Grace-full: What a Girl Needs

Press Sample

The What a Girl Needs collection is brand new from Grace-full polish and is the sister collection to the What a Girl Wants collection. Both collections are inspired by images from Theresa's fans. You'll find varying finishes such as holos, shimmers, glitters, and even a crelly flaky. I've included the brand's descriptions and my comments are underneath those.

Royal Forest Nymph – a deep jewel green linear holo that has a slight shift to gold.
Beautiful teal-leaning green polish with such depth that it was difficult to capture on camera. I see both green and blue sparkles in addition to the holo rainbow. How did she do it?! I wore two coats with topcoat, formula was like butter and easy to control on the nail. I had very little clean up with this and all the other polishes in this review.





Pinktopia – a deep pink with sparkle and UCC chrome chameleon flakies
UNF. I can't EVEN with this polish! 2 coats, topcoat, great formula!





Rain Upon The Moon - It's the baby sister to White Rider and has the same super sparkle just with smaller silver super holographic glitter, a silver tinted holo base and rainbow flakes throughout.
I tend to enjoy a really bright silver - this one is like wearing white diamonds on your nails. I used three coats with topcoat and the formula was great.





Blue S-teal - It's the big sister to Do the Magic! and has the same finish with colour shift but this one moves through blue, steel blue and teal

Behold!

I fell for this one right away. It is the most perfect sapphire blue polish I have ever laid eyes on. Dark and rich but not too dark, it still looks blue on the nail from a distance. Super shimmery, especially where the light hits it. So glowy! I didn't see any teal at all until I was processing the macro, there are bright aqua flakies in there! Theresa really knocked this one out of the park. My search for the perfect birthstone polish is finally over. I'm wearing this one on my birthday on the 19th! oh yeah - two coats, topcoat - brilliantly smooth and easy to apply.





Butter-ful – a white base with two sizes of gold flakes that turn the white to a creamy colour
Such a nice neutral shade still with plenty of bling. Work appropriate for most places and totally fun to stamp over! It has a creamy formula and is opaque in two coats.





I chose to use MDU stamping polish in a brown shade and a henna style stamp. What do you think?




Elementeal - teal jelly base with teal and copper super holographic micro glitter
Super sparkly with holo bursts in every flash! I wore one easy coat over Royal Forest Nymph.






This collection releases on September 1st at 7pm AEST at Grace-full's online boutique.
Also look for these to be launched in the Ella Ann shop at a date to be announced.

Literary Lacquers: The Ultimate Answer

Press Sample

Amy of Literary Lacquers creates a special polish each year to celebrate her birthday. The numbered limited edition polish this year features tiny stars and holographic glittery goodness in a sea foamy green jelly-ish base. The literary inspiration comes from the book Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams and is named: The Ultimate Answer. If you've read the book, you'll know what the "answer" is which just happens to match Amy's birthday. Clever, eh?





Absolutely beautiful polish which is quite reminiscent of a previous Disney LE duo she did, maybe they're cousins?!
Application is smooth and easy to control as with all other LitLaqs I've worn. I used two coats with topcoat, and I tend to be a little heavy handed. If using thinner coats, three may be necessary. The stars are both silver and green and are subtle and few on purpose - those on my nails are what I got without any fancy dipping. To get more stars, check this helpful guide on glitter fishing for various techniques.

The Ultimate Answer will be available for preorder at the Etsy shop at 1pm central Friday August 28th - 1am central Monday August 31st.

Crème à la Mode: Fall Box

Press Sample

One Coat (check!)
Cream finish (check!)
Smooth easy formula (check!)
High Shine (check!)

This collection is the first of its kind in that it's a seasonal box of all creams made by four different brands!
I'm rather excited to see indie artisans create and promote polishes with a cream finish! And to have the opportunity to introduce the box to you!

Literary Lacquers
Bluestocking Romance
Navy





Octopus Party Nail Lacquer
Universal Loner
True Red




Digital Nails
Tauping Mechanism
Taupe




Indigo Bananas
Dark Side of Maroon
Dark Juicy Berry




Each polish has a great formula, in fact all my photos show only one coat with topcoat. (I tend to use thick coats, so you may need two for thinner style polishing.)

Bonus! They all stamp fairly well, although I'd suggest using them over a light color such as Tauping Mechanism, a pastel, or white so that they show their own colors off the best.
I went with a French theme to follow along with the box's language!




The Crème à la Mode Fall Box launches on August 17 and will be available for a full week through August 23. The retail cost is $26 + shipping.

Each quarterly box will contain four cream polishes made by four different artisans - Digital Nails, Indigo Bananas, Literary Lacquers, and Octopus Nail Lacquer.
The boxes are on trend with each season's colors and available not only for pre-order but after the boxes are all shipped out each polish will be offered individually in the artisan's shops.

Shopping: http://cremealamode.bigcartel.com/
Connect: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1386204558344706/

Addicted to Holos: August Box

Press Sample

The Addicted to Holos box for August has arrived and I'm excited to share these pretty polishes with you!
The descriptions were provided to me, and I've added my own comments beneath those. Enjoy!



Sweet Heart Polish Hot August Nights
True green linear holo with gold and green micro glitter.

Lovely shade, buttery formula, opaque in two coats and just look at that sparkle! Cassandra is our host this month for the box and I think she created a fantastic polish!





Philly Loves Lacquer Fallen Ember
Deep brownish red holo filled with purple and blue flecks

I enjoy seeing what PLL will think of next! Her color / shimmer / glitter combinations are unnique and this one is beautiful - but the formula of PLLs are always a challenge for me to use. It is thicker than most indies I've tried and seems to dry really quickly so I end up with thicker coats. The polish is a great concept, and looks lovely in spite of its challenging application.






The Polish Bar Surf Blue
Light aqua linear holo

I feel like I'm cheating on purple with this polish - it had me at hello holo. I am falling deep in love with aqua and turquoise shades of everything! So. Much. Love. Perfect formula, opaque in two coats.





Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Heat Lightning
Steel grey linear holo with pink and royal blue glass flecks.

Totally looks like stainless steel but much more sparkly! Opaque in one coat and a little on the thick side but still easy to work with.





Literary Lacquers Can't Work By Lime Light
Electric lime mega glitter linear holo, inspired by the poem Lime Light by Kay Ryan

I really like bright lime shades, they go perfect with purple or aqua and this one delivers! It's bright and sparkly and a pleasure to apply and wear. Opaque in two coats and super blingy in sunlight! Cate, in case you're reading this, you need this polish!





The boxes will be available for preorder at the shop from 8/10/2015 through 8/17/2015. All polishes in the box will be limited edition and only available for the month they are offered.

Connect with the Addicted to Holos box at the following links:
Shop | Facebook | Instagram

You can see my previous reviews of the Addicted to Holos boxes at the following links:
February | April | June