Oh boy, I really *am* smitten with Smitten Polish

Hello all, after so long I just had to post about one of my new favourite polishes, although I have absolutely no idea if anyone is bothering to follow my blog any more because of the shockingly sporadic posting, and for that I apologise. 

I have been struggling with some significant depression- this latest episode has been going on for at least a year- I know this because I remember I didn't go outside at all summer 2013/14 and I didn't go outside this summer either. So it's been pretty damn debilitating, hence the radio silence here at Attempting Fantastic.

Mind you, I do post to my IG account on an almost daily basis, and it's 99% polish with the odd cat post and even rarer kid pic, so if you want to see lots of pretty polishes you can always follow me there (@attemptingfantastic).

O.K, lets post some goddamn polish! w00t!
Today I am going to show you a U.S based indie polish brand called Smitten Polish. And I must say, their name is very apt, as I am absolutely smitten and am on a slow, but determined mission to acquire as many of their polishes as I can without declaring bankruptcy in the process (damn you AUD to USD conversion rate ;_;).

Date Night inside under fluorescent lighting

This gorgeous baby is called Date Night and it is the most vibrant holo polish I own. Date Night is a crelly/jelly polish that is incredibly saturated- it's almost a one coater- and it looks as beautiful inside under normal lighting conditions as it does under holo friendly lighting, which isn't something I can say for most other holos.
In fact, it's that underwhelming "inside look" that most holos have that has stopped me from really getting into them, but now that I have discovered that you really can have the best of both worlds- pretty holo flame and intense pigmentation- I am starting to find myself looking at holos over almost every other finish, and Smitten Polish has played a big part in that.

Date Night inside under fluro lighting

Application-wise I used two thin coats of Date Night and one coat of Poshe top coat (which didn't appear to dull the holo) over a double layer of base coat, just to be on the safe side; I find when a polish is super pigmented you run the risk of staining, so taking the time to apply a decent base coat is always a good idea.
Mind you, I could have easily gone without top coat as Date Night is quite glossy on its own, but I'm impatient and like how fast Poshe and Seche Vite dry my polish.
The polish dries super smooth too, and I found it has amazing wear- I am very rough on my manis as I don't use rubber gloves when doing the dishes and housework (naughty naughty), so they usually require touch ups or complete removal after a couple of days, but Date Night didn't even have tip wear 3 days in.

 

Date Night in direct sunlight

Oh, and it makes a great base for nail stamping too :)

Date Night inside under fluro lighting

At the moment I also own Nose So Bright- a true red linear holo, which is a bit of a rarity in the world of holos. Like Date Night, Nose So Bright has a brilliant formula and is a real stunner... in fact, I think I might wear it tomorrow :)

And, because I'm in love, I have a couple more of their polishes coming and will absolutely share pics with you all when I swatch them.

In the meantime you can buy Smitten Polish over on their site, as well as at various stockists listed on Smitten's website. 

Oh, and I can also say that their customer service is excellent too, with the owner being really helpful and accommodating, with inquiries being answered in a super friendly and prompt manner. 

Smitten Polish are, IME, a great, customer focused small business that make amazing polish, and it's these sorts of indies that I love to support and share with other polish lovers- it's such an over saturated market that great indies can sometimes get lost in the noise, you know?  So lets support the good indies out there, share the word and look fabulous while we do it :)

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

Em xox

From Powder Perfect- Love Angeline and Aliquid

Hi guys, how are you all? Well, as I mentioned in my last post, Jacinta from the gorgeous Powder Perfect has sent me some nail polishes to review, so let's get to it.

Love! Angeline is a US based indie polish maker and the two lacquers I have been sent to review are from her blogger collaboration;
Stargazing Monster, a blackened purple jelly filled with small holo glitter and a warm mutlicoloured shimmer, created with the help of blogger MrsLochness!, inspired by the colors in the sky at twilight and Let Me Fly, a beautiful teal holo filled with a green-blue shimmer and blue and green iridescent glitters, created with LacquerLoon, in a homage to the delightful colours found in the plumage of peacocks.

First up is Stargazing Monsters. The formula for this was great, I used three thin coats for these swatches and topped it off with a coat of Poshe. I like the way the shimmer gives this polish a nice complexity, so it's not completely reliant on the holo glitter for that special something...

Stargazing Monsters

The polish looks quite black under certain lighting, yet in the sunlight you can really see how this is actually a blackened purple base. The shimmer is strong regardless of lighting which I really like, and the holo glitter really gives it a lovely sparkle too.

Up next is let Me Fly. I must say I found the formula on this one to be a little bit harder to work with. There is a lot of glitter and so on in the polish, so it gets quite thick on the brush by the time you're up to the third nail.
I only needed two coats here and again topped it off with Poshe for a nice glassy smooth finish. I didn't really see the holo effect with this one, but the shimmer and the lovely colours of the glitter makes this a really beautiful polish to look at, regardless.

Let Me Fly

The second lot of polish Jacinta sent me are by Aliquid Lacquer, from their Silmarillion collection, based on the writings of the same title by Tolkien.
 
This is Hidden City, a stunning forest green holographic polish finished with shimmery gold flakes. 
The formula is great, two easy coats and oh wow, what a colour... I love this one. I topped it with Poshe and didn't experience any dulling of the linear holo effect either.

Hidden City

I really like this polish, and I don't own any greens quite like this. The formula was a breeze to work with, not at all temperamental the way some holographic polishes can be and, even though it's a dark colour, there was still a lovely holo flame on the nail without any dulling of the green. And in the shade the golden flakes give the polish a lovely depth that keeps it interesting.

Finally we have Day Shall Come Again, a rusty burgundy with a strong gold to bronzey-green shift. 
Again the formula was excellent. I used three thin coats for these swatches and one coat of Poshe. This is a really interesting colour, quite delicate with a fabulous shifting property that is almost strong enough to call a duochrome.

Day Shall Come Again

Both Love! Angeline and Aliquid Lacquer are available through Powder Perfect here in Australia, along with some other fantastic polish brands.

Powder Perfect also make their own stunning polishes, and they have a grogeous Xmas range out at the moment that you really should check out... I have Merry Xmas ya Filthy Animals and it's soooo lush :) 
Powder Perfect's customer service and range is lovely and it was a pleasure to review these polishes for Jacinta, plus there's plenty on their site to keep any polish lover happy, including nail vinyls and fab nail polish-based resin jewelry.

I hope you enjoyed these reviews and, as you know, I always give an honest appraisal of the polishes, whether I buy them myself or if they are sent to me for review.

Anyway, I have some more gorgeous new polishes I just have to swatch, so until next time
~love and polish for all~

Em xox

Today is ILNP's Kings and Queens... bow down before the glory ;-)

Hey all, today is a pretty brief post, I just had to share the amazing Kings and Queens by the American indie, ILNP. They make the most amazing multichromes, but they also make sublime holo polishes and they have a new, fantabulous, irridescent opaque flakie collection coming out which I need, so so badly...
But today is about Kings and Queens, a medium purple holographic nail polish that is all kinds of awesome. So lets have a look, shall we?

Kings and Queens

As you can see, K&Q's is delightful in the shade, with a rich purple colour coming to the fore all subtly highlighted with a beautiful golden shimmer.

In indirect sunlight the colour lightens to a beautiful berry, and then when you step into sunlight it explodes into an extraordinary linear holo flame that is simply breathtaking...

The formula is easy to work with, and I used no base coat with this lacquer and experienced no issues with balding or anything of that sort. Two coats was enough for full opacity and I topped it all off with one coat of Poshe which, as you can see, didn't dull the holo at all.

ILNP is available through their site and they offer worldwide shipping, which is awesome for those of us down under.
I hope you enjoyed this quickie post- I have some really gorgeous polishes on their way to review, so keep your eyes peeled for those.

Until next time, ~love and polish for all~

Em xox

Introducing Grace-Full nail polish

Hi guys, how are you doing? I'm super excited today as I have been sent some nail polish to review by the lovely Theresa of It's All About the Polish- a blog I have been following for ages now as Theresa's swatches are immaculate and her nail art is accessible for even n00bs such as myself.
Anyway, when I heard that she was dabbling in the world of polish making I was super stoked as I knew she would know what makes a great polish and, hopefully, turn that knowledge into a good polish herself. Well, Theresa has done that and more, creating polishes that not only apply beautifully but are also unique amongst my ever growing collection.
So, today I would like to introduce you to the lovely Grace-Full Nail Polish. But before I do that, just a quick word on the name- Grace-Full is named after Grace, Theresa's little girl who was only with us for a few short days before passing away. I think the name is beautiful and such a wonderful way to honour Grace's memory as well as reminding us that, although our loved ones may be gone, they are far from forgotten.
And with that, on to the polish.
Grace-Full currently has three collections, a core group of glitter toppers called Nail That Accent (I have seen swatches of these and need them all), a Xmas collection and another group based on Lord of the Rings called the Fellowship Collection.
 
For today's review I have been given four lacquers from the Fellowship Collection and a lovely glitter polish from the Xmas collection.
Application wise all were good, the crellies being a special surprise for me as I usually have a really hard time with them, but these went on so easily- I might be a crelly convert yet! The glitters, while being somewhat thicker due to the amount of glitter, also went on very easily. The trick is to keep the coats thin and that was easy to do.

Grace-Full Nail Polish

So, lets start with the Fellowship Collection.
First up is You Have My Bow, inspired by Legolas Greenleaf. It is a bright, emerald green jelly filled with different sized and shaped glitter, from tiny gold microglitter to iridescent green triangles. This is three easy coats with two of Seche Vite on top;

You Have My Bow

Next up is the stunning The White Rider, a pale silver polish chock full of very fine holographic glitter, named after the transformation of Gandalf the Grey to his final incarnation as Gandalf the White. This is a real eye catching polish, the rainbows never stop flashing, so pretty. I have used this several times now as an accent nail also, it's so beautiful...

The White Rider

This next polish is the gorgeous Lady of the Woods, named after Galadriel, the Lady of Light. This is a soft, creamy white crelly filled with gold and platinum flakes, holographic microglitter and iridescent glitter. This is such a delicate, feminine lacquer, very understated yet still eye catching with the gold flashing out and the iridescent glitter coming alive in the sunlight.
It was very hard to capture, but hopefully you get some idea of how lovely it is.
I had to use three coats, but only because my nails are so stained that it actually shows through light colours. I sealed this one with one coat of Poshe;

Lady of the Woods

The final polish sent to me from The Fellowship Collection is also my favourite. This is The Fellowship Cloak, named after the colour shifting cloaks given to the Fellowship of the Ring by Galadriel.
This lacquer is an absolutely gorgeous sage green crelly filled with just the right amount of glitter, from copper to iridescent blue-green and delicate silver. I adore this polish, I didn't want to take it off. I don't have anything like it in my collection and I just love it. And, much to my amazement, this applied like butter. In fact, both crellies were a delight to use. I tip my hat to Theresa for managing to make a crelly I enjoyed applying ;)
I only needed two coats here and one of Poshe to seal the deal...

The Fellowship Cloak

And the last polish I was sent is from Grace-Full's Xmas collection. This is Merry, a festive polish filled with red, green and gold microglitter. This is super sparkly and easy to apply. I almost managed to get away with one coat but applied two out of habit. I then used two coats of Seche Vite to smooth it all out;

Merry

All up I have to say I am really impressed with these lacquers. Every one applied well and looked gorgeous and it's clear that a lot of thought has gone into each one- even the care taken with the glitter levels in the crellies show a great attention to detail that makes these polishes well worth a look-see.
There are currently three collections available over at Grace-Full and if you love well made aussie Indies then head on over and take a peek, there's something there for all tastes.
And congratulations to Theresa for entering the nail polish game with such beautiful products- I know I will definitely be adding more Grace-Full polishes to my collection and I look forward to seeing just what Theresa comes up with next.

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

Please note; these polishes were sent to me for my honest appraisal