Colors By Llarowe

*Purchased with my own money

I cannot tell you how excited I was to hear about this line.  I've loved shopping at Llarowe for the better part of two years, and I knew that someone who loved nail polish as much as she did would eventually make her own line.  I'm prophetic like that... Okay not really, I can't predict the future.  I'm not even sure I would want to predict the future. If I could predict the future I would know what Moffat was planning for series three of Sherlock and the next series of Doctor Who.  But I'm not, so back to the polish. There isn't a shade in her line that I wouldn't love to wear.  I have three colors for you today, and I can't wait to try more.

Ebony and Emeralds is a black based polish with green to gold color shift.  It's a stunning but subtle polish.  It took two coats to get full opacity and dried with a slightly matte texture.  It doesn't matter how many colors I have that have this particular shift in them, I will always buy more.  I'm not normally one to wear black polish on it's own, but the shimmer makes it perfect. Just the right amount of interesting.

I love this spring green color and add in that it's a linear holographic and I'm done.  This color is swoon worthy.  This gorgeous green is called Young Grasshoppa and is a bright green jelly base  It is a bit sheer on it's own, and even with five coats wasn't fully opaque. I added a coat or two of a green creme and topped it off with two coats of this linear shimmer.

Purple Rain is just the vampy color I needed in my life.  It's a plummy purple jelly base with tons of purple blue shimmer.  It was opaque in two coats and stunning.  There is a bit of a smell to it that lingers.  I'm not sure if it was just my bottle or if all of them have the smell, but it's not horrible.  And honestly, who goes around sniffing their finger nails?

I was very pleased with all three shades from the collection.  I can't wait until she's restocked and I can try some more.  As far as restocks go, I haven't heard when she's going to have one.  You can subscribe to get emails on the Llarowe website and there's a list of launch dates there as well.  I was browsing her site and noticed that the only one of these polishes that was listed (even though it was out of stock) was Purple Rain.  I'm not sure if that means that the other two are not coming back or not.

You can find Llarowe on Facebook and their website.  In addition to selling her own line, she has quite the collection of indies and international polishes.  It's really worth a look. 

My Firsts Tag

My obsession with tags continues, and I know you've all been waiting on tenterhooks for another one. This one comes from YouTube and so a couple of questions just pertain to YouTube.  I'll still try to answer them to the best of my ability. 

-What was your first tweet? I did it. I spent 15 minutes scrolling through all of them, and here it is. "Has officially had a Twitter account for a whole day. Wow!"

-What was your first YouTube video? I did infact make videos at one point and my first was an intro to my Etsy store.  I've made it private, and it will remain that way forever. 

-Who was the first person you subscribed to on YouTube? I don't know for sure, but I think it might be Amysass7. She's an Australian makeup artist and she still makes videos. I just loved her technique and her personality.  At one point I was subscribed to over 500 different accounts, but I've culled it down to 45.

-What was the first Facebook profile pic? I think it was a shot I took on vacation of me wearing a pink hoodie and huge sunglasses.  I still thinks it's a rather cute picture.

-Do you still talk to your first love? No, I don't talk to him, but I am friends with him on Facebook.  

-What was your first alcoholic drink? I think it was some wine when I was twelve or so.  I didn't like it and still don't.  Through years of tasting things I've discovered that I have overactive taste buds and so I taste the alcohol in anything really strongly.  Combine that with the massive headache I get while drinking, and I find it best to just leave it all alone.

-What was your first job? My first job was working in my parents jewelry store when I was 8.  I didn't pay very well, but it was fun.  I think it might be what got me started in making things and wanting to be an artist.

-What was your first car? I had a 1993 Buick Park Avenue.  He was all black and I named him Angus.  He had an issue with his transmission and I eventually sold him to be used in a bump and run.

-Who was the first person to text you today? I rarely text, so it's been days since I got one.  I think it might have been from my brother, but not entirely sure.

-Who was the first person you thought of this morning? I honestly can't remember.  I know that as soon as I got up I thought about checking my Etsy and Facebook, but not a person.  

-Who was your first grade teacher? Mrs. Sullivan, she taught me about oobleck.

-Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane? My first and only experience on a plane was to Disney World when I was 4.  I went on four planes and since watching all five Final Destination movies, I've become afraid to fly.

-Who was your first best friend & do you still talk? My first ever best friend was a girl named Kasey and our backyards were seperated by a fence. So our friendship was a proximity thing.  When I moved, we stayed in touch via the phone and gradually grew more distant, but through the invention of Facebook I talk to her fairly often.

-Where was your first sleep over? It was at my friend Katie's house and I wound up leaving in tears after about an hour. I think that's what you get when you send your 5 year old off to a sleep over for the first time.

-What was the first thing you did this morning? To be honest, I went pee.  After that, I went online and wasted about an hour. After that I failed at making French Toast. 

-What was the first concert you ever went to? I've never been to a large concert, and I'm not a huge live music fan.  When I was young I lived in a college town and my brother went to a bunch of concerts.  I would love to go to a classical concert if I ever get the chance.

-What was your first broken bone? I've never broken a bone.  I slammed my right index finger in a car door, but it didn't break.  I'm just resilient.

-What was your first piercing? My ears and that's it.  I had a second set of ear piercings done, but I let them close up because they were uneven.

-What was the first foreign country you've gone to? I've never had the chance to leave the country.  I would love to go to the UK and France. When I was a senior in high school I had to plan to move to France and become a hermit.

-What was the first movie you remember seeing? I'm not sure, but I remember getting kicked out of a movie for talking when I was about 5.  I can't remember the name of the movie, but I distinctly remember being asked to leave. 

-When was your first detention? I only ever had 2 detentions both when I was in 7th grade, and both from the same teacher for the same reason.  I was accused on plagiarism twice for not putting quote marks around a sentence in my notes. 

-Who was your first roommate? I've never had a roommate, but I always seemed to be the one that had to have the relative sleep in my room when they came to visit.  It was never fun, and I don't miss it.  That was one of the things I wasn't looking forward to if I were to have gone away to college.  I'm a light sleeper and don't do well sleeping in the same room as other people. I did go to a thing called Exploration days where my 4H group went to MSU for three days and basically acted like we were in college.  That was fun, but again they were all my friends, so sleeping in the same room as them wasn't hard.

-What was the first sport you were involved in? Other than in gym class the only sports I've ever been involved with are Track and Field and power lifing.  My dad is a track coach, so that was an obvious thing, but he let me give it up when he realized I had no talent for it.  I did however excel at power lifting.  

-What is the first thing you do when you get home? Make myself as unpresentable as possible.  I'm in my jammies or work clothes and that's the way I prefer to be.

-When was your first kiss? When I was in Kindergarten.  It was forced upon me and was followed by my first ever marriage proposal.  I of course said no and I think I started to cry which was my defense mechanism in Kindergarten. 

I don't have anyone to tag specifically, but if you feel like doing this you can leave a link below in the comments.

Not Too Polished Halloween in Hogsmeade

*Swapped for the purpose of review

As I lay here in bed, not sleeping, but really enjoying that it's only 30 degrees outside.  I was struck by the Halloween bug.  I've been seeing candy and costumes for weeks and wish it were closer.  Luckily, I have this gorgeous collection by Not Too Polished that combines two of my favorite things.  Harry Potter and Halloween.  The Halloween in Hogsmeade collection consists of six colors that are all to die for.  I saw this collection and knew I had to have it, sadly I'm on a no buy until I get back from Chicago.  I was lamenting this to Elizabeth from Not Too Polished and we came up with the idea to do a swap.  I do love a good swap.

Polyjuice Potion is a stunning deep brown with green shimmer and various glitters.  Application was fantastic and it only took two coats for full coverage.  This color so made me think of Fall and mud.  It's kind of a muddy color, but it fits the name perfectly.  Every description of Polyjuice Potion I've ever read describes it as being muddy and not very pretty. This polish on the other hand takes the ugliness of Polyjuice Potion and makes it gorgeous.

I so want to drink this color. For all the recipes for butterbeer I have, I've never tried one. I love the concept of a butterscotch colored polish. It's warm but neutral and that shimmer in perfect.  I did notice a few pigment clumps in this polish, but nothing that you can't work with.  Butterbeer was opaque in three thin coats, and is a perfect neutral for fall.

I can't resist a gorgeous pink tinted red shimmery jelly polish, and Fiendfyre is just that. In the words of Elizabeth, "Fiendfyre is an incredibly dangerous spell, creating unquenchable flames strong enough to destroy even a Horcrux!" I have to say, this color would be great all through fall and into winter, I can so see this as a great Christmas polish. I have a thing where I like to wear red polish a lot during the month of December, and this might be a contender for this year.

This was the color that drew me to the collection.  I was immediately sucked into it's shimmery color shifting depths, which fits the name perfectly.  Veritaserum is of course truth serum, and can make anyone spill they're deepest and darkest secrets.  I used two coats over a plummy purple creme and loved the look.  I think this color would transform any dark color.  The main shifts in this polish are from blue to purple, but there is a bit of pink as well.  Application was great, and the name is perfect.

Another great fall neutral that leans towards orange and has pink shimmer.  Not that you can see it in my photos, this polish didn't want to cooperate with my camera.  I hate when that happens.  Pumpkin Juice is another color that looks like the thing it's inspired by.  I used three thin coats to get full coverage, and love the shimmer in this polish.

Lastly, we have what is probably my favorite polish of the collection. No photo can capture the gorgeousness of this color.  It's an acid green with shimmer that shifts from green to yellow, and even to pink.  Acid Pops is the perfect acid green color.  I would normally avoid this kind of color because it leans to far on the yellow side of things, but this was great.  It was a bit sheer even in three coats, but it would look amazing over white.  For all the polishes I have, I don't have a single plain white creme polish.

Overall, I think this collection is a great fall and Halloween collection that everyone needs in their lives.  There's a little something for everyone.  Each of these polishes are 7.50 plus a little for shipping and will only  be listed until the end of October.

You can find Not Too Polished on Facebook and Etsy. 

Disclaimer: I was sent these polishes in a swap and all opinions are my own.

Fluffy Pumpkin

*Made by me

I love fall, and can't believe it's finally here.  At least for the time being. I've created a color that will be perfect for fall.  It's a stunning pumpkin orange with linear holo and scattered orange holo glitter.  I've called it Fluffy Pumpkin and it's a limited edition polish.  What does limited edition mean? There are only 25 bottles of Fluffy Pumpkin ever made. My release date in September 13th 2013. Yep, tomorrow!

Look at that sexy holographic macro shot.  This color is Falltastic.

Fluffy Pumpkin reaches full opacity in three coats and dries to a slightly textured finish. I've added a coat of top coat for extra shine and sparkle.  When it's listed it will be 10 dollars a bottle, and won't be going on sale.  I plan on listing tomorrow at noon EST. 

If money is a little tight you can enter two giveaway for a chance to win a bottle of Fluffy Pumpkin.

My 2000 likes giveaway: http://bit.ly/U1gbwj

The Good Witch of the Midwest's 500 likes giveaway: http://bit.ly/18MmY00

Gothic Gala Lacquers Welcome to the Ball

*Won in a Giveaway

Today I have a review of a rather new polish maker called Gothic Gala Lacquers.  I was lucky enough to be the 100th like on her Facebook page and won a complete set of her first collection. I hadn't seen very much about her first collection.  When I received these they were pretty much a surprise, and what a surprise they were...

Welcome to the Ball is a dark base with all sorts of holographic glitters and even some linear holographic awesomeness. It was hard to capture the linear holo on my camera. Partly because I didn't see it right away and partly because it was extremely cloudy when I photographed Welcome to the Ball. Application was great and only took 2 coats for full opacity, and was surprisingly smooth even without top coat.

Sinderella's Slipper is a glitter topper that really pops over grey. I was searching for a color to use it over and grey just popped into my head.  I then saw Accio Lacquer's post and saw she did the same thing.  Great minds think alike and all.  Sinderella's Slipper has red holo hearts, black hearts, and a myriad of smaller red and black glitters.  I used three coats over China Glaze's Immortal.  I know Immortal has some shimmer, but overall it didn't even show up.  Application was a bit sparse and took three coats to get any hearts on my nails.

Lolita's Gown is a gorgeous shimmery purple with added glittery pops.  I saw this polish and immediately fell in love with it. Sadly, application wasn't as great as I thought it would be.  It was a bit sheer and took three coats for full coverage, but the glitters were sparse.  I wish there had been more glitter and more pigment, if that had been the case, you have have to tie me down to get this color off my nails. 

Overall, all three polishes were great and I can't wait to see what else she has in store.  I've been seeing more of her posts on Facebook and there seems to be a Star Trek themed collection in the works.  I'm pretty excited about that as well.  I just hope it's around after my no buy is over. 

You can find Gothic Gala Lacquers on Facebook and Etsy. 

Disclaimer: I won these by being the 100th like on Gothic Gala's Facebook page.  I am honored to review these and all opinions are my own.