Sunday, September 11, 2016

The Color Box: Grey


The Color Box fan group voted for grey this quarter and here they are!

Just in case you haven't yet been introduced to The Color Box, there's a really good description here. :)

I teamed up with Carrie from Contrary Polish to create a beautiful Rock Dove inspired polish. The base is pale grey sprinkled with purple to green shifting shimmer, linear holographic pigment and black microflakes. It's name is Fly Free and is symbolic of learning to let go of our loved ones when they move on from this earth. Carrie was brilliant at capturing my vision in the bottle, it's perfect. The formula is smooth and opaque in two coats. The surface is smooth and glassy, but I did use top coat for a quicker dry time. Because of the pale base, it is quite difficult to capture the shimmer and holo but it is apparent in person.

xoxoJen's swatch of Contrary Polish Fly Free
xoxoJen's swatch of Contrary Polish Fly Free
xoxoJen's swatch of Contrary Polish Fly Free
xoxoJen's swatch of Contrary Polish Fly Free
xoxoJen's swatch of Contrary Polish Fly Free
xoxoJen's swatch of Contrary Polish Fly Free
xoxoJen's swatch of Contrary Polish Fly Free

Jenalyn teamed up with Julie of Blue Eyed Girl to create Squall at St. George, a blue leaning grey holo packed with coppery shimmer. I wore two coats out of habit but this is a one coater. It dries semi-matte, so add your favorite topcoat for a shinier look. The formula was good, no issues to report.

xoxoJen's swatch of Blue Eyed Girl Squall at St George
xoxoJen's swatch of Blue Eyed Girl Squall at St George
xoxoJen's swatch of Blue Eyed Girl Squall at St George

Amanda and Lollipop Posse made Glittery Gray Matter together! It's a pale grey sparkle bomb of a polish! Because of the light colored base, it was difficult to capture the sparkle in my super bright lighting setup; but in person it'll knock you off your feet. The polish is sheer, so I used three coats for opacity. Formula was smooth and easy to apply.

xoxoJen's swatch of Lollipop Posse Glittery Gray Matters
xoxoJen's swatch of Lollipop Posse Glittery Gray Matters
xoxoJen's swatch of Lollipop Posse Glittery Gray Matters

Scarlet Dusk was the collaboration between Roselynn and Poetry Cowgirl. It's a medium toned crelly packed with red, burgundy and black micro-glitter. I found the formula to be fluid in application and opaque in two coats. On it's own, it is slightly textured so I added an extra coat of top coat for a glassy shine.

xoxoJen's swatch of Poetry Cowgirl Scarlet Dusk
xoxoJen's swatch of Poetry Cowgirl Scarlet Dusk
xoxoJen's swatch of Poetry Cowgirl Scarlet Dusk

Manna and Polish M teamed up to create this medium grey based polish filled with UCC flakies, shifting shimmers and scattered holo pigment. The formula was fluid and easy to apply. I wore two coats for opacity.

xoxoJen's swatch of Polish M Manna's Magnificent Masterpiece
xoxoJen's swatch of Polish M Manna's Magnificent Masterpiece
xoxoJen's swatch of Polish M Manna's Magnificent Masterpiece

The Color Box launch is a one time pre-order event from September 19-September 26th at our Color Box shop. Mark your calendar as the box will only be for sale during the mentioned time frame and / or try your luck at the giveaway below!



xoxoJen's Color Box Giveaway

1. Open to countries outside the US.
2. No giveaway accounts, spam, or empty accounts.
3. You must be 18 years or older.
4. You will have 48 hours to respond to the email from Manna to claim your prize. After 48 hours another winner will be chosen.
5. I nor the polish brands hold any responsibility for the package or it's delivery once the package is out of their hands.
6. The only required entry is a valid email address that you have access to check. This is only required so that we have a method of contact to reach you. All other entries are optional.
7. If you are already following someone, be sure to still put your info. That's basically a free entry!
8. The Giveaway time frame is August 29th through 11:59 pm EDT September 12th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Literary Lacquers Birthday LE: The Edge

Each year Amy of Literary Lacquers creates a limited polish to celebrate her birthday. This year's polish is a stunner!

Purple - check!
Holo - check!
Flakies - check!

The Edge is inspired by a quote from the first novel Kurt Vonnegut wrote in 1952, Player Piano. The meaning of the quote is quite deep and will vary depending on who is reading it.

My interpretaion is that if you want to experience all that life has to offer, you must get out of your comfort zone and explore the outer 'edge'. You can expand your world view by trying new things; the further you get from your comfort zone, the broader your perspective on life. Amy shared the below image with me as her inspiration for the colors in the polish as well.



The polish is a medium purple holo with an array of rainbow colored iridescent flakies throughout. The flakies are more apparent in a lower light setting, but I was able to catch a few in the swatch images. For the photos below, I wore two coats with topcoat.


xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Birthday LE The Edge
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Birthday LE The Edge
xoxoJen's swatch of Literary Lacquers Birthday LE The Edge

You can expect the formula is fantastically smooth as all other Literary Lacquers.
The polish is available now and is sold in numbered bottles for one week only, ending 9/13/16.


Saturday, August 13, 2016

Green Goddess Creations: Custom Vinyl Logo

Three or more weeks ago, I was on the hunt for a vinyl shop to create my logo for a cup I had purchased for Polish Con. I asked in an indie polish group for recommendations, and several people shared their favorites with me. A few days later, I did some research to see whether they had the colors I wanted and if they did custom work. I had landed on a couple and needed to make a decision. I stepped away from it for a week or so to think about it. I had made a decision finally, and logged into facebook one more time to check the thread in case there were any new links. Then I checked my messages, and noticed that there was one pending in the 'other' folder.

Lelia had sent a sweet message to me offering to make a custom vinyl for me at no charge. What a kind and sweet thing to do! We spoke briefly, I sent her some images and in a day or two, and the package arrived. She had sent not one, but two of them! (the one not pictured here is already on my cup in the other photos)

xoxoJen's holo cup

She asked to see a photo after I applied one to my cup, and I thought I'd do one better and write a review for this sweet gift. :)
The application was super easy too. I asked Jas to help hold the cup steady, then I lined up the vinyl and stuck it down. Burnishing it with a gift card was fun, reminiscent of the scraping when doing a stamping polish mani!

I took a few photos from different angles of my new shiny holo cup. What do you think?

xoxoJen's holo cup
xoxoJen's holo cup
xoxoJen's holo cup

I can see how these custom vinyls from Green Goddess Creations could easily become an obsession of mine. They're super fun and can add a personalized touch to anything imaginable!

Thank you ever so much Lelia, the vinyls are perfect!