2014 Roundup

Happy 2015 everyone!

I had a great year this year, nail polish wise. My photography got better, my audience grew, my cleanup got neater, I opened an instagram account, I completed the entire 31DC, I got sent items to review for the very first time, and best of all, I started my own indie brand!!

I decided to compile a list of a few of my favorite polishes of the year (that I have swatched, anyway. I got some amazing polishes that I didn't swatch) and a few of my favorite nail arts. My most viewed post this year was a giveaway post, so I'm not going to use post views as a metric for quality, in this case.

Favorite polishes, in no particular order:

Gade Blue Satin (it's not even so much the nail polish as it is this particular swatch. It's unreal!)

Superficially Colorful Giggly (look at that dramatic thermal shift!)

Aliquid Lacquer Stop and Smell The Orchids, and Gargoyle (I love all of them but I can't sum up 2014 without at least one radiant orchid polish, and Gargoyle is unlike any other indie I'd ever seen

Chic Love & Hate (I know some people are 'over' textures. I'm not through with them yet!)

ILNP Abundance (Honestly I'd have included every single ILNP multichrome if I had to pick a single fave it would be this one)

Favorite nail art, in no particular order:

Turquoise nails (I was still figuring out my watermark at the time)

The one and only time so far that I really nailed (no pun intended) the spun sugar look

Three-color skitlette

31DC purple day- square glitter placement

31DC rainbow day- acrylic bubbles (not sure I'd have included this one but it got by far the most instagram likes so I guess people liked it!)

31DC inspired by art

Pink and black skittlete that I put together to showcase bats I got from BPS- bonus, bats!

And last but not least, the Cinderella gradient!

I'm not putting any of my own polishes on the list since so far there are so few. But hopefully I'll be launching another collection very soon! I have finished making it already, I just have to clean them up and prepare a launch!

See you in 2015!

NOTD: Lacy accent stamping

This was a fairly simple manicure, but I always love going back to the simple-outer-nails + arty-inner-nails pattern. It's a great classic and I don't think it'll ever go out of style. Two noteworthy things here: The outer polish is a standard cream, but it actually stamped really nicely! And the pale base for the inner two nails is technically a pale pink, but I guess the teal stamping reflected off of it and made it look almost white.

Polishes used: 

Ga-De Denim Dream (swatched here)

La Sera 44

NOTD: Pastel texture gradient

This NOTD netted a lot of compliments from my coworkers. I think there's something about gradients, especially sparkly gradients, that just really grabs people's attention- one colleague referred to this mani as 'Cinderella nails'.

I started with a base of Chic Show Biz (410) which is actually a fantastic off-white color, I've been using it as a base for almost every gradient I've done recently. It's nearly a one coater, but it's softer than a stark white so if a little peeks through it's not so obvious. It's also got a subtle shimmer. I strongly recommend buying it as a nail art/gradient base, it's a staple for me.

The other polishes I used were:
Chic sugar finish collection 04 (pink)
Chic Sinful Tops 709 Love & Hate (purple)
Chic Sinful Tops 711 Naughty Blue (pale blue)
Ga-de 55 Blue Sugar
Konad blue stamping polish

Initially I wasn't planning to use the Ga-de blue, but the lighter blue I used turned out to be too sheer to be effective in sponging, so I added a little extra at the end.

NOTD: ILNP Black Orchid

Today I'm showcasing another one of the ILNP polishes I bought a while back, Black Orchid. It's a gorgeous blackened fuchsia jelly with a linear holo sparkle. I added a few simple dotted flowers along my accent nail, with little caviar beads in the middle of each one. I wasn't able to capture the holo very well, so I added three photos here- shade, flash, and sunlight. The holo is a little stronger in person, but either way this polish is gorgeous. It dries to a deep jewel toned finish with a crazy amount of sparkle!

Fedoraharp Lacquer is now live on Etsy

Hello all! Just a quick post to let you know (those of you who haven't seen me gushing all over facebook anyway) that my shop is now live! You can order polish now, either by clicking the link here or in the Etsy widget in the sidebar on the right.

In honor of my grand opening, here is a coupon code for 10% off everything in the store! GrandOpening10

Announcement: Fedoraharp Lacuer, first collection!

WELCOME TO A NEW ERA OF BLOGGING ON FEDORAHARP!!!! I have mentioned my indie brand before, but here I'm officially announcing it: As of next Sunday, I will be launching my Hanukkah collection in my Etsy shop! Very soon after that I'll be launching my second collection, and a duo (I planned them all simultaneously but Hanukkah gets a bump because of the date).

I've created six Hanukkah themed polishes, four glitter toppers, a jelly/glitter combo, and an opaque shimmer. The polishes in these pictures do not yet have sticker labels, but I will be getting those in a couple of days!

Not to worry though, I'll keep blogging like a regular blogger also. Nail art has always been my first nail polish love, and I won't easily abandon it! Also, there are other indies out there and I'm gonna keep buying from them and swatching them here as long as I have money to burn through spend.

Without further ado, the polishes! These are only partially edited- I slapped a watermark on them, but I haven't cleaned up any flaws around the edges of my nails digitally. For the site they'll be a little cleaner, but I couldn't wait to share these.

Topsy Turvy

I got the name idea from my friend Angie, I'd been trying and trying to think of an appropriately draidel-y name for this brightly colored polish, so thank you Angie! I used a combination of colorful geometric shapes to evoke the (kinda abstract) idea of the colorful fun of a draidel. This is one dabbed coat over a black cream.

Join The Macabbim! See The World!
My inspiration here is, of course, the blue and white shield symbol of the Macabbim, and since they don't make Magen David shaped particles, I decided to use triangles! (No sunlight picture for this one. Whoops!). This is two coats over Color Club Trippie Hippie

Miracle
Since taking these pictures, I have actually tweaked the formula for this nail polish to make it considerably less bumpy and streaky. No flakies, either. I like their look but they're the big culprit for the bumps, sadly. Still, I wanted to show you the glowy shimmer of the base color! If anyone really wants, I've got a couple of the old formulation available upon request, but I'm putting the newer version online. Swatches of that version soon! This is three coats alone.

Sufganiya
This is an inside-out sort of thing- usually the sufganiya color is on the outside, and the jelly color is on the inside, but admit it- the jelly color is wayyyyy prettier. So why not make it the main attraction? This is three thin coats.

Powdered Sugar
What's a good classic sufganiya without a powdery topping? Or topper, as the case may be. I love translucent white glitter, so of course I had to make a polish with some in it! This is one coat over China Glaze Custom Kicks

Chocolate Gold Rush
I have to admit, I did not expect this one to be my favorite when I came up for the idea for it, but I ended up liking it best of all! I knew I wanted to make a gelt-themed nail polish, but I think chocolate coins are the best kind of coins (chocolate anything is the best kind of thing, really), so I based the idea on that. This is one coat over Golden Rose Matte 20 (incidentally, my very favorite neutral polish color ever)

So what do you think? Will you be picking up any of these when the store opens? I'm going to dive right into the holiday spirit with a 10% off everything sale, and I will be making full sized (15ml) and mini (5ml) versions of each polish available.

NOTD: ILNP Abundance

Recently ILNP (I Love Nail Polish) did an image overhaul, and switched to a new type of bottle. During the changeover they had a massive sale to use up the old bottle shape, and I picked up three beautiful polishes while that was going on. I've decided that instead of simply swatching them, I'd make a full NOTD out of each one, with some nail art to go along with them. I'm going to post them one at a time because of the nail art. There is a little bit of wear on these, because I wore each one as a full mani and sometimes I wasn't able to photograph it until a couple of days later (darn you rainy weather, gosh darn you to heck!). Hopefully you'll enjoy them, tip wear and all!

The first polish I got was Abundance, an absolutely incredible multichrome which to me seems like the personification of autumn itself. It shifts from a deep burgundy, almost berry color, through bronze and gold and finally olive green at extreme angles. But don't take my word for it, see for yourself:

Seriously, look at this beauty. I've captured a bunch of different angles and I'm still not sure I've done it justice. I think this is my favorite multichrome ever, and those who know me will tell you that I'm a multichrome freak, so that's saying a lot. This polish is gorgeous. If you decide to buy it you definitely won't regret it.

Review: BPS teardrop rhinestones and BATS!!!

Hello all! Today I'm posting the final two products I recieved for review in my recent nail mail from the Born Pretty Store. To those just joining us now, the BPS is a great source of a huge selection of affordable beauty products, with free worldwide shipping. They have a particularly robust nail art selection, from which they sent me a number of lovely items to review.

The first item is a wheel of teardrop shaped pastel rhinestones. They were a lot bigger than I expected, but I managed to work them into some nail art!

Because of their size, I recommend using nail glue to fasten these, rather than just wet polish and sealing them in with top coat. I also recommend using them over a light base, when I tried them out over black they kind of got washed out and the different colors all looked the same. Still, these have a lovely pearly finish and can make a great accent to a delicate manicure. These can be purchased here

The second item is the thing I was most looking forward to receiving of all of the items- BATS! I love, love, love bats. I don't know what it is about them, but they are my favorite animal, Most people would want bats as a Halloween aesthetic, but honestly I'm happy to wear them all year round!

Once again, I recommend using nail art glue for these, because they are rigid and a little thick for normal nail art glitter. But it is absOLUTELY WORTH IT. They are mainly white with an iridescent pink/teal coating, and they are very sharply detailed. You'll probably see a lot of bats in my upcoming nail art :D The bats can be purchased in a variety of colors here.

If you purchase from the Born Pretty Store, I invite you to use my 10% off code:

Thank you for reading!