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.

Digital Nails Expelliarmus!

Even though Expelliarmus is a spell from Harry Potter, this polish is from Digital Nails' Doctor Who Companion Collection. It's basically fangirl Pam in a bottle. Inspired by Martha Jones in one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes (Shakespeare quoting Harry Potter? Yes, please), it's one of my favorite spells, in my favorite color, and one of my very favorite bloggers ever named it. (If you haven't checked out Accio Lacquer, please do do! Fabulous indie polishes and super entertaining style!)

So, Expelliarmus is a squishy purple jelly with a prominent blue shimmer and circle glitter - small, medium, large, purple, silver, purple holographic. Ahh... LOVE it!

Scofflaw Nail Varnish Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Koi Pondering, and Owls of Outrage

Scofflaw Nail Varnish is one of those indie brands I'd been hearing all sorts of awesome things about and finally happened upon her store when she restocked. I managed to pick up the two polishes I'd been lusting after and another one that caught my eye when I was getting all grabby-handed. :)

First up is Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. In real life, I've got a bit of a potty mouth. And my entire family have our ham radio licenses. And my husband honestly tried to get us all to learn Morse Code. How could I not get WTF??  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is a teal jelly base with a mixture of white, red, and gold glitters. Excellent application. Above is shown at two coats.

Koi Pondering is one I've wanted ever since I saw Rie's review. Deep blue base with white, orange, and yellow hexes as well as a silver shimmer. You may be amazed to know that this one is inspired by... a Koi pond! Geez. Don't quit my day job.

The last is Owls of Outrage. This one came out more brown/dark mauve than I'd hoped. There's a ton of glitter going on in this one, and it applied beautifully, but I just wasn't feeling it. This is three coats in the waning sun on my in-laws' farm.

Overall, Scofflaw Nail Varnishes are definitely ones I'd recommend. They sell for $10.50 for a full sized bottle and a restock is scheduled for Sept. 15th. The Etsy store can be found here.

Literary Lacquers More Like Fire Than Light

Today I've got a fabulous polish from Literary Lacquers, More Like Fire Than Light. This polish is one of nine in "The Good Parts" collection, which is inspired by erotic fiction. More Like Fire Than Light takes it's inspiration from Delta of Venus, by Anais Nin.

This polish is a linear holo in a very squishy, bright, orange jelly base. I used CND Stickey and NYC Grand Central Station without any dulling of the holo effect at all. Three thin, easy coats and you're done!

More Like Fire Than Light can be picked up for $10 per 15mL bottle here.

Tough As Nails Lacquer The Dregs, part 1 - The Redundant Woman and Magdelene's Laundry Service

Today I have two of the four polishes from Tough As Nails Lacquer's Spring Collection, The Dregs. This collection came together as a result of the creator's "recent obsession with drinking tea, the underbelly of Victorian culture, and a desire for a more calming collection." The Tough As Nails line is filled with brights and glitter bombs, so this collection is a bit of a departure from that.

First up is The Redundant Woman. It is a periwinkle purple/blue shade with fine pink shimmer. The shimmer is fairly evident in the bottle, but has to be coaxed out on the nail. The photo below is as sunny as I could manage, so I've also included a shot taken with flash. 

I used three medium coats of The Redundant Woman for this mani. There is a tad bit of nail line in these shots, but it really wasn't visible at all. I purchased shorty bottles, and they have a fairly short, stiff brush. I had to be careful with application because I got a few bald spots. 

3 coats of The Redundant Woman with top coat and flash.

Magdalene's Laundry Service has a milky, pink jelly base with pink dots and hexes and a pearly finish. A very beautiful polish! The above shot is three coats with top coat. No undies - because I'm usually too lazy for that. I normally don't go for polishes that are this sheer, but I really love this one. Application was great. I used two coats of top coat, but it really wasn't necessary. 

I was unaware of what the name referred to, but there is a nice explanation on the Tough As Nails blog. I've included it here:

"During the 18th-20th centuries, if you were a prostitute, unmarried, too flirtatious, or even too pretty, you may have been sent to a Magdalene Asylum. Magdalene Asylums, or Magdalene Laundries, were institutions for the fallen women of society, located throughout Europe, Canada, and the US. The asylums were originally intended to rehabilitate prostitutes and other women back into society, sustaining themselves by offering laundry services, but became prison-like, where women experienced hard labor, forced periods of silence, and abuse."

A sad thing, to be sure. There have been a few news stories recently about Magdalene Laundries after the Irish Prime Minister issued a formal apology for them. The last one wasn't closed in Ireland until 1996. 

Sorry to end on a sour note, but you have the rest of this collection to look forward to in my next post.

A Study In Polish - Polishes Inspired by BBC's Sherlock

Frequenters of this blog and/or my Etsy shop know that I love nail polishes that tie in with my favorite fandoms. I am a huge fan of Harry Potter, Doctor Who, and BBC's Sherlock. The indie polish world now has Harry Potter and Doctor Who collections, but what about Sherlock? 

Enter A Study In Polish, a line hand mixed by a fellow fan and polish fiend. Morgan had posted previews of a line she planned to start selling soon, and I marked the day on my calendar. 

A Study In Polish Consulting Detective, Mind Palace, Let's Have Dinner, and Baker Street Blues.

The first of the four polishes I picked up is Let's Have Dinner. It is a red jelly with Medium and small black hexes, and small blue hexes. This polish is inspired by the intriguing Irene Adler. The above photo is two easy coats.

Baker Street Blues is a shimmery cobalt blue with blue and iridescent square and hex glitter. Perfectly opaque at two coats.

Macro shot of Baker Street Blues

Mind Palace is a beautiful seafoam green with a subtle linear holo finish. Honestly, I bought this one because, 1) It was a holo and I can't resist holos, and 2) It was available in limited quantities due to hard-to-find holo pigment. The polish hoarder in me couldn't resist! I'm glad I didn't resist because this is my favorite of the collection. Mind Palace is a little on the thick side, but nothing unmanageable.

Blurred to show the sparkle

The last of the Sherlock Polishes I picked up is Consulting Detective, a purple shimmery polish with gold and blue hex glitters. Consulting Detective was also a little thick, but it allows the glitter to suspend nicely in the base.

All of Morgan's polishes had excellent wear time. I wore all for 2-3 days with no significant chipping.

There are two polishes I passed on, and Morgan just listed two more polishes yesterday. All polishes are $9.00 each except for 221B, which is a glitter topcoat. A Study In Polish has a shop open here.

Jelly Sandwich - OPI's Houston We Have a Purple and Servin' Up Sparkle

I felt very ho-hum about jelly polishes for a long time. Jelly sandwiches really didn't hold much appeal for me either until OPI's New York Ballet collection came out and everyone started doing them with Pirouette My Whistle. I have yet to see a jelly sandwich combo that I don't love with Pirouette.

So, when I was offered the opportunity to pick up OPI's Serena Williams Grand Slam! England duo for $2 and some change, visions of jelly sandwiches began dancing in my head. Servin' Up Sparkle has the same size glitters as Pirouette My Whistle, but the glitter is holographic and in a clear base. Close enough. I'll still grab up Pirouette if I see it in the wild. :)

This photo is two coats of Houston We Have A Purple from the Texas Sorbet collection, one coat of Servin' Up Sparkle, then one last coat of Houston. I'm very happy with the look of this mani, and it wore for ages! I think I got three days before it chipped, and I did dishes and laundry.

What do you think of jelly sandwiches? The polish kind! Do you have a favorite combo?

Revlon Devil's Candy

Revlon Devil's Candy is a bright red jelly from their Fall 2011 Masquerade Collection. It isn't anything special or unique, but is a very classic, warm-toned red. Below are 2 coats over Orly Bonder and under Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat.

So why did I buy it if it's nothing special? I mean, I do own several reds. Several red jellies, in fact. I got it because I happened to read over on Nouveau Cheap that there were $3 philosophy cosmetics and $2 Revlon 2-packs of polish at Big Lots. Big Lots? What? Yep. If you have one near you, don't discount it for cheap beauty supplies.

I went to check it out and found a rack of $3 philosophy powders, eye shadows, blushes, lip glosses, and brighteners. Also, several Revlon polishes. This one came with Royal Cloak, which is a totally cool purple with clear-ish/silver flakies. I'm stoked to try it.

Pretty & Polished Swing

Today I have another indie polish for you! This is Swing from Pretty & Polished. You may have seen her fabulous polish Jawbreaker somewhere in the nail blogosphere. It's pretty popular right now, and with good reason. 

Swing is a fabulously squishy red jelly with large black, white, and silver hex glitter and smaller black and white glitter. It's the first polish I've experienced in which I've had to work to get the glitter where I want. It was rather difficult as I bought a mini bottle and it isn't as easy to pull pieces out with the brush, but I think I did an okay job. I contemplated pouring some out to make it easier, but didn't want to waste. 

The photos below are with 3 coats of color and Seche Vite top coat. I love how you get a jelly sandwich look with this one polish.

Right hand

My not-often-blogged left hand!

Swing is available here, as well as some great glitters, jellies, and holos. It looks like her store is due to be restocked today or tomorrow. 

Revlon Scandalous, or Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance for $3.99

 Happy February! How better to ring in Valentine's month than with a cheap dupe of a polish called Bad Romance? This is the only Deborah Lipmann polish I've been tempted to buy, and was very excited to see the Revlon dupe out last summer/fall. So why didn't I buy it when I saw it at Meijer? I have no clue. Because I'm silly? All I know is that I went back to get it, and they were gone. There are some people with fabulous taste in polish on this town.

So, of course I was super excited to see it again, in the new Revlon display for only $3.99! So much win I can hardly stand it. I saw a dupe for DL Glitter in the Air on the same display and snatched it up, only to realize that I didn't even want to pay $3.99 for that one. I just don't get the appeal. Too sheer. But, Scandalous... zomg, it's fantastic.

The photo below is 3 thin coats of polish with a coat of Seche Vite. I debated stopping at 2 coats, because the base isn't as sheer as I thought it would be, but I'm glad I used a 3rd because it gives a great depth. The finish was fairly smooth with 1 coat of Seche Vite. So, so glad I got this one!

butter LONDON The Black Knight

The Black Knight is the first up in my Christmas Gift Extravaganza. I got so. much. polish. Love it! The Black Knight is one of butter LONDON's Holiday 2011 collection. It is a black jelly that is chock full of pink and blue glitter and a finer gold glitter. The first coat is pretty sheer, but it is nicely opaque with a second coat. The picture below is the second day of wear with 1 coat of Seche Vite. It stayed pretty gritty, but it didn't bother me enough to add a second coat.

Day 2 - 2 coats polish and 1 Seche Vite

I noticed that I began to get awful chips pretty quickly. Some quick internet trolling showed me that I am not the only one! Apparently glitters (not just this one) are prone to chipping. I imagine it's due to the grittiness. The polish on my index finger began to lift after the 4th day, so I decided to throw a coat of Sally Hansen Hard as Wraps over it. This is a very thick polish, so it smoothed the finish nicely when topped with another coat of Seche Vite. All in all, I absolutely love this one and am thrilled Bestie got it for me! :)

2 coats The Black Knight, 1 coat SV, 1 coat HaW, 1 coat SV

OPI Houston We Have a Purple

I had reason to celebrate this week (paying off 80% of your student loans with tax-free $$ is quite the celebration), and did so by buying a new polish that I've been eyeballing at Meijer for a long time. Seriously. I celebrated getting rid of $60k in debt by buying an $8.49 nail polish. Look out! :)

This is 3 coats of HWHaP and a coat of Poshe. It's one of the sorbet finishes from the Texas collection. Sorbet and jelly finishes are very, very similar. I think the sorbets are a little less opaque than jellies. I tried a 4th coat on my thumbs to see if I could get rid of the VNL, but that turned out goopy. It's a very smooth color that reminds me of a grape Edy's Real Fruit bar. I highly recommend both the polish and the Popsicles. :)

China Glaze Phat Santa

This one happened a few polishings ago. I think it was after Hard Candy Sky and before Nailtrition. All in all, meh, it's details. Sorry for shitty old iPhone pic. The camera in my new one is better than my old digital camera. Sad, I know.

This was part of the Holiday 2010 collection. Picked it up at Sally's after seeing it on Short N' Chic. I had been lusting over RBL Killa Red for ages, and found Ji had discontinued it. I was looking for a deep, dark, cool red. That picture makes it look like an orange-y red, but I promise it's not. I'm not a fan of warm red on my nails. I. Love. Phat. Santa. It was my first jelly, and the first couple of applications were not great. I'm getting the hang of it now though. Bonder, 3 thin coats Phat Santa, Seche Vite. Win.

Essie Wicked

Wicked is my first (and only at the moment) Essie polish. It's a very dark cranberry, almost black. I love the way it looks on my short nails. Wicked is jelly-like, and I'm still trying to get there with those. My brain just doesn't wrap around 3 coats of anything without serious coaching, and you really need to build thin layers for this one to look its best. I really, really love the brush with these too. It's not too fat, and picks up a nice amount of polish. This one was a Christmas gift "picked out" by my son. :)