Abigail Leigh - Help me work to end ovarian cancer!

September is ovarian cancer awareness month, and it is a cause near and dear to my heart because last year, my sister in law was diagnosed with it. Watching what this fierce, strong, hilarious, wonderful woman became during her chemo and radiation was incredibly sad. And terrifying. And I've never told her that. :) You see someone you love suffering and you put on a brave and happy face and try to be encouraging, no matter how you feel inside. But now I'm all FEEL-y and that's not what this post is about...

Helping! How can we help? Research needs to be done. I hate research, but there are folks out there who love it (thank heavens!). Research takes money. So... I've made Abigail Leigh. It's teal because that's the color for ovarian cancer awareness. It's glittery and shimmery because shimmery glittery polish is pretty. It's named Abigail Leigh because that is my sister-in-law's name. I'm donating $3 for each bottle sold to UnTEAL There Is A Cure, a non-profit organization started by Karen and Mike Collins after Karen was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Their mission is to provide hope for cancer patients and survivors by raising money for ovarian cancer research and in the past two years, they have raised $73,000.00 for the cause.

Here she is, go buy a bottle and help fight ovarian cancer! If you don't love the polish but have a couple of dollars to spare, you can visit the UnTEAL There Is A Cure website and donate directly.

What's happening in the lab...

Long time, no post readers! I've made it clear that I have no great love for writing and would rather be mixing in the lab, but I suppose I'd tease you lovelies with things that you can expect to see in the coming months.

First of all, I'd love to thank everyone for your interest in my cuticle oils! I picked just a couple of scents to offer in the beginning as I didn't know if this oil thing would even take off. I stuck with essential oils, but have just placed quite an order for fragrance oils to play with. Plan on seeing some fall and winter holiday scents, baked goods scents, fresh/floral scents, and some masculine scents as well.

Lastly, I'll leave you with a teaser of my inspiration for the upcoming fall collection. I've been calling it "Them Be Dragons" in jest, but who knows? It may stick!

I'll also throw another idea out at you folks... I'm thinking of branching out further into skin/nail care. Things like hand lotions, hand & foot soaks, and such. Is this something you would be interested in? Are you sick of seeing these on the indie market, or do you think there is room for more? What kinds of things do you look for when purchasing items such as these?

I'm just noodling this stuff around at this point. I'd have to perfect recipes, look into packaging, etc. before expanding into these other products, so we're talking months down the road.

I appreciate your feedback!

Sweet & Treats collection available now!

For real swatches, I steal (lovingly and with permission) photos my talented friends have taken of my polishes.

First up we have Pygmy Puff - complete with a little flocking powder Arnold! - courtesy of Jacki from Adventures in Acetone.

Here is Ashley from Ashley Is Polish Addicted showcasing the violet flakies in Sugar Spun Quills.

Cas from The Mani-Logues used Sugar Spun Quills in a stamped mani.

She also posted this awesome shot of Acid Pops in her review on her blog.

Lastly, Sheila from Pointless Cafe captured the flakies in Fizzing Whizbees (and our others) beautifully in her review!

If you're a Harry Potter fan, you'll recognize that the series has inspired a Paint Box Polish collection again! I thought Honeydukes' candy shop and Weasley's Wizard Wheezes joke shop were perfect to draw on for a brightly colored summer collection.

I hope you're a fan! You can find these and all of my other products available here. Paint Box Polish now has cuticle oil and glass nail files as well as polish. Gift sets in a pretty gift bag are also available.

Don't forget you can also stop by the Paint Box Polish booth at the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange show in Indianpolis on June 14th. I think I've bribed my sister-in-law to be my minion in exchange for polish and beer. :) We're nice people and would love to say hello!

INDIEana Handicraft Exchange - See us in person!

I'm excited to share with you that Paint Box Polish will be a vendor in this summer's INDIEana Handicraft Exchange show in Indianapolis! There are going to be a ton of vendors there (though I believe PBP is the only polish vendor) with clothing, jewelry, paper goods, toys, etc. It looks to be a real-life Etsy. I'm very excited!

I will have all colors available - oldies plus the Summer Sweets & Treats collection - as well as cuticle oils and nail files. I'd love to see you folks! Swing by and say hello. :)

To find detailed info about the show, click here. It is June 14th from 12-8pm at Harrison Center for the Arts on Delaware Street in Indianapolis. There is also a music festival going on that day and there will be local craft brewers (beer, ciders, wine) and great food. See? Such a good time. I'd love to see you!

And I'll add nail wheel swatches and bottle shots of the upcoming collection, because why not?

Coming Soon - Paint Box Polish Sweets & Treats Collection!

Summer is almost here and so are some bright, new colors! I drew inspiration from all things summer. Flowers, sun, fun, and candy! Here are some quick shots of the new colors. I'll highlight more swatch photos from bloggers after I send out blogger packs and posts start appearing!

The colors in this set are L-R: Acid Pops, Pygmy Puff, Fizzing Whizbees, and Sugar Spun Quills. Yes, fellow Potter nuts. The Harry Potter theme continues! 

Acid Pops is a bright, apple green with green flakies and green/blue shimmer. Pygmy Puff is a matte coral shimmer with gold flakies. Fizzing Whizbees is an orange crelly with tiny rainbow flakies, and Sugar Spun Quills is a deep, berry pink with violet flakies. I. Love. Them. All!

I also have gift sets available now in my Big Cartel store. Your choice of any currently in stock polish, any cuticle oil, and either a cobalt blue or royal purple mini glass nail file for $15. The set comes in a pretty bag, and it is ready for giving.

The Sweets & Treats collection will be available mid-June and gift sets are available now at www.paintboxpolish.bigcartel.com.

Ch-ch-changes...

I've been putting a lot of thought into this blog and the direction I want to take it. It started as a place to post pictures and remind myself what the twenty polishes I had looked like on my hands.

My stash has grown, and I'm now spending most of my polish time creating new stuff for Paint Box Polish. I still love painting my nails, and they are almost never naked. I also love the excitement of creating custom orders for customers. In order to spend more time creating and not always feel the pull of, "You really need to post this mani..." I've decided to change how I use this page...

I am going to post photos of my manis on my Instagram account (link over there --->). This way, I can still spread the love and share polish - both awesome and not so awesome - with my followers. I plan to share inspiration for new polishes and sneak peeks here. If you follow via Bloglovin (also over there --->), you can be alerted when I've published something new.

There is also a new tab up top. I've listed my polishes exclusively through Etsy before, but I'm going to be transitioning over to Big Cartel. I think their set up is much cleaner looking and easier to navigate. Links to both shops are in the "Paint Box Polish Shop" tab.

So, I'll continue to be around, just in a bit of a different way. Obviously, writing is not my strong suit, and I think IG is a more Pam-friendly format. :) Drop me a line at pam@paintboxpolish.com if you have questions, suggestions, or are in need of a custom order - one bottle or one hundred!

Dandy Nails Love Affair

Today I've got my first polish from Dandy Nails! Sandy makes fabulous polishes and is well-established in the indie polish world. She came out with a set of amazing holos (the DandyGraphic collection) in November and I forced myself to buy only one. Because I'm trying to show restraint. :)

Love Affair is a dark pink, burgundy-ish color that is just beautiful. Then throw in that lovely, tightly scattered holo and I'm done. In my cart it went!

Direct sunlight

The formula of this is just perfection! Thick enough to be an easy one coater, but not so thick that it's gloopy and difficult to place. The brush was flat and a bit wide, so there were zero issues. I don't think I did any clean up with this mani at all. 

On a side note, look at that sunshine! Gah, I miss it. The temperature is -20 here in Indiana and I feel like the sun has been hiding for weeks. I love winter, but I'm done with it. :)

Slightly blurred because RAINBOWS!

Dandy Nails are available in her Etsy store here. Love Affair is in stock and available for $10.00. She has several lovely polishes and I'm going to have to indulge in more soon!

Stay warm, folks! Are you in a warm climate? Can I come visit? :)

A Study in Polish I Do Post-Mortems and Not Your Housekeeper

It's just about an hour until the new season of Sherlock airs on PBS (9:58 EST), and in it's honor, I'm back with the newest Sherlock polishes from A Study in Polish.

First up is I Do Post-Mortems, which is inspired by the ever lovely Molly Hooper. A soft, neutral pink with a low-key holographic shimmer. This is like Mind Palace's quiet little sister. (see my review of Mind Palace and my other A Study in Polish polishes here). I'm generally not a muted pink lover, but man! This is easily one of my favorites.

Direct artificial lighting

Direct natural light

 Not Your Housekeeper is Mrs. Hudson's polish. It's a super pretty, squishy plum with blue and pink/purple micro glitters. There may be some gold ones hidden in there as well. I used three coats here and it was just lovely.

Direct natural light

A Study in Polish offers Sherlock, The Hobbit, Teen Wolf, and Hannibal inspired polishes in her store.