Lacquer or Leave Her!: Indie-licious Review: Literary Lacquers part 1

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Indie-licious Review: Literary Lacquers part 1

Hello!

Warning: Today's post will be very picture heavy, and for good reason!

Today I have the first half of a two-part review...I recently fell in love with Literary Lacquers polishes, and I'm excited to have six of them to show you. Today I'll show you 4 selections from her holiday collection, which is based on the short story 'The Gift of the Magi' by O. Henry.

I read that story for the first time when I was a little girl. I remember agonizing with Della when she decided to sell her hair in order to buy a Christmas gift for her beloved husband--after facing a paltry $1.87 in coins that she's managed to save all year. I remember the bittersweet agony when I found out the twist of her gift to him and his to her, and I remember crying when I read the final paragraph of the story, which speaks to what is truly important in life, and what our greatest treasures and gifts truly are. The story brings tears to my eyes whenever I think about it.

So, of course, I was interested to see what sort of a nail polish collection would be based on such a beautiful story.

Literary Lacquers' selections are exactly as stunning as I'd hoped they'd be, representing a story I love so much. I was sold when I saw this first polish, which is also my favorite from the collection--it's a coral holographic polish unlike anything I've ever seen before, and it's called Greatest Treasures. These pictures aren't even in full sunlight, because the sun wasn't shining the week I shot these--yet look at this holo:

Literary Lacquers Greatest Treasures

In her description of the polish, she suggests putting Greatest Treasures over a red creme to get a strong red holographic effect--hey, you don't have to tell me twice:

Greatest Treasures over China Glaze Adventure Red-y

Greatest Treasures over Adventure Red-y

And yes, she's right--it transforms red creme into a beautiful red holo. There are not words.

If I were to do a year-end round-up of my favorites, this would easily be on my top favorite polishes list. The color is amazing and the formula was incredibly smooth and effortless. This is 4 thin coats in the pictures with no undies, two coats over Adventure Red-y.

Next up is Generosity And Love, a stunning subtle blue-to-purple duochrome with micro-glitter. Sure, there are a lot of blue-purple duochromes out there--but not like this. The color shift is visible at all times, and is almost magical in the way the colors blend into each other. I didn't have to try to capture the duochrome shift; it showed in every picture, even in direct sunlight. The micro-glitter gives it an ethereal quality, and it feels almost like a silken mist:

Literary Lacquers Generosity And Love

This is 4 thin coats, with no underwear. Again the formula on this was excellent, smooth and flawless.

The next polish is a gold-orange shimmer called They Are Wisest:

Literary Lacquers They Are Wisest

They Are Wisest

This is 4 thin coats (you can probably get away with three), and like the other two, the formula was perfection. I like this polish because it's not a typical orange, or a typical gold, but a pretty blend of the two. I think that gives the polish more versatility and more wearability. This complemented my skin color well, and almost functioned as a neutral. I think it would be work-appropriate at all but the most conservative of jobs. The name of this polish is very touching in light of the story, and I'll leave the reason for that a mystery so that you'll go read it if you don't already know it; if I explain it, it will ruin the story for you. :)

The final polish I have from The Gift Of The Magi collection is a glitter that touches my heart deeply because of the name. In the story, Della looks at a handful of coins that she's been trying to save up for a year, that come to $1.87, and knows there is no way she can buy a gift for her husband with so little money. She stares at the coins, counts them again and again...no matter how many times she counts them, there is still only $1.87. This glitter is named after that $1.87, and made up of silver, copper and subtle pink glitters in a clear base, to make it look like a pile of coins. Whenever I look at it it makes me think of that meager, and hard-earned, pile of coins:

Literary Lacquers $1.87 over They Are Wisest

First I put one thin, quick coat of the polish over the entire nail, then I sponged additional at the nail tip to get a gradient sort of look. As you can see, you can choose to apply in a sparse coat to get a subtle look, or to sponge or dab to get a glitter bomb look. Both ways this applied well, and was very cooperative for a glitter.

So there they are, four polishes from Literary Lacquers The Gift Of The Magi collection. As you can tell, I believe the magic of the story is well and truly captured in these polishes; my hopes were not disappointed. The crowning jewel, in my opinion, is Greatest Treasures, what a stunning holo! The excellent news is that Amy told me that she intends to make more holos; in fact, she says that there will be at least one in her up-coming Valentine's Day collection. The name of that collection will be 'The Good Parts', after 'the good parts' from erotic novels! I love that. :)

Before that one comes out, however, she has another collection scheduled for January called Transcendentalism; it will feature jellies and one-note glitters meant for layering. As I've just started playing with jellies and jelly-glitter sandwiches, I'm really excited about that! She also has a collection based on Anne of Green Gables set to come out in April.

I can see where a lot of my spending money will be going the next few months...sigh...:)

You can find Literary Lacquers at her Etsy shop by clicking here. Her full-size polishes sell for $10 each. I don't now if it's limited edition, but you might want to grab the collection while you can, especially Greatest Treasures--my guess is that she'll run out of that one quickly. :)

Thanks so much for looking, and I'll have two of Literary Lacquers' non-holiday polishes to show you tomorrow!

Xoxox,
M.

(Greatest Treasures and Generosity And Love were purchased with my own money. They Are Wisest and $1.87 were sent for an honest review.)