer side. Formula was great, went on like butter!

The Ultimate Outlaw, inspired by Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins, a sapphire blue holo.
Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won't adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice. Instead of vowing to honor and obey, maybe we should swear to aid and abet.

This quote is the inspiration for the entire collection; it was one of my very favorite books when I was in my late teens.. Robbins fascinated me as a young adult with his fast and loose writing style and penchant for outlaw philosophy. Still Life with Woodpecker chronicles the love affair of two redheads, Bernard Mickey Wrangle, the outlaw bomber philosopher (who is insistent upon explaining the difference between an outlaw and a criminal) and Leigh-Cheri Furstenberg-Barcalona, the environmentalist princess. The two arrive separately in Hawaii for the Care Fest, a gathering of environmental leaders and environmentalists in general (she to participate, he to blow it up), and they meet and fall in love. One part fairy tale, one part philosophical treatise on aspects of love and how to make it stay, and one part an exploration of the boundary between self and other and what happens when you attempt to transcend those boundaries, this book attempts to answer many of the perplexities of life.

The collections namesake, Ultimate Outlaw, is simply gorgeous. A perfect holographic shade of blue. In some lighting situations, it almost has a smokiness to it but in bright lighting its straight up blue. I am in love with it! I wore two coats, formula was awesome as usual!

Everything You Love, inspired by The Color Purple by Alice Walker, a deep smoky lilac holo.
Oh, she say. God love all them feelings. That’s some of the best stuff God did. And when you know God loves ‘em you enjoys ‘em a lot more. You can just relax, go with everything that’s going, and praise God by liking what you like. God don’t think it dirty? I ast. Naw, she say. God made it. Listen, God love everything you love—and a mess of stuff you don’t.

The Color Purple chronicles the struggle of several black women in rural Georgia in the first half of the twentieth century. Upon publication in 1982, the book generated tremendous controversy, instigating debates about black cultural representation. Critics complained that the novel reaffirmed old racist stereotypes and focused too heavily on sexism instead of addressing American racism. Feminists praised the book as a feminist fable of the power of strong female relationships and the idea that gender and sexuality are not as simple as we may believe. The heated disputes surrounding The Color Purple are a testimony to the resounding effects the work has had on cultural and racial discourse in the United States.

And I saved one of my very favorites for last, Everything You Love. It stands up to its name for me, for sure! its a smokey purple shade that, in some lights, leans more violet and sometimes looks more mauve. Quite the enigma! I wore two coats, and just like the rest of the collection, the formula was superb.






You may already know that I love purple and green together, so how could I resist not topping it with Two At The Very Most? I previously reviewed the topper over Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster and I'm Drinking Stars if you'd like to see its versatility. I think this glitter topper goes well over just about any shade, and I especially love it over Everything You Love!






The entire Ultimate Outlaw Collection is available now at the Literary Lacquers shop! Which ones are your favorites?

My Ten Friends: Geek Speak and Limited Editions

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Today, I'm sharing a very special set of polishes with you in this entry! All of them will only be stocked at the My Ten Friends shop and are limited editions that you won't want to miss!



A very limited number of the holographic polishes will be sold. Mei-Lynn told me that she *may* do a second pour of the holographic colors at some point, but they won't be identical. So if you love these, you'll definitely want to snag them when they're stocked.

Not only is Area 51 a beautiful smokey pastel shade of blue with pink shimmer and linear holographic rainbows but it also GLOWS IN THE DARK! The glow in the dark pigment separated a bit during shipping so I gave the bottle a good shake before each coat. The formula for both the holos glides on like melty butter and is opaque in two coats. From a glance, the polish looks kind of purpley to me. Love that!





Blackened purple holo? YES please! Quantum Singularity is a very rich, juicy shade like a fresh picked blackberry dripping fresh juice and when the light hits it, bam! A very flashy linear rainbow bend appears! Quantum Singularity is the term used to refer to many different phenomena, only one of which has actually been observed - black holes. Pretty mysterious, eh?
I wore two medium coats with topcoat and may have been able to get away with one coat if it were applied a little more heavily.




The next three swatches are from the Geek Speak collection which was inspired by some of Mei-Lynn's favorite shows, movies, books, and catchphrases. Can you guess where the names come from? (answers at the end!)

"SUGAR ALL THE THINGS!" ~xoxoJen
I was totally serious when I posted the above comment on the MTF facebook page. Everything needs a sugary kiss on top!
Gimme Some Sugar, Baby is a glitter packed iridescent topper which is gorgeous over any color but is especially stunning when worn over dark colors. I wore one coat over Quantum Singularity and I think they're a perfect pairing! I tested it (on my thumb) over Area 51 too, and its gorgeous as well! I don't have a photo of that pairing so you'll just have to take my word for it. I'm really in love with this topper! What colors would you pair it with?




So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish is a very shimmery glitter packed bright teal which is opaque in three or more coats so I wore two coats over Literary Lacquer Ether Binge. Although the polish's theme is reminiscent of the ocean and fish, it reminds me of flowers blooming and all the colors that springtime brings with it.




Last, but certainly not least, is What The Frak; a violet chunky glitter polish laced with intense blue shimmer. The large hex glitters were a little rebellious so I coaxed them out after flipping the bottle over for a few minutes. The shreds may also cause some issues but I didn't experience any. The polish was opaque in two coats and I used a coat of gelous and then seche vite for a glassy smooth surface.




Overall, I loved the four purple ones the most, but if I had to narrow it down even more I'd choose Sugar and Quantum. But really, trust me on this one, just get them all.

Did you get your answers written down for the Geek Speak name inspirations? Let's see how we did!
Here are the answers in order of appearance:
1. Gimme Some Sugar, Baby is from the movie Army of Darkness
2. So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish is from the book series Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
3. What The Frak is from the show series Battlestar Galactica.
I only knew number three. Looks like I have some new things to discover! Don't ya love it when you learn or discover something from a polish collection?
Each of these has special meaning to Mei-Lynn, as she chose all of the names from things she loves that bring her joy.

The holos and the Geek Speak collection all launch on Friday April 11th at noon central time at the My Ten Friends shop!

Vivid Lacquer: Curse You Autocorrect!

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Sometimes collections are born from spontaneous hilarity, and this is one of them! It all began with a status update one evening on Anni's wall - "No, iPad, it's not cluster duck. It's cluster ****"
A few hours afterward, Anni and I were conversing and iPad struck again, so she typed more words for it to learn. After a few hilarious lines of text I said, "now THAT needs to be a polish name!"
And Anni typed a few more words for iPad and then replied to me with this,

"I should do a line with all the autocorrects for curse words." And the Curse You Autocorrect! Collection was born.



I reached for Holy Shift first because the holo rainbow was so brilliantly colorful in the bottle. At first look I thought this polish was a silver holo, but when I applied the first coat it was sheer which made me think it was a holo topper. I went ahead and added a couple more coats and it was opaque. What a nice surprise in one bottle of polish! I chose to wear it alone in three to four coats.





Son of a Birch is one of the names that Anni thought of back in January when we were talking about the collection idea. I'm really glad that she kept and used the name, because it inspired me to do nail art with this polish and all the rest of the CYA Collection! SoB is a beautiful shade of blue like a clear sky on a summer day jam-packed with rainbows! The two coats I wore applied smoothly and easily.





The nail art below was created mostly with Vivid Lacquer products except for a brown cream used to stamp the ring finger and underneath the dots and stripes for opacity. The stamping plate, VL014, has the tree with berries design that was inspired by a a scrapbook paper that I love, but was discontinued. Tools I used for this look are: Stamp and VL014 plate,a striping brush, various sized dotting tools and tape for the clean edge on the diagonal.
Polishes used: VL Son of a Birch, VL Bettie Sage, VL Band Candy, and Loreal Brownie Points.



I keep calling this polish 'the pink one' because I don't usually choose to wear pinks but this one...man, this one whisked me away after it was on my nails. Its called Mother Trucker and its simply gorgeous! I see a little bit of blue in there which, I think, makes the pink lean just slightly purpley but not enough to call it purple. I could be totally wrong about that, but I know one thing, I love it and didn't want to take it off!





For the mermaids and ocean waves nail art I used plate VL023 with Wet N Wild Tahitian Pearl for the waves and Konad Black for the Mermaids. I added a few turquoise glitter stars from Berry's Creations to add a little whimsy!


What the Fork?! My sentiments, exactly. After I applied this I saw a beautiful minty shimmer in the center of the holo rainbow that I hadn't seen in the bottle. I'm unsure whether there's actually extra shimmer in this polish but my eyes say yes! It also has a smooth creamy coolness to it that makes me totally crave mint ice cream. I wore two coats on its own and then stamped it with lizards! Those cute lil guys are on VL012 and were stamped with Misa Toxic Seduction.






Clusterduck. The word that sparked the idea of autocorrect polishes and my very favorite polish of the bunch, of course. I noticed that, like What the Fort?, this polish seemed to have a shimmer in the middle of the holo rainbow too - a pink one! Its a little difficult to see in my photos but its there and more noticeable in person. I wore two easy coats of Clusterduck and vowed not to ever take it off. Ok, so I had to break that vow but I'm wearing this one again sometime and I'm thinking a gradient with Mother Trucker would be stunning!





I later decorated Clusterduck with the Vivid Lacquer mascot, pawprints, birdcage, bird and logo from plates VL001, VL003, and VL018. I created it with Anni in mind because a sweet friendship has blossomed over the years that we've worked together through her brand.

So Anni, this one is especially for you - I hope it was worth the wait!




The Curse You Autocorrect! collection launches at Vivid Lacquer April 11th at 7pm Pacific. You can also follow Vivid Lacquer on their facebook page.