Review: Anne Kathleen Nail Polish

Hello!

Today I have a new-to-me cruelty-free, big-5 free indie brand to show you, Anne Kathleen.

Anne Kathleen currently has three nail polish collections up on her site, with an impressive range of polish types. Leanne, the owner, sent me two polishes from the yummy Cafe Au Lait collection to try out; anything involving coffee is the fastest way to my heart...sigh...


First up is Cinnamon, a polish that I think is perfect for the holiday season; it has a beautiful creamy off-white jelly with copper glitter and gold flakes:

This polish looks like gilt-flecked angel wings to me; it also looks like a golden snowstorm. :) It has a dreamy, sparkly holiday feel without being too in-your-face or over-the-top. This is three coats, and while I do have a little bit of visible nail line in these pictures, keep in mind that my nails have a bit of staining (aka: nail blogger's pox!), so three coats will probably suffice for you. This is thin enough to use as a layering polish, as well, and I think it would be a beautiful topper over a gold or a green base.


The second polish is Ginger, a soft butterscotchy-orangy-peach jelly:
 

This is three coats of Ginger; she is soft, and has that squishy translucence the way a good jelly should. It suffuses light so beautifully, it was nearly impossible for me to take a bad picture of it (and I don't get to say that very often, lol!) At one coat, Ginger gave my nails a pretty nude tint that made me look like I had naturally beautiful nails. As you can see, I managed to get a little ink staining on my middle nail that I couldn't get off, and it did show through at three coats--but even this highly unusual stain was covered at four coats of the polish (see below). So, again, three coats should be fine for normal people, although you may want to go with four.

Jellies like this instantly make me think of layering, so I wanted to stick in a layer of glitter before putting on that fourth coat. I wanted to see how this would look with Wicked Polish Hung Over The Rainbow, which is a neon glitter mix in a clear base:

Anne Kathleen Ginger layered with Wicked Polish Hung Over The Rainbow

Anne Kathleen Ginger layered with Wicked Polish Hung Over The Rainbow

I love the effect of this, it keeps the fun of the neon glitter but gives it a different twist, and that's exactly what you want a jelly sandwich to do--keep the beauty of the glitter, but change it in a pretty way. And notice that at 4 coats, even my problem nails are perfectly covered. :)

Both of these polishes appeared a bit thick when I first pulled out the brush to put them on, but they didn't apply that way at all. The application was wonderful--effortless, and even. The importance of that can't be overstated with jellies, especially soft jellies like Ginger. These are masterfully made.

Anne Kathleen polishes sell for $10, are big-5 free, and are cruelty-free. Most of them are also vegan (she uses symbols on the site to let you know which are/aren't, and I really appreciate that she does this!). You can find her in the following places:

Anne Kathleen store website
Facebook Page
Twitter
Instagram
Pinterest

Go and check her out! You won't be sorry. :)

Hope your Monday is as stress-free as possible! Hugs and loves,
M.

Recap and haul from the Eyes On Indies event. (Or, there goes my birthday money!:) )

Hello everyone!

Today I had a really cool day--I attended the Eye On Indies event (FB page for the event here), and I had a blast. I didn't know what to expect, but it was a gathering of Greater Bay Area Independent polish makers, and that was all I needed to know. A chance to see the polishes in person, and touch them and stroke them and love them...Sign me up. A chance to actually talk to the polish-makers? Oh heck yeah, I'm in.

I knew it was going to be a great day when I first entered the room and saw the Wicked Polish display...particularly when at the center was 'Hung Over the Rainbow'---one of the lemmingest of my lemmings. As I stood there with that awesome I-Just-Scored-An-Awesome-Lemming polish glow, I actually had a fan-girl moment sneak up that I didn't see coming, and I felt the need to tell her how awesome her polish was and how much I'd been lusting after that particular one.  Fangirl schmangirl, I regret nothing!!

The next booth was Polish TBH--another awesome surprise just waiting for me! This was followed by Polished by KPT, Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer (I've been lemming her Alaskan Tree Frog for quite a while, too), and then...Mentality, master of all things holo, and as it turns out, much more. To say I was like a child on Christmas is an understatement--one amazing polish-maker after another kept appearing, one after the other.

I've tried for a while now to be a supporter of indie polishes on my blog, and this event reinforced for me how deserving these artisans are. Their products are great, of course. But I don't want to buy even great polish from people that are unkind, or nasty, or arrogant...Meeting the makers in person, getting to chat with them, see how fun and sweet and awesome they are--Yes, absolutely these are the entrepreneurs that keep the dream alive, and deserve my money and my endorsement on both of these levels.

I will be swatching and showing the polishes I bought for you as soon as I can (I have a few reviews in the queue I have to put up), but in the meantime, here are a couple of pictures of a few of the displays that were present and the polishes I bought today...The display shots were taken with my cell, so apologies for the quality there!

Wicked Polish display--how flippin' cool is that coffin-in-the-cage display?!

Polish TBH--polish, jewelry, nail repair...tons of polish goodness...

Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer--you can tell how popular this table was, because all the people crowding in the front scrunched up the banner, lol!

And now the really, truly important thing...the adorable, luscious lovelies I grabbed today:


Wicked Polish Hung Over The Rainbow, worth owning for the name alone, and just one example of her gorgeous neon-glitter polishes; also Polish TBH Sorcerer's Stone, one of a number of innovative glitter thermal polish, this one changes from a cherry red to a blood red (seen in bottle):

Three beauties from Mentality; Bandit, a Matte finish, Red Flakie, a flakie finish, and Morality, a holographic duochrome (stick a fork in me):

My beloved Alaskan Tree Frog from Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer, along with Eyes On Indie, a limited edition polish made just for the event:

 Two more lovelies from Shirley Ann Nail Lacquers and one from Polished by KPT: Candy Coated Poison, Corrupted Soul, and Wedded Bliss (Made to celebrate the wedding colors of the polish-maker's upcoming nuptials):

 I can't wait to swatch all of these for you, especially because some of these have hidden charms to be discovered...

Hope you had an equally wonderful Sunday. Hugs and much polish love! :)

M.