Lacquer or Leave Her!: Review: The Lady Varnishes Maleficent Holiday 2015 collection!

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Review: The Lady Varnishes Maleficent Holiday 2015 collection!

(Press sample)

Hello!

I have a holiday polish collection from The Lady Varnishes to show you today that I love on so many levels I've lost count...

First, I love the inspiration: Maleficent. Admit it--would you turn down the ability to turn into a dragon? NO WAY. And maybe the old-school Maleficent was viciously evil, but as we've all learned lately, she's got a heart. But I'm not gonna lie--I've always had a special place in my heart for her; in fact, when I met up with my family at Disneyland last year and was introduced to the whole Disney pin thing, I bought one pin and one pin only: Maleficent in her dragon form.

Maleficent rocks--and note the purple and green...

But what if you aren't obsessed with Maleficent? That's really okay, because this collection is absolutely stunning regardless. It's filled with deep, vampy winter colors that will get you through the season in style and plenty of sparkle.

And since we're talking about sparkle, check out the awesome bling that comes with the polishes! If you buy two or more from the collection, you get lots of goodies to choose from...But let me stop and just show you the polishes already!

Here's an overview of the collection:

The Lady Varnishes Maleficent collection: Give Me What I Want, Evil Like Me, Wicked Wish, Mistress Of All Evil, Embrace The Darkness, and Hatred & Revenge

The Lady Varnishes Maleficent collection: Embrace The Darkness, Hatred & Revenge, Give Me What I Want, Evil Like Me, Wicked Wish, Mistress Of All Evil

So let's get down to it, alphabetical-style. First we have Embrace The Darkness, which is inspired by the Kingdom Hearts video games; this is a microglitter polish that covers fully in two coats, and is made up of black, iridescent green, and multichrome glitters that change from green-blue-purple:

The Lady Varnishes Embrace The Darkness

I don't normally care for microglitters, usually because I find I have to struggle to get good coverage with them. That was not a problem at all here. This is two easy coats; the formula gave good control, and I was surprised that it covered so well. This dries to a matte texture finish if you want to wear it that way, but I love my polish glossy, so I've topped it with Seche Vite here.

I love the way this looks--it's like beautiful gemstones crushed up with black diamonds and poured onto my fingertips, and the light just dances off the glitters. It's vampy and it's sexy and mysterious. It goes without saying this would be a great polish for a night-sky look, but I also couldn't help but think dragon skin might look like this, so I had to try this out:

The Lady Varnishes Embrace The Darkness + UberChic Beauty Fairytale 01

Sorry, I just couldn't resist...hehehehe...

Next up is Evil Like Me, inspired by the Disney channel movie Descendants. Evil Like Me is a luminescent duochrome polish created with a grape purple base, green-to-purple and gold-to-green shimmers:

The Lady Varnishes Evil Like Me

This is two coats; application and formula were both very good. I love a good blue-purple duochrome, but haven't seen one like this before--the duochrome shimmer allows some purple to be present at all times, and gives an almost flecked finish to the polish. The combination of shimmers give the blue an almost golden-mint feel that's unique and so pretty. It has an ethereal fairy-wing sort of look that I just love.

(Hey, what's that awesome ring on your finger? I'll say more about all the tremendous additional bling at the end of the post.)

Next we have Give Me What I Want, which is inspired by the TV show Once Upon A Time; Give Me What I Want is a scattered holographic mulberry achieved with holographic flakies:

The Lady Varnishes Give Me What I Want

This is two easy coats with lovely formula; you might get a tiny bit of pulling on your first coat, but it will even out on your second. This polish makes me think of plum puddings and mulled wine and is a gorgeous holiday alternative for those who don't care for Christmas greens and reds. This will make you feel sexy and special at any holiday gathering you attend.

And speaking of holos, Hatred & Revenge is a gently linear teal-to-evergreen holo inspired by the movie Maleficent:

The Lady Varnishes Hatred & Revenge

This is two very easy coats, with excellent formula and application. The moment I put this polish on, it make me think of Christmas trees; in full light it goes more teal, but indoors, it puts me right into that Christmas place. I love the gentle edge to the color; it has a cool, serene feel to it that makes me think of a quiet winter forest blanketed with snow.

Then we have Mistress Of All Evil, which is a re-release; this was previously featured in her Disney villain series. I actually own a bottle of this already, so it won't surprise you to hear that I love it. It was inspired by the animated Sleeping Beauty movie, and the deep blackened-plum base beautifully sets off the gold and green glitters:

The Lady Varnishes Mistress Of All Evil

This is two coats again, no problems with application or formula. This polish is royalty and magnificence in a bottle--it's sexy (yes, I keep saying that about all of these, but they just are!), daring, and a little bit dangerous. I personally believe that if Maleficent wore nail polish, it would be this one. And she would ROCK it, I can promise you that. It's like I'm channeling her when I wear it.

And finally, we have Wicked Wish, which is inspired by the Grimms fairy tale itself-in that story, the evil fairy isn't named Maleficent, but a rose by any other name...This is a glitter topper filled with green and purple glitters that are a little on the lighter side--they're all holographic, and this polish throws a ton of bling:

The Lady Varnishes Wicked Wish

First I've paired it with Hatred & Revenge:

The Lady Varnishes Wicked Wish over Hatred & Revenge

This is one easy coat simply brushed on; this went on perfectly, with no clumping or fussing or fishing necessary. With all of the light the holographic glitter throws, this reminds me of the lights and ornaments on a Christmas tree.

And because I think this is also a perfect topper for spring, I paired it with Julep Linnea and Julep Sylvia:

The Lady Varnishes Wicked Wish over Julep Linnea and Julep Sylvia

The Lady Varnishes Wicked Wish over Julep Linnea

This is also one coat of the topper--how pretty and fresh is that! I love how versatile this is; depending on the undies you use, this works well for any season, and gives just enough sparkle to make sure you get noticed without feeling like you have a disco ball on your fingers.

So what do I think of this collection overall? Did you notice I didn't say which one was my favorite? That's because picking one of these as a favorite over the others would break my heart. I love absolutely every one of them. I love how she took the canonical purples and greens and played with different shades throughout the collection; red purples and blue purples, blue-leaning greens, and more yellow greens, all playing and interacting with different finishes and styles. Holos. Duochromes. Multichrome glitters. Toppers. There's something for everyone and for every mood here. And if you're like me, you'll want them all--swatching these polishes was like Christmas morning for me. I have the bottles lined up on my mat right now so I can bask in their awesomeness, and they're begging me to come do some nail art.

You may know that The Lady Varnishes polishes come with a charm on each bottle. If you buy two or more polishes from this collection, you can choose the standard charm, or go for one of the other awesome pieces seen above; there's a bad-ass dragon ring, a pretty flower ring, a gothic dragon that would make a stunning pendant, and a rose that can do the same. And seriously--when was the last time you ordered only one polish??

These polishes are on sale starting today, Dec. 1st, 2pm mountain time in The Lady Varnishes' store; you can also keep up with The Lady Varnishes on Facebook.

Happy Polishing!
M.