The Lacquer Legion: Adoration

Nothing to Disclose

♥

The Lacquer Legion

Adoration

I'm excited to be participating in the Lacquer Legion challenges, put together by Chalkboard Nails,  Rebecca Likes Nails, The Nailasaurus, and Work/Play/Polish. This month, the theme is adoration. If you want to participate, you can like The Lacquer Legion on Facebook and hashtag your posts on all social media with #LLadoration. Each month there will be a different theme and hashtag.

The theme is always open for your own personal interpretation and since I can't draw my dogs on my nails and I've done the Scottish flag more than once, I decided to make this mani a more loose interpretation and just show you 1) the polish brand I adore most (Elevation Polish) 2) the color combo I adore most and 3) my favorite type of nail art - easy, cute and anyone can do it - "dinosaur dots." I thought about trying coffee/coffee beans, but I really wanted to use THIS polish.

There are a couple more things you might notice. I'm holding a TARDIS. Yeah, Whovian all the way here! And the violet purple polish is Elevation Polish XXH-14, which you recently saw here on the blog when I received a decant of it from a really sweet reader. It's so special to me.

So for this mani, I used Elevation Polish Sample XXH-14, Elevation Polish Pic de Sotllo (the royal blue) and Nails Inc. Chalk Farm.

#LLadoration

Be sure and type in "#LLadoration" on all social media to check out all the other Lacquer Legion manis!

♥

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piCture pOlish: Hussy - Swatches and Review

Nothing to Disclose

*This product is Cruelty Free 

♥

piCture pOlish

Hussy

Happy Monday!

Today I have one of the new piCture pOlish Collaboration Shades for you called Hussy, co-created with my friend Claudia at The Holographic Hussy! This one is a gorgeous shade of dusty violet purple with holographic pigment and micro-flakes.

Continued after the jump...

Colors by Llarowe Tank Tops and Flip Flops - Swatches and Review

Nothing to Disclose

*This product is Cruelty Free 

♥

I longed for winter all summer and now that it's actually COLD here, I'm longing for Spring. My mom always said "never satisfied" and I guess she was right! So tonight I have a really spring-y color to show you. I'm wearing it to brighten up this dreary, overcast day. Plus, here in South Texas, there's never really a wrong time to wear any color.

Colors by Llarowe

Tank Tops and Flip Flops

Continued after the jump...

Pahlish Black Lace Elderberry - Swatches and Review

Press Sample 

*This product is Cruelty Free 

♥

Pahlish

Black Lace Elderberry

Black Lace Elderberry is from the Fall 2013 Collection and it's a vibrant violet purple jelly base with loads of violet shimmer and red metallic micro-flakes, along with orange metallic hex glitters and orange holographic hex glitters. Both formula and application were terrific. The glitters suspend perfectly in the jelly base and spread evenly on the nail. Two coats for opacity and one coat of top coat. The formula is so good on this one that you won't even feel the need for a top coat, but I do recommend one for a finished look.

Continued after the jump...

NOTD: Nails Inc. West Hampstead

Migraine interrupted my upcoming post on a new Winter Collection. Hope to get it up for you later today. For now, I'll leave you with Nails Inc. West Hampstead. This one is a fabulous dark violet purple creme with a perfect formula. Two coats for full opacity. Dries to a high shine. No issues at all.

Nails Inc. West Hampstead - most color-accurate

Nails Inc. West Hampstead

Nails Inc. West Hampstead

And outdoors, first in shade, then in full morning sun...

Nails Inc. West Hampstead - outdoors in shade

Nails Inc. West Hampstead - outdoors in full morning sun

There's not much better than a perfect Nails Inc. creme in my opinion. What do you think?



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30 Day Challenge Day 21 - COLOR INSPIRATION

Another day down! I wasn't entirely sure how to interpret this challenge, but I guess it really doesn't matter as long as I get something from it and get to show you a pretty polish, right?

First, my color inspiration...

So...I chose Nails Inc. Devonshire Row - a great violet/lavender creme with typical perfect Nails Inc. formula. Two coats, no top coat...

Nails Inc. Devonshire Row

Nails Inc. Devonshire Row

Nails Inc. Devonshire Row

Nails Inc. Devonshire Row

Nails Inc. Devonshire Row

Nails Inc. Devonshire Row

If you'd like to join the 30 Day Challenge using your untried polishes, go here to grab the codes to embed in your posts for the next 30 days and add your post using the link below! Thanks to Polished Criminails for starting this one!

Untrieds used:

Nails Inc. Devonshire Row 

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Fanchromatic Nails Celestial Temple - Swatches and Review

Purple!!! This is the third Fanchromatic Nails polish I'm reviewing and so far, I'm a fan! I reviewed The Iron Price here and The Long Summer here. This is the last of the ones I have but I see more in my future.

I asked the woman behind Fanchromatic, Lynae, to tell me a little about Fanchromatic Nails...

Fanchromatic Nails was born in late 2011, when I started thinking about translating my obsession with different fandoms (especially costumes and set design) into cosmetics. I chose to focus on nail polish because I'm very interested in combining art + science, and it seemed like a perfect fit. My goal is to make polishes that really capture the spirit of the media that inspired them, while still being totally fun and unique in their own right.

I test all my nail lacquers for a minimum of 1 month before releasing them, and my glitters are generally tested for 2+ months. I use stainless steel mixing balls, brand-new bottles, and a 3-free suspension base that's been thoroughly tested as well. 

Celestial Temple is a violet purple scattered holo jelly. I just love the creator's descriptions so I'm including hers for this one here: This soft purple shimmer jelly polish has a strong violet sheen to it when the light hits it right, and it's filled with holographic glitter in different shades of purple, as well as holo silver, in a variety of sizes (and shapes!) from super micro sparkle to big and shiny.

This polish was inspired by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. What's the inside of a wormhole look like? What about one inhabited by incorporeal aliens with seemingly unlimited power? ....Well, whether you wondered or not, now you don't have to, because I'm here to show you.

This went on nicely and I didn't have to fish for the glitter pieces. Smooth application. If you're a jelly-lover three-four coats of this alone should give you that great squishy look. I love to layer, however, so I'm showing this one over a England Guinevere (accent nail) and Elaine.  Two coats with one coat of Poshe to make it smooth to the touch.

Fanchromatic Nails Celestial Temple

Fanchromatic Nails Celestial Temple

Fanchromatic Nails Celestial Temple

Fanchromatic Nails Celestial Temple

Fanchromatic Nails Celestial Temple over
a-England Guinevere

Fanchromatic Nails Celestial Temple
over a-England Elaine

So what do you think of this one?

You can purchase Fanchromatic Nails polishes from her Etsy shop here and most of them retail for $8.25 for the full 15ml bottles and $5 for the 5ml bottles.  Also, be sure and "like" her on Facebook to stay up-to-date with new polishes and re-stock information.



*This polish was sent for review 

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30 Day Challenge Day Six - VIOLET with Barry M Bright Purple

Barry M Bright Purple

For VIOLET day I chose Barry M Bright Purple. Violet is one of my all-time FAVORITE colors and I prefer something between violet and red violet like this one. When I first saw "violet" I thought purple, which it is, but I wanted to make sure my perception of what violet is matched what violet actually is. So I pulled up a color chart.

My favorite shade is the violet of a wine cup flower...

Since I'd already used Illamasqua Stance (which is a perfect match for the wine cup) that left Barry M Bright Purple! Bright Purple is just one of these gorgeous violet shades that I love. Application was great - smooth formula. Two easy coats for full opacity. Shown in all photos with two coats of color and no top coat. It dries very shiny.

Barry M Bright Purple

Barry M Bright Purple

Barry M Bright Purple

Barry M Bright Purple

Barry M Bright Purple

If you'd like to join the 30 Day Challenge using your untried polishes, go here to grab the codes to embed in your posts for the next 30 days and add your post using the link below! Thanks to Polished Criminails for starting this one!

Untrieds used:

Barry M Bright Purple

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Koh Colours! Seduce - Swatches and Review

Today I have another Koh to show you - Koh Colours! Seduce.

According to Koh Colours! all of their polishes are infused with topaz to give them a hard and lasting finish. Koh is a Dutch cosmetics company. Seduce, part of the Koh Colours Sexy Collection, is a really pretty purple, no wait...blue, no wait...purple! It doesn't behave like a duochrome, but I think I'm going to call it that anyway. In some light it's a gorgeous sapphire blue and in other light it's the perfect violet purple. The satiny finish lends itself well to this phenomenon, too. I don't mean it dries to a satin finish, though - it dries to a nice gloss. But the finish is a bit tricky too. It almost reminds me of a frost, but it is without the visible brush strokes. The application wasn't as easy for me as the other Koh polishes I've tried as will be evidenced in the photos. But it wasn't bad. Since it was on the thin side, I had to be careful of pooling. Thin coats is the key with this one. I used 3 very thin coats and no top coat for the photos.

Koh Colours! Seduce

Koh Colours! Seduce

Koh Colours! Seduce

Koh Colours! Seduce

Koh Colours! Seduce

And I'm including this out of focus photo so you can see the gorgeous violet purple better...

Koh Colours! Seduce

Koh Colours! Seduce

These polishes are a bit harder to come by for those of us in the States, but they can be ordered directly from the Koh Colours! website if you fancy a bit of a challenge. It's certainly doable. The shipping can be a killer though. Thankfully these were obtained via a swap with a sweetheart of a nail polish addict in Europe. They retail from €14,95 to €19,95.


Have you tried Koh yet? What do you think of it?   


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