Review and Swatches--Literary Lacquers Woman of Pleasure

The first two photos are from when I first received this polish in the mail, which I posted about here. Literary Lacquers describes Woman of Pleasure as "a periwinkle crelly (creme jelly) base with navy and lavender sparkle, matte light pink, large navy hexes, and magenta circle glitter." My photos are pulling a little blue, but it is definitely periwinkle.
*I purchased this polish and received no compensation or samples for this post.*

I finally photographed a full mani using this polish. Shown is three coats of Woman of Pleasure over a base coat, and topped with one coat of Seche Vite.

The first coat was very sheer, but not streaky. The second and third coat built up the color nicely. I didn't have any trouble with the formula, everything went smoothly. 

I was very happy with this polish. My favorite part is the magenta circle glitter. The magenta really pops against the periwinkle base. Have you purchased any Literary Lacquers? Their holographic polishes are especially amazing. 

You can purchase Literary Lacquers from their etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LiteraryLacquer for $10.00 each. Payment is via PayPal only. If you're on Facebook, you should follow their page to keep up with restocks and occasional coupon codes: http://www.facebook.com/LiteraryLacquers. Today (Monday, January 6, 2014) is the last day to use coupon code HAPPY2014 to get 20% off at checkout for all orders.

Shorty Post--A England Dragon

A England has an excellent reputation for their polish; pigmented, excellent formula, exquisite beauty. I recently tried my first polish from them, Dragon. It is a green-lover's dream with a scattered holo. (I'm learning to use a new camera and a new photo editing program, so please bear with me.)
*I purchased this polish myself and have received no samples or compensation for this post.*

A England definitely lived up to its reputation with Dragon. The photo shows two coats over a base coat and one coat of Poshe top coat and is after housecleaning, so it wore well. (I believe that the top coat may have dulled the holo a little, because the top coat was getting a little cloudy.) The formula was great and easy to apply. If you have short nails, you can get away with one coat of Dragon if you paint evenly.

If you live in the UK you can order from A England directly: http://a-england.co.uk/. Otherwise, they have a long list of international stockists here: http://a-england.co.uk/where-to-buy/. I bought mine from Llarowe; regular price is $10.00. 

Mobile Shorty Post--Zoya Tomoko

Zoya 'Tomoko' is another lovely Pixie Dust textured polish. From Zoya's Web site: "Zoya PixieDust Nail Polish in Tomoko can be best described as a romantic champagne silver with a matte, textured, sparkling metal finish."

I loved everything about this polish. 

*I purchased this polish with my own money and received no compensation for posting about it.*

Shorty Post--Dance Legend Termo #182

I still haven't found the charger for my camera, so mediocre photos it is! This is another lovely polish from my Black Friday/Cyber Monday haul, this time purchased from llarowe.com. Below is two coats of Dance Legend Termo #182, topped with one coat of Poshe quick-dry top coat.

This is the first thermal polish that I have tried. I love it! It is magenta when warm and dark purple when cool. The change is quick and dramatic.

This polish dried to a wax finish, so it's the Poshe that is making it glossy. Warning: This polish stinks very badly. I didn't read the ingredients, but I'm sure from the smell that it's not 5-free or 3-free or anything of the sort. The formula was slightly thick.

I am excited to try the other thermal polishes made by Dance Legend that I bought.

Mobile Post--Darling Diva Caramel Martini

Argh! I can't find the charger for my camera at the moment. I still wanted to post this polish, so I apologize for the phone photo.

This is 'Caramel Martini', a white crelly with autumn colors of hex glitter in varying sizes and a little bit of bar glitter. I applied three coats over Orly Bonder base coat, and topped with Poshe quick-dry top coat.

I went polish crazy for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Part of my splurge was on Darling Diva polish. She had some polishes already on sale, and then offered a 30% off coupon code. The polish above was part of a mystery grab bag, which typically includes polishes that aren't listed for sale. 

Emily de Molly Bright Young Things over Zoya Robyn

Emily de Molly is an Australian polish maker that has long since captured my heart, as you might have seen in a few previous posts. I was very happy to find Bright Young Things in a blog sale.
*All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me.*

While I'm not usually one to wear a polish the moment that I receive it (it's usually a strange, OCD, agonizing decision as to which one to wear), I put Bright Young Things on right away. 

I happened to be wearing the lovely Zoya Robyn at the time, so I just put the glitter topper Emily de Molly Bright Young Things over it. I used a quick-dry top coat of Poshe to smooth everything out, although the glitter did lie flat.

I loved this mani and wore it for a few days, which is a long time for me. It reminds me of the ocean and pretty saltwater fish. Next time, however, I will probably choose a different shade for the base so that the purple and turquoisey teal glitter can shine, too. (The purple did show up in real life, but hid from the camera. Silly purple; the camera could be friends with you if you'll let it.)

You can certainly purchase Emily de Molly polishes on Web sites like www.llarowe.com and www.shoppe-eclectic.co, but you might want to do a search for polish blog sales first, or try polishsale.livejournal.com for lower prices. The first sites that I mention seem to be good, but they sell out really fast and the price is more than I would usually pay. (It's expensive to make beauty products in Australia, I think, and I would guess it's not easy to import them, either.)

Yes, summer has put me in the mood for all sorts of brights! I will revel in the deeper colors of autumn soon, but I will enjoy the brights into September at least. I am not strict about seasonal colors, but the weather does affect the mood and the mood does affect the polish choices. September is surely part of summer in California.

Sally Hansen Insta-Gel Strips Starter Kit--Mini Review

I have been curious about these Gel Strips, but I didn't want to pay full price for them, as usual. So once they were on sale and I had two stackable coupons, I went for it. 
*I purchased this kit with my own money.*

Below is everything that comes with the kit: Nail file and cuticle pusher, gel top coat, two nail prep pads, LED lamp, two packs of color nail strips, power cord for the lamp, and instructions.

Everything was fairly easy to use. You can only do one nail at a time in the LED lamp, but it's not a big deal since it's only 30 seconds. The results were very pretty, as seen below.

This was not long-lasting for me at all, however. Good for a day or two at most.

*I purchased this kit with my own money.*

Literary Lacquers Nail Mail (Mostly Photos)

This was my first time ordering from Literary Lacquers. I have had my eye on them for a while, but was waiting for a sale. They had a 20% off coupon code not too long ago, so that was my opportunity. The transaction was easy, shipping was fast, and the polishes arrived in great shape with cute packaging. I have to admit, I am not a fan of the type of books that inspired these particular polishes, but the polishes themselves spoke to me.
*I purchased these products with my own money.*

Keep an eye out; I'll share with you swatches and reviews when I wear these. If you can already tell that you love Literary Lacquers, you can purchase them here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LiteraryLacquer. Regular price is $10.00 for a 15ml bottle. 

Shorty Post--Twiggie Calls Western Union

Just a quick nail of the day post here. Summer makes me want to wear all of my brightest polishes. The bright green here is two coats of Color Club Twiggie. The black and white glitter topper is Feenix Polish (sadly, out of business indie maker) Western Union. Top coat is Seche Vite.
*Products purchased by me.*

I've been wearing this craziness for a few days now, which is a really long time for a nail polish addict. 

Do you go for bright colors in the summer?

Don't Pay Retail Prices Part 3--Another TJ Maxx Haul

TJ Maxx is one of my go-to places for a sweet deal on nail polish. It is hit or miss, but their selection changes all the time. Recently, I found some Color Club and Orly goodies that caught my eye.
*Products in this post were purchased by me with my own money. There may be affiliate links.*

As you can see, the Poptastic set of Color Club polishes is so bright that my camera freaked out and couldn't come close to accurately capturing the colors. Always so difficult to photograph neons and super bright colors. In my opinion, the first four polishes are actual neons and the last three are just very bright. Individual Color Club polishes retail for about $8.00. This set costs $48.00 on Color Club's retail site. I paid $9.99. The included shades are, from left to right, Wham! Pow!, Almost Famous, Poptastic, Warhol, Pucci-licious, Twiggie, and Factory Girl. (I already have Pucci-licious, so I gave the one from this set to a friend. Mine is a lot more purple, whereas hers leans more blue.)

Once I found out that Orly was changing their bottle design, I kept an eye out at TJ Maxx for Orly polishes in the old bottle design, since I figured they would get cleared out at regular stores and salons. I much prefer the old bottle design. Orly's regular polishes retail for $8.50 on their site, and their special glitters retail for $10.00. I mostly bought special glitters. TJ Maxx had (and still has, last time I checked) sets of two called Perfect Pairs, for $6.99. The set pictured above is Go Deeper and Monster Mash.

The second set is Miss Conduct and Mermaid Tale. I was super excited to find Miss Conduct. I've seen gorgeous swatches of it online. She looks fairly pretty in the bottle, but on the nail all sorts of holographic goodness comes out.

The third set is Spazmatic and Holy Holo. I'll be interested to see how Holy Holo compares to Paris by Julep, another silvery holo glitter topper.

Total retail value: $106.50. Total paid (before tax): $30.96.

*Products in this post were purchased by me with my own money.*

Swatches--OPI Jinx

I adore this polish! A beauty supply store near my work had some OPI minis on sale for $2.50, so I picked up this little beauty, OPI Jinx. I love everything about Jinx, so I am going to glut this post with photos and say very little. Feast your eyes!
*I purchased this product with my own money.*

I only showed Jinx in these photos without top coat, as that's how the Liquid Sand polishes are designed to be worn. However, she does look lovely with top coat as well. The full size is available at drugstore.com for $9.00 at this time.

*I purchased this product with my own money.*

Swatches and Review--Essie Come Here

Essie Come Here is what I would describe as an electric coral red creme. Essie describes it as a 'nearly neon coral'. When I purchased it, CVS was having a weekly special in which they had four or five select Essie shades for 50% off. Irresistible!

*I purchased this product with my own money. I am not compensated by nor affiliated with any of the brands mentioned in this post.*

There was no lighting or camera trick in which I could capture how bright this shade is; it's not neon, but it is definitely electric.

I am quite enamored (BBC is on the television as I'm writing; is it influencing the words I choose?) with Come Here. The color is rich, intense, and happy. I applied two thin coats and one thick coat over a base coat that I can't remember now, and one coat of Seche Vite quick-dry top coat. I believe it would have applied best in two thick coats for some reason. 

If you like bright colors, you might want to check out Essie Come Here. The other shades in Essie's Resort 2013 Collection are quite bright as well. I bought all four of them, and I rarely buy an entire collection. 

*I purchased this product with my own money. I am not compensated by nor affiliated with any of the brands mentioned in this post.*

KBShimmer Minis Haul with Many Photos

As I posted previously here, KBShimmer currently has mini versions of several of their nail polishes, available while supplies last for $4.50 each. Below are the ones that I chose and received. I've shown them each front and back so you can see the shade names and then a better idea of the polish composition.
*I purchased these products with my own money. I am not affiliated with nor compensated by KBShimmer.*

Even though I haven't worn them yet, I'm still in love with them! Isn't it awesome how some of the glitters seem to glow in the light? 

*I purchased these products with my own money. I am not affiliated with nor compensated by KBShimmer.*

Have you tried any KBShimmer polishes? Do you have any favorites?