Monday, June 6, 2016

Indigo Bananas:Cherry Blossom Roads and Do Your Duty


We recently had an event at work that required I do a different job, work much longer hours, and not leave the building during work hours. I rose up to the challenge, albeit a bit anxious about the whole thing, I learned a heap and always came home absolutely exhausted. Yet I would return to work bright and early and ready to tackle another day.

I'm back now! Back to normal hours, my usual job, and the free time that I used to have is also back!
What's that noise? That's me cheering so loud you can hear it from where you sit!
Anywho, when I came back to the blog to see what I could post today, I found that the names of these two Indigo Bananas polishes were quite suitable for my recent past and the present.

Do Your Duty as described by the brand is a dark blue/blackened blue linear holographic. It is much darker than other Indigo Bananas holos, but not near-black nor inky (compared to Night Gathers, which is an inky black). The holographic flame gives this polish the illusion that it is more blue leaning than it is.

I wore two coats to insure it was opaque for photos, but I strongly believe it only needed one good thick coat. Absolutely stunning in sunlight and still holo indoors. The formula was fluid and fantastic to apply.

xoxoJen's swatch of Indigo Bananas Do Your Duty
xoxoJen's swatch of Indigo Bananas Do Your Duty

Cherry Blossom Roads is what I'm hoping my future will be like (after I catch up on work left undone of course!). Pink, full of happy colorful shimmers and warm weather joy! I wore two coats and topcoat for an opaque look. The formula was good and easy to apply.

xoxoJen's swatch of Indigo Bananas Cherry Blossom Roads
xoxoJen's swatch of Indigo Bananas Cherry Blossom Roads

Both polishes and many more pretty ones are available online at Indigo Bananas.

Monday, May 30, 2016

Awesome Sauce Box: Cake

Happy Birthday Awesome Sauce Box!! The box celebrates it's one year anniversary this month with a cake themed box that is packed with extra polishes and goodies! I received the full sized box to review, but it also comes in mini.

xoxoJen's review of The Awesome Sauce Cake Box

Pictured are:
The Holo Pineapple's hand painted keychain is so sparkly and cute!
The Caked Up wax tart from Lou It Yoursef is scented with cookies, cake and fresh baked pie crust. It's a deliciously sweet buttery scent.
Ever After's Lemon Pound Cake Soap is a lightly scented soap with hints of lemon raspberry and vanilla. Smells good enough to eat and it's super cute to boot!
Anonymous Lacquer's Cutie balm is lavender/vanilla scented and contains mango butter, coconut oil, bees wax, Cocoa butted, jojoba oil, grape seed oil, apricot kern oil, and fragrance. I really enjoyed using her cuticle balm, it works really well!

Plus SIX polishes!

Anonymous Lacquer Got Cake! - Lavender linear holo with all kinda sparkly flaky goodness. I wore two easy coats with topcoat and man is this sparkly! It has a mirrored finish!

xoxoJen's swatch of Anonymous Lacquer Got Cake!
xoxoJen's swatch of Anonymous Lacquer Got Cake!

Ever After Polish Frost Yourself - Creamy nude scattered holo with pink, blue and purple micro flakes. I wore three thin coats and am absolutely in love with this polish! Formula is great, as I've come to expect from EA.

xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Polish Frost Yourself
xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Polish Frost Yourself

Lavish Polish Cake in Your Face - magenta to light pink thermal polish packed with shimmer and tiny glitters. I had so much fun with this polish that I included an extra photo of it. I kept checking my nails at work to see how it had changed and my coworkers got a kick out of it too! I wore three coats and topcoat, formula was smooth and easy to apply.

xoxoJen's swatch of Lavish Polish Cake in Your Face
xoxoJen's swatch of Lavish Polish Cake in Your Face
xoxoJen's swatch of Lavish Polish Cake in Your Face

Dollish Polish I Never Mint To Eat The Whole Cake - A super fun mint green crelly with green shimmer, black micro flakes & glitters. I love this polish with a passion, it reminds me a little of Dollish's Zombie Flesh, but in a minty version. I wore three thin coats with topcoat.

xoxoJen's swatch of Dollish Polish I Never Mint To Eat The Whole Cake
xoxoJen's swatch of Dollish Polish I Never Mint To Eat The Whole Cake

Lou It Yourself Like a Fat Kid - is a funfetti inspired powdery blue crelly with subtle gold shimmer and pink micro flakies. The formula on this is spectacular for a light blue crelly style polish. So smooth and quite opaque, no streaks, dragging or stickiness, pure perfection! I wore two coats, but may have been able to get away with one if I took extra care to paint more evenly.

xoxoJen's swatch of Lou It Yourself Like a Fat Kid
xoxoJen's swatch of Lou It Yourself Like a Fat Kid

NVR Enuff Raspberry Dreams - a bright raspberry pink jelly filled with silver and cherry Galaxy holo hex, rose flakes and linear holo. I wore two super sparkly coats of this polish. For those of you that enjoy an extra wide brush, you'll love this one!

xoxoJen's swatch of NVR Enuff Raspberry Dreams
xoxoJen's swatch of NVR Enuff Raspberry Dreams

The box is available right now through June 3 over at http://awesomesauceindies.bigcartel.com/. Be sure to check out their facebook group too!

Saturday, May 28, 2016

LevelUp Lacquer: Eclectic Combo

Ash from the newly relaunched polish LevelUP Lacquer asked if I'd like to review some polishes. I jumped at the chance and she chose four to send to me. She is inspired by everything nerdy or geeky and loves to create. You can find her shop stocked to the brim with beautiful polishes, including the four I'm reviewing!

xoxoJen's review of LevelUP Lacquer

Inspired by everyone's favorite game- The Game of Thrones
Narrow Sea- This polish is a solid blue glitter cream. I wore two thickish coats for opacity and topcoat for a glossy shine.

xoxoJen's swatch of LevelUp Lacquer Narrow Sea
xoxoJen's swatch of LevelUp Lacquer Narrow Sea

Song of Fire- This topper has gold and red micro glitters and rainbow flakies. I wore this over LC Milky Ways, an offwhite cream polish. I think it would be awesome over blue for a patina effect.

xoxoJen's swatch of LevelUp Lacquer Song of Fire
xoxoJen's swatch of LevelUp Lacquer Song of Fire

T-1000, a metallic mirror finish with a slightly taupe base is solid in just 2 coats. It shines heavily in all light because of it's reflective pigment. Must be seen to be believed! This polish was inspired by Terminator 2- Judgement Day.

xoxoJen's swatch of LevelUp Lacquer T-1000
xoxoJen's swatch of LevelUp Lacquer T-1000

Unicorn Poo is a fun iridescent glitter topper with tons of sparkle and sass! This is just one coat over PDP's atrament and whitewater.

xoxoJen's swatch of LevelUp Lacquer Unicorn Poo
xoxoJen's swatch of LevelUp Lacquer Unicorn Poo
xoxoJen's swatch of LevelUp Lacquer Unicorn Poo

The formulas on all of these polishes was fluid and easy to control and apply. No stickiness or clumping. I enjoyed trying these out and I definitely like what LevelUP has to offer from packaging to formula. Which polishes do you want to try first?