Sorry I've been MIA but I'm making up for my absence with 3 AMAZING polishes by Glam Polish, so you've gotta forgive me ;)

Hey there, I'm really sorry for being so sporadic in my blog posting recently- I am struggling a bit with feeling down, which always leads to crazy levels of apathy and 16 hour sleeps.
But I'm still around, still buying, and playing with, nail polish and the odd bit of nail art. I just haven't really been taking many photos, and those that I have just haven't interested me enough to warrant uploading and colour adjusting and blah blah blah.
But I have to say that I am absolutely falling in love with two particular indie polishes at the moment- Two Birds Lacquer (which you may have surmised from the last couple of posts) and Glam Polish.
Glam Polish is another Aussie company that makes exceptionally beautiful polishes, and their formulas are consistently fantastic too. Oh man, the colours! The depth, the intensity, the sparkle and, well, glamorous-ness of their products... seriously, you need to try these babies out to experience the glory first hand.

I'm going to post a couple of different polishes of theirs, and hopefully you'll see what I'm on about.
First up is Coven, from their "Cast a Spell" collection (of which I have now ordered the rest, because reasons!), a bright red beauty with holo, glass fleck, shimmer... there's so much in there, yet it's all done so well that nothing outshines the other, and it all balances perfectly. I also say that about every polish of theirs that I currently own (and yes, I"m about to own a lot more haha).
I don't know quite how to describe their bases tbqh; they're sheer enough that you get to see the glitter and shimmer, but they're also very pigmented, so opacity is achievable in only a couple of coats and they are thin enough that they're super easy to work with. I suppose a tinted, jelly-like base is the best description, but they don't have that syrupy feel to them that a lot of jellies tend to have, which makes them super easy to apply. But that's my best description, so that's what I'm going to go with. If you have a better descriptive term please let me know ;)

I mean, this polish is simply stunning- it glows from within and is so sparkly and rich... ahh, heaven!

And that's no exaggeration either. Just look at that inner fire!

And for a little bit of fun I also did a gradient using Glam's "Maleficent", which is a rich, red leaning purple polish with glassfleck, holo and shimmer and also red glitter running throughout, which helped to tie it together with the red of "Coven".

Isn't is gorgeous?

And now onto the third Glam Polish beauty that I want to show you tonight- the amazingly vibrant "Evanora". This was soooo hard to photograph as it's so shimmery and glowy that my iphone kinda freaked out over it.

Evonara in direct sunlight- my iphone couldn't handle the amazingness

I can't fangirl enough over this polish. It was like I had some supernatural force glowing on the tips of my fingers. And there's these awesome little iridescent diamond pieces in the polish that added such an interesting twist to the depth and dimension already on show. And of course, it's green, and a fabulous green at that. It's neither too blue or too yellow, so I think it would look great on any skin tone (and hey, who cares anyway? you wear it, you rock it!).

Formula wise this was slightly thinner than Meleficent and Coven, but it was in no way difficult to apply. This was three thin coats and one coat of Poshe (I'm trying Poshe to see if I get less tip wear- I think Seche might be shrinking back from the tips a bit- alas and alack as it's a brilliant top coat).

Dry time between coats was minimal and it was really easy to achieve opacity. I did try to place the little diamond shaped glitters as I really wanted them to pop, but the rest was easy, standard application, no dabbing required.

I'm sure you can see what I mean by magical- it's so luminous, it's amazing. And I love that regardless of whether you're out in direct sunlight on indoors at night under dim lighting the polish still looks fabulous, picking up whatever light is available and twinkling away. It's definitely a "keep your eyes on the road" polish hazard!

 

Glam Polish is available through their website for Australian buyers and also sells to the States. There's also a list of other stockists on its website.
I would wholeheartedly recommend Glam Polish as I think their wares are stunning and of excellent quality.
What more can I say- I think the photos, even coming from such a humble source as my iphone, speak for themselves.

And needless to say, I will have plenty more of their polishes to review in the coming month or so... I kinda went a little overboard on their site, but it was all so sparkly and pretty! It hypnotized me, I had ~no choice~ Hmmm, would that stand up in court I wonder? JK ;)

Anyway, I promise not to take so long between posts again- I'm trying to get on top of the shitty mood I've been in for the last couple of months, but unfortunately it's not always as easy as just "snapping out of it". I'm sure any of you who have dealt with long term depression can understand that one :\

Until next time, as always, 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

"It's like the Love Boat decided to host a disco on my nails"

That's how I described my current mani- oh my gawd, the glitter, the bling, the sheer joy and happiness this polish brings is simply fabulous. Seriously. It makes me laugh because it's so OTT yet so beautiful... I'm talking about Peita's Polish "Labels or Love".

This is an amazing polish, a sheer hot pink jelly filled to the brim with holographic glitter, silver hearts, red hearts, circles, hexes, squares and probably more types of glitter than I ever knew existed.

I layered this over a hot pink undie, but next time I want to see what I get using it solo. It is so bright, so vivid... it doesn't just jump off the nail, it chases you down and makes you gaze at its glory until you cry "uncle".

Nothing I can do can truly capture this polish, it's just too much, but in the best possible way. I've had it on for 3 days and counting, which is a long time for me, simply because it makes me feel freaking awesome wearing it. How can you feel blue with this riot of colour and sparkle flashing on the tips of your fingers?

Ok, I guess I should actually review this polish rather than just posting numerous pics and fangirling all over the place.
For these pics I did three coats of "Labels or Love" over Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "Hot Magenta" and had no issues with application whatsoever. Because it is so glitter dense there is no fishing required, although I did find myself placing some of the larger pieces such as the hearts just to balance thing nicely on the nail, but the formula was so easy to work with this wasn't an issue at all.

I don't know whether this polish can achieve opacity on its own, and I am going to have a play with that next time I try it, but it looks brilliant over a hot pink undie. I reckon it would look good over a paler undie too, even black if you want to tone down the brightness (but why would you? that defeats the whole reason for this polish existing imho).
After applying three coats I then whacked on two generous coats of Seche Vite and my nails were perfect. I love that the glitter sits so well against the nail too, there were no problems with edges poking up out of the top coat or anything like that, just a smooth and glossy finish.

Peanut "helping" me take my photos

So, there you have it; "Labels or Love" by the Aussie indie brand Peita's Polish.
I feel like a cigarette, we've just shared such an intense moment. Seriously though, I think this is a brilliant polish- it's fun, bright, blingy and completely unapologetic in it's girlie-ness.
This is definitely going to be one that I try to find a second bottle of because it's also completely unlike anything else I own, and that makes it super special in my books as there's only so many combinations of colours and glitters, so for something to be this different is quite an achievement.

I hope you enjoyed checking this polish out as much as I'm enjoying wearing it- and I know it's full on, but if you manage to find a bottle don't be shy, give it a go. I think you might just find your heart floating alongside all those others in the bottle if you do ;)