Literary Lacquer:Ultimate Outlaw Collection [2]

Press Sample

The Ultimate Outlaw: Polish inspired by literary outlaws and rebels, created by Literary Lacquers.
There are eight polishes in the collection, and I'm sharing two more of them today. If you missed part one, click here! I chose the peachy coral and velvety red for today's post, both are beautiful!

These polishes have some really great inspirations so I've included those along with Amy's comments in the quote blocks, my comments are outside those blocks.

Original Virtue, inspired by Oscar Wilde, a warm pinky-peach glass fleck shimmer
“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience and rebellion that progress has been made.”

Oscar Wilde is one of the original celebrity literary outlaws. Accused as a homosexual (which he most certainly was) by the father of his lover, Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas, he sued for libel, but was clearly the one on trial himself. Wilde withdrew his case but was ultimately arrested and convicted of gross indecency with other men and sentenced to two years hard labor. After his release, he left for France and never returned to Britain or Ireland.

Original Virtue is the perfect bright summer coral color with gold flakes that glisten in the sunlight. I enjoyed wearing this one and even got a few compliments on it! I tried this in three coats on its own first but there was still VNL so I layered two coats over Color Club's East Austin, the perfect undie for it!





I just got some new chevron nail stickers from a recent ebay order so I thought I'd try them out with I'm Drinking Stars, a sheer nude holo also from LL. What do you think?

And So I Step Up, inspired by The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, a merlot glass fleck shimmer.
“And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light.” Offred, the protagonist of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a reluctant rebel. Over the course of the book, she thinks about rebellion often but is too afraid of pain to act directly. Offred is a handmaid, a fertile woman assigned to a Commander of the dystopian Gilead regime to bear a child for the Commander and his wife. In this version of the future set in barely recognizable Boston, women are property, not even allowed to read. Offred’s rebellions are small at first, stealing butter to moisturize her skin and taking a dried out flower from an arrangement, but she eventually begins an affair with the chauffeur, Nick. As the novel ends, the secret police are coming to take her away, but she’s told by Nick that it’s the rebellion coming to help her escape. We do not know if Offred is rescued or sent to her death, but as she steps up into the van and her own uncertain future we can only hope for her safety.

I'm not an avid book reader, but from the excerpt above it sounds like a great book! I can relate to being faced with challenges, risks, being cautious, and being deceived. And So I Step Up looks almost like velvet on the nail. It has depth and is a beautiful, almost smokey looking shade of red. I wore two coats with topcoat, the formula was smooth and easy to apply.





I have had NYX Girls Gilded for a very very long time and I figured it was high time I tried it out! I noticed that it darkened And So I Step Up just a little bit, but I think its pretty that way too. I've always thought that red and gold were a near perfect pairing on nails, and this didn't disappoint!



The entire Ultimate Outlaw collection is available now at Literary Lacquer's Etsy Shop. You can follow Literary Lacquer on Facebook too!

Literary Lacquer: Ultimate Outlaw Collection [1]

Press Sample & Gift

The Ultimate Outlaw: Polish inspired by literary outlaws and rebels, created by Literary Lacquers.
In this collection, there are eight polishes and I'm sharing three of them today but will be reviewing the other five as well. I was pretty excited when I opened the package and saw that all three of my favorite colors were part of this collection, so I swatched them first!

These polishes have some really great inspirations so I've included those along with Amy's comments in the quote blocks, my comments are outside those blocks.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than we— Of many far wiser than we— And neither the angels in Heaven above Nor the demons down under the sea Can ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride, In her sepulchre there by the sea— In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Edgar Allan Poe is the father of the modern horror genre and Annabel Lee is the last poem he completed before his death. Annabel Lee represents one of Poe’s favorite themes, the death of a young, beautiful woman. Poe’s fascination with love, death and insanity permeates all his works; his version of horror is a psychological one. His enduring popularity owes a great deal to his image as a tortured soul who married his teenaged cousin and after losing her to consumption, spent the rest of his short life drowning his sorrows in brandy and opium, before dying penniless at the age of 40.

Annabel Lee is a sparkle packed grey crelly which is sheer enough to wear over a color - imagine the possibilities!
I chose Zoya Dove, a near perfect shade match to show off the base color of Annabel Lee. I wore one coat in the photos, but if you want even more sparkle go for two! Speaking of sparkles, this has iridescent, holographic and opalescent ones!





I received almost all the Vivid Lacquer stamping plates for Christmas and I was inspired by the poem to create nail art with them! I chose black and white to signify death and life and I chose the heart pattern to signify the love he describes.

It was all unknown to me then, as I sat on that white bench on the day I finished my hike. Everything except the fact that I didn't have to know. That is was enough to trust that what I'd done was true. To understand its meaning without yet being able to say precisely what it was, like all those lines from The Dream of a Common Language that had run through my nights and days. To believe that I didn't need to reach with my bare hands anymore. To know that seeing the fish beneath the surface of the water was enough. That it was everything. It was my life - like all lives, mysterious and irrevocable and sacred. So very close, so very present, so very belonging to me. How wild it was, to let it be

Wild is Cheryl Strayed's first-person memoir of her 1,100-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail through California and Oregon to the border of Washington State. After Cheryl’s mother died, she was on a downward spiral - heroin and one night stands which led to the destruction of her marriage. After her divorce, with very little left to lose, she decided to embark on a challenging hike despite having very little experience. She hoped to save her own life as she explored the wilderness. The book is jam packed with truth and vivid description, from the importance of the right footwear to how to accept grief without allowing it to obliterate us. This book literally made me laugh and cry, sometimes in the same paragraph.

Mysterious Irrevocable Sacred is perfection. is flawless. is best. and awesome. in a bottle. on the nail. in any light. formula. irresistible. gahhh!!
Yep - this is how my brain was thinking with the first stroke of the brush. I couldn't form sentences or complete thoughts; I was speechless. If you love this shade of polish, you neeeeeeeeeeeed to have a bottle, because its all that and a bag of chips!
LA Salzy, a nail friend of mine, had a custom created by Amy from LL and this polish is based on that custom of hers - a deep blurple holo with blue and purple glass fleck.
Please don't lick the screen...unless you really really want to! I wore two coats for opacity.





I remembered a couple of other polishes that Amy had made that I was gaga over like this one and they both go perfectly with M.I.S. and also go with the story. Moons meaning a new day is ahead or to reach for the stars and the blackened glitter gradient rising up the nail to signify that dark place of the past and how she rose out of it. First I layered Goodnight Moon over the entire nail and next, the free edge is covered in Camille Sepharial D'Artigo and gently brushed upward to create a slight glitter gradient.

The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.

On the Road by Jack Kerouac is a largely autobiographical work that was based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-20th century America on a quest for meaning and belonging in a changing world. It is a defining work of the postwar Beat Generation that was inspired by jazz, poetry, and drug experiences. It rejected the societal norms of the time and ushered in a new concept of personal freedom and the ideals of the Beat Generation and their longing to find meaning in life.

The Mad Ones is a beautiful mint green holo and its a morpher depending on the lighting. In full sunlight it is more of a creamy mint and in warm lighting it leans lime! The photos were shot under lamps indoors and the color is close to how it looks in full sun, but not quite as pastel. Definitely one of those polishes that people want to grab your hand to study a bit closer! I used two coats and topcoat for the swatches.





More stamping! I'm having fun learning how to use those plates and this was the first time I got all the stamps how I wanted on the first try! I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. :) I chose the fireworks stamp from plate VL015 and a golden polish because of this line: "yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars." I shot both a gloss and mattified image to show more detail.




I hope you've had fun reading the quote snippets and learning a bit about the authors with me. I don't read books, so I found this all very interesting!
The entire Ultimate Outlaw collection launches March 26 at 10am CDT at Literary Lacquer's Etsy Shop. You can follow Literary Lacquer on Facebook too!

April Indie-Go Box: Literary Lacquer Leaping Greenly

Press Sample

Today is the first day of Spring!!! Yippeeee!
What better way to celebrate it than sneak previewing a vibrant green polish for April's Earth Day themed Indie-Go Box? Right!?



Leaping Greenly is a warm spring green where sprinklings of copper glass flecks dance around the holo rainbow! Can't ya just feel it? Warm sunny rays, moderate temperatures, grass and leaves bursting forth, flower buds about to blossom... -wistful sigh-
I am so ready for it, how about you?



Leaping Greenly is inspired by the poem "i thank You God for most this amazing" (1950):

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings;and of the gay
great happening ilimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any - lifted from the no
of all nothing - human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

– e.e. cummings



The new formula Amy is using for new polishes now is awesome! It is buttery smooth and very easy to work with during application. The scent of the new base is the same as the original and the dry time is about the same. I wore two coats to achieve opacity and I've only just applied it before writing this entry so I cannot comment on wear time, but I hear it wears like iron!
I told Amy that the newly formulated base had tough competition because I really love her original formula. I'm very pleased to say that the new formula has won me over. :)



The other three contributors to the April Indie-Go box are: Ethereal Lacquer, Stardust Polish and Love, Angeline. The April box will be available for pre-sale at 2pm CDT on March 21-23 at the Ethereal Lacquer shop.

You can see the Literary Lacquer polishes I've reviewed previously at the following blog entries:
Community Collaboration:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Literary Liquors
The polishes in the five reviews linked just above and more can be found in the Literary Lacquer Etsy shop.