Polish Post: Literary Lacquers Limited Edition Mr. Darcy and Miss Bennett Duo

Happy Tuesday, folks!  I hope Monday was alright to you - you're less than 4 days away from the weekend now!  Hooray!!

A few months back, I participated in an awesome Blogiversary giveaway by the equally awesome fellow blogger The Glitzy Geek.  I won one of the prize packs, and in that prize back was the limited edition "Mr. Darcy and Miss Bennett" Duo (inspired by Pride and Prejudice) by Literary Lacquers that is exclusive to Gloss 48 (website).  After trying them out last week, I had to show them off you to all, because dang, they're pretty fantastic!

Ladies first - let's start with Miss Bennett:

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Indoors

Miss Bennett is a rosy pink with a subtle holographic effect in the sunlight.  Application is very smooth, the polish leveled out nicely and took only 2 coats for it to be opaque.  The polish dried in under 5 minutes to nice shine.  It's a very lovely color and a perfect vintage pink!

Then there's my favorite - Mr. Darcy!

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Indoors

Wowza!!!  Is he a stunner or what?!  Mr. Darcy is a gorgeous gold polish with flecks of gold glitter and a brilliantly strong holographic effect in the sunlight.  Application was just as smooth with this polish, as well, also taking 2 coats for opacity, and drying in record timing.  You cannot go wrong at all with this polish - it's amazing!  I didn't expect it to be that incredibly intense in the sunlight - it's still intense indoors, too!  Really great color!

It's funny, though.  If you look at this from a literary sense, the polishes don't exactly seem to match their characters - to me, that is.  Mr. Darcy isn't a loud and proud person who shines and stands out in a crowd.  And Miss Bennett is anything but subtle and reserved.  I feel like the polishes oppose their characters a bit.  Do I care?  Heck no, this duo is freakin' amazing!!  I just find it ironic, from a Pride and Prejudice comparison ;)

I have a few links for you of the brand and the site that still offers this duo.

Facebook: Here

Etsy: Here

Instagram: Here

Gloss48 Link to Duo: Here

I hope you enjoyed this post!!  Should have one for you tomorrow, though that is the day I come home from my mini vacation, so I may be a bit busy :P  Until next time! <3

Polish Post: Knockout Lacquer "Bridger Blue" and "It's All Over" Swatches and Review

Hello all!  I've got a pretty fun indie polish to show you this lovely Monday called Knockout Lacquer.  I'd recently ordered a charity polish and another really gorgeous polish from this brand, and loved them so much I just had to share them with you!!  Let's get right to it!

First up we have a charity polish called, "Bridger Blue:"

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Indoors

Rather than trying to put the description in my own words, I'll paste here what's posted in the description on the website for the polish, "Sacha and Preston recently welcomed their third little boy into their lives. Unfortunately, Bridger was born with tetrology of fallot with pulmonary atresia. He received his first heart surgery at 4 days old, and will need more surgeries in the future. Sacha has been separated from her two other boys while she stays in Minnesota to be close to Bridger, and it just kills her. I created "Bridger Blue" in honor of the toughest fighter that I know! I will be offering this exclusive custom color as a fundraiser. 90% of the proceeds from each bottle sold will be donated to the Bolstad family to assist with hospital bills and expenses. "Bridger Blue" is a robins egg blue with a subtle scattered holographic shimmer that will remind you of a beautiful baby boy. A beautiful baby boy who is fighting a battle every day. Thank you for your support in this cause that is so dear to my heart. -Ashley at Knockout Lacquer"

I mean whoa, what a heart-wrenching story, especially as a mom :(  Good cause aside, this polish really is awesome!  The application was super smooth, really nice formula that wasn't too thick or thin and spread out evenly without flooding my cuticles.  The polish also dried in under 5 minutes to a shiny finish.  It's really pretty outside when the sun catches those holographic glitters.  Great polish all around!

The other stunner I have to show you is called "It's All Over:"

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Indoors

The dork in me was really excited to use my Taekwondo gloves for this pic ^_^  Don't judge me...

Now I've had some reds so far - solid colored, holographic, sparkly - but this red really takes the cake.  It's All Over totally owns the Knockout brand!  Two coats to bring it to opacity, it's jam-packed full of holographic and red sparkles, dries to a shiny finish in under 5 minutes, and looks KILLER!  This polish is an all-around WIN!  And quite possibly the best quality?  No staining, at least for me.  I would definitely recommend taking a precaution and putting down a good quality base coat, just to be certain, and use something really strong to clean up around the cuticles - like, 100% acetone strong.  But you cannot go wrong with this polish - it's fan-freakin'-tastic!

Here are some social links for you to follow and keep up to date with Knockout Lacquer:

Facebook:  Here

Shop:  Here

Instagram: Here

Hope you all have a wonderful day - see you soon! <3

*NOTE: Links I provide are NOT affiliate (i.e. I get no kickback if you click on one through my blog).  I simply provide them for your convenience :)

Polish Post: MTK Design Cafe Collection Swatches and Review

You know what I and (dare I say?) billions of other people in this world love?  Coffee.  Sweet, sweet coffee.  Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, Folgers, Gevalia - I love them all!

Except McDonalds.  That coffee is naaaaaasty.

I bring up coffee not just to admire how amazing it is, but because I had purchased a mini collection of four different coffee scented nail polishes by the brand MTK Design,  You may remember a post I did a while back on a prototype (now named "Every Girl's Dream") by this brand.  I liked it so much I wanted some more ^_^  Today I'm gonna show you some pictures from their Cafe Collection with a review :)  There are four polishes in this collection - check them out!

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Sunlight

The four polishes are French Vanilla Latte (pointer finger) - a shimmery golden brown that smells of french vanilla coffee; Mocha Foam (middle finger) - a chocolate milk colored creme polish that smells of cocoa; Joe (ring finger) - a chocolate brown with a nice coppery shimmer that smells of coffee; and lastly, Double Shot - a dark, cocoa brown with a golden shimmer that also has a coffee scent but is a little stronger.

French Vanilla is very thin, but smooth in application.  I did 4 coats to get it mostly opaque (you can still see the whites of the nail in certain angles outdoors), and it dried fairly quickly to a shiny finish.  Smelled just like french vanilla coffee!  Mocha Foam took 2 coats for complete opacity, and applied a bit thicker, but did not drag or clump.  It dried pretty quickly to a muted shiny finish, and smelled like delicious cocoa for sure - probably my favorite of the scents ^_^  I used 3 coats of Joe because while it only needed 2 for full coverage, I felt one more really evened out the color.  Smelled like coffee for sure, and dried just as fast as the others, but to a more satin finish.  Double Shot took 2 coats for opacity, dried quick to a satin finish, and smelled like coffee, though not too much stronger than Joe.

These were all so fun, and really lovely shades of brown!  I will say, though, that Joe and Double Shot seemed to lose their scent fairly quickly - like, by the end of the day :(  That is the only negative aspect about the polish though.  It's a great little quartet!

Here are some MTK links for you:

Facebook: Here

Etsy: Here

Instagram: Here

As I said in yesterday's post, there will be no You-Pick-My-Art this week, since I will be out of town.  However, I will still be blogging and will be around on Facebook and Instagram with some polishy

things for you ^_^

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday!!  See you soon <3

*NOTE: I purchased this collection with no discounts or coupon codes.  Links I provide are NOT affiliate (i.e. I get no kickback when you click on them through my blog). I simply provide them for your convenience :)

Princesses and Villains: Belle and Gaston

Alright, I'm gonna cut right to the chase, here - I hate these nails.  I painted over them multiple times, I tried Belle 3 different ways, and Gaston twice before I threw in the towel and accepted that the Nail Art gods are trying to tell me that's the best I'm gonna do for now :P  So, I left it alone, fixed it up, took some pics, and washed my hands of it.  Practice makes perfect, and I will most definitely be coming back to this design again in the near future :)

So, without putting it off any further (and I'm wincing as I upload these), here are Belle and Gaston over the beautiful "Belle" and "Gaston" polishes by Ice Polish.

For some reason this lighting made the polish look more butter yellow, when it's definitely more golden, like in the other pics.  At least you can see the pretty gold and light pink flecks of glitter in this macro ^_^ 

Like I said, lots of room for improvement in the art, but the polish is great!  I applied two coats of each polish to make it completely opaque, and they both dried very quickly, as every polish by this brand has thus far.  Belle dried to a semi flat finish, whereas Gaston dried to a shinier finish.

I love that Ice Polish managed to replicate the beautiful gold of Belle's dress for this polish, it's just lovely :)  And the deep maroon/red of Gaston is perfect for him, as it reminds me of his barely-fitting shirt.  She did a great job with this duo!

To keep up-to-date on Ice Polish, here are some social links for you.  I'll provide her shop link, too, though she is currently on vacation mode.

Facebook: Here

Etsy: Here

Instagram: Here

There will be no You-Pick-My-Art this week since I will be out of town, but I will still be posting for you :)  Hope you all have a wonderful Thursday!  See you soon <3

Polish Post: Marbles For Polish! "Ghost" Swatches & Review

Well, I hope you all are having a better start to your Wednesday than I am - woke up to find a nasty mess all over the kitchen floor :-/  Now I get to play the Which-Dog-Did-It game.  Ughhhh.  At least it was the kitchen floor, and not the carpet in the other rooms!

Let's talk about something much more pleasant - a newly released polish by Marbles For Polish! For Fall the creator made a Holo collection.  The one I will be showing you today is called, "Ghost."  Here are the swatch photos:

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Indoors

Ghost is a beautiful seafoam green/silver color with a gorgeous holographic effect.  It also glows in the dark, though I did not have a chance to photograph it glowing (don't worry, I plan to do so very soon, and will post those pics on my Facebook page).  Application was smooth and even and took 2 coats for me to make it completely opaque.  It dries to a semi-flat finish, as you can see in the photos, in about 2 minutes.  Very easy polish to work with, and a very beautiful polish inside and outdoors.  Definitely one I would recommend adding to your collection!

Here are some links for you to keep up-to-date with the company:

Facebook: Here

Facebook Fan Group (You'll want to join this, she's working on a group custom polish right now!): Here

Blog: Here

Etsy: Here

Instagram: Here

That's all for today - short post, I know.  Tomorrow I will have the next Princess/Villain set from Ice Polish's "Dreams Come True...Not If I Can Help It!" collection.  See you then! <3

Polish Post: Octopus Party Nail Lacquer's Limited Edition Gold Duo Swatches & Review

If you're reading this, then you survived your Monday!  Congratulations!  I did, too - go us! :D

This lovely Tuesday I am featuring the limited edition Gold Duo by the brand Octopus Party Nail Lacquer.  Before I get to the pretty pictures, though, I wanted to show you the freaking adorable packaging of the duo when I received it:

Yeah, they came in a little satchel made of material with their awesome logo on it.  I even got a hand-written thank-you note from Dave (the owner/creator/genius of OPNL) with a coupon code for my next purchase.  Sah-weet!

Alright, onto the eye candy - no, not Tom Hiddleston today, ladies - sorry!

...Okay, maybe a little Hiddle...

Image Source: Here

*Swoon*

Okay, seriously!!!  Check out the swatch photos below!

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Indoors

I handpainted the company's logo on my middle finger, just for funsies ^_^  

Turned out rather nicely!

This duo was my first purchase from OPNL, and it definitely won't be the last!  The holographic gold on my middle and ring fingers is called "Gold Vibrations."  It is super thin, took about 4 coats to be mostly opaque, but it applied very smoothly and did not pull or damage layers underneath as I added.  Dried fairly quickly in under five minutes to a shiny finish.  I added a topcoat to make that holo really stand out.

The second part of the duo is "Glow For The Gold."  This polish is a glitter bomb full of round and hex gold glitters mixed with large holographic hex gold glitters.  It really sparkled nicely in the sun, I wish I could have gotten a better picture of the holo goodness!  This polish applied nicely for a glitter - there was no gathering, it all spread out evenly.  I did two coats on top of two coats of Gold Vibrations.  It looks really amazing!

Overall, I am extremely pleased with this purchase!  Now this Limited Edition duo sold out pretty fast, so I am sorry to say it is currently out of stock (unless he makes another batch later on).  However, he has quite a few more beauties in his shop currently, with a fall collection set to release very soon - I am itching to get my hands on some of those colors!!  Here are some links for you to keep up to date:

Facebook: Here

Shop: Here

Instagram: Here

That's all for today!  Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday - see you very soon <3

*NOTE: I purchased this polish with no discount or special offer.  Links I provide are NOT affiliate (i.e. I get no kickback when you click on them through my post). I simply provide them for your convenience :)