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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Indie Spotlight: Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer Storms of Arendelle Collection

*All Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer products provided for honest and unbiased review.  All other products mentioned were purchased by me*

Hi everyone!  I hope everyone is having a great week.  I'm ready for the weekend!  We're moving our studio space at work and I just can't wait for it to be done...not only is moving tedious, tiring, and time-consuming, the possibility of breaking a swatching nail is too much to bear!  

I have a great collection from Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer to show you today!  The Storms of Arendelle collection is a Frozen-themed set that launched this week.  Now, I'm probably the only person (other than my boyfriend) in the U.S. who hasn't seen this movie but I've decided that's a good thing.  It means I won't be prejudiced for or against certain polishes based on the names ;) 


Let's start things off with the hit number, shall we?  Let It Go is a clear-based glitter topper with small periwinkle hexes, blue holographic micro glitter, and blue flakies.  It definitely gives off an icy vibe and I just love the iridescent shimmer from the flakies!
 

I was trying to go with the icy theme for these swatches, but I'm afraid I went a bit beachy with this one.  However, I love it so much I can't be mad!  Actually, I think it helps to see polishes in different ways...you might not look at Let It Go and think beach, even though it's a perfect topper to pull this sand and shore gradient together!  I used Essie's Blanc, O.P.I.'s My Vampire is Buff, and Barielle's Magna Cum Laude Turquoise for the gradient and then 2 coats of Let It Go on top.  


Let It Go is not a super chunky glitter mix, so I used one coat of Seche Vite to add some shine but didn't need any more than that to smooth things out.  The formula was smooth and I didn't have to fish for any of the glitters.  Is this polish worthy of an Oscar-winning song?  I definitely think so!


Next up is Anna.  This glitter topper is packed with large green squares, large lavender hexes, medium blue hexes, and tons of small pink glitters.  


I'm showing Anna over a gradient of Sinful Colors Sugar Rush, Outrageous, and Truth Or Dare.  I also did an accent nail inspired by Anna's dress in the movie...I may not have seen it, but I can Google with the best of 'em!
 

Again, the formula is great.  I used 2 coats of Anna over the gradient with one coat of Seche Vite.  You may have to do a little fishing for the larger glitters, but I didn't find it to be too much extra work to get the coverage I wanted.  This is definitely a unique color combo with gorgeous results!
 

Elsa is the other leading lady of the film, I believe.  This polish is one of my favorites of the collection.  Elsa has bright purple squares, blue and silver holographic hexes, and itty bitty purple bars.  I've mentioned before that I dislike bar glitter, but since it's so small here, I actually kind of love it!
 

When I looked up pictures of Elsa online, her icy blue dress and white blond braid jumped out at me so that's what I used for inspiration here.  The base color of this mani is Essie's Absolutely Shore and the "braided" accent nail was created using Essie's Blanc, O.P.I.'s My Vampire is Buff, and Victoria Volainna Polish Designs' City of Gold with Kleancolor's Texan Cowboy to accentuate the lines.  
 

Once again, I used 2 coats of Elsa with one coat of Seche Vite to smooth everything out.  The formula is wonderful and again, a unique color/glitter combo seals the deal on a beautiful polish!


Prince Hans is the next polish in line.  The darkest of the collection, this polish maybe reflects the character's true nature, despite his charming appearance.  Like I said, I haven't seen the movie, but there are a lot of spoilers out there so it's not too hard to figure out who the bad guy is. 


Prince Hans has large bright blue squares, large silver hexes, smaller blue hexes, and little black squares all in a clear base.  I decided to show this over Barielle's Slate of Affairs because of its greyish tone...I thought a bit of murkiness was required ;)  My accent nail is inspired by Hans' uniform-esque suit in the movie.


Again, great formula with easy application.  This wasn't a favorite of mine because the color mix was a little tame for me, but I do think it reflects the character well with the shiny silver glitters hiding in among the darker bits.  Two coats of Prince Hans with one coat of Seche Vite to top it.  Ignore anything that looks like curling in my photos, it's a trick of the light or the camera as I observed no curling at all whilst wearing it.


Here's the comic relief!  Much like its namesake, Olaf is a bright, light-hearted polish.  A mix of white squares, orange, black, and white hexes, and a fun iridescent micro glitter with a green shimmer, Olaf is pretty darn cheery!
 

I chose to show Olaf over a subtle gradient of Barielle's Magna Cum Laude Turquoise and Sinful Colors Burning Bright with an accent nail of Olaf himself.  He's such a cute, silly character (who I'm certain has a heart of gold and offers tons of support to our heroine) that I couldn't resist recreating him in polish!
 

Olaf is another favorite for me. Again I used 2 coats of Olaf with one coat of Seche Vite...sound familiar? ;) The formula is perfect and I love the color combo!  It'll actually be a really great Halloween polish in the future...you all know how I love versatility in a polish!
 

Finally we come to Coronation Day, which I guess is a little backwards but whatever, it's my blog!  This is a clear-based glitter topper with large icy blue flowers, large turquoise hexes, purple squares, baby pink hexes, and a silvery holographic shimmer throughout.  Very celebratory, indeed!


I did my best to capture the holographic shimmer here, but you really need to see this one in person to get the full effect...it's gorgeous!  I went simple with Coronation Day, just showing it over 3 coats of O.P.I.'s My Vampire is Buff, because there's already so much color and sparkle going here I didn't want to take away from it.  You may have to fish for the larger flower glitter, but everything else was a breeze to apply.  I used 2 coats of Coronation Day with one coat of Seche Vite in these photos.


*All Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer products provided for honest and unbiased review.  All other products mentioned were purchased by me*
 
I really can't say enough nice things about Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer's polishes!  I'm fortunate to be a swatcher for Cherish because her creations are always so beautiful and well-crafted.  If you're interested in purchasing the Storms of Arendelle collection (or any other of her fabulous creations), they're currently available on Etsy for $6 for a full size bottle.  She's got some of the most reasonably priced indie polish out there and she doesn't skimp on quality!  Be sure to follow Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer on Facebook as well, to keep up with new products, sales, and other pertinent info!

Thanks so much for reading!

1 comment:

  1. Coronation day is so pretty! I haven't seen the movie either, but I love your Olaf - he looks awesome.

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