Indie Spotlight: Hot Mess Lacquers

*none of the links in this post are affiliate links
Hot Mess Lacquers is a personal favorite for me.  I own a fair number of her line already, and so when I got the opportunity to review polishes for my blog, I jumped at the chance!  Hot Mess Lacquers  was kind enough to provide three polishes for review, and I even got to select one myself, with the other two being surprises.

Unsurprisingly, I love all three. A lot.  I knew I got a Hot Mess package in the mail by the fun neon pink zebra duct tape, but I didn't expect coordinated wrappings for the polishes!  I love these kinds of details, they make getting packages so much fun.

For review, I was given "All Hail the Queen", an Alien movie series reference, "Across the Trailer Park", and "Bourgie Bitch".  I love the Hot Mess labels; they really make a statement, but you can still see the polish in the bottle, it's a great design balance.

Below are the gorgeous swatches:

First off, All Hail the Queen.  I love the Alien movie series, even the terrible 4th movie.  I rarely get into a horror series, but I think the grandeur, the good acting and the quality of the cinematography is beyond compare for these movies.  So, to get a nail polish themed after these movies was extra fun.  What was extra, extra fun?  Discovering that the label was printed in the title font for the Alien movie; such attention to detail is a fantastic example of why I love Hot Mess.

 All Hail the Queen is an olivine jelly with forest green square glitter and golden-orange hexes in at least two sizes.  The coverage is fabulous; the swatches below are 2 coats, no topcoat.

I love the square glitter in this; it's a great departure from the typical hex, and the effect is insecty, lizardy, alien.  It's also appreciable that it's not a grey or black polish; it's not too literal, but it gives the great hidden, haunting, non-human effect that the films provide as well.

Next, Across the Trailer Park.  While I was given All Hail the Queen and Bourgie Bitch as surprises, I chose Across the Trailer Park.  I was looking forward to the deep blue with blue and green hexes, but I had no idea it'd be such a bright, peacocky color that made my nails look like they were covered in sequins!  Below is two coats, no topcoat:

Three thin coats would eliminate all visible nail line, but I didn't mind the hint of it with two coats.  The base is a bright peacock jelly, and the two types of hexes plus the mini blue glitter provide a fantastic finish.  I dabbed this a bit to ensure I got good glitter placement, but the application itself was smooth.  I didn't have to worry about bald patches or dragging at all.

Finally, Bourgie Bitch.  I think I gasped when I saw this one, and I'm so glad Hot Mess Lacquers picked it out to send to me for review.  It's a baby blue base with a pink flash, all with baby blue and rose gold hexes, along with two sizes of golden glitter.  Below is two effortless coats:

This polish is so subtly beautiful.  The dreamy, almost robin-egg blue with the pink flash, the glittering bits of gold adding luxury, oh my nails are so pretty right now!

You could draw some parallels to Revlon Whimsical or Deborah Lippman Glitter in the Air, but this polish is SO MUCH prettier.  I always thought Whimsical looked a little...barfy.  Just the wrong tones together.  Bourgie Bitch, along with being a beautiful full coverage, has a charming pink flash and golden glitter to really round it out as a beautiful polish.

I'm so flattered to have been selected to receive these polishes for review from Hot Mess Lacquers, and I am pleased to say that all three polishes here covered well in two coats, have fabulous glitter combos, and are just a pleasure to apply and wear.  A+!

*All products reviewed here were provided by Hot Mess Lacquers for review.  All opinions are my own.

Swatchathon: Pretty & Polished Olgite and Concoction

I have to apologize to my readers; my time has been mostly taken up by painting our new house, and so nail polish hasn't been very feasible lately.  It's depressing me to look at all my pretty polish and know if I put it on it'll just be wrecked by housepaint!

First off, an update on how my hands are holding up after using solely the  Pretty and Polished Sin City Hand and Body Creme for around 3 weeks; note that I've used no other moisturizing ANYTHING, no cuticle oil, no lotion, no balm, no salve, nothing, and I've spent my time either painting our house, spackling, or working in a lab with suffocating polyurethane gloves on:

Not too bad, huh??  I have enjoyed this hand creme way more than I thought I would; I figured it'd be nice, but I didn't think it'd keep my cuticles and hand skin in such good shape!  Plus, my boyfriend comments on how good it smells every time I put it on.

So far, I give the Sin City Hand and Body Creme an A+.  I'm going to keep using my sample until it's gone, so I'll update you in a few more weeks as to how it does for over a month as my sole moisturizer.

That said, I have a few swatches to share with you today, and hope to post a bit more regularly in the coming future.  Today, I'm featuring two polishes that were sent to me, along with the Pretty and Polished Sin City Hand and Body Creme.  They're part of the Pretty and Polished permanent line, and are some truly beautiful polishes.

First off, some bottle shots; Concoction is on the left, and Olgite on the right:

Concoction is a stunner; a royal purple jelly with flakies, iridescent glitter and a little bit of scattered holo to top it off?  Fabulous!  It's been raining here, so I couldn't get a sun picture to show off the holo, but the flakies and iridescent glitter both shine in this picture:

This is two coats, with a fantastic level of coverage for a jelly.  The color indoors is typically a royal purple, but it leans a little plummy in brighter lights.

Next, Olgite.  Olgite is a blue shimmer with a purpley-pink flash to it; if you look closely at the bottle shot above, you'll see a hint of it.  This polish dries semi-matte (satin, if you will), so if you prefer full gloss a topcoat will be a must.

Olgite is a lovely bluebird blue, and that purple/pink flash makes it a pretty special polish.  The coverage is good too; above is two coats, plus topcoat.

Olgite and Concoction can be purchased at Pretty and Polished's website.  As always, great formulas and great colors!

These products were sent to me for review; all opinions are my own and are not influenced by external sources.

Artsy Wednesday: Earthquake or Seismograph mani!

This kind of nail art, I like.  I can do it all with brushes in the bottles of my polish, it's simple, and people will probably ooh and ah when I go to the bank or grocery store, which is always a fun little ego boost!

I used two Pretty & Polished colors as my base; Olgite, a shimmering, duochromey blue with pale purpley-pink at certain angles, and Concoction, a deep purple jelly with holo glitter and iridescent flakies and small glitter (I KNOW, IT'S AMAZING).

Here, I have 2 coats of Olgite:

This polish is a nice opacity, and dries quickly to a satiny finish.  It's not matte, but it's not a full shine, probably due to the pigmentation.  I like it!  I did notice that my second coat needed to be a little thick to prevent dragging the first coat and creating bald patches; the polish wasn't hard to work with, it's just worth noting that a thicker second coat is worth it.  Plus, Olgite dries quickly, so no problemo!

Next, I put 2 coats of Concoction on half of each nail:

This polish is sheerer than Olgite, but two coats still provided good coverage (at least of the color of Olgite). This polish is pretty darn gorgeous, these pictures don't do it justice.  It's got a great depth, and the smidgeon of flakies in the polish give it a special twist!  I'll do lone swatches of Concoction soon, so you can really see how it pops!

Finally, paint a wiggly line down the center of your nail.  You can do this a few ways; add strips using the brush of the polish, add strips using a nail art brush, add a wavy line with a nail art brush, add zig-zags.  As long as it kind of looks like a seismograph, you've done your job!

I used GOSH Holographic Hero; I figured my nails were too dark to use black.  These turned out a little more Flash Gordon than Seismograph, but I really like them anyway!

I'm really honored to be able to participate in Artsy Wednesday, and you should all DEFINITELY check out these other, very talented Artsy Wednesday participants.  

Pretty Purple Polish

Lab Muffin

Maria's Nail Art

Valiantly Varnished

Unnaked Nails

Nail & Polish

Beauty Gnome

Lacquered Lunatic

Disclaimer: The Pretty & Polished polishes featured in this blog entry were provided for review.  All opinions are my own and have not been influenced in any way.

Review: Pretty & Polished Sin City Hand and Body Cream

I was given the opportunity to review Pretty & Polished's new hand and body cream, in the scent (or should I say flavor?) Sin City.  Sin City is a dark chocolate scented body cream that Pretty & Polished is releasing as a Valentines Day product.  I'm going to be doing this initial review, and will be "road testing" the hand cream for the next few weeks by using it exclusively, to see how it does long-term as a moisturizer!

First impressions: I had two of them.  The first was the packaging; I was sent this for review, meaning that my focus was going to be on the product, but Pretty & Polished packed my tester sample in a totally charming box with cheerful tissue paper to boot!  I really appreciate companies that add touches like that.

Second first impression: When I smelled the creme, I believe I actually said "Oh my GODDD"; the richness of the scent is phenomenal!  It takes the chocolatey scent of cocoa butter and amps it up to something beyond delicious-smelling.  I'm getting undertones of baked-goods as well as the chocolate, giving the scent in the jar a nice depth.  I also really appreciate that the scent isn't insanely strong; really strong scents for lotions drive me batty, and this cream has a very nice balance of enjoyable scent without being overpowering.

Here are my nails after removing polish; slightly stained, dry, slightly raggedy cuticles.

Here are the same nails after using the hand cream; a definite improvement in skin and cuticle moisture!

Impressions of the cream after use:
First off, scent on the skin.  When you apply the creme, there's a burst of that sweet baked-good smell, and then the lotion settles into a much more subtle scent and settle into a slightly chocolatey, slightly sweet, light fragrance.  I even got hints of coffee after the initial application, though that also mellowed into the final fragrance.  This one's complex!  I like it though; not a punch-in-the-face of tastiness, but there was just a breeze in the room from a door I left open for the cat, and I got a nice waft of scent from my hands on the keyboard, meaning the fragrance is there when you want it!

Second, the cream itself: you can see little flecks of cocoa butter in the cream, which is a pale pinkish color and a fairly fluid consistency.  It's not ultra thick like a Body Shop body cream, but isn't as thin as most lotions that come with a pump; somewhere in-between.  It absorbs in really quickly, and isn't greasy.  You can tell you recently put on hand cream, but I can type on my keyboard immediately after applying without getting little lotion spots on the keys (ah, the modern benchmark for hand cream quality!).

Final impressions: I like this cream; my hands are well moisturized without being greasy, and smell delish without being so overpowering that I get a headache.  Overall, I approve!

Sin City Hand and Body Cream will be released on January 16th, and can be found on Pretty & Polished's website HERE.

Sin City Hand and Body Cream Ingredients: 
Aloe Barbadensis (Organic Aloe Vera) Leaf Juice, Water (Aqua), Isopropyl Palmitate, Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Propylene Glycol, Glyceryl Stearate, Dimethicone, PEG-100 Stearate, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Ceteareth-20, Triethanolamine, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil, Carbomer, Methylisothiazolinone, Tocopherol (Antioxidant Vitamin E), Phenoxyethanol, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Coffea Arabica Seed Oil (and) Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Manihot Esculenta (Tapioca) Root Starch, Illite (Valley Mauve Natural Clay), Fragrance, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Potassium Sorbate, Hexylene Glycol (Preservative).

Disclaimer: These products were sent to me for review; all opinions are honest and my own and have no external input or influence.

Influenster Cosmo VoxBox review: Gillette Venus Embrace and Venus & Olay razors

Hello all!

Today's post is Not Polish Related (NPR), but I thought some of you might still be interested.  I got sent an Influenster Cosmo VoxBox for review.  Here's what I got for review:

I'm breaking up the box into a few, more in-depth reviews; today, I compared the Venus Embrace razor cartridge to the Venus & Olay razor cartridge.  My thoughts are as follows: