A quick Glam Polish post

Hi y'all, how's life treating you? Well, I hope.

Today's post is a quickie showing off a trio of Glams that I ordered a few weeks ago. These polishes are all from different collections and I've been eyeing them for a while now, so I finally stopped resisting and gave in to the joys of buying beautifully made nail polish ;)

Glam Polish

 The polishes are, from left to right, Witching Hour from the Exotic Illusions Series, Fangorn Forest from the Epic Journey Collection and Tiffany, from the Heart of Darkness Collection.

As with all my Glams the application and formula was excellent with all three lacquers and I only needed two coats for full opacity (and I probably could have managed one with Witching Hour). 

The colours are all to die for and I consider them all to be "car crash colours"... it's just so easy to get distracted when driving because my nails look so sparkly and amazing I keep taking my eyes off the road haha.

Ok, so lets start with Witching Hour. This is a stunning medium purple that has a very subtle shift between blurple and a divine aubergine, red-based purple, depending on the light. It's also chock full of scattered holo sparkle.

Witching Hour

The next polish is Fangorn Forest, inspired by the deep, dark and mysterious forest of the same name in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This is an amazing dark green polish with green, blue and teal micas floating in a blackened jelly base. Gorgeous...

Fangorn Forest

And finally we have Tiffany, a delicious holo lacquer that is a lush dark berry pink with a lovely gold shimmer in the shade and an amazing holo colour explosion in sunlight.

Tiffany

So those are my newest Glam Polish acquisitions and I love them all. As always the quality is exceptional and everything about them, from the presentation to the polish's wear time, makes Glam a product that I thoroughly enjoy collecting.

And, just to make my tiny polish budget cry tears of despair yet again, Glam have come out with both a limited edition Xmas Collection and an amazing looking Broadway Collection, full of vivid colours and lots of bling.  You can check them all out at their Big Cartel store, here.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little post and, until next time, ~love and polish for all~

Em xox

Poseidon, a polish named after a god that leaves me feeling like a goddess

If I were a God I'd be pretty stoked to be the namesake of this polish, because it is freaking amazing. Shades of Phoenix is another aussie indie polish maker that I have reviewed before and I am really starting to develop a soft spot for their products.
Today I'm wearing Poseidon after asking the gals over on the Australian Indie Polish Appreciation Society what to wear, as I was unable to chose between the multitude of bottles I seem to have accumulated (I don't know how it happened, honest! They've just started appearing around my house). So a big shout out ot Relle because oh my god, what an amazing polish this is...

Poseidon is a bright green jelly packed with glitter of all sorts and sizes, from holographic hexes to bar glitter and even microglitter. Normally I'm not a fan of bar glitter but in this case it works really well and isn't hard to place on the nail at all. In fact, this polish is easy to work with full stop.

I didn't use any undies with this mani, just three thin coats of Poseidon. I could have gone with two coats, but I like to add a third with jellies because I think it adds to the depth and complexity of the polish on the nail, which is what makes jellies so wonderful in the first place.
The formula was great to use, with the viscosity being just right. Some jellies can be too thin which floods the cuticles and makes clean up a drag, while others can be too thick which makes applying a smooth, even coat really tricky, but this polish went on like a dream.
The only problem I had with this polish was capturing just how lit-from-within it looks on the nail. It is so bright and vivid, so shimmery and deep, my poor little camera phone had no chance.

OK, so what else is there to say? I'm sure you all know by now that I am a sucker for a good green, and this is such a good green, I love it. A lot. Even my daughter was impressed, which says a lot considering that her usual reaction it to try to escape my waggling fingers as quickly as possible... which is kinda understandable, considering I thrust my hands into her face on a daily basis with the demand to "look! look at the pretty, shiny sparkles!" hehe

Shades of Phoenix have a great range of polishes and their quality and customer service are just brilliant- I have absolutely no reservations in recommending them to anyone who wants to add some truly unique polishes to their collection.
They've also just come out with a great collection in collaboration with Moonstone Polish based on the Harry Potter "Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans"; jelly beans which could be yummy or not so nice, and the names of each polish are representative of that which I think is such a neat idea, I love it :) I think it also gives you a real insight into just how creative our indie polish makers are and just how passionate they are about what they do, which is why I love supporting indie businesses like these.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed looking at these pictures as much as I'm enjoying looking at my nails, and I'm really excited to be sharing even more indies with you over the coming days and weeks.
Until next time, love and polish for all!
Em xox

Whee! Another Aussie indie polish review, Pretty Serious VT100

Hi guys, hope everyone is well and enjoying their respective seasons- it's definitely wintery down here in Rye with lots of rainy days and cold winds.
Normally I'm a hot weather kinda gal, but to be honest I don't mind the cold too much at the moment as I'm still recovering from all these surgeries, and who would want to be outside in this?
But I'm feeling a lot more positive that this summer I'll be back in a bikini and on the beach, and maybe my leg will be working well enough that I'll be able to play some frisbee with my daughter, Sophia. Frisbee= us failing to throw the thing with any accuracy and falling down laughing all over the place. It's the best way to play :)

Anyway, on to business (hardly, but you know what I mean). I got a couple of packages in the mail today and one of them was by a great Aussie indie company, Pretty Serious cosmetics. I've already reviewed one of their polishes here and today's polish was equally impressive.

Pretty Serious "VT100"

VT100 is a gorgeous emerald green jelly filled with gold and green microglitter that simply comes alive in the sunlight, yet manages to achieve wonderful depth in indirect light also.

 It's a very easy polish to use- the formula is just right with this, not too thick as some microglitters can be. I used two thin coats here, although I suspect you could get away with just one as the opacity is great. Being a microglitter it did dry slightly gritty, but two coats of Seche Vite and I was good to go (microglitters may dry gritty, but they also dry quick, which is a definite bonus in my book).

I really dig the addition of the gold microglitter, it adds a nice twist without overpowering the gorgeous green. And will you look at that lovely depth? Mmm, just beautiful (I am a sucker for a good green, no doubt about that).

VT100 is currently on sale for only $5.95 over at Pretty Serious, although this particular polish is available for Australian customers only at this time.
However they have plenty of products available for international buyers also (including the  gorgeous Grimm Demise, which I covet desperately), so go take a peek if you're in the mood to add some seriously pretty things to your collections (get it? boom tish! I'll be here all night... thank you, thank you).

And I'd also like to say how touched I am by the kindness of all of you who have reached out to me in regards to my discussions about depression- it is so lovely to have people I don't even know take the time to offer such encouragement, although it is saddening to see just how many of us there are out there who battle with this issue.
My heart goes out to each and every one of you who has been touched in some way by this debilitating illness and I hope I can be of support to you too- just drop me an email or leave a comment, I'm always around to lend an ear.

Much love and polish for all,
Em xox

Today I have the luscious "Liquid Lawn" by Celestial Cosmetics to share with you all

Hello to anyone who might be reading this. I hope your week is progressing nicely.
For those of us living in the Southern Hemisphere it certainly looks as though we are well and truly into winter now, every day is cold and overcast, with rolling showers and strong winds that manage to find their way past any defense you might make with scarves and wooly jumpers and what not.
So it probably looks extremely strange with me crouching in the back yard in my pj's and a knitted hat, holding one hand out and contorting it whilst feverishly taking photos with my iphone in between rain showers.
But such is the price you pay when you want to blog about nail polish *sighs dramatically*

Anyway, enough about the trials and tribulations of nail polish blogging; today I have the glorious Liquid Lawn by the ever lovely Celestial Cosmetics- this is a pretty amazing looking polish and I have had a lot of positive responses to the couple of pictures I posted earlier on facebook, which is hardly surprising when you look at how well it's come up in the photo's;

Celestial Cosmetics "Liquid Lawn"

 Now, I know it's called Liquid Lawn, but this polish makes me think of slowly shifting, deep sea kelp beds, with the sunlight filtering down through the green water. I can imagine this is what a sailor would see just before a mermaid steals him down into the deep forever.
I really, really love this polish... it's truly dreamy.

 As for application, the jelly base is on the thinner side, and because the circle glitter is large I found I did have to fish for it (and as I always like to point out- this is not a flaw, this is just physics). However, I have an older bottle and Nicki has tweaked the formula to resolve those very minor points (I won't call them issues because all glitters settle and larger glitters, especially circle glitter, tend to require a little bit of fishing).

With this manicure I did use an undie, but I don't think it's necessary, so play around with what works for you. Personally, I wouldn't use this over too dark a base because I think you're likely to lose a lot of the little nuances that make this nail polish so beautiful, but again, see what you like and go with that.
That's one of the cool things about jellies- you can change the whole character of a polish simply by layering the polish over different undies or leaving it as is.... there's so much flexibility, so many ways to work with it.
For these photos I applied three thin coats of Liquid Lawn over Rimmel's 60 Seconds "Camouflage" and after that I threw on two coats of Seche Vite to seal the deal and make everything smooth and glassy and that was it. Not much work to have something that looks like it's from a Sea God's photo album sitting on the ends of my fingers...

Honestly, I don't know what else to say about this polish that isn't already obvious in the photos- it is absolutely beautiful, it is deep and dark and mysterious and I love it.
And luckily this polish is still available to buy either through Celestial Cosmetics' shop on bigcartel, or through one of the nail polish stockists for those of you living outside Australia (they are listed on her site).

I can't recommend Celestial Cosmetics enough- Nicki is a lovely woman with a fantastic eye for what looks good and I haven't encountered a polish of hers that didn't hit the mark yet, nor do I think I'm likely to. She really does work hard to provide a beautiful product, with great customer service too, so if you're in the market for a new polish and you haven't tried Celestial they are well worth a look.
 And Nicki, like many indie polish makers, is also happy to work with you if you're looking for something specific, which is just another reason to love indie nail polish. Can you imagine hitting Revlon up for a polish to match your bridesmaid's dresses?

I really don't want to take this manicure off, so I might leave it a few days before I post again, but I am also terrible at leaving well enough alone, so who knows, I could be back tonight with something new ;)

I hope you like the photos as much as I do, I'm definitely getting the hang of it all, even if my light box fails completely to do any of the things light boxes are supposed to. I guess that just means more running around out in the back yard, for now at least :)

Em xox

It's Alive!!! mwuahahahahaha

Morning, how goes it on this dreary winter day? Well, winter for those of us in the Southern hemisphere anyway.
I'm feeling pretty chirpy considering I have a house inspection in a couple of hours and my daughter, Sophia, is home for the second day in a row because she's not feeling too crash hot (nothing serious, she's got a mild temperature and is just feeling tired and off colour). Soph could probably manage school, but I'd rather let her rest for a few days and have her get well quickly than send her to school and have whatever bug she's got hang around for longer.

Anyway, on to the polish. Yesterday the postie brought two polishes with him, and I really like them both, a lot. Here's China Glaze "Angel Wings" and "It's Alive!".
They're both from older collections- Angel Wings is from their 2012 "Holiday Joy" Xmas collection and "It's Alive!" is from the 2011 "Haunting Halloween" collection.

 "Angel Wings" and "It's Alive!"

Today I'm going to focus on It's Alive! because that's the one I used and it's also the one I am completely enamored with. And it is, of course, green ;)

It's Alive!

The polish is fantastic to work with- it's chock full of glitter but it doesn't clump or drag and it disperses beautifully over the nail. The glitter consists of a couple of different sizes, from quite finely milled to slightly chunkier, which adds to the depth and complexity of the polish.
The base itself is a wonderful dark, swampy green jelly and I could have easily managed opacity with only two coats, but I applied three out of habit.
Each coat was a breeze to apply and they dried fairly quickly too. After three coats the polish dried to a slightly gritty finish, but considering the amount of glitter involved it was still surprisingly smooth in comparison to other glitter heavy polishes I have used.

It's Alive!

What really made me happy was just how super sparkly the polish is on the nail, despite how easily the jelly achieves opacity. The polish also has this weird ability to look as if it is layered over a black base, even though I wore it as is, which I think is super cool. 
Can you tell that I really like this polish?

It's Alive!

It's Alive! is one of only a couple of China Glazes that I own as the brand is hard to come by here in Australia (I order all of mine on ebay). But I think I will have to expand on my collection as this polish really ticked all the boxes for me- it's super sparkly, it's an interesting shade of green, it has a lot of depth and complexity and, best of all, it applied like a dream.
Hell, it's such a nice formula I was even able to achieve a totally smooth, glassy finish with just one generous coat of Seche Vite, and we all know just how topcoat thirsty glitter polishes can be. 
I'm actually going to go back to see if my ebay seller has another bottle of this one, as I think it's going to be a real favourite.
Anyway, I'm off to make a cuppa tea and wait for my real estate agent to come and do her six monthly property inspection (such a PITA). I'm also waiting on a couple of new indie polishes later this week, so expect some more reviews soon :D
Em x