Indie Review - Literary Lacquers!

Hello, my lovelies!

Today’s fabulousness is indie brand Literary Lacquers! Anyone who talks to me for about oh, 5 minutes, realizes in probably less than that I’m a big book nerd. HUGE. And I’m not referring to my height. I’m referring to my tendency to hideout for days on ends, surrounded by books, lost in other worlds, usually involving magic, fantasy, werewolves, witches and vampires, sometimes mysteries, and ignoring the real world. Even as a child, despite playing several sports and enjoying them, I frequently had my nose in a book. And because I inherited my father’s speed reading ability, my parents got many phone calls from irate teachers that I was reading in class. (You’d think that since I finished the assigned work this wouldn’t be a problem, but that’s another conversation).

But I digress. The point is, I love books. One room in my house is called the library and it’s devoted to books. My shelves are full and there are piles of books on the carpet. (Granted, one bookcase is dedicated to photos of family and friends, and I did surrender one bookcase to Mr. Enchanted when he moved in). There are books on the dining room table, in the entry way, the bedroom-everywhere.

I’m doing it again. This is what happens when I start talking about books. Anyhoo! When I found out that there was an indie polish called Literary Lacquers, I had to haul my buns over to her Facebook page check it out. A number of indie brands have polishes or polish lines named after or inspired by a favorite series but this was an entire polish company name and products inspired by books! Warning - this is a LONG post with a LOT of pics!

And I was not disappointed. Beautiful glitters and shimmers greeted me as I drooled through picture after picture. And I chuckled when I saw she was based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, because I used to live there. But at $10 a bottle, a wee bit higher than some other indies, I held off. It was almost Black Friday, so I held out hope for a sale. And yes! She did not disappoint. She ran a sale for 7 days where polishes were $7 a piece. Since I was on the end of my insane Black Friday shopping spree, I was conservative. I purchased only two, the (no surprise here) the orange & red polishes, They Are Wisest and Greatest Treasures, both from the new Gift Of the Magi collection.

They arrived quickly, wrapped neatly in fully recycled and compostable materials (awesome!). And with a printout of the story, Gift of the Magi by O. Henry — a lovely touch! So I set them with all of my polish goodies, expecting to make my way to them as my vacation approached.

Later that week, was I ever stoked to discover I won Literary Lacquers 500 likes giveaway! I almost squealed out loud in my office! One of the entry requirements was to name what book series you'd like to see made into a polish line, so the book series I suggested was The Black Jewels series by Anne Bishop, one of my *all time* favorite series. (If you like fantasy series, I can’t recommend it enough!) I can just see them as gorgeous holos and shimmers and glimmers. So as my prize, I got to choose 5 polishes! After much internal debate, I chose An Honest Puck, Lucy, The Count, What Fools These Mortals Be, and The Gift of the Magi. It was a hard choice, let me tell you! They arrived, wrapped just as nicely as my first two. And so here they are, in all their beautiful glory!

All of the formulas were lovely, applying easily, with no problems. The formulas are on the thinner side, so I used thinner coats.

First, we have Lucy – from the Dracula collection. This lovely lady is a “blackened ruby, packed with blood red shimmer and glitters”, and shown here with three coats, no top coat.

Next, also from the Dracula collection, is The Count. The Count is a charcoal black jelly with multiple sizes of black glitters. The glitters are a little difficult to see against the black base, but it also has a nifty dark gray shimmer to it. Being a jelly, it did take a little build up, this is four coats, no top coat. Deep and mysterious is that Count!

Then we have What Fools These Mortals Be, from the Midsummer Night’s Dream collections. This is a glorious purple-pink glitter bomb topcoat! Described as “Holographic pink and purple sparkle form the base, with light green, aqua, fuchsia, and tons of black glitter thrown in for a pageant of color.” Talk about a party on your nails! I did three coats by itself, with no top coat, to show off its radiance here. Note that as with most glitter heavy topcoats, you’ll probably want to use the foil method to remove it.

 

And then one coat over Essie She’s Picture Perfect. Beautiful! I realized while resizing these down that the angle of the camera makes it look like some of the bigger glitters are curling but I assure you that they are not!  All of them were laying flat.

  

Fourth, is Gift of The Magi itself, from the Gift of the Magi collection. There are eight polishes in this collection all together so be sure to check out her site to see all of them!! Pantone just announced emerald as the color of 2013 so this baby is a perfect choice! It’s a “full-coverage glitter nail polish packed with emerald green glitter in a green base with silver and holographic glitter accents.” This is three coats of emerald and silver beauty with no top coat. Breathtaking!

 And now, we’re getting to my favorites. An Honest Puck, from the Midsummer Night’s Dream collection is a bronze shimmery base with brown and green glitter. Very earthy, and in my favorite color scheme. This is three beautiful coats, no top coat.

 

 And then we have the beautiful orange that makes me so happy. This is They Are Wisest, from The Gift of The Magi collection. It’s a beautiful light orange molten shimmer. This is three coats, no top coat, just lots of lovely, warm happiness.

And my absolute favorite, also from the Gift of the Magi collection, is Greatest Treasures. A glorious coral linear holo!! Just look at that baby! It’s coral, it’s linear holo, it’s love. My camera and light box  just did not do justice to capturing the holo beauty of this baby! Three coats here, no top coat, just a happy sigh. 

 

I cannot wait to get my hands on more of her beautiful polishes and see what book series inspires her next! Be sure to like her Facebook page for updates, and check out her Etsy store! Don't forget to check out the entirety of her collections!

I'm going to take a break until after Christmas, when I'll be back with a special, fun post! Everyone have a safe and happy holiday!