Thursday, July 31, 2014

Literary Lacquer: Happy Medium and Honey Bee Nail Art


Literary Lacquers recently launched a new collection inspired by the book, A Wrinkle in Time. The collection consists of eight different beautiful polishes. I received all of them to review, but I had to share the first one I wore right away.

When I receive a set of polishes to review, I always reach for purple and then green if the set has those colors. This set has both, but something was different this time. I lined the bottles up on my desk and, surprisingly, the yellow one spoke to me and immediately inspired me to create something with it. I was kind of shocked because yellow is usually the last color I reach for. In the next moment I grinned because I remembered that this kind of inspiration is also how Amy creates her polishes.

Happy Medium is a beautiful bright golden mustard yellow linear holographic polish with yellow flakes. Capturing the holographic rainbow proved difficult for my camera, but it's definitely there. The formula was very nice and applied easily. I used two thick coats for the photos. You can read the passage from the book at Amy's shop if you want to learn more about the inspiration for this color.

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer Happy Medium
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer Happy Medium
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer Happy Medium

And now for my inspiration!
Happy Medium's beautiful yellow shade just screamed bees and honey to me. So I looked through my stamping plates from Vivid Lacquer and found plate VL002 and VL008 which have flowers, a honeycomb, bees and a bee trail, perfect!

After selecting the plates to use, I decided to use the saran wrap technique that I learned in Debbie Crumpet's Simples group which has been an amazing learning experience so far. (Come join!) For the saran wrap effect, I chose an Elevation polish called Temperance to achieve the look of honey and I used 23 Chocolate from Mundo de Unas, Sinful Shine Wisp and the Vivid Lacquer white squishy stamper for the stamping.

xoxoJen's nail art stamping with Vivid Lacquer plate vl002 and vl008 bees
xoxoJen's nail art stamping with Vivid Lacquer plate vl002 and vl008 bees


You can find the beautiful Happy Medium polish along with the rest of the A Wrinkle in Time collection at the Literary Lacquers Etsy shop! And don't forget to follow us both on facebook (xoxoJen - Literary Lacquer) if you like what you've read and want to see our upcoming posts of the A Wrinkle in Time collection and announcements. :)

Monday, July 21, 2014

Cupcake Polish's Sweet Addictions August Box


Cupcake polish is releasing a new Sweet Addictions box for August and I was allowed the opportunity to review it! In the box is a Cupcake teal holo polish called Topsy Turvy, A Philly Loves Lacquer glitter polish called Trilby and some super cute nail shields from Love, Angeline. Together, they'll whisk us away to the Circus! Let's go!

Cupcake Polish's Sweet Addictions August Box

Topsy Turvy has to be the most electric teal holo I think I've ever seen. Doesn't it remind you of the super sparkly outfits all the ladies in the circus wear? You can expect a very strong, vibrant linear holographic effect and a subtle dance of golden shimmer from this polish. It is opaque in one thick coat, however; I used two thinner coats for the photos.

xoxoJen's swatch of Cupcake Polish Topsy Turvy
xoxoJen's swatch of Cupcake Polish Topsy Turvy
xoxoJen's swatch of Cupcake Polish Topsy Turvy
xoxoJen's swatch of Cupcake Polish Topsy Turvy


A Trilby is a hat with a short brim that's flipped up on one side. It's quite stylish and might be spotted at a circus. Trilby, the polish, is definitely more appealing with it's purple jelly base and confetti-like glitter. It even has tiny star shapes! I wore two coats over China Glaze Virtual Violet which adds a little shimmer behind the jelly, pretty neat effect! The polish looks great worn over white as well. If you want less glitter, just one coat over your favorite opaque polish will do it!

xoxoJen's swatch of Philly Loves Lacquer Trilby
xoxoJen's swatch of Philly Loves Lacquer Trilby
xoxoJen's swatch of Philly Loves Lacquer Trilby

And lastly, a special nail art manicure done up with some Stuck on Love Nail Shields from Love, Angeline! This is my first time ever to use nail art shields like these, I'm only used to french tip shaped ones. As soon as I saw the shapes (elephants, squiggles/stars), I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them! I had a lot of fun creating this look and it really wasn't difficult at all. Some of the tiny pieces seemed fiddly to me at first, but a good ol pair of tweezers took care of that right quick! Super easy, fairly quick and heaps of fun to use!
I used WnW Black Cream, Cupcake's Topsy Turvy and OPI Flamingo Tini Pink and a bit of dotting to create the finished look.

xoxoJen's swatch of Love, Angeline Nail Shields Art
xoxoJen's swatch of Love, Angeline Nail Shields Art

The Sweet Addictions box is limited and launches Sunday July 27th, 11:00am Central at the Cupcake Polish Online Boutique! Follow Cupcake Polish on facebook for this and other news!


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Friday, July 18, 2014

Bloglovin

Bloglovin wants me to post this so they can verify this is my blog. I'd love a follow if you enjoy my blog, if not just ignore this post. xD

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Thursday, July 10, 2014

My Ten Friends: Holtzman Effect and Clusterfrak


I'm quite excited about today's post because I get to share a blast from the past and something totally new from My Ten Friends!

Clusterfrak is one of the original colors in the first launch of the My Ten Friends brand and Mei-Lynn has reformulated it and brought it back for us to enjoy! It's a vibrant almost limey green that sparkles with gold holo, purple shreds, and bright matte blue glitters. This polish is also packed to the brim with micro glitter and shimmer so it's opaque all on its own in just two coats. I do have the original and I think they're different enough from each other to own them both if you love the colors of the polish.

xoxoJen's swatch of My Ten Friends Clusterfrak
xoxoJen's swatch of My Ten Friends Clusterfrak
xoxoJen's swatch of My Ten Friends Clusterfrak


Brand new to the MTF line is The Holtzman Effect. I teased Mei-Lynn by telling her that she must have created this one especially for me because LOOK at the colors!! An indigo base with green shimmers and holo. How could a polish be more perfect for me, right? She appreciated my attempt and got a good laugh from it at least! :P

I'll write the real inspiration as described by Mei-Lynn below, as not to confuse anyone, but I'm still gonna be in my own world when I look at and wear this polish!
The Holtzman Effect is a fictional scientific phenomenon from Dune. While it can do many things, the part I like best is "its ability to fold space and time, and thus allow for instantaneous travel from one side of the universe to the other." (Dune Wiki)


I took a bottle shot because it really shows off the green shimmer and the purple leanings of the base color. On the nail, it looks more indigo or blue.
xoxoJen's bottle of My Ten Friends Holtzman Efffect

xoxoJen's swatch of My Ten Friends Holtzman Efffect
xoxoJen's swatch of My Ten Friends Holtzman Efffect
xoxoJen's swatch of My Ten Friends Holtzman Efffect

You can find these two polishes at http://nailpolishtothestars.com on July 11 at 10-ish am Central Time.
If you love what you see here be sure to follow us both at the xoxo, Jen page and the My Ten Friends page on facebook!

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Liquid Sky Lacquer: Tripindicular


I purchased Tripindicular a while back - you may remember a previous post where I compared it to Wyld Pixie.

Tripindicular is quite the peach leaning pink, definitely a sister to the color salmon. The linear holo is amazingly strong, especially in bright sunlight. I wore two coats and the formula was spectacularly smooth and buttery.

xoxoJen's swatch of Liquid Sky Lacquer Tripindicular
xoxoJen's swatch of Liquid Sky Lacquer Tripindicular
xoxoJen's swatch of Liquid Sky Lacquer Tripindicular

This polish is available at the LSL shop along with many other beautiful polishes!

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Sunday, July 6, 2014

Literary Lacquer: Summer Bachelors (Indie Go Box LE)


Literary Lacquer's polish for the July Indie Go Box is called Summer Bachelors and is a beautiful smokey royal blue with tiny holo and even smaller navy blue glitters scattered throughout. The polish is fluid, applies easily and is opaque in two coats. If you liked Rare Book Room's style from the Holo Grail Box, you'll love how this one is made too!

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer Summer Bachelors
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer Summer Bachelors
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquer Summer Bachelors

The Indie Go box theme this month is Hot Summer Nights and includes three other pretty polishes, one each from Ethereal Lacquer, Octopus Party Lacquer, and Stardust Polish.
The Indie Go Box is available now for pre-order through July 12th only at the Ethereal Lacquer shop.

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Friday, July 4, 2014

Disney Duo: Space Mountain


Disney Theme Parks and movies both hold a special place in my heart. From my very first theater experience of watching Ichabod and Mr. Toad with my uncle to my most recent cross country theme park vacation, Disney is definitely special to me. I was so excited to have the chance to review a Disney ride inspired polish duo made by Sweet Heart Polish and Literary Lacquers. The set is limited edition and is part of Sweet Heart Polish's ongoing Disney Duo series.

Blast off through an energy tunnel pulsating with blinking lights and ascend a 180-foot high mountain. At the top, launch into the inky blackness of the dark universe, the mysterious sounds of space and celestial music filling the void. Travel through space, whizzing past stars, comets and meteors. Feel the push and pull of gravity as you re-enter through a worm hole and return safely back to the space station.

These polishes were inspired by the Space Mountain ride which is one of my favorite rides at Magic Kingdom.


Sirius is made by Sweet Heart Polish and is a royal blue holographic polish with silver shimmer sprinkles, like space dust. The color on my nail seems more saturated in person than in my photos, it's a very vibrant and vivid royal blue. I wore two coats and topcoat for extra shine.

xoxoJen's swatch of Sweet Heart Polish Sirius
xoxoJen's swatch of Sweet Heart Polish Sirius
xoxoJen's swatch of Sweet Heart Polish Sirius

The Literary Lacquers Polish, Very Sirius, is a lilac glitter holo packed with holographic sparkle and a smattering of tiny silver holo stars. I wore three coats for opaque coverage but it also makes a very pretty topper in one or two coats over your favorite shade. Lacey shows it worn over Sirius and it's beautiful that way!

xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Very Sirius
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Very Sirius
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Very Sirius


The duo will be released at both Literary Lacquer and Sweet Heart Polish web shops at 2pm Central time on Saturday July 5th.


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