Great Lakes Lacquers April LEs

Hello everyone it is finally spring and today I have some super lovely polishes to ring in the new season with!

*Press Samples*

These are the Great Lakes Lacquers April Limited Edition polishes. I love that Mariah, the creator behind Great Lakes Lacquers, comes out with these monthly releases – they are an awesome way to sample the brand and this month I think Mariah has just hit it out of the park.

These five polishes will be launching Friday April 1 at 3 p.m. EST and will leave the Great Lakes Lacquer shop at 7 p.m. EST May 2. 

Let't jump right on in to the swatches shall we?! And stay tuned, I have some fun floral nail art to share at the end of the post. 

First up is Great Lakes Lacquer Fools Gold, a nod toward Aprils Fools! This is a beautiful polish that can be worn as a topper and it is packed with gold holo microglitter, pale pink holo microglitter, peach microflake, and rosy microflake. In my swatches I used four coats for opacity on it's own and swatched it over black so you can see all the beautiful character of this stunning polish. On it own it is a golden polish with scattered holo and super vibrant pink flash. One coat over black and all the characters come out to play, just look at that macro! I had no issues with application just that it is on the sheerer side, but that is because it is mainly designed to be a topper. 

Next up is Great Lakes Lacquer Out Like a Lion. This is another nod to April Fools, Mariah says, "Winter likes to trick you into thinking that it's gone when it's not.  This year it spared us all the way up til the end. Then walloped us before it left."

This is a gorgeous white crelly polish filled with two types of multichrome flakes (I mostly see blurple and magenta) and microflakes that create a blue shimmer. The formula on this was great, super easy to apply and was opaque in two coats. I was impressed with the formula because there is so much going on with this polish but it is not difficult to apply at all!

This is Great Lakes Lacquer The Ice is On Fire. The maker said this polish was inpsired by the ice caves that form when Lake Michigan freezes up by Traverse City (she makes me want to visit all these magical places!). "Add some light from sunrise or sunset and you get magic," Mariah said. 

This polish is gorgeous on and I could not capture the beautiful shimmer for the life of me but it glows from the inside. This is a blue-leaning green polish that shifts from red to green to gold – my shot with the bottle shows the shimmer the best. This went on perfectly in two smooth coats for full opacity. I loved this polish, the shimmer really danced on my nails and it looked different in all sorts of lighting. 

Next up is Great Lakes Lacquer Love for Lilacs, Mariah's favorite flower ever! I had some lilacs in my office last week, they've got to be the best fragrance on planet Earth! "This spring bloom always just means home to me.  I have a small bush in my front yard and it was the clincher in actually buying the house in the first place," Mariah said.

This is a gorgeous warmer leaning light purple with with aqua shimmer and a shy scattered holo affect. This polish is more on the jelly side of consistency, but was easy to apply and opaque in three coats. That shimmer is soooo beautiful and this one is both bright and delicate at the same time.

Last but certainly not least is Great Lakes Lacquer Stop. Stepping. On. My. Hyacinths. Mariah said, "Next to lilacs, they are my favorite spring flower.  They do not last nearly long enough for me.  So I get a bit frustrated when those that are planted next to my porch are constantly stepped on.  This year, I plan on moving them."

When I got this package to swatch, I was on my way out of town for a weekend away in wine country but when I saw this bottle I knew I needed to have it on my nails as soon as possible. This is my absolute favorite of these five, it is spring in a bottle to me!

This is a cooler toned purple creme with two different types of multichrome flakies (I see blues and greens and pinks and purples). I also spy a shy scattered holo tucked inbetween the flakies and creme. This applied like a dream and was opaque in two coats.

As you can tell, to go along with the whole spring in a bottle theme, I broke out my MoYou Pro XL 06 plate and used my Painted Polish Autumn Twilight to stamp the floral images and I think it paired with the flakies and the polish so well. Oh and the polish wore so well on my weekend away, no chipping at all for my weekend getaway. I think I wore the look a whole five days total!

Once again these five polishes will be launching Friday April 1 at 3 p.m. EST and will leave the Great Lakes Lacquer shop at 7 p.m. EST May 2. 

So now let's dish, which of these were your favorite? Clearly you can see mine, but I think all of these were particularly beautiful! 

Spring Créme á la Mode Box

Happy Spring everyone! It's finally here, sunshine and warmer temps time for some bright and happy nails and I've got just the box to satiate your bright fun desires!

*Press Samples*

This is the Spring Créme á la Mode box featuring four creme polishes from four super fabulous indie brands – Indigo Bananas, Literary Lacquers, Octopus Party Nail Lacquer and Digital Nails. All the names have a fun water related names and they are great!

The box will be available for preorder at the Créme á la Mode shop starting Sunday March 27 until Sunday April 3 and retails for $26 plus shipping. What a steal!!!!

Now let's get to the swatches shall we?!





I'll start off with this beautiful pastel blue leaning periwinkle creme, this is Digital Nails Water You Wading For? This beauty went on great in two coats, formula was a dream. Just a note, this photographed a bit darker blue than it actually is so I did color correct, which I don't do ever, so I just wanted to let you know if my skin looks a little off that is why. :)





Next this gorgeously bright mint green is Octopus Party Nail Lacquer The Algae-atic Sea. This also went on in two easy coats, was a smidge thinner than Digital Nails, but not difficult to work with at all! I wore this the day before St. Patty's so it was part of my green for the holiday! :)





The neutral in this box is the lovely Indigo Bananas Smoke on the Otter and this is a gorgeous light grey creme. This polish went on well in two coats, was a bit more watery than the last two, but still reached opacity with no issues at all. This polish plays great as a base for nail art, but is also lovely on its own.





And last but certainly not least we have Literary Lacquers Salmon Chanted Evening. This, my friends, is my spirit color. I am a sucker for pinky corals and this is bright and totally fits the bill. When I think of happy, I think of this color! This also went on quite easy in two coats!

These colors not only are great for spring, but I think they all pair nicely together as wells so I thought I'd use them all in a nail art look to show you some ideas of how to tie them all together.



I started this look out on all the nails using Smoke on the Otter as the base. On the pinky and thumb I used the dry brush method to create random brush strokes of all the colors – turned out rather 80s I think. Then on the ring an pointer fingers I sponged on a gradient of Salmon Chanted Evening, Water You Wading For and Algae-atic Sea over Smoke on the Otter – they made such a pretty gradient! Then to showcase how they stamp, I used one of my new Bundle Monster Festival plates and stamped using Algae-atic Sea, Water You Wading For and Salmon Chanted Evening – I think that nail ended up looking a bit like an Easter Egg.



Algae-atic Sea didn't show up to too well over the grey, but I bet it would stamp well over either a darker color or even white. They all stamped really well actually! And I think they all tie together perfectly and you could create any number of looks. I actually hear they water marble well too, but you know me, I cannot for the life of me do that well at all!

So yes, you all need this box. At $26 plus shipping it is a steal for these great spring colors. Once again the box is available for preorder starting Sunday March 27 until Sunday April 3 at the Créme á la Mode shop.

Créme á la Mode Box – shop – Facebook – Instagram – Facebook Fan Group

Literary Lacquers/Ever After Polish Peter Rabbit Quartet

Hey everyone! We made it, it's finally the weekend! Ooooooh yeah! Anyway tonight I have some super awesome bright shifty spring shades for you that are available Sunday!!!

*Press Samples*

Two great indie polish brands have joined forces here, Ever After Polish and Literary Lacquers, to create a beautifully bright quartet of polishes inspired by the Peter Rabbit stories of our childhoods!

These four polishes are available Sunday March 20 at 3 p.m. EDT in the Ever After Polish shop and retail for $40 shipped! What a steal for these bright shifty beauties!









First up we have Ever After Polish Peter Rabbit. This is a lovely bright cerulean blue polish with a strong pink shift and a delicate smattering of holo. This polish was on the sheerer side so it took three coats for opacity but had a lovely easy to work with formula. The pink shift is so strong in real life, for some reason shifts seem to like to hide from my camera, but trust me it's there and it's so pretty!









Next up we have Ever After Polish Cotton Tail. This is a lovely warmer slightly magenta leaning purple with gorgeous golden shimmer. This polish glows from within and is just super stunning! The formula was more opaque that Peter Rabbit and was opaque in two coats. Easy to apply and not brush strokey at all.









Next up we have Literary Lacquers Mopsy. Amy, polish queen behinds Literary Lacquers, is a master with the glass fleck finish and she did a great job with her half of this quartet. Mopsy is a light grassy green with contrasting gold and pink shimmer. The formula was great and it was opaque in two coats. Once again, the pink/gold shimmer is much stronger than my camera could capture, but it is beautiful.









Now last but definitely not least is Literary Lacquers Flopsy. This is a bright pink magenta with bright blue shimmer which is super vibrant in all sorts of lights. My photos don't even do the blue shimmer justice, but you can still see it so imagine just how vibrant it is in real life? This was my favorite of the bunch it just so bright and wonderful. Same great formula as Mopsy, opaque in two coats.

So I definitely think this is a great quartet of polishes and for $40 shipped it's a steal too! Once again, this Literary Lacquers/Ever After Polish Peter Rabbit Quartet is available at the Ever After Polish shop at 3 p.m. EDT Sunday March 20!

So which of these is your favorite?! I think they all make a wonderful set, there is definitely something in here for everyone! How fun would this be as as Easter basket gift?!