HPB Presents: My First Indie Brand

This month's prompt for the Hobby Polish Bloggers group on Facebook is a very fun one - the theme is "my first indie brand."  This theme actually happened at an ironic time - I'll be coming on 2 years of having this blog, and my first indie polish is what prompted me to start blogging in the first place :D

My first ever indie brand was Colors by Llarowe.  I won a giveaway the creator was having of one of her discontinued polishes, and once it came in, I was hooked!  I'd never seen polishes like that before in stores, and when I went online to look at more colors by that brand, I was in awe of the holo!  It was all addiction from there ;)

The polish I won was "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes."  It is a lovely pale brown jelly with a pigment reminiscent of that "unicorn pee" stuff everyone talks about.  I decided to pair it with another Colors by Llarowe "K-9" and created this mani:

CbL still remains one of my favorite indies, especially for the way the super holographic polishes tend to watermarble!!  

Do you remember your first ever indie polish?  Tell me about it in the comments!  And be sure to check out the other fantastic posts below :D

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An InLinkz Link-up

Faeries & Folklore's St. Patrick's Day Trio

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This morning, I have a super fun St. Patrick's Day Trio to show you by Faeries & Folklore:

Let's jump right in and start with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow:"

There's always one little f*cker in glitter placement that doesn't go where it should go.

Two things here right away: first, tell me this doesn't remind you of Fruity Pebbles??  Almost immediately after applying it to my nails I thought, "OMG!  It's like Fruity Pebbles!!" and made me a little sad that it did not smell like them.  Second thing: glitter placement.  Holy shite, that took me too long.  But I gotta say, I super love my UberChic mat specifically for these things, because it was soooo much easier to get the individual colors off that thing, and then clean up the rainbow puke mess I made.  Love it!

Now as for the polish, how super fun is this?!  When Somewhere Over the Rainbow first came to me, I had no idea what it was, because if you look at it in the bottle, it looks just like a murky glitter mix.  But as soon as you pull it out and you see the fun colorbomb that it is, sooooo many possibilities spring forth :D  This one is so freakin' fun, especially for this holiday, I just can't recommend it enough!  In order to keep the glitter suspended, it is in a thicker base so keep that in mind, and some of the larger glitters needed a little more encouragement to spread out evenly, but everything played nicely together.  Two coats of topcoat smoothed it out to perfection :)  I do recommend wearing this topper over something light colored and simple - if worn over something dark or busy, you'll loose the effect and it will look...funky.  Though I would love to see what this would look like over a light gray/white/silver holo...

Next up: "Patty:"

Patty is another super fun glitter topper, of which I did another glitter placement design, not as impressive as the last but still cute :P  This topper applied really well, very smoothly, too.  It is packed with light green, dark green, and gold holo hex shapes as well as some gold dusting and gold squares.  It's really eye catching in the sunlight as well!  I am wearing one coat in the photos above over a light mint green polish.  One coat of topcoat smoothed everything out and really made the holo and sparkle shine :)

And lastly we have "Rolled in Gold:"

My fingers look EXPENSIVE, y'all!  Hot damn!  This was such a unique polish - I can honestly say I personally haven't really seen anything like it in the indie industry yet.  It's really quite stunning!  Rolled in gold is a beautiful micro glitter polish consisting purely of gold holographic glitter.  Now the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear "holographic" is "RAINBOW ALL THE THINGS!" and there is clearly no rainbow in this polish.  That is because "holographic" comes from the word "hologram" which is a three-dimensional image, and this polish definitely looks 3D in person.  Smooth application- Rolled in Gold would be opaque in 3 thin coats but I applied this one in thicker coats and felt that adding a third to this would have been way too goopy.  Also I left the rainbow accent nail because I used Rolled in Gold for the gold.  Because of course.

This gorgeous trio will be available tonight at 6pm CST, so set your alarms!!  Here's where you can find the polish and where you can follow the brand:

Shop

Facebook

Facebook Fan Group

Instagram

What do you think of this trio??  Let me know in the comments!

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Polish was sent to me for swatches and a review.  All experience with the polish is unique to me and my review is 100% honest.

Smokey Mountain Lacquers St. Patrick's Day Duo

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Ahhhh good ole St. Patrick's Day - the day of the year where everyone is Irish (or, their interpretation of what it means to be Irish, which is apparently someone with red hair who drinks a lot, eats only corned beef and cabbage, shepherd's pie, and soda bread, and dresses like a leprechaun).  I'm pretty sure this is also the one day of the year the Irish really don't like Americans :P

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All jokesies aside, I have a gorgeous St. Patrick's Day duo to show you today by Smokey Mountain Lacquers!

This is a beautiful duo of a green cream and a citrine green glitter bomb.  Onward, to swatches!!

First up we'll check out "Shake Your Shamrocks:"

Shake Your Shamrocks is a gorgeous green cream thick enough to go on as a one-coater, but can also be applied in two thin coats (as shown above).  While upon application it seemed streaky, once it started to dry, everything leveled out very nicely and there were no bumps or streaks whatsoever - just a deliciously smooth green cream!

The second of the duo is "Lucky Charm:"

 

Direct Sunlight - kachow!!!!

Lucky Charm is a gorgeous citrine green holo microglittter bomb that is just astounding in the sunlight!  This one is opaque in two coats (as shown on the middle and ring fingers above), but can also be worn as a topper (as shown on the pointer and pinky fingers above over Shake Your Shamrocks).  This one dries a bit textured, so adding a generous topcoat will not only smooth things out, it will really make that holo pop!

I'll be uploading a video to my instagram today showing the intense sparkle of Lucky Charm, so keep your eyes peeled for it!

This fantastic duo will be launching tomorrow, Friday the 26th, at 7pm EST on the Smokey Mountain Lacquers website, linked below:

Store

Facebook

Facebook Fan Group

Instagram

Twitter

Also wanted to quickly mention that Smokey Mountain Lacquers also sells some pretty amazing soaps!!  With the St. Patrick's Day Duo, she sent me a bar of her lavender soap, and it is really quite nice :)  Smells amazing and leaves my skin the same!  I'll be posting a full review of it next week after I've been using it, but thought I'd also mention it now in case you want to pick up a bar when you pick up the duo ;)

So what do you think of the polish duo?  Let me know in the comments!

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Polish and soap were sent to me by the maker for photography and review purposes.  All experiences with the products are my own and my review remains 100% honest. 

Faeries & Folklore Inaugural Launch!

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I tell you a tale of an Indie brand freshly bloomed - a brand bearing tales of mythical, magical, mystical creatures.  This brand captured the essence of Faeries and Folklore and bottled them up to offer to humankind, so that we may all wear a fairytale on our fingers.  As luck would have it, I have a sampling of these fairytales to show you today - a duo of equestrian origins and a feline inspired creation :)

I will start with "Kelpie:"

Kelpie is a rich black creme that is opaque in one coat and can also be used to stamp.

The second is titled "Unicorn Uniform:"

Unicorn Uniform is everything magical about all equestrian kind!  It is a rainbow flakie topper that could also be built up to opacity.

And this polish of everything kitteh:

Crazy Cat Lady is a glitterbomb of various shapes, sizes, and colors of glitter, and lots of cat shaped glitters, of course :)  This polish is exclusive only to members of the fan group on Facebook (I've linked it below) and there is also an exclusive code to go along with it - I suggest you join!

This Some Kind of Equestrian duo and Crazy Cat Lady will be brought to an earthly realm near you today, the 19th of February in the year of our Lord 2016 at the 15th hour of the day (3pm) Central Standard Time.  It is foretold one can capture these magical polishes at the following locations, as well as information and future mythical creature creations:

Shop

Facebook

Facebook Fan Group

Instagram

Will you be catching one of these duos? :D

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Polish was sent by maker for photography and review purposes.  All experience with the polish is my own and disclosed with 100% honesty.

Parrot Polish Flakie Goodness

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Y'all, I am super stoked.  SUPER stoked.  Yesterday, something fantastical happened.  Something every mother *loves* to happen after giving birth.

I fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans.

No more maternity pants for this lady!  I am on Cloud 9!  Nothing can stop me now!!

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So let's celebrate with some nail polish flakie porn!  Aw yeah!  Parrot Polish released 3 flakie toppers, and guess who got to swatch them?

ME!

Please note, all toppers were swatched over "Pitch Black," a one-coater black creme by Parrot Polish :)

We'll start with "Ice:"

Mattify!!

Full disclosure - this one is thick, and the flakes stick up/curl a bit.  The base seemed to bubble as well (best seen in the matted photo), though that could very well be user error - I've seen polishes bubble on some people and not others.  Otherwise, it's got great coverage, and I just looooove the blue!  

Next up is "Hemisphere:"

The green flakes in Hemisphere are more opalescent to me which really adds to the effect.  This topper is a lot more sparse in application, so if you want more coverage, you'll either want to do 2-3 coats, or sponge them on.  All of my nails above have one coat except the ring finger, which has 2.

And lastly is the most beautiful of the three - "Oz:"

Where are my Ruby slippers - I wanna LIVE in Oz forever!!  This polish had the best coverage with no fishing required, and my nails looked like opals!!  Truly a completely stunning topper, and easily opaque in 2-3 coats.  

You can purchase these flakie toppers at the shop link below:

Shop

Facebook

Facebook Fan Group (US)

Facebook Fan Group (UK & Europe)

Instagram

What do you think of these toppers?  Are you as crazy about Oz as I am?  Let me know in the comments!

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Polishes were sent to me for photography purposes.  All experience with the polishes are my own and my disclosure remains 100% honest.

Gothic Gala Lacquers "Spring Bouquet" Collection

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Tomorrow at noon Pacific Standard Time, Gothic Gala Lacquers will be releasing her Spring Bouquet Collection!

This is a ridiculously stunning collection that I am very much in love with because it is my two favorite things about spring polishes - holo (duh) and pastels!!  She even managed to squeeze some flakie goodness in these, too, which we all know is another weakness of mine ;)

Let's dive right in to some swatches, shall we?  Warning: it's about to get all picture happy and holographic up in here!

Note:  All are shown in 2 coats with topcoat.

We'll start with "Carnation:"

Carnation is a blue/green holo with a soft shimmer of flakies.

Next up: "Dusty Miller"

Dusty Miller is a silver/grey holo with silver flakies throughout.

Next: "English Daisy"

English Daisy is probably the biggest stunner of the collection.  It is a fuchsia/dark pink holo with gold flakies.

Here we have "Hyacinth:"

Hyacinth is a dusty lilac holo with violet flakies.

This beauty (and my personal fav of the bunch) is "Hydrangea:"

Hydrangea is a peridot-leaning green holo with green flakies throughout.  My accent nail is done with Sounds of Science from her Science is Beautiful collection.

And last but not least, we have "Star Flower:"

Star Flower is a soft powder blue holo with blue flakies throughout.

This whole collection is just perfect for the Spring season!  Makes me wish it were here already so I can start planting some flowers ^_^

The Spring Bouquet collection will be launching tomorrow at 12pm PST - and if you use the code MOMMRSANDME25 you'll get 25% off your order ;)  Here are some links for you:

Website

Facebook

Facebook Fan Group

Instagram

Twitter

Pinterest

I will also be posting macro brush-shot videos of each of these polishes on my Instagram, so make sure you're following me, because you definitely don't wanna miss the holo goodness!! 

Which one of these polishes is your favorite of the bunch?  Let me know in the comments!

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Polish was provided by the maker for photography purposes.  All opinions and experiences with the polish are my own and remain 100% honest.