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Indigo Bananas Review and Swatches – Mei Mei’s Signatures Exclusive Trio

May6

Nothing to Disclose

Hello my lovelies!  I am officially a college graduate!  It’s kind of a surreal feeling and also bittersweet as I happened to make a lot of good friends this semester.  Now that I’m done with school now, for awhile, I will have some more free time so you will see some more posts and reviews.  I’m also thinking up some other features and things that I might be able to incorporate, would ya’ll like to see a return of Wednesdays We Wear Pink?  Do ya’ll have anything else you’d like to see more of?  Tell me in the comments and I’ll definitely see what I’m capable of pulling off for you!

Today I have a beautiful trio of Indigo Bananas polishes to show you.  They are exclusive to Mei Mei’s Signatures, an international stockist that is based in Singapore.  Trust me they are worth a little international shipping!

First up we have Liang Shanbo is in Doubt!

Indigo Bananas - Liang Shanbo is in Doubt

Indigo Bananas – Liang Shanbo is in Doubt

Liang Shanbo is in Doubt is a beautiful golden champagne colored linear holographic polish that has some additional ice blue flakies and shimmer.  I’ve said before, and I’m sure you’ll hear me say it again, I like holographic polishes most when they have something else going on, a fun shimmer, some flakies, glitter, or anything like that.  This one fulfills that desire for me!  It’s a perfect neutral work-friendly shade that is not boring or dull in the least!

Indigo Bananas - Liang Shanbo is in Doubt

Indigo Bananas – Liang Shanbo is in Doubt

The formula on this polish was lucsious.  I had no troubles with dragging or streaking.  It also self-leveled beautifully and despite being a light color did not take a lot to build to opacity!  These pictures show two coats plus topcoat!

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein; Indigo Bananas – Liang Shanbo is in Doubt; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat

Next up is Zhu Yingtai is a Lady!

Indigo Bananas - Zhu Yingtai is a Lady

Indigo Bananas – Zhu Yingtai is a Lady

So little known fact about me…up until just recently I disliked the color purple with a passion that would fuel a thousand burning suns.  However, something has changed and I can’t.get.enough.purple!  I bought this trio mainly for this one polish and because I liked the other two as well but it was this one that made me look at it to start with.  This is a gorgeous medium purple linear holographic with a golden shimmer and gold flakies!  I just love it.  Love.love.love.  I also really like the way it looks on me as well.

Indigo Bananas - Zhu Yingtai is a Lady

Indigo Bananas – Zhu Yingtai is a Lady

Another fantastic formula here.  No issues to report.  Again the opacity is good as well as the self-leveling.  Pictures show two coats plus topcoat!

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein; Indigo Bananas – Zhu Yingtai is a Lady; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat

Last but not least is a fun glitter topper that works with either of the other two polishes in the trio.  Love Like Butterflies:

Indigo Bananas - Love Like Butterflies (over Zhu Yingtai is a Lady)

Indigo Bananas – Love Like Butterflies (over Zhu Yingtai is a Lady)

Indigo Bananas - Love Like Butterflies (over Liang Shanbo is in Doubt)

Indigo Bananas – Love Like Butterflies (over Liang Shanbo is in Doubt)

Love Like Butterflies is a clear-based glitter topper with a wide variety of satin pastel glitters.  In addition there is scattered holographic pigment, iridescent flakies, and some of the glitters are shaped like butterflies and flowers!  I love this because, while I’m not really the biggest fan of shaped glitter, butterflies are special to me.  Plus it’s so pretty and springy over the other two colors!

Indigo Bananas - Love Like Butterflies (over Liang Shanbo is in Doubt)

Indigo Bananas – Love Like Butterflies (over Liang Shanbo is in Doubt)

Indigo Bananas - Love Like Butterflies (over Zhu Yingtai is a Lady)

Indigo Bananas – Love Like Butterflies (over Zhu Yingtai is a Lady)

This one is a chunky glitter and you may find it to be a little topcoat-hungry.  Also, I found that dabbing this one on worked far better than attempting to apply via brushstrokes.  The glitter does tend to settle a bit because the larger shaped glitters naturally are a bit heavier.  I just flipped the bottle upside down for a bit and as you can see I got plenty of goodie glitters on my nails and I didn’t have to fish for them once it had redistributed through the base.  Pictures show one dabbed coat over undies and two coats of topcoat.

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein; Indigo Bananas – Liang Shanbo is in Doubt, Zhu Yingtai is a Lady, Love Like Butterflies; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat

As I mentioned before this trio is exclusively sold at Mei Mei’s Signatures.  I have to say they provide excellent customer service and while I was expecting a long shipping time because she was having a huge sale at the time I placed my order and because, well, she’s based in Singapore!  I actually got my shipment within 10 days.  Not bad at all.  Do expect however that it can take more time than that if you order.  You can get these and other Indigo Bananas polishes.  If you are looking for other non-exclusive Indigo Bananas polish you can visit the Indigo Bananas Webpage, Facebook, or Instagram!  Don’t forget to follow Mei Mei’s on Facebook and Instagram as well!

 

Alchemy Lacquers Lab Report – Infinity Collection

Apr23

Sent for Honest Review

I have an absolutely fabulous collection to show you today my dear readers!  I’m sorry that I’ve been so absent lately but I graduate from college next week with my Bachelor’s Degree so I have been exceptionally busy.

I wanted to show you this collection though because it releases TODAY.  You’re definitely going to want to grab this collection in time for the Avengers: Age of Ultron that opens on May 1st since this collection is inspired by the Marvel comics and first as a group appeared in an Avengers comic book!  This is the Perfect collection of nail polish for any superhero (or supervillain) – loving person!  Rebecca, the mastermind behind Alchemy Lacquers, really is a fan of comic books and was inspired to create a collection to reflect that love!

 I keep saying it but I’ll say it again, every collection is a little better than before in terms of execution of theme, ideas, and creativity.  Rebecca constantly wants to improve on her product, is ruthless with testing, and I can tell you that she spends months working on a collection before it comes out.  Sometimes it’s so hard to keep them under wraps!

Alchemy Lacquers - Infinity Stones Collection

Alchemy Lacquers – Infinity Collection

I’m going to break my pattern here and talk about formula right now because honestly they are all super similar in formula and application and rather than repeat myself ad nauseam  (college words for the win!) about how great the formula is I’m going to tell you at the top.  These are a collection of jelly holographic polishes so they are a touch sheer but they are meant to be to show off all the glitter and flakies.  All pictures show three coats and they are opaque.  The application was divine and I had no trouble getting a good finish with the polish, no streaking or dragging.

Because I can’t stand for things not to be orderly and in proper order we’re going to do this collection in rainbow order.  First up we have Ruby of Power:

Alchemy Lacquers - Ruby of Power

Alchemy Lacquers – Ruby of Power

Ruby of Power is a lovely red jelly holographic polish that has multi-shades red microglitter and UltraChrome Flakies!  The flakies in this polish shift from red to orange.  The complexity of a seemingly simple polish is amazing.

Alchemy Lacquers - Ruby of Power

Alchemy Lacquers – Ruby of Power

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein; Alchemy Lacquers – Ruby of Power; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That.

Next up is Spessartite of Time:

Alchemy Lacquers - Spessertite of Time

Alchemy Lacquers – Spessertite of Time

Again we have a gorgeous jelly holographic polish, this one is orange.  There are multi-shades of orange microglitter and UltraChrome Flakies.  The flakies in this polish shift between orange and yellow.

Alchemy Lacquers - Spessertite of Time

Alchemy Lacquers – Spessertite of Time

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein; Alchemy Lacquers – Spessartite of Time; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That.

Now we have Citron of Reality:

Alchemy Lacquers - Citron of Reality

Alchemy Lacquers – Citron of Reality

Citron of Reality is the yellow one in the bunch!  It’s a slightly green-leaning yellow jelly holographic base with multi-shades of yellow microglitter and UltraChrome Flakies.  The flakies shift between yellow and green which enhances the green-leaning bit of the polish.

Alchemy Lacquers - Citron of Reality

Alchemy Lacquers – Citron of Reality

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein; Alchemy Lacquers – Citron of Reality; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That.

Emerald of Soul:

Alchemy Lacquers - Emerald of Soul

Alchemy Lacquers – Emerald of Soul

Hubba hubba.  This is one of my favorites, it’s just the perfect shade of emerald green and it looks amazing on my skin tone so I definitely can’t wait to wear it again.  This is an emerald green jelly holographic polish with multi-shades of green microglitter and UltraChrome flakies.  The flakies shift between green and blue.

Alchemy Lacquers - Emerald of Soul

Alchemy Lacquers – Emerald of Soul

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein; Alchemy Lacquers – Emerald of Soul; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That.

Next to last in our rainbow of comic-book inspired polishes is Sapphire of Mind:

Alchemy Lacquers - Sapphire of Mind

Alchemy Lacquers – Sapphire of Mind

I never ever ever get tired of TARDIS blue polish.  Even though this one is not Doctor Who inspired it is still a perfect TARDIS blue!  This is a sapphire blue jelly holographic polish with multi-shades of blue microglitter and UltraChrome flakies.  The flakies in this one shift between blue and purple.

Alchemy Lacquers - Sapphire of Mind

Alchemy Lacquers – Sapphire of Mind

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein; Alchemy Lacquers – Sapphire of Mind; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That.

Last but certainly not least is Amethyst of Space:

Alchemy Lacquers - Amethyst of Space

Alchemy Lacquers – Amethyst of Space

I.Love.This.Polish.  I need back-ups of this one.  It’s so gorgeous I could just die, but on the other hand that would suck because then I couldn’t keep enjoying this polish!  This is a medium amethyst violet jelly holographic polish with multi-shades of purple microglitter and UltraChrome Flakies.  The flakies in this one shift between purple and red…Are you sensing a theme here???  Did you notice, readers, that the flakies in each one points to the next polish!!!???  How flipping awesome is that?!  This small detail just adds one more band of cohesion to an already tightly conceptualized collection.

Alchemy Lacquers - Amethyst of Space

Alchemy Lacquers – Amethyst of Space

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein; Alchemy Lacquers – Amethyst of Space; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That.

 

I cannot wait to do some nail art with the whole collection, I assure you its coming!  I know for sure I’ll be whipping them out to do an ally manicure for LGBT Pride Month.  This fantastic collection along with two new Moonshard polishes (review upcoming on that amazing collection) will be released TONIGHT at 8PM ET.  Set your alarms, make sure to grab yours because you’ll want them in time for the movie release!  You can visit the Alchemy Lacquers Shop Here and don’t forget to check them out on Facebook and Instagram for all the latest swatches, nail art, and sneak peaks of future collections and releases!  Are you an Alchemy Lacquers superfan?  Come and join the rest of us in the new Alchemy Lacquers Lab for even more sneak peaks, discussions, pretty pictures, and other fun stuff!

Until next time my dear readers.  I promise there will be some more consistency coming soon as I finish up school.  Look for a TON of posts because I assure you that just because I’ve been busy with school doesn’t mean that I haven’t been getting nail mail.  I have some exciting stuff to show you!

 

 

 

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers Review and Swatches

Mar30

Nothing to Disclose

Hello my lovely readers!  I’m delighted to share a quick review and post of a recent release of Blue Eyed Girl Lacquers.  A couple of weeks ago there was a huge collaboration box available that had a bunch of different makers involved.  I was able to snag a couple of the items that were in the box and since not all of the polishes were exclusive to the box one of the ones I snagged has also been released for everyone by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers!  Since it is available now I decided to share it with you so you can plan your Spring Polish Budget accordingly (Pro-tip:  Throw away the budget).  Enough of my rambling onto the polish!

This lovely lady is Kaffir Lily:

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers - Kaffir Lily

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers – Kaffir Lily

 

Kaffir Lily is a perfect creamy pastel, lavender-leaning, pink linear holographic polish.  As if that weren’t enough there is a strong pink glassfleck shimmer throughout.  The holographic arc is perfectly balanced to the creme base and gives you plenty of bang without getting overwhelming the way that some mega-holos can.  There’s a time and place for all of them but for Spring I like something a little more subtle, a little fresher, and yet still interesting.  The glassfleck shimmer adds a lot of depth and dimension.

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers - Kaffir Lily

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers – Kaffir Lily

I really can’t say enough about the formula on this.  I expected a pastel holographic polish to be a bit tricky.  Sometimes pastels can be streaky, holographic polishes tend to dry a bit faster on me, not to mention lighter colors for me tends to mean that I’ll be doing no less than two coats and usually three.  Yeah, so, I was worried for NOTHING.  This polish was a dream to apply, I got excellent coverage, and it didn’t streak or drag.  Wait until I tell you this because you’re NOT going to believe it…ONE COAT WONDER!  I haven’t used that phrase in a long time it seems.  These photos show ONE coat plus topcoat.

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein; Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers – Kaffir Lily; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat.

You know the drill this isn’t the only great thing available at the Blue-Eyed Girl Website so you should definitely go and check it out.  While you’re there snag a bottle of Kaffir Lily, you won’t regret it.  You can also follow Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers on Facebook and Instagram.

Scofflaw Nail Varnish Manufactory – Swatches and Review

Mar24

Nothing to Disclose

Nothing quite makes my heart go pitter patter like the words “Scofflaw Restock.”  Whenever I see them flash across my Facebook feed I immediately start counting my pennies and checking to see what is going to be restocked that time!  Today, I thought I would share some of my Scofflaw collection with you.  Without any more muss and fuss here we go!  Also, I guess that you’re going to really get an idea of what my favorite color family is!

First up is Love Letter to Mr. Rogers:

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Love Letter to Mr. Rogers

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Love Letter to Mr. Rogers

Love Letter to Mr. Rogers is a deep rich dark emerald-leaning teal cream that has copper and gold microshimmer with golden iridescent flakies scattered throughout.  It’s a gorgeous vampy color and I *loved* the way it looked on me.  Plus this polish gives me all of the sentimental good feels because I recall all the times I watched and adored Mr. Rogers even when I was well past the age of the target audience!

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Love Letter to Mr. Rogers

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Love Letter to Mr. Rogers

Oh yeah, totally in love with this one.  It’s a lovely formula though the first coat does have some sheerness to it the second coat fully evens out any issues with the first coat and levels things out so that it’s left with a perfect creamy finish.  Pictures show two coats plus topcoat.

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein Basecoat; Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Love Letter to Mr. Rogers; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat.

Next up is Arcane Sugar:

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Arcane Sugar

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Arcane Sugar

Ha!  Ha!  I love a good punny name for polish.  It makes me happy.  Plus I live in the south – sugar cane is a big deal around these parts.  Arcane Sugar is a shimmery seafoam green crelly that is packed with so much goodness in the form of glitter and shimmer that it’s going to take a minute for me to get that out for you.  I see:  Matte cream-colored hexes in multiple sizes, metallic dark copper microglitter, teensie tiny iridescent glitter, metallic dark copper hexes, and honestly I’m pretty sure that there’s more in there but there’s only so much that my eyes can pick out!

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Arcane Sugar

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Arcane Sugar

Formula was great on this.  Good glitter spread and coverage without manipulation and while it’s a crelly base it was opaque in two coats.  Also the smaller gauge glitter insured that it wasn’t topcoat hungry either.  Pictures show two coats plus topcoat!

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein Basecoat; Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Arcane Sugar; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat.

Now we have the only duo that I’m going to share with you today!  Love Letter to Bob Ross and Happy Little Trees (obviously they go together)

Love Letter to Bob Ross first:

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Love Letter to Bob Ross

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Love Letter to Bob Ross

Love Letter to Bob Ross is a dark teal creme polish that has much more blue in it than LL to Mr. Rogers.  The shimmers in it are totally different as well.  There aren’t any flakies in this one but it is packed to the brim with red, blue, and green microshimmer (I think possibly copper too but it’s so small they all just mingle together like a happy shimmery mass).  This is another one that I found supremely flattering on me and I could see this being useful for so much nail art!

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Happy Little Trees

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Happy Little Trees

Here is Love Letter to Bob Ross topped with Happy Little Trees!  Happy Little Trees is a magnificent glitter-fest of a topper and is so perfect for LL to Bob Ross.  There are matte cream, satin dark aqua, matte spring green, and metallic gold glitter in a multitude of shapes and sizes.  It is extremely dense with glitter!

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Happy Little Trees

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Happy Little Trees

LL to Bob Ross self-leveled beautifully and went on in two easy coats.  I actually liked the formula very slightly better on this one than LL to Mr. Rogers.  I then LIGHTLY (yes, LIGHTLY) dabbed Happy Little Trees over the top.  Pictures show two coats of LL to Bob Ross with topcoat and one LIGHTLY dabbed coat of Happy Little Trees plus topcoat.

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein Basecoat; Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Love Letter to Bob Ross and Happy Little Trees; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat.

Last but not least is the lone non-green Scofflaw for today – Maxwell Demon:

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Maxwell Demon

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Maxwell Demon

It’s almost like a shock to your system after all that glorious green right?  But I have so much love for this polish that I can barely contain it.  First, it’s utterly perfect for Spring.  Second, it’s like a PERFECT nude pink for me!  Third, it’s a crelly-based glitter…seriously you cannot go wrong with this polish!  Maxwell Demon is a soft pink crelly packed with glitter.  There are metallic raspberry hexes, metallic aqua micro-glitter, matte red microglitter, and an iridescent microshimmery microflakie type thing that I can’t quite sort out with my terrible eyesight!

Scofflaw Nail Varnish - Maxwell Demon

Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Maxwell Demon

Yes!  Love love love!  Ok, so formula on this was amazing.  I had no trouble getting glitter on the nail or having it spread evenly.  I did not fuss with this polish at all not even a little bit.  It is a light base so it’s a touch sheer and I needed an extra coat but really that just gave it more squishiness and depth so that didn’t bother me in the least.  Pictures show three coats plus topcoat.

Polishes used:  Barielle – Nail Rebuilding Protein Basecoat; Scofflaw Nail Varnish – Maxwell Demon; Digital Nails – Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat.

Oh are you excited about the words “Scofflaw Restock” the way that I am?  If so you’re IN LUCK!  There is going to be a Scofflaw restock TOMORROW Wednesday, March 25th at 8PM Central and EVERY one of the polishes that I have in this post are going to be available.  So if you’ve been passing up on the Bob Ross Duo or Arcane Sugar or any of the others now is the time to snag them because you never know when they’ll be gone!  You’ll also want to be ready for the restock as Scofflaw Restocks are extremely popular and sell out fast so definitely go and scope out what you’re wanting and prep your restock plan!  You can see everything that is going to be restocked on the Scofflaw Website.  In between restocks you can get your fix of Scofflaw pictures and upcoming stuff on their Facebook and Instagram pages!