Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Literary Lacquers: 2014 Community Collection Swatches and Reviews plus BONUS LE I Heard the Bells

Good morning, dear readers! I hope this post finds you well! I can't believe it is Thanksgiving tomorrow, and the year is quickly coming to a close. I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with the family- there just never seems to be enough! I think that is why the subject of today's blog post, the Literary Lacquers 2014 Community Collection, is so heartwarming to me. For me, it isn't just nail polish and pretty nails, but the tight-knit network that has become a second family to me. I know it seems unfathomable to people outside our world, but I have built some very close friendships with others that share my love of nail lacquer and other beauty products, and I wouldn't have it any other way! Seeing several women come together to create a collection so beautiful is something to be commended, and I hope you enjoy the swatches in today's post.
The Literary Lacquers 2014 Community Collection is an 8-piece collection that will be launching on Friday. While Amy, the endearing mastermind behind the indie brand, usually creates her own collections based on her literature inspirations, this time she has joined up with 8 women to create polishes based on their individual inspirational works of literature. This isn't the first time that Amy worked with others from the community to create a collection. For those of you not as familiar with the brand, she has a Community Collection from 2013 in which I had the opportunity to work with her to create a polish of my own. You can check out swatches of the previous Community Collection here, here, and here. I'm obviously feeling rather verbose and nostalgic this morning, so I better cut myself off and jump right over to sharing photos of the new collection! Let's do this!

The Ruby Thief
Designed by Jenne of Polished Pathology – Inspired by Dinosaurs in the Attic , a ruby pink glass fleck shimmer

GLASS FLECKS!!! I was really excited when I first heard about The Ruby Thief because I love glass flecks and wish they were used more often. This is one of my favorites from this collection for this very reason, and it is beautiful! It applied very easily in three coats, as shown in these photos.

Fallen Tributes
Designed by Jennifer of 4Boys1Mom Lacquer – Inspired by The Hunger Games, a deep blue linear holo with gold flakes and copper shimmer

Fallen Tributes is another favorite from this collection. I've been really wanting a denim blue holo with gold flakes recently, and I am THRILLED to see one in this collection! I used two flawless coats for these swatch photos.

Porco Rosso
Designed by Schette of Schette EssaisBeaut̩ РInspired by Porco Rosso, a deep red linear holo with taupe and gold flakies

Porco Rosso is an interesting shade and not quite what I expected based on the description. It's more sienna red to me: rich and earthy, but perhaps it's because of the flakies. It is still a lovely colour, and it applied easily with two coats. The flakes did leave more of a textured appearance than Fallen Tributes, and I did add topcoat to my nails for these photos to get a smoother appearance.

Grasshopper with Cotton Candy Hair
Designed by Cate Cropp – Inspired by The Dresden Files , a bright grasshopper green linear holo with pink and blue flecks

I have to apologize for the first photo here; apparently my camera thought I was an ogre and made me a little green. My Photoshop skills suck so rather than attempt to colour correct my skin and making it worse, I'm afraid I'm an ogre for today. I am digging this bright lime green shade! While I don't really follow the "rules" of colours based on seasons, I am generally still drawn to shades based on the time of year. I'm definitely going to be grabbing this one a lot this spring and summer! I used two easy coats for these photos.

Always Winter Never Christmas
Designed by Kirby of The Mercurial Magpie – Inspired by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a silvery blue mega glitter linear holo

Love the polish, hate the inspiration (sorry Kirby!). The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is the only book out off all these that I have read, and I just couldn't get into it. That being said, there were some great inspirational cues for polishes, and this icy blue shade fits perfectly! Amy has been doing several holo plus glitter shades recently, and I love this blue version! It's so perfectly winter! I used three easy coats for these photos.

Lurid Fog
Designed by Jen of XOXOJen – Inspired by The New Grub Street, A slate grey linear holo with a strong purple shimmer

This is one of those shades that feels so much more complex than the description. There is so much purple shimmer in this polish that it ended up being a purplish bluish taupe-ish grey shade. That certainly doesn't sound as fancy, but it does touch all the aspects of it! I used three flawless coats for these swatch photos.

Effie's Trinket
Effie’s Trinket – Designed by Heather Tharp – Inspired by The Hunger Games, a bright pinky-purple linear holo with pink shimmer

I was really surprised with how much I liked this one! I generally don't wear pink-purple polishes, but I loved it at first stroke. Effie's Trinket pulled a little more on the pink side against my skin tone, but you can still see the bit of purple to this shade. I used two smooth coats for these swatch photos.

Attic Mice
Designed by Jess Moore – Inspired by Flowers in the Attic, a medium grey creamy linear holo

I am loving this grey polish! I've been needing a good clean-looking grey holo in my polish collection, and I am so happy to see one in the 2014 Community Collection! Even my husband commented on how nice it is! The formula was smooth and creamy, and it applied easily in three coats for these photos.

WOW! How gorgeous is this collection?!? These ladies did a fabulous job creating these amazing nail polishes! In case you didn't notice, three of the polishes from this collection were created by a Jen/Jenne/Jennifer. Apparently she likes to collect us in addition to polish! LOL! I also really like that two polishes from this collection were inspired by The Hunger Games; it really shows how one piece of literature can trigger us differently and draw us in to disparate visual cues. It serves as a reminder that we're all different people!


The 2014 Community Collection launches here November 28th (that's this Friday!) at noon Mountain time. If you're unsure of the time zones, here is a handy link to help you!

And now to the BONUS Limited Edition Polish: I Heard the Bells! This polish is not going to be available for individual purchase. Instead, it is a Limited Edition Gift with Purchase shade for purchases made between November 28th and December 7th. If you spent $24 you will receive a mini sized bottle of this polish. For purchases of $48, you will receive a full sized bottle. If you've been thinking of picking up a few bottles for gifts or need colours from the new collection, this is a great time to pick them up!

I Heard the Bells
Inspired by the poem Christmas Day by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a bronzy-copper mega glitter holo

This is beautiful! I think the best way to describe this is antique gold. It isn't as yellow as a true gold, and I've never seen anything quite like it. It is so sparkly, and I love it! I used two easy coats for these swatch photos.

You can purchase the new 2014 Community Collection (and other beautiful Literary Lacquers shades, of course!) from the Literary Lacquers etsy shop here. You can also follow Literary Lacquers on Facebook here and Instagram here for photos and shop announcements.

What colours do you have your eye on from the new collection? Will you be getting this year's gift with purchase LE? I'd love to hear from you!

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day, and for those of you that will be celebrating, have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday!
XO!

2 comments

  1. THE JENS WILL TAKE OVER THE WORLD!! Seriously gorgeous swatches!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just perfection!! I love your swatches!You did a fabulous job!

    ReplyDelete

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