Review: Shirley Ann Nail Lacquers

Hello!

I promised I'd be back late tonight (early today?) with an Indie review, and here I be. :)

Once upon a time, I attended an event designed to raise awareness of local, independent polish makers. It was a beautiful, almost mystical day, filled with lovely surprises...and Shirley Ann Nail Lacquers was one of them. I snapped up at least 4 of her polishes, and I've already shown you one or two of them. Today I will show you two others that I bought that day, plus two that I've been lucky enough to receive for review.

Let's start with the understated elegance of Wedded Bliss, a glitter topper that Cherish made to celebrate her (then) upcoming wedding, and filled with her wedding colors. This is an ethereal blend of soft yellow, white, and gray glitters in a variety of shapes and sizes, with a little iridescence to give off a touch of light:

Shirly Ann Nail Lacquers Wedded Bliss over Barielle No Not Now

When I saw this polish, it looked to me like someone had taken a dandelion and blown it into the wind just as someone else was tossing he-loves-me-he-loves-me-not daisy petals into the air. It's soft, it's romantic, it's sweet without being cloying. I see little girls in white dresses on a bright spring day. Because it's fall, I layered this over a nude; when spring and summer come, I'll be putting it over blues and greens and oranges.

The formula on the polish is excellent. This is brushed on, no dabbing needed to get a pretty, even effect. However, if I had wanted more of the circles, say, I would have used a bit of fishing to make sure that was even.


Next up is one of the non-glitter polishes in her line, Candy-Coated Poison. This is a blue-silver metallic with a touch of gold-green color shift to it:

Shirley Ann Nail Lacquers Candy-Coated Poison

The formula on this was again wonderful--it went on beautifully and evened perfectly over the two coats I show here with no effort. I love the unique color here, and I think it's a beautiful polish for winter--it has a magical snow-scape feel to it that is lovely on its own or would work very well as a base for winter nail art. I think it would be a beautiful Hanukkah color, as well. Plus...I love that she let her little nephew name it. How cool is that?


Back in the realm of her glitter toppers, we have Knot-Knot, a vibrant mix of pinky-purple and blue-purple glitters in a variety of shapes and sizes, all floating in a sea of teeny holographic glitter:

Shirley Ann Nail Lacquers Knot-Knot over Julep Lola

This polish was so frustrating to photograph, because it's so hard to capture the dance of the holographic glitter in a still picture; so please forgive the large number of pictures here. I've tried to give you a feel for the different colors and the light that they throw in the blurred pictures; when my indoor light played with this polish over the blue base, it looked like a brilliant night sky. Even when the light doesn't make this shine, the colors in it are vibrant and eye-catching.

The formula on this was excellent; it bushed on well, but I did do some dabbing so that I could get a nice mix of colors and shapes on each nail. Nothing out of the ordinary for a glitter topper, however; it was forgiving and easy to work with. :)


I have purposefully left my favorite for last; I give you an instant addition to my favorite-holiday-polishes list--Not Your Mama's Cranberry Sauce:

Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer Not Your Mama's Cranberry Sauce

 

 

NYMCS is a blood-cranberry red jelly with gold holographic hexes in a variety of small sizes. I tend to have issues with jellies, but I had absolutely no problems with this. It applied beautifully, evened well, and the glitter laid out evenly with no stress. I have three coats here, but you likely won't need three--when I took pictures of it, it showed a little more translucent than it really is, and that white ding spot on my middle finger showed up, so I put on three coats to show you what it really looks like. On my other hand, I'm still wearing only two coats, and it looks beautiful. Three coats does make the red a little darker, and I like it that way, so I'll add another coat before I sit down to Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, I had intended to wear a different mani, but once I put this on, I knew it had to stay on.

This is another polish where the holographic effect to the glitter is hard to capture--especially with indoor lighting, lights from the holographic glitter dance across your nails. In any holiday gathering this is going to glimmer and catch the eye, like the flicker of little flames. The blurred picture gives you a bit of a sense, but still can't capture the beauty of this polish when the light plays with it. I adore this polish, and I intend to buy a full bottle of it at the first opportunity. Maybe even a back-up.

Speaking of opportunities to buy...I wanted to get this posted today, in time to notify you about the amazing Black Friday sale Cherish is having. This line is extremely affordable to start with--full-sized bottles go for only $6--but during the Black Friday weekend (through Cyber Monday), Cherish is having a buy-one-get-one free sale! Translation: THREE dollars per bottle (with a limit of three free bottles). Plus, if you buy more than $15, you get free shipping. That is by far the best deal on indie polish I've heard of, ever, in all my time blogging. To get the BOGO deal, purchase your polish, and tell her in the comment section which polish(es) you'd like for free. She hasn't announced the code for the shipping yet, so make sure you get that before you checkout.

So, come Friday, run--do not walk--over to the Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer Etsy Shop and take advantage of these deals. She says she will also be having other flash sales, so watch her Facebook page for more information on that.

I don't often tell you that things are a 'must have' or 'you can't miss this!'. But come on, passing up beautiful indie polishes that are on sale for $3 per bottle just doesn't make sense. You can bet I'll be there getting my full bottle of NYMCS, and more. :)

Now go have a great Thanksgiving dinner, so you can have the energy you need to grab that polish!

Wishing all of us a beautiful Thanksgiving day filled with true gratitude for all the blessings in our lives,

M.