Great Lakes Lacquer: A Nude Awakening

Press Sample

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!




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.





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.





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.





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.





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

The Color Box: Grey

Press Sample

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.









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.





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.





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.





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.





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!





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

Literary Lacquers Birthday LE: The Edge

Press Sample

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.






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.