WOWZERS! Femme Fatale's "Nightsong Grotto"

Oh boy, I am so excited to show you today's polish! But first, I should get the usual stuff out of the way... Hi, how are you all? I hope you're well. I'm o.k- not great, a bit depressed, a bit lonely, but I'm getting through it. I am also waiting on a ridiculous amount of nail polish... damn you, all those facebook nail polish groups that are full of people like me ;)

Alrighty then, now lets get to it. Today I want to show you a simply sublime polish by Femme Fatale Cosmetics called "Nightsong Grotto". This is a teal jelly filled, almost overflowing, with all sorts of glitters. I love the combination of glitters used here, it makes this polish so, so interesting and gives it so much depth. Ohhh, I just love it! *rubs hands gleefully*
So, pictures :D

Isn't it gorgeous? What I love about it is the addition of the hot pink glitter, it makes this polish pop on the nail like nobodies business;

I just cannot convey how amazing this polish looks on the nail. It's so beautiful. And it's a great polish to use as well- the jelly base is the perfect consistency to achieve opacity in three coats whilst still allowing the glitter to show through each layer, giving it a delicious squishy depth that makes jellies so appealing to me.

There was no need to fish for any glitter, in fact I sometimes had to put some back in the bottle, but it all went onto the nail with no dramas. I did do a little bit of glitter placement with my last coat, but that's only because I'm pedantic and like to have everything looking "just so" before I finish up. I then added two coats of Scehe Vite and my nails were good to go. In fact, the jelly base was so easy to work with I had virtually no clean up either, which was awesome!

I love that Nightsong Grotto looks so different depending on the light, and how the various glitters all seem to play off each other and come to life as you move your fingers.
Thankfully Nightsong Grotto is currently available at Femme Fatale Cosmetics, so if I were you I would head over there now and snag a bottle. This really is a stunner and I suspect it will be one of those polishes that people will be trying to track down in the years to come.
Sophie, the gorgeous gal behind this line, is also a sweetheart and the customer service at Femme Fatale is excellent.
Really, I can't say enough about this company. And even better they are an Australian stockist for other indie brands, both Australian and international and they don't just stock nail polish either, they have all sorts of beautiful products to ohhh and ahhh over.

Anyway, that's it for me today. I've had a bit of a rough day, a few tears were shed and I left a couple of facebook groups after feeling like maybe I wasn't the right fit for them. Oh well, live and learn.
I hope you are all well and it makes me feel really good knowing that I have my very own small but dedicated readership who support and stand by me- it means a lot <3

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

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

ooohhhh pretty, my first Dollish Polish

Hello constant reader, I hope you're having a great week and that your coming weekend is just as enjoyable.
As you may have noticed, I tend to focus a lot on Australian indie polishes, and that's because we have amazing polish makers that deserve a hell of a lot of praise and I'm more than happy to task myself with trying out so many lovely lacquers- all in the name of research, of course ;)
However, ever since I stumbled onto the secret world of polish-aholics I have discovered what are called "de-stash sales", which are basically sales of polishes that people don't want for whatever reason- not the right colour, not their cuppa tea or they just don't get worn enough to justify the space that could be used for hoarding different bottles of polish.
And de-stash sales have given me an opportunity to try a lot of international indie brands that just haven't been on my radar or that I haven't had the money to try. Today's polish is one of the latter ones- I've heard of Dollish Polish but I have so many on my "needs" list I simply haven't gotten around to trying any of their wares until now.
So, drum roll please... Introducing Dollish Polish "Vampire's Coven";

This is such a gorgeous, squishy, vampy jelly- I love it. It's definitely a layering polish though, as the base is too sheer to achieve opacity in only a couple of coats, but it looks ah-mazing over a nice red (in this case Essence "do you speak love" which is a dark, one-coater red). I reckon it would also look fantastic over black too.

The polish itself is a sheer black jelly filled with various red and black squares, hexes and dots. There might even be the some hot pink glitter in there, but the base makes it a bit hard to tell. Either way, it all adds up to a delightfully deep, alluring polish.
For these pictures I ended up using three good coats of Vampire's Coven over the Essence red and sealed it all in with two coats of Seche Vite, just to add to that glossy depth that makes this polish so lovely, and I am beyond happy with the results.

It's just so squishy! I love it- I really want to sink my teeth into it's deep berry goodness, so they've definitely succeeded in the vampire stakes too (lol, so many bad puns, I'm so sorry haha).

I am definitely a fan of vampy reds, and it's polishes like this that remind me why (and make me think I really should wear them more often). I don't know when I'll be in a position to acquire more Dollish Polish, but it's definitely a matter of when, not if, because I am really taken with this one and I'm keen to try more.
You can find them over at Dollish Polish on Big Cartel and they ship internationally too, which is awesome for us Aussies.

Welp, that's it from me for now anyway, I'm still recovering from a terrible migraine and should probably keep my exposure to the computer screen down to a measly couple of hours while I still feel it lurking in the background.

Em xox