Lurid Lacquer An Unshakable Sense of Forboding Part 1 Swatches and Review

 Last fall, Lurid Lacquer, a relatively new brand, released a Halloween mystery advent called An Unshakable Sense of Foreboding Part 1 that featured all reflective glitter polishes. Since I am a fan of that finish, I definitely wanted to purchase it. The set included 10 polishes plus a guaranteed gift with purchase, with four possible options. The collection later released individually and I picked up the other three former gifts with purchase. They also had a follow on Part II collection of the same name, which was not a mystery set. I meant to get this posted last fall, but got really busy and then wanted to have it complete with all four gifts, so now I am finally done! Overall I think this was a great advent and would definitely purchased all of these colors independent of the advent. Some of my favorites / least favorites surprised me a little - I guess you never know what will really be magical until you get it on your fingers. Lurid Lacquer runs a voting system on restocks of past shades, so it is always possible that you can vote to get one of these restocked at some point. Some of the polishes featured here are available on the site now.

*Purchased*

LynB Designs 13 Days of Holo-Ween Beetlejuice Edition Advent 2024 Swatches and Review

I purchased a number of mystery advents last year and thought I would share some of them since there aren't a lot of photos out there. LynB Designs has one that counts down to Halloween and that was one I bought for the first time. The price was $85 for 13 polishes, which comes to $6.54 per polish. Since it contains one shatter finish, which the brand normally sells for $12 with no discounts due to the expense of the base, if you subtract that off the price, the other polishes average for a little over $6, which is the brand's regular price during 50% off sales. For fun, I will not only review and describe the polishes, but also ask the question, would I buy this one if it were not in a mystery collection. 

KBShimmer Polish Pickup Fairytales and Folklore November 2023 Swatches and Review

KBShimmer has a polish and sugar scrub for this month's Polish Pickup focused on Fairytales and Folklore for November 2023. The pre-order is open through November 6 at midnight EST. Let's check them out!

*press samples*

Polish Pickup 1990s Grunge October 2023 Swatches and Review

We're in the final hours of the October 2023 1990s Grunge-themed Polish Pickup! The pre-order is open through October 9 at midnight EDT. I have products from Anchor & Heart Lacquer and KBShimmer to share this month!

*press samples*

Polish Pickup Dreamscapes August 2023 Swatches and Review

For the first time since I started this blog in 2014, I missed posting for a month. This was a combination of one of the busiest work months of my career, health issues, and a flood in my basement. This month is shaping up to be hard, too, with our museum reopening and another death in the family, but I'll do my best! Polish Pickup Dreamscapes is still open for pre-order through midnight EDT today, August 7. I've got products from KBShimmer and Music City Beauty to show you. 

*press samples*

Polish Pickup Misheard Song Lyrics June 2023 Swatches and Review

Polish Pickup June 2023 is open for pre-order until June 5 at midnight EDT. The theme this month is a gold-mine of humor - Misheard Song Lyrics. Some of these I heard this way myself as a kid and some are not represented or even SFW, haha. I have three products to share this month, from KBShimmer and Music City Beauty.

*press samples*

Bee's Knees Lacquer A Court of Thorns and Roses 2.0 Collection Swatches and Review

Today I have a collection to share that is a personal purchase and sadly no longer available, but hey, pretty pictures! The Bee's Knees Lacquer A Court of Thorns and Roses 2.0 Collection was originally offered in mystery bags in December 2021 and then later as overpour. I managed to get all of them. I would love to share more personal purchases, but sometimes I wonder if it is worth it, especially when many brands have blanketed coverage with PR. There is a dramatic reduction in traffic for indie polish posts made after release when something has already appeared in a million places already before release. So if I do post personal purchases it is going to be for things where it is hard to find swatches and they were not sent to swatchers before release, or at least to relatively few. It takes a huge amount of time to make a post like this, at least 40 hours of work (painting, photographing, filming, editing pictures, IG reel editing, blog writing, Youtube editing), in addition to the money I spent, and I'd rather read books or write articles for my day job than do that if no one cares, haha. [Insert Cartman "I do what I want" gif here] If there are particular things you are interested in, do let me know, and I can see if I have time to fit it in if I have the polishes. There has really been a shift since I first got into nail posting online 12 years ago. What little is left has trained viewers to think of it primarily as advertising (and worse yet often paid advertising which you will never see here - this blog is not monetized and never will be - I don't work as a paid employee for brands and disregard paid posts as a purchaser myself), but there it is... Okay, enough of my old lady grumblings. I hope if you wanted these you managed to get them and can use these pics to pin to your collections or if not you can find them in the secondary market.

Wildflower January 2023 Releases Swatches and Review

Wildflower Lacquer has two special edition polishes and the Celestial Collection for the January 2023 release. The Celestial Collection was created with Instagramer The Lacquered Unicorn whose husband is an astrophotographer - the polishes are interpretations of things in the sky he has photographed! Each polish is priced at $12.50 to $13.50 or $87.50 for all seven polishes in the Celestial Collection. There is also a charity polish dedicated to Taylor's grandfather and a re-released 2.0 polish. They are available until noon CST January 10. Let's check them out!

*press sample*

Pretty Beautiful Unlimited Hella Handmade Creations November 2022 Swatches and Review

Pretty Beautiful Unlimited has a lovely magnetic holo and reflective polish this month for Hella Handmade Creations. It is available for pre-order through November 21 at midnight HST. Let's check it out!

*press sample*

Pretty Beautiful Unlimited Hella Handmade Creations October 2022 Swatches and Review

Hella Handmade Creations is open for pre-order through October 21 at midnight HST. I have one of the most amazing polishes I've worn all year on the blog this time! It is really interesting and unique as a magnetic polish, or unmagnetized as a duochrome. It's from Pretty Beautiful Unlimited - let's check it out!

*press sample*

Pretty Beautiful Unlimited Hella Handmade Creations September 2022 Swatches and Review

Hella Handmade Creations September 2022 pre-order will open on September 14 at midnight EDT and run through September 21 at midnight HST. I have a lovely duochrome magentic polish to share with you from Pretty Beautiful Unlimited!

*press sample*

Wildflower Lacquer Slow Burn Collection, 3k Group Custom, and Lily's Polish Swatches and Review

Wildflower Lacquer has the June pre-order open, and there is a new collection, a group custom, and a charity polish in memory of a beloved pup. You can check up through noon CDT on June 25. Let's check them out!

*press sample*

Anchor & Heart Lacquer New Baby Duo Swatches and Review

Maker Taryn of Anchor & Heart Lacquer is having a baby boy and produced a duo to celebrate. These two fun shades feature magnetic and iridescent shimmery pigments. They are available on the brand's site right now. Each is priced at $13 or $25 for the duo. 

*sent by the maker for photography and review*

Anchor & Heart Lacquer In the Wild The Charity Box July 2021 Swatches and Review

Anchor & Heart Lacquer has contributed a gorgeous magnetic pink to the July 2021 Charity Box, which is available through July 17. This month, the inspiration is wild animals and $1 of every item sold goes to PAWS with a Cause. Let's have a look!

*sent by the maker for photography and review*

Paint It Pretty Polish June 2020 Magnetic Collection Swatches and Review

Paint It Pretty Polish has just released four new magnetic polishes with a dark, night-sky aurora vibe. This quad is nicely priced at only $8.56 each, from this Canadian brand. The polishes have a variety of interesting elements, including multichrome, flakes, and holo. Let's have a closer look!

*sent by the maker for photography and review*

Bee's Knees Lacquer The Indie Shop San Antonio Limited Editions and Exclusive Fall 2019 Swatches and Review

Bee's Knees Lacquer has some gorgeous limited editions and an exclusive for The Indie Shop San Antonio this Saturday! The three limited editions will be on the Bee's Knees site on Sunday, October 13 at 6PM EDT. They are all based on San Antonio legends. Are you excited?

*sent by the maker for photography and review*

Pretty Beautiful Unlimited Polish Pickup Weather Phenomena June 2019 Swatches and Review

It's almost time for the launch of the June Polish Pickup! This month, the theme is Weather Phenomena and the shop is open June 7 at 11AM EDT to June 9 at 11:59PM EDT. The Polish Pickup is a Facebook group and pop-up shop that offers monthly pre-orders of indie polish made to themes voted on by members of the group. Pretty Beautiful Unlimited did a night-sky-like magnetic multichrome shimmer this month and it is gorgeous!

*sent by the maker for photography and review*

Pretty Beautiful Unlimited Polish Pickup Villains October 2018 Swatches and Review

Polish Pickup is open right now with a Villains theme and the pre-order runs through 11:59 PM EDT on Monday, October 8. The Polish Pickup is a Facebook group and pop-up shop that offers monthly pre-orders of indie polish made to themes voted on by members of the group. Today I have my last polish to show you, a lovely, sparkly magnetic from Pretty Beautiful Unlimited!

*sent by the maker for photography and review*

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Polish Pickup Villains October 2018 Swatches and Review

Polish Pickup opens this Friday, October 5 at 11AM EDT with a Villains theme and the pre-order runs through 11:59 PM EDT on Monday, October 8. The Polish Pickup is a Facebook group and pop-up shop that offers monthly pre-orders of indie polish made to themes voted on by members of the group. This time I have a beautiful multichrome magentic polish from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer to feature!

*sent by the maker for photography and review*

The Polish Palette July 2018 Swatches and Review

There is a new collaboration coming up between two of my favorite brands! Rogue Lacquer and Tonic Nail Polish have joined forces to create a quarterly quartet based off a set color palette. The inaugural Polish Palette July 2018 takes its inspiration from a desert-like set of hues and each shade is named after a famous desert. The set is priced at a discounted $40, and the individual shades may or may not be offered individually much later in the makers' stores at higher prices. Buy now to be sure you get them for a deal! The launch is July 1 in the Tonic Nail Polish store and it will be a pre-order until July 7. Let's have a look!

*sent by the makers for photography and review*