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Monday, July 25, 2016

Chaos & Crocodiles: A special gift

Sarey of Chaos & Crocodiles sent a special polish gift to me to brighten my day. It was a surprise, and I can see that she put a lot of thought and time into making it especially for me.

xoxoJen's swatch of Chaos & Crocodiles

I love the lavender shade of purple and the holo / coppery flakie finish.

xoxoJen's swatch of Chaos & Crocodiles

The labeling is a sweet sentiment, a single purple heart shaped sticker that sparkles.

xoxoJen's swatch of Chaos & Crocodiles

The formula is fantastic, smooth, opaque in one coat. I love the bottle, cap and brush too.

xoxoJen's swatch of Chaos & Crocodiles

If you haven't tried a C&C polish, you absolutely should on next restock.

xoxoJen's swatch of Chaos & Crocodiles

Sarey,
Thank you again for your generosity and thoughtfulness to me, a complete stranger.
I will never forget how much you care, and that you helped lift my spirits during a difficult time.




Saturday, July 23, 2016

Literary Lacquers: Duo and Long May She Reign

This Literary Lovers duo, Lestat and Louis, was designed with Nichole Costa of Bedlam Beauty after she and Amy geeked out over both having cruised by Anne Rice’s house in the Garden District in New Orleans.

Lestat: A saturated lilac metallic linear holo. Icy and cool as the vampire himself. I wore two coats with topcoat. It's super metallic/chromey looking. I love it!

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Lestat
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Lestat
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Lestat

Louis: Black and green glitter topper. Black hair, green eyes, the vampire with a guilty conscience. I wore one coat over Long May She Reign. No digging or fussy application, what you see on the nail in the photos is exactly how it landed when painting in a regular way.

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Louis
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Louis
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Louis

Long May She Reign was inspired by Cate Cropp's obsessive love for green nail polish and her ability to keep tempting Amy with screencaps of wildfire explosions from Game of Thrones. Amy finally gave in and made this polish. It’s named for events that do not yet occur in the world of the books.

Long May She Reign: Screaming chartreuse microglitter crelly. Inspired by Cersei's revenge. I wore two coats with topcoat. It's super vibrant and sparkly and dries quite smooth for a microglitter polish.

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Long May She Reign
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Long May She Reign
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Long May She Reign

The formulas on all of these was fantastically smooth and easy to apply. You can get these starting July 25th at the Literary Lacquers shop.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Literary Lacquers: Cream Duo

The Othello duo is A crème duo named by Trish Cowart Krulin in a Literary (&) Lacquers contest. I absolutely love the two shades, their formula is buttery smooth and opaque in two coats. These will both be available on July 25th at the Literary Lacquers Shop.

If Thou Hast Eyes To See: A sea-green crème polish

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers If Thou Hast Eyes To See
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers If Thou Hast Eyes To See
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers If Thou Hast Eyes To See

Desdemona’s Handkerchief: An aqua crème polish.

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Desdemona’s Handkerchief
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Desdemona’s Handkerchief
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Desdemona’s Handkerchief

While I love a beautiful cream polish on it's own, I couldn't stop the urge to stamp over them. They were both screaming for designs from my Vivid Lacquer custom plate!

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Vivid Lacquer Plate 043
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Vivid Lacquer Plate 043

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Vivid Lacquer Plate 043
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Vivid Lacquer Plate 043

I hope you've enjoyed the photos and quick review - will you be picking these up on July 25th?

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Literary Lacquers: Book Club Polishes

The book club customs this round are both linear holographic polishes. Their inspirations are from the books We Were Liars and Big Little Lies. I enjoyed wearing them both, formula was excellent on each - buttery and smooth as usual.

Sugar, Curiosity, and Rain
– Deep blue linear holo with light blue shimmer inspired by We Were Liars by E. Lockhart and designed with Christy Eileen Brown. I wore two coats with topcoat to shine and seal.

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Sugar, Curiosity, and Rain
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Sugar, Curiosity, and Rain
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Sugar, Curiosity, and Rain

Oh Calamity!
– Aqua linear holo with gold flash and a smattering of deep blue microglitter inspired by Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty and designed with Samantha Terris Parks. I wore three coats for opacity under bright lighting, you may get away with two though! Smooth to the touch even with the microglitter.

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Oh Calamity!
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Oh Calamity!
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Oh Calamity!

These polishes are limited edition, only available in the Facebook Fan Group for Literary Lacquers and will be available from July 25-August 31.


Sunday, July 17, 2016

Painted Sabotage: Poisonberry and Shall We Go

Two beautiful holos from Painted Sabotage today! A beautifully reddened berry and grape-tacular purple! The holo in these is strong and brilliant indoors and out. The formula of each is smooth as butter, as I've come to expect from PS. Definitely one of those brands you may not hear a lot about, but is stellar in every aspect. If you haven't tried PS, now's the time!

Poisonberry - two coats w/topcoat for photos

xoxoJen's swatch of Painted Sabotage Poisonberry
xoxoJen's swatch of Painted Sabotage Poisonberry
xoxoJen's swatch of Painted Sabotage Poisonberry

Shall We Go - two coats w/topcoat for photos

xoxoJen's swatch of Painted Sabotage Shall We Go
xoxoJen's swatch of Painted Sabotage Shall We Go
xoxoJen's swatch of Painted Sabotage Shall We Go

I've enjoyed using this brand and am happy to have it in my polish army. Chrissy is the owner of Painted Sabotage and is a sweetheart, stands behind her product and gives good customer service.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Tonic Nail Polish: Light of Lyra

It is almost a month now since my mom died and I am still having a hard time with coping. Like one of my friends on facebook said, there's no one in your corner like your mom. But...it certainly helps lift my spirits to know that you all care about me and are supportive of me. Thank you so much.

The below polish was gifted to me anonymously. I posted it on my facebook page and no one fessed up! So to whoever you are, my most sincere thank you. It brightened my day to receive it, and now that I'm painting again, I put it on last night and have enjoyed it all day today.

It's a stunningly beautiful polish! I don't think I've ever worn anything quite like it. The blue shimmer comes through so strongly and the shade of violet in the base couldn't be more perfect. I'm wearing just two coats in the photos below.

xoxoJen's swatch of Tonic Nail Polish Light of Lyra
xoxoJen's swatch of Tonic Nail Polish Light of Lyra
xoxoJen's swatch of Tonic Nail Polish Light of Lyra

This is my first Tonic Nail Polish, and likely won't be my last!

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Vapid: Spellcaster

Vapid Spellcaster was a long time lemming of mine, having passed it up the first time it was available for sale in the HHC facebook group. The HHC group relaunched it not too long ago and I was able to get a bottle! So here it is, quite a shifty wench and very stunning in full sunlight. I wore two coats with topcoat and it has lasted without chipping for about seven days. I love the wear time on Vapid polishes!

xoxoJen's swatch of Vapid: Spellcaster
xoxoJen's swatch of Vapid: Spellcaster
xoxoJen's swatch of Vapid: Spellcaster

The polish looks bronze most of the time but upon closer inspection, the shifting pigment, flakies and holos are quite apparent.

Friday, July 8, 2016

Great Lakes Lacquer and Literary Lacquers Collaboration Polishes

I had the honor of reviewing four beautiful polishes made by two brands that I enjoy wearing, Great Lakes Lacquer and Literary Lacquers. These were originally a duo that overflowed into a quartet for Great Lakes Lacquer's one year anniversary. Inspired by "The Stand" by Stephen King, each brand created a polish inspired by a good guy and a bad guy. The pre-order opens on Tuesday, July 12th at the Great Lakes Lacquer shop and closes July 19th. The polishes are sold together as a set and will be shipped within twelve business days.

xoxoJen's swatches of Great Lakes Lacquer and Literary Lacquers Collaboration

M-O-O-N, That Spells Purple: Inspired by Tom, the hero with the big heart. A midnight purple with shifting blue to gold to red shimmer and a linear holographic effect. Super rich grape holo with a smattering of gold shimmers (check out the bottle in the photos) - how could I not love this? I wore two coats to ensure opacity for photos, but one carefully applied coat would do it.

xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer M-O-O-N, That Spells Purple
xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer M-O-O-N, That Spells Purple
xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer M-O-O-N, That Spells Purple

My Life For You: Inspired by Trash Can Man, the construct of destruction. A dirty silver holographic micro glitter with charcoal flake, burgundy micro glitter, and shifting shimmer.
Full of sparkly goodness and depth far beyond the sea results in a polish I couldn't take my eyes off of. It sometimes looks a bit like a smokey lilac shade, at other times it's a bright sparkly rainbow and sometimes it looks a bit pink. It has a fantastic formula, is not topcoat hungry, and is opaque in just two coats. I don't see how it could be any more perfect than this!

xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer My Life For You
xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer My Life For You
xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer My Life For You

Mayhaps You Is: Inspired by Mother Abagail, the 108-year-old leader of the "good" survivors. Shimmering rose quartz linear holo. This polish is super sparkly and holo in the sunlight, and really shiny metallic in the shade. The flakies in the polish add a little extra oomph in any lighting. I wore two coats with topcoat.

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Mayhaps You Is
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Mayhaps You Is
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Mayhaps You Is

The Eye, The Key: Inspired by Randall Flagg, the embodiment of evil. Golden sheen obsidian linear holo with red holo microglitter. Dark yet sparkly and holographic with a great formula. What's not to like? I do believe this polish is unique in my collection and I don't recall having seen anything similar to it prior. I love the look of almost black with red, this would be great to wear with a 'little black dress!' I wore two coats with topcoat.

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers The Eye, The Key
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers The Eye, The Key
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers The Eye, The Key

I hope you've enjoyed the review and photos and I look forward to hearing what you think of them!