Alanna Renee It's A Surprise & Lenny

Good morning friends!  I am happy to share more international brands with you in the next few posts.  I'm going to start with Alanna Renee from Australia!  I have reviewed AR polish before and can say that the brand has done a good job putting out lovely and interesting polish.  You can see some of my favorite AR posts HERE and HERE.  I always used to feel so deflated when I saw a pretty polish only to find out it was international, meaning I would never get it.  But we are so lucky now to have stockists for these amazing brands!  Alanna Renee and so many other great polish brands are currently available at Color4Nails!  You can purchase directly from the Color4Nails website, follow the Facebook page for listings of upcoming product lines and promotions and Instagram (color4nails) for tons of pictures  There are $11 a bottle but I see that several are on sale for $7.  You can also visit the Alanna Renee website for a complete list of polish available.    

*PRESS SAMPLE*

Here we have a nifty little polish called Lenny.  I wish I could give you a story background on Lenny but the AR website doesn't provide one.  So I will leave it up to you to create a fun story that led to the making of Lenny.  What I can do it tell you about the polish from my own observations.  Lenny is a sheer white milky based polish full of small red and blue hexs with large black circles.  Lenny had a good formula and plenty of glitter came out.  I got at least 1 large circle with each brush dip.  The glitter spread evenly and flat on my nails.  I used 3 coats of Lenny and 1 layer of topcoat.  

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This is It's A Surprise.  It comes from the new Bundle of Joy collection, which is inspired by new babies!  Cute collection, cute names, pretty polish colors!  It's A Surprise is an off white creme with hidden shimmer!  Very soft and delicate...just like a baby blanket!  I found IAS to be a touch streaky.  Even after 2-3 coats you can still see a few uneven spots.  It also applied a bit thick so I'd suggest wiping excess polish off your brush before applying it to your nails.  I finished this with 1 layer of topcoat.  

*these polishes were provided for my honest opinion and review

Alanna Renee Horcrux

Hello polish friends.  I have one last Alanna Renee Magical World nail polish to show you and this one is dark and sinister!  If you missed my last couple posts you can see Patronus HERE and Golden Snitch HERE.  Alanna Renee is based in Australia and she opened up shop in January 2013.   The Magical World collection was inspired by Harry Potter and really, who doesn't love Harry Potter?!  Genius to combine the love for HP and nail polish.  This collection does a great job capturing all the polish namesakes.  For all the international buyers (non-Australian residents) Alanna Renee is available through Color4Nails.  You can contact Color4Nails on Facebook, IG (color4nails) or just send Sisi an email with your order inquiry: color4nails21@gmail.com.

Horcrux is a creepy polish.  Not itself but it's inspiration and meaning in the movies.  If you are unfamiliar Alanna explains that a Horcrux is "inspired by the fragment of soul that a dark wizard or witch hides inside a powerful object for the purpose of immortality. A Horcrux gives one the ability to resurrect oneself if the body is destroyed."  When I opened this polish I immediately thought of Harry and Dumbledore in the Horcrux Cave with the black lake - I will tell no more in fear of spoiling the movie fun for anyone who hasn't seen the movies.  Horcrux is a black base with color shifting flakes.  I see grey, green, blue, maybe purple even?  The flakes with the dark base make for a gorgeous effect.  I used 2 coats of Horcrux and the formula was great, easy to apply and no issues to report.  I finished this with 1 layer of topcoat.  

*this polish was provided for my honest opinion and review

Alanna Renee Golden Snitch

Hey there polish friends!  I'm back with another amazing polish from the Alanna Renee Magical World Collection!  If you missed it I posted Patronus yesterday and you can see it HERE.  Alanna Renee is a new indie brand that comes from Australia.  She opened up shop in January 2013 and already has a ton of great polishes.  The Magical World collection is inspired by Harry Potter and I really love all the colors!  For all the international buyers (non-Australian residents) Alanna Renee is available through Color4Nails.  You can contact Color4Nails on Facebook, IG (color4nails) or just send Sisi an email with your order inquiry: color4nails21@gmail.com.
Golden Snitch is a stuning golden glittter bomb.  Guess what, it has gold circle glitters…you had me at hello!  I wanted to give you a description of the Golden Snitch but I am so wordy.  Alanna does an excellent job explaining both the Snitch and the polish so I pulled this directly from her website, "Golden Snitch is inspired by the small walnut sized gold ball with silver wings used in Quidditch.  It flies around the Quidditch field at fast speeds and is nearly impossible to see.  The seeker's job is to catch the snitch before the other team's seeker winning their team 150 points and ending the game.  Golden snitch has a mix gold glitter and silver micro glitter in a clear base."  I was very impressed with Golden Snitch.  It had a great formula and covered opaquely on it's own in 2 coats.   It spread easily and didn't glop up despite the heavy dose of glitter.  Did I mention it had gold circle glitters?  Swoon, my weakness!  If you are looking for an ultra blingy and sparkly polish, Golden Snitch may be what you seek (haha - get it, did you see what I did there?  Seek?  Seeker?  Quiditch?  Ok, I'll be quiet now).  I finished this with 1 layer of topcoat for smooth to the touch nails.  

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*this polish was provided for my honest opinion and review

Alanna Renee Patronus

Hullo polish friends!  Alanna Renee is a new Australian indie brand that already has a plethora of gorgeous polishes under her belt.  I have reviewed Alanna Renee before, if you want to view those post you can see Mardi and Black Cherry HERE.  But this post features the brand new Patronus from the Magical World collection.  The Magical World collection is inspired by the wonderful wizardry world of Harry Potter!  I'm a huge fan of Harry Potter so I was very excited to review polish from this collection.  And as you'll see from the pictures in this post and the next 2, Alanna NAILED it!!  

If you live in a country other than Australia you can purchase Alanna Renee polish from Color4Nails!  Sisi has a Facebook and IG (color4nails) account that she updates frequently with new stock and pre-orders for exciting new brands!  Just send her an email with your order: color4nails21@gmail.com

This lovely polish is Patronus!  Alanna has a great description of what a Patronus is and the polish on her website...here is what she says "Patronus is inspired by the form produced by the Patronus Charm.  A Patronus is a positive energy force which takes the shape of the animal with whom you share the deepest affinity.  A Patronus can be used for defence against Dementors.  Patronus has a mix of white and blue flakies in a shimmery white base. I used three coats in the swatch photo."  Application of Patronus was great and interesting!  It almost appeared that I was putting fibers on my nails.  Rest assured that all the flakies laid down flat (meaning they sure didn't feel like fibers) and were stunning on the nail.  I used 2 coats for full coverage and 1 layer of topcoat.  

(would you look at those gorgeous colors!!)

*this polish was provided for my honest opinion and review

Alanna Renee Polish: Mardi and Black Cherry

Today I am bringing you a new Australian indie brand - Alanna Renee!  Have you heard of this brand yet?  I've seen pictures popping up in a few blogs, on Instagram and some online shops recently and I like what I've seen.  I was very excited when Color4Nails asked me to do some reviews and AR polish is what arrived in the mail!  Alanna Renee was founded in 2013 with the idea to combine the creators two loves, making polish jewelry AND nail polish!
Before I jump into the review here are all the social media links you will need in order to follow and purchase AR polish.  Since this is an Australian brand you will need to use a distributor and Color4Nails is the store you'll want to use!  Great prices and the owner Sisi is a doll!   Color4Nails:  Facebook, Website (not up yet, but should be soon and this will be your shopping destination), Instagram - color4nails Alanna Renee: Facebook, Website, Instagram - alannareneecosmetics
The first polish I reviewed was my favorite of the set I was sent.  Mardi is a gorgeous pink based polish with fine gold glitter and small purple and pink glitters.  I was worried that this was going to be sheer, so I used 1 coat of Sinful Colors Sugar N Spice on my accent nail to show a comparisson between Mardi alone and layered.  I absolutely didn't need to use a base color.  So unless you want to conserve polish you can skip that step.  I used 2 coats of Mardi and it built up beautifully.  I only used 1 coat of Mardi over my accent nail.  The formula on this polish was stellar!  Smooth and easy to spread on my nails.  And the color is really gorgeous.  1 layer of topcoat to finish it off.

This pretty lady is Black Cherry.  Black Cherry is a very nice looking polish but I had quite a battle with it.  After 3 attempts of searching for the perfect undies I chose to wear it alone to show off it's true consistency and color.  BC is a deep wine colored jelly base with black and red glitters.  The black glitters are micro glitter and can be a tad messy around your cuticle area.  I found that the less polish on the brush the easier BC was to apply.  If you use too much you will get pooling to the sides of your nails.  So remember, thin coats, wait until each coat is dry before applying the next and you should be good to go.  As you can see BC is very shiny and squishy.  I used 3 thin layers and no topcoat for the look shown below.  

*these polishes were sent for my honest opinion and review