Manicure Tuesday: Jade Rainbow

Welcome back! I’ve got a green look to show you this week for Manicure Tuesday. The striping tape wasn’t on my side, but I’m happy with the look I got. I used Philly Loves Lacquer’s Fortunate Rainbow and Elevation Polish‘s Yeti’s Healing Vibes.

I always feel a little sad talking about a brand that’s closed down. When I got into indie polish, PhLL was one of the brands I saw everywhere, and it took me ages to try them; I only have box-exclusive polishes from them, and never bought any of their core releases. That said, it was a huge shock to me when they closed up. I love every PhLL polish I have, and I regret that I didn’t go for more of them.

This Elevation Polish was a limited edition made to benefit the American Himalayan Foundation after the devastating earthquakes in Nepal in 2015. It’s a beautiful creamy jade with fine little rainbow flakies in it. It’s gorgeous! I know Elevation is a controversial brand now, but this is one polish from them I’m really glad I bought.

Both of these polishes are limited editions that have since sold out. Philly Loves Lacquer no longer makes polish. Elevation Polishes are sold in their online store.

I bought these polishes myself.

The Indie Shop Atlanta 2018 Coverage

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: Philly Loves Lacquer’s The Best Day of the Year

Welcome back, reader! I’m excited to share today’s swatch; it’s my first-ever Philly Loves Lacquer! This polish is a box exclusive from a previous Beauty Quartet Box (now called the Magic 8 box), and you may have some trouble getting your hands on it. This is The Best Day of the Year; I’m wearing three coats with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.

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The Best Day of the Year is a magenta jelly with holographic pink and silver glitters in various shapes and sizes. There are large dots, some medium sized shapes like stars and diamonds, and then lots of fine hexes and shimmers. Application was very easy with this polish; it has a great consistency, and it’s not hard to get a good mix of glitters on each coat. The large dot glitters are common; I got at least one on each nail. Also, as this is a jelly polish, it will take all three coats to achieve this opacity. The polish dries quickly with a shiny and mostly smooth finish; I say mostly because the dots don’t always lie flat on the nail. I added top coat for extra shine and protection.

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My favorite thing about this polish is the jelly; it’s a rich, lovely shade. The jelly consistency, too, is just right; it’s perfectly squishy, building opacity but never disguising the glitters. The glitter mix is just the right combination for the jelly, too; everything shines beautifully together. This polish is very well done.

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Unfortunately, it rained on the day I took these photos, so there are no sunlight shots, which I really regret, but I know this polish would be a stunner in the sunshine.

The Best Day of the Year was a box exclusive from 2015 and is no longer available. Other Philly Loves Lacquer and the Magic 8 box are available from their website.

I bought this polish myself.