First Impression: Anchor Heart Lacquer

Happy Friday everyone! Today I have a quick post to share about my first impressions of a newer indie on the scene.



I had been seeing Anchor Heart Lacquer swatches popping up here and there on several of the blogs I have been following and I was totally intrigued. One particularly bright shade kept catching my eye and I just knew it was high time I try them out.

I made the order on a Monday morning and after browsing the Facebook page noticed I just missed a sale she was having. I commented on the photo saying just ordered my first two or something to that effect, and low and behold she discounted my order retroactively even though I did not order during the sale. So ridiculously nice and unnecessary. She also had a great turnaround time, I think I got these in less than a week!









First up we have Anchor Heart Lacquer Wherever I'm With You. This is a dusty purple jelly packed with blue shimmer and some ultra chrome flakies. I found the flakies to be mostly violet, but some were greener/gold in color too. The blue shimmer and violet flakes really made this polish a unique stand out in my collection and the shade of purple was unlike other purples – a dusty plum color. The formula was on the sheerer side, it being a jelly and all, but it built up nice it three coats for opacity.









Next up we have this neon beauty which was what caught my eye again and again while scrolling on Instagram. I'm actually still wearing this one because I can't shy away from a super awesome bright neon coral! This is Anchor Heart Lacquer Vacation Land. It is a bright coral neon polish with a subtle linear holo finish and beautiful violet iridescent glitter. This one has so much character and depth, I immediately fell in love. The formula is on the thicker side, just have to be careful not to overload your brush when applying the polish. I used two coats for opacity.

So overall I am very impressed with this new indie. I had a great interaction with maker and I'm looking forward to what she has coming in the future.

Anchor Heart Lacquer – Etsy Shop – Facebook – Instagram – Facebook Fan Group

Fair Maiden Polish Mother's Day Polish

Hey everyone, I'm super excited to share with you a polish that was created in honor of mother's for Mother's Day!

*Press Sample*

This Fair Maiden Polish Hearts Together and it is part of a three-polish release Fair Maiden Polish is doing Friday April 29 in honor of Mother's Day.

Can I tell you just how excited I was to open up this mystery polish?! Green is my favorite color, it always has been! And to open up this stunning emerald green beauty I was just so gosh darned happy.

Now I don't know the full story behind this polish, but I do know that it was created in honor of one wonderful, strong, beautiful and brave mother that was nominated by someone in the Fair Maiden Polish fan group. The ladies behind Fair Maiden Polish will have all this information in a newsletter to come.

Now let's get to the details of this beautiful polish shall we? This is Fair Maiden Polish Hearts Together and it is a stunning emerald green holo with beautiful blue to pink shifting flakies. I had a hard time capturing the shift in the photos, but you can tell in the shaded macro shot for sure. 

This polish went on in two lovely coats, not to thick or thin, this formula was the the great Fair Maiden Polish formula I've come to love. 

These photos above aren't as color accurate, but the sun was out and it was a beautiful day out when I was swatching so I had to take this lovely polish out for a walk! Isn't that linear holo flash amazing?

Anyway this polish, along with two other Mother's Day inspired polishes, will be available Friday April 29 at 8 p.m. EDT at the Fair Maiden Polish website! If you're curious about the other two polishes, you can see one here, and the other one will be on Ida's blog sometime later this week I think!

Fair Maiden Polish – Shop – Instagram – Facebook – Facebook Fan Group

Dreamland Lacquer April Hella Holo Custom Polishes

I had a super fun weekend everyone. I was knee deep in a pile polish compiling another Mega Polish Comparison post. But I don't have that quite yet for you all – coming soon I promise!

Today I wanted to share two polishes I purchased this month because they are just so holo amazing they made my jaw drop AND they are currently available through the end of this month so I thought I better hop to it and post these suckers! 

These two polishes are by Dreamland Lacquer creations for the Facebook group Hella Holo Customs. You have to be a member of the group to purchase the polish, but the more the merrier so please join. To join email hellaholocustomercare@gmail.com with the topic 'JOIN'. The ladies at Hella Holo Customs have worked with a number of different indie companies, calling on them to make polishes inspired by the Facebook group photos.

First up we have the stunning Dreamland Lacquer Dragonberry. This is a gorgeous orchid-toned almost neon bright linear holo that burns violet. This polish is very pigmented and is practically a one-coater, with a great formula – easy to apply. This polish is absolutely stunning – especially outside, I included a sunshine shot (the last shot). It has this darker violet streak in the linear holo that just jumps out and makes this such a happy bright polish!

Next up we have one of my absolute favorite colors for nail polish – a coral holo. This is Dreamland Lacquer Coral of the Story. This is a lovely pink-leaning coral and that is also almost neon in its brightness. I love this shade of coral – it is pink leaning without being too pink and stays true to its coral nature. The sunshine shot shows it leaning a tad more orange than it typically does, but it is actually the bright – so pretty! The formula on this was similar to Dragonberry, although a smidge thicker. Not difficult to apply at all and almost a one-coater. I used two coats for these swatches. 

So of course while swatching these polishes I was struck by inspiration and just knew I wanted to pair them together in a look. It had been awhile since I did a gradient so I thought I'd breakout a makeup sponge and give it a shot! Loved the results. I used Bundle Monster BM-S303 for the palm trees and UberChic Beauty 2-02 for the angled pattern using my Painted Polish Midnight Mischief black polish to stamp with.

Since these polishes are currently available through the end of the month, I thought I better get these to you all ASAP. And you want to know something else you should consider picking up while you're shopping at Dreamland Lacquer – her great Ooh Shiny! Quick Dry Top Coat. I've been using it for awhile now and it is great to for a super shiny quick dry top coat AND it doesn't smear nail stamping looks like the one above. It's just an all around great option and for $5 it's a steal! 

So anyway, what are you waiting for? I just know you want these bright beauties on your nails for the upcoming warm weather. These are totally summer appropriate! Can't wait to take the nail art out in the sun tomorrow (which will be today by the time this posts!).

Hella Holo Customs – Facebook Group (to join email hellaholocustomercare@gmail.com with the topic 'JOIN')– Instagram 

Dreamland Lacquer – Shop – Facebook – Instagram – Facebook Fan Group

Literary Lacquers Soul Within Me Burning

Hello everyone... I was about to say Happy Friday, but then I just realized it's Thursday. But it's Friday for me! I'm leaving on a jet plane tonight for a bachelorette weekend in San Diego and I can't wait!!! Going to be so much fun!

*Press Sample*

Today I have a super lovely glowing polish to share with you today from Literary Lacquers but is actually a part of The Color Box which is releasing tomorrow!

The Color Box is this a blogger collaboration box with a single color theme: This month? Purple! I'm not one of the amazing bloggers who dreamed this up, but I'm here today to share with you one of the awesome polishes you can get it in the box. Blogger XOXOJen collaborated with Amy of Literary Lacquers to create this sparkling beauty for you all.

The Color Box is available for preorder Friday April 15 at The Color Box Big Cartel shop for one week. After preorders are shipped out, Amy, the maker behind Literary Lacquers has confirmed that this polish for the box will be available for purchase in her shop.









This is Literary Lacquers Soul Within Me Burning. It is a gorgeous plum purple with a linear holo finish that has a golden glow to it and also has little flecks of red sparkle here and there that I picked up while wearing it. The formula on this was great, on the thicker side, but not difficult to work with and very pigmented. Was opaque in two easy coats.



This polish glows indoors and out. It brought so much happy when I wore it. I almost threw it on again for this bachelorette weekend I'm about to embark on but the bride to be requested a particular polish so I had to do her bidding! Rest assured this will be on my tips again soon, probably with some gold stamping or something. It's just so glowing and pretty. And that holo is banging and strong!!!

Once again this is available in The Color Box, which is available for preorder tomorrow.

Hope you guys all have a fantastic weekend!

My Newest Fair Maiden Polishes

Hey everyone, I just got back to town last night from a weekend away at the beach with my in-laws. It was a great, relaxing weekend full of artichokes (my favorite food ever!) non-stop beach activities.

I got home Sunday night to some awesome nail mail and I knew it was time to put a new look together for the week.



These are my latest Fair Maiden Polish purchases, fresh from their newest collection: Pack Your Bags: A Travel Adventure. This is a mega 16-piece collection, with one half being cremes and the other half being matching effects (holos, glitter etc) polishes.

Exercising restraint while shopping I only picked up two of the effects polishes so that is what I will share with you today!













The coral polish here is Rio Carnival (E), which is an orange leaning pink coral holo polish with red and gold micro flakes. This polish applied perfectly in two coats, and is shown in these shots without top coat, because I added nail art!!!

The grey/taupe-ish polish here is Pearl of Siberia (E). This polish is a gorgeous grey linear holo polish with iridescent glitters sprinkled throughout with a beautiful pink shimmer to boot! This polish was also opaque at two coats and was also not difficult to apply. Shown with no top coat.









I couldn't just stop there, since I was wearing Fair Maiden Polish and they have an arrow in their logo, I thought I'd break out the new arrow images from my Bundle Monster BM-S308 plate and stamp them using the alternating colors to complete the look.

Now the Fair Maiden Polish collection has it's own matching creme polishes that probably would match better than the cremes I used here (Zoya Heidi and Morgan Taylor Sweater Weather), but I didn't have those to show you. But just think of all the looks you could create with this gigantic collection. Clearly I still have to practice restraint because there are a ton of others I'm lusting after in this collection!

This nail art look will also remind me to walk this week, as I'm in quite a few Workweek Hustles (via my FitBit), one of which is hosted by the lovely ladies of Fair Maiden Polish. My husband just got his own FitBit for his birthday, so now I've got all sorts of competition/motivation to be moving!

My Spring ILNP Picks

Happy Friday everyone, hope you all had swell weeks and have even better weekends ahead of you. I'm headed to the beach for the weekend for my annual beach house with the in-laws to celebrate some family birthday! I can't wait!



I only picked three from the Spring ILNP collection because I was practicing a little moderation, which I'm not usually known to do. Of course I had to get the two nudes because despite alllll the swatch photos I couldn't quite tell which would be the perfect nude for me. So let's start there!









This is ILNP Sandy Baby and ding, ding, ding we have a winner! This is the perfect nude for my skin tone. It is a more beige nude and even though I run on the warm/pinky side sometimes (I'm actually quite neutral), this was better on me as a nude in comparison to the other nude which you'll see later in this post!

This is a lovely sandy nude jelly polish packed with the INLP holo shards I love so stinking much. Application was great, I used three coats above and I do think there is some visible nail line but it isn't too obvious. I think this would make a great base for nail art.









Next up we have INLP Skyscraper, the one that I just kept looking at undecided if I wanted it or not. It is a gorgeous light blue, almost periwinkle like Peri Me, but more of a straight blue than that. It is one of their banging Ultra Holos so the holo is definitely strong with this one and I find in direct light it gives off a bit of gold shimmer. Only needed two coats for opacity and the formula was easy to work with as all ILNP are.









Last but not least is ILNP Sweet Pea which is a gorgeous pinky nude jelly polish filled with the gorgeous holo flakes that I so adore. I thought this might be the nude for me but it wasn't so. It's still a super subtle gorgeous understated polish. I used three coats for this opacity, but still there is some visible nail line.



I thought it would make a great base for a classic French mani with a twist, and I think it does. Although for all the nail art I succeed in, french tips are not my forte. It didn't help that my white polish really needed to be thinned before I did this. Oh well, you get the point.

So that's it for today folks, which did you pick up from the INLP Spring lines? I'm still eyeing some of the jelly polishes, they are suuuuupuer duper pretty.