Calm Like A Bomb by Black Sheep Lacquer

Hello, my loves! As you can see, I'm still not quite back into my usual routine (mostly because my nails are just starting to get back to normal after the move!), but I do have a brand new series starting today! Erin from Black Sheep Lacquer sent me several polishes to review, and I'm starting them off today! 

First up is Calm Like A Bomb, "a glitter bomb in all senses of the word. It's jammed with turquoise, blue, green and holographic glitter."  All photos are taken under Ott Lite. The above photo shows two coats, topped with Seche Vite. 

Calm Like A Bomb was a bit thick on first application, and I prefer my polish a bit thinner, as I get more control out of it. So I added a few drops of thinner, and re-manicured. All remaining photos show three coats of thinned out Calm Like A Bomb, topped with Out the Door. 

Blues are not my favorite shade to wear, but this one is nice. It is definitely a glitter bomb, and I can see this being a part of my patriotic manis come Memorial Day/4th of July/Labor Day etc. Before thinning, the shimmery blue base of the polish hid a bit of the glitter, but once thinned out, application was perfect. The handle on my mini bottle is a bit longer than the standard mini brush top, which was very nice- it gave a bit more to hold onto while polishing. Final Verdict: I can see lots of you ladies drooling over this intense, shimmery bright blue, and I say go for it! 

Black Sheep Lacquer is available on Etsy, and can be liked on Facebook. I have several more of Erin's lovely polishes to show off over the next week, so stop back!

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

Woman of Pleasure by Literary Lacquer

Last week, Literary Lacquer released a brand new collection, called The Good Parts, inspired by erotic fiction ranging from Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, published in 1748, right up through the 50 Shades books.  Creator Amy was kind enough to send me a few of her new polishes to review for you, so let's get down to it!

The first polish (of four) that I have for you is Woman of Pleasure, inspired by Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. Originally published in 1748, the book was banned for over 200 years, presumably do to those "good parts" the collection is named for :) Amy describes woman of pleasure as "a periwinkle crelly base with navy and lavender sparkle, matte light pink, large navy hexes, and magenta circle glitter." I personally used three coats, topped with Seche Vite. Photos taken under Ott Lite. 

Woman of Pleasure is not a color I would have picked, but I'm glad it was in my package, as I love it! The base is a light periwinkle with touches of grey in some lighting, and the glitter combo is quite fun! Circle glitters are so hot right now, and I love seeing them as accents, rather than the whole glitter package. The formula on this one was great: It applied smoothly, and the glitter coverage was fantastic! It was a bit sheer, and I needed three coats to completely cover my nail line, but it didn't become thick at all. I actually wore this one for three days, with minimal tip wear and no chipping. 

You may recall my previous Literary Lacquer reviews, from the Midsummer Night's Dream Collection: Jealous Oberon, Love In Idleness and An Honest Puck (which was #10 on my top 12 polishes of 2012!). All of those polishes, along with The Good Parts Collection, can be purchased on Etsy. Full sized bottles run $10. Be sure to like Literary Lacquer on Facebook- there's a giveaway in the works when she hits 1000, and she is soo close!

*This polish was provided to me by Literary Lacquer for an honest review. 

NEW 31 Day Challenge: New Technique

Late post, sorry dears! Today's challenge was to use a technique that is new to you. I've done so many new techniques throughout this challenge (Saran Wrap, The Crumpet's Splodgerama, Watercolor . . .) that I thought I would have a difficult time coming up with a technique that I've never used. Pinterest to the recue! (Hey- follow me- I Pin tons of nail stuff :) I finally settled on drymarbling.

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Insta Dri Mint Sprint (bad move- don't use fast dry polish!), then randomly added some drops of Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Limestone and Nina Ultra Pro Blue Blaze. Then I used a toothpick to create swirly patterns in the wet polish. 

I'm undecided on this mani. I'm not a huge fan of blue polish, but I do have some, and in the interest of color variety, I decided to go outside my comfort zone for today. My only two attempts at watermarbling have been moderately successful, and I prefer the look of a watermarble to that of the dry marbling. I don't hate this mani, but it is kind of . . . meh.

Be sure to check out all the links below- I'm excited to see what "new" things some of these mavens have come up with!

Argyle by Candy Lacquer

Today's polish combo is probably the two oldest untrieds that I've ever had! I purchased Argyle in July, and won Sunset Orange around the same time, and I knew right off the bat that I was going to use them together. I just . . . never got around to it. Until now! 

First up we have some shots of my base color, Rimmel London Sunset Orange. It's a super vibrant, pretty much neon corally red. It definitely has orange tones, but I don't think orange would be the name I would choose for it! 

Check out that glow in the sun! This polish did stain slightly, so double up on your basecoat if you use it!

And here we have the Belle of the Ball: Argyle by Candy Lacquer. I fell in love with the concept of this polish as soon as I saw it, and bought it as soon as I could. Then about a month later, I saw PURPLE argyle, which I totally would have gotten instead, had I known it existed. We all know how fond I am of blue :( But it works with the orange, so . . . 

Argyle is a clear topcoat filled with matte blue, white and black diamonds, plus black and white bars. It totally does give off an argyle vibe on the nails. 

As for the review, I'm really sorry to say . . . this polish was a Pain. In. The. Ass. to apply. Attempting to paint it on resulted in, basically, just a topcoat. I can handle dabbing, and it's to be expected with larger glitters, so I dabbed. I dabbed on four coats to get the coverage you see here. I don't know if I didn't wait long enough between coats, or what the issue may have been, but there is some massive bubbling going on here. Enlarge that closeup pic and you can see it on my ring and pinkie nails. The diamonds wanted to clump together in one spot also, I ended up shoving them around quite a bit with an orange stick. If you don't have a lot of patience when it comes to polish, sadly, this is not the polish for you. I definitely think the end result was worth the struggle I went through, and I WILL wear it again, but probably not very often. 

This is the ONLY polish that I own by Candy Lacquer, so please do not take this mostly negative review as a slam on the brand, as I've heard nothing but good things about them overall. It will not deter me from purchasing Candy Lacquers in the future. I think it's the nature of the beast. 

Candy Lacquer specialized in glitter topcoats, and can be purchased on Etsy. Be sure to Like on Facebook as well for restock information. 

Goddess of Wisdom: Nayru by Starlight Polish

Can I tell you a secret? I've never played a Zelda game. Ever. Is that sad? I grew up with an NES (and later Sega Genesis and PS2), but I was never a big gaming system kind of girl. The reference behind this polish (and it's sisters, Din and Farore) went right over my head! Luckily, Issa from Starlight Polish gives you a little backstory in each listing (which you know I love!).

Nayru is the Goddess of Wisdom, associated with the color blue. The polish is a turquoise-blue-violet color shifting topcoat. of course, the colors pop best over a dark base color.

I layered one coat of Nayru over NYC Battery Park Purple. Topped with Out the Door, photos taken in natural sunlight. 

Aqua and royal blues were the most prevalent, and easiest to capture, colors in this polish!

I really think I'm going to have to redo this color over black, as I couldn't capture any of the violet shift on camera. It was there, and I could see it a bit, but I think my purple base color threw it off some. Black is the absolute perfect base color, for damn near everything, but I hate showing everything over black, so I try to branch out! Sometimes, it fails :( This combination was very stunning in person, but I don't think it truly captures all of Nayru's potential. Expect a revisit!

Like all Starlight Polishes, Nayru applied like a dream. One quick, easy coat to instantly spice up your dark mani! Starlight can be purchased on Etsy. The Companion Fairy set, featuring this and three other polishes, is available in full size for $30 or minis for $12.50. Check out my archives for a gorgeous array of other Starlight polishes as well: Phoenix & Sunlight, Unicorn , Starlight, and Dragon and Din. 

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

Winter Already?: the Ice Queen's Lament by Vivid Lacquer

I know everyone's just gearing up for fall, let alone winter, but this is such a gorgeous polish that it needed to be shown! Also, it was still pretty hot over here very recently, so the icy color was a nice imagination thing- look at the pretty winter color and pretend it's not so sweltering! Please note that my aversion to blue applies only to polish, and not to glitter :)

This is the Ice Queen's Lament, by Vivid Lacquer.

Described by Anni as "a shimmering blue jelly base, blue heart glitter, blue diamond glitter, and an array of silver and white glitters." I really saw the base as more silvery- there are definitely blue tones, but it's rather an icy, frosty sort of color. 

Three coats of Ice Queen's Lament on its own, topped with two coats of Seche Vite. Photos taken in direct sunlight.

This color obviously does not become completely opaque on it's own. I love the visible nail line look with certain polishes, but I know many of you don't. I would recommend layering this over a silver or a pale blue if you want a more full coverage look. This polish applied very well, with no fishing for any hearts or diamonds. And I have a mini bottle, so that's saying something- minis are famous for not playing well with large or shaped glitters. The color is very frosty, which I know is not a popular finish, but with this color, it works. It actually kind of HAS to be frosty- that's the whole point? The effect is stunning at any rate. 

*Edit: Ice Queen's Lament is currently unavailable due to reformulation. Anni is less than happy with the frosty finish. Like Vivid Lacquer on Facebook to keep up-to-date on a restock.

Vivid Lacquer can be purchased on Etsy. Full sized bottles are $9, and minis are $4.50. I've raved about her Stamping Plates before, but they are currently out of stock :( Stop by Facebook and Like Vivid Lacquer to keep up with restock updates, new releases and shipping announcements. 

Have you tried Vivid Lacquer yet? I have yet to be disappointed!

Support your indies, ladies!

Cheers,

-Liz-

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

A New Kind of Candy: Candy Coated by Miss March

White based polishes with matte glitters and a candy theme have gained a cult following in the indie world. I've seen a few pastel pink ones as well. But this is the first BLUE candy polish I've seen yet!

Meet Candy Coated by Miss March. Jen describes this color as "a light sheer mint green color in a 3 free suspension base which holds many colors of matte rainbow glitter." It is a bit minty, but I really think it's more blue than green, My bottle was at least- you can see it by itself later in the post. Jen's son named this polish, because he thought it looked like candy. I love a cute story attached to my polish :)

This is two coats of Candy Coated over Sinful Colors Cinderella (you can see Cinderella by itself in this post) topper with a coat of Seche Vite. Photos taken in overcast sunlight.

Now that I've heard it described as mint green, I see more of a minty tone to Candy Coated, but I still say blue!

On my thumb I did three coats of Candy Coated alone, topped with Seche Vite.

An awkwardly-posed comparison: top is three coats of Candy Coated alone, bottom is two coats over Sinful Cinderella. 

As with all pastel-y candy-themed polishes, I felt the need to matte this! This shows the same mani topped with NYC Matte Me Crazy topcoat. 

Candy Coated went on smoothly and easily. No glitter fishing or clumping. The base was tinted enough to wear alone with three coats, but didn't hide any of the previous layers' glitter. This would be an adorable baby shower mani if it were for a boy. The only baby shower I've been to recently was for a girl, so I couldn't rock this one :(

Miss March polishes can be purchased on Etsy. Full sized bottles run $8, and minis are $5. All polishes are 3-free, and her "official shaker boy", her son, receives $1 for each bottle of polish sold :)

Support your indies, ladies!

Cheers,

-Liz-

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

There's A Storm A-Brewin!: 70% Chance of Rain by Starry Earth

Ladies, I have found a blue polish that I really, really like! I didn't think it would happen, but it's absolutely blue, and I absolutely loved it!

Meet 70% Chance of Rain, by Starry Earth. Being a highly grey-toned blue probably didn't hurt its cause :) This is three coats of 70% Chance of Rain on all fingers but the middle, which is two coats over a metallic silver. There was really no difference at all in the final look of the polish over this base color versus alone. The ring finger accent is a decal by Long Changed, which will get its very own full review shortly. 

Elizabeth From Starry Earth describes 70% Chance as a "stormy grey-blue shimmer polish. It has tiny (and I mean tiny) silver holo glitters. It shimmers without being overpowering." You can see the holo particles, both on the nail and in the bottle, in the photo above. Like sunlight on raindrops after a storm. 

Depending on the light, this polish went from a baby blue to a very greyed out blue, but either way it was pretty.

Obligatory shade shot- without the sparkle it looks almost Robin's Egg Blue. This is not a color shifting polish at all, it's just one of those colors that is very difficult to describe.

70 % Chance of Rain applied very nicely. It was basically a creme in terms of application, as the glitter isn't large enough to effect the way it applied. And it was great: thick enough that it didn't pool, and thin enough that it self-leveled to create a smooth surface. I tend to use Seche Vite on all glitters, but these were fine enough that I got away with Out the Door. Which makes me happy, because it is by far my favorite topcoat. 

Starry Earth polishes can be purchased for $8 (full size) on Etsy. There are a few colors featuring smaller glitters, plus lots of chunky fun glitters. There is a Princess collection as well- I'm loving A Most Peculiar Mademoiselle, which is obviously Belle-based :) Be sure to stop by and pay a Like on Facebook as well- lots of reviews and swatches, plus Halloween Collection previews right now!

Support your indies, ladies!

Cheers,

-Liz-

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

Sweet Sea: Mermaid Grotto by Rainbow Polish

I'm sure you're all aware by now that blue polishes are not my favorites. However, there is a caveat to that: I'm LOVING the glut of mermaid and peacock polishes lately. Somehow, the cool-toned trio of blue, green and purple just works for me. Deep, rich jewel tones for the peacocks, and lighter, dreamy airy pastels for the mermaids.

Today's polish is Mermaid Grotto by Rainbow Polish.

I didn't see this polish listed in Tonya's Etsy store, so it's up to me to describe it! This always make me nervous with other ladies' polishes, as I'm terrified that I'll mis-identify a color or something. Any mistake is relatively minor, but I hate possibly misrepresenting someone else's hard work! All that aside: Mermaid Grotto is sheer, sky blue tinted pearly-shimmery base with mediumish silver holo hexes and short aqua bar glitters. 

Nail wheel swatches show L-R: one coat of Mermaid Grotto over Sally Hansen No Hard Feelings, NYC High Line Green, NYC Water Street Blue and 3 coats alone.

I chose to layer Mermaid Grotto over Sally Hansen No Hard Feelings, because the blue shimmer in the base showed up best over the lilac color. Photos show two coats of Mermaid Grotto over NHF, topped with Seche Vite. Photos taken in full sun.

This look was so airy and confectionary- if "Mermaid" were to ever show up on my Halloween costume list, this polish would be in. 

This polish applied very well. The glitter is all small enough to come out easily, and not clump together at all. The bar glitters were shorter than your average bar glitter, so there was no chance of curling, and even on my super-curvy nails, they didn't stick off the sides at all. The pearly blue-ish base would look great over pretty much any polish, in my opinion. Well, maybe not orange. But that's probably it!

Rainbow Polish can be purchased on Etsy, $8.50 for a full sized bottle. Tonya also offers a gift wrap option, which will save tons of time come holiday season. Be sure to like on Facebook as well for photos and updates. Post pics of your Rainbow Polish mani on Rainbow Polish's wall, and once a month, one lucky lady will win a polish :)

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

"What use is Wizardy if it cannot save a Unicorn?"

The movie version of The Last Unicorn was my absolute favorite film as a child. When it was finally released on DVD several years ago, I think I literally squealed aloud in the store. Of course I bought it, and watched it immediately! Wow. It really is NOT a children's movie. Creepy as hell! Still excellent of course. And no, I have not changed my reviews from polish to film, but that movie is always the first thing I think of when unicorns are mentioned. And today, I have Unicorn, by Starlight Polish. See, it all ties together!

Issa from Starlight and Sparkles says it is a  "colorshifting duochrome topcoat, meant for layering over other polishes." Also: "Unicorn shifts from cool green to blue, and flashes turquoise to vivid indigo at the extremes of it's color range."  This is one coat of Unicorn, alone, on a nail wheel. Obviously, it's a layering polish :) But I wanted to show off the actual "sparkles" of the polish, which tend to get a bit lost over a dark color.

Because I'm boring (and I don't own any navy cremes) I layered this over a basic black. One coat black, one coat Unicorn, one coat Out the Door. Gotta love a mani with only 3 layers! All photos taken outdoors, on a bright and sunny day.

Direct sun. Royal blue was by far the most predominant color in the sunlight.

Mostly shade. Some of the emerald is peeking out at the top of my ring finger!

Mostly green, again in shade.

Here we see a bit more color shift between the blue and green. The green showed off the most indoors (especially under the fluorescent lights at work), with the royal/indigo showing more outdoors. There was a gorgeous teal flash as well, but my camera didn't seem to see it :(

This polish is, in a word, spectacular! I caught myself surreptitiously peeking at my hands every now and then to see the play of light on the colors. A coworker even marched over from 20 feet away to admire this color, because she saw the color shift from that far away! I get compliments on my nails from time to time, and I make sure to file them away to share! 

This went on super easily- I had more trouble with the black. One thin coat of Unicorn was enough to bring out all the colors this polish had to offer. I even wore it for three days with only minimal (for me!) chipping on my right hand. I'm pretty rough on my hands at work, so any polish that I can get more than a days wear out of gets an A+ in my book. 

Starlight and Sparkles can be purchased on Etsy. A full size bottle of Unicorn can be had for $8, or a mini for $3.50. There is also a mini set featuring Unicorn along with Dragon and Phoenix (both of which I have, and will review shortly) for $9.50. 

*These polishes were provided to me for an honest review.

Don't. Even. BLINK. Another Doctor Who Polish

I love polishes that reference geeky things that I get right away. OPI does this to some extent, tying some of their collections to movies and such, but like so many other things, Indies do it better! In my review of Lyn B Designs' Four Things and a Lizard, I say that I would have purchased that polish, sight unseen, based on the name alone. This one is no different: Lyn B Designs' Angels Have the Phone Box. It's Doctor Who themed, and it mentions the Weeping Angels and the Tardis. So it's some combination of blue/grey: of course I want it! I want ALL the grey polishes!

Still love these bottles :)

Hey, I was right! Grey and blue! Lyn calls this color "a medium steely gray with medium white square glitter, small black hexagons and small blue square glitter." The grey is very shimmer, almost a pewter sort of color. <3  

Here is two coats, topped with Out the Door. Indoor lighting, no flash.

This polish went on very well, and was opaque in two coats. My only complaint is that the actual color is a bit heavy. The only glitters I could really see on the nail were the blue squares. The overall idea is still conveyed, and it is a lovely polish. Maybe some thinner would help out?

Lyn B Designs can be purchased on Etsy, and has tons of amazing collections, from Doctor Who, a Carnival theme (pretty sure I'll be grabbing a few of those!), a tea theme, as well as perfumes and lip balms! Like Lyn B on Facebook, and check out my reviews of Chocolate and Chai and Four Things and a Lizard.

Cheers!

-Liz-