Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Literary Lacquers: The Ultimate Outlaw Collection Swatches and Review, Part II

Press Sample


Good morning, dear readers! In my previous post, I swatched and reviewed half of the polishes from the Literary Lacquers The Ultimate Outlaw Collection. I have the remaining polishes to share with you today. Let's get to it!

The Ultimate Outlaw
I probably should have started my review of this collection the other day with the namesake of the collection, but of course I get this brilliant idea after the fact. C'est a vie, I suppose... The Ultimate Outlaw is a gorgeous sapphire blue linear holographic polish, and a polish every blue lover needs in their collection. Not a blue lover? I suspect this one just might change your mind; it is so bright and vibrant! The inspiration for this polish is Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins, and I used three coats for these swatch photos.

Fun fact: Amy has another beauty inspired by this same novel. I'm Drinking Stars is a beautiful champagne holographic polish from the Literary Liquors Collection!

And So I Step Up
I love this wine-coloured, glass-flecked polish! And So I Step Up is inspired by The Handmaid's Tail by Margaret Atwood, and it is perfect. It is definitely more complex upon further inspection. I've fairly recently become drawn more towards wine-coloured polishes, and this one is definitely a new favorite. I used three coats for these photos.

Everything You Love
A smoky deep lilac holographic polish? Sign me up! I love smoky purples, and this polish is exactly everything I love! Inspired by Alice Walker's The Color Purple, Everything You Love is beautiful and another favorite from this collection. I used three coats for these photos.

The Mad Ones
Last, but not least, is the lovely minty green holographic polish The Mad Ones inspired by Jack Kerouac's On the Road. This beautiful shade is just perfect for spring! I don't think it works particularly well with my skin tone, but rest assured, this colour is gorgeous! I used three coats for these photos.

Amy has created another amazing collection, and I don't think I could pick a single favorite. They all are stunning in their own right. These and past collections can be purchased at the Literary Lacquers etsy shop here. Also, keep an eye on the Literary Lacquers Facebook page for shop announcements and other awesome swatches. Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!

Disclaimer:  The products reviewed above were provided to me for my honest and unbiased opinion. All thoughts stated are entirely my own and are based on my use of said products.  I love receiving feedback from my readers, and any comments left here are the express opinions and/or property of the individual authors.  Therefore, I, the author of this site, cannot be held responsible for the opinions held by others.  I reserve the right to remove any comments that I find to be harmful, unnecessary, or not constructive for other readers.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Literary Lacquers The Ultimate Outlaw Collection Swatches and Review, Part I

Press Sample

Good afternoon, dear readers, and happy Monday! I had some GORGEOUS polishes made by Amy of Literary Lacquers to share with you today, and I'm going to preface this post by telling you to get out your wallet. There are eight polishes in The Ultimate Outlaw Collection, and I'm going to be sharing some of them with you today and the rest later this week. Amy has always impressed me with her ability to think outside the box and come up with new and original polishes; this collection is another winner!

Ether Binge
Ether Binge is a shimmering aquamarine linear holographic polish with blue-green glass flecks. I don't particularly love the last swatch photo here, but it showed the glassiness of this polish better than any other picture I took. Ether Binge was inspired by Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, one of the greatest semi-autobiographical stories ever written (in my opinion, of course). I love that Amy used this book as inspiration for one of her polishes, and I love her creation even more! It is such a beautiful shade and so perfect for both spring and summer. I used three coats for these photos.

Annabel Lee
Here is my obligatory not-so-subtle *hint* that Amy should make more Edgar Allan Poe inspired polishes ;) I'm sure you are already familiar with this widely-known poem by Poe, and this grey crelly is a beautiful interpretation of the piece. I love the holographic and iridescent microglitters and opalescent flakies that are packed in this beauty. I don't wear grey polish often, but I will definitely be grabbing this one again and again! I used three coats for these photos.

Mysterious Irrevocable Sacred
I'll give you a minute to catch your breath after seeing this beauty; I know it certainly took my breath away when I swatched it! Mysterious Irrevocable Sacred is a fabulous blue-purple linear holographic polish with blue and purple glass flecks. I'm not familiar with the inspiration behind this beauty (Wild: From Lost of Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed), but if this is where it leads, I definitely need to add it to my "Need to Read" list! I used three flawless coats for these photos.

Original Virtue
Original Virtue was inspired by Oscar Wilde and is a beautiful pinky coral polish with copper glass fleck and gold flakies. This is one you're just going to have to see for yourself rather than trying to rely on swatch pictures. These photos are colour accurate and it leans coral on me, but it leans pink against some other skin tones. It is quite pretty, and I am slightly annoyed that my camera just couldn't quite capture the awesomeness of this polish. I love coral shades for the summer, and I will definitely be sporting this shade a lot this summer! I used three coats for these photos.

Stay tuned for my next post where I share the remaining polishes from The Ultimate Outlaw Collection!

To get a head start on shopping, check out the Literary Lacquers etsy shop here. Also, keep an eye on the Literary Lacquers Facebook page for shop announcements and other awesome swatches. Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!

Disclaimer:  The products reviewed above were provided to me for my honest and unbiased opinion. All thoughts stated are entirely my own and are based on my use of said products.  I love receiving feedback from my readers, and any comments left here are the express opinions and/or property of the individual authors.  Therefore, I, the author of this site, cannot be held responsible for the opinions held by others.  I reserve the right to remove any comments that I find to be harmful, unnecessary, or not constructive for other readers.



Tuesday, April 15, 2014

The Polish Refund Giveaway

Good evening, dear readers! I just have a quick post to share with you this evening. Doing my taxes is always a little stressful, and I wanted to do something fun to make tax day just a little more fun for everyone. I'm giving away a $20 gift certificate to Llarowe.com!


This giveaway is open internationally to participants 18 years and older! Good luck!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Last of the Colors by Llarowe Spam

Good morning, dear readers! I have one final set of photos of Spring polishes by Colors by Llarowe to share with you today, and I wanted to sneak it in before the restock! I used two coats for each of the photos below.

NMETIAC (Nobody Makes Emily Twerk in a Corner)
Now why would anyone want to make Emily twerk in the corner?!? Emily is funny, and a great asset to Team Llarowe. I'm sure there is some sort of private joke with the name, but whatever the exact inspiration, I love it! This is such a pretty polish, and if you don't have it, you'll probably want to order two- you're going to want a backup of this baby!

Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee
I cannot get this song out of my head every time I even think of this polish; I'm sure my family is tired of hearing me sing it by now. I love all the sparkle in this polish! It is beautiful and just sings.

Purple Rain (Reformulated)
It was a sad day when Llarowe announced the discontinuation of Purple Rain, and it was followed by loud cheers when Llarowe announced it was being reformulated and coming back. The newly reformulated Purple Rain is gorgeous- look at that glow!

I was fortunate enough to get a bottle of the original Purple Rain before it became unavailable, so naturally I had to compare them.
The original formula was darker than the newly reformulated version. If you have the original, you still might want the new version. They're different, and both of them are lovely in their own way.

The restock is scheduled tomorrow at 12pm MDT and 7pm MDT at Llarowe.com. Please note that the restock is actually a pre-order, so you will have to allow extra time for polishes to be made and shipped to you. Now to narrow down my list of what I need backups of!

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!
<3







Tuesday, April 8, 2014

More Colors by Llarowe Spring 2014 before tomorrow's restock!

Good evening, dear readers! I wanted to get another post in today to show off a few more Colors by Llarowe polishes before tomorrow's pre-order. I used two coats of polish for each of these photos.

The Great Pretender
I've seen The Great Pretender swatched over black, but these photos are two coats of The Great Pretender alone. I love the dark depth of this polish! The color shift that was present in the bottle didn't want to show on my nails for some reason, and I don't know if it depends on specific lighting. I'll have to play around with it some more, but this is exactly what I saw when I wore this beautiful polish.

Connie, You Saucy Minx
Can I say just how much I love the name of this polish?!? Ever since I first heard of it, I feel like I've been referring to everything with sass as a "saucy minx", lol! I love the hot pink shimmer, and I just could not stop staring at my nails!

Will You Still Love Me Teal-Morrow
Will You Still Love Me Teal-Morrow is a very dark teal blue, and I just could not get a good photo of it on my nails that wasn't too dark. It is a beautiful shade, and if you love it, you need to order it tomorrow. Supplies are limited of this beauty, so it cannot be pre-ordered.

Little Boy Blue
I have a sweet little boy, so I'm partial to this shade. There is so much pink and gold shimmer mixed in with this sky blue crelly, and it is stunning!

Purple Pizzazz
Purple glitters are added to this stunning purple holographic polish to add an extra level of WOW. Purple Pizzazz is the perfect name for this beauty!

These and other polishes are scheduled for pre-order tomorrow, April 9th at 12pm MDT and again at 7pm MDT at Llarowe.com. This will be the last appearance of Will You Still Love Me Teal-morrow, in addition to other CbL polishes. A complete list of retiring shades can be viewed on this Facebook post here. Keep an eye on the Llarowe Facebook page for more announcements.

Until next time, dear readers, have a great night!
<3










Northern Star Polish Peacock Party, Yummy, Plummy, Mulberry, Ever After Polishes and Lettuce Cuticle Oil

Items in this post were gifted

Good morning, dear readers! I hope this post finds you well and you have been enjoying the start to a new week. For today's post, I have a few lovely polishes and a fun cuticle oil made by Kristin of Northern Star Polish to share, and I hope you enjoy them! Let's get to some pictures!

Peacock Party
Peacock Party is a dark teal blue color with a light linear holographic finish, wiggle your fingertips and see a party of peacocks appear!

Hehehe, I love this description, and it really is quite accurate! Peacock Party is just a fun shade to wear, and if teal is your thing, you definitely want this stunner in your collection. The formula was flawless, and I used two coats for this photo.

Yummy Plummy
A deep purple linear holographic polish, Yummy Plummy is another lovely holo polish from Northern Star. I don't wear brighter purple polishes often (I love my dusty purples), but Yummy Plummy just might change that for me. This is the perfect shade of purple: not too light, not too dark, and so pretty! I used two coats for this photo.

Mulberry
Oh man, swatching Mulberry has been the polish that has delayed this post. I swatched it three times and took hundreds of photos, but I still couldn't quite capture the beauty of this polish. A dark mauve/purple polish with twinkling mica flakes and shifting micro glitter, Mulberry is my favorite of these polishes in this blog post. It has an amazing depth that you just have to see on your nails to believe. Mulberry is a special release polish, and $5 from every bottle sold is donated to the National Network to End Domestic Violence. I'm sad that there is a need for this organization, and they have several projects in place that provide resources and assistance to those experiencing domestic violence, sexual violence, and stalking. I'm so glad to see Norther Star Polish supporting this organization, and you can help too buy purchasing a bottle. I used two coats for this photo.

Ever After over Mulberry
Ever After is a clear-based glitter topper consisting of metallic purple shreds, gold stars, and squares and hexes in various sizes. I love glitter polishes, and Ever After is beautiful! I love that Kristin kept to a smaller colour palette (gold and purple) and she was still able to make it interesting by playing with different shapes and shades of colour. It definitely makes it easier to match with a larger variety of base colours. I chose to swatch it over Mulberry in the hopes that those in pain will get their (happily) Ever After. It applies easily with a little dab here and a little swish there, and I did not have to fish for any of the glitters. The stars are a little more sparse than the other shapes, but I did not have to search for them either. I used about one and a half coats for the above photo. The half coat was just where I filled in some slightly bare areas on my nails. I then followed up with a coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl top coat.

Lettuce-Scented Cuticle Oil
Yes, dear readers, you did read that right- this cuticle oil is lettuce scented! I've never seen lettuce as a scent option for anything before, and I have to say, it is pretty awesome! It is a nice clean and light scent, and I think it is perfect for spring. I also adore the packaging and application method for this cuticle oil. You have probably seen many doe-foot applications for applying lip glosses, so my first thought was admittedly the choice in application was a little odd. After testing it out, I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Seriously, it is a great way to apply oil to the cuticles! Only a little bit of oil comes out on the applicator at a time and the applicator allows plenty of control to where you want the oil to go. The oil itself it very hydrating, and it definitely keeps my cuticles happy!

These and other polishes and cuticle oil scents can by purchased by visiting the North Star Polish etsy shop. You can also follow Northern Star Polish on her Facebook page and on Instagram.

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day! <3




Disclaimer: Items in this posted were gifted to me by Northern Star Polish. All opinions stated above are honest and mine alone. I welcome any feedback in the comments on this post. I reserve the right to remove derogatory and and unhelpful comments at my own discretion.






Monday, April 7, 2014

More Colors by Llarowe swatch spam!!

Good evening, readers! This post is going up far later in the day than I had wanted, but it has been a busy Monday at Chez Jedi Wife. I wasn't kidding when I said that I had several more Colors by Llarowe polishes to share with you, so let's dive right in and see a few more, yes? I used two coats of polish for each of these swatch photos. The formula was perfect on all of them, something I have come to expect from CbLs!

Coral Confusion
I am in love with this coral shade! It is so vibrant and one of my favorite colours for the season!

Julie Julie Julie
Another vibrant shade, Julie Julie Julie is a little pinker than its Coral Confusion cousin.

Neon Punk
And now we go even pinker with Neon Punk! I was a little unsure of this one at first, but was I wrong: this is a MUST HAVE for spring and summer!

Waters of Belize
Ah, a nice peaceful looking blue. I've never been to Belize, but if the water looks anything like this, I need to add it to one of my places to visit one day!

These and other Colors by Llarowe polishes can be purchased from Llarowe.com. The exact date and time of the presale has not been announced, so be sure to follow Llarowe on Facebook to find out when these and other amazing polishes are available. The presale may be later this week, so definitely stay tuned! I am off to sleep, and I'll have more to share tomorrow!

<3

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Colors by Llarowe Spring 2014 Holos

Good morning, dear readers! It look like it is going to be a beautiful day here (knock on wood), and what could be better to share than holo polishes! For today's post, I have the holographic polishes that are part of the Colors by Llarowe Spring 2014 lineup to share. Leah Ann release quite a few, so here comes a bunch of photos! So I don't sound like a broken record, I'll just tell you now that the formula was perfect on these. I personally didn't find them too thick to work with and they all dried very quickly for me. I used two coats for all these photos.

My Big Girl Panties
I'm not sure what I like more about My Big Girl Panties- the colour itself or the name. It is bright and springy, and just WOW.

Concrete Jungle
Concrete Jungle was the biggest surprise of this set. In the bottle on a grey day, the polish looks like a simple charcoal-grey, but in the sun, it just comes to life on the nails with this amazing blue hue. Even if you have other grey polishes in your collection, Concrete Jungle is a must have for every collection!

Lucy, I'm Home!
Lucy, I'm home! was another interesting polish for me. It looks like a medium red in the bottle and in the swatches I had seen thus far, so I was surprised at how pink it looked against my olive skin tone. I totally dig the colour, and I'll be painting this on my toes later today!

The Mighty Red Baron
I'm so glad Leah Ann released this rich red shade! I've been wanting a nice dark red that wasn't too vampy in my collection, and The Mighty Red Baron fits the bill perfectly! I tend to not wear dark reds over the spring and summer, but I can see myself making exceptions for this beauty.

Young Turks
A bright turquoise, Young Turks is THE colour I think of when I think of spring. I love shades that remind me of the tropics, and Young Turks does just that. It's a great colour for both spring and summer, and if you're a blue fan, you're going to want this baby.

Deanna, It's Blue!
Why yes, yes it is blue! And what a blue it is! I love that it is a medium-dark shade of blue- it's dark enough that nothing could describe it better than just the word "blue". I've not had my coffee yet so I'm probably not making any sense (sorry, readers!), but trust me, it's gorgeous and you need it!

In A Different Dimension
I knew I would love In A Different Dimension when I first heard it was a teal holographic polish, but I was still blown away when I first saw it. The green shimmer in this polish adds a level of depth and complexity that just took my breath away. This is another must-have for any collection!

House of Blues
I couldn't have bought my new camera at a better time than before having to photograph this blurple beauty. My other camera would have screamed curses at me before photographing it in either blue or purple, but my new one was able to capture the combo shade perfectly. The only problem you'll have with this polish is having people ask you all the time whether it is blue or purple!

These gorgeous polishes are about to be stocked within the hour at Harlow & Co., but don't fret if you miss out. They are also going to sold as a preorder some time next week at Llarowe.com. The exact date and time of the presale has not been announced, so be sure to follow Llarowe on Facebook to find out when these and other amazing polishes are available.  

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful weekend! <3


















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