Thursday, August 24, 2017

Newest Literary Lacquers LE

Hey everyone! Hope you're having good weeks. I'm deep in the agony of the final weeks of pregnancy, and when I say agony, I definitely mean it. So much physical pain and completely out of control emotionally and then that whole not knowing when you actually will be hitting the finish line.

BUT enough about me! I want to show you an absolutely beautiful polish that is out today! Today is special because it is Amy's, the creator of Literary Lacquers, birthday! Each year on this day she releases a special limited edition polish to honor the special day – and this year's selection is a beauty!!!

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*Press Sample*

This is the gorgeous Literary Lacquers Unspeakably Undesirable. It is a bright coral mega glitter holo with copper, gold and rose microglitter. It was inspired by a quote from Mark Twain’s published journals “There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.”

And this polish does bring about a lot of happiness! I mean I seek anything that will bring me a sliver of happiness these days while I'm playing the waiting game and I wore this puppy for a week and it was full brightness and sunshine, lifting my mood for sure!

Also being released is Literary Lacquers A Thousand Different Strokes of Light, which was inspired by the Literary (&) Lacquers Facebook group book club selection "The Museum of Extraordinary Things," which I totally enjoyed reading! This was designed and named by Sharon Wood and is a light taupe subtle creamy holo with blue shimmer and flash. I didn't get this to swatch, but check it out on the Literary Lacquers Etsy site here!

Prices in the Literary Lacquers store are holos and multichromes are $12 and glitters, shimmers, creams are $10.

This month, and ongoing, returning shades include and I've tried to link to my swatches of the ones I have previously swatched.

84 Charing Cross Road
Cyan-tifically Proven
Shadow Between Us
Je Reviens
Rebecca, Always Rebecca
Afterglow
Tia Wanna
Arousal
Curious Yellow
English Voodoo 

The Literary Lacquers shop will now carry the above polishes ongoing, no stressful restocks! But the first two polishes I shared are LE and are available today through Sept. 9! So get while the gettin' is good!

This may be my last post for awhile, hoping that whole becoming a mom thing happens soon. I'm sure I'll share various stuff via Instagram and FB so you can check me there!

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Great Lakes Lacquer August LE polishes

Good morning everyone! I have been quiet on the nail polish scene as of late, but I promise I'm still around. Just nesting and preparing to be a mom, while still rocking some awesome nail art. While I might not post it all on here, I post most all of my work on the dreaded Instagram and if you want to keep up – please follow me there!

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Anyway today I have three new polishes from Great Lakes Lacquer, the August Limited Edition polishes, which are going live for a half-month this time around! These three polishes are available Tuesday August 15 2 p.m. EST through Sept. 2 2 p.m. EST on the Great Lakes Lacquer website!

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First up we have Great Lakes Lacquer Olive You. This is an olive gray-green polish with multichrome shimmers of blue, purple and red. The shift on this polish is of the subtle variety, but catch it in different lights and you'll definitely find it surprises you! This is so unique in my collection! The application on this was great, it was opaque in two quick coats, any mishaps you see on my nail (on the indirect light pic) are due to me fumbling around in a dark-lit room while trying to photograph this color – has nothing to do with the polish!

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Next up we have Great Lakes Lacquer Sliding Through Summer. This is a medium turquoise polish with purple/pink shimmer and a light scattered holo finish. I love this color of turquoise, it reminds me of the stone, and the depth the shimmer brings to this polish, gives it a beautiful look indoors and out. I would say the violet/pink shimmer likes to come out to play the most outside and it is the perfect compliment to this shade. Opaque in two coats.

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Last but not least we have Great Lakes Lacquer High Five Hideout. This is an inky black polish with blue to purple shimmer, holo microflake and hot pink to neon purple microflake which brings out the interesting shimmer in this polish. I like this polish because it is dark and mysterious, with flashes and bright and fun at the same time!

This polish also has a charity element to it, let's see what maker Mariah had to say about it:

A collaboration with Melissa of honeybee_nails on IG, I'm happy to say she wanted to focus on Michigan, since it's both our homes and in our hearts.  This shade is based on the nighttime sky seen specifically in the Mitten.

This polish will benefit High Five Hideout. The HighFive Hideout is a youth-focused Community Center in the city of Inkster, Michigan. The HighFive Hideout will offer access to educational and recreational activities to communities currently lacking these opportunities.  It also concentrates on creating a safe and positive environment for youth to learn and grow; teaching on crisis prevention and management; and overall serving the needs of the surrounding communities.  At this time, fundraising for a building to center their activities is happening. For more information on HighFive Hideout, visit facebook.com/thehighfivehideout.

$5 of each bottle of Hive Five Hideout will go to the organization at the conclusion of sales, what an awesome cause!

Once again these are the August Limited Edition polishes from Great Lakes Lacquer and will be available Tuesday August 15 2 p.m. EST through Sept. 2 2 p.m. EST on the Great Lakes Lacquer website! They aren't around forever so get, while the gettin' is good!



Friday, June 30, 2017

Literary Lacquers June Releases

Hi everyone, I know it's almost July, but I'm here today to share with you some gorgeous new and returning polishes from Literary Lacquers!

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I know that Literary Lacquers as doing a pop-up kind of shop thing for a few months there, but not anymore. Amy is back and she has all her stock in shop ready for shoppers (no need to worry about open windows or stock being out)!

So first off, to restock her shop she has returned with 24 returning shades (more to come in the future I believe) and I'll list them all at the end of this post. I have two of the returning shades to share with you.

In addition to the returning shades, she has a new Ocean at the End of the Lane trio (inspired by the Neil Gaiman novel) she is releasing as part of the normal always-in-stock collection and one limited edition book club (have to be a member of the Literary & Lacquers Facebook group for this one, but join, the more the merrier!) polish and a gift with purchase that is good through July 9.

The gift with purchase polish will be included as a mini with your order with any $20 purchase and as a full-sized bottle with a $50 purchase through July 9. Her holo and microglitter polishes retail for $12 and her shimmers and cremes retail for $10.

Now lets get to the awesome swatches/inspirations behind these beauties!!! I'll start with the returning shades first!

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First up we have Literary Lacquers Laters Baby, inspired by Fifty Shades of Grey. This is a gorgeous charcol holo polish with added fine holographic glitter for extra sparkle and depth. I love that this shade isn't exactly black, but has shades of brown/copper that shine through while wearing it. This is vamp at its finest! Two coats for opacity.

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The second returning shade I have to share with you today is Literary Lacquers Raspberry Cordial? inspired by the Anne of Green Gables series. This is a stunning raspberry pink holo linear holo polish with red holo microglitter. This is that type of pink that is BAM in your face, but super bright and totally the kind of color that will stop people in their tracks! Opaque in two easy coats.

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Next up I have the first polish in the Ocean at the End of the Lane trio, this is Literary Lacquers Lettie's Ocean. This is a gorgeous sky blue with a turquoise lean linear holo polish with holo microglitter. I just love how soft but also fun and bright this color is. Opaque in two easy coats.

Amy designed this beauty with Carolyn Chambers and it was inspired by Lettie, an eleven-year-old girl in the novel who just may have very well been eleven for a very long time.

"Lettie Hempstock was made of silken sheets the color of ice, filled with tiny flickering candle flames, a hundred hundred candle flames. Could there be candle flames burning under the water? There could. I knew that, when I was in the ocean, and I even knew how. I understood it just as I understood Dark Matter, the material of the universe that makes up everything that must be there but we cannot find. I found myself thinking of an ocean running beneath the whole universe, like the dark seawater that laps beneath the wooden boards of an old pier: an ocean that stretches from forever to forever and is still small enough to fit inside a bucket, if you have Old Mrs. Hempstock to help you get it in there, and you ask nicely."

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Next up we have Literary Lacquers Swaying Grayly. This is a lovely matte stone grey polish packed with silver flakes and glass fleck. This works best at three coats, and I've showed it both with top coat and without. Both effects are lovely and I love the depth and character in this polish, totally unique in my collection!

Designed with Adrienne Nguyen and inspired by the persistent description of Ursula Monkton in her true form as Skarthach of the Keep as represented by tattered grey canvas.

“It was my old bedroom, but it wasn’t. Not anymore. There was the little yellow handbasin, just my size, and the walls were still robin’s-egg blue, as they had been when it was mine. But now strips of cloth hung from the ceiling, gray, ragged cloth strips, like bandages, some only a foot long, others dangling almost all the way to the floor. The window was open and the wind rustled and pushed them, so they swayed, grayly, and it seemed as if perhaps the room was moving, like a tent or a ship at sea."

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The final polish of the new trio is Literary Lacquers Miner's Gift. This is a blue to purple multichrome polish with holographic microflakes. It is on the thinner side (not difficult to work with though) so it looks best with three coats for opacity. The multichrome is harder to capture on camera, but it is there. Also it's just a lovely shade of indigo which I love.

This polish was inspired by the death of the miner, which is the catalyst for the awakening/actions of Skarthach. His offhandedly adult means of compensating for the loss of the one thing that gave the boy comfort is counter-balanced by Lettie’s selfless, childish (as in done by a child – not as in immature) and steadfast determination to make things right for her friends. As such, the Miner (and other adults – Hempstocks excluded) is the initial counter character to Lettie.

“He was a South African, although he had made his money mining for opals in Australia. He gave my sister and me an opal each, a rough black rock with green-blue-red fire in it. My sister liked him for this, and treasured her opal stone. I could not forgive him for the death of my kitten.” 

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Next we have the gorgeous group custom, Literary Lacquers Handful of Falling Stars. This is a gorgeous navy mega glitter holo that reminds me of a star-filled late night sky, with all its various sized holo pieces. This is opaque at two coats, and may need a thicker top coat for a smooth finish.

This was designed with Kaitlin Vasatka and inspired by our book club selection The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. Available through July 9.

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Last but not least we have the gift with purchase polish, Literary Lacquers Feather Family. This comes for free as a mini with any $20 or more purchase, or as a full size with any $50 or more purchase. This is a gorgeous sparkling soft pink holo with holo microglitter. Opaque at two coats.

This polish was inspired by The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers and was named by Alex Bacon-Leslie, the Literary Lacquers Marketing Director. The meaning behind this one is so special, I'll let Amy describe it in her words.

When I was searching for the right name for this gift with purchase polish to adequately express the gratitude I have for the support and love given to me by my fans and customers as I come out of this long dark period of LitLaqlessness, Alex pointed me in the direction of The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, a brilliantly fun sci-fi book by Becky Chambers. The book introduces a few interesting alien species, including Sissix, the reptilian feathered Aandrisk tech. 

“Okay, well, on her wall, there’s this big fancy frame with a mess of Aandrisk feathers hanging from it. Every Aandrisk’s got one, as far as I know. See, if you’re an Aandrisk and somebody really touches your life in some way, you give that person one of your feathers. And then you keep the feathers you get from others as a symbol of how many paths you’ve crossed. Having a lot of feathers on your wall shows that you’ve had an impact on a lot of people. That’s a pretty big priority for most Aandrisks. But they don’t give feathers out casually, not, like for helping you carry something or giving you a free drink or whatever. It’s got to be an experience that sticks with you, but it can totally be between strangers.”

Thanks for being my feather family.

I'm more than happy to be a part of your feather family Amy and your love you put into these polishes make them all the more special.

Now as promised here is the list of returning Literary Lacquers shades: And So I Step Up, Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, Ether Binge, Flickum Bicus, Grasshopper With Candy Colored Hair, Porco Rosso, Some Glad Morning, Green Gables, Lake of Shining Waters, Raspberry Cordial?, Marilla’s Amethyst Brooch, If It Pleases You, Happy Prince, Hope Is A Thing With Feathers, Amortentia, Mysterious Irrevocable Sacred, Orgasm, If Thou Hast Eyes To See, Desdemona’s Handkerchief, Salmon Chanted Evening, Bluestocking Romance, Breathing Dreams Like Air, Laters Baby and Long May She Reign.

Now remember, all these Literary Lacquer shades are available now but the gift with purchase and the group custom are available through July 9! I'd love to know which shades you are hoping to get your hands on!!! Some of those returning shades are stunners for sure!