Rockjewel reveals a dark and a bright side with Lilypad The Angel Duo

The Angel Duo is a Norway Nails exclusive duo from Lilypad Lacquer. 

The dark polish is called Angel of the night and is a dark, somewhat blackened violet with a scattered holo and a bit of a textured finish. 

The light polish, Angel of the light, is almost white, with some violet tint and lots of shimmer. It has the same textured finish as the dark.

The holo effect is, as said, scattered, and more visible in the light polish. The dark need some more direct lighting to show the effect, but it is still very beautiful. Though difficult to capture in a photo...

I decided to do some stamping on this, shown in the bottom photos. I used Lilypad Almost Famous on Angel of the light, and Vylet silver on Angel of the night. The pattern is from a Cheeky XL plate. I was very happy with this and actually kept it for three days, that's unusual for me.

The formula is really good. I used two coats of both, but I think I might use three of Angel of light next time, there were tendencies to VNL in som angles. Angel of the night was more than opaque in two coats. Easy to apply, and also fairly easy to remove, for being a textured polish.

You can buy the duo here. Norway Nails have an excellent customer service and quick delivery.

Rockjewel had hopes fulfilled with Dance Legend Wow Prism High Hopes

When I first saw photos of the Wow Prism collection by dance Legend I thought it looked nice, but I wasn't overwhelmed. Still decided to order Posion and was surprised that it was so much more beautiful irl. 

I bought High Hopes from Llarowe a while ago, if I remember correctly it was on sale. I'm as impressed by this as with Poison, lots of shimmer, beautiful scattered holo with lovely color shifts. 

The formula is excellent, most DL-polishes are like that. Almost a one-coater but two makes perfect. Another good feature is that it almost looks like a glitter polish, but not any problems removing it. 
As always I use Sally Hansen Hard as Nails as basecoat and Orly Sec'N Dry as topcoat.

I took pictures both outside in the sun and inside with artificial lighting. 

Rockjewel jumps on the TARDIS train with Above The Curve Donna

Above The Curve is a new brand to me. I don't remember if I happened to stumple upon it, or if it was a friend who found it. Either way I decided to order some, and another friend joined in,  she is a big fan of Dr Who. I must admit that I'm not. Dr Who is entertaining, but I seldom become a fervid fan of any tv series, I like a lot of them but I seldom follow any of them slavishly.
However... I think I can become an avid fan of Above The Curve! 
So far I have tried Diablos 2.0 and this: Donna. With the Diablos I was a bit tired when I put it on and I didn't want to eternalize the sloppy result, I will do a better job next time. But I managed to put Donna on my nails without major disaster, at least a good enough result :-)

Donna has a very good formula, two coats covers, and the application is quite easy. For the record Diablos 2.0 was as easy and opaque as Donna so I guess that this is common for all Above The Curve polishes. We'll see when I try the other three. The holo effect is medium strong, mostly scattered but in sharper lighting a bit linear holo is also present.
I have also seen swatches from some of the polishes my friend ordered, I might need some of them too. And maybe some from the new ultra holo collection, they are lovely.

Rockjewel is not scared off by the lovely Pretty Jelly House of Usher

Pretty Jelly is a new brand for me. Ordered three of them from Mei Mei's Signatures and I am glad I did! They look great!
House of Usher is not overwhelming in holo or stunning color, but this polish have a beautiful finish and a lovely color shift in the scattered holo.
The base is a medium purple-grey, shifting in dark purple nuances and also a tiny hint of pink and silver.

The formula is good, two coats covers and application is quite easy. There are some new Pretty Jelly that I really want, and now I know it's good quality. 

Rockjewel wishes everybody a Happy Easter with Darling Diva and Model City

Wasn't planning on doing an Easter mani, but then I remembered that I recently got a lovely green polish and a lovely yellow polish so I changed my mind. 

I gladly admit that I'm not the best nail artist so I settled for some dots. Good enough for me.

The green one is Darling Diva Landslide, a grass-green linear holo from The White Witch Collection. The formula is almost like glue, a bit gooey and difficult to get in the right place. At least it seemed like that at first, but it somehow floated out over the nail so with two coats I got an almost perfect finish. 

The holo is strong and flashes mostly in yellow, at least in indoors lighting. It is a bit more linear that it appears in these pics. I bought this from Darling Diva's own shop.

The yellow polish is Corn Maze by Model City. It is a scattered, with a touch of linear, holo. It really is corn yellow with gold shimmer. The formula of this was better, but in this was actually more difficult to get even, it was a bit streaky even after the second coat. Nothing disturbing though, it is lovely anyway.

I bought this polish from Edgy, a Swedish shop with a wide range of indie polish brands. 

Rockjewel feels energized with Glitter Gal High Voltage

What's not to like with this nail polish? It is lilac and purple, it sparkles, it does not have large glitter flakes. However it was at first not among those I chose from a blogsale, but after thinking about it for a while I added it anyway. No regrets there, it is a lovely polish.

The formula is good, first coat a bit uneven but second coats smooths it all out and gives a nice finish. The holo-particles are large and scattered which gives a beautiful depth and fantastic sparkle. It is truly stunning in the sun, showing flashes of not only lilac and purple hues but also light blue, pink, peach and turquoise. And even better is that it glitters like a glitter flakes polish but is really easy to remove. 

There are lots and lots of beautiful Glitter Gal polishes. I have Brain Freeze and Belgian Chocolate already and I will most certainly get some more of the brighter Glitter Gals in the future.

Rockjewel in search of the dark side with Lilypad Lacquer Dirty Soul

We all have dark sides, I know I have. ;-)

Lilypad Lacquer Dirty Soul is a polish with a name that should speak to these darker sides, but it might be a bit too beautiful for that. The base is a clean grey and added to that is a medium-grained scattered holo. In some angles there also seems to be a bit of linear holo, but the scattered holo is definitely dominant.  

The holo is fairly strong and flashes in turquoise, pink and copper. There is a "dirty" side of this polish too, but it only shows in indoors lighting. It is actually a really nice, deep grey color, still with a little bit of shimmer visible.

Rockjewel turns businesslike with Jindie Nails Just Claws

This polish just happened to find its way to me in an order from somewhere... Cannot for the world remember which shop it was. Or maybe a swap/sale? No I think it was a shop. It's not important though because I like it :-)

Just Claws is my first encounter with Jindie Nails polish, and it was a pleasant one. Most of JN polishes have too much and too big glitter particles for my taste, but there are some really nice holos that I would like to own. To be fair, some of the "particle polishes", the ones with smaller glitter in, are quite nice too.

The color is a beautiful pink with tones in the purple and even a little in the orange direction. In the right lighting it is stunning, with a quite strong, both scattered and linear holo. In ordinary indoors light it is a quite ordinary finish but still a really nice and sweet pink that can offend no one and can be accepted by everyone. A color that says "I care about my nails but I want everyone in this meeting to listen to me and not look at my nails, at least most of the time."

The formula is good, could be a one-coater if it weren't for a few bald spots after the first coat. Could be my base coat that is the problem, but if so then it is worth it. Not going to change that. Anyway, this is not a big problem at all, after the second coat it looks perfect. Take a look!

Rockjewel feels intoxicated with Dance Legend Wow Prism Poison

Got some really nice shipments this week. One was from Dance Legend. Normally you must be prepared for a long wait when ordering from Dance Legend but this time it was actually a bit shorter shipping time than the order we placed in October last year. I think this took 4 weeks from placing the order until it arrived. That's fair I think. Last time it took about 6 weeks. You can get these polishes from other suppliers, but they only carry a chosen selection of the DL polishes. I think it is worth the wait when you can choose among all these beauties.

The quality of the Dance Legend polishes is generally high. The quality of the swatch photos in the store is also very high BUT... the photos do not always show all the beauty you can find in these polishes. 

Sometimes you buy polishes after seeing some really beautiful swatch pics and maybe get a little bit, but only a little, disappointed when you put it on your own nails. Almost always the polish is still lovely and there are no regrets buying it, but still... With time you learn that this is the way it is, and the expectations get a bit more realistic.

When it comes to Dance Legend it is sometimes the opposite, especially with the holos. As I said the pics are really beautiul, but many of the polishes are even more beautiful in real life.

Rockjewel needs no sweets with Mentality Gumdrop

Mentality gumdrop is a polish that reminds me of a sort of Swedish candy called blue fish. It is a hard candy with a specific, salty licorice taste. It is really tasty as it is, and it is also popular to make candy shots with. It's quite easy. Just put some candy in vodka and let it melt down. Drink it as shots. 

Well, back to the reason for this blog post: Mentality Gumdrop. It's a polish from the Candy Jelly Holo collection. I got this in a blogsale and it is a real sweety. I would love to get some more from the same collection. And from other Mentality collections...

Rockjewel toughens up with Darling Diva Bitch Panties

The last of the Darling Divas I ordered from Norway Nails is Bitch Panties. Love the name! :-)
It is almost impossible to decide what color it is. It's a quite light polish with pale lavender, light blue, beige and the faintest hint of light green. 

The formula is ok. It dries a bit fast so it gets a bit gooey almost immediately after applying it. It is a a bit sheer, but I think it will be opaque with three coats, maybe even two if applied rich. Here I have put on "undies", my favorite nude, Kiko No 372. After that two coats of Bitch Panties and Orly Sec'N Dry on top.
As the other Darling diva polishes I bought I like it a lot. There is both a quite strong linear and a little scattered holo effect. I will certainly buy some more Darling Divas in the future.

Rockjewel with pearls on fingers, Lilypad Lacquer Green Pearl

Next chapter in the Lilypad Lacquer success story: Green Pearl! I got Black Pearl a while ago and was happy to see that Nicole made an entire collection of Pearls. When they were released I hesitated which one/ones to choose so I missed out on Red Pearl but got Green Pearl, the second on my wishlist. When Red Pearl returned in the latest restock I missed out on it again! I hope I will get another chance :-) 

Green Pearl did not disappoint me. It is a beautiful polish! It has both a fairly strong linear holo effect and a lovely, "sprinkly" metallic look, depending on light. On top of that it also have a kind of both scattered and linear holo in all rainbow colors. I tried to capture that with a few photos with a direct flash, without diffuser, but I think the best way must be in direct sunshine. Take a look here at the fantastic photos on Almost Famous Nails blog to see what that looks like.

Two effortless coats of Green Pearl, Orly Sec'N Dry on top. Love the formula, as always. 

Flash without diffuser

Another with direct flash

Rockjewel wants a Dry Martini with Lilypad Lacquer O-live For This Color

I continue with the presentation of my newest Lilypads. 

Now it is time to show yet another one of the "getting the most of the shipping cost" lacquers. The ones that don't make the cut because there are so many other polishes that are even more beautiful and stunning. But all of a sudden a space or two occurs in an order and these polishes also get their chance to enter the scene and get their well deserved spot in the limelight.

And here it is, O-live For This Color!

It is a golden green polish, one of the "creamy" holo polishes. The holo effect in this is weak, it is more like almost a metallic shimmer with fine holo particles. But it still is so beautiful!!! I was in a meeting this morning and sat in a place where a strong lamp shone on my left hand. I actually had moments when I had a hard time to concentrate!

Formula = excellent, as always with Lilypad! Two easily applied coats, I was in a bit of a hurry when I put it on, and it shows...  Also topcoat on before the photos for a change.

Well folks, isn't it really worth some attention?

Rockjewel feels royal with Lilypad Lacquer Queen of Halloween

Queen of Halloween is a polish that was made by Lilypad Lacquer for the What's In-die Box for October 2013. 
What's In-die Box is a collaboration between some Aussie indie polish creators. They choose a theme for each month and five creators make each one limited edition polish inspired by that theme. 
I haven't bought the box yet even though it is sometimes tempting, the shipping cost to Sweden is a bit too high. 

I saw this polish on Instagram (i think it was) and liked it very much! A bit sad that I couldn't get my hands on it, but then I happened to see that a lady in Denmark had it up for sale. It wasn't cheap, but not too expensive either, and since she had a couple of other polishes that I wanted, at good prices, I decided to buy. 

It is a beautiful polish, but it doesn't measure up to True Blood (on the pendant in one of the photos). Still it aboslutely has its place in my Helmer, and on my nails now and then. 
The formula... No I don't have to mention the quality, you know that by now. Two easily applied coats in these photos.
The holo effect is mainly scattered but at some angles the linear holo shows too. In ordinary room light it is a deep burgundy with a nice shimmer, a classic color. When in direct halogen light the shimmer is plentyfull. I would have loved some better weather to see what it looks like in direct sunlight.

The photos actually makes the polish look a bit flat. I can assure you that it is even more beautiful in reality.

Rockjewel gets a purple kiss, Angel's Kiss by Lilypad Lacquer

I was going to pass on this. I had already bought too much nail polish in December (and November, and October, and... yeah... you get my point...). I decided not to buy it. I decided that it wasn't as beautiful as many other polishes, a little too grey, not purple enough, probably not possible to get it anyway since it was a Norway Nails Exclusive LE. 

I tried...

Then Norway Nails had a sale. Lilypad Lacquer Angel's Kiss was not on sale, but I decided to buy it anyway since I found some nice polishes on sale. You know, when you still have to pay for the shipping... 

And then I saw some swatches that made me really happy that I bought it.

Angel's Kiss has, of course, a really good formula. One rich coat could be enough, I used two. 

The color is a deep greyish purple cream, with both scattered and linear holo. The holo effect is not extremely strong but beautiful in the creamy purple. The color shifts quite a lot in different lights, from dark, dimmed purple to a lighter purple with som blue and pink tints.

Isn't this lovely?