Swatch: Starrily Poisoned Apple

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Long time no talk!! Happy New Year everyone! One of my New Year's resolutions was to make sure to have my nails done for every class session this semester. Last semester I hardly did my nails at all, and I felt very naked. :-P This time around I want to have better time management in general (doesn't everyone say that??) and part of that means doing my nails and BLOGGING! This afternoon is my first class, so here I am with today's mani (and very short nails). Hope you like it!

This is Starrily Poisoned Apple. It's a gorgeous, pigmented dark red (almost cranberry) linear holo with some added holo glitter. So sexy and vampy! I don't often wear red polish, but this type of cool-toned shade is right up my alley.

I had no complaints at all about the formula. The brush is fairly wide, so make sure to wipe it off well before polishing or you'll get messy cuticles. And since this is a red, it can be a pain to clean up. Luckily the polish isn't runny at all.

Right now the Starrily shop is closed, but keep an eye out for this one!

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Swatch: F.U.N Lacquer Reunion (H)

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Hi gang! Sorry for the radio silence--we took a little trip to visit my in-laws. We ate a TON of barbecue, and I'm pretty sure I gained a few pounds...

Anyway, today I'm showing you a polish I got in a swap recently! This is F.U.N Lacquer Reunion (H) (my first from this brand!), which came out around New Year's. It has a multichrome base that shifts blue-purple-red-orange, as well as LOTS of gold holo microglitter, so it's incredibly sparkly!

F.U.N Lacquer Reunion (H). Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

I did my best to capture some of the color shift! Look at how strong the holo is, even in artificial light!

The formula was pretty much perfect--barely any cleanup required. It was on the sheer side, so I used three coats to make sure the color showed up well.

This polish is so eye-catching and definitely a great intro to F.U.N Lacquer for me!

Reunion (H) is available here at $12.90 for 12 ml.

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Swatch: Three new Femme Fatales

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Happy Monday everyone!

So after being in the nail polish game for a while now, it takes a lot for a new polish to really wow me, much less an entire collection. But lately I've been absolutely drooling over everything Femme Fatale has released! That's why I had to break my no-buy for Color4Nails' latest restock and grab some of Femme Fatale's newest polishes. I've managed to get three swatched for you, go me!

All of these had a great formula and stayed exactly where you put them. The only negative was that, since they have sheer bases, I got some bald spots on my tips. But honestly I didn't care!

First up is Lantern Waste. This has a dark slate grey base with orange-to-green flakies and red-to-gold shifting shimmer!

Femme Fatale Lantern Waste. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

This has such a creepy vibe! Despite the strong shimmer, it wasn't brush-strokey at all.


Next is Heart's Desires. It has a dusty rose base with green-to-blue flakies and lots of copper holo microglitter.

Femme Fatale Heart's Desires. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

I love the way this polish takes a "grandma" color and makes it exciting again!


Last but not least, I have Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall... I was so happy to get this one because I missed the first two restocks and was terrified that I'd missed it forever. When I first saw the swatches, I wrote that it looked like a polish a unicorn would wear, and I still think that's true! It has a very pale turquoise base with pink-to-gold shifting shimmer and lots of silver holo glitter.

The shimmer was so strong in my normal lighting that it freaked out my camera, so I got some natural light shots. I love how different it looks at various angles!

Femme Fatale Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall... Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

There's definitely a touch of magic in that bottle, don't you think? The polish was pretty smooth after one coat of topcoat.


Well, are you as in love with these Femme Fatales as I am? If you want to grab one, keep a close eye on the Femme Fatale shop and/or their stockists, because I'm sure they've been selling out really quickly!

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Today's mani: Starry night (For the Love of Polish box)

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm wearing a mani featuring the polishes from May's For the Love of Polish box! This is a new indie box by Illyrian Polish and Polished For Days, plus a different guest brand each month, and some nail vinyls to match the theme. The theme for May's box was "galaxy", and when I saw swatches, I fell in love with all three polishes!

So the polishes in the box were: Starrily Gravity (index and pinky), Illyrian Polish Orion Nebula (middle and ring fingers) and Polished For Days Out of This World (stars). The box also came with a sheet of star-shaped vinyls that I used on my ring finger. Love how all three polishes are holos, but they got such different effects for each one!

Unfortunately this box is now sold out, but definitely keep your eye out for the next one!

Swatch: Femme Fatale In His House He Waits Dreaming

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Happy Hump Day everyone! (Are your tax returns done??) Today I want to show you a polish that I was really excited to get my hands on, because it's exactly my style!

Femme Fatale In His House He Waits Dreaming is a red-brown (mahogany?) jelly with teal shimmer and teal holo microglitter (and I think also tiny silver holo glitter). First, I LOVE the combo of brown and teal. It seems to creep into some of the polishes I make! I also love the Cthulhu reference in the name of the polish. The shimmer definitely gives it a creepy, otherworldly vibe, don't you think?

Femme Fatale In His House He Waits Dreaming. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula was thick, like most jellies, but went on like butter and was very easy to control. My one criticism would be that I think the base could use more pigmentation. Even at three coats, it still looks a bit patchy (which you can see in my photos), and my tips look naked even though I wrapped them.

Still, I feel like even brown polish haters might be able to get into this one. It's like a galaxy in a bottle!

I bought this polish at Color4Nails, although it's not currently in stock there. You can also check Femme Fatale's site for restocks and other stockists!

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Swatch: MDJ Creations Lilies of the Field

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Hi gang! So it's officially spring now, although it definitely doesn't feel like it here (it snowed yesterday!). In any case, I celebrated by wearing a pretty polish with a flowery theme. Melissa of MDJ Creations kindly suggested we swap polishes, and one of the ones I picked up was Lilies of the Field.

This is a light red (watermelon?) jelly polish with strong holo shimmer and a variety of holo glitter. (It also glows in the dark, but I didn't capture that.) Definitely put me in the mood for warm weather!

MDJ Creations Lilies of the Field. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula was on the thick side, but still spread pretty nicely and self-leveled, and I didn't have to dab at all to get the glitter in place. Definitely a good first impression of the brand for me!

I actually would have posted this yesterday, but I ended up spending the whole day binge-rewatching Once Upon a Time, probably my favorite TV show since Buffy. Any other OUAT fans out there?

(Lilies of the Field is available here for $8.75/15 ml!)

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Swatch: L'Oreal Masked Affair

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Hey gang! Happy Friday the 13th! Anyone have any fun plans for Valentine's Day? Our car's in the shop, so we'll probably spend tomorrow taking the bus to the grocery store. :-P

So today I have a polish that you've probably seen a billion times on the Internet by now, but I was in a Rite-Aid the other day and just couldn't help myself. That's right, it's L'Oreal Masked Affair!

This is a silver linear holo with hints of lavender (although the lavender only shows up in certain lights). The holo effect is extremely strong, even indoors! There also seem to be some larger holo particles mixed in, which add texture and visual interest, so it's not just your average silver holo.

L'Oreal Masked Affair. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

After reading several reviews of this polish, I prepared myself for a bad formula, but it actually turned out much nicer than I expected. It applied easily and stayed in place on the nail. (Just use thin coats.) Once the polish dried, I did notice a bit of streakiness, which you can sort of see here, but honestly it didn't really bother me. Overall, I found Masked Affair quite glamorous, and a very impressive effort from a drugstore brand!

Are you also lusting after this polish?

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Swatch: KBShimmer Snow Much Fun

The product in this post was given to me as a gift. All opinions are my own.

Hey guys! Right now we're slowly being buried under a mountain of snow thanks to Winter Storm Juno. All the public transportation in the Boston area is shut down, and my husband's work was canceled. It reminds me of when I was a kid and used to hope for a snow day every time snow was forecast. I would wake up early and watch the news to see if my school was on the list (this was before you could just check on the Internet). Of course, now that I work at home, it's not quite as exciting anymore! :-D

I thought a perfect way to "celebrate" the blizzard would be to try out one of my latest acquisitions, KBShimmer Snow Much Fun. This is a light blue (slightly aqua-leaning) jelly with lots of white and blue glitter, including snowflake glitter, plus silver holo microglitter.

KBShimmer Snow Much Fun. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

This polish is absolutely gorgeous, perfect for a snow queen! I had a couple minor issues with the formula. First, it was very sheer, even at three coats. Second, I definitely had to fish a little to get the snowflake glitters. But it applied very smoothly, like all KBShimmers I've tried!

I hope my fellow New Englanders are staying safe and warm today! Here are a couple shots I took of the snow:

Swatch: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Spark in the Dark collection & Siren LE

The products in this post were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.

Happy Friday! Today I'm excited to show off an upcoming collection from a new-to-me indie brand, Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer! I was so honored that Julie asked me to review for her!

The Spark in the Dark collection is perfect for winter because it's full of different shades of blue, which made me really happy! Of course, blues are the hardest shades to photograph, so I had to color-correct some of these, and the colors still might not be 100% accurate. So I would definitely look for multiple swatches before purchasing if that concerns you!

A note on the formula: the brand states that their polishes are "designed to be opaque in one to two coats, so they may need to be thinned to your desired consistency." I found that they were definitely on the thicker side but still perfectly workable, so long as I was careful to wipe a lot of excess polish off the brush. I didn't feel the need to add thinner to any of them, but that's just my preference!

OK, let's start with an LE polish called Hypothermia! This polish will ONLY be available if you purchase the entire collection. It's described as a purple holo with purple shimmers, although to me the base color is more like faded indigo.

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Hypothermia. One coat with Out the Door topcoat.

The purple shimmers were hard to catch on camera, but they're definitely there in real life. The holo effect is nice and strong. This polish was a great one-coater!


Next is Bound to the City Life, a dark teal jelly with multicolored holo microglitter. It has great depth and sparkle!

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Bound to the City Life. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Since this is a jelly, it was thicker than the others and took a little more finesse to apply evenly. I didn't find it unpleasantly goopy or sticky though. 


This is Counting Down Until I See You, which has a clear base packed with pink microglitter, as well as some larger pink glitter, gunmetal grey glitter, and silver reflective beads. Definitely the blingiest member of the collection!

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Counting Down Until I See You. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat (left) and Revlon matte topcoat (right).

  

Since this one's very sparkly, I added matte topcoat to my ring and pinky nails so you can see the details a little better. (Plus I think it looks great matte!) The glitter applied very evenly, and two coats was sufficiently opaque for my taste. 


Next up is It's Almost After Midnight, a smoky dark grey with strong blue shimmer. This is definitely one of my favorites in the collection--it's so moody!

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer It's Almost After Midnight. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

  

This polish was sheer on the first coat but built up well on the second. I couldn't stop staring at my nails. :-D 


Here's Never Danced Like This Before, a navy holo with teal shimmer. It's gorgeous, with a jeweltone-like quality to it.

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Never Danced Like This Before. One coat with Out the Door topcoat.

This was another one-coater. I'm really impressed with how she manages to get such depth and opacity in a polish at the same time! The holo particles here are a little bigger and less dense than in Hypothermia.


Next is She's Electricity, a hot pink holo with pink and aqua shimmers and purple-blue iridescent microglitter. This one feels like a splash of summer in amongst all the blues!

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer She's Electricity. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The extra shimmers and glitter are visible, but they don't pop out quite as much as I was hoping. Maybe if I added some thinner? The holo effect here is the weakest of the three holos in the collection. 


Next up is The Years Have Been Short, which is a slightly white-tinted base with blue, white and iridescent microglitters, blue shimmer, and silver reflective beads. This polish just screams "snowstorm" to me!

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer The Years Have Been Short. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

  

Again, the glitter applied very evenly and I was happy with the opacity at two coats. I think this would also look nice layered! 


Finally, here's Wanna Fall in Love Tonight, a red-toned purple with golden red shimmer. This dries to a semi-matte finish, so I've left it au naturale on the two left fingers and added topcoat on the two right fingers. (Pardon my huge nail ridges!)

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Wanna Fall in Love Tonight. One coat with Out the Door topcoat (ring and pinky fingers).

Although my nail line is visible here, I couldn't really see it in normal lighting. I probably could've gone for two coats though. As you can see, the shimmer is very fine and adds a luminous quality to the polish. 


In addition to the Spark in the Dark collection, I also received a limited edition polish in the Siren Series, which will only be restocked once. Sirens Are Made For Water, Not Snow is a blue creme with a purple flash that dries semi-matte. As above, I added topcoat only to the ring and pinky nails.

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Sirens Are Made For Water, Not Snow. One coat with Out the Door topcoat (ring and pinky fingers).

  

I was a bit disappointed to find that the purple shimmer is much weaker on the nail than in the bottle. (My camera couldn't pick it up at all because it was confused by all the blue.) This might be another case where adding thinner could help.


Overall, I think this is a really solid collection, especially with all those gorgeous blue polishes! My favorites would have to be It's Almost After Midnight, Never Danced Like This Before, and The Years Have Been Short. Which do you like best?

All these polishes will be released on January 12 at Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer's shop! You can get the entire eight-piece Spark in the Dark collection for just $67 (13 ml size) or $37 for minis.

Be sure to follow Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest to stay up-to-date!  

The products in this post were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own. 

More pics from vacation

Happy New Year everyone!! 2014 sure went by quickly, didn't it?

We got back from our long trip yesterday after driving 5.5 hours through the big storm that was all over the eastern U.S. Now it's time to get back to life (and start eating better again!), but first I'll show you some more manis I wore over the holidays, and a couple other photos!


This was what I wore on Christmas: Happy Hands Metal Heart.

Then for my 10-year high school reunion, I wore Powder Perfect Maneater with an accent of Indigo Bananas Moonlight:

You can't see it in the sun, but Maneater actually has a lot of blue-green iridescent glitter, so I took another pic that shows it better:

Finally, I have a few photos from our visit to the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit. I used to go there for field trips all the time, but I hadn't been back in many years. As you might guess, the museum mainly focuses on the history of technology, especially cars, trains and planes, but they have a lot of other exhibits too, such as the chair Abraham Lincoln was shot in. It's definitely worth a visit if you're in the area.

Here's the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile:

Rosa Parks' bus:

FDR's presidential limo (they also have JFK's limo, which was actually used by other presidents after JFK was assassinated in it. Kinda morbid, don't you think?):

One of their special exhibits was a Lego display with some models of Detroit skyscrapers:

I'll be back soon with a roundup of some of my favorite manis from 2014!

Swatch: Powder Perfect Grief

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Happy Friday! Did you have a good week? Mine was pretty good, other than the constant precipitation we've had here! At least we don't have a foot of snow like some places yet!

Today I've got a swatch that my fellow blue polish lovers will enjoy: Powder Perfect Grief. This is a denim blue scattered holo with hidden blue-green iridescent glitter that only pops out in certain lights! It's very understated but still fascinating to look at.

Powder Perfect Grief. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula is good as long as you keep your coats thin. I noticed a tendency for the polish to drag with thicker coats. The opacity and dry time were good.

I don't see Grief on Powder Perfect's Australian shop site at the moment, but definitely check their international stockists!

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

ALIQUID Lacquer Saturnalia Duo!

Hi kids! I've been a very bad blogger lately, haven't I? It's not all my fault though. We left for Thanksgiving a day earlier than we had planned thanks to the weather, so I didn't get to write a post last Tuesday like I wanted to. Then as soon as we got home I caught a cold. So I've basically been lying around amidst piles of used kleenex for the past several days. I seem to be slowly getting better though, hooray!!

Anyway, first off I want to say that my Fantastiversary was great, and I'm so grateful for everyone who placed orders in the past couple weeks! There's still a day left to get your entries in for my nail art contest on Instagram!

On Monday I released two new polishes in my shop. I had been thinking about whether I should do a holiday collection, but I always feel like those are a bit cliche. Too many reindeer- and Santa-related puns. Then it hit me that I could incorporate one of my interests into some holiday polish AND make it an ongoing thing, not just for December!

The result is the When in Rome collection, which is going to be a catch-all for any Rome-related polishes I make. I am a huge nerd for Ancient Rome and Latin (it's my favorite language), and in fact I have a B.A. in classics. One thing that's always interested me about the Romans is all the ways their culture is a bit alien from a modern perspective. It's strange, because they helped create the foundation for all of Western culture, and in movies they're usually portrayed as "Brits in togas", but they really did think about things differently than we do in a lot of ways, the biggest to me being religion. You can learn a lot about people from their religious practices!

Long story short, I'm going to release one or two polishes per month that are inspired by a Roman festival that was celebrated in that month. They had plenty of festivals, so I could keep this going for a couple years at least!

December's big festival (and the biggest one of the year) was Saturnalia. It was like Christmas, New Year, and Mardi Gras rolled into one, and actually helped inspire later Christmas traditions. Saturnalia lasted for several days around the winter solstice and honored Saturn, the god of agriculture, wealth, liberation, destruction and renewal. Saturn was an ancient Italian god and king of the mythical Golden Age, when all people were equal and enjoyed the fruits of the earth without having to work. He was also believed to be an ancestor of the Latin people (including Romans and their neighbors).


Here are the two Saturnalia polishes!

Io Saturnalia!: A metallic foil finish with a blend of silver and gold particles, as well as flecks of blue and purple and holographic microglitter and shimmer.

Once the solemn rites and sacrifices of Saturnalia were done, the nonstop partying began. Everyone got a break from work and spent the festival feasting, drinking, gambling and exchanging gifts (often small things like candles and figurines). The streets echoed with shouts of "io Saturnalia!", sort of a more enthusiastic version of "happy holidays!"

 

Saturn Unbound: A deep berry jelly with shimmers of gold, copper, red and green, plus holographic microglitter.

The legs of Saturn's statue were tied with wool for most of the year, but during Saturnalia he was released. Roman society was also released from most of its social expectations, an echo of the lost Golden Age. Masters served dinner to their slaves and had to endure a lot of backtalk. Male citizens abandoned their togas for less formal, more colorful clothes, and slaves and citizens alike wore felt caps usually reserved for freedmen.

But there was a dark side to Saturn's liberation too. It was rumored that early Romans had practiced human sacrifice to the god, and in the later empire, gladiators fought to the death in Saturn's honor.

These are both for sale now, and you get $3 off if you buy both together! I think they're perfect for the holidays even if you don't worship Saturn...

I'll hopefully be back tomorrow with my top lemmings from November!

ALIQUID Lacquer's First Fantastiversary + Giveaway!!

Hi kids!!

Can you believe it...one year ago today I opened my Etsy shop and started selling ALIQUID Lacquer! That means today is my anniversary...no, my FANTASTIVERSARY!! There is going to be so much fun stuff happening in the next week and a half, so keep reading!

First off, I want to say thanks to everyone who has bought my polish. It's been amazing to see people get excited about something I made! That really hasn't happened much before in my life, since I've always been a "thinker" rather than a "doer". And a giant thank-you to the awesome bloggers I've gotten to work with over the past year!

I've learned a lot owning a business, but one unexpected thing that I realized is how each person has their own way of using nail polish. I was genuinely surprised at first that a polish that is opaque in two coats for me might need three coats for someone else, or that someone added thinner to a polish that I thought was the perfect consistency. I've really had to look at my polishes with an objective eye, which can be difficult when dealing with something that is so personal. But I think that has made me a better indie!


Anyway, on to the fun stuff! Anniversaries are the perfect time to reflect on the past year and make resolutions for the coming year. I thought about my struggles as a new indie brand and created three polishes to remind me of the qualities I'd like to foster in myself!

Artsy: A coral crelly with various shades of turquoise, yellow, purple and grey matte hexes.

It can be tough sometimes to stay creative when inventing new polish shades. In the next year, I want to broaden my horizons and approach polish making from a fresh perspective!

Dogged: A brown scattered holographic polish with coppery red flecks and a blue sheen.

Being a new indie can be discouraging, especially if you compare yourself to older, more successful brands. In the next year, I will keep believing in my own talents!

Gregarious: A lime green jelly filled with holographic and iridescent green, yellow and gold glitter in multiple shapes and sizes, plus magenta flecks.

Running any business requires one skill I'm not great at: talking to people! I have had to leave my comfort zone many times this year. In the next year, I promise to stay open and approachable to customers and the nail community at large!


I also have a delicious new lip balm scent: champagne frosting! I seriously love this one, you guys.

Fantastiversary Events!

So there will be tons of stuff happening now through Cyber Monday (Dec. 1)! Most importantly, lots of sales!!

• the Fantastiversary trio is 30% off through Dec. 1
• every day there will be a different sale at the shop--check back each day!
• there will be an even BIGGER Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale!
• occasional flash giveaways on our Facebook page!
• you can enter my nail art contest on Instagram to win a $50 gift certificate!

And oh yes, here's a giveaway for you right now!!

Giveaway Rules

This giveaway is for one set of the Fantastiversary trio, and it's open internationally!

• You must provide your email address to enter. All other entries are optional.
• One of the entries asks you to fill out a customer survey. You can do this even if you haven't bought anything from ALIQUID Lacquer. At the end of the survey, you'll get a password to enter into the Rafflecopter for verification.
• Giveaway ends Dec. 1 at 11:59 PM EST.
• Winner will be notified by email and must respond within 48 hours, or a new winner will be chosen.

Good luck!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Swatch: Marbles for Polish Legend of Zelda collection

The products in this post were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.

Happy Thursday! Today I'm bringing you a lovely upcoming collection from indie brand Marbles for Polish! It's inspired by Legend of Zelda, which is a game series I somehow never got into as a kid (I was too busy with Mario, I think). But I probably would have liked it.

All four polishes are linear holos with a metallic sheen. Since the formula was the same for each, I'll talk about that first. I found the application to be exactly to my taste, even with the mini brush. Not runny, thick or draggy! You could get away with either two or three coats, depending on how heavy-handed you are (I used two for the swatches here). The holographic particles are very fine, so the holo isn't the most prominent, especially in low lighting. But in the sun you see a strong rainbow arc!

OK, on to the photos! The weather here has been almost uniformly gross for the past week, so I couldn't get outdoor shots. But I think you can get an idea of how strong the holo is, especially by looking at the bottles.

Marbles for Polish Courage. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Courage is a light green holo with a gold metallic sheen. I probably could have used one more coat here, but if you have short nails, two would be fine. I really really love this particular shade of green.

Marbles for Polish Power. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Power is a black (or very very dark grey) holo with a gold metallic sheen. It's not the most original color, true, but the formula is great. So if you're lacking a black holo, I think this would be a good choice.

Marbles for Polish Trinity. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Trinity is a gold holo with strong yellow tones. (It even seems a bit green to me, but that might be the holo.) Not the most flattering shade on me, but definitely a showstopper!

Marbles for Polish Wisdom. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Wisdom is a warm lavender (dare I say orchid??) holo with a purple metallic sheen. This is probably my favorite color of the bunch, because hey, purple! Girly but in-your-face at the same time.


A beautiful set of polishes, no? I'd say these would all make great foundation shades in your holo collection! Some of the colors are new for me actually!

The Marbles for Polish Legend of Zelda collection will be coming out on November 14th on Etsy. They will retail for $10 each for a 15 ml bottle!

The products in this post were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.

Today's mani: golden green gradient with A England

Hey there! Hope you had a great weekend! (Have you entered my giveaway yet?)

Today I wanted to do some sort of nail art, since I've gotten out of the habit recently. I realized that 1) I hadn't used my bottle of A England Dragon yet (a travesty!) and 2) I hadn't done a gradient in a long time. So I decided to do a triple gradient with all A England polishes.

The top color is Beauty Never Fails, the middle is Dragon, and the tips are Princess Sabra (which I swatched here). I think these polishes go perfectly together because they all have tones of gold and green, but they're different enough to make a nice gradient!

My only regret with Dragon is that the pretty orange shimmer you see in the bottle didn't really show up strongly on the nail. It is still amazing though!

An ode to brown polish

Hey there! Fall is almost here, and that means pumpkin pie, apple cider and brown nail polish!! I love brown polish of all shades, but I know that's a pretty unpopular opinion. I see a lot of comments like, "that's a nice color, but I never wear brown."

But I think brown gets a bad rap. Think about how many shades of brown there are; you are bound to find one that you like and that goes nicely with your skintone (don't forget that nude/off-white shades are technically brown too!). Brown polish can work as a great neutral/work-safe shade, or a super vampy shade that's a little less harsh than black.

I have over 30 brown polishes in my stash, and I picked out a range of them to show you how versatile brown can be. Join me, won't you??

(I apologize in advance for the yellow stains on my nails in some of these photos. I accidentally got Yellow #5 all over my fingers!)

Swatch: LynB Designs Double Bluff

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Hi all! I didn't realize it's been a week since I last posted--this week has really flown by! I put the finishing touches on my next ALIQUID Lacquer collection, so you'll be seeing that soon!

Today I have one of my newest acquisitions from an indie brand I'd never tried before. This is LynB Designs Double Bluff, which comes from the collection inspired by the British TV show Qi (short for Quite Interesting)! I looooove this show, and if you like interesting factoids and funny people, you will too! (It's on YouTube, shhhh!)

Double Bluff is a metallic grey linear holo with a strong reddish-purple shimmer. Very sexy!

LynB Designs Double Bluff. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula was on the thick side, but I didn't have any problems getting it to level out. It is pretty sheer--I think if my nails were longer I'd probably need three coats. The holo effect isn't ultra strong, but strong enough to still be visible indoors.

I think this is actually a great fall/Halloween polish. The shimmer makes it look slightly eerie, don't you think?

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Painted Sabotage The Mermaid's Song and more vacation pics!

Hi everyone! Long time no talk! We finally got back home on Friday and I've been working on a variety of projects since then, so I'm just now getting back to the blog. I've got a swatch for you, plus some photos from my trip to Michigan!

First of all, here's Painted Sabotage The Mermaid's Song, which was made to celebrate The Mercurial Magpie's first bloggiversary! This is a teal crelly with purple, blue, copper and silver holo glitter.

Painted Sabotage The Mermaid's Song. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

I liked the formula on this one. I had to dab a little to place the largest glitters, but I had no trouble getting them on the brush. If I had to change one thing, I'd make the base slightly more translucent so the glitter showed through more. But that's a very minor thing! This polish is available here for $10.

I'm going to put the rest of the post behind a jump because it's very photo-heavy!

Two swatches and vacation update!

(Today is the last day to enter my Petoskey Stone giveaway!! The link is in the sidebar!)

Hi everyone! Hope you've had a great week since I talked to you last! We've had a great time on vacation so far! First, though, I of course want to show you what I wore on my nails this week...

I'm happy I cut my nails short, because my manis have lasted a lot longer than usual! I've only worn two polishes since my last post. The first is Literary Lacquers As the Waltz Was Ending, a lovely warm lavender with a soft linear holo effect:

Literary Lacquers As the Waltz Was Ending. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

I think I would put this shade in the Radiant Orchid family (it's a little warmer than it looks here). I found the formula a little patchy, even on the second coat, so if you have longer nails you might need three coats.


Right now I'm wearing Maya Cosmetics Beach Baby. Sadly, Maya Cosmetics is no longer around (I bought this polish in their going-out-of-business sale) but you might be able to snag a second-hand bottle somewhere! This is a full-coverage microglitter in shades of copper, bronze, brown, orange and pink--it really makes me think of people lying around on the beach getting tan!

Maya Cosmetics Beach Baby. One coat with Out the Door topcoat.

This polish covered in one perfect coat! I would actually classify this as a textured polish; even with topcoat it feels gritty. It would look great without topcoat too.


OK, on to my exciting personal life! Mr. ALIQUID and I started our vacation at his parents' place, where we got to see my absolute favorite band of all time, Barenaked Ladies!! (Yes, they are still around!) It was a concert in a park, and we got there early enough to grab a spot in the second row! I was basically going nuts, and my husband was nice enough to humor me...

Next we visited my sister-in-law in New York City. Highlights included walking across the Brooklyn Bridge...

...and having some amazing fried chicken at Root and Bone in Manhattan. Highly recommended!

Then we had a very boring drive to Michigan to see my family. Right now we're getting ready for our trip up north! So keep an eye on my Instagram for some more pics!


Here's Max, one of my parents' dogs, looking cute!