Purple with Love's Wound: Love in Idleness by Literary Lacquers

"It fell upon a little western flower, 

Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound.

And maidens call it "love-in-idleness."

Fetch me that flower. The herb I showed thee once.

The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid

Will make a man or woman madly dote

Upon the next live creature that it sees."

Today's polish is another beauty by Literary Lacquers, Love in Idleness. Amy describes it as: "a very complex polish, with a light purple base; jam packed with fairy magic and iridescent glitters of many shapes and size, purple square glitter and some large purple hexes. . . The large hex glitters in this polish do have a slight curl to them, with the curl face down on the nail they are still smooth."

This polish is also available in a version without the large purple hex, but I didn't have any trouble getting the glitter to lay flat, and I think they definitely add to the overall appeal of this polish!

Three coats of Love in Idleness, topped with a coat of Gelous and a coat of Seche Vite. Photos taken in natural, though overcast, lighting.

I had such an incredibly difficult time photographing this polish! Between the purple (which is notorious for not photographing properly) and the punch of iridescent glitter (seriously, there is soo much iridescent glitter! Micro glitter, small hexes, tiny bars . . .), my camera just wanted to give up on me! The photos are fairly color-accurate. The base color is an almost dusty, grape jelly like color, and it shifts a bit due to the iridescence. So. Pretty.

Great shot of all the iridescence.

Aside from the pictures, I had little trouble with this polish. Yes the large hexes have a very slight curl to them, and they required a little bit of fishing (or setting the bottle upside down). If you're not interested in manipulating your glitter, this polish IS available in a version without the large purple hexes: look for "Love-In-Idleness (no hex)". But I think the manipulation is well worth the (small amount) of effort. I painted on my first two coats, brushing any large hexes that came out back into the bottle. Before I painted my third coat, I let the bottle sit upside down for a few minutes to bring the larger hexes to the top. Then I painted on the third coat, inspecting the brush for large hexes, which I placed, as advised, curved side down. Topped with Gelous and SV, the polish was glassy smooth. While I haven't tried the "without hex" version, I really do recommend this one, if you have the patience to play with your glitter a bit! 

Love in Idleness is pretty sheer, but very buildable. With three coats, I did not see any VNL, and I prefer to wear sheer polishes this way, in multiple coats, to showcase their true beauty. But this one would also make a beautiful layering polish. The iridescence would really pop over a dark color, and the purple shimmer would really bring to life any boring purple in your stash. 

My third, and favorite, Literary Lacquers review will post on Sunday. I've been so impressed with each of these polishes. Color + Glitter polishes are easily my favorite indie category, just for the sake of ease, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE polishes with a background story or some geeky inspiration. I strongly urge you to check out Literary Lacquers on Etsy and Facebook, then come back Sunday to see my absolute favorite of the bunch! 

Support your indies, ladies!

Cheers,

-Liz-

*This product was provided to me for an honest review.