More Sunday Swatch Spam!!

 *contains press sample(s)

  Hi everyone!!  If you pay attention to my facebook or instagram, you've maybe noticed that my nails are squovalish again, and this time, it's likely for good.  I've got one more full post lined up featuring my almonds and a few notds I thought I'd share in the meantime.  Bye, points....

Butter London Posh Bird

Teal/Aqua Holo Comparison

*contains press samples

  Hi friends!!  Teal/aqua holos are some of my favorites and I realized the other day that I've amassed a little collection of them.  Of course, I was curious about how much they each have in common.

l to r-- Jade Energy, Celestial Cosmetics Inception, Celestial Cosmetics Ocean Mist, a-England Saint George

  They all look somewhat similar in their bottles, with slight variations.  The two Celestials bear the closest resemblance, with Inception pulling just a little more blue, and Energy and Saint George look surprisingly similar in their bottles, the biggest differences being the type and spacing of the holo particles.  On the nail, it's all a surprisingly, in all but one case, different story.

LLPT's Brand Crushes of 2013!!

*contains press samples

Hi everybody!!  I was thinking about all the new brands I've been introduced to this year, as well as the old standbys who've been nailing things right and left, and it was really hard to nail my personal most influential brands down to two, especially regarding mainstream brands.  OPI had a super exciting first half of the year and I loved Zoya's fall and winter collections; and then there's LVX, who blew my mind with the first two collections I've had the privilege to try.  In the end, one brand has been knocking it out of the park all year long with amazing formulas, outside the box collections, and a perfect transition into color cosmetics-- Butter London.

LLPT's Best of 2013!! Indie Polishes

*contains press samples

Hi everyone!!  Before I get into it today I just want to chat about something happening in the blogging community right now.  I'm not a nail artist but I do know this-- crediting is important.  Whenever you take a design or technique that you found on the web and recreate it on your own blog/channel/IG/whatever, you credit and link back to the source of inspiration.  It's the decent thing to do and moreover, it's illegal not to.  When a big, well known blogging entity takes that and throws it out the window it is a big deal.  And for those of you who think it's okay,  check your references and consider that spending more time deleting and blocking anyone who suggests your designs aren't original than actually addressing the issue is as big an admission of guilt as anything.  No one is too big to credit, to follow the law, to be a decent person.  Here's a link to a video made by blogger/vlogger Zenorah fully addressing this issue that I shared on my fb yesterday, if you're interested.

Okay, moving on to my next installment of my favorite polishes of 2013... This was the year I had the opportunity to be immersed in the world of indie polishes.  I got to play around with some international as well as domestic brands and the things that impressed me the most are the sheer quality of these polishes (it seems a lesson in testing your product before marketing has been taken to heart by many) and how well defined the individual brands have become.  The gals who succeed and will succeed have a strong and distinct vision of who they are and it's been a joy to discover their world a little bit for myself.  Here are my top picks, in no particular order.

12 Days of Christmas Nails!! Day 1: a-England Excalibur (new) + Shimmer Elsa

*contains press sample(s)

Hi everyone!  A few days ago I mentioned something I had planned for December that I was pretty excited for, and I thought I'd launch it today.  Last year I had a handful of polishes that reminded me only of Christmas and I didn't give myself a chance to play with them but this year I'm changing all that. :)  So, I present to you LLPT's 12 Days of Christmas Nails!  The idea is fairly self explanatory.  I'll feature twelve different holiday-ish nail looks before Christmas Day finally hits.  We'll see how far I actually make it but I have some fun stuff I want to share, so I'll just get started, with 12 posts before the 25th being the end goal :)

I'm usually very classic in my choices for day to day polishes but I let myself get a little wild and crazy (comparatively speaking) for the holidays, which are, in part, about adding a little more shimmer and sparkle to your wardrobe.  Today I decided to pair two of my favorite indie companies, a-England and Shimmer, in a sponge tip mani.  I used the new a-England Excalibur, a buttery champagne gold, as my base, and Shimmer Elsa, a champagne gold, cerulean, and ruby red glitter, for my tips.

A-England Briarwood

Hi friends!!  My soft Sal is purring away on my lap and keeps sticking her little face in my face and her nose in my nose.  So sweet :) She's been my little blogging buddy on many, many posts but she's being particularly distracting today, lol.

A-England polishes are inspired by art, history, and literature, as I *very* briefly touched on yesterday.  Edward Burne-Jones was an artist who did a series of paintings based on the legend of Briar Rose and this particular collection of polishes, called Burne-Jones Dream, draws inspiration from those paintings, which are intricate and beautiful.  I've shown you Briar Rose.  This is Briarwood.

Briarwood is a reddish brown metallic with a scattered and a faint linear holographic effect.  The polish is the color of garnets and cherrywood and the holo flashes primarily gold.  It's a resplendent, elegant, and melancholy polish and I absolutely love it.  The formula is fairly elementary.  A lot of holos tend to pull if you brush over the first coat more than once before allowing each layer enough time to set, and this one will do that, as well.  It's a nice, saturated polish, though, and the second coat will easily hide any user errors and bring it to a rich opacity.

I purchased Briarwood through color4nails for $10.

Thanks for reading and I do hope you've gotten to sleep in today ;)

A-England Saint George

Good morning!  A-England became my polish insta-crush as soon as I applied my first swipe of Briar Rose.  I ordered two more A-Englands within 24 hours of wearing that first one and I seem to be adding more and more to my wishlist....

Saint George topped many bloggers' best of lists last year and I was kind of like, that's nice, moving on.  But the absolutely amazing formulae of the first AEs I tried, compared with my growing love for teal and my undying love for holo, prompted me to give Saint George a day in court (also, it bears my dad's name and my dad is awesome, ergo, the polish was fated to be mine).  Well, it did NOT disappoint.  This one is stunning.  Here are some photos that don't do it justice.

Saint George is incredible.  It's a super saturated dark hunter leaning teal scattered and faintly linear holographic polish.  This stuff is unbelievably, gorgeously deep and multifaceted.  The holo particles flash prominently midnight blue, teal, and aqua green....

... but sometimes, they do this.

Amazing.  I can't even.... and you HAVE to see this in person to fully understand.  It's a one coater, with absolutely no fuss, considering how packed with holo it is.  The only chink in the armor is that it stains a little.  I find that a small price to pay.

One of the coolest things about A-Englands is how steeped in history, art, and legend their inspirations are.  Lots of reviews do you the service of telling the story behind the name but I've deluged you all with photos so I'm taking the lazy way out...  Here's the wikipedia atricle on the real Saint George if you're interested.  (You should be.)

I purchased Saint George through color4nails.com for $10.

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day! ♥♥

A-England Camelot

Wearing black nail polish is an event for me, one that involves planning and often involves a bigger event...

This Sunday, I get to see one of my favorite bands of all time play live and in concert, and ever since C bought me the tickets, I've been a little bit bouncy about it.  I'd decided I'd do black nails for it a while ago, and sort of last minute decided I might as well rock my fave polish color all weekend long.  A special weekend warrants a special polish, after all, and this one couldn't be any more appropriate.  This is A-England Camelot, gifted to me by the amazing Christine at Polished Marvels and current Huge Brand Crush.  Christine once told me it's her go-to black creme, and my goodness, it's easy to see why.

Camelot is a fabulously dark, super pigmented one coat black creme (I used two because that's what I do).  It applies like a dream-- seriously the best control I've ever had in my not inconsiderable experience with black polishes.  It's rich and glossy and pretty much the consummately perfect black creme. 

My awesome black polished nails and I will be rocking out to Rush starting approximately 7:30 Sunday evening but until then, they're on my ipod pretty much constantly and I might take my Clockwork Angels t-shirt off to wash it before the show, lol. 

Thanks for reading and another huge THANK YOU to Christine for this stellar polish you've introduced me to ♥ You knew I'd love it and of course, you're right!

#RushHasAssumedControl

A-England Excalibur (revamped) + Cat Spam!!!

*press sample

It's official, I have a new brand crush and it is A-England.  The concepts, the energy, the colors...  All it took was one bite and I'm hooked.  I've been googling swatches since I put Briar Rose on my nails and now I've got two more colors on order.  In the meantime, I get to show you the revamped version of Excalibur.

Originally, A-England launched Excalibur as a bright platinum chrome.  The new version is a buttery champagne gold with an abundance of yellow gold glitters and flakes.  I LOVE gold foils, especially during the summer, and this one is just stunningly elegant and multifaceted.  The formula is perfect.  Two coats covers the nail beautifully and there are no brushstrokes.  I used one layer of topcoat, as usual.

Both versions of A-England Excalibur, as well as the rest of the A-England line, are available for sale internationally through Color4Nails for $10 each.  Orders are taken through email at color4nails21@gmail.com.

And now, as promised and anticipated (I'm sure), cat spam featuring Baby Beau freaking out in his little cat tower.

 Thanks for reading and have a lovely day! ♥

*press sample

A-England Briar Rose (photo heavy)

*press sample

Today is a day of firsts-- it's my first time wearing an A-England polish and my first time wearing a strong, scattered holo.  I'm really loving both.  This is Briar Rose, from the new Burne-Jones Dream collection.

The thing with gorgeous holos is that it's SO HARD to narrow down photos.  Holos magically make you look like you know what you're doing.  I did a couple indoor to show off that beautiful, rich metallic dusty rose base and a whole lot of outdoor shots because the holo force is strong with this one ♥

Metallic bases plus lots of holo make for a slightly stringy formula-- kind of weird and interesting.  Briar Rose is a little on the thick side in addition to this but it still applies beautifully, and if you're careful, it can be a one-coater.  I used two, as it makes the polish look all the richer.  I used a base and topcoat and neither affected application or finish.

Briar Rose is just gorgeous in every possible way.  The deep, mauve-y jewel-toned base makes it a perfect transitional color and the dancing rainbows of course just scream to be let out into the summer sun.

Briar Rose and the entire A-England Burne-Jones Dream collection are available for sale internationally through Color4Nails for $10 each.  Orders are taken through email at color4nails21@gmail.com.

Thanks for reading, and have a beautiful day ♥♥

*press sample