Tag Archives: Crystal Knockout

The Indie Shop Atlanta 2018 Coverage

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It’s that time again: time for me to cover an event two weeks after it happened. If you follow me on Instagram, you saw that I went to Atlanta for the eighth installment of The Indie Shop, and saw some friends and toured some of my and my boyfriend’s regular haunts. You also saw I posted a huge haul, and I’ll talk about that in detail in a second. For now, though, the show.

Packing!

My manicure. This is a drip marble done with Digital Nails‘s Island Sunset, Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Peruvian Lily, Chaotic Glitz‘s Mythological Mushroom, Ever After‘s Peach Fuzz, and Philly Loves Lacquer’s June Bug.

Boyfriend and I drove up from Florida, which was a good five hour drive. We arrived around nine o’clock at night, and enjoyed a few cocktail and a pupu platter at Trader Vic’s. We always stay at the Hilton downtown just to go to this bar. This was the view from our room. It was a beautiful night.

This year’s Indie Shop was a little smaller than last year’s event with fewer vendors. Returning brands include Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer, Poetry Cowgirl, Turtle Tootsie, Chaotic Glitz, Crystal Knockout, Envy Lacquer, Ribbits Stickits, and Ever After. Fewer brands meant fewer booths, but since the turnout was really strong, every booth was busy the entire time I was there, which was awesome to see.

My first stop was Bee’s Knees Lacquer, since I was acting as a polish fairy for a couple of people after their event exclusive trio. This table was probably the busiest one; I had to wait ten minutes just to get the table, and another fifteen just to check out. I’d heard a lot of buzz (intended) around this brand, but I couldn’t believe how popular they were in Atlanta. They also win best shirt.

The line

I bought my first-ever vinyls from Ribbits Stickits! I meant to hit them up last year, but issues with my credit card kept me from it. I met Kayla from Creative Cuticles at this booth, only I didn’t realize it was her until later. We live in the same city, and I thought it would be cool to run into her sometime. Some fan I am.

Crystal Knockout’s booth was one of my favorites from last year, and I was excited to see them come back. I love these guys because they always bring tons of jewelry with them. Honestly, I was more excited about their earrings than their polish. I got like five pairs.

They weren’t the only ones selling non-polish items. Wax melts were hugely popular with makers, as were handmade bath and body products. Turtle Tootsie Polishes brought back their amazing sugar scrubs, as well as some bath bombs and lip balms.

Smokey Mountain Lacquers was a newcomer to The Indie Shop. I think I met the maker last year working for another booth, but her setup was great, and I completely forgot to photograph it. Sorry, Kim!

Envy Lacquer was another table I didn’t get to hit up last year, so I made up for it this year by buying pretty much everything they had. I got the entire Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil collection and the exclusives.

I think this is the point where I got too busy shopping and forgot to take pictures of the actual booths. The Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer table was another busy one, and I spent the most time here, as well as the most money. I even went back for a second round when I got a coupon. I’ve been behnd on my BEGL new releases, I had to catch up!

Every table was crowded like this one. It was hard to get in just to shop. let alone photograph.

Satnin was a new-to-me brand, and though they didn’t have a lot of polish, I was impressed with the ones they did. They had a lot of multichromes and I bought all of them.

Ever After was another table I couldn’t get enough of. I’d seen swatches of their O-pal-leeze collection online, but seeing the polishes in person pretty much guaranteed I was going to buy all of them. Between those and the exclusives, I got a ton of polish there. Incidentally, none of them are shown in the photos I took of their booth.

I love Poetry Cowgirl Nail Polish. Another Florida brand, they had with them a handful of exclusives, some leftover exclusives from previous shows, and previews of some box exclusives. I spent a lot here, and they gave me some freebies, too!

Chaotic Glitz was another table I couldn’t wait to get to. I loved their exclusives last year — I worked one into my TISA manicure this year — and maker Meagan and I have been in touch on Instagram the entire time. I love these guys!

Another booth I failed to capture entirely was Pepper Pot Polish. They were the last one I went to, and at this point, I was exhausted. I did so much shopping! The maker here said she underestimated how much inventory to bring with her, and had sold a lot of it by the time I got there; one of her exclusives was completely gone, and she was kind enough to take preorders for it at the show. I love when makers do that.

After I left here, I met up with my boyfriend in Decatur. We hit up some bars, got some food, and did some more shopping. I love Decatur, it’s such a fun and unique little place. Sunday morning, on a chilly, rainy day, we headed back to Florida.

Now, onto the haul! Not including the preorders and other things I had shipped to me, I ended up taking home 111 bottles of polish. This includes everything in the VIP bag. I got something from every booth, which I’m kind of proud of. Last year, I felt rude chatting up makers without buying anything from them. This year, I got to meet everyone and had a great time doing it. I can’t wait to go back next year!

Trying to carry all of this out of the hotel was a chore. I had to get a second tote bag. And, of course, I thought it wouldn’t be that bad to carry it all around with me while we hung out in Decatur.

My arms were sore the next day.

The VIP bag contained polishes from makers who didn’t attend the event, like Savannah Lacquer, Pretty Beautiful Unlimited, and Colors by Llarowe,

Here’s a photo of my little Decatur haul. I have been obsessed with handmade local goods lately, and so I picked up a lot of handmade jewelry and things at Homegrown Decatur. Those giant seashell rings are from Kismet Jewelers. They’re both amazing shops, and they’re right next door to each other, so you don’t have an excuse to not visit them both.

And that’s it! See you next year, Atlanta!

Swatch Sunday: Crystal Knockout’s Pegasus Landing

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Welcome back to Swatch Sunday! Today’s polish is a new-to-me brand called Crystal Knockout (formerly DazzleGlaze). I loved meeting them at The Indie Shop in Atlanta; they’re from Florida, and I always like meeting the neighbors. They were selling a big range of products, even making their own jewelry. I regret that I didn’t buy any of the jewelry. Anyway, so here’s their VIP bag contribution. This is Pegasus Landing on its own (three coats) and over both China Glaze’s White on White and Sally Hansen’s Black Out (two coats) with one coat of Seche Vite.

Pegasus Landing is a shimmery white gold with gold glitters and rose gold flakies. This was very easy to apply; the product consistency good, even with all of the glitter in it. The bigger glitters was a little shy, but with repeated coats, I still got a good amount on my nail. I did a terrible job at showing the rose gold aspect of the polish; it was probably my favorite thing about it. The polish dried well but I did wish I’d used a second layer of top coat.

I didn’t expect this polish to work so well on its own, but I definitely prefer it alone than over white or black. I love how well the gold stands out over the black, but it’s definitely best without undies. I don’t really have any other polishes like this one, so it’s got a cool uniqueness factor. Lots of polishes like this with really creamy shimmery bases and chunky glitters don’t work, but this one does.

Pegasus Landing was an event exclusive. Other Crystal Knockout products are sold on their online shop.

This polish came in an event VIP bag.

The Indie Shop Atlanta: wacie.com Event Coverage

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Welcome back, reader! If you’re part of the indie polish community, you likely heard about The Indie Shop event that took place in Atlanta this past weekend. If not, just imagine a craft fair with nothing but nail polish. The Indie Shop, presented by Envy Lacquer, brought polish makers and polish addicts together in one place for a few hours of shopping and socializing. I was lucky enough to go, and of course, I took photos.

My journey to The Indie Shop starts at a MARTA station, Atlanta’s rapid transit system. I was a little too optimistic on how quickly MARTA could get me from downtown to Buckhead, and I actually ended up being an hour late to the show and missed the early VIP shopping window. As a result, a few things I wanted to grab were sold out before I even got there. I love mass transit, though, and I make it a point to use it when I’m travelling around a new city.

I was really surprised by the crowd size. I got there a bit after 11:00; these were all early access shoppers. Every booth had shoppers, and every maker was busy talking to customers, and not just about polish; I overheard conversations about drunk accents, Doctor Who, and tattoos, among other things. Though The Indie Shop is a pop-up store event, it was very much a social event also.

The Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer event exclusives

I met a lot of new people and I had the opportunity to try a lot of new brands. The only maker there that I was really familiar with was Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer, and while I’d heard of most of the others, I didn’t own anything they’d made. If you can believe it, this is the first time I’ve owned anything from brands like KBShimmer, Colors by Llarowe, and Bliss Polish. I tried to get something from every maker — I felt rude chatting someone up at their booth for ten minutes and not buy anything — but my card got declined most of the way through and I missed out on a few makers. I didn’t get to Joy Lacquer, Envy Lacquer, KBShimmer, or Pampered Polishes, unfortunately. I really wanted one of those KBS rainbow scrubs.

Scratch-off cards were a big part of the event; they contained discounts for the event and individual online shops.

Overall, I had a fantastic experience at The Indie Shop, and if Boyfriend ever allows me to return to an event like this, I’d love to go back. I spent so much, though, that I doubt I’ll get to do this again as a shopper. Maybe Wacie Nail Company will be a vendor at some point! Sometimes it seemed like the makers were having more fun than the customers anyway.

I loved Crystal Knockout‘s booth, and I think theirs was my favorite. They had a wide range of products, from polish to body to handmade jewelry. They had these holographic Luna from Sailor Moon earrings that I totally regret not buying. And they’re from Florida!

Turtle Tootsie Polishes

These mani bomb cupcakes were irresistible.

Bluebird Lacquer. Lou was my favorite maker to talk to, she was super cool!

Let’s have a look at my haul, shall we? This was the first time I’d bought any polish in a year, and I’m happy to say I broke my no-buy in the most epic way possible. Fifteen of the polishes below were included in my VIP package, and I bought fifty more. I’m also trying mani bombs for the first time, as well as indie wax tarts.

These are the contents of the VIP bag. Since I was late, I didn’t look inside first, and I ended up with some dupes.

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer: These Be Rubies, Fairy Favors, Siren’s Fever Dream, Starlight in the Gloom, Elfdan Thrall, The Cedar Forest, When the Nights Grow Cold, The Siren’s a Callin’, Green’s Alexandrite With Me, The Color Box

Dainty Digits: Stream of Enchantment. There were two versions, a light and a dark.

Bluebird Lacquer: Realm of the Fae, It’s Fall Over Me, Shine Bright Like a Rhinestone, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Looking Spritely, plus wax tarts, soaps, and acetone additive

Chaotic Glitz Polish: House Gnome, Mythological Mushroom, The Dryad, The Xana, plus mani bombs

Colors by Llarowe: One Precious Daisy, Ruel Ghorm, Once Upon a Time, Guardian of the Forest, Genofeva of Brabant

Pahlish: Hempstock, Holland 1945, Raggedy Man Goodnight, Invisibility Cloak, Golden Afternoon, Go Ask Alice

Jior Couture: The Foulest Stench, Opal, Stevonnie

Bliss Polish: Up in Atlanta, Secret Groves, Fairy Castles

Crystal Knockout: Pegasus Landing, Magic in the Mist, Dryad Charms

Turtle Tootsie Polishes: VIP in Atlanta, Immortal Imp, Cherry Blossom body scrub

Ever After Polish: Woodland Nymph, Rollin’ With My Gnomies, Andromeda, Dark Forest, Magically Delicious, Peach Fuzz, Enchanted Brook, Unicorn Approved, Bold and Unwavering, Popular

Poetry Cowgirl Nail Polish: Faerie Whispers, Faerie Wishes She Could Be Here, VIPs Talking With the Trees, Find me a Four-Leaf Clover. Got the last one because it came with an extra bag of glitter. Like I’m going to pass up glitter.

Everything I saw there was gorgeous, but my favorite exclusives are Poetry Cowgirl’s Faerie Whispers and Color by Llarowe’s Genofeva of Bravant. Other favorites include Bluebird’s Shine Bright Like a Rhinestone, Pahlish’s Invisibility Cloak, and Baroness X’s Sakura Skies from the Color Box. I’m looking forward to swatching these guys in the future; I’ve had to shake up my Swatch Sunday schedule after buying all these, so you’ll get to see some of them soon.

Oh, and remember how I said I had some extra bottles of things? It just so happens that wacie.com‘s fourth anniversary was the same day as The Indie Shop, so look for a giveaway in the next few days. I’m putting together a package that will include a few things from my Indie Shop VIP bag, some Wacie Nail Company exclusives, and some other fun things I can find. I think you’ll enjoy it.

I bought these polishes myself.
Yes, all of them.