Stash Swatch Initiative: Black Cat Lacquer Trick or Treat

Hello again!

Black Cat Lacquer Trick or Treat. Indoors, artificial light, with flash.

Today's polish is the very awesome glitter bomb from Black Cat Lacquer's Halloween Release. This is Trick or Treat!

Black Cat Lacquer Trick or Treat. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

There is a lot going on in this bottle. It's a very complex glitter topcoat. I see tiny iridescent glitter; orange mini bar glitter; pink matte squares; small matte hexes in orange, green, blue, pink and silver; tiny orange matte hexes; and large matte hexes in blue, red, and purple. Whew! Get all that? Here's a bottle shot for reference.

Black Cat Lacquer Trick or Treat. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Swatches today are one coat of Trick or Treat (with a little bit of dabbing to fill in some gaps) over yesterday's RBL Aqua Lily swatch. I topped it all off with a coat of Seche Vite. The formula is a little thick, but not too bad. I added just a little bit of thinner to my bottle, but I think it'd be okay without it. Otherwise, this was easy to work with, and I got the desired glitter coverage easily.

Black Cat Lacquer Trick or Treat. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

As soon as I saw this polish, I knew what I'd pair it with. I'm absolutely loving this combination. The big matte glitters in this are either textured or patterned, and I love that about it. I got this as a Christmas gift from my awesome fiance, but I happen to know he got it from Black Cat Lacquer's Etsy store. Unfortunately, since this was a Halloween polish, it is no longer available. Here's hoping it's a seasonal polish and will be back next year! *crosses fingers* (Oh wow, I just realized I've had two polishes in a row that are no longer available! Sorry for the teasies!)

Black Cat Lacquer Trick or Treat. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon!! ^_^

Stash Swatch Initiative: Rescue Beauty Lounge Aqua Lily

Hello! I'm baaaack!

Kicking off the new year with the polish that was, perhaps, my most wanted last year. This is the now infamous Rescue Beauty Lounge Aqua Lily.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Aqua Lily. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Aqua Lily is a gorgeous, bright aqua with fine pink shimmer. The formula is fantastic; I had no issues with it. Swatches today are a base coat of Seche Clear, two coats of Aqua Lily, and a coat of Seche Vite.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Aqua Lily. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

Under indirect lighting, this is mostly just a gorgeous aqua blue with a hint of shimmer. It's the sunlight that really brings it out. It's great!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Aqua Lily. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

This was one of those polishes that was love at first sight for me. Unfortunately, I missed out on it on the first run. I was so excited when it was announced that Aqua Lily would be part of the most recent Bring it Back event.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Aqua Lily. Outdoors, sunlight, no flash.

Sadly, this is sold out again. I don't know if there are any plans to bring it back another time. Keeping an eye on Ji's Blog and RBL's Facebook page should give you a heads up if/when it gets another release. I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Aqua Lily. Indoors, artificial light, no flash.

More soon! ^_^

Haul: November!

[I had this post 85% done with plans for it to be ready to go for 11/30, but that didn't happen. Here it is anyway!]

Hello hello!

I thought I'd start doing a monthly wrap up of my beauty buys. I've tried and failed at doing no-buys already, but I've settled into a "low-buy" routine that I can keep to. The self-imposed rules are: two polish purchases a month, not to exceed six bottles total, but restrained/minor drugstore purchases do not count towards the limit.

My first purchase of November was Rescue Beauty Lounge Aqua Lily. I cannot tell you how hard I was lemming this polish. This was the polish that made me pay attention to Rescue Beauty Lounge. They are expensive, yes, but this polish... oh my wow! And my order included one of those reusable shopping bags!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Loot.

The second purchase was from Trelly's Misc. After seeing all of the Polish Hoochie's swatches and reading her raving about this indie brand, I couldn't NOT order. I picked up Cauldron Bubble, I Fake Rocked Your World, and the limited edition, Witches in the Sky back when she was still selling through Big Cartel. She's switched over to Etsy now, take a look!

Trelly's Misc Haul

As you've already seen, I gave Essie a second chance using my CVS Reward coupons--can't say no to nearly free polish! I picked up As Gold As It Gets, Nothing Else Metals, Blue Rhapsody, and Sand Tropez.

Essie Haul

I had one really lucky trip to Ulta, too. I found lemming paydirt! My only intent that particular trip was to check out the Essence display to find a back-up of Grey't To Be Here, hunt for Blue Addicted, and snag the eye shadow palette (I picked up the other one like this awhile ago and for $4.50, LOVE it!). I did not find either of the Essence polishes I was after, but I did come across the Breaking Dawn II display. It was stuffed down at the bottom of an end cap away from the normal display, so I don't think anyone else had noticed it yet--it was still full! I grabbed the one I wanted from that release (Jacob's Protection), totally shocked I even found the display, let alone it full!

Ulta Loot!

Next bit of good luck was the mini Vintage Minnie Mouse collection from OPI. They had four on the shelf, two of which disappeared into other peoples' hands as I walked towards them! I chipped a nail grabbing the second to last one lol! I LOVE The Color of Minnie--anyone know of a dupe for that one? I'm still trying to hunt up a full size bottle.

Last, but certainly not least, China Glaze For Audrey. This polish I have wanted since I first discovered this nail polish world. It'd been sold out everywhere I'd ever looked for it. My hopes of getting this were abandoned. Imagine my surprise when the China Glaze display at Ulta was totally full, and had THREE full rows of this beauty! I gushed over it to my fiance and did a little happy dance! Someone must have found some stock hanging out somewhere! Lucky day!

So, for a low-buy, that's not too bad... imagine what it'd be like if I didn't have budget restrictions.... Oofda.

More soon! ^_^