Introducing Renaissance Custom Lacquer!

Hi everyone! Today's post is a very special one for me. Several months ago, my sister and I sat down at a cafe on Bloor Street in downtown Toronto and discussed ideas for what would become our own indie polish line. After many weekends experimenting with different pigments and glitters, weeks spent testing and bottling our creations, developing a website, and swatching polishes, the time has finally come to set an opening date (more info later in this post).

So I introduce to you Renaissance Custom Lacquer, aka Renaissance Cosmetics (since we would eventually like to expand and introduce other products). You can find our website at renaissancecosmetics.com. Right now it is in maintenance mode, but if you like, you can sign up for our newsletter, or send us an email. You can also follow us on Facebook. As much as I try to be objective in describing and showing our polishes, I do realize that I am biased, so on our Facebook page I'll be showing swatches from other bloggers.

Renaissance Custom Lacquer

Without further ado, I want to show you our first collection and two stand alone polishes we've created...




Our first collection is The Seasons - four creme/shimmer polishes designed for the changing seasons. The colours were meant to evoke the mood and landscape of the different times of year. The glitter provides a subtle accent in colours that both complement and contrast, in fact, that would be the case for all six polishes.

I'm not a fan of glitter polishes that are so thick that they are difficult to apply, hence the more spare (but still visible) use of glitter. However, if you are the type of person who likes lots of visible glitter, these may not be the polishes for you (sorry). All of these go on very smooth and I haven't had issues with lumpy or protruding glitter. In terms of application they all are self-leveling, go on evenly, and are generally easy to apply.

The Seasons

Le Printemps (spring) is a pastel lime green creme with a noticeable gold shimmer. It also has tiny light blue, gold holo, and pink glitter, silver holo circles, and medium iridescent hexes. The medium hexes stand out a bit if they are in the final coat, but they smooth out with one coat of top coat. The pastel colours are a reminder of the lighter colours of spring but also suggest the experience of fresh blooms. Coats used: 3.

Le Printemps (lightbox)

Le Printemps (lightbox)

Le Printemps (direct light)

L'Été (summer) is a hot pink creme with pink shimmer and teal, gold, blue, silver and lavender glitter. The glitter is in tiny hex shapes, small and medium circles, and small squares. I was thinking about the brighter colours of summer, tropical flowers and the deep blue ocean. Coats used: 2.

L'Ete (lightbox)

L'Ete (lightbox)

L'Ete (direct light)

L'Automne (Autumn) is a cool-toned chocolate brown with a subtle holo shimmer and touches of lavender, copper, wine and moss green glitter in small hexes and squares. We took our cue from the changing colours of fall, the shift from greens to oranges and reds. Coats used: 3.

L'Automne (lightbox)

L'Automne (lightbox)

L'Automne (direct light)

L'Hiver (winter) is a pale blue creme with a gold shimmer and tiny pink, gold and midnight blue glitter. I really love how it reminds me of the snow and the way sunlight reflects off of it! Coats used: 2 coats.

L'Hiver (lightbox)

L'Hiver (lightbox)

L'Hiver (direct light)

Stand Alones

Flirt was a happy accident. It was meant to be something else, but when that didn't work, we decided to add glitter, and ta-da! This is a reddish-purple medium linear holo with a gold shimmer. It's quite a stunning effect, the shimmer with the holo - depending on the light you will see one or the other but not really both at the same time (hence the name!). It has pink, gold and charcoal grey glitter that adds flecks and hints of colour. Coats used: 2.

Flirt (lightbox)

Flirt (lightbox)

Flirt (direct light)

Flirt (direct light)

Nightshade is a deep royal blue, that is slightly bluish-green with a prominent gold shimmer. It also has gold, wine and ocean blue glitter in small hexes and squares. I love how shimmery this one looks. In the photos you can see a slight visible nail line, but it's not that visible in person. Coats used: 3.

Nightshade (lightbox)

Nightshade (lightbox)

Nightshade (direct light)

I'd love to hear your opinion on these. We really hope to make a serious go at this, so your feedback and opinions are really important to me.

Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter on our website, and you can also follow us on Facebook. Tentatively we have scheduled our launch for Sunday November 24th at 12pm (EST), which will be on our website renaissancecosmetics.com. That will give us time to get your orders out by the holiday postal deadlines. We hope to launch more products in the future so if there's anything you'd like to see, leave a comment or send us an email!

And thanks everyone for your support! I don't know if I could have taken such a leap if it weren't for the support of all my readers. :)

P.S. And if you're wondering if this will effect my blogging...not to worry, I'm here to stay. You can still expect to see reviews of other indie brands, mainstream brands and nail art, as usual!