Sephora Formula X Fall 2014 Nail Polish Preview!

Good morning my fellow Lacquered Lovers!  Happy Friday!  I hope you're all having a lovely week so far!  Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to be invited to the launch of Sephora's Formula X Fall 2014 nail polish line!  There are some great goodies below so now, without further ado, onto the polish!

Above:  Brushed Metallics

Above:  Motivated (orange with gold shimmer)  and Ambitious (bright yellow gold with gold shimmer)

Above:  Mind Games (Green with Gold shimmer) and Discovery (teal with blue shimmer)

Above:  Destiny (light blue with pink shimmer)  and Prophecy (dark blue with purple and pink shimmer)

Above:  Valor (purple with pink shimmer)  and Spectacle (Magenta with pink and blue shimmer)

Above:  Wonderment (beige with pink shimmer), Singularity (greige with blue shimmer) and Determined (brown with blue shimmer)

Above:  Synapse (taupe with pink shimmer) and Fate (beige with blue shimmer)

The Brushed Metallic Collection consists of 8 jewel tones and 6 neutral nail polishes that are all full of mica and dry to a mostly matte finish.  All of the shimmer is either pink or blue, some of them shifting between the two for a duochrome effect, however this is mostly only clear in the bottle or if you put a clear top coat on the polish.  I love how rich the jewel tone shades are and how much the colored shimmer pops against the nudes!

Above:  Press Pods for Fall 2014

Above:  Impeccable, Atomic, Orbit, Pyrotechnic, Ignite,  Dark Matter,Thrilling

Press Pods are a one use manicure capsule that Formula X has previously released that hold enough polish for one full manicure and comes with a brush attached for easy use.  For Fall, they are releasing this kit with 7 colors (all existing) that are perfect for traveling!  This kit will retail for $15, which is a huge value when most Formula X cremes retail for $10.50.

Above:  The Cut - Enticing, Memorable, Grand

The Cut are 3 new cremes for Fall that reflect the urban landscape.  They consist of a mustard yellow, a slate blue and a greige, all fairly neutral without being boring.  I'm really digging that slate for Fall!  That's my version of a palette cleanser polish.

Above:  The cool X installation at the event

All in all, I think Formula X is coming out with some cool things!  I love the idea of the brushed metallics, and while I wish the shimmer showed more on the nail without a top coat, I think they are gorgeous jewel tones and neutrals for Fall.  The Cut collection is a great mini Fall showing for those who like some out of the box colors like mustard and don't want to just do darks.  The press pods would be great for travel and I'm actually looking forward to trying them!  All of these polishes will be released August 1, 2014 at Sephora!

What did you think of these polishes?  Any must haves?  Any dupes?

Lime Crime Velvetine Lipstick Swatches and Review!

Good afternoon my fellow lacquered lovers!  Happy Thursday!  Hope everyone on the east coast survived the snow this week!  I was up taking care of my parents dog and got a TON of swatching done so be prepared for a bunch of new posts!  Now, if you follow my Instagram or Facebook pages (@lacqueredlover) then you know of my love for makeup.  Today, I'm going to share with you some of my favorites from the past year:

These lipsticks from Lime Crime are a liquid lipstick that within a few minutes dries to a super matte finish.  I can easily get 8 hours of wear out of each lipstick, including meals, without really having to reapply.  The great thing about each of these is that they literally do NOT come off on anything, not cups, not utensils, not even with smooching!  They can be a bit runny when applying, so I always use a clear lip liner when wearing these to help prevent feathering.

Above:  Suedeberry, Pink Velvet and Red Velvet within 1 minute of application.

Now, without further ado, on to the lippies!!!

 Above:  Lime Crime Pink Velvet

 Above:  Lime Crime Pink Velvet with makeup

Pink Velvet is a bright, vibrant, HOT pink lippie!  It's brighter on the lip than it looks even in the bottle but it's the perfect hot pink shade.  I find it's light and bright enough to wear either day or night!

Above:  Lime Crime Red Velvet

 Above:  Lime Crime Red Velvet with makeup

Red Velvet was the original Velvtine lipstick and is a true bright red.  This shade definitely isn't blue or pink leaning and just gives you a retro, 1940's matte red lip.  It might be my favorite red.

 Above:  Lime Crime Suedeberry

Above:  Lime Crime Suedeberry with makeup

Suedeberry is somewhere between an orange, red and coral lip color.  It's really bright and fun but you need a bit of spunk to pull this shade off!


All in all, I'm kind of obsessed with these lipsticks.  I've bought all three in the last year and can't wait for more shades!  They last longer than any other lipstick I own and I can't think of anything that has the same matte finish that doesn't transfer on ANYTHING!  These are all available on the Lime Crime website for $20 each and are definitely worth it in my opinion!

What do you think of these lipsticks?  Any must haves?  Any dupes?

SoFlaJo Red Carpet Swatches and Review!

Good morning my fellow lacquered lovers!  Happy Thursday!  I hope you are all getting into the holiday spirit!  I am leaving tomorrow to go visit my boyfriend's family in Ohio for my very first Christmas and then to spend time with my family so I'm a busy lady!  But not to worry, I have a bunch of fun stuff including some amazing guest posts lined up for you all!  Now, without further ado, on to the polish!

Above:  2 coats of Red Carpet

Red Carpet is a gorgeous deep red matte polish with a hint of holographic glitters in it!  I love how rich and warm this polish feels.  Plus even with the tiny glitters it dries super smooth and level and has an almost suede like texture!  The formula was great, opaque in 2 coats and very easy to apply!


Red Carpet and the rest of the Party Time Nail Polish Collection (which are all GORGEOUS) are on sale now at the Soflajo website HERE for $10 for 15 ml or $5 for 5ml.

What did you think of this polish? Must have? Any Dupes?

The products in this post were sent to me for my unbiased review. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

Fun Friday's Featuring a ManGlaze Saran Wrap Nail Art Manicure!

Good morning my fellow lacquered lovers!  Happy Friday!  I hope you all have some fun weekend plans in store!  I know I will be swatching a ton of fun stuff for you guys!  Today, I have a really fun Nail Art I did a few weeks ago featuring three of my favorite ManGlaze nail polishes, Lesbihonest, Mink Mittens and Matte is Murder.  Here are some macro shots as a little teaser:

Doesn't it kind of look like lace?  Are you curious what the actual manicure looks like?  Now, without further ado, on to the polish!

I did this manicure using saran wrap!  Since the polishes are all matte they dried really fast so this was a really quick, easy nail art!  I just love how textured it ended up looking and I especially loved the contrast on the nails with Mink Mittens and Matte is Murder!


What did you think of this manicure?  Are you a fan of this style of nail art?

Illamasqua Limited Edition Rubber Brights Nail Varnish Swatches and Review!

Good afternoon my fellow lacquered lovers!  Happy Tuesday to you all!  I am so excited about today's post!  As many of you know, I adore Illamasqua.  I think they are a fabulous, edgy company with great nail polishes.  One of the first lines of their I fell in love with was the Theatre of the Nameless rubber finish polishes last fall.  This past weekend I was at the grand re-opening of the Sephora in Union Square and was at the nail polish bar and saw that they had released 6 more rubber finish polishes for the Summer!

Above photograph provided by PR

Clearly I had to pick up 5 out of 6 (I skipped the yellow, just not a yellow person!)  They are absolutely stunning and I just LOVE the rubber finish!  According to the press release, these were inspired by the dominatrix rubber boot girls in Berlin in the 1920's!  Now, without further ado, on to the polish!

Above:  2 coats of Aorta

First up is Aorta (side note that I love the name of this polish!)  Aorta is a very bright red creme, slightly pink leaning but definitely still a red.  This reminds me of the wax on the outside of the Babybel Cheese that I used to have as a kid!  (see this link HERE if you don't know what I'm talking about.)  I just love the look of these!  The formula is a little thick so less is more when applying so you don't get streaks but with two thin coats, I have perfect opacity and no streaking!

Above:  2 coats of Devotee

Devotee is a true bubblegum pink!  I honestly wouldn't think to make a non-shiny polish this color, and I'm really not a pink person, but this polish is kind of amazing.  I love that it's bright without being a neon and the rubber finish makes it more edgy than your average pink nail polish.  The formula was a bit thick so best to do thin coats.  Two coats gave me perfect coverage!

Above:  2 coats of Nurture

Wow.  This polish is BRIGHT!  I love a good neon green and Nurture definitely falls into that category!  It practically glows!  I seriously now want a pair of rain boots that match this!  Nurture is one of the stand outs in this collection to me, it's so vibrant and pigmented!  The formula was great, opaque in two coats!

Above:  2 coats of Prosperity

Prosperity is another standout for me.  Prosperity is a really rich, vibrant royal purple.  It's so bright and pigmented!  Prosperity is a bit blue leaning but it's the perfect shade for all year round because it's dark and rich and bright all at the same time!  It might be my favorite and the rubber finish just makes it really something special.  The formula was great, opaque in two thin coats and LOTS of pigment.

Above:  2 coats of Serenity

Last but certainly not least is Serenity.  Illamasqua describes this as a bright turquoise but it leans more robin's egg blue to my eye.  Either way, it's stunning!  I love that it's very bright but not neon like Nurture.  The formula was great, extremely pigmented and opaque in two coats.


And here is a fun "AJ Manicure" as the boyfriend invented last week using three of these:

All in all, this is a fantastic collection by Illamasqua.  They continue to be innovative and fun and I'm so glad they are expanding the Rubber line!  The finish on these are just so unique, they truly do look like your fingers were dipped in latex.  Definitely do not use a top coat with these or you will take away the rubber effect and they are really fast drying which is great!  Be careful when applying since the formulas are a bit thick but once you get used to the texture, they are really easy to use!  These polishes are available on Sephora's website and in some Sephora's plus will be available on Illamasqua's website!


What did you think of these polishes?  Any must haves?  Any dupes?

Layla Softouch Effect in Turquoise Splash, Magneffect in Starry Night & Purple Galaxy and Magneffect Soft Touch in Turquoise Wave Swatches and Review!

Good afternoon my fellow lacquered lovers!  Happy Monday!  Today, I have the first half of my swatches I received from the amazing brand Layla!  They have a bunch of new lines coming out so today I'm going to be showing you the one "soft touch effect" polish I received as well as the 3 different magnets, glitter, regular and soft touch!  Now, without further ado, on to the polish!

Above:  2 coats of Layla Turquoise Splash

Above:  2 coats of Turquoise Splash with Flash

Let me start by saying that these are NOT matte!  Matte polishes are made with a powder substance (which is what gives them the slightly chalky feel at times) but the Layla Softouch Effect has a wax in it which is what gives it it's "not shiny" look.  Turquoise Splash is a beautiful turquoise polish with green flecks in it.  It is absolutely stunning in person!  Imagine something like Zoya Charla but with more green flecks then given a not shiny look and made very smooth.  THAT is what this polish is like!  It's absolutely fabulous and I cannot wait to buy more from this line!  The formula is fantastic, opaque in two coats and the best part is that it's meant to be worn without a base coat and no staining!

Above:  Purple Galaxy Magneffect

Above:  Purple Galaxy Magneffect with Flash

Above:  macro shot of the heart magnet nail

Purple Galaxy is part of the original Magneffect line but now there are 4 new magnet shapes!  Please excuse the very messy swatch here, I haven't used a magnet in awhile and it was a bit challenging for me to get back into it!  The new magnet designs are a heart, star, hashtag and arrows.  The heart was a bit hard to line up properly but it's so cute!  The arrows and star come out really clearly and look gorgeous!  I did one coat of the polish and then a second, more thick coat right before applying the magnet and they worked great!

Above:  Softouch Magneffect in Turquoise Wave

I still can't figure out how this polish is even possible to make but I am SO glad it is!  Yes, you are looking at a "not shiny" magnetic polish.  Yes, it dried this way, no top coat is involved.  Yes, it's just as cool as it looks!  I will say that the heart effect did not work for me with this one but the rest look awesome!  I did one coat of the polish, let it dry for just a minute and then did a second coat and immediately did the magnet on top!  They also dried super fast!

Above:  Magneffect in Starry Night

And finally, a glitter magnetic polish!  This polish has fine microglitter in it that makes it really fun and sparkly!  It works like any other magnetic, it just has a really fun glitter finish to it!  I love how dark this one is but how the magnet really lightens it and the glitter just adds some sparkles to your tips!

All in all, Layla is really stepping it up with innovative new collections!  "Not shiny" polishes, "not shiny" magnetics, glitter magnetics, heart magnets, lots of new stuff!  Stay tuned tomorrow for some holographics, flakies and a mirror effect polish!  Keep your eyes open at your normal Layla seller (Ulta, Ninja Polish, Ave You, etc) for when these are launched!  Some might even be out already!

What do you think of these polishes? Any must haves? Any dupes?

The products in this post were sent to me for my unbiased review. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.