Hellooooo there

Well hello there, strangers :) I am back (ish) trying to be a better blogger and you know, just trying to get some structure into my days.
Things are pretty much the same as they have been for a while now, still working on regaining strength back in my left leg after all those surgeries and trying to lose the 10+ kg I stacked on as a result of sitting on my bum for 3 years. Thankfully it looks like I might not have any surgeries for a while now, so yay!
I am planning on going back to Uni next year, I'm considering studying nursing or paramedics (although paramedics might be a bit gruesome... I don't need PTSD on top of my other atuff, I have more than enough "quirks" to keep my mind fully occupied as it is haha).
I also invested in an X-Pole to try and improve my fitness and flexibility so am trying to train every day or so on that- it's a lot of fun but holy crap is it hard work! Still, I'm getting stronger by the day.
As for my nail polish buying, well, I have been too broke to buy anything recently, so it's a lot of rehashing. I just bought my first neon collection which should make it's way from the States soon, which I am super excited about (love neons so much) and I have a heap of Grace-Full polish on my "to buy" list too.
 So instead of swatching new polish I'm mainly doing lots of nail stamping and I figured I'd share some of my recent mani's with you;
First up is Sizzle by Picture Polish stamped using an Emily De Molly Plate (EDM13) and Moonshine by Aussie indie stamping polish Hit the Bottle.

This next one is Fruit of the Poisonous Tree by Glam Polish stamped with an unnamed pink, again using plate EDM 13 (my current favourite stamping plate).

 And finally we have Seeing Red by Emily De Molly stamped using Hit the Bottle white and, yet again, my EDM13 stamping plate

I love how stamping can take a lovely mani to the next level and I find that manis with no adornment feel unfinished to me now- whether it me glitter, studs or stamping, I just need something extra (I'm subtle like that haha).

I hope you enjoyed these swatches and I intend to post again soon (I have close to a thousand pics on my phone that need to be uploaded onto my computer, which is a total PITA but it's gotta get done eventually).
Also, I post swatches on my Instagram account almost daily if you would rather just look at pretty pictures than read my ramblings ;)

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

Em xox

Emily De Molly is back y'all

Hi everyone, how are we today? I am feeling o.k- just got up from a nap because I only got 12 hours sleep last night :p
I do have some good news- I'm off to a job interview on Monday at a Veterinary Clinic to work 3 days a week while I study to become a qualified veterinary nurse... I'm not counting my chickens, but just getting back into going in for interviews is a huge step after two years of no work whatsoever. So think good thoughts around 2pm this coming Monday :)

Anyhoo, today I want to show you two luscious polishes by the lacquer that started my whole aussie indie obsession- Emily De Molly.
Now, her polishes are always, always beautiful to apply, rarely needing more than two coats and sometimes only one. These are no different. Restless is shown here with two coats and one of seche vite, Urban Haze is shown here with two coats and no top coat. Both were delightlful to use, no issues whatsoever.

So, lets have a look, shall we? I feel a little bad as I pretty much spammed my Instagram with pics of Restless, but it's so amazingly reflective and beautiful, I couldn't help myself. I easily ended up with over a hundred pics that I had to sort through and narrow down, this shizz had me mesmerised!

Restless

There's really nothing I can say to fully express how rich this colour manages to be, and as I said, it's also ridiculously reflective which gives it a wonderful luminosity that I love. In the shade it has very delicate flakies which give it depth and complexity and there's also some scattered holo going on in there too, but all of it is so finely balanced that no one thing overwhelms the other. Hayley really does have a great eye for what works.

Restless

The second polish that I'd like to share with you is a much more sublte number called Urban Haze, a smokey olive holo that has very small gold flakes scattered throughout. This is very holographic in the sunlight, but I actually prefer it in the evening, where a colour shift seems to happen that sees the polish reveal a lovely metallic charcoal as shadow hits it.
I'm actually planning to wear this on Monday to my job interview as I think it's lovely whilst still being understated (my daughter was surprised by my choice- she's used to me rocking things like bright pink glitters 99% of the time haha).

Urban Haze

Again, flawless application, great coverage, beautiful polish. Then again, Emily De Molly is a master at producing top shelf lacquers, so that's hardly surprising.

Urban Haze

Emily De Molly is available in Australia through their big cartel shop and there is a list of international stockists here.
As I mentioned above, Emily De Molly was my first ever indie polish- I had never even heard of indie polish before seeing a swatch of her amazing Cosmic Forces- and the rest, as they say, is history.
I now own a ridiculous amount of polish, the vast majority of it Australian indie lacquers. As much of a pain as living in the arse end of the world can be, we sure as hell have some amazing polish makers :)

Anyway, I will be back soon with more goodies to share (and hopefully a damn job too) but, until then as always ~love and polish for all~

Em xox

Another Emily De Molly... the delightful Serenity

Hi guys, hope everyone is doing well. I'm currently on hold with Centrelink, with an estimated wait time of only 45 minutes! Wow, I am so stoked! So I figured while I sit here with the phone stuck to my ear I might as well do some blogging...multitasking at its finest ;)
Ok, today I want to show you a gorgeous little polish by one of my all time favourite polish makers, Emily De Molly.
This one is called Serenity and is what I consider to be a perfect summer polish. I know it's the middle of winter here, but one of the facebook groups to which I belong had a "Sun and Sand" mani theme, so I figured that that was an ideal reason to break this baby out...

This is such a beautiful polish, but sooo damn hard when it comes to taking accurate photos of it- the colour is a stunning turquoise that can appear more blue leaning in some light and far more green leaning in others, hence the colour discrepancies in my pics. My apologies for that- I will say ten Hail Glitters as penance.

Serenity is a very easy polish to use, with a great balance between glitters and the creme/crelly base. I only needed two coats here for full opacity and one coat of Seche Vite to top things off. There was no fishing for glitter and no need to dab or place the glitter at all- it dispersed very evenly onto the nail. The dry time between coats was good and there was no dragging or balding or glitter clumping.
Really, there was nothing that I found problematic in terms of application, and three days into wearing it and there's no chipping and minimal tip wear, so it stays on well too. What else can I say? It's a great polish.

The thing that really lifts this polish up from being just another turquoise creme, in my opinion, is the delightful combination of glitters- there's aqua, gold hexes of various sizes and beautiful little bursts of lavender, along with what looks to be some small holographic hexes and some other tiny blue glitters as well.
It's these interesting colour combinations that make Serenity unique and so lovely to wear.

Emily De Molly is on hiatus at the moment due to the arrival of her little boy, but do continue to pop in there to check as her store will be up and running again soon (even better, Serenity is still part of her current range).

Also, if you check the tags here you'll see that I've reviewed several of her polishes recently and I am clearly a big fan of her products...well, she does offer some bloody ah-mazing polishes, plus stamping plates and various rhinestones and studs for nail decoration, so what's not to love?

Anyway, until next time ~love and polish for all~

Em xox

The one that started it all; Emily De Molly's "Cosmic Forces"

Hullo hullo, how is everyone today? It is absolutely full on where I am at the moment, the weather is just wild! Gale force winds, torrential rain and hail... my beautiful poppies that I planted have really taken a beating and I'm worried they won't make it after the last couple of days ;_;
I'm no green thumb, but I planted those tiny seeds and watched them germinate (it took for freaking ever!) and I was so excited to have my own pain management centre growing in my back yard, but this bloody weather may have put paid to all of that. Luckily I have more seeds, but I can't even get out there to plant anything as things stand.
And I certainly can't get outside to take pretty pictures of nail polish, so all of my photos are currently taken in my kitchen under the delightful glow of our ~el crappo~ fluorescent light... it adds that special something, managing to both reduce exposure and leech out any colour at the same time, which is quite a feat really. I do my best to adjust the exposure without bleaching or over saturating the colour of the polish, but you'll have to excuse me if the pictures aren't as uniform as they normally are.

Anyhoo, today I decided to break out Emily De Molly's "Cosmic Forces", the polish that started it all in terms of my current nail polish obsession. I had never even heard of "indie nail polish" until that fateful day, and the images my googling produced had my lusting after that polish like nobody's business. So I went and had a look at Hayley's online store and that was that- I was lost, absolutely smitten and ran headfirst into becoming a polish hoarder post haste.
So, onto the pictures...

O.K, if you're at all familiar with Aussie indie polishes then chances are you've come across this polish before, and for good reason. Emily De Molly was one of the first to use large, holographic circle glitter in a polish like this and it really made people sit up and take notice. And you can see why- it has the most remarkable effect, as if there was something magical going on- a doorway into another dimension perhaps or the reflection of distant stars somehow trapped and held in a bottle of bright purple jelly... whatever the case, it was a significant development and you can now find large circle glitter in many polishes as people appreciated just how amazing it can look.

Cosmic Forces is part of a trio which includes "Oceanic Forces" (which I have reviewed here) and "Dark Forces", which is a blackened jelly containing the same striking combination of glitters. I am currently waiting on a bottle of Dark Forces that I have bought through a destash sale and will definitely be reviewing it as soon as I am able.

 

Formula wise this is a bright purple jelly that is filled with glitter of various types, the aforementioned holographic circle glitter clearly being the star of the show. The larger glitters do require fishing, but I find standing the bottle on its lid for 5 minutes or so before applying definitely helps in getting a hold of those pieces.
I did find this polish to be tricky to apply when I first used it, but that was primarily down to my inexperience with polishes of this kind. Now that I use glitter jellies all the time I find Cosmic Forces a lot easier to handle.
It has thickened up somewhat since I first bought it, but I just add some Seche Restore and it's all good to go. Please note that Seche Restore isn't 3-Free, but I'm sure you could find a 3-Free thinner if that's important to you, just don't use nail polish remover to thin things up as you will end up destroying the polish and then you'll be sad face and I'll be sad face and it's just not a good idea.
I also don't bother with undies as Cosmic Forces achieves opacity easily in three coats, plus you get that fabulous depth and complexity that comes with layering several coats of jelly if you skip the undies, and it's the depth and squishiness that I find so appealing about this polish.

Cosmic Forces is, without a doubt, one of my all time favourites. It holds a special place in my heart as being my first ever "must have" indie, as well as being part of my first ever online polish order.
And it's just so freaking beautiful, I love it. I feel as if there's some sort of sorcery going on here, as if someone's managed to capture something rare and wonderful and trapped it in this bottle, ready for me to re-expolore whenever I get the urge to wear the universe on the tips of my fingers.

Emily De Molly is currently taking some time off after the birth of her first child, a healthy bouncing baby boy (congratulations Hayley!) but you can still purchase her nail stamping plates and nail gems, and as for the polish just keep checking back.
Also, if you belong to any indie nail appreciation groups chances are you'll hear about any store re-openings as Emily De Molly is a much coveted polish, and I know a lot of people are waiting for her return.

For product info, shipping and so on there's Hayley's Big Cartel store as well as her Etsy store. My advice is to just keep checking in periodically and get in there if you get the chance- I already have my list of "must haves" that I will be ordering the minute her store goes live again ;)

Anyway, that's it from me today. I hope you enjoyed my review and the photos- as I said, they weren't taken under the best of conditions, but while the weather remains this revolting I will be taking all my pics inside until further notice.

Until next time, love and polish for all,

Em xox

In anticipation of Emily de Molly reopening her store, here is "Oceanic Forces"

Today I want to share one of my favourite polishes, Emily De Molly's "Oceanic Forces"- there are two other "forces" polishes in her store- Cosmic Forces and Dark Forces, and I will get around to reviewing both of them soon because they are all really beautiful.
Now, Emily De Molly was the first ever indie polish I heard about and bought, so her polishes will always have a special place in my heart. Of course, it doesn't hurt that her polishes are a-freaking-mazing; the formulas are superb, the colours sublime and Hayley's customer service is, like most indies, also fantastic.
She currently has two stores, an Etsy store and her main Big Cartel store, which has a list of international stockists for buyers outside Australia (her Big Cartel store also stocks the Emily De Molly nail stamping plates and some nail art gems).
Now, I have titled this post "in anticipation of Emily De Molly reopening her store" as Hayley is currently on maternity leave, but truth be told I honestly have no idea when her stores will reopen. So this is more of a "I really hope her stuff is up for sale again soon!" post as I missed out on a few of her polishes last time around and am dying to get my grubby little hands on them ;)
Anyway, onto the pictures!

Oceanic Forces is a teal coloured jelly polish filled with small holo hex glitter, microglitter and large circle glitter, with the circle glitter being the star of the show as you can see from the photos.
Now, in my opinion, this is a polish that requires some effort to use- you need to fish for the circle glitter and the jelly can get a bit thick as you get further down the jar, but I've found a couple of drops of Seche Restore gets the jelly base back to the right consistency and standing the polish on its lid for 5 minutes before use helps make the larger sized glitters easier to get to.
However, it's certainly not a hard polish to use- it doesn't flood the cuticles, it's not lumpy or bumpy and opacity is easy to achieve in two or three coats. It's more that you need to take your time using it and take care with the application.
But I'm also a bit pedantic about glitter placement and so on, so if you don't mind having some nails without the circle glitter then you're not going to be spending quite as much time getting things "just so". Personally I have to have those things looking how I visualise them or I'll have to start over again, but I'm kinda neurotic so I'm probably not the best example to go by ;)

With this mani I did things a little bit differently as I wanted to see how this would look layered over a teal microglitter (Powder Perfect's "Elation" which I have reviewed here), so the thumb, index and middle finger are two coats of Oceanic Forces over Elation, and the ring finger and pinkie are three coats of Oceanic Forces by themselves, all of them topped off with two generous coats of Seche viche.
I thought I would prefer it over the microglitter base, because glitter! But I actually prefer it as it's supposed to be worn- I think you get more of that fabulous squishiness and depth without any undies. So sometimes less is more, even with glitter (something I never thought I would say, that's for sure haha).

So, what do you think? I love this polish. It's very much a ~stare and admire~ lacquer, watching how the light hits those big, beautiful circle glitters. They're like amazing doorways into another world, a magical vortex that just happens to be on my fingernails... how awesome is that?!

I really hope that Emily De Molly opens up for business again soon (although you can still buy her nail stamping plates and nail gems through her Big Cartel store) as there are so many more polishes of hers that I am eager to try.
Luckily you can still browse her polishes on her Big Cartel site, they're just not available for purchase right now, but if you want to go and have a look I'd definitely recommend doing so- you can write out a list of polishes to buy when she is back up and running. Having something to look forward to is always fun imho :)

Anyway, that's it for me today. I have swatched and uploaded a couple of polishes over the last few days that I need to blog about, I've just been a little flat and finding it hard to be enthusiastic about blogging- in fact, I've found it hard to be enthusiastic about anything right now. I'll be seeing a different GP on Tuesday as my doctor is away on leave, but hopefully there won't be any issues refilling my pain meds (they can hardly just stop them- I'd be a very sick puppy if they did that). But I don't know what, if anything, can be done about my current mental state. I guess time will tell.

Until next time, love and polish for all <3
Em xox