My favorite Halloween Polishes, part 2

...You ready for part 2? (if you missed part one, you can find it here. )

Last time I showed you some basic building blocks, plus a couple that were a little extra-special. I'm going to continue on with the extra-specials--and by coincidence, all of today's offerings are indies, too. :)

Let's have at it!!

Best all-in-one Halloween polish: No Worries Polish Truffula Tree

No Worries Polish Truffula Tree, artificial light

If you want a fun, special Halloween manicure that will catch they eye, but don't have time for nail art and the like, this polish is for you. Beautiful formula, and very festive. Your one-stop Halloween polish experience. :)

Most versatile Halloween accent polish: The Nail Junkie Tiger

The Nail Junkie Tiger

I realized as I was putting this together that I don't have a full swatch of this polish, because I tend to use it as an accent rather than a full mani. So I'm showing you a Halloween mani I did with it instead of a swatch. This is a great polish to use as an accent nail, a background glitter to stamp over, a stand-out skittle nail. The basic orange-and-black color scheme make it perfect for almost any sort of theme--spiders, witches, pumpkins/jack-o-lanterns, haunted houses, bats. Yes yes yes, I realize it has bar glitter. I love bar glitter myself, but even if you don't love it for daily wear, I think it still has a place in theme manicures. :)


Darkest, most goth-type Halloween polish: A Study In Polish Consulting Criminal

A Stud In Polish Consulting Criminal, direct sunlight

Perfect for deadly vampires, serious sorcerers and goth fairies, this red, white and silver in black jelly polish will take care of all of your dark, shadow-filled Halloween-style desires.


Polish that looks most like body part and blood splatter: 6 Harts Ninja Bat

6 Harts Ninja Bat, over medium gray franken, indirect sunlight

Let's say you're stuck in a horror movie, and some serial killer is coming after you, trying to kill you. Let's further say that you pull out a grenade, and blow him to bits. Let's still further say you take a look over at the wall that his body splattered all over. That's what this polish reminds me of, when I'm in a Halloween state of mind.

On that note: Spaghetti and meatballs, anyone?

Most night-sky and alien-esque Halloween polish: Nail'd It Purp...Excuse Me.

Nail'd It Purp...Excuse Me!, no undies, direct sunlight

Looking for a night sky polish that comes with its own moons? Want something that captures a whimsical, alien-creature type of look? Going to the party as Dr. Who, and want to take the galaxy with you? Want nails that the sauciest of sorceresses would wear, polish that will make your nails look like they can cast spells all on their own? This is the polish for you. You could get a slightly more subtle look than the one I put together here by putting undies under it and using one coat. But who wants subtle for Halloween??? :)


Most self-explanatory: Pretty & Polished Blood Clot

Pretty & Polished Blood Clot, no undies, two coats, artificial light

Yeah, it's probably pretty obvious why this one made the list--this is so creepily, horrendously like a microscope view of blood cells clotting up, it makes the Halloween freak inside me dance with joy. This is also one of those frustrating polishes to photograph--it looks so much better (and creepier!) in person. I believe this was also released for a while under the name 'Bloody Mary'; whichever way you find it, your evil nurse/doctor/serial killer costume would not be complete without some of this dripped, er, painted onto your nails.


Most non-horrific Halloween polish: SoFlaJo Frankie's Lab Dance

SoFlaJo Frankie's Lab Dance, 2 coats, indirect sunlight

 

The only thing horrific here is my swatching ability--these were taken a year ago, I apparently didn't realize the bottle was in focus rather than the nails, and they make me shudder! But they still get the basic idea across, including the duochrome aspect of the polish, and the glitters. This is a wonderful polish for princesses, faeries, elves of various sorts, and other sweet, ethereal costumes. It's also just a fun, quick Halloween polish that will help you capture the general spirit of the holiday in one bottle.


And to end, an absolutely quintessential Halloween polish: Leesha's Lacquer Monster Mash

Leesha's Lacquer Monster Mash over Zoya Keiko, artificial light

I have undies here, but you can build this polish up on its own to get more glitter and nearly the exact same base color (as you can see in the bottle). This is another polish that I love for capturing the spirit of the holiday just as it is, with no nail art and no costume to pair with it. It's full of energy and fun, just the way Halloween should be.

And so, my favorites are at an end...but I'm sure this is only the beginning of the possibilities. So I leave you with this very important question: what amazing Halloween polishes am I missing from this list? What are your favorites? Point me to them!!! :)

Hugs and Halloween thrills,
M.

Review: Leesha's Lacquer Halloween Collection

(The products in this post were provided for my honest review.)

Are you ready for some Halloween collections??!!

That's right, it's that time of year again...time for spookiness, scariness, silliness--and lots of orange, green, purple and black. :)

Today I have two polishes from Leesha's Lacquer's new Halloween collection, which releases tomorrow. :) But first, I have to show you the absolutely adorable goodie bag that she sent with the press samples:

Leesha's Lacquer goodie bag!

How cute is that?? Stickers, candy, an adorable Frankenstein bag, and a hand-written note in the shape of a bat. I think my favorite is the gravestone lollipop, and I don't think I'm going to be able to bring myself to eat it, I just want to look at it 'cause it's so awesome! This shows the love and attention that Leesha gives to her customers and her business. They say God is in the details--in this case, yummies are in the details, lol! :)

I know, I know, I know...get to the polish, woman!

Okay, fine. The first of the two she sent me is Monster Mash, a grape-purple jelly filled with black squares and lime green hexes. First I wanted to see what it would look like by itself, with no undies, to be sure it would build on its own:

Leesha's Lacquer Monster Mash, 3 generous coats, artificial light

I love the colors she chose for this polish--beautiful, strong contrast that pulls in my eye and makes it smile. :) This polish built to squishy jelly gorgeousness in 3 coats, applied generously; the formula was amazing, and this went on with absolutely no struggle at all. I didn't have to dab or fuss, just stroke on like any non-glitter polish. One of the aspects of this polish that I really enjoy is that when the polish is layered like this, the lowest layers of lime glitters take on a yellow-orange color that makes it more complex, and adds another Halloween color.

But, I'm a bit stingy with my specialty polishes, so I wanted to see if it would look equally good with some undies; here is one coat of Monster Mash over two coats of Zoya Keiko, a grape creme:

Leesha's Lacquer Monster Mash over Zoya Keiko, one coat, artificial light

I love this even more, and I wasn't sure that was possible. The undies allows the polish to still keep a little bit of the color change, but makes the glitters pop just as much, if not more. Again I just brushed on, didn't dab, so if you want a denser look, you can certainly go that route. I absolutely adore this--it's one of my all-time favorite Halloween polishes.

Next up is Cinnamon Sparkle, which is a mighty melange of orange hexes and black squares and hexes; cannonical Halloween colors in a clear base, perfect for all of your halloween glitter-topper needs:

Leesha's Lacquer Cinnamon Sparkle, three dabbed coats, artificial llight

These first pictures show three dabbed-on coats of the polish on its own, with no undies--the polish is so jam-packed with glitter I wanted to see if you can wear it on its own. I didn't have any problems with application, and it was really easy to get full coverage. The bottom picture looks like there are two pieces of blue glitter in there, but there are not--if you look at the above pics, you can see it's just a trick of the light. And the light was tricky!! There was so much sparkle on these nails that my camera wasn't quite sure what to do with them, lol.

As you know, I'm not normally a complete-glitter-coat sort of girl, so I also wanted to see what this would look like over undies. To keep a sexy pumpkin sort of look, I put it over two coats of Zoya Thandie, a pretty orange creme:

Leesha's Lacquer Cinnamon Sparkle, one coat, artificial light

In this case, I used one coat that was partially brushed and partially dabbed onto the nail. As you can see, the nails are still awash in glittery goodness, and will catch the light and they eye at all of your Halloween gatherings. I like that this glitter contains squares rather than just the typical hexes, and when it's on the nail over undies like this, I think that variation in shapes shows even more and gives a bit more fun to the polish. And, btw, how gorgeous would this look with brown undies, for a general fall look? I'll definitely be trying that out. :)

In addition to these two, her Halloween collection also features Freaky With Franky, a purple, green, and silver glitter topper, and Trick Or Treat, a topper with black, white, and orange glitters. All of these are fun, whimsical Halloween polishes, and I think any lover of the holiday will be delighted by them!

The Halloween collection will be available for sale tomorrow 1 October 2013. Leesha also has an array of other polishes; all go for $7.00 for full-sized bottles. She also does grab bags for bargain lovers! You can find her store by clicking here. And of course her polishes are three-free, and never tested on animals.

Thanks for taking a look, and happy shopping!
M.

(The products in this post were provided for my honest review.)