Sunday, September 25, 2016

Ever After: Wicked Collection

Ever After's Wicked Collection is packed with six stunning polishes that vary in finish, complexity and color. Read on to see which one will be your favorite!

xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Wicked collection

Dancing Through Life is a creamy gray holo with intense copper shimmer and multi color holo glitters. It is absolutely stunning as it flashes goldish/coppery against the gray base and rainbow of holo glitters. It's my favorite in this collection. I wore two coats for opacity and topped with a glossy topcoat. Formula was smooth especially for a glitter bomb!

xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Dancing Through Life
xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Dancing Through Life
xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Dancing Through Life

Emerald City is a deep emerald green holo with silver shimmer. It has such depth of color it's easy to get lost in it daydreaming of forests and moss. I wore two coats with topcoat for shine, formula was smooth and easy to apply.

xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Emerald City
xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Emerald City
xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Emerald City

Fly My Pretties Fly is a deep chocolate leaning plum with blue to purple crystal flakes and blue and purple shimmers. Such an unusual combination of colors in this polish adds to its complexity. It's one of those that keep you guessing every time you look at it you see a new aspect. I wore two coats with topcoat, formula was buttery and nice.

xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Fly My Pretties Fly
xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Fly My Pretties Fly
xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Fly My Pretties Fly

Popular is a bright pink holo with purple and blue flashes and shimmer. What a fun shade and a shout back to summer as it exits and fall sets in. I wore two coats with topcoat and it had a smooth easy formula.

xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Popular
xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Popular
xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Popular

Unadulterated Loathing is a dusty, nearly blue, purple with glitters shimmer and multi color chrome flakes. It has a lot going on and such a fun polish to wear! Two coats and topcoat for this look and it has a smooth easy formula.

xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Unadulterated Loathing
xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Unadulterated Loathing
xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Unadulterated Loathing

Defying Gravity is a black jelly with green and purple shimmers and flecks with scattered holo sparkle. Dark and mysterious in low light and super sparkly in sunlight. I wore three thin coats with topcoat.

xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Defying Gravity
xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Defying Gravity
xoxoJen's swatch of Ever After Defying Gravity

The Wicked Collection is available as both a set and individually right now at Ever After's online shop. Ever After Polishes are 5-free and cruelty free unless otherwise specified. All their polishes are mixed in small batches and they do our best to maintain consistency in color, texture and durability. Due to these variables there may be some variations from batch to batch but they strive to keep them minimal.

Questions or comments about my review? Please post below!

Monday, September 12, 2016

Great Lakes Lacquer: A Nude Awakening


A Nude Awakening is the name of this brand new collection by Great Lakes Lacquer, which will debut at Polish Con and be launched shortly thereafter in the online store, on September 21.
Mariah's (GLL creator) inspiration for this collection was her love of coffee and neutral type colors as well as her utter loathing for mornings. She says, "They are rude." and I wholeheartedly agree!


xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer A Nude Awakening Collage

Coffee Is Necessary
A toffee tan nude reminiscent of my caramel latte in the morning, this neutral is emboldened with gold to bronze multi chrome flake and a gracious amount of deep gold shimmer. I wore two coats and topcoat for the photos, the formula was like silk in its application.

xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer Coffee Is Necessary
xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer Coffee Is Necessary
xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer Coffee Is Necessary

Make Mine A Grande
My favorite of the bunch, a light blushing mocha with bronze shimmer, holo micro flakes, and a linear holographic effect. The holo is quite subtle, but I was able to catch it in the bottle for the photos. I wore two coats with topcoat, again a buttery smooth formula that looks quite appetizing during application - don't lick it! Reach for your coffee instead.

xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer Make Mine A Grande
xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer Make Mine A Grande
xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer Make Mine A Grande

Don't Forget The Whip
A vanilla cream color filled with gold to bronze multi chrome and teal to violet multi chrome and pink to gold shimmer. Again, fantastic formula, especially for such a light colored crelly style polish. I wore two coats with topcoat for opacity.

xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer Don't Forget The Whip
xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer Don't Forget The Whip
xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer Don't Forget The Whip

Sleeve Me
At first sight I surely thought this would be my favorite, it came in second to Make Mine a Grande. This light purple leaning gray has a subtle red to bronze sheen and pink shimmer. I wore two coats, but it was quite opaque in one. A bit thick, you'll want to take care in using as few brush strokes as possible for smoothest application.

xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer Sleeve Me
xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer Sleeve Me
xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer Sleeve Me

I hope you've enjoyed the review and I hope to see you at Polish Con Saturday!

edit: bonus nailart!
mdu stamping polish
edk stamping polish
vivid lacquer and QA plates

xoxoJen's swatch of Great Lakes Lacquer Make Mine A Grande Nailart

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