Lynnderella Mercurial

Long time no post guys!  I am so sorry to have been away, especially when Ms. Courtney is so busy as well.  Between work, grad school, and planning a wedding, my time for blogging has been reduced.  I do have a few posts lined up, and I most recently did some serious hauling with Deborah Lippmann, Lynnderella, and Layla products.  For that reason I thought I would bring you 2 out of the 3 today, with a Layla to follow later this week.

I have already showed you Deborah Lippmann's Stormy Weather, but I thought it would make a great base for Lynnderella's Mercurial.  I took what I like to call a picture story of this amazing glitter, because words just can't do it justice.  Well neither can the pictures aparently.  There is so much to this polish you can't see in the picture.  Besides the silver, grey, black and purple glitter of various sizes suspended in a clear base, you have this gorgeous teal shimmer.  It was really hard to capture on camera with my current lens inside, but man, it just sparkles.  And check out the HUGE hexagon on my middle finger :).  I love this.

Lynnderella Mercurial over Deborah Lippmann Story Weather

Lynnderella Mercurial over Deborah Lippmann Story Weather 

Lynnderella Mercurial over Deborah Lippmann Story Weather 

Lynnderella Mercurial over Deborah Lippmann Story Weather 

Lynnderella Mercurial over Deborah Lippmann Story Weather 

Lynnderella Mercurial over Deborah Lippmann Story Weather 

Lynnderella Mercurial over Deborah Lippmann Story Weather 

Lynnderella Mercurial over Deborah Lippmann Story Weather 

This is just so cool. :)  If you are into this edgier glitter look, I highly recommend trying to get your hands on Mercurial.  It's pretty difficult to get at this point, but you'll want to head over to Llarowe's website to request to be put on the wish list when it reopens.  Stormy Weather can still be purchased from Deborah Lippmann's website, or my ever favorite - Zappos.com.

Lynnderella Very Pretty Vampire

For Valentine's Day, I like to break out my "va-va-voom" polishes - the polishes I find drop dead sexy.  Last year I chose Deborah Lippmann Ruby Red Slippers, a polish I ADORED and really need to wear again!  The hubby really liked that one, and I wasn't sure how I was going to top it for this year, until...LYNNDERELLA!

I went with Very Pretty Vampire from her Early Halloween collection.  Now you'll have to forgive me for two things.  One, that the dominant hand has returned due to the catastrophe mentioned here.  For some reason dominant hand, although being "dominant," is not very photogenic.  I don't know why.  It just won't pose right, so these photos look a little wonky.  Two, I am HORRIBLE at describing Lynnderella polishes.  They're so unique and complex that I can hardly grasp the words.  I'll just let the photos do the talking this time.  Definitely click to enlarge them to see all the complexity and beauty in that glitter!

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Le sigh.  She's beautiful, isn't she?  My photos don't even do it justice.  This is two coats over Zoya Valerie - literally the PERFECT polish to pair this with.  Thanks to the lovely cilucia for the inspiration (and amazing photos)!  The application was a breeze, even for a chunky glitter, and the outcome is just beautiful.  The hubby was definitely impressed!

Speaking of Valerie, I wanted to show you that one on its own.  I actually wore this as a fully manicure just because I had heard such great things about it.  And for good reason - it's gorgeous!  This one would make a perfect Valentine's Day manicure just on its own!

Application was great, and this is just two coats.  If you're looking for the perfect base for Very Pretty Vampire, this is IT!  You could also try Zoya Jem (since it's a VERY near dupe) if you don't own Valerie, or if Zoyas just aren't your thing, Orly Rococo-a-Go-Go is another option.

Va-va-voom, indeed!!  ;-)

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day, whether you're celebrating with that special someone or rocking it on your own!  Sending love and warm wishes your way!  :-)

Another Look: Lynnderella Love Potion No. 99

So I'm sitting in the airport writing this post. Courtney showed us Love Potion No. 99 by Lynnderella not that long ago and I had not intended on wearing it or showing it to you so soon. However I got a new purple polish that I had so many issues with I had to cover it up! It was such a warm purple and it apparently didn't agree with my new favorite base/top coat combo. So it refused to dry and was getting smugged and dented hours later. So what better way to cover up any issues than top is with an amazing purple, violet, fuschia and holographic glitter!!! Soooooo much better. So this is two coats of the lovely and sparkly Love Potion No. 99 over 2 coats of "mystery purple". :)

Love Potion No. 99

Love Potion No. 99

Love Potion No. 99

Love Potion No. 00

Can you stand how awesome this is? You can get Lynnderella's polished for $15 from Llarowe's website. Also can anyone guess what my mystery base polish is?

Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains

As promised!!!!!  Lynnderella's Gotta Love Brains!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Man this is beautiful.  My only regret is I didn't do more coats.  Gotta Love Brains is a whole slew of glitter suspended in a sheer milky grey base.  These glitters are awesome, it's like Deborah Lippmann's Glitter in the Air on crack :).  Let's see, we've got circles, squares, bars and hexagons in shades of blue, pink, purple, and holographic silver.  To top it all off, there is this amazing pink shimmer.

I have to say one thing, these pictures are pretty horrible.  First off, we got an SLR camera, and boy does it show ever mistake I make in my manicures.  Second, I'm still trying to learn how to appropriately focus on glitter polishes.  Finally, whether it was the lighting, or me, or the camera - this is so much more beautiful in real life.  It is subtle and interesting and unique.  This is one you have to see in real life.  If you loved Glitter in the Air, or were disappointed by it - you need Gotta Love Brains.  Please get it the first chance you get.  I swear you'll be happy you did.

So I put two coats of this over China Glaze Sea Spray.  Turned out to be a really great combination, but I still want to try it over Raindrops.  I will also use more coats of Gotta Love Brains.  Hopefully I can wear this again soon and do it the justice it so deserves.  There are some really great pictures of this polish out there though.  Like here and here and here.

Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains over China Glaze Sea Spray

Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains over China Glaze Sea Spray

Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains over China Glaze Sea Spray

Here are a few bottle shots.  Zoom in to see glitter and shimmer.

Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains

Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains

 One more beautiful semi close up of my new love!!!

Lynnderella Gotta Love Brains over China Glaze Sea Spray

You can get Lynnderella's about once a month from her site.  It's pretty tricky to catch it open though and she's got a minimum 5 bottle order.  Another great place to get your Gotta Love Brains is from Llarowe's website.  She sells for $15 a bottle.  Gotta Love Brains is currently out of stock, but is expected to return back to stock soon!

Lynnderella Connect the Dots

Sometimes there are polishes that are just awesome beyond belief.  This is one of those polishes.  

Connect the Dots is a completely unique concoction of black and white opaque glitter in a variety of sizes and shapes.  There's hexagons, squares, bars, and even small round glitter all in a clear base with subtle shimmer.  The clear base makes it necessary for layering, so I'm showing you one(ish) coat of Connect the Dots over Zoya Dove.  I think that may be two coats on my index finger.  Despite the crazy shapes, it's surprisingly easy to work with.  Even easier than Lucky Numbers.  Just a small amount of manipulation was needed to put the glitter where I wanted it, and everything laid almost perfectly flat.  Definitely enlarge these photos to see all that's going on with this polish!

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Perfection.  This is Lynnderella at her best (though, honestly, when is she not?!)  It may just be the coolest polish I own.  The simple color scheme makes it perfect for layering over just about anything, but I just adore the monochromatic look when its layered over grey.  This was an incredibly popular manicure.  I got a ton of compliments just about anywhere I went!  A lot of people thought I did a splatter-paint technique, and from far away, I can definitely see where they're coming from.  Personally, this look kind of reminds me of those sprinkly garage floors.  Know what I mean?

Connect the Dots is a hands-down MUST HAVE.  Whatever the cost (including your first born), you NEED this!  Lynnderella will be opening shop with a new collection on her blog in the next month or so, so keep your eyes peeled for the opening!  If a five polish minimum is a little too high, you can also check out Lynnderella's polishes on llarowe.  $12 is almost a steal for a polish this awesome.  

Also, don't forget to check out our Finger Paints Special Effects Blogaversary Giveaway, if you haven't already!  :-)

Lynnderella Love Potion No. 99

Sorry to overload you guys, but there's one thing the (nail polish) world could always use - MOAR LYNNDERELLAS!  (Am I right, or am I right?!)  I'm determined that I WILL use my new Lynnderellas in a timely fashion, and I WILL NOT just let them sit in my Helmer and look pretty.  I attended my office's Holiday Party over the weekend, so it was the perfect excuse to bust one out!  

I went with Love Potion No. 99 - an unbelievably complex purple concoction.  There's hexagonal and square blue and purple glitter with smaller purple shimmer and (the best part!) round holographic shimmer all packed in a purple jelly base.  As usual, it photographed much bluer than it shows in real life, so I did my best to adjust the color with my handy dandy Photoshop Elements (wo0t!).  I think these photos are pretty close to accurate.  I wanted as much glitter as I could get, so I went with two layers over Zoya Mimi, which turned out to be a perfect match for the base color!  Pleeeeease click on these photos to enlarge!  You MUST see how awesome this polish is (though I admit that these photos don't even come close to doing it justice)!  

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Love Potion No. 99 - what a perfect name!  It's hard not to fall head over heels for this one.  It's stunning!  It shows off well in just about every lighting, and it worked really well in the lower lighting at my office party!

Before I added LP99, I wore Zoya Mimi as a full manicure, so I thought I'd show you that as well.  A gorgeous and sparkly grape-colored glass-fleck.  It's on the sheer side, so it took three coats to reach full opacity.  It's worth the extra coat though, because DUDE.  Look at it...

Makes a darn good pedi too!  I've worn it three times on my toes, but this was the first time wearing it as a mani, and I loved it just as much.  Perfect on its own and perfect spouse to LP99.

If you couldn't tell from my gushing already, I totally ADORE both of these polishes!  MUST-haves!  Though Mimi was released with Zoya's Sparkle collection in Summer 2010, it's still easily available at Zoya's website.  Definitely worth picking up, if you don't already own it.  Love Potion No. 99, along with other Lynnderella polishes, will be available VERY soon at llarowe, and I can't wait!  I see an EPIC haul in my future!  :-D

Lynderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue

I told you I was in a blue mood!!!!!!!!  Seriously I wasn't kidding.  And since I hadn't worn Lynderella's Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue yet, I knew it was next.  For this particular mani, I used OPI's Yoga-to Get This Blue as a base.  I didn't include it on it's own because I only did one coat of it.  It's not a 1-coater, but it's REALLY close.  Anyway, I thought it would be a good backdrop for my precious Lynderella.

OH MAN!  Was I right or what?  Can anyone say mermaid nails?  And these pictures don't even do it justice.  I mean - wow!  Wow!    I can't even put into words how beautiful this is.

So Yoga-to Get This Blue is pretty standard.  Most blue-lovers have it.  It's Navy with dark blue shimmer in it and it's pretty beautiful on it's own.  I'd say that I'd swatch it for you on it's own some time.  But let's be real here, after seeing this, it will ALWAYS be topped with Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue (BBBB).  BBBB on the other hand is a clear base PACKED full off blue, teal, and purple glitter.  I see small round blue. medium hexagon purple, larger teal and blue squares, and even bigger silver hexagon glitter.  You can tell I'm really obsessed with this due to all the caps.  Maybe I should use some bold too.  RUN to get this combo! :) hehe

And as I saw someone say the other day about a polish on MUA: Lynderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue: A photo essay.

Lynderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue

Lynderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue

Lynderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue

Lynderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue

Close up of Lynderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue

Bottle Shot of Lynderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue

Lynderella polishes are only available from her website, but sometime this month Llarowe.com will start carrying them too.  They are $12 each, which is a total splurge. But you can usually layer them, so using 1 coat only makes them last longer.  They do need lots of thick top coat though to get them smooth.  Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue is part of the Early Halloween collection, and I have no idea how long it will be around.  This is a must have in your blue glitter collection, so if I were you, I would get it before it's too late!

Lynnderella Lucky Numbers

It's been a while since I've experienced the dreaded "reverse buyer's remorse" (a silly term I coined to mean the feeling of regret experienced after not buying something - symptoms usually occur at least one month, but sometimes sooner, than the incident of non-purchase).  A few months ago when Lynnderella opened shop with her incredible Early Halloween collection, I wanted pretty much every polish.  Unfortunately I missed the first sale (D'oh!) and then my sound reasoning got the better of me and I decided that there was no way I could afford the five polish minimum, so I missed out on the second sale as well (D'OH!!).  Thankfully the amazing Jessie came to the rescue and agreed to add a second bottle of Connect the Dots to her order so that I could at least get ONE of my heart's desires!  I was content with just the one polish...until about three weeks ago.  Maybe it's been the recent photos popping up on blogs and the MUA Nail Board, but all of a sudden I wanted NEEDED more Lynnderellas!

Fast forward a few months later and whisperings of a second collection, Funny Money began to spread.  By some miracle I just happened to catch a posting on MUA that the shop had reopened.  I cranked out an email order so fast it made my head spin.  I mostly wanted to catch up on the Early Halloween polishes that I missed out on the first time, but I couldn't help but also throw in one of the new guys - Lucky Numbers (Merry Early Christmas to me!!).  As soon as they came in, I couldn't wait to try Lucky Numbers first, so that's what I have for you today!

Lynnderella's description of Lucky Numbers is "a clear base with red and black glitter squares and hexagons as well as red and white shimmer."  It's also got red and black bar glitter, which usually isn't my thing, but I love when it's mixed in with other shaped glitter like Lynnderella does so well.  It's definitely buildable to near opacity in three coats, but I just love the look of these polishes when layered.  I'm showing you one coat over OPI Your Royal Shine-ness, a warm-toned silver foil.

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DUDE.  How amazing is this?!  It's got the same kind of feel as Connect the Dots (which I'll show you guys at a later time), but it's more like Connect the Dots had a baby with a pack of playing cards!  Lynn herself told me she had "cards and blackjack" in mind when creating Lucky Numbers, and I can totally see it.  I feel like I need to go to a casino wearing this polish.  Or go buy a lottery ticket.  Or BOTH!  This is just one AWESOME polish!

Also, in case you guys were curious, here's Your Royal Shine-ness on its own.  This was two coats, and it applied super easily.  It's not your standard silver foil, and I liked the warmness of it against my skin tone.  It's also super shiny!

If you were lucky (hehe) enough to get an order through for Lucky Numbers, I hope you love it as much as I do!  If not, Lynnderella will be opening her blog shop again this weekend!  Otherwise, keep your eyes peeled to llarowe starting in December.  Lynnderella polishes will be available there with no minimum purchase AND international shipping!  As I mentioned in my previous post, you can also find A-England, Ozotic, Glitter Gal, and more!

In addition to Lucky Numbers, I also got All Hallow's Eve, She Lived in a Swamp, Bibbity Bobbity Boo Blue, Love Potion No. 99, and Very Pretty Vampire (in addition Connect the Dots from the last order).  I'm SOOOO excited to show you all of them!  :-D

Lynnderella Bride of Franken

So when Lynnderella decided to start selling her polishes a little while ago, the nail polish community on MUA was a flutter with excitement.  While I did find her glitter polishes totally unique and beautiful, I wasn't super compelled to pick them up.  Especially for $12 a little bottle.  Then I started seeing swatches of Connect the Dots and regretting I didn't get it.  Then she posted this (please note her shop is currently closed and you can not order these right now) and it was all over. I quickly ordered The Telltale Heart, Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue, Love Potion No.99, Bride of Franken, and Connect the Dots.  The first one I had to try was Bride of Franken.  When these polishes came, I was wearing RBL Bikini Bottom, and putting Bride of Franken over it was totally anti-climatic.  So when I decided to wear this one for real, I threw it over one coat of Wet and Wild Black Creme.  This is how Lynnderella showed it on her website, but I have to admit her picture didn't do it justice.  It's so much better in real life.  Total galaxy nails.  This is one coat of Bride of Franken.  I so so so love this.  

Lynnderella Bride of Franken over Wet 'n Wild Black Creme

Lynnderella Bride of Franken over Wet 'n Wild Black Creme

The one thing I learned from these picks (it was this noticeable in real life) was that I needed 2 coats of top coat.  I used Seche Vite here, so I think next time I'll do something else, then Seche Vite.  I am very happy I got this polish, and I can't wait to try the rest of my Lynnderella's (actually, I did wear Love Potion No.99 over Grape Set Match as a pedi and LOVED it).  I do think these are totally worth the $12 price tag, but I won't be the type to buy every polish she offers.  Gotta pick the ones best for you and this one definitely hit the nail on the head.  The good news for all you lovers, is that this polish MAY be available again soon.  Subscribe to Lynnderella's blog to get notified when.