Essie Tangerine

I'm ashamed to admit to this post has been sitting in my drafts list for over a month now. Yikes. But at least I'm posting it now!!

Today I have Essie Tangerine to show you! Given the name, you probably don't really need to guess what the color of this polish is. Essie describes this as a "juicy orange-red creme" and I can't really add anything to that. Because it's an orange-red, it's incredibly hard to capture and the color shifts depending on the light. Sometimes it's more red-orange and in other lights it takes on a pinky coral-like color. Sneaky sneaky! It looks like Tangerine was realized as part of Essie's Summer 2010 collection (at least, that's about the earliest I can find reviews for it).

The formula on Tangerine was pretty good-- it goes on very smoothly and three coats gave great coverage. There is a tiny bit of visible nail line, but it's not bad at all. That's probably why I used three coats in the end.

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Unfortunately, Tangerine isn't currently available from Essie, though I'm sure there are similar polishes out there. And it looks like if you really like, you can find Tangerine through other internet sources. However, Tangerine is one of those colors that is just perfect for summer and even though there are probably about a thousand similar polishes out there and I can't get enough of these colors. There's something about the bright, summery color that just instantly appeals to me, not matter how many I already have.

Guest post over at Imperfectly Painted!

Hey all! Today I have a guest post over at Imperfectly Painted and you should go check it out! I decided to do an easy tape manicure using one of my favorite combinations: nudes and neons!

I would post a picture, but Blogger is being funky and I can't upload anything right this moment. All the more reason to head over to Imperfectly Painted and check out my post! 

Some big BIG changes on the horizon for Lacquer Land!

I know I've mentioned on here a few times that I have lost my blogging mojo and how tired I am. Well, there's been a very good reason for that-- my husband and I are expecting our first child... and our second! Yes indeed-- we're having twins! It was certainly a shock to learn that there were two of them, but we're very excited and happy! It will mean a lot of changes, but it's going to be wonderful. Eventually, hah! But seriously, we're over the moon and even though there's a lot to in the meantime, we're looking forward to starting this next chapter in our lives.

 Obviously, this will mean some changes for the blog and probably some down time for the blog when the babies come home. We're due in late October, but with twins it could really be anytime before that. I haven't quite decided how I will tackle the early days/months yet, but hopefully I can get some marathon swatching sessions in before the babies are born and get some posts lined up for moments when I can keep my eyes open long enough to actually post. I suspect there will be some time that this blog will be "on hiatus", though I may try to set up some of guest post schedule (maybe 1-2 per week to keep things from going completely dead). As we get closer, I'll figure out what I want to do.

I promise that this won't turn into a pregnancy/mommy blog (though I can't promise I won't ever talk about it, sorry). I will be back to posting regularly soon-- I hope! I'm still having some bad days, but I think it's starting to get better. Additionally, even though the experts say that the being exhausted part of the first trimester is supposed to let up, I still feel pretty tired after working a full day and it's hard to work up the energy to post. Honestly, this post has been sitting as a draft for almost two weeks! But I am trying (hoping) to get back into some sort of rhythm. I am floating ideas for a couple different types of posts, but haven't made any headway with actually doing it.

Stay tuned for new posts later this week-- I will make it mission to get something new up on the blog!

Moving to Bloglovin!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin! I am migrating Adventures in Lacquer Land over to Bloglovin since Google Reader is closing down July 1st (wahhhhh). So please stop on by and follow me over there! I am figuring it out, but so far it doesn't seem too bad.

NOTD: Bright Dots

I have been enjoying my Julep Eden manicure but I decided to extend its life a little bit longer by doing some nail art! For some weird reason, I have been craving a purple and orange manicure (seriously, I don't know why-- I generally hate those colors together). So I grabbed two of my new Cult Nails polishes, You're My Dandy Lion (yellow) and Ay Poppy! (orange) and did some polka dot nail art.

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I  actually love this combination. The colors are very bright and happy-- I am reminded of a butterfly or flowers or something.

That's my quick and dirty post for tonight!

Spring Football Friday

Just a quick post! Tomorrow is the UW Spring Football game (well, "game" is a misnomer-- it's really just a scrimmage) and I have a quick purple polish post for you!

I finally painted my nails for the first time in ages (seriously, I can't remember when I last painted my nails) and went for a new purple, Julep Eden, which is described as a "bright violet creme" and topped it off with Julep Candy, a sheer purple jelly.

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Of course, being a purple, my camera automatically hates this polish and it was impossible to get an accurate photo of it. Eden is a deep, but still vivid purple-- if that makes sense. It's definitely not a shrinking violet type of purple! My photos show it leaning more towards the blue end of the purple spectrum, but in reality it has more red.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

American Apparel Moonlight Beach

Tonight I have another sheer American Apparel polish to share with you-- Moonlight Beach. This polish is definitely more on the sheer side, though it photographs with more visible nail line than you can see in real life. Moonlight Beach is a dusky dark blue jelly and definitely has a more jelly consistency than some of the other polishes in this line. It almost seems like a navy jelly polish that has some slight purple tones and it's not quite as bright as the photos show.

I used three coats of Moonlight Beach and you can see it's pretty shiny (like most jellies) without a top coat.

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My pictures for Moonlight Beach aren't great, sorry. It looks like the polish is already shrinking back from my tips, but it wasn't. I think it's a trick of the light, but I'm not sure why that would happen. This polish is infinitely better in real life than it is in photos.

Sorry for the lack in posting-- I won't even say how long it's taken me to get around to posting this. Ugh. It's going to get better, I hope!

American Apparel Redondo Beach

Today I have another polish from the American Apparel Sheer line-- Redondo Beach. This is a dusky sky blue that's a cross between a creme and jelly. Because of this, Redondo Beach is a bit more on the sheer side, as the name of the line suggests. You will see a bit of visible nail line in my pictures, but I honestly don't think it was too bothersome.

The formula was pretty good-- I used three coats here. You might be able to get away with two coats, as this applied fairly smoothly and without issue. It did dry fairly quickly as well. I felt that Redondo Beach dried slightly darker on the nail than in the bottle, but it's a little hard to tell with the frosted bottle. 

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Such a pretty, cheerful blue color. It's perfect for summer.

I realize that my blog anniversary (two years!!) was on Wednesday, and I didn't even post. Sorry about that. I just want to say that I truly do appreciate your support and the fact that you are reading this blog!! I hope you will continue to do so, despite my currently sporadic posting!

OPI GoldenEye

Tonight I have another pretty pretty sparkly gorgeous polish for you! This is OPI GoldenEye, which is one of the polishes that was released in OPI's James Bond collection this winter. Like many polishes, I've have these swatches sitting in a folder but haven't pulled them out yet. GoldenEye is a mix of fine, dense yellow gold glitter in a clear base.

I seen some bloggers comment on how sheer it is, but I got pretty good coverage with two coats. This first was definitely sheer, but I only needed three coats to get the coverage in my pictures below. I did find that the glitter would thin out as I reached my tips, but that's my only complaint. GoldenEye is very shiny and reflective and has sort burnished metal look to it. Or even hammered metal. I love the way this looks!

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I'm generally a fan of golds, even though they can be hard to wear, and GoldenEye is no exception. Probably moreso in this case because GoldenEye has such a unique look to it. I haven't seen another gold quite like this. This will probably make an appearance during football season!