Indie Brand: Lilacquer (The Fifth Element Collection)

It's the WEEKEND! *fist pumps* (Hey, I'm living in Jersey, I can do that, right?)

Disclosure: The polishes in the following post were provided to me for review.

I have the new Lilacquer collection to show you today, inspired by the film The Fifth Element! As much as I love glitter polishes, I think it's nice to see an indie collection with duochrome polishes instead of glitters (I STILL LOVE GLITTER!!)

Hopefully my pictures are helpful; I had a hell of a time trying to capture the duochrome effect. The third picture in each set is under slightly different lighting conditions, so hopefully it gives you an idea of how the polish changes IRL. No macros this time, because I couldn't get a sharp image for any of them up close!!

I thought the formula was good. I did some of the lighter colours 1 coat over a base colour, and the others 2-3 coats on their own. I tried to do a few over black, but I was quite frankly too impatient to let the black dry completely so I ended up making a mess... -_-

Anyways! I have to say, these reminded me a lot of those old Sally Hansen Nail Prisms (the non-holo ones, of course!). I think if those are up your alley, you would enjoy this collection.

My personal favourites were The Diva Plavalaguna and To Protect Love :)

You can purchase Lilacquer polishes from the Lilacquer Etsy shop

Enjoy!

Mini bottle shots (Note: the labels on my bottles were just informal ones. The real labels aren't like this!)




Leeloo Multi Pass (1 coat over OPI Samoan Sand) - "Neon orange jelly with a bright pink contrasting shimmer that shifts to a complimenting orange"




To Protect Love (1 coat over OPI Samoan Sand) - "Understated peach jelly with gold, orange, and green shimmer"




Fhloston Paradise (3 coats) - "Bright magenta pink with sky blue highlights."




Supreme Being (3 coats) - "Cornflower blue shimmer with pops of soft pink duochrome"




Roo-bee RHOD! (3 coats) - "A red and burnt orange shimmer that flashes gold and yellow."




Super Green (3 coats) - "Acid green with darker green shimmer verging on a metallic orange"




The Diva Plavalaguna(3 coats) - "Deep blackened blue shimmer that morphs to an aqua green."




Zorg Industries (1 coat over Essie Chinchilly) - "Murky gray jelly with a subtle green to blue shift, almost ugly. Almost!"




I hadn't actually seen the movie before I got this collection, so I watched it the weekend before I received these. I thought it was hilarious and campy. I have to admit, though, I found Chris Tucker to be really grating after a while -.-

I love indie collections that are inspired by something the creator loves. Someone needs to make a Sailor Moon collection and I need to see it.

What are some collections you'd like to see?

Current "State of my Stash Address" & my personal purging policy

Hi guys! I'm moving this weekend (across the hall, literally. We are downsizing from our 2Br/2Ba to a 1Br/1Ba to save $400/month on obscene rent), and recently organized my nail polish stash in preparation for my epic move (hehe). Currently, I have about 130 polishes. According to my spreadsheet, though, I have owned and purged almost 350 bottles! Wow!

Here's the whole collection in two pics:



Can you tell what my favourite colours are? LOL.

Here is all the polish put away in one Alex drawer. Nice and cozy!


I get asked quite frequently how I can purge polishes so easily. Like many of you, when I first got into nail polish, it was like an all-you-can-eat frenzy. I just had to have every polish I saw swatches of. I wanted the full collections. I wanted popular, discontinued and HTF polishes. I bought polish if it was on sale, even if I didn't like it that much. My stash ballooned like crazy. Then at some point last year, I was inspired by kittytokaren (of the excellent blog, Polish or Perish) to downsize my stash. I asked on NB for tips to purge your stash, and over the last year, I think I really have defined a personal stash policy:

1. I only want to own polishes I love.
2. I only want to own polishes I look forward to wearing.
3. I do not want to own backups.

I am still struggling a little with #3. I have backups (single bottles) for Illamasqua Raindrops, OPI Absolutely Alice, and Lynnderella Ruby Red Ruby.

When I decide it's time for a little spring cleaning in my stash, I go through and sort it by colour. Say I have 3 turquoise cremes - there's no need for me to keep all 3, because usually when I want to wear a turquoise creme, I find myself reaching for the same one over the others. It is very difficult to move those other 2 polishes to the swap bin / purge pile, but if I'm totally honest with myself, I know it's the right thing to do for my stash. This is a true example of how Essie Turquoise & Caicos and Orly Gumdrop were dropped from my stash, in favour of Essie Greenport.

I also consider the following items:

• Brand (bottle shape and brush type): I tend to prefer thin brushes like Essie over OPI's pro-wide. I also prefer smaller bottles.
• Formula: Finicky polishes that can't be fixed with thinner tend to get the automatic boot from me.
• Colour: Is this colour group flattering on my skin tone / do I even like this colour. Answering this question honestly is how I got rid of every damn yellow polish in my stash.

I used to factor in sentimental value and how hard to find something was, but I am trying hard to ignore these items as reasons for keeping a polish.

When I decide to purchase new polishes, I always ask myself if I own anything similar and if it's something I can see myself loving. If the answer is 'no' to either of these questions, I usually don't even want to buy it.

I have yet to have any regrets! Well, I do regret getting rid of BB Couture Impact Driver *a little*, but I don't miss it so much that I would repurchase it.

As far as what I do with my purged polishes, I usually swap or blogsale the polishes here! It's surprising to see how your tastes evolve; some polishes that were on my first Top 20 polishes have been purged now (Orly Galaxy Girl was a favourite of mine, but suddenly, I no longer loved it.)

Purging and downsizing is not for everyone. I would not force yourself to do it, unless it's something you really want to do. For me, I just started getting so overwhelmed at the number of polishes I owned, I wanted to declutter this part of my life. Sometimes, I totally wish I kept every polish I ever purchased so I could have a more comprehensive collection from which to do comparison posts, but it's not a good enough reason for me to keep so many polishes :)

Phew, that was long-winded! Do you have any tips or tricks for purging? Do you have any challenging purges to share? :)

Reswatch: Illamasqua Milf

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Reswatch - NARS Midnight Express

Like I have been harping for a while, I don't have much new polish to show you guys, so I decided to do another series of "reswatch" posts. Basically, these are polishes that I have kept in my stash, but have not photographed since I first got them!

Hope this is not too boring for you guys :) It's this or... uh... nothing.

This is one of my favourite jelly polishes! It was one of my first NARS polishes that I ordered along with NARS Zulu from Sephora when they re-released a bunch of limited edition polishes. I originally wanted Zulu for all the hype, but ended up LOVING Midnight Express way more (fact: I purged NARS Zulu. I prefer Illamasqua Rampage because it looks green, not black). I actually really like the brush and the cap. NARS polish is really expensive, though. I don't have any other NARS polishes in my stash, at the moment.

Normally I wear it 2 coats on its own. To get it photograph correctly, I had to use about 4 coats, I think. But 2 is perfect for real life :) I love wearing this under Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe, also.

NARS Midnight Express


I just love this polish! I think Nfu Oh has a very close jelly to this; do you guys know of any other dupes?

Oh p.s., I have another Lilacquer collection to show you soon! I just received minis of her new Fifth Element collection yesterday, but haven't had time to swatch yet! If you liked duochromes a la Sally Hansen Nail Prisms (the non holo ones, obviously), I think you'll be interested to see this collection! :)

Nails Inc Baker Street (impossible to photograph?!)

This is the last polish I think I have to show in a while. I have been spending money on makeup and clothes (How could I *not* buy this dress from Anthropologie?!) lately.

Anyway! This polish was impossible to photograph, just like the other two Nails Inc polishes I still own (Warwick Way and Belgrave Place). It just won't photograph correctly, so just trust me: you need to try this out!

It's a very bright, vibrant blue, but there is a touch of white in it. I think it is fabulous. On my skin tone, it's a bit indigo looking, but I know on lots of people it is just a true blue. It reminds me of Orly Royal Navy - the shimmer + white + a tiny bit of purple. Hopefully that helps a bit.

Nails Inc Baker Street - 2 coats




I got my bottle through a swap, but I was prepared to go to Sephora and slap down my Amex for it.

Small gripe, though, the brush is cut a little unevenly. I don't know why I have such horrible luck with Nails Inc brushes (in my original haul from the link above, I had a bunch of wonky brushes!), but I will probably swap in the cap/brush from my Nails Inc top or base coat, whichever I finish first.

I think I would buy a lot more Nails Inc if their brushes were more consistent. Do you get wonky brushes with any particular brand, like me? Haha.