Thursday, November 29, 2012

My photos made it on Etsy Treasuries!

I did some swatching for Urban Lacquer and today she posted these treasury links on her timeline. I'm stoked that my photos made it into a treasury! This is a first for me. :)


Glittery Pink Treasury



Christmas Greens

Monday, November 26, 2012

Sinful Colors: San Francisco

You know that bottle of polish you got because it looked pretty in the bottle, was on sale, but you've not ever worn it? And you've had it for....longer than you can remember?
I recently discovered one of those and boy am I ashamed I haven't worn it sooner. San Francisco is an almost jelly like shimmer, if such a thing exists! It went on flawlessly and in two coats was opaque.
Its that perfect shade of dark green that's just glowy on the nail. A really surprising discovery!




What do you think of it?

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Eight Whimsical Nights

Peacock Park



Two coats

Dust Bunnies

One Coat over Icing Chrome Pewter

Moon Over Miami

One coat over LA Colors Wired

Peppermint Schtick

One coat over Love and Beauty Sage


Gelt

One coat over Revlon Powder Puff

Peas On Earth
xoxoJen's swatch of Peas On Earth
xoxoJen's swatch of Peas On Earth
xoxoJen's swatch of Peas On Earth
Three Coats

Just Add Milk

Three to four coats

Cookie Monster

One coat over Revlon Powder Puff and this is the only photo of my right hand to ever be published online because I have Just Add Milk on my left hand - a complete cookie monster mani!

Each of these polishes was a breeze to apply, all of them were a good consistency and I didn't have to dig for certain glitters. I thoroughly enjoyed the eight day release and swatching each of these for Pam. They are now officially launched and you can get yours by emailing Pam! (pea422000@yahoo.com)
More detail on her facebook page.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Revlon: Emerald City Suede

Emerald City is a deep emerald green shimmer polish with suede finish. The formula was good and went on easily. I used two coats for this photo and had complete coverage.



I like the suede finish but thought I'd jazz it up a little with topcoat. I was so surprised at how different it looked with topcoat - I might need a backup!

Saturday, November 17, 2012

WnW: Through The Grapevine


Through the Grapevine is a flashy raspberry cream polish. The formula was awesome and went on like butter. I like the flat brush well enough, I just wish it was a little more narrow. I used two coats and no topcoat for this photo. I purchased this at Walgreen's.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Monster Bombs!

Stephanie from Monster Lacquer sent one of her most recent collections to me for free for review, The Bomb collection! My plan was to use complimentary base colors to match with her theme and vision for each of these.

First up is MardiBomb which is a gold and purple micro-glitter topper in a clear base with big purple hexes. What could be more fun? I wore one coat over Sinful Colors San Francisco. Application was easy, but I wanted more purple hexes so I dipped the brush to get a few more. The polish was very sparkly and quite eye catching!


AquaBomb
is an all matte glitter topper with blue squares, teal hexes and smaller white squares. I wore two coats over Fergie Miami Spirit. Very easy to apply, and I just love this color combo!


Next up is FireBomb. This pretty polish is a mix of orange and yellow hexes and small red square glitters in a clear base. Keeping with the fire theme, I wore it over Sinful Colors Cloud 9, a flaming bright orange shimmer. Aren't they spectacular together?


I wore rainbows on my fingers with HoloBomb. The glitters in this topper are so flashy and colorful its a total stunner! I wore two coats over my favorite black cream from Wet N Wild and the sparkle is just unbelievable. Again, very easy to apply and just look at it!



(photo blurred intentionally to show off the holo!)

Finally we have my very favorite of the collection, GothBomb. Its packed full of black square, hexagon, and diamond shaped matte glitter. Black goes with everything, so I had a tough time choosing what to use for a base color. I was thinking about purple when I spotted Sinful Colors Winterberry in my stash and I knew immediately that it would be perfect! I like lots of glitter so I wore two coats for this mani.


The entire Bomb set is available for purchase at Monster Lacquer's Etsy Shop. You can also find Monster Lacquer on Facebook.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Urban Lacquer: Winter Collection

I recently received Urban Lacquer's unreleased Winter collection for free to do a review, and along with that comes a discount for my readers! The collection is launching tomorrow (Thurs 11/15) at 8pm CST and will be available at the Urban Lacquer shop.

I don't usually do unboxing photos for polish because most ship in padded envelopes, but Urban Lacquer is an exception. I hope you enjoy the unboxing photos as much as I enjoyed the experience.

When I first opened the package, I was greeted with a personalized handwritten note and a tiny red rose from the owner, Brenda. This made me smile because only something special would be packaged this way.


I placed the rose behind my ear, read the note and then dug excitedly into the box. I found several pieces of ephemera along with a super glossy over-sized business card with her logo on the front and contact details on the back. Her logo is so clever isn't it?
Then I lifted out the sexy black tissue paper which revealed the polish bottles; each snug in their own bubble wrap burrito.


I unwrapped each bottle and just look! Each one is wrapped in tissue paper with a pretty UL logo sticker! My gosh I cannot imagine the amount of time and care taken to package this! It really felt like I was opening a special present. I haven't even seen the polish, and I'm already quite impressed.

I asked Brenda and she confirmed that she packages every single order similarly; but instead of a greeting card, Brenda will pack your Etsy receipt, a piece of cardstock with a handwritten thank-you note, and her business card in a small black organza bag that lays on top of the package and the rest of the packaging is the same.


And here they are, front and back! What's that, #103? Its a sneak peek at what's to come!



She even prints the ingredients right on the label:


Glittery & Bright is 5 different types of glitter, in a lightly tinted red base. A blend of gold, silver holo, red, and pink glitter.


I wore one coat of Glittery and Bright over my favorite white, Revlon Powder Puff, and I have to say the effect with the tinted base was a happy surprise. It reminds me of those pink and red candy canes! The topper was effortless to apply and sparkles like Christmas lights!


Dazzle Me Darling is three different shapes of glitter (bars, hex, and square shapes) and two sizes of hex glitter in a clear base.


I wore one coat over another Revlon suede called Emerald City. I just love the contrast of the gold against the green, it reminds me of a Christmas tree decked out in gold tinsel! The topper was effortless to apply, and with this one you can kind of control how much glitter goes on the nail, my pinky has more glitter than the other fingers.


Mall Matte-ness! (renamed from Holiday Matte-ness!) is five different kinds of matte glitter in a clear base, square light pink, micro red hex, hot pink shreds, green hex, & orange hex. Some of these glitters have a satin-like sheen to them and are very pretty!


I wore one coat of Mall Matte-ness! over Twinkling Elf which makes for a gorgeous combo!


Twinkling Elf is a buildable green jelly polish with a blend of blue holo and color-shifting micro glitter.


This is only two coats and is perfect! I love this shade of green and the shimmery micro glitter adds a special sparkle. Twinkling Elf was a breeze to apply!


Arctic Angel contains three different types of silver glitter, including silver shreds and micro glitter.


I wore one coat over Orly Royal Navy and surprisingly the shreds in this laid flat against my nail and didn't stick up like most do. I really loved this color combo, it reminds me so much of winter!


Now that the winter collection has been "Jennified", Brenda is offering a 20% discount to my readers. Head on over to Urban Lacquer, choose your favorites and use the discount code XOXOJEN20 in your shopping cart for your discount. Your cart should show 20% off your total order, before taxes (for TX residents) and shipping charges. Promo ends 15 Dec, 11pm CST.