Sunday, March 24, 2013

Nail Polish Review: Literary Lacquers

I have been blessed to have so many talented friends in the nail polish community. One such friend is the driving force behind Literary Lacquers. She offered a selection of her newest line for me to review and of course, I jumped at the chance.

This is the first time I have gotten to try Literary Lacquers. And I must say, the ones I have tried have created a fan for life!

This polish is inspired by My Secret Garden by Nancy Friday (not to be confused with A Secret Garden...), published in 1973. This groundbreaking feminist book collected and published the sexual fantasies of women in a time when women were considered not to do such things. This book, as well as being fabulously sexy, is worth a read to really understand where women were sexually in the culture as the sexual revolution was changing everything.


My Secret Garden is full of white, pink, yellow, green, lavender and turquoise matte hexes swimming in a shimmery base. It makes the perfect topper, and a great addition to a spring/Easter mani!


Here's My Secret Garden, one light coat, over China Glaze's For Audrey. It's the perfect topper for it and I couldn't be more pleased how it turned out. I'm not one for pastels... They look odd on my nails- but this just looks... Fabulous. 


Next up is....


Bionic MmmmDetector. This polish was inspired by Vox by Nicholson Baker, published in 1990. This entire book is one long anonymous phone sex conversation over a 1-900 number. This book, published in the midst of the AIDS crisis represents the ultimate safe sex in a pre-Internet era. This book gained even more notoriety as the book famously given to President Bill Clinton by the young intern Monica Lewinsky. 

This lucious black jelly polish is chock full of aqua, teal, blue and green micro glitters making it just pop out of the black base. Unfortunately, my camera did not care for it too much, but I sure did love it. My swatches are 3 coats over a naked nail. 


I mean, how could you not like this one??? It looks like an ocean or something. 


BOOM! Ain't that gorgeous?! Like I said, my damned camera wouldn't cooperate. I hate that crap. 


It is still soooo stunning. 

Next on the lineup-


Laters, Baby! This polish was inspired by 50 Shades of Grey and the characters' favorite salutation. 50 Shades of Grey was written by E. L. James and published in 2011, originally as Twilight fan fiction. In 2012 it exploded onto the pop culture scene and quickly became a bestseller. Love it or hate it, you have to admit that this book made it's mark on the culture and brought kinky sex into the mainstream.

I have to say I love the whole 50 Shades of Grey series. I didn't care for the sex parts, not that I didn't read em, but they just didn't tickle my fancy. But I loved the characters, how they evolved, fell in love etc etc etc.  And when I found this in my package? I was smitten. 

Laters, Baby is a charcoal jelly base chock full of holo-y goodness. I love the fact that even though there are micro holo glitters running amuk through this polish that the linear aspect of the base is still intact and shines through wonderfully. 


Looks like the night sky... Or maybe... The Red Room of Pain? 


Here you can see the stunning holo (even if it is a little out of focus lol- I seriously don't know what kinda crack my camera had been smoking when I took these pictures). I love the fact that while it's dark it's not as stark as regular black holos. It makes it warmer somehow. My swatches are three coats. Two coats would suffice, but I like the solidness of three coats. 



And last but not least.... My personal favorite....


If It Pleases You... This polish was inspired by The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice, originally published in 1983 under the pseudonym A. N. Roquelaure. It’s a kinky fairy tale, telling us what happens after the prince wakes Sleeping Beauty (not with a kiss this time…). If it pleases you is what Beauty is taught to answer questions by her masters. If you liked 50 Shades, you'll love this book! Lots of joyful spankings and everyone's having fun….

This gorgeous purple holo (with a hint of brown to create what the maker calls a bruise-like color) is the perfect polish.


 I mean *sigh* sooooo pretty!


This picture is three coats, although two would have been fine. And this is with a flash so I could capture the beautiful corona the holo makes. Simply stunning! In direct sunlight it shifts to a gorgeous deep red color. 


This is indirect sunlight coming in my window and it's still so pretty!


And this is one last shot of the bottle to show you that gorgeous holo pop. 

All in all, the four polishes I've gotten the chance to review were sin-sational. All of them glide on effortlessly and dry in no time flat. And the fact that she captured that wonderful holo-y goodness in two of these beauties? Even better. 

You can keep tabs on Literary Lacquers' success or any new launches by liking her facebook page. All of these polishes are available for sale on her Etsy store for $10 plus shipping. If you purchase $50 or more, then you get free shipping! I urge you to go and look at her wares. You definitely won't be disappointed!