The Good Parts Polishes By Literary Lacquers

So these three polishes are from Literary Lacquers. She just released a collection based on erotic fiction. While I'm not big on erotica or, well... reading in general, I AM indeed a big fan of these polishes and their talented maker.Watch yourself, this post is very pic heavy.

First up is My Secret Garden. Here's what Amy, the artisan responsible for Literary Lacquers, has to say about the polish:

"Glitter topcoat of multicolored matte glitters with a hefty dose of sparkle. This polish is inspired by My Secret Garden by Nancy Friday, published in 1973. This groundbreaking feminist book collected the sexual fantasies of women in a time when women were considered not to do such things. This book, as well as being fabulously sexy, is worth a read just to really understand where women were sexually in the culture as the sexual revolution was changing everything."

This dazzling little cutie is choc full of lavender, goldenrod, cobalt, pink, and grass matte glitters with a touch or sparkle. Here I have it over pastel skittles. The pastels are, as per my usual, by Lime Crime. Sidenote: I cannot freaking get enough of the Lime Crime pastels. They are my go-to polish. They're some of the only polishes that I can wear without glitter on top. Heehee they're that nice!!

And perfect for the fast-approaching Easter!

Well here it is: My Secret Garden.

Then I had a crazy idea... LETS MATTIFY THIS.

So nice. I needta start matting everything.

Next is More Like Fire Than Light. 

"Orange linear holographic - I get full coverage in 2 coats, this is brighter on the nail than in the bottle. This polish is inspired by Delta of Venus by Anais Nin, written in the 1940's and published after the author's death in 1977. The short stories in this collection were commissioned by a mysterious man known only as "The Collector" "

This polish is a lovely hologrpahic polish. As good as a Jade, but maybe even better because you're supporting a made-in-the-USA small business. On the nail this was a little too "autumn" for the beautiful sunshine I have going on right now. Here it is:

 And so I threw some bright yellow under there to cheer it up a bit. Yellow base under middle and pinky. 3 coats on the bare nails, 2 coats over yellow.

Did you guys miss my outdoor sunshine pics? Because I REALLY REALLY did.

One last one! And it's really pretty. It's called Woman of Pleasure.

"Periwinkle crelly with navy, lavender, matte pink glitters and magenta circle glitter. I get full converage in two coats. This polish was inspired by Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure written by Jon Cleland in 1748 (!!) when it was promptly banned for over 200 years."

This is my first crelly glitter. I haven't really been too excited about this type of polishin the past but hey, throw some circle glitter in and I'm down! Here it is, shown by itself and over Lime Crime's Once in a Blue Mousse. Middle and ring fingers have the Lime Crime base and 2 coats of WOP, the others have 3 coats of WOP.

Brilliant!

And mattified:

 I like it.

Bottom line, these polishes are great. I love them. Go buy them!

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These polishes were provided to me for review!

Serum No 5's Peachy Keen

 Something different in this post: A shimmer! You won't see me wearing a lot of shimmer. I just... Yeah I don't know. Bleh. But!! This one. MMMM! It's so sexy and pretty!! And simple and effortless and just yummy! All it took was a gold/peachy beige shimmer, gold glitter in a couple sizes, and howdy-doo, look at that. Am I making any sense? No? ... Really?

 Awesome formula, as to be expected from Serum No 5. This brand just can't mess up. If you haven't tried out their stuff, you gotta do it. Click on the "serum no 5" tag to see other reviews I've done for them.

A macro?! Yes. A macro.

Overall Grade:

A

I have zero complaints, and endless raves!

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Aaaaaaand
Their tumblr 

This polish was kindly provided to me for swatching and review!  

Candy Lacquer's Candy Crush

Today I have a dose of color for you in the form of Candy Lacquer's Candy Crush! This one is a mix of different colors of matte shreds. Basically: confetti! This polish, expecially when paired with these undies, (Lime Crime's Parfait Day) looks like a party, plain and simple. And, with no fishing, easy application, and fast dry time, it pretty much IS a party!! Recently I decided to collect Candy Lacquers because they're just so effortlessly perfect. This one is no exception! Without further ado, the star of the show!

 You're not mistaken, yes that is a dog hair!

Overall Grade:

A!

While I wouldn't wear this as an everyday look, I love how easy it was to look so festive!

Candy Lacquer's Big Cartel store

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This polish was provided to me for swatching and an honest opinion! 

No more!

Today I decided... No more lightbox!! My lightbox pictures required so much editing to get the colors right that it's just not worth posting any more. And obviously I'd like to be posting more. From here out, I'm just gonna take picture. Unprofessional pictures! -gasp- I don't care what's in the background, I don't even really care what my cuticles look like. I just wanna show you great polish! This is what polish looks like on a normal girl! I work a job that eats my nails for breakfast, so yes they are short, sometimes uneven, and misshapen. But I think at this point I just don't care, and I'd rather show you what polish might look like on a normal person. No I don't have foot-long nails, but most girls don't. So, get ready for very unimpressive nails with very impressive polish. For me that's what it's about. The polish. Not getting pinned and repinned and shared etc because of my talons. It's about the polish and its makers. So here goes nothing. :)

Glitzology's Diamonds and Pearls

The second polish in a series of mine featuring Glitzology polishes. This is another one that came in and was gloopy, but Glitzology replaced it. This one is pretty much just like the name says. Diamonds- holographic silver diamond (rhombus) shaped glitter, and Pearls: pearly shimmer throughout. The shimmer sort of threw off my camera which resulted in a blur. This polish was easier to apply than My Viking Boyfriend. In person, this comes off more pearl-white than silver. I also noticed a slight pink shimmer. The shimmer in this polish is (I think) too opaque to use over another polish, thus making this another standalone glitter polish from Glitzology. No fishing necessary, as the polish is ridden with glitter. 3 coats, 2 coats of Sehce Vite. Topcoat is going to be required in order to get this polish to feel smooth. As always, let me know what you think in the comments!

 

Overall Grade: 

B

You can become a fan of Glitzology on their Facebook,
and you can buy this polish and others on their Etsy Page.

This polish was provided to me for my honest review.

Glitzology's My Viking Boyfriend

Hey guys. I'm here! And I bring with me a very sparkly very pretty polish. When Glitzology first sent me this batch of polishes, they were beautiful. However upon inspection, the consistency was a bit "off". Thick and gloopy, impossible to apply. I sent Glitzology a note on Etsy asking what was up and apparently she got her hands on a batch of a bad base. So she super-kindly sent me a second set. While they are still pretty thick, they are workable. The thickness here comes from the density of glitter, however, not the base being faulty. This is not a glitter topcoat, this is a standalone polish in my opinion as Three coats for full coverage, 3 coats of Seche Vite for a glassy finish and because I got carried away. Here it is! As always, let me know what you think in the comments.

Overall Grade:

B

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These polishes were provided to me for my honest review.

Best of 2012

So I have seen many bloggers do re-caps and "best of" posts for 2012 and by golly, that got my gears working. What were my favorite polishes from the year that started my addiction? So I went through my drawers of polish and picked out some highlights. My nails were too busy wearing the #1 polish so I couldn't swatch there, here are all of my highlights on a swatch wheel. Enjoy!

The Great Ones

Polishes that were bottom-line just all around great. 

 The first one in this category is Essie's Shine Of The Times. This is the polish that sparked my addiction to nail polish and involvement in the nail blogging community. Later I came to find that (in my opinion) it's the best flakie top coat out there. ;)

Up next is Sally Hansen's Jewel Overcoat in Multi-Faceted. This one just really impressed me as far as glitter combos go, especially for mainstream polish. It reminds me of fishy scales which for some reason, I love.

Third is Lime Crime's Peaches<3Cream. The perfect circus peanut color and a no-fuss, 2-coat (maximum) formula. Can't argue with that, am I right ladies? Click here for a full post about this polish.

Sally Hansen's Ruby Ring. I don't even really like this color typically, but when I was putting together the display at work I knew I had to have this polish. It's so vibrant. So brilliant. It's honestly mesmerizing. Again. This is coming from a girl that DOESN'T LIKE this color (typically). You won't be able to stop staring at your digits when you wear this one.

On to Essie's Navigate Her. Some people hate on this color and call it "pea green", but in my eyes it's seriously beautiful. Simple but impactful. Also, it's a 1-coater. So all the haters can kindly send me their bottles. Thanks in advance!

Revlon's Starry Pink/Popular. I got this polish in an amazing situation: the Rite Aid a couple towns over was going out of business and EVERYTHING in the store was half off. Everything!! So I got a lot of good things. It was already pretty picked over but I found a few gems, including this one. This was before I knew that it was kind of a big deal in the polish world. I love that it is just so pretty and girly, it reminds me of a ballerina, and who doesn't want to feel like they've got tiny ballerinas on their phalanges? Right? I now have my 1st bottle of Starry Pink, 1 extra, and 3 extra Popular's. (The color is the same, Revlon re-released it with a new name)

Lastly in this category is Above The Curve's Fallen Angel. Holy hell. Color-shifting as well as linear holographic. Do I need to say any more?

Best Holos

My holo collection grew from 1 to about 25 this year. I love them all, but here are my favorites!

1: First is China Glaze's 2NITE. The holo particles in this polish must be so damn small because the linear-ness of this polish is seamless. It doesn't look like TV static like most holos do, broken up a bit. Nope, this one is like a tiny zen koi pond in heaven. 

2: Next is Color Club's Blue Heaven. It's from the Halo Hues collection. Honestly they all deserve to be in this count down but I chose this one to represent the whole collection. They're just.... so.... pretty....*sigh*.

3: Urban Outfitters Silver Holo. I have the trio of UO holo's, and they're just devine! the most brilliant of all of my holos. Plus I love the big square bottles. They're still the standard .5 oz but it feels like it's 1 million oz and that makes me so so happy.

4: Lastly but not leastly is Color Club's Wild At Heart. This one isn't a typical holo. I can't really describe it. Maybe it's because it's darker in color than most? I don't know. But It's gorgeous. Instead of a full rainbow, you mostly see a redness shine through as the holo. It's just really beautiful.

Best Cheap-o's

The best of the cheapest.

On the left is Sinful Color's Hottie. It's just kind of magical and fairy-like. Rather dreamy.

And on the right is a Sally Girl's unnamed pink. Another fairy-like dreamy one. I just really like fairies I guess.

Tried And True

These are the ones that actually got the most wear out of them.

Sally Hansen's Lacey Lilac. The perfect purple for me and my skin tone. Easy 1-2 coat formula, and quite glossy too. Here it is as undies.

1. China Glaze's He's Going In Circles. This and the next are really one in the same but they are frickin' drop-dead lovely!!!! Technically probably a scattered holo but they border on linear. Yep, I'm going to need this whole collection. It will cost me more than a baby on the black market, but it will be worth it.

2. China Glaze's Visit Me In Prism. A slightly more work-appropriate version of the preceding. A little more lady-like and delicate. 

China Glaze's Nova. This one was mostly used on my toes. The formula is borderline goopy but that actually works in my favor for my toes, as I like THICK and SPARKLY toe-y goodness. I love looking at my little pigs and seeing disco balls.

Seche Vite. Need I say more?

Most Hyped-Up Disappointments

Okay so disappointment might be too harsh of a word, but these are the ones that I was either hyping up in my mind, or the ones that were hyped by the nail community. The ones that didn't really impress me as much as I thought they would.

First is Revlon's Whimsical. I don't want to have to wear 20 coats of ANY polish for it to look nice. People have suggested a light blue base, but even then there's not enough of the cute pink and blue glitter. This one had so much potential but let me down pretty hard.

Next: Nubar's White Polka Dots. I hyped this one myself. I was hoping for white glitter, when in reality it's kind of a semi-sheer satin glitter with a slight orange cast in the right lighting. It's not the stark white I thought it would be. Also the glitter is sparse.

Last in this category is HK Girl topcoat. It's good, yes, but in my opinion it's no better or worse than the standard Seche Vite. 

Most Treasured

These are the ones I love so much that I'm afraid to wear them and waste them. I want those bottles to last my whole life. Swatches shown here as: 1 coat over black, 2 coats on its own, and 1 coat over white. One with flash and one without flash.

Elevation Polish's Avalanche. My first indie! Of course I treasure it. Plus it's gorgeous.

I Love Nail Polish's Matthew Peri. I saw this polish and fell in love. It took me a while to order because it was rather pricey but I finally did and I'm so happy about it. Blue and black and iridescent and holo glitters!

Next is Elevation Polish's Daisen. My first circle glitter polish! And it's pink! The people over at Elevation helped me out to get this polish and I'm very thankful for that. Cute over anything!

Next is my custom Lacquistry, Celestial Web. Check out this post for a more in-depth read.

I had one more to show you in this category but upon swatching it, I realized it had curled (more than before) and begun to bleed. Needless to say, it no longer belongs in this category :'( 

Most Promising Untrieds
Haven't tried these ones out yet but I know I will love them when and if I do.

1: Picture Polish's Mask-a-rade. At first glance it looks like a multicolored glitter, but then upon further investigation, you realize that each of the glitters actually are color shifters. Holy god yes.

2: Ulta Purplexed. I got this as a gift and it's so perfect for me. Excited about this one.

3: Ozotic 529. I'm too clumsy to hold this polish. I'm afraid I would break it or trip and smash it or spill it, or something equally terrible. I don't know if I will ever use it because it's so precious and I wouldn't want to waste it. For now I will watch it from the other side of the room. MMMM it's so pretty!!!

4: Icing's Sugar Coat. A sandy nude holo glitter. Looks like fairies!! :D 

Best "Other"s

Tools and other nail-related things.

This polish thinner from Sally's. It has saved so many of my old Insta-Dri's that would have otherwise gone in the trash.

This style of nail files. I just really like them :)

Kiss Nail Dresses. Great for a no-fuss mani or an easy pedi. Instant nail art. Boom.

Cuticle balm. And if we're being honest here, lip balm too. On my cuticles. Sometimes it's closer than my cuticle balm, and it's practically the same thing. I'd go as far as to say it works BETTER. And I can't have my cuticles being raggedy.

Best Non Nail-Related

Not nail related but still awesome.

Kat Von D Adora perfume. It just smells so lovely! I got this as a gift from my friend Andrea. Thanks lady! :)

Lime Crime's Palette D'Antoinette. Pastels are perfect for me and these pastels are perfect for everyone, every day, special occasion, whatever.

The Starbucks Rodarte collection. I bought myself this $5 gift card just so I could have the card itself. I love Rodarte so much! All of the Rodarte mugs, bags, and cup sleeves are on clearance right now, too. You can get a little dose of designer in your life without paying designer prices with this collection. I conned a friend into buying me the travel mug for my birthday! I can't wait! I'm working on my surprised face right now.

This bag. It's huge, it's posh, it's kinda edgy, and it's just perfect for me. I want this design on my nails! I scored it at a thrift/consignment store that I consign at. It didn't cost me anything because of my store credit.

Number One Best!  

 
Ninja Polish's Color Changing Garnet.

My birth stone is Garnet so of course I had to have this polish. Little did I know at the time how much this polish would blow my mind. I actually just ordered 2 back-ups just in case they every stop making this, I want enough in reserve to never worry about running out. Try not to drive with this on your nails, or at least wear gloves because you will NOT be looking at the road if your nails are exposed. I kept shoving my hands in people's faces and telling them to appreciate my nails. And then I tried it over black. Hoooooly hell. Tears of joy.