Swatch & Review / NotD

   Good day, fellow princesses!  I have a delicate nail look to share today featuring two pretty polishes.  The above photo are my nails modeling 1 coat of Black Cat Lacquer over 2 coats of Essie Vanity Fairest.  I loved wearing this manicure!  Onwards to my reviews!

   I placed my first order with Black Cat Lacquer at the very end of December, and had four pretty polishes show up in January.  I tried a few times to get them swatched, but never did because of the smell.  This was honestly the first time a polish smelled so bad that I couldn't stand to use it.  My bottle of Let Them Eat Cake (and the other 3 colors I bought at the time) goes beyond the usual "smelly polish" scent and heads straight into exterior house paint territory.  I'd know - my day job is selling and tinting paint!  I decided to set them aside until warm weather when I'd try again with open windows.

   It appears that these late-2012 polishes were either made with a different base or perhaps a bad batch of base.  Searching didn't give me any official information other than a few January 2013 reviews and reader comments noting a very strong smell.  A review on one blog said the Spring 2013 colors did not have the awful smell of the previous collection, yay!  In order to attempt to find out the real story I sent Black Cat Lacquer a message asking "Has your polish base changed since last year?"  This is the entire reply I received:

   So, um, not exactly all-conclusive.  I'm hoping the stink is now a non-issue, at least with colors from 2013.  I have added a few more BCL polishes to my wishlist with cautious optimism, though I'm not entirely sure what to do with the ones I already have...

   You see, Let Them Eat Cake is an awesome glitter topper - clear base, pastel hexes in pink, blue, and yellow-green.  A whole lot of cute tiny white glitter and a smattering of holographic bits.  It's pretty, I loved wearing it, but my bottle smells so bad!  I don't know if it is worth keeping in my collection if I can't stand the smell of it.  We shall see.  I didn't have any other issues with the polish; it mixes easily and the formula and application is perfectly fine.  BCL is also 3-free and cruelty free, which is great!

   Above are my nails with 1 coat of Essie Vanity Fairest.  This is a polish I found for $1.00!  I tried looking for swatches but none showed the super-pretty glass fleck shimmer it contains.  It is very hard to capture finishes like this, but I think I have done a decent job.  It shows quite well on my thumb, which is wearing 3 coats:

   I really like this polish!  The formula is great and the sheer finish works with 1, 2, or 3 coats depending on the look you want.  It dries quickly and has a good amount of shine without topcoat.  I'm glad that I happened upon it by chance in June.  =)

   Thanks for reading!  If you have any advice on what to do about the stinky glitter polishes, I'd like to hear it.  Do you own any Black Cat Lacquer polishes?  If so, which one and how does it smell like to you?  If not, they can be found at http://www.BlackCatLacquer.com/.

   Or, why it's going to be easy not to buy any polish during February.  (So long as China Glaze doesn't release their new holographic polishes in the US.)

   I ended up with over 35 new (or new-to-me) polishes this month, the above photo is missing a few because they are either on loan or scattered through my house.  January was a good month for polish because all my end-of-the-year sale purchases arrived along with a few sakes that took place right at the beginning of January.

   I snagged some Black Cat Lacquer polishes from my wishlist, they are: I Want Candy, Let Them Eat Cake, Put a Bird On It, and Women & Women First.  These came from etsy.  These are all so, so pretty!

   I had a most wonderful package of Different Dimension nail polish arrive.  Mostly colors that I've helped name, but a few other pretties to swatch and review, too!  I've gotten to try most of these already, and their posts are up on the blog.  The polishes shown above are: Honesty Feels A Lot Like Mean, Orbital, Vervain, Aorta Miss You But I Don't, All Red-y In Love, A Love Hue, and Love Her? I Don't Even Lacquer!  Not pictured because it is on loan to my Mom: Yours, Mine, and Flowers.  You can find these polishes on etsy.

      I picked up a couple discontinued polishes from Laquerlicious, Invitation Only and Mint N Chip Frappe.  Along with those I was sent three minis to review, Melted Ice Cream, Rainbow Sugar, and Tart Taffy.  Go check out those swatches!  These also came from etsy!

   Lush Lacquer had a sale, so I picked up my first polishes from them.  The colors I picked are Glitter Girls, Mr. Bubble, Oopsie Daisy, Pebbles, Pink Panther and Slumber Party.  These are all so cute!  Visit the Lush Lacquer shop on etsy.

   I snagged a couple OPI polishes from my wishlist, My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Don't Touch My Tutu!

   When Zoya had their promo for three polishes my husband got me a few cremes from my wishlist: Breezi, Jolene and Wednesday.

   These polishes were partly from a trade and given to me.  Pure Ice Material Girl, Milani Hot Pink, China Glaze Peachy Keen and Luna, KBShimmer Oh Splat!

   And nail polish in another form - jewelry!  Sweet Tips Nails had an amazing sale, so I picked up some necklaces and other accessories.  These are really cute!  The shipping prices are really good, too.  And yes, these came from etsy, too!

   So, a pretty good haul, I'd say!  A lot of polish to keep me busy this month and a lot of it from indie sellers.  The plan this month is to be good and not buy much.  ;P