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 warming up the winter with Lilypad Lacquer Flaming Hot

Working my way through the Lilypad shipments and since the weekly challenge in The Australian Indie Polish Appreciation Society is to show the brightest colors I thought Flaming Hot by Lilypad Lacquer would be perfect. And it is, it really is!
Flaming Hot has been in the Lilypad collection for quite a long time. Every time I ordered from the shop I have looked at it but for some reason it never made the cut. But in the latest order I had room for a couple of those "back burner" polishes, so Flaming Hot finally ended up in my home. 

Orange is not "my" color, I do like it but it's not the perfect color for my skin tone. But when it comes to nail polish I don't discriminate any color. All are welcome in my collection. 

This is a polish with multiple personalities. In ordinary light it is a kind of metallic finish with lots of shimmer. With flash, and under halogen lamp, the holo effect shows with pink and purple flashes. It has both scattered and linear holo, not superstrong but it's there. Really beautiful!! 

The formula was, no surprise, excellent. Love the flat wide brush that makes it possible to apply quite richly. Flaming Hot is not a one-coater, but two is enough. 

Yet another polish I thought I might put on the swap list, but will not end up on that list for a while.

Look at the lovely shimmer!

Rockjewel cannot go wrong with Love Thy Polish Beautiful Mistake

Fever, sore throat, headache, tired. Fighting against it since I have plans to meet some dear friends tomorrow evening. That evening will also include dinner from my favourite kebab place, Palmyra. Oh, and also lots of important and urgent things at work too. 

That said it is time for the blues. Or at least a blue nail polish. And here is where I get a bit annoyed! Why is it so impossible to catch a deep, clean midnight blue color with my camera??? OK, it's not the most advanced camera, and my photo lights are actually nothing more than cheap table lamps, but it works ok on most colors. But not the dark. clean midnight blue. Maybe it is a bit easier when it is not holo polish? The holo effect flashes in different colors and it seems like it turns a blue holo over a to turquoise, just a microturn, but still...

Well 'nuff said, now to the important thing, the polish in question.

The deep, clean midnight blue holo polish is Beautiful Mistake by Love Thy Polish. Another Aussie Indie brand, they do know what the are doing downunder...

I actually can't remember where I bought it, if it was in a shop or a swap. Is that a sign that I buy too many polishes? Can't be...

The formula was excellent, application was easy. It is almost a one-coater but left a couple of bald spots so I recommend two coats.

The brush is round and not very wide. I prefer a flat and wide brush, but the formula is so good so this brush works fine anyway. 

The holo effect is linear and strong, really beautiful. 

I would not hesitate to buy some more from this brand, good quality and beautiful colors.

 

 

 

Rockjewel compares: Frogs Alive vs. Mrs Claus Jugs

I have posted two similar polishes in two different blog posts here. I have been asked to do a comparison between these two, and here it is.

The two polishes are Lilypad Lacquer Frogs Alive and Celestial Mrs Claus Jugs. Both lime-green with strong linear holo effect. 
First a comparison of the formula. Frogs Alive wins that section by being almost a one-coater. But the win is minimal since MCJ is a convincing two-coater, and FA too looks it best with two coats. Still FA-MCJ 1-0, or can I give 1-0,5 maybe? Yes, I can decide my scale myself :-)

Next section is holo effect. This is tricky... Both have very strong linear holo, maybe FA could be a micropoint stronger, but I think it depends more on the lights than the polishes themselves. Points for this 1-1. That sets the score to 2-1,5.

Next is the color. Wow, this is tough! I think that even though they are very similar there are still differences. FA is a bit darker and stronger, MCJ is lighter and leans a little bit more to the olive-yellow side, although very little. Must give 1-1 here too. The score now 3-2,5.

Last part of the comparison is very subjective: which one gets my love?
Yes... Both polishes have their well-earned place in my collection. But say I had to give one up and only keep one of them. Knife on my throat, gun to my head and so on... Then I would keep Lilypad Frogs Alive. It just has that little extra ounce of oomph and it factor. Let's hope I never will have to choose. The score here? Hmmm... 1-0,75

Total score Frogs Alive 4 Mrs Claus Jugs 3,25. Even, but Frogs Alive is still the winner.

Oh yes, photos. Of course. I tried to catch a couple of different angles and lightings. I see now that the text in the photos is very small, but it is Frogs Alive on index and ring finger, Mrs Claus Jugs on middle finger and pinky.

Rockjewel on her own: Fade to Black

A while ago I bought suspension base, glitter, some pigment and dye. I wanted to try and make my own polish, just for fun. It actually was fun, but difficult to get the right proportions of all the stuff. I managed to make a couple of bottles that weren't too bad. The reason I won't use them is that the suspension base smells really bad. Too bad...

This is one of the polishes I think is ok. It's a dark purple, almost black, base with glitter of mixed sizes and colors. I call it Fade To Black. And I promise, it looks a lot better than in these photos.

Rockjewel and Bloglovin

Since I'm pretty new to this thing, a.k.a. blogging, I'm not sure how this works. Bloglovin told me to add this link in a post to be able to "control" it from Bloglovin... Not sure why but now I can at least see how many followers I have :-)
<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11350393/?claim=cvw74c56rwu">Följ min blogg med Bloglovin</a>

Rockjewel nails in mint condition with Lilypad Lacquer Spearmint Leaves

Well, I managed to put the wrong heading on yesterday's blog post, I've changed it now...
NOW it is time for Lilypad Lacquer Spearmint Leaves.

I absolutely love these a little bit creamier holo polished that Nicole makes! They still have enough holo to satisfy me, but it is not as poignant as some of the other Lilypads. Needless to say I love both types. The only downside is that it is difficult to catch the holo effect with the camera, but it's there. 

Spearmint Leaves has a mint blue-green color, a kind I like very much. It is similar to another LP polish, Cayman Island Delight, but a tad bluer than that. The difference is big enough for me to keep both, as you know similar is not the same :-)
Issue-free application as always, could be a one-coater if applied richly, but here is two coats. 
I also put some top coat on. Normally I put the top coat on after the photo session since even with Orly Sec'n Dry there is some minor shrinking. Still I think it is the best top coat I've tried, better than Seche Vite, Poshé and Essie Good to Go. Essie is on second place but thickens too much too quickly. 

I would like to apologize (today too) for the photos here below. I was tired and sloppy yesterday when I painted my nails, so sloppy that it was impossible to clean sufficiently. And added to that the skin and the cuticles are dry, helps some to moisturize, but not completely.

Rockjewel turns into a people pleaser with Lilypad Lacquer Purple People Eater

The result of Lilypad Lacquer Christmas restock frenzy shopping arrived this Monday. Went and picked it up on Tuesday even though I was really tired after a tough and disappointing day at work. I needed something to cheer me up, and it was worth the extra 30 km on narrow, winding roads to get them.
A sad thing though was that one of the polishes was broken. Nicole at Lilypad always wraps the polishes very carefullly, but unfortunately that didn't help this time, the package looked like some big animal had chewed on it. Not even Nicoles wrapping can stand against that kind of handling... But I was very happy anyway, all the other polishes survived, and they are beautiful!! All of them! :-)

It was difficult to decide which one to try on first. I swatched on sticks first, changed my mind at least ten times, but finally chose Purple People Eater, a quite "kind" and light purple with a nice holo effect. 

Two coats, no top coat. Issue free application, fairly short drying time, and then pure, cute love. Most of the photos shows the color a bit more blue than it really is, but it is more true in a couple of them.

(Apologize for the dry skin and cuticles...)