Review

Review: A England Burne-Jones Dream Collection Swatches (Part One)!

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* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Burne Jones Dream Part One

Morning Everyone!

I’m super excited to be sharing yet another collection from one of my favorite indie brands, A England. It’s no secret that I’m a bit of a fangirl when it comes to Adina’s gorgeous nail polishes. Not only are the colors usually beautiful and perfectly formulated, but the story she creates with each collection is masterful. Almost every collection so far has followed themes of Arthurian legend combined with Adina’s favorite artists, and the A England Burne-Jones Dream collection is a beautiful addition to the A England family. This collection is based on the legend of Briar Rose, aka Sleeping Beauty, as depicted by Sir Edward Burne-Jones in his four painting series. The story of Briar Rose is coincidentally one of my favorite legends, and a revamped version of Briar herself is featured heavily in one of my favorite comics (Fables) as well! So when I saw this collection for the first time and realized what it was about, I think I let out some sonic squeals that only a dolphin or dogs could comprehend. :D

The Burne-Jones dream collection is a small collection of five, and four of which I will be showing you today. The fifth one (named Briarwood) will be releasing at a later date, as well as two more stand-alone beauties that I will show you as Part Two of this post in the near future. ;)

 


Fated Prince

A England - Fated Prince 1

A England – Fated Prince

A England - Fated Prince 2

A England – Fated Prince

A England - Fated Prince 3

A England – Fated Prince

Fated Prince is a gorgeous charcoal grey scattered holo. A really superb formula that I have come to expect with all A England nail polishes, this was opaque after 2 thin coats. I love the depth of this color even in low light! Easily a new favorite. :)

A England - Fated Prince (Flash) 1

A England – Fated Prince (Flash)

A England - Fated Prince (Flash) 2

A England – Fated Prince (Flash)

A England - Fated Prince (Flash) 3

A England – Fated Prince (Flash)

And here is the same Fated Prince with camera flash. Absolutely. Fabulous. There is nothing weak about this scattered holo effect!

Briar Rose

A England - Briar Rose 1

A England – Briar Rose

A England - Briar Rose 2

A England – Briar Rose

A England - Briar Rose 3

A England – Briar Rose

Briar Rose is a bit of a chameleon. It appears to be a slightly more delicate berry fused reddish-pink in low light, but really brightens up into a much bolder version of itself with camera flash. Shown here is 2 coats, but you could get away with 1 with careful application.

A England - Briar Rose (Flash) 1

A England – Briar Rose (Flash)

A England - Briar Rose (Flash) 2

A England – Briar Rose (Flash)

A England - Briar Rose (Flash) 3

A England – Briar Rose (Flash)

Briar Rose with camera flash. I was not expecting to love this one as much as I did, the scattered holo effect really adds to it!

Sleeping Palace

A England - Sleeping Palace 1

A England – Sleeping Palace

A England - Sleeping Palace 2

A England – Sleeping Palace

A England - Sleeping Palace 3

A England – Sleeping Palace

Sleeping Palace is another almost 1-coater! It’s not pure purple, so I would say it has some grey undertones. This one was another instant favorite for me!

A England - Sleeping Palace (Flash) 1

A England – Sleeping Palace (Flash)

A England - Sleeping Palace (Flash) 2

A England – Sleeping Palace (Flash)

A England - Sleeping Palace (Flash) 3

A England – Sleeping Palace (Flash)

And Sleeping Palace with camera flash. OH. MY. You really honestly need to see this one in person. The beautiful holographic effect is not being done complete justice by my camera. ♥

Rose Bower

A England - Rose Bower 1

A England – Rose Bower

A England - Rose Bower 2

A England – Rose Bower

A England - Rose Bower 3

A England – Rose Bower

And just like that, Adina has created yet another red nail polish that I have fallen madly in love with. Red is not normally my go-to color, but this beautiful red scattered holo with pink undertones has me wrapped around its little.. glass bottle? Anyway, Rose Bower was a breeze to apply and provided complete coverage with 2 coats.

A England - Rose Bower (Flash) 1

A England – Rose Bower (Flash)

A England - Rose Bower (Flash) 2

A England – Rose Bower (Flash)

A England - Rose Bower (Flash) 3

A England – Rose Bower (Flash)

Just look at Rose Bower with camera flash!! If this doesn’t scream permanent summer pedi than I don’t know the meaning of life anymore. ;)


Final Thoughts:

I really cannot stress enough how much I love Adina and her A England brand. Each nail polish is created with so much love and care behind it, that I’m seriously gushing with happiness about this Burne-Jones Dream collection. I cannot WAIT to see Briarwood, the one still forthcoming! I don’t have top picks this time because all four of the nail polishes that I have tried so far from this collection are truly amazing!

Purchase Info:

The A England Burne-Jones Dream collection can be purchased from the A England website, only if you are a resident of the UK. Due to recent changes in policy, she unfortunately can no longer ship directly from the UK to international buyers. But fret not! If you are outside of the UK you can check out her Where to Buy Section to find an international stockist in your local area! There are several in the North America alone like Llarowe, Ninja Polish, and Nail Polish Canada. And again, the ‘Where to Buy’ Online Directory section gives you quite a few options internationally.

Retail cost is £9.00 per bottle of polish from the A England website. Pricing varies per e-tailer, so check each individual stockist for their pricing and policies before purchasing. ^_^

 

 

* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Review: Barielle Summer Brights Swatches for Summer 2013

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* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Barielle Summer Brights 2013

Morning Everyone!

I’ve another great collection from Barielle to share with you all today. This time we’ll be looking at the Barielle Summer Brights for Summer 2013 swatches on the blog. All five of these beauties have a great creme finish, let’s check ‘em out!

 


Blue Capri

Barielle - Blue Capri 1

Barielle – Blue Capri

Barielle - Blue Capri 2

Barielle – Blue Capri

Blue Capri is a gorgeous cornflower blue creme. This is 2 coats and it has great coverage. The formula for all of these is fairly similar so I’ll go over that later in my “Final Thoughts” section.

Pink Flip-Flops

Barielle - Pink Flip-Flops 1

Barielle – Pink Flip-Flops

Barielle - Pink Flip-Flops 2

Barielle – Pink Flip-Flops

I think I would describe Pink Flip-Flops as a baby pink creme, this is 3 coats to even it out. It’s not a color that I would normally gravitate to, but it’s still very pretty!

Lemondrops

Barielle - Lemondrops 1

Barielle – Lemondrops

Barielle - Lemondrops 2

Barielle – Lemondrops

Lemondrops is a fabulous bold yellow creme! Levels out at 3 coats, which is shown here. I’m always on the look out for great yellow nail polishes and Lemondrops does not disappoint.

Cosmic Kiss

Barielle - Cosmic Kiss 1

Barielle – Cosmic Kiss

Barielle - Cosmic Kiss 2

Barielle – Cosmic Kiss

Cosmic Kiss is a goooorgeous deep flamingo pink creme. It’s incredibly shiny! I posted a pic on my instagram before I added topcoat and it’s craaaaazy how shiny it was even then! This is 2 easy coats.

Sweet Addiction

Barielle - Sweet Addiction 1

Barielle – Sweet Addiction

Barielle - Sweet Addiction 2

Barielle – Sweet Addiction

And finally we have Sweet Addiction, a perfect turquoise green creme. This one was almost a 1 coater! I did show 2 coats here, though you could probably get away with 1 coat if you have shorter nails. ^_^


Final Thoughts:

The formula for all of these was really great! All but Pink Flip-Flops and Lemondrops were 2 coats, and I can accept the 3 coats needed for those two because it’s a yellow (a notoriously difficult pigment for nail polish) and an almost pastel pink. My top picks from the Summer Brights collection are Lemondrops, Cosmic Kiss, Blue Capri, and Sweet Addition. Soooo basically all of them except for Pink Flip-Flops, which is a great color but just not something that I personally would wear.

Purchase Info:

The Barielle Summer Brights collection can be purchased on the Barielle website. Their polishes retail at $8.00 per .45 fl oz bottle of polish, or $25 for the Summer Brights 5-piece set.

 

 

 

* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Review: Barielle Sweet Treats Swatches for Spring 2013

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* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Barielle Sweet Treats Spring 2013

Morning Everyone!

Today I’ve got the Barielle Sweet Treats swatches for Spring 2013 to show you all. I’ve been sitting on this collection for a while now and I wanted to make sure I shared it with you before spring ended, haha! This is a 5 polish collection of pastel(ish) cremes and a lone shimmer from Barielle, so let’s check ‘em out!

 


Banana Drop

Barielle - Banana Drop 1

Barielle – Banana Drop

Barielle - Banana Drop 2

Barielle – Banana Drop

Banana Drop is a creamy pale yellow creme. I was afraid of how application would be on this one with it being yellow AND a pastel, but it was relatively painless! Only one tiny spot of cuticle drag (on my ring finger) and it self leveled at 3 coats.

Green Apple Chew

Barielle - Green Apple Chew 1

Barielle – Green Apple Chew

Barielle - Green Apple Chew 2

Barielle – Green Apple Chew

Green Apple Chew is a great chartreuse green creme. This one was perfection at 3 thin coats, and again self leveling. It immediately reminded me of OPI’s Did It On ‘Em but I’ll have to compare the two to see how similar they really are. I do know that the formula for Green Apple Chew is ten times better than the OPI! And I think Green Apple Chew might be a smidge brighter, but don’t quote me on that one! ;)

Orange Parfait

Barielle - Orange Parfait 1

Barielle – Orange Parfait

Barielle - Orange Parfait 2

Barielle – Orange Parfait

Orange Parfait is a super chic muted coral orange, it reminds me of the color of sherbet! This was 3 coats here, but you could probably get away with 2 coats with careful application.

Lilac Jelly Bean

Barielle - Lilac Jelly Bean 1

Barielle – Lilac Jelly Bean

Barielle - Lilac Jelly Bean 2

Barielle – Lilac Jelly Bean

Lilac Jelly Bean is your typical grayed out violet. Nothing new here, but the formula is great! This is 2 coats. :)

Blue Cotton Candy

Barielle - Blue Cotton Candy 1

Barielle – Blue Cotton Candy

Barielle - Blue Cotton Candy 2

Barielle – Blue Cotton Candy

Blue Cotton Candy is a sweet surprise for this collection, a muted sea blue with silver shimmer! At first glance I thought it was glass flecks and my heart skipped a beat, haha! The formula on this one was superb, almost a 1 coater but I used 2 here. Careful application and shorter nails will easily require only 1 coat of polish

Barielle - Blue Cotton Candy 3

Barielle – Blue Cotton Candy

And here’s a macro shot. *le swoon*


Final Thoughts:

Honestly I really have nothing horrible to say about this collection! I usually stay far far away from pastels because they give me lobster claws, but this collection was quite flattering on my skin tone! Of course the only non pastel, Blue Cotton Candy, is hands down my favorite. I’m a shimmer lover after all. ;) But my other picks from the Barielle Sweet Treats collection are Green Apple Chew and Orange Parfait. Lilac Jelly Bean has been done over and over and OVER by so many different brands that I would have honestly enjoyed any other color in its place. That being said, they all had great formulas for a mostly pastel collection. No chalkyness, no streaks, easy application. Which ones are your favorites?

Purchase Info:

The Barielle Sweet Treats collection can be purchased on the Barielle website. Their polishes retail at $8.00 per .45 fl oz bottle of polish, or $25 for the Sweet Treats 5-piece set.

 

 

 

* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Review: My First Pretty Serious Nail Polish Swatches!

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* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

 

Morning Everyone!

I’m super excited to be sharing a brand that I’ve been admiring from afar for a while. I’ve been wanting to try out Pretty Serious Cosmetics nail polishes for quite some time now, but I just hadn’t gotten around to snagging any of them. They were part of my pretty hefty “Must Try Eventually” list of indie brands. ;)

So when Kaz shot me a message asking if I wanted to try a few of her little gems I practically squealed! And then immediately said hell yes. ;)

She’s shared four lovelies from her Seriously Random collection for me to show you all today. Let’s check out my Pretty Serious nail polish swatches right meow!

 


Cybernetic

Pretty Serious - Cybernetic 1
Pretty Serious - Cybernetic 2
THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO… Haha, sorry I had to do it. The name of this nail polish reminds me of one of my favorite episodes of Aqua Teen Hunger Force with the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future. It was the great circuiting… :D

But I digress, this Cybernetic nail polish is a gorgeous blue, teal, and purple glitter mixture in a blue jelly base. It’s absolutely beautiful and so fun to look at! Application for this one was fairly easy, this is 3 coats for full coverage.
Pretty Serious - Cybernetic 3
Here’s a macro shot for you all. Cybernetic is easily one of my favorites from the bunch. ^_^

My Darlin’ Clementine

Pretty Serious - My Darlin Clementine 1
Pretty Serious - My Darlin Clementine 2
YAAAAAAAASSSSS!! So obviously I absolutely adore My Darlin’ Clementine. Orange is one of my absolute favorite colors and this nail polish does not disappoint in hue saturation or formula. 3 easy as pie coats for shiny orange jelly goodness with golden shimmer. This shimmer looks almost green before I put on my nails, but it’s definitely a golden hue (at least to me) after applied. ^_^
Pretty Serious - My Darlin Clementine 3
DAT MACRO SHOT. My Darlin’ Clementine definitely had the easiest formula to work with out of the four that I swatched from this collection.

Purple Monkey Dishwasher

Pretty Serious - Purple Monkey Dishwasher 1
Pretty Serious - Purple Monkey Dishwasher 3
The name for this one cracks me up. I’m looking forward to the facial expression of the person I tell that I’m wearing Purple Monkey Dishwasher on my nails. :P Purple jelly base packed with purple glitter (Pretty Serious Cosmetics informs us that this nail polish contains no actual monkeys ;) ). This one gave me the most issues with application. It’s a little thicker maybe than the other three I tried from this collection, and I must not have waited long enough between coats for this one because I had some cuticle/tip dragging issues on a few nails. I think the next time I wear Purple Monkey Dishwasher I’ll double my wait time between coats. I have 3 coats shown here.
Pretty Serious - Purple Monkey Dishwasher 4
Macro shot! I love how well the glitter coats up to the tips without any bald patches. ^_^

Grimm Demise

Pretty Serious - Grimm Demise 2
Pretty Serious - Grimm Demise 3
Another awesomely named nail polish from Pretty Serious, Grimm Demise is a gorgeous green glitter (alliteration win!) with a green jelly base. I’m a huuuuuge fan on folklore and urban legends, with the Grimm’s Fairy Tales being some of my favorites. Frau Totenkinder of the Fables comic series also comes to mind when I see this color and hear the name. ^_^ This is 3 thin coats of Grimm Demise, easy peasy application.
Pretty Serious - Grimm Demise 4
And of course a macro shot. I hate that this one came out so blurry! It looked so great in my preview window on my camera. I’m blaming the nargles.


Final Thoughts:

I’m pretty fricken pleased with my first nail polishes ever from Pretty Serious Cosmetics! The pigmentation for each of them is great and other than the thicker formula of Purple Monkey Dishwasher (still lol’ing at that name) they were all very easy to work with! My two easy favorites are tied between My Darlin’ Clementine (duh) and Cybernetic, with Grimm Demise in at a close second place.

Purchase Info:

Pretty Serious Cosmetics nail polishes are Big 3 Free and Formaldehyde Resin Free. They are also vegan and cruelty free for those that require that in a nail polish!

Retail cost is $9.95 per 11ml bottle of nail polish, and they can be purchased right at Pretty Serious Cosmetics’ website. They ship worldwide out of Australia, so please check their Shipping & Returns policies as shipping costs and stipulations may vary country to country. You can also check out their ‘Also Available At…’ link for where to buy internationally. ^_^

* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Scofflaw Nail Varnish Flotsam & Jetsam

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* (The product(s) in this post were purchased by me.)

Hey Everyone!!

I’ve got another nail polish from Scofflaw Nail Varnish to share with you all today. This time I’m wearing Scofflaw Flotsam & Jetsam. As soon as I saw swatches of this nail polish on the Scofflaw Facebook page I knew it had to be mine! I’m half asleep here so I apologize for the minimalistic post. ;)

 


Scofflaw Nail Varnish Flotsam & Jetsam

Scofflaw - Flotsam + Jetsam 1
Scofflaw - Flotsam + Jetsam 2
Flotsam & Jetsam is a gorgeous pale mint jelly/creme hybrid that is filled with purple and turquoise shards and turquoise micro-shimmer. So pretty!! Application was a breeze and it was opaque at 3 coats. Though I think next time I’ll try layering it over a creamy white or minty green underwear nail polish.
Scofflaw - Flotsam + Jetsam 3
Macro shot of awesome and win.


Final Thoughts:

Flotsam & Jetsam by Scofflaw Nail Varnish is yet another great freshman release from the newcomer to the indie nail polish world. I’m really looking forward to trying more from her, and I can’t wait to see what she comes out with next! Have any of you tried Scofflaw nail polishes yet? If so, what are your thoughts? ^_^

Purchase Info:

Flotsam & Jetsam (and other Scofflaw Nail Varnishes) can be purchased at either scofflawvarnish.com or Llarowe. Prices and shipping vary depending on the site so check their shop policies individually. And for you folks not in the US, Llarowe does offer international shipping. ^_^

To keep up to date with upcoming collections, news and restock dates you can check out Scofflaw Nail Varnish on Facebook.

 

 

 

 

* (The product(s) in this post were purchased by me.)

Review: Rescue Beauty Lounge Emoting Me Collection For Spring 2013!

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* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Emoting Me Collection 1

Morning Everyone!!

I hope you’re all doing well this fine Thursday afternoon! Work has been keeping me plenty busy this month, as I’m averaging about 50-55 hours per week lately! But I managed to find time to play with the new Rescue Beauty Lounge Emoting Me collection that Ji sent me for review! :)

Ji of Rescue Beauty Lounge had this to say about her newest collection:

“May my goods come out greater than my own, every time I walk
towards your path. Please usher my footfalls, guide me to be where
to be, what to do, what to say, what to write, and to whom. Let me
embrace every moment you’ve given to me with clear vision,
strength, peace, love and grace. Let me be with you every moment
to moment in your magical kingdom. Let me be at your service, my
heart is open to you and use me for something greater than my own.
Thank you for your abundance, blessings, and your love. Thank you
for this beautiful gift of today.”

This is my daily mantra and how I greet each day. I subconsciously
and consciously recite it from that exquisite place sandwiched
between my sleepy-dreamy blur and the lustering lights of a brand
new morning. It took me many years of seeking, practicing, and
learning to reach this point in my life. I feel stripped naked, revealing

and sharing my private daily mantra, but this is my story and also the
story that is within all of us: we are all emoting.

I’m convinced that if one is ready to truly learn, this generous
universe paves the road in front of us. The trick is knowing when to
admit the desire to take that first baby step.

Sadly for me, my desire to take this first step came five years ago,
when my beloved mother-in-law suddenly left this earth. Our sunny,
delightful home came under a dark gray rolling fog that thickened
with our gloom. Lingering questions struck me during this time: Can
emotional darkness be contagious? Are we enjoying this sorrowful
place just a tad too much? It was time for me to open my own eyes
and to start my first step toward my own path and to seek my true
self. I became an observer of my own life.

I read self-help books and came across many sparklingly wise words
and phrases that we’re told should accompany our daily lives. But by
painfully peeling the layers off of my own ego, I learned that I’m
responsible for my own emotions and the energy I give out.

My everyday practice is simple: I’ve stopped labeling myself. I’m not
so evolved that I levitate in the lotus position in the snowy mountains
wearing my flowing pair of tai chi pants. I process and feel every
emotion, just like everyone on this earth, but I keep my daily ego in
check by knowing that I’m responsible for what I give out and what I
receive.

No matter what the circumstances, these are the seven words I
repeat persistently:

The seven words she mentions are the seven nail polishes that made up the Emoting Me Collection. I used the RBL base coat and top coat for all my swatches shown here today. Let’s more on the lovely lacquers, shall we? ;)

 


Thank You

Thank You 1
Thank You 2
Because I’m my own worst critic, I first thank myself, then I thank
others, and lastly, I thank the universe. I know that I am loved and,
even in negative circumstances, in order to grow, lessons must be
learned. It may be tough in the beginning, but when I close my eyes
in gratitude and start with a bare, neutral nude, a cast of beatific

Opalescent pink shimmers radiates with thankfulness.

The shimmer in Thank You is so pretty! At first I initially thought it was just a golden shimmer, but in different lighting it shifts to a pink and then green! I have never been disappointed by a RBL nude shade and Thank You is no exception. I used 3 thin coats here to achieve the level of opacity I prefer.
Thank You 3
I tried my best to capture the subtle shimmer in Thank You. In this photo you see a mostly gold shimmer and at the curves of my nail you can just make out the shift to pink. The green shift didn’t want to come out and play for my camera, haha!

Be Humble

Be Humble 1
Be Humble 2
I know that I can’t be too self-congratulatory or judge others. I always
remind myself to stay modest. I try to grey out my ego with this taupe
lightness and allow hope to float in pink, blue, and lavender
shimmers.

Be Humble is so stinkin’ pretty!! This light taupe has a lot of lavender undertones and the hidden shimmer is a great addition. I couldn’t stop staring at my nails when I had it on. This would be a great work appropriate shade with a nice little punch from the subtle shimmer to kick it up a bit. The formula for Be Humble was slightly thicker than the others in this collection, but not so thick that it caused too many issues with application. 2 careful coats is all you need, maybe 3 if you don’t wait long enough between coats for it to dry.
Be Humble 3
The subtle shimmer comes out to play a bit in this macro shot of Be Humble. ^_^

Forgiveness

Forgiveness 1
Forgiveness 2
To forgive and to ask for forgiveness is the ultimate emotional
cleanser, but why is it so difficult for me to open my heart and admit
that I’m wrong? Guilt and regret are useless emotions. When I forgive
someone, or even when I forgive myself, I step into the serene
opaqueness of this dove-lavender color and then I am able to let go
and move on.

I definitely agree with Ji on this one. I have no room in my life for regret, I take everything as a learning experience. ^_^

Forgiveness is a gorgeous muted lavender creme, 3 thin coats here. And WOW is it ever glossy, even before top coat! This one got the BSOA (Boyfriend Seal Of Approval) and was dubbed as a “really cool shade of purple”. Lavender my dear, lavender. ;) Application was a breeze and the formula was thin and easy to work with.

Smile

Smile 1
Smile 2
First, I always smile at the sky at least once a day. It is a privilege to
be in this universe. When I lift my face to the sun and bask in its
gloriousness, I blink my eyes and see this dazzling red light, a neutral
red, and full of sunny, shimmery goodness. Like a smile, this color is
contagious.

OMGGGGGGG Smile is a faaaabulous nail polish! This little beauty is a vibrant shade of coral-red with pink undertones that is filled with orange micro-shimmer. I’ve power-marathoned through seasons 2-5 of Mad Men over the past weekend to catch up to the season 6 premiere. And everyone had such gorgeous manicures on that show, it had me craving a red shade to wear on my digits. Smile landing in my lap on Monday afternoon was a sign from the heavens. :P

I used 3 coats here but you could probably get away with 2 coats on shorter nails.
Smile 3
Macro shot to try to capture the shimmer in Smile. It’s extremely subtle but it can be seen in indoor and outdoor lighting.

Pause

Pause 1
Pause 2
Violet is the color of the chakra that marks the union of the soul with
the body, mind, and divine consciousness. With this come bliss,
satisfaction, and rest. Being in the present moment is probably the
hardest challenge I have. When I stare at the depth of this multi-
faceted mid-violet silky shimmer and be at one with this color and
nothing else, then I know I am in my present moment.

Because my digital camera gets blue and purples confused regularly, I thought I was going to have issues capturing the true royal purple color of Pause. But this is quite accurate hue-wise to how it appears in person. The shimmer is much more prominent in real life though and my camera did take issue with the glowy fuchsia and pink micro shimmer. I just could not get it to play nice for my camera!

Pause has great coverage and a superb formula. All I needed was 2 coats here.
Pause 3
This is as good a shot of the micro-shimmer as I could get of Pause. Pictures really do not do this one justice, you just have to see it in person. ^_^

Become One

Become One 1
Become One 2
I imagine that one brilliantly sunny day in April when I looked up to
see the sun flickering through a cascade of innocent leaves. This

Opaque green takes me to those young; verdant leaves in the spring
and reminds me that nature is our best teacher of life cycles.

Become One is a bright grassy green creme. I think everyone needs this shade of green in their collection! But I’m a sucker for anything green so I might be ever so slightly biased. ;) I actually have 2 other nail polishes in my collection that in my mind seem quite similar to this one, I’ll post a comparison between them soon!  Application was great, I did 3 thin coats here for full opacity.

Turn It Around

Turn It Around 1
Turn It Around 2
Once I understood the universe’s law of polarity, everything made
perfect sense. Negatives can’t exist without positives. If I never allow
pain to wash over me, then joy becomes meaningless. From this
color’s dark mossy green pond, a vivid, glittering cast of copper
shimmer welcomes me back to joy.

Turn It Around… Oh my… Remember like, 2 seconds ago when I said I was a sucker for anything green? Because HOLY SHIZZZZ I flipped out when I opened the box for this one!! Earthy forest green mixed with chunky flecks of golden-yellow, copper and bronze!

What is this?! I can’t even…!! Mama likes! Turn It Around simultaneously reminds me of Spring and Fall mixed together into liquid nirvana for my nails. :D I used 2 coats here and the formula was nice and smooth.
Turn It Around 3
Just… Look… At… That… SHIMMERRRR!! I was not expecting a shade like this for a Spring collection, and I am SO here for this right now. ;)

Be Humble vs. Insouciant vs. Forgiveness

Be Humble vs Insouciant vs Forgiveness
I did do a quickie comparison of RBL Be Humble, Insouciant, and Forgiveness for y’all since I had all three sitting on my swatching [coffee] table. Definitely not dupes, but it’s nice to see a side-by-side every now and then when your memory of the colors gets hazy. ^_^

#1 is Be Humble, #2 is Insouciant and #3 is Forgiveness (3 coats each). All great colors. :)


Final Thoughts:

The Emoting Me collection is another great addition to the Rescue Beauty Lounge family. Each shade has an elegant story behind it and I can completely understand Ji’s vision for each color and what she had in mind as she created each nail polish. My stand-out favorites in this collection are Smile and Turn It Around. Honorable mentions go to Forgiveness, Be Humble and Pause being faves for my boyfriend. Thank You, Forgiveness and Be Humble are great neutral office friendly choices for those that have tone it down for work or if you just prefer softer shades. And while I do love Become One, I’m not entirely sure if it’s a must-have if you already own another grass green creme like it. Though the ones I plan to compare it to may not be readily assessable, so in that case… Become One is a possible must as well! ;)

Which ones do you like the most?

Purchase Info:

Rescue Beauty Lounge nail polishes are exclusively available at www.rescuebeauty.com for $20 per bottle. The 48 hour Pre-Order starts 4/12/13, so make sure you’re signed up for the newsletter email blast to take advantage of the pre-order! The Emoting Me collection will be available to the public at the end of April.

Rescue Beauty Lounge nail polishes are created with resin and high molecular polymers to improve flexibility, durability, and high shine. They contain no harmful Toluene, Formaldehyde, DBP, and Formaldehyde Resin. They do not test on animals.

 

 

 

 

* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Scofflaw Nail Varnish Koi Pondering Swatches and Review

3

* (The product(s) in this post were purchased by me.)

Hey Everyone!!

Lookit, two posts in… Well, less than a month! I’m working on posting more often. But I’ve been doing this weird thing called ‘leaving my house” on my days off from work. Puts a damper on my usual Netflix Marathon-n-Swatch… A-thons. ;) And there’s also this whole “I’m working almost 50 hours of overtime in April why did I do this to myself” mess that I got myself into. Soooooo, yeah. It’ll be a blessing no matter how many posts I manage to crank out this month. O___o

I did add a nifty little feature to my blog where you can check out my forever active updates on Instagram. You can see it to your right —————————————————————>>

Anyway, I have a new indie brand to share with you all today. Presenting one of my new pretties I picked up from Scofflaw Nail Varnish! She is a pal of the one and only NerdLacquer (who recommended her to us lacquer-heads on her Google+ page), and so far I am not disappointed with the two nail polishes I grabbed from her debut collection!


Koi Pondering

Scofflaw - Koi Pondering 1
Scofflaw - Koi Pondering 2
Behold, Koi Pondering!! I fell in love with this beauty instantly from the swatches that Scofflaw shared on her Facebook fan page before her premier release. As per my usual addict fashion, I set an alarm and used my Ninja Skills to snag this and one other polish from Scofflaw the day of her initial release. :D

Koi Pondering is a gorgeous blue jelly with orange, yellow, white hex glitters in various sizes and micro-shimmer. Application was super easy and it was opaque after 3 thin coats.
Scofflaw - Koi Pondering 3
Macroooooo time!! The shimmer in this one is really beautiful. And I love the fact that I didn’t have to go hunting for the glitter to get it to apply evenly on my nails. :D


Final Thoughts:

Koi Pondering by Scofflaw Nail Varnish has left me quite impressed! I hadn’t purchased nail polish in a long time, like months, until I discovered this brand. The combination of color and glitter in unique to my collection and I enjoy the professional level of her indie brand with the bottle and gorgeous label/font right from the start! Her prices are reasonable for an indie brand so if you’re looking for something new I would recommend giving Scofflaw a try! I already have my eyes on a few others of hers that I need to snag in the next restock.

Purchase Info:

Koi Pondering and other Scofflaw Nail Varnishes can be purchased at either scofflawvarnish.com or Llarowe. Prices and shipping vary depending on the site so check their shop policies individually. And for you folks not in the US, Llarowe does offer international shipping. ^_^

To keep up to date with upcoming collections, news and restock dates you can check out Scofflaw Nail Varnish on Facebook.

 

 

 

 

* (The product(s) in this post were purchased by me.)

The Return Of NerdLacquer!! Swatches of The Eye, TDBSLWCHSHITD, and All of Time and Space!

7

Diptic

Morning Lovelies!

I honestly didn’t think I would ever be able to say this, but… NERDLACQUER IS BACK Y’ALL!! :D I’m so SO thrilled to have Amanda of NerdLacquer back in the indie space. I certainly missed her gorgeous nerdling nail polishes. My first indie nail polishes I ever bought were NerdLacquers back when she had first created her teeny Etsy shop before the indie polish boom. She’d suddenly disappeared one day due to personal life circumstances (which you can read about [HERE] if you have a Google+ account), and I faithfully and patiently hoped for and awaited her return. I’m so so so happy that once again I have to chance to get ALL THE THINGS from her portion of the indie nail polish world. :D

No joke, I set an alarm to be ready for when she opened her shop for the first time again in almost a year. She had new pretties based on LOTR and I NEEDED THEM. But as I was adding things to my cart it looked as if the two polishes I had eyed up had sold out from under me. Kick dirt, there’s always next time right? So I ended up snagging All of Time and Space, one of her polishes that I’d been lusting after for about a year, and I was content. Fast forward to a week or so later and not only does that one show up, but the two LOTR collection polishes I’d been after were in my package too! I thought at first, WOW, she must have used magic psychic powers and known that I’d wanted those and included them for me. HOW COOL!

But see-what-had-happened-was… That I had already bought them via paypal, but forgotten about it in my panicked nail polish shopping frenzy. Derp. ;) Well, I’m happy that in my blackout I managed to snag ‘em so let’s get to showing them!

 


The Eye

NerdLacquer - The Eye 1
NerdLacquer - The Eye 2
NerdLacquer - The Eye 3
The Eye is a cayenne red-orange jelly packed with black, orange, gold, red, and holographic glitter. It’s based on (you guessed it…) The Eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This is definitely my favorite of her newbies and the one I was after the most. The application was great and I only needed 2 coats for opacity!
NerdLacquer - The Eye 4
I love that Amanda included THE EYE on the top of my bottle. Anyone else get one on theirs? :D

TDBSLWCHSHITD

NerdLacquer - TDBSLWCHSHITD 1
NerdLacquer - TDBSLWCHSHITD 2
NerdLacquer - TDBSLWCHSHITD 3
TDB… OMG the name on this one!! O__O TDBSLWCHSHITD stands for “THE DWARF BREATHES SO LOUD WE COULD HAVE SHOT HIM IN THE DARK” according to Amanda’s description on her shop page. Once I read that it made me lol heartily. I wasn’t sure how I would like this one but after seeing it in person I’m sold.

I’m just gonna drop the rest of her description here because it’s made of win:

“Soft gold-flecked spring green of Lothlorien. A sunny green shimmer plus loads of white, golden, and leaf-green glitter on your fingertips will make you feel like you’re in Galadriel’s own garden…with a snotty elf making snide remarks about your lack of intrusion skills.”

I used 2 coats here. It was a little lumpy without top coat so keep that in mind if you prefer a smooth finish. The glitter likes to hide inside the base at times, so thin coats work best. ^_^

All of Time and Space

NerdLacquer - All Of Time and Space 1
NerdLacquer - All Of Time and Space 2
NerdLacquer - All Of Time and Space 3
And lastly, one of the classic NerdLacquer nail polishes that I had been lusting after since the beginning — All of Time and Space! This nail polish is beautiful! The Doctor Who themed AoTaS is an ethereal semi-sheer crystalline minty turquoise with silver shimmer, plus silver and fuchsia glitter. I used 3 coats here, but perhaps could have used a 4th to make sure my tips were fully covered. I cannot wait to layer this with my baby blue and pale greens! Or maybe purple to match with my purple version of one of my favorite hoodies from Threadless!


That’s all I’ve got for you today! I hope you all enjoyed my mini NerdLacquer spam! I actually have 2 or 3 more that I’ve yet to share with you on the blog. I must get around to correcting that, eh? ;)

And for those that want to stay updated on NerdLacquer releases, looks like the only sure-fire way to get updates directly from Amanda herself is to follow her on NerdLacquer’s Google+ Page. You can also randomly stalk her e-shop, nerdlacquer.com for updates like I do. :P I am almost positive that she is restocking TODAY at 3pm CST!!

I do know that both Harlow & Co. and Ninja Polish plan to begin stocking NerdLacquer nail polishes again soon, so it might be in your best interest to (politely!!) e-stalk these gals too. ;)

Review: Alanna Renee Nail Polishes!

5

Alanna Renee Lacquers 2

Morning Lovelies!

I hope you’re all having a great Monday, or as great as a Monday can be anyway. ;) Today I’ve got some very special nail polishes to share with you all. I’m excited to have the opportunity to review several nail polishes from the Australian indie polish creator, Alanna Renee! These special little treasures came to me all the way from Australia through the joint effort of Alanna herself and my wonderful IG pal, Natalia. Thanks so much ladies!! I especially loved the little Aussie koala stuffed animal and the nummy Caramello Koala candies stowed away in my care packages. :D

I was given the option to pick out whichever Alanna Renee nail polishes that I wanted to try, and Alanna ended up throwing in a fourth one for me to play with as well. Enough of my rambling, let’s move on to the swatches! I’m using my new light box for the first time so hang in there with me while I adjust, haha!

 


Tranquil

Alanna Renee - Tranquil 1
First up is Tranquil, a gorgeous turquoise filled with lavender hex glitter, small light blue and purple hex glitter, large turquoise square glitter and small indigo flakes. This one is sooo pretty, but the lavender hex glitter was a little difficult to get out and turquoise square glitter flat out refused to leave the sides of the bottle. :P I inverted it, but I think I need to take a toothpick and jab the sides of my bottle to loosen their grip on the glass. I think I managed to get a single piece of square glitter on one nail, haha!
Alanna Renee - Tranquil 2
Alanna Renee - Tranquil 3
Alanna Renee - Tranquil 4
You see all that beautiful lavender and turquoise hex and square glitter in the bottle? Yeah, it’s still in there. ;) I’ll wear this one again soon and try some other techniques to get that glitter to play nice. If I have better results I’ll update this post!

Even with the stubborn glitter, Tranquil is really beautiful. I’m a sucker for this color of nail polish and the glitter that did come out of the bottle really accented the base color nicely. It was like creating a jelly sandwich without having to layer two different nail polishes. This is 2 coats with a little bit of dabbing for a 3rd coat after fishing out some hex glitter.

Ablaze

Alanna Renee - Ablaze 1
Alanna Renee - Ablaze 2
Alanna Renee - Ablaze 3
Oh hell yes, you already know that Ablaze is my shizznuckle. :D Ablaze is a complex mix of yellow, orange and red shreds and yellow, orange, red and black hex glitter in a fiery orange jelly base. YESSS GAWWWWWD I am in love!! I used 3 coats here. There’s an epic crapton of things going on in this polish, so you definitely need a top coat to get everything nice and smooth. And as will all nail polish with shard glitter, making sure those pieces lie flat before adding top coat is a must for a smooth finish.

I want this on my toes. I don’t even care how atrocious the future glitter removal will be for it, haha! I will use the foil method on my toes if I have to. It’s just that serious. O_O

Milky Way

Alanna Renee - Milky Way 1
Alanna Renee - Milky Way 2
Alanna Renee - Milky Way 3
Milky Way was snuck into my care package by Alanna for me to try out. It’s a pretty glitter topcoat made up of orange-to-green and blue-to-purple colour shifting glitter of different shapes and sizes in a clear base. While it’s not anything particularly new to the glitter topper world, Milky Way is very pretty and application was superb. All I needed was 1 coat over my black base for a nice effect. The formula is very easy to work with versus most glitter toppers that have thick and sometimes goopy suspension bases. I see myself coming back to this one a lot to jazz up my vampy nail polishes.

Reptar

Alanna Renee - Reptar 1
Alanna Renee - Reptar 2
Alanna Renee - Reptar 3
And finally, my favorite in my humble collection of Alanna Renee nail polishes…. Reptar!! I was already in love with the look of this nail polish from photos. And then I saw the name!! I mean, who else wasn’t obsessed with the Rugrats as a kid? Or babysat someone who was obsessed with the Rugrats for the more distinguished crowd. ;) If you’re not familiar, Reptar is pretty much the most badass dinosaur (behind the HBICs in Jurassic Park anyway). I mean hello, Reptar On Ice anyone? :D

Alanna Renee’s Reptar captures the essence of the original source flawlessly. It has orange and lavender hex glitter and smaller black, white and neon green hex glitter in a light green base. I LOVE this one. I ended up keeping Reptar on my nails after my swatching session and I’ve made a point to show it to everyone. It even got the coveted Boyfriend Seal Of Approval™!

I used 2 coats for full coverage. Reptar dries gritty and it has a monster appetite for topcoat. I used 2 coats of Gelous AND China Glaze Fast Forward topcoat. And today (2 days later) it’s back to being a little gritty to the touch. But in the days of Liquid Sandzzzz/etc. this is quite acceptable, and I actually like the texture. ;)
Alanna Renee Lacquers 1
And one more group bottle shot for you all because I was messing around with my new pop-up light box. It even comes with 4 backdrops! Fancy, eh? :P


Final Thoughts:

I am absolutely smitten with the four Alanna Renee nail polishes that I currently own. I think all of them are great, but my favorites are definitely Ablaze and Reptar. If you’re looking for a great glitter topper, Milky Way is the one for you. And Tranquil would be flawless if not for the temperamental square and hex glitter, though I still love it even though it’s the ‘problem child’ of the group. :p

There are currently 10 nail polishes in Alanna Renee’s collection. And now that I’ve tried these four I definitely want to try the other ones!

Alanna Renee nail polishes are Big 3 (Toluene, Formaldehyde and DBP) free, and the full list of ingredients can be found [HERE] via her website.

Purchase Info:

Alanna Renee nail polish is currently only available for purchase in Australia at alannarenee.com, they retail for $7.99 AUD per 12ml bottle. Unfortunately due to the strict international shipping regulations with nail polish (classified as dangerous goods), international shipping is not offered at this time. :(

BUT!!!! Alanna is working with Shoppe Eclecticco in Singapore and Color 4 Nails in the U.S. to stock Alanna Renee polishes, and they both offer international shipping (pricing not confirmed yet)! So keep an eye out for news from Alanna Renee on when those two stockist will start supplying her collections. ^_^

To keep updated on Alanna Renee collections, news, etc… You can follow her on her blog, Facebook and Twitter.

 

 

 

 

* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

 

Review: Pretty And Polished Save The Dauphine Collection!

4

Pretty and Polished - Save The Dauphine Collection

Morning Everyone!

So I’ve been sitting on these swatches of the Pretty and Polished Save The Dauphine collection for entirely too long. I actually swatched these back at the end of January and edited my photos, but I just couldn’t find the motivation to actually type up my post about them. -_-

But better late than never I suppose! Unfortunately it looks like the collection was moved to a limited edition status while I was sitting on my thumbs, and only two of the four polishes from the collection are still readily available. :( But perhaps they’ll pop up some time in the future on another site’s blog sale! ^_^

I was actually INCREDIBLY pumped about this collection when Chels Marie first announced it. My mother literally named me after the late queen of France (Marie is my first name, Antoinette is my middle name) so I pretty much had to own this collection when it was released. HAD. TO. :D And once I had the polishes in my possession, they did not disappoint. Let’s get to the swatches (that I’m sure you’ve already seen before haha).

 


Hameau

Hameau 1
Hameau 2
Hameau 3
Hameau is a really pretty eggshell/off-white jelly-creme hybrid filled with iridescent shimmer and small blurple and green multi-sized hex glitter. This one was an instant favorite for me. It’s a little on the sheer side, but I only needed 3 coats to reach opacity. It was incredibly easy to apply.

Let Them Eat Cake

Let Them Eat Cake 1
Let Them Eat Cake 2
Let Them Eat Cake 3
Let Them Eat Cake, seriously you all do not know how many times I’ve heard this joke throughout my life. IT’S ALWAYS HILARIOUS. Truth is, the queen most likely never even uttered the phrase. But alas, it’s etched in history forever. That being said, THIS version of Let Them Eat Cake is not a lie (yaseewhatididthere..?) and it’s actually quite gorgeous.

This polish is a pale pink crelly (jelly/creme hybrid) filled with yellow, red, pink, lilac and white glitter in multiple shapes and sizes. LOVE. Again I needed 3 coats, this one was a little tricky to apply compared to Hameau but with patience (and a little bit of Gelous before adding top coat) I got everything to smooth out.

Louis Louis

Louis Louis 1
Louis Louis 2
Louis Louis 3
Louis Louis is fricken fabulous! I was not expecting to love this one as much as I did but oh my damn this color is fabulous! Louis Louis is a tarnished gold filled with tiny blue hex glitter and red round glitter. I’ve never seen anything quite like it! I used just one coat of Louis Louis over black to make the colors really pop. :D

The Diamond Necklace Affair

The Diamond Necklace 1
The Diamond Necklace 2
The Diamond Necklace 3
Last but not least, we have The Diamond Necklace Affair. Marie Antoinette just could not catch a break. This polish is a reference to the incident that placed blame on her regarding a crime against the Crown Jewelers. This polish is a glitter topper, so it has a clear base and it is filled with opalescent and light blue glitter in multiple shapes and sizes throughout. You can layer this over virtually anything and yield a variety of results. Shown here, I have 1 coat of The Diamond Necklace Affair over A England Galahad. I love this combination! But I bet this would look gorgeous over a darker nail polish as well. :)

This one was a little tricky to apply since it’s so thick due to the suspension base. The dabbing method worked best for me, but I had to be careful that I didn’t accidentally pick up glitter again with the brush as I was dabbing. No Gelous was needed before adding top coat for a smooth finish.


Final Thoughts:

Even with The Diamond Necklace Affair and Let Them Eat Cake requiring a little bit of patience to apply, I have nothing bad to say about this four polish collection. I absolutely love every single one of them, with Let Them Eat Cake, Hameau and Louis Louis being my favorites. But seeing as I share a name with their inspiration, I might be a smidge partial. ;)

If you can get your hands on the entire Pretty and Polished Save The Dauphine collection I highly suggest you pounce on them when you spot them out in the wild. :D

Purchase Info:

Pretty and Polished nail polishes can be purchased from their online store, www.shopprettyandpolished.com. Each polish retails at $5.00 for the mini and $9 for the full sized bottle. You can also still find Pretty and Polished on her Etsy Shop. Though it does look like the remaining Save The Dauphine Collection nail polishes have been slightly discounted. :)

For updates and previews of new collections, follow Pretty and Polished on Facebook and Twitter!

 

 

 

* The product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.
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