All of These Awesome Indies, What's a Girl to do?

Amy Milder is the brain behind Literary Lacquers and her love of polish and books birthed this awesome new indie line! I had a chance to chat with Amy a bit about how her line started and really have enjoyed getting to know her! When I get a chance to try out  new indies, I love to hear the story behind the line and get to know a bit about the maker. So, here is a bit of my conversation with Amy Milder.

Dom:  Why Literary Lacquers?
Amy:  I wanted a way to combine my two biggest passions, books and polish. I grew up reading and I'v never stopped. I read (on average) 3 books each week.

Dom: What is the significance of the name?
Amy:  I love the alliteration! It's like a poem.

Dom: Do you remember your first polish experience?
Amy:  I have two early polish memories. The first time I remember wearing polish was when I had received one of the those Tinkerbell makeup kits as a very little girl. The kit had scented powder, a ever-so-slightly tinted waxy lip balm and pink nail polish. I loved that stuff. My other memory was of visiting relatives, I think I was about 6 or 7 years old, so this would have been the late 70's. My older teenage cousin painted my fingetnails for me with a W'n'W polish that was dark blue with glitter. I didn't know that polish came in blue or with sparkles! My mother only had red and pink. I thought my cousin was soooo cool. I saved my allowance and talked my mother into taking me to Woolworths in the Cherry Hill Mall (NJ represent!) and bought my very own blue glittery polish as soon as I could.

Dom: What made you want to make polish and how did you get started?
Amy:  I have a unique sense of color and texture. I am what's called a synesthete, to me, sounds have color. When I work with characters or quotes to create polish, I record the passage and play it back to see what colors and textures the words sound like to me and create the polish from there. I started working with micas and pigments in the late 90's when I was working with melt-and-pour soap. One of my polishes now (Jealous Oberon) uses the exact same mica that I used for my first melt-and-pour creation (gold sparkle from TKB). I also worked doing stained glass and mosaics in the 00's, which gave me a deeper understanding of color, reflection and translucency, but boy did THAT trash my fingernails and hands ... I still have scars from the cuts! In the past few years, my love of polish has grown and once the indie polishes started appearing, I believed that I had something original and interesting to bring to the market. I got stuck in the Great Polish Base Drought of '12 and had to wait and wait and wait to get enough base to even consider production and sales, but that gave me time to work on my formulations and dream!

Dom:  Love-In-Idleness, inspiration?
Amy:  The inspiration for LII came directly from the play Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare.
Act II, Scene I

Oberon:  Yet marked I where the bold of Cupid fell.
It feel upon a little western flower, 
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound.
And maidens call it "love-in-idleness."
Fetch me that flower. The herb I showed thee once.
The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature it sees.

This little flower, love-in-idelness, or western wild pansy, creates a potion that causes all the trouble for the young lovers and Titania in the second part of the play. In the world of this play, love is not rational or a matter of choice, rather it is something that happens to you. Once the potion is used EVERYTHING gets mixed up. Soon, both Lynsander and Demetrius are both in love with Helena and completely disinterested in Hermia and Titania has fallen in love with the laborer, Bottom (whose head has been changed into and ass - of the donkey variety - by the mischievous Puck). Hijinks ensues!

I literally dreamed this polish. I fell asleep thinking about what I wanted it to look like an saw it as a finished product in my dream. I woke up and scribbled in my dream journal and then built the formula from there. I wanted to use the iridescent glitters to add the sense of magic and mystery. I also wanted a polish that didn't require bright light to show it's beauty. The glitters in L-I-I look fabulous inside, especially under fluorescent lighting like the ones I have in the office of my day job.

Dom:  Are you a collector of polish and if so what is your most prized polish?
Amy:  I am a collector. I've refrained from counting my stash because I am in serious denial about the number of bottles I own! I am also guilty of "They're not he same, they're SIMILAR" syndrome, especially when it comes to blues and purples. My most prized polish? It's hard to pick ... The polish that really kick started my obsession is Deborah Lippman's Across the Universe, but I wouldn't say it's my most prized ... Even thought it's a little cliched, I'm going to have to say Lynnderella's The Glittering Crown. It's gaudy, it's a pure unadulterated and unapologetic glitter-fest and I love it!

Amy is really an interesting woman with some awesome inspirations and ideas!  Not only is she a super artistic and passionate woman but she is also environmentally conscious! All of Literary Lacquers packing materials are 100% recycled and her Green Wrap is recyclable and compostable!

Love-In-Idelness was my immediate favorite from Amy's collection and I knew that I had to have it. She has made two versions, one with hex and one without. I opted for the no-hex version and couldn't wait to get it in my little hands! Amy describes the polish as,  a very complex polish, with a light purple base; jam packed with fairy magic and iridescent glitters of many shapes and size and purple square glitter. It is beautiful!  I tried a couple different variations with this polish and I hope you like them!  For all the photo's below I used Beauty Secrets Base Coat and Orly Glosser as a topper.

Love-In-Idleness in full sunlight

Love-In-Idleness in full sunlight

Rimmel London Wild Orchid w/ 1 coat of  Love-In-Idleness in full sunlight

Jelly Sandwich w/ OPI At First Sight and Love-In-Idleness in full sunlight

This polish is amazing and paints like a dream.  I did not have any problems with application and the build was awesome. With three thin coats this polish reaches full opacity and the depth of this polish could not be captured in photos!  It is just beautiful and I love it!  

Luckily, for those of you who have yet to try Literary Lacquers, there is a sale currently going on thru November 5th.  With the code 100FBLIKES you receive 20% off your order!   So get shopping ladies!

You can find Literary Lacquers at http://www.etsy.com/shop/LiteraryLacquer 

You can also like Literary Lacquers on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LiteraryLacquers

New Indie Love for Chirality

Amanda Duron is a self professed nerd with an amazing husband and a recent diagnosis that changed her life. Starting her new indie line of polish appealed to her creative and intellectual sides as well as filled her time while dealing with life's struggles.  I got a chance to have Amanda answer a few questions about herself and her new line.

Dom: What got you interested in polish and eventually helped you decide to make it? 

Amanda: I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma earlier this year which is a rare form of cancer. I was forced to take a leave of absence from school which pushed any sort of plans of graduation, setting up a practice, or having children back further than I wanted it to. Needless to say, it was a bit depressing. I was also stuck inside a house for many months unable to go anywhere unless it was to get nasty chemo injected into my body.  This sort of unhappy state caused me to revert to some of the hobbies I used to enjoy several years back, particularly nail polish. So much has changed thanks to social networks and the increase in indie nail polish. After awhile, my nerd side kicked in and I found myself intrigued by starting my own indie polish line.  The rest is history!

Dom: Where did the name for the line come from and what does it mean?
Amanda: Since I'm an Optometry student, the first year of school is pretty much nothing but science courses. One of the courses that ended up being fun was Organic Chemistry. Because I'm such a nerd, I would continue reading up on the subject outside of class and learn about various other aspects, like Chirality, which usually refers to molecules that are non-superimposable mirror image.  LOL, very nerdy!  Plus, I think it's a very pretty sounding name.

Dom: What made you do holos first?
Amanda: I don't know why but holos really appeal to me. I think they're beautiful, and I really wanted my first line of polish to set the standard for what fans of nail polish can expect from me.

Dom: What are some of your inspirations?
Amanda: This is going to sound corny, but my husband is my inspiration. He pushed me these past six months to fight this cancer. And then, pushed me to start this line. He's been such and inspiration that I now call him my muse. I don't know why but the first couple of times I tried making polish, they were disastrous. But, whenever my husband is around, I wind up making the polish that you now see on my Facebook page and Big Cartel store! Plus, he lets me test them out on his nails, which amuses me.

Now that we know a bit about Amanda, let's move onto the POLISH! The first collection from Chirality Nail Polish consist of four amazing holographic lacquers. When Amanda sent me the set for review I immediately ordered my two favorites! After swatching the collection I realized that I needed them all! For all of my swatches I used Beauty Secrets Base Coat, two coats of polish and Orly Glosser for the top coat.  I was also lucky to get a day of beautiful sunshine so, all the shots were taken outside in full sunlight!

The back story's that Amanda uses to describe her colors are amazing so I will add them for your reading pleasure!

"In the woods, a killer stalks a group of young, nubile women. They've come off as lost, injured, and scared of what goes bump in the night, and the killer could not be happier. Little does he know that these ladies are far from lost, far from injured and very far from scared. Morning is coming quick, but not quick enough, because these ladies are ready to strike. They're ready to turn the tables on this killer and attack just before dawn."

Just Before Dawn is a super pretty fall orange base with a subtle linear holo effect.  I am not generally an orange kinda of girl but this polish is nuts.  It painted like a dream and with two coats I was able to get full opacity.

Just Before Dawn 

Just Before Dawn

"The Symbiote is an alien life-form that came crashing down to Earth in search of female host to ooze over them and bring forth from its newfound owner a devilish and mischievous side she never knew existed. Once the Symbiote takes over, she owns the night."

The Symbiote is an amazing charcoal black holo that I could not stop looking at once I had it on! Again, I had no issues with application.

The Symbiote

The Symbiote

"A lonely scientist is working to compose the ultimate love potion. While working in her laboratory, a freak accident involving copper, or Cu2+, infuses to our heroine to create an electronically charged Siren. Who says elements from the periodic table can't be beautiful?" 

Cu2+ is an ridiculous blue, with a hint of teal, holographic polish. Application was flawless and this one is a favorite for sure!  

Cu2+

Cu2+

"Purified in the waters of Lake Minnetonka, Apollonia is the pure definition of sexuality and beauty. She's a no-nonsense kind of girl who will scratch her way to the top to get what she desires. Her voice is strong and can be heard by everyone, even through the rain."

Apollonia is my favorite of the entire collection. Mostly because I love purple but also, something about wearing a polish with that description makes me feel like a sexy beast! LOL! The application rocked and man oh man, I did not want to take this one off!

Apollonia

Apollonia

Well, there you have it!  Chirality is amazing and I cannot wait to see what Amanda comes up with next!  Tell me what you think.  Which one is your favorite?

You can find Chirality Nail Polish for sale at http://www.chirality.bigcartel.com

You can also like Chirality Facebook Fan Page at https://www.facebook.com/chiralitypolish?fref=ts

Bizarre? Nah! Beautiful! Oh Yeah!!!

October marks one of my favorite times of the year!  Some of the reasons that I love October so much are as follows - fall is officially beginning, my wedding anniversary, awesome hoodie weather and HALLOWEEN!  Oh ... and let's not forget the fact that I LOVE fall polish lines.  I did come to appreciate some of this past summers bright and bold colors but honestly, I am a fall polish girl through and through!  I love the richness of the colors that fall brings.

China Glaze has come correct this season with the 2012 Wicked Collection.  There are six really pretty Halloween inspired colors with names like Cast a Spell and Immortal in this collection.  You can buy the collection at Ulta right now and they will be available at Sally Beauty Supply this coming Monday, October 1, 2012.

I was on a trip to Ulta last week when I spotted an entire rack of Halloween goodies.  As I got closer and closer I realized that they had put out the Wicked collection a bit early and without hesitation I grabbed the one color that I knew I needed to have!  Bizarre Blurple is an amazing purple base with loads of blue shimmer.

I DIE!!!  Bizarre Blurple! 

In the bottle, this polish looks ridiculous and it does not disappoint on the nail!  When I brought it home I made my hubby let me test it, with some other newbies, on his nails!  Bizarre Blurple was by far his favorite of the haul.  (YES, I make my husband let me test colors on his nails!)

Now let's see what it looks like on lady hands, shall we?  

w/Flash 

w/o Flash

w/o Flash

SO PRETTY!  Bizarre Blurple has a really nice formula and with two coats I got full opacity.  This color is gorgeous and I didn't even need a top coat.  I have several similar colors in my collection but nothing quite like Bizarre Blurple.  The two colors that came to mind immediately when I bought BB were Orly Mysterious Curse and Royal Velvet.  They look really similar in the bottle so I decided to do a quick comparison to see how similar they really are.

Don't they look the same in the bottle?

But, they are not the same at all!

Well, there ya have it!  In my opinion Bizarre Blurple is the must own of the Wicked Collection.  Let me know what you think?  Do you have any other favorites from this collection?  

Going On Safari... Maybe!

Sally Beauty Supply is one of my go to polish stores and on one of my recent trips I came across the China Glaze On Safari Collection.  I have to be honest and say that I really wasn't terribly excited about this collection.  I was feeling a bit like I had seen these colors before.  They are all beautiful colors however, I have several similar colors in my collection.  With that said, I can't seem to pass up on a nice purple or pretty blue no matter what.

While at Sally's I noticed the latest sale on China Glaze.  If you purchased two colors from the new collection you got a bottle of Diamond Dry for free.  Talk about helping me make a decision!  LOL!  I left the store with the Jungle Queen and Man Hunt (plus my free bottle of Diamond Dry).  The most unique of the two is Jungle Queen.

Jungle Queen is a really earthy taupe/dusty purple color with a really nice light purple shimmer in certain light.  I love this color!  As usual, this polish applied really well.  It is a really nice formula and nearly a one and done.  I applied a nice coat and then went over with a really thin coat just out of habit. At first it looked really flat but when I started taking pictures the shimmer really came through!  

Flash

Manhunt is a really pretty deep blue creme.  The formula is great and the color is ridiculous.  It really is a sort of mix between a navy blue and a cobalt blue.  This a great polish to wear alone and would look great with a nice pair of jeans!

Sunlight

Flash

I am not sure at this point if I am going to pick up any of the other colors in this collection but you will be the first to know if I do!  LOL!  Let me know what you think and if you have any of the other colors in this collection.  What are your favorites?  

Purple Ombre tips with a side of matted NARS, please.

For my birthday I ordered a little bit of stuff from Sephora. Initially I was thinking of getting a couple Sephora by OPI colors but then I did some such random color search and came across the NARS Thakoon Collection. My eyeballs fell out onto my laptop. Seriously the amazingly beautiful and vibrant colors were show stoppers. Of course once I popped my eyeballs back in and rolled my tongue back up at the slightly steep $18/bottle cost my inner negative Nelly popped off with "they only look that pretty because they want you to fork over that $18! They won't be as nice in person..." She's such a bitch, I hate that damn negative Nelly... but she DID have a point...

NARS - Koliary (matte) with Ombre Purple Tips

However, let me just cut to the chase and say that I added and removed NARS - Koliary from my cart probably half a dozen times. I knew I only had so much money to spend and truly spending a decent amount on 1 bottle of polish was just kind of silly. But every time I saw the color it was like it sucked me in with it's mind control and bam! The bottle would be back in the cart!

NARS - Koliary 2 coats with base coat

Well, once my Sephora order came, my joy at finally receiving Nails Inc - Baker Street was quickly eclipsed when I saw the beautiful black NARS box. I thought "holy hell! I guess $18 buys my polish it's own little holder!" Then I opened the box... all the sounds around me faded away and I had tunnel vision. All I could see was this amazing vibrant shade of blue. I really and truly did make the bug-eyed-jaw-dropped face. The website described it as "cyan blue". My description? Happiness. Seriously if you love the blue family and all it's amazing hues this little gem will make you feel pure, unadulterated happiness.

NARS - Koliary made Matte with NYC Color - Matte Me Crazy

I wore this color for 3 different manicures in one week. No lie. I haven't done that in over 5 months. Below is one of those 3 manis. I love purple just as much as blue and thought I'd try to combine them. I still have mixed feelings about this particular mani though. I liked it but I didn't. I dunno. It's sorta like that feeling you get when falling in love with an outfit on the hanger... then you try it on and feel like some vital bit of you is hanging out in an unflattering way... but you cant FIND that bit. Yeah. THAT feeling :/

NARS - Koliary, NYC Color - Matte Me Crazy, Essie - Play Date, piCture pOlish - Wisteria,
Julep - Anne, Ulta - Celebutante, piCture pOlish - Grape

First I painted 2 coats of NARS - Koliary. Then I used NYC Color - Matte Me Crazy to turn the finish matte. Using my reinforcement circles I created a crisp edge, and from there I just used each purple polish in descending darkening shade on each nail to create the ombre tips.

My Instagram shot! Follow me @enjeliq

Hopefully you fall in love with this color like I did... and if you don't... well I guess that'll be just that many more back-ups I'll have access to! ;)

xo,

What about you? Have you ever had this love/hate feeling for a mani?

Polka dot dreams with Cult Nails Feel Me Up

In the three months that I've even bothered to keep track of my lemmings I am already feeling like I'll never acquire them all. But! I will say this... I have always heard good things about Cult Nails and after my first visit to their webpage I knew I needed to join the Cult! 

My chance was finally here when Cult Nails had a replay of the $5 sale that was originally a promotion/thank you from them reaching five thousand Facebook fans a little while back. Congrats again! What an accomplishment and endorsement of your product, wow!! 

I saw that they were going to include colors that sold out the first time and while some of the Cult Nails colors that I've been lusting after are either discontinued or haven't made it back into stock, I still had plenty of lovelies to choose from! 

I must say that originally Feel Me Up wasn't on my list to buy. I mean, I am always in search of my perfect yellow and I've been wrong before so I figured eh, maybe another day. But then a day or two before the sale I happened to be on my Instagram scrolling through the feed when I saw MartaWarmuz's Instagram picture of her mani with Feel Me Up. I knew instantly that I needed this yellow... and that it might just be THE ONE! 

Let me just say... I was NOT disappointed with my last minute addition! The formula is amazing, it cleans up easily, dries quickly and does so with a beautiful ultra shiny gloss finish.

Now, for those of you that are yellow enthusiasts you know they are usually streaky or require 4 million coats... NOT THIS BABY!! As you can see in my photo I did three coats. Honestly, it was fine in 2, but the 2nd coat for me had a couple tiny spots of bleh and that was most likely due to my crappy painting skills. So yeah, a 2 coat opaque yellow... I'm dreaming right? Somebody smack me, quick!

While I loved, loved, loooooved this yellow, I had horrible insomnia and was convinced that maybe I should do something on it... ya know since I wasn't doing anything else. The problem with a beautiful polish is that sometimes the beauty alone makes it nearly impossible to choose something that will accompany it in such a way that they don't compete. 

L to R: Julep - Anne, piCture pOlish - Abyss, Revlon - Passionate Pink, Cult Nails - Feel Me Up
baby food jar lid palette and MASH dotting tools

I sat contemplating for at least half an hour. I pulled out nearly a dozen different polishes for at least a dozen different ideas. I just couldn't get the feeling of rightness until I looked at my dotting tools... BAM! Epiphany... random polka dots!

I hope you enjoyed my bright and cheery insomnia driven polka dot mani! 

xo,

Has insomnia driven any of you to do something crazy? I know this isn't my first time...

Half Moon *attempt* mani

I've seen this particular effect a lot lately and while I've always had mixed feelings about it I figured eh why not try it! It might grow on me right? Well I had somewhere to be and I wanted to go with something cute on my nails. So I figured I'd give the half moon a shot...

   
            Items you'll need:

• Two (or more) polish shades
• reinforcement dots ($1 a pack at Wally's)
• Base/Top coats of course
• Q-tips/brush and polish remover for clean up

Sally Hansen - Lacey Lilac

Step 1: paint your nails in the color you'd like the lower part up against your nail base. Mine was Sally Hansen - Lacey Lilac. A really beautiful color IRL that did not translate in my photos, sorry. Apply top coat and let dry like normal.

Step 2: Once your nails are dry, stick the reinforcement tabs on where you'd like to block the second polish from going. The less of the tab on your nail the more shallow your "moon" will be. 

**Important** If you're familiar with the tape mani you know that I advise to first stick the tape on your palm to remove a little bit of the stickiness. In THIS particular mani- the half moon mani- do NOT stick the reinforcement tabs on anything but your nails. If you do you'll find that they don't stick and you end up with blurred lines or blobs of paint where you don't want blobs of paint. 

NARS - Koliary

Step 3: Take your second color and paint the rest of your exposed nail. Being slow and methodical be sure to check that the reinforcement tabs are indeed still crisply stuck to your nail and in the edges. If you look at my thumb you can see where there is a blob/non crisp line? Yeah... that's what happens when the tab isn't stuck securely to your nail lol.

Step 4: remove tabs while polish is still wet and polish with top coat... enjoy!

Honestly, my jury is still out on this mani. I had some application issues and just generally felt like I looked silly. I loved these two colors together though. Let me know what you think!!

xo,

Studio M... and the "M" is for Magnificent!!!

I recently posted an entry on my musings page about the infamous drugstore polish push and how I have fallen for these inexpensive alternatives to the high-end, high price tag polish lines.  One of the polish lines that I mentioned in that post is Studio M Nail Lacquer, available at Meijer Stores.  This polish was a accidental find on one of my many grocery shopping trips a couple of weeks ago and I have been back at least once since then to take a better look and grab a few more bottles.  At $2.99 a bottle, it is hardly a "break the bank" kind of polish and I love that!

The first two colors that caught my eye from this brand were Punked & Lust.  First of all, the names are amazing and I am a sucker for a polish with a good name!  LOL!  Punked is a really pretty matte fuchsia pink, well that is what you think when you look at the bottle!  Lust appears to be a violet shimmer and for the most part it is but both of the colors are a huge surprise in a bottle.

Let's start with Lust... I took so many pictures of this polish and every time I got something new!  The formula is a dream to apply was a nearly one and done application.  I did use a second coat just to fill in some spots but, I am not sure if that was polish issue or an application issue.  However, with the second coat, the polish was even steven and so juicy looking!  OMG!  I cannot get over what I got for such a great price!

And now,  some awesome pics!

No flash, under lamp!

Light from the window!

Flash!

Full sunlight!

Full sunlight!

Flash 

Ok, I know what you are thinking and I promise you that these are the same color. I used a base coat with two coats of polish and a quick dry top coat.  I love this!  It reminds me of flip flop paint!  Depending on the lighting the color really shifts dramatically.  This polish gets a big WOOOOOOHOOOOOO from me!

Now for Punked.  I didn't get as many good shots of this polish but believe me when I say, I loved this polish just as much as Lust.  Again, this polish went on like a dream and was, actually, a one and done.  It  had a super quick dry time and dried to a matte finish!  AMAZING!!  The color difference is pretty dramatic between the natural light shot and the flash shot.  To me that is what is so awesome.  I am sorry for the lack of a full sunlight shots, I live in Ohio and the weather is so unpredictable!  LOL  

Natural light, indoors

FLASH!!!!  

So, check out that color variation!  Makes me happy to look at!  LOL!  I did not get to check this one out in full sunlight but I will be wearing this again soon enough.  It really is a what I would call a year round polish.  It is bright and fun for summer but could really look awesome as a pop of color with a nice winter outfit.  The matte look is not for everyone but I love it.  When I called E about his polish all I could do to explain the sheen is say, "it so velvety!"  And it was!  For this mani I used a base coat but no top coat.  

I think it is safe to say that I love Studio M Nail Lacquer and I give these two a solid A!  Great formula, easy application and the final look is amazing!  

I hope you like it!  Let me know what you think.  (I think I may have set the record for how many exclamation points can be used in one post!  Hahahahahahaha!  I win!)