If you ever want to know how old you really are, try going to a Coldplay concert.  You know, all I wanted to do was just sit in my chair and enjoy some music.  When did people start standing throughout an entire 4 hour concert?  Ugh.  Mama’s tired.

I tried to be cool about it – I mean, it was Coldplay after all.  When Chris Martin tells you to “get low, get low” you think, FINALLY! And then sit back down in your seat.  That was not the point.  You “get low” to “jump back up real fast” apparently.  Yeah, I was feeling slightly out of place. I’m not ready to be old, you guys!  My 42nd birthday is tomorrow.  Certainly, I have a few more years before I am forced to go see a Barry Manilow show? (No offense to those who actually go see Barry Manilow for fun.  I’m just assuming there’s lots of sitting opportunities there .. )

But back to the whole reason for this post – I picked up the entire Blush Lacquers Power and Beauty collection a couple weeks ago and then did a marathon swatching sesh just for all my nailie friends.  I promise you, it physically hurt to remove some of the colors just so I could put on the next one.  I might’ve cried a little at the orange one.  There’s no shame in that.  You nail girls know.

The entire line all displayed out for you like I’m a dang professional photographer or something. Let’s take a moment to appreciate the fact I saw I huge furry caterpillar about .25 seconds before I took this shot and somehow ended up with this not-blurry picture.  For real though.  I know that caterpillar was about to kill me.

First up is this most stunning caramel orange called Fight Like a Goddess, named after Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom and War.  I.  Can’t.  Even.  I loooooove colors like this.  Almost makes me second guess green as my favorite color.  It’s so warm and cozy and comforting.

See, I told you!  It also has a pink to gold shift at certain angles and these pretty copper and black holographic glitters.  Here’s a (badly photographed) macro:

It’s hard to capture the true beauty of a polish with just your iPhone and a $5 clip-on macro lens.  But hopefully you can see all the glitters and the shifting shimmer.  On the nail, it is seriously gorgeous.  I did two coats and it was smooth smooth smooth.

Next is this pale blue beauty called Moonlight Huntress, named after Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt and the Moon:

Normally I don’t wear polishes this light, but man, it’s soooo pretty!  It’s the perfect moonlight shade isn’t it?  Or like gossamer.  Or air.  Those iridescent flakies are to die for.  Look at them:

Again, not the best macro but you get the point.  They look like tiny chips of pearl.  If you’re into delicate polishes like this, it would be awesome in your collection.  I did three thin coats and got pretty good opacity.  Although they don’t market it as a fully opaque shade.  And if you’re into nail stamping or nail art, I can totally see someone making butterfly wings out of this.

Just noticed there is a speck of orange in my macro.  Pretty sure that’s a Doritos crumb.  Oops.

Then there’s this:

My heart swells looking at this, like I invented it myself or something.  This one is called Eye of the Soul, named after Psyche, the Goddess of the Soul.  And I’m pretty sure my soul is exactly this color, so good job Blush Lacquers – you nailed it!

Base is a medium lavender with this amazing mint green shimmer.  Goes on so smooth and super shiny.  I did three thin coats, primarily cuz I couldn’t stop polishing.  How could I?  Just look at it:

If you noticed that’s a much better macro, you are correct.  This one definitely played nice with my camera.

Next up is the biggest surprise for me.  It’s called Of Seas and Shells, named after Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, borne from a giant clamshell:

I honestly thought this was going to be just a nice beige polish, but it is so much more than that.  I got it on my nail and I was like, hello beautiful!  Most perfect beige ever!  Actually, it’s more of a golden taupe-y, khaki, wet sand shade (as Victoria from Blush Lacquers puts it).  And it’s true.  Looks exactly like the beach at Hilton Head where I went for vacation last fall.  How she got that translated into a polish – well that’s some straight up voodoo.

Look at those delicate pink flakies.  For real, you guys.  This is one of the prettiest little surprises I’ve seen in a while.  Buy it!

And then we have THIS.  Below is Life in the Underworld, named after Persephone, Goddess of Spring and Queen of the Underworld.  I soooo love dark polishes – they are my favorite kinds – and this blackened blue is probably my second fave of the collection.

Mmmmm, red glitters!  I was so mesmerized, I took the shittiest macro and didn’t even realize it:

Hahah, someone needs to watch a YouTube video or something.  Certainly there’s a How-To Not Take an Ugly Macro clip on there.  I mean, if it’ll teach me how to make a tiny Happy Meal out of powder and water, then someone’s put up a macro tutorial, surely.

Okay, last but not least – this peacock/mermaid glitter bomb called Queen of Gods, named after Hera, the Goddess of Marriage and Children and Queen of Olympus:

Ugh.  My eyes!  This is only two coats over a naked nail.  The glitter payout is AH. MA. ZING.  I did do some manually placed glitters around the cuticle line to make it nice and neat, because I have OCD and knew I’d spend 17 hours obsessing over anything less than that.  But I was quite impressed with this polish.  It can be a topper, sure, but it works fantastically on its own.  Super smooth application as well.  Hooray!

I took the below photo outside in natural lighting to show you a variation of how the glitters can look.  I’m still wearing this polish and it looks more like this than in the above picture.  Unless you’re carrying an LED lamp around with you all day (turned on, of course), the below might be the best representation of real life.

Best macro of the day award goes to this one:

That’s a ton of blue, purple, green, brown, gold and silver, wouldn’t you say?  Yes you would.

The round up:

Blush Lacquers is a relatively new indie brand (debuted in June), and every polish I’ve purchased from them have all been unique, exquisitely crafted and simply beautiful.  Not one bad formula either!  I highly recommend you head over to their shop to purchase this collection – or any of their other polishes for that matter.  You will be so happy you did, and then you will overwhelm me with gift cards of gratitude!  (Right?)

Later, loves!