Monday 29 September 2014

Here's the first of many, many posts featuring Glam Polish's Cast a Spell II collection. Today's polish? Pentacle.

OMG omg omg
You guys, I can't... I am just bowled over by what I received in the mail today. Yes, I got my much anticipated Glam Polish mail nail this arvo and holy crap, it is even better than I had hoped for (and my expctations were pretty damn high).
So, I'm going to show you just one of the polishes from the collection today, and it's one I didn't think I was going to like that much. Of course, I adore it now that I've tried it. And I think you'll see why in a moment :)


Glam Polish nail mail
So, as you can see, I bought the whole Cast a Spell II collection from Glam Polish, plus a bottle of Frankenslime 2.0 and another bottle of Maleficent because I love it and never want to run out. Yes, a little excessive, but keep in mind I haven't really gone on a nail polish mega buy for quite a while and I had been on a no-buy for a while in anticipation of buying this collection. So I'm gonna justify it, ok? Ok ;)

Anyway, this is Pentacle, a charcoal coloured polish that I'd describe as a holo lacquer filled with holo microglitter and tiny iridescent hexagon shaped glitter. The application is smooth and easy (as always) and required only two coats, although it does dry gritty so I also added two coats of seche vite to smooth it all out.



Pentacle
There's really nothing more I can say  about Pentacle except you really need this polish ;) I have a couple of dark grey glitter polishes, but none of them are quite like this and the sparkle you get in sunlight is jaw droppingly amazing. Plus those little hexagon glitters add a beautiful touch that makes this truly unique, it is a definite must have if you like darker colours.



Pentacle

The other cool thing about this polish is that it can look subdued too, so if you're allowed to wear polish at work, just not "bling bling" polish, you could probably sneak this one past the powers that be. See? Totally subdued, just don't let your hands be seen under down-lights or in direct sunlight and you'll be fine ;)

Pentacle
So, that's the first of nine Cast a Spell II polishes that I have here, ready to swatch. Plus I also scored Frankenslime 2.0, which is equally spellbinding (see what I did there? I'm a comedic genius I tells ya, genius!) so that's ten polishes I need to try *phew!* It's a burden being a polish-aholic, make no mistake ;)
As for you, dear reader, well you'd best prepare for a lot of posts and a lot of pics over the next few weeks.
In the meantime, get yourself over to the Glam Polish site and have a squizz at their polishes, there's so many beautiful products with a level of quality that makes them one of Australia's best indie polish makers. Definitely worth a look-see.

Until next time, ~love and polish for all~

Em xox


Saturday 27 September 2014

Today is Two Birds Lacquer day :)

'ello peeps, how is everything going in your world? I hope things are running along beautifully and that stress is down and happiness is up.
It's school holidays where I am so I have the kid at home (she's out jumping on the trampoline and enjoying the sunshine at the moment) which is actually really nice. Of course, my little seaside town is also overrun with tourists, which is not so nice.

I still haven't heard back about that job I applied for working at a local veterinary practice, so I am fairly doubtful that I was successful, but it was still good to get out there and experience a job interview after so long. Mind you, I need to drop some weight because the only interview appropriate pants I own are too small- I guess that's what happens when you spend two years sitting on your bum having multiple surgeries haha

Anyway, I have been taking a lot of pics of my manis recently, which means I have far too many photos to wade through and I've just kinda avoided blogging because that means trying to organise a bazillion images and I just can't... But I really should.
Especially as I am about to receive a fairly substantial package from Glam Polish... after all, it's a given that I'm going to end up taking far too many photos of those babies, and if I don't do some culling now I'll end up drowning in nail polish pics and probably overload my computer in the process.
So here's some swatches for you all ;)
Today is a polish from one of my favourite Aussie indies, Two Birds Lacquer, from their aptly named Floral State-Ments Collection, which consists of nine lacquers based around our State and Territory flowers. This beauty is is Red and Green Kangaroo Paw, the official flower emblem of Western Australia.
Red and Green Kangaroo Paw
Now, as you know, I love a good green, and an interesting green is even better, and this polish fits both criteria beautifully.
Kangaroo Paw is a fabulous pea-soup green creme with teeny tiny sparks of red, white and green glitter throughout- not too much, just enough to give things a little twist. As usual the application was easy, dry time was good and it wore very well too. But what I really love about it is the colour... it's really different from any other green I own, and I own a lot of greens (seriously).



Red and Green Kangaroo Paw
And just because I can, here's a couple of pics of Kangaroo Paw teamed up with another Floral State-ments polish, Golden Wattle.
Golden Wattle is a stunning golden glitterbomb full of all types of gold glitter- tiny microglitter, iridescent glitter, delicate gold flakies... very, very pretty. I used it here as a topper but it can be used on its own also, although you'll need a couple of good coats to achieve full opacity. 


Red and Green Kangaroo Paw with Golden Wattle
So, to sum up- if you're like me and like a good green then I really recommend getting Kangaroo Paw, it is definitely unique enough to warrant buying. Golden Wattle is another delightful polish, and if you like sparkle with a twist then you'll like this one too.
If you haven't experienced Two Birds Lacquer then I reckon you should take a peek at their polishes and give them a try- they make consistently good quality, interesting, flattering polishes and I really think they're an Aussie indie polish maker worth supporting.

Anyway, that's it from me today.
Until next time, as always, ~love and polish for all~

Em xox

There's a seriously awesome competition happening here in aussie indie land...it's AIPAS 1st Anniversary, yay!

Hi guys, how is everyone today? Well, I hope :)

The reason for today's quick post is to let all of you know about an epic competition being run right now.
The Australian Indie Polish Appreciation Society (or AIPAS as it's more commonly referred to) is running a fantabulous competition (that you can enter here) to celebrate their 1st Anniversary. And holy moly, there are lots of amazing prizes up for grabs. Check it out!

THE PRIZES
Celestial Cosmetics
Winner's pick of 6 bottles of polish from the existing range (international)

Gloss n Sparkle
$25 store credit

Help Me Ronda
1 Cuticle Cocktail and 1 Rub-a-Dub Scrub in Winner's choice of scent (Rub-a-Dub Scrub will also be scented as an added bonus for this giveaway) (International)

Hollish
3 bottles of polish from their upcoming Spring Collection (If this prize is not available, the prize will be substituted with 3 bottles of exclusive glitter toppers not available on Etsy)

Loki's Lacquer
1 bottle of polish

Loki's Lacquer
1 pack of vinyl decals (international)

Mckfresh Nail Attire
Winner's pick of 3 bottles of polish from the existing range (international)

Moonstone Nail Polish
$30 store credit

Peaches Polish
1 Magic Balm, 1 bottle of previously unreleased polish, 1 bottle of Tink Topper

Peita's Polish
$30 store credit (valid for 6 months) (international)

Powder Perfect
Limited Edition Anniversary Trio of Monsoon, Forecast; Optimistic and Storm Rainbow

Sayuri Nail Lacquer
$25 store credit

Shades of Phoenix
$25 store credit (international)

Resinail Lacquer
$30 store credit

Two Birds Lacquer
Trio of One of a Kind polishes created for this giveaway prize, plus  one cuticle oil in the Winner's choice of scent

Beading Bug
3 soy wax melts in Winner's choice of scent (value $18)
Sponsor:  Cathy Offler

Femme Craft
Polish Pendant and matching earrings, made with the Winner's choice of polish
Sponsor:  Cassandra, Reluctant Femme

Serenity Nails
Custom commissioned polish from Celestial Cosmetics


The competition details can be found here, and, as you can see above, it really has some brilliant prizes, so go and try your luck.
The rules are very easy and you might just discover some awesome brands and bloggers that you weren't aware of too, especially if you aren't too familiar with the world of Aussie indies.
As they say, you've gotta be in it to win it ;)

I also have some nice swatches that I'll post over the next couple of days from a variety of Aussie indie makers, plus I am waiting for my amazing Glam Polish order to arrive too, so prepare for lots of fangirling and pics galore when that arrives :D

Until next time ~love and polish for all~
Em xox

Saturday 20 September 2014

Another quickie, this time with Arcane Lacquer

Hi everyjuan (thank you ediotz for that- every time I pronounce "everyone" in my mind it's like that now).
Anyway, that's a totally obscure reference to e-drama that I'm guessing 99.99% of you will find completely meaningless, so onto something we all know and love, nail polish :)
Today is just a very quick post featuring a couple of new Arcane Lacquer releases, Strutter and Lividity Setting In. Both are fabulous on their own, as usual (Bec makes fantastic polishes) but they also look great together in a subtle, vampy gradient.

I only have a few, sub par swatches of Lividity Setting In, but here's a couple to give you an idea of how lush these colours are;


Lividity setting In
Lividity setting In is a deep, deep eggplant purple with a gorgeous gold shimmer effect that I totally failed to capture in these pics- I will take some better ones over the next few days and you can see just how lovely it is.

Strutter
Strutter is a stunning deep burgandy with a subtle gold shimmer running through it and it is one of my current favourite polishes, full stop. It is so rich and lush and yummy.

And here they are together, such a fantastic match;




And there you have it, a very simple but very effective gradient using two gorgeous polishes from the wonderful Arcane Lacquer.
Arcane Lacquer is (are?) also releasing a Halloween duo that looks amazing- the always lovely Christine over at Serenity Nails has a review of them up now and her swatches are fantabulous, so go check them out...they've been added to my "must have" list (even though I'm technically on a "no buy" boohoo).

Welp, I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend... it's school holidays here so I'm just going to be chilling with the kid for the next couple of weeks.
In other news, I have emailed the vet clinic where I had my job interview, just to touch base and keep my name fresh in their minds and I really, really hope I get the position as I need to be working at a vet clinic for 15 hours a week if I want to get in to that veterinary nursing course next year *fingers crossed*. I will definitely post about that when I find out, either way.

Oh, and I also have some very exciting news regarding a lovely Aussie indie polish that I'll be revealing soon, so keep an eye out for that one.

Until next time, ~love and polish for all~
Em xox

Thursday 18 September 2014

Super quick post- a little bit of dead easy "nail art" using Glam Polish's Tinker Bell

Heya again- I know this comes close on the heels of my last post, but it's a quickie ;)

And yes, it does feature another Glam Polish- what can I say? I really dig them.
Anyway, this is Tinker Bell, a bright lime green with a sweet gold shimmer running throughout.
It's such a happy colour, so bright and cheerful, but me being me I had to tweak things just a bit...



Tinker Bell
How cute is this colour? So pretty :)



After wearing it "as is" for most of the day I decided to make use of some of the nail vinyls I have and add a little attitude to my mani...the black is just a simple $2.00 Mud polish, which I tend to use for all my black nail art needs as it has great opacity and is easy to use.
Anyway, I love the black and green together, it really makes the green pop and it's very eye catching. I even did the same on my other hand, with straight lines on the thumb, diagonal on the middle finger and chevrons/zigzags on my pinkie, just to mix things up a bit.

All up I think it's a great mani, easy-peasy and cute to boot (woah, epic rhyming abilities there, bow down before the master folks haha). I love easy nail art ideas, so please let me know if you have any tips or tricks to making your mani pop :)

Until next time ~love and polish for all~

Em xox



The second half of Glam Polish's Cast a Spell 1 collection

Hi all, sorry I didn't get this post up sooner... I don't actually have any excuse except I forgot ;)
Anyway, Glam Polish's second Cast a Spell collection is now up and ready for pre-order, as is their Halloween duo. I would highly recommend snagging at least a couple of these babies as they look stunning, and if Glam's first Cast a Spell collection is anything to go by, the polishes will also be amazing in terms of quality and wow factor too.

So, here's the last two of my Cast a Spell 1 lacquers, the first three are discussed here in this post.
As with the other three polishes, Coven and Conjuring are beautiful to apply, with each of them being easy two coaters, or three thin coats if you prefer. The high quality and consistency of Glam's products is why I rate them so highly, and not a single one of these lovelies let me down in any way...just throw on a nice coat of top coat to get that shine factor up and you're done.

So, without any further ado here is Coven, a red holo glitter beauty;



Coven
Nothing I say can suitably describe how gorgeous this polish is in real life. It's a glowing, red masterpiece. it has those teeny tiny little circle glitters that catch the light and look as if there's sparks of flame, flashing out of the vibrant red base. I love this so very, very much :)




Coven

And the last polish from the original Cast a Spell collection is... Conjuring;


Conjuring
OMFG you guys! Can you see this? Do you believe in the glory that is Conjuring? Oh man, oh lord, this is such a stunner, you gotta believe me when I tell you you need this in your life, stat. Even if you generally don't like greens, this is just too captivating not to have.



Conjuring
And that, my friends, is the end of that.
Thankfully, Cast a Spell 1 is still available, so if you see anything you like you can still snag a bottle.
I am currently waiting on the new Cast a Spell II collection as I made my pre-order purchase the morning it became available, and believe you me, I will be sharing swatches of those lovelies as soon as I get a hold of them, so keep your eyes peeled for that one.

As usual you can find Glam's store here and they also have a list of overseas stockists on their site if you're not in the land of Oz.
Glam Polish really are worth a look, and I think they would make a fantastic starting point for anyone contemplating exploring the massive market that is Indie Polishes. There's so many new brands popping up all the time, it can get a little overwhelming, but at least you know with Glam that you're going to get amazing quality with lovely customer service and a product that will actually live up to the hype.

Until next time, as usual ~love and polish for all~

mwah! Em xox


Monday 15 September 2014

Glam Polish have the Cast a Spell II collection coming out, so here's some from the original Cast a Spell to whet your appetite

Hi everyone, how are you all? I'm super excited because one of my favourite polish makers, Glam Polish, have a new collection coming out very soon- the Cast a Spell II collection.
OMG you guys, I am just soooo stoked about this one, it looks amazing.
And so, in anticipation of this new lot of lacquers being released, I thought I'd show you some from the original Cast a Spell collection, although I'm going to divide this post into two lots as I have a lot of pics and need to whittle them down to a more manageable number (one of the joys of being incredibly indecisive is ending up with 100+ pics of each polish because they all look so nice, you just can't decide which ones to keep).

Anyway, first up is this stunner- High Priestess.
This is a bright, almost icy blue polish with lots of sparkle and holo goodness. There's also these divine little iridescent, mini circle glitters, which are a running theme in the polishes of this collection (I think Tempestarii is the only one with out them, but trust me, it's still a complete knockout).


High Priestess
The second polish I want to show you today is Book of Shadows, a gorgeous dark blue lacquer with the same qualities as High Priestess- lots of fine glitter, holo and teeny-tiny circle glitter. I am definitely starting to warm to dark blues and this is one of the reasons why... I love it.



Book of Shadows
What a stunner, hey? And sunlight makes it sparkle like nobody's business, and in the shade it looks deep and glossy and mysterious. Love it!

And finally today, last but most definitely not least is the absolutely beautiful Tempestarii. This is a lush, deep, eggplant purple, filled with shimmer and holo and... well, what seems like magic. I seriously could not stop taking photos of this; inside, outside, in the shade, in the sun... I was just so excited by how amazing it looked in any, and every, light.







Tempestarii
Each and every polish in this collection applied beautifully, with two coats providing more than enough coverage, although I did use three thin coats with some, just to get more depth (and because I'm greedy for glitter). Because they are so full of sparkly goodness they do need a coat of top coat, but unlike a lot of glitter polishes one was enough to provide a nice, smooth, glossy finish.
With Glam Polish the formulas are so consistently good that I sometimes forget to even mention them, but trust me- viscosity is always spot on, never too thick or thin. The polish is always strongly pigmented so you don't have to go over and over to get good coverage, the colours are true and rich... I guess that's why I'm so excited, because I know that this next release is going to be just as magical, if not more so, than this last one.

Pre orders for Cast a Spell II are starting on the 17th of September, with standard orders starting on the 24th.
Glam Polish also have a Halloween duo ready for pre order on the same date, so check that out too. And unlike Cast a Spell I, which contained 5 polishes, Cast a Spell II contains a whopping 9 gorgeous lacquers to keep you happy.
I am over the moon with the shades Rachel and co have come up with for this release, there's a little something for everyone imho (or, if you're like me, every single one is exactly what you want haha).

 Anyway, that's it for today, but I will do my best to finish this tomorrow and show you Coven, a scintillating red, and Conjuring, an amazing emerald green which rounds out the original collection.

In the meantime, go check out the gorgeous wares over at Glam Polish, there's a heap of fab polishes there to keep you busy until the 17th- Maleficent is a personal favourite, which I really should double up on, because I will cry if I ever run out.

I hope everyone is doing well, spring is in the air for those of us in the Southern hemisphere, whilst Autumn is turning the leaves up in the Northern part of the globe. But where ever you may reside, as always, ~love and polish for all~

Em xox