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

Giving it another go- Femme Fatale's "Sea Pony"

As some of you might remember, I acquired some Femme Fatale Cosmetics polishes awhile ago but was somewhat underwhelmed with them when they arrived- I bought several polishes at the time; a couple of international brands that they stock, and some that they produce themselves.
Now, Femme Fatale's service was excellent and I couldn't ask for more in that sense, but their polishes were quite different from what I was expecting, both visually and they were really quite difficult to apply when I decided to swatch them. It all left me feeling pretty ~sad face~ at the time, as I had high hopes having seen them swatched elsewhere.
Anyway, after some advice from the lovely Tara over at Loki's Lacquer I tried adding some thinner to the two polishes I was having trouble with, and also decided to layer them over  similar coloured undies, and thankfully both polishes look much better on now than they did the first time around.

What you see swatched here are Snapvine on my index and ring finger, and Sea Pony on my middle finger and pinkie. Both are "crelly" polishes- that is, not quite opaque or thick enough to be called a creme, yet not sheer and squishy enough to be classed as a jelly, hence the name crelly. And, as per usual with the nail polishes I chose, there's oodles of glitter in there too.

After adding the thinner and having a play with both polishes over various undies, I decided to do a full mani with Sea Pony, which I have layered here over Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure's "Good to Grape" (which is a great match colour wise).

This is a really pretty, cheerful mani and I only needed one coat of Sea Pony over the base colour for these swatches, which is awesome. The glitter pay off is excellent too- in fact, it can be a little overwhelming. I found the best way to apply this was to use a very thin coat and then dab the glitter around the nail until it's sitting how you want it. I then used three (yes, three!) very generous coats of Seche Vite over the lot to give it a smooth, glossy finish.

I'm definitely glad that I gave this a second shot, and using 4 drops of Seche Restore really did make a huge difference as to how this went on. Truth be told I was at a total loss with what to do with it as it was and thought I might even have to toss it. So I'm stoked that it hasn't gone to waste, and that I have such a cute, usable polish in my collection.
However, although the application was made much easier, I still think this is a tricky polish to use, and here's my thoughts as to why;
Crellies and glitter are a delicate combination- you want the base to be opaque enough that you get decent coverage and nice colour vibrancy, but you need it sheer enough that it won't completely cover up your glitter, and that is a difficult balance to strike.
You also want your glitter to spread out easily and evenly onto the nail, and that wasn't quite the case here. I found the glitter tended to clump together which made getting a little bit of everything- without going overboard- somewhat difficult. I suspect matte glitter probably clumps a little easier, simply by virtue of the surface being matte and not glossy, so that might have been a contributing factor.
But, and this is the reason I have made such an effort with this polish, Sea Pony is soooo pretty! The colours are just lovely and the combination of bright orange and pink against that gorgeous purple is really eye catching. It reminds me of long, languid summer sunsets where the sky is a riot of colours and the clouds are stained deep pink and tangerine.
Sea Pony is also a particularly feminine polish... I'm not sure what it is exactly that makes it feel that way to me, but it does and I like that very much.

Overall I am glad that I bought both Sea Pony and Snapvine, but I do think you will need to fiddle with them to get the application down pat and have it looking good on the nail. However, I also think it's well worth the effort, as they look fabulous on, so there's no regrets here.
Femme Fatale Cosmetics have a wide range of products, including makeup, and they also stock quite a few international  brands which can be hard to get a hold of otherwise (I ordered my two Dance Legend polishes through Femme Fatale). Plus their customer service is excellent.
So, I would definitely recommend having a look at what they have to offer as they have a great range, and you should find something to suit just about anyone.

Anyway, that's it from me for today- I've been so tired, it's kinda ridiculous. I was in bed before 7pm yesterday and didn't wake up until 8.15 this morning... I hate being this tired, it's not a nice feeling and it makes getting things done hard too. I saw a doctor today and I'm seeing my normal GP next week, but I suspect it's just a combination of the blues and this cold, dreary winter weather making me want to hibernate ;)
And it really is wild out there today- trees down all over the place, power outages, howling winds and driving rain... definitely a good day for snuggling on the couch with my kid and my cats, watching Horrible Histories and eating toasted cheese sangas.

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

It puts the polish on its fingers... yep, Emily De Molly has kidnapped my heart with this one

Hello again. What a dreary, crappy couple of days its been here in Rye- normally I get some pretty good shots outside even if it is a bit overcast, but it's so dark and gloomy it's almost impossible to take a decent picture with my super-duper fancy camera phone ;)

Regardless, I battled on to bring you some photo's of one of my favourite polishes, Emily De Molly's "Absent Minded".
This was one of the first ever indie polishes I ordered, along with Cosmic Forces and Fashion Victim.
And, to be honest, when I first tried this one on I was disappointed, it was so much more laid back than the others, and it felt a little plain in comparison.
But I slowly warmed to it, and now I love how understated the polish is whilst still having a lot of complexity.

Emily De Molly's "Absent Minded"

Isn't it lovely? Hayley has managed to create a beautiful polish, with the copper and aqua glitters adding a subtle twist which elevates it above your standard purple polish into something quite special.

As with most Emily De Molly polishes I own it is easy to apply, and there is no fishing required for the glitter- each brush stroke is loaded with enough glitter to cover the nail, but not so much that it overwhelms the base colour.
The base itself is a blue-leaning purple crelly, and it is the perfect opacity to allow full coverage of the nails while still allowing the glitter to shine through. I only needed two coats for these pictures, although I do recommend a generous coat of Seche Vite or similar just to even things out on the nail and to give it that lovely glossy look.

There really isn't much else to say about Absent Minded as I feel that the pictures speak for themselves. This really is a stunner, but it's subtle enough that I think you could wear it to work without causing too much fuss.

"Absent Minded" is still available as far as I know, however Hayley is currently on hiatus as she's just had a baby, but her store should reopen soon.

I must say, in my oh-so-humble opinion, that Emily De Molly is well worth checking out. She is one of the best known and well loved polish makers here in Australia and for good reason; the quality of her polish is consistently excellent and she offers a great range too, from subtle work safe holos to in-your-face blingtastic creations. She also has a line of stamping plates which I have heard are excellent too (although I haven't tried them myself- stamping's a lot harder than it looks).

Here's hoping Hayley returns to the indie polish worlds sooner rather than later (I have several polishes that I didn't get a chance to snag before she went on maternity  leave and I must have them!).

And that's it from me today- I hope your weather is nicer than what we've got down here at the moment and that everything is traveling along nicely.
I'll be back in a day or so with more swatches as I still have so many to play with from my last polish haul (not to mention that I may have just bought over 10 more bottles from several de-stash sales... someone stop me, please!).

~in polish we trust~
Em xox

So excite! So dissapoint :(

Hi all,
Well, as you saw yesterday I got my package from Femme Fatale and was super excited with my new polishes.

Femme Fatale and Dance Legend

So last night I wiped off my last mani and decided to have a go with Femme Fatale's Sea Pony

Sea Pony by Femme Fatale

After perusing the Femme Fatale site for days I would up choosing Sea Pony and Snapvine, mainly on the strength of the amazing Nail GunXS's  swatches.
She does the most beautiful job showing off how great a polish can look- I am rather envious of her talent- and her swatches were so gorgeous I thought "I need this polish".
Bec is also the creator of the fabulous Arcane Lacquer, so that should give you an idea of the talent level this woman posses (hint- brilliant).

And this is the point where I shed some sad tears...
Sea Pony is, without a doubt, the most difficult nail polish I have ever used. It is very, very glitter heavy, but they don't spread well on the nail and just clump up all over the place. And the crelly base is so thin that you need to do 3 coats for full coverage, but with each coat you're getting masses of clumping glitter... argh.
I found myself scraping off bits of glitter and trying to dab the crelly on to fill the gaps that that created. It was such a disappointment :(

I suspect I probably built up the polish in my mind, so my expectations were very high. I should have paid more attention to the swatches that didn't make the polish look quite so amazing as the ones over on NailGunXS, as that's more along the lines of what my mani looked like at the end of a very frustrating 3 coats.

Femme Fatale's Sea Pony

 I don't know if I got a bung bottle or if my inexperience with glitter/crelly combos was the reason for the problems I experienced, but I am pretty bummed out.
The polish also ATE up topcoat like crazy- these pics were taken with 4 coats of topcoat- two of Seche Vite and two coats of Skinfood's nail vita crystal pearl top coat. And it's still not smooth :\

I understand that the crelly needs to be sheer enough for the glitters to come through, but the glitter itself has to disperse better over the nail or it just becomes a case of trying to save the mani rather than creating a good one.

*sigh*

Anyway, I am hoping that Snapvine will be easier to work with, and next time I use Sea Pony I will use it as a topper rather than as the main polish- hopefully it will look the way I envisioned it in my mind.

What polishes have you lusted after only to discover it doesn't live up to your expectations?