Here's the first of many, many posts featuring Glam Polish's Cast a Spell II collection. Today's polish? Pentacle.

OMG omg omg
You guys, I can't... I am just bowled over by what I received in the mail today. Yes, I got my much anticipated Glam Polish mail nail this arvo and holy crap, it is even better than I had hoped for (and my expctations were pretty damn high).
So, I'm going to show you just one of the polishes from the collection today, and it's one I didn't think I was going to like that much. Of course, I adore it now that I've tried it. And I think you'll see why in a moment :)

Glam Polish nail mail

So, as you can see, I bought the whole Cast a Spell II collection from Glam Polish, plus a bottle of Frankenslime 2.0 and another bottle of Maleficent because I love it and never want to run out. Yes, a little excessive, but keep in mind I haven't really gone on a nail polish mega buy for quite a while and I had been on a no-buy for a while in anticipation of buying this collection. So I'm gonna justify it, ok? Ok ;)

Anyway, this is Pentacle, a charcoal coloured polish that I'd describe as a holo lacquer filled with holo microglitter and tiny iridescent hexagon shaped glitter. The application is smooth and easy (as always) and required only two coats, although it does dry gritty so I also added two coats of seche vite to smooth it all out.

Pentacle

There's really nothing more I can say  about Pentacle except you really need this polish ;) I have a couple of dark grey glitter polishes, but none of them are quite like this and the sparkle you get in sunlight is jaw droppingly amazing. Plus those little hexagon glitters add a beautiful touch that makes this truly unique, it is a definite must have if you like darker colours.

Pentacle

The other cool thing about this polish is that it can look subdued too, so if you're allowed to wear polish at work, just not "bling bling" polish, you could probably sneak this one past the powers that be. See? Totally subdued, just don't let your hands be seen under down-lights or in direct sunlight and you'll be fine ;)

Pentacle

So, that's the first of nine Cast a Spell II polishes that I have here, ready to swatch. Plus I also scored Frankenslime 2.0, which is equally spellbinding (see what I did there? I'm a comedic genius I tells ya, genius!) so that's ten polishes I need to try *phew!* It's a burden being a polish-aholic, make no mistake ;)
As for you, dear reader, well you'd best prepare for a lot of posts and a lot of pics over the next few weeks.
In the meantime, get yourself over to the Glam Polish site and have a squizz at their polishes, there's so many beautiful products with a level of quality that makes them one of Australia's best indie polish makers. Definitely worth a look-see.

Until next time, ~love and polish for all~

Em xox

Lets all give a warm welcome to another new aussie indie, Resinail Lacquer

Howdy folks, hope you're all doing well (or at least not doing terribly anyway). I'm still battling the black dog of depression and I'm very tired and over it as it's been months and months of feeling awful and, even worse in a way, not feeling anything at all.

Anyway, that's me in a nutshell at this point in time, but you didn't some here to read about how depressed I am, or the ins and outs of living with mental illness (although I do want to write a post about how nail polish helps me cope). So onto the polish.

Today I want to share with you a lovely new line of polishes by Resinail Lacquer, another Aussie indie fresh on the scene.
Michelle (the brains behind the brand) kindly asked me to swatch and review several of her polishes, and I am delighted to say that each and every one was lovely, the formulas were all very consistent and easy to use and the colours are fantastic. I now have around 4 or 5 Resinail Lacquers on my ever expanding "buy" list.

O.K, first up is the beautiful Fuchsia Fade, a thermal polish that changes from a pale, pearly pink when warm to a bright fuchsia when cold. This is my first ever thermal polish that actually works, and I am thrilled with how it looks. I definitely want to buy more thermals now that I know how amazing they can be.

Fuchsia Fade

These pics show the colour range from cold (the top photo) to warm (bottom). I used three thin coats and one of seche vite to top it all off. A very smooth, easy formula to use.
And these next pics are just for the sake of it because they're so pretty :)

Fuchsia Fade

Next up is a very pretty silver holographic polish called Urban Glitz. This is probably best suited as a topper as it is at the moment, so I used it over a China Glaze silver polish on my index and ring fingers and alone on my middle and little fingers.
I only used two coats over the China Glaze, but needed four generous coats to achieve opacity on my other fingers. Again I used a good coat of Seche Vite to seal the polish in and add a lovely shine.
Urban Glitz is a combination of silver holo, slightly larger holographic microglitter and silver holographic hex glitter. In the shade it's a very pretty silver polish, but when the right light hits it look out, it's rainbow city :)

Urban Glitz

As you can see, Urban Glitz is warmer when worn alone and is cooler in colour when worn over the silver undie. Either way I think it's a very pretty polish.

Urban Glitz

And finally, tied with Fuchsia Fade as my favourite is Flamingo Flakes, a gorgeous pink jelly polish filled with holographic microglitter. It's so eye-catching and is, like most of my faves, a definite driving hazard as it's hard to keep your eyes on the road when this beauty starts shining and flashing with rainbows and sparkle.

Flamingo Flakes

 It's hard to get the sparkles but here's some more pics, just because :)

Flamingo Flakes

So, that's my first, but definitely not last, review of Resinail Lacquer. At the moment shipping is only in Australia, but that may change so keep an eye out if you require international postage.
I am really pleased to have been asked to review these polishes and I am absolutely stoked with the quality and beauty of all three lacquers. I have no reservations in encouraging you to go check out Michelle's other products, and I am really looking forward to seeing what else Resinail Lacquer come up with next.
Also, check out Bab's Nails who has done a wonderful review of Resinail and has some gorgeous swatches to ohhh and ahhh over too.

And, as you can see on my disclosure page, my reviews are always honest and in no way biased in favour of, or against, the products I have been sent to review.

Welp, that's it for me today and I look forward to catching up again soon.

Until next time, as always, ~love and glitter 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

A quick post today featuring Powder Perfect's "Elation"

Well, I just couldn't leave well enough alone and ended up changing my polish again today, because why the hell not.
I also attempted to make a light box so I could take nice photos inside as it's winter here and the weather is pretty gloomy. It looks right, but i doesn't do what I was hoping it would. So I ended up going out and taking pictures of my hand in the rain again, most likely cementing the neighbour's view that I'm a crazy lady along the way.

Pictured; failure

I honestly have no idea why the damn thing doesn't do what it's supposed to, after all, it's a pretty basic concept. But it really doesn't help with my picture taking, at all. I suspect I'm just really crap at crafty stuff.
I also decided to attempt a little stamping along with my basic manicure, and again it didn't quite work out how I pictured it in my head. But it's still better than the bloody light box ;)

Powder Perfect's "Elation"

Thankfully Jacinta, from Powder Perfect, is a lot better at this home made business than I am and she's created yet another stunning, keep-your-eyes-on-the-road, OMG sparkles! microglitter polish.


Elation, part of the Euphoria Collection, is a teal jelly microglitter that is very similar in formula to yesterday's polish, Kevin!.
It's really easy to apply and I only needed two thin coats to get full coverage, with no dragging or balding along the way. It dried super fast and, while I guess it could be worn as a textured polish, I think it really comes into its own with several good coats of Seche Vite or similar.
Sure, it requires a fairly generous couple of coats of top coat to get a totally smooth finish, but really, when something looks this good I don't care about using three coats instead of one.

The colour itself is simply gorgous- really rich and complex. There's a few different coloured microglitters in there- although it gets a little hard to know what's what as it's all in a teal jelly base- but from what I could see there's blue, teal, holographic and maybe even a little bit of very pale gold. Whatever the combination, it all comes together on the nail and looks fabulous.

So, it's another win from Powder Perfect and, unlike most of my reviews, this one is still available (the other two polishes in the Euphoria Collection are also stunning and well worth a gander).

And because I figure there's no harm in sharing my total crafty failure, have a look at the pictures my light box managed to create... oh, and these are after I stuffed around with contrast and exposure. Before I tweaked the settings it looked like I had taken the photos in a shadow box, designed specifically to hide any beauty and mask the true colour of anything.
I think they speak for themselves really ;)

I guess I'm going to have to buy one of those ebay cheapie light box kits, even though this should have been ridiculously easy to do myself. At least I only managed to injure one finger with the box cutter whilst making it. That's gotta count for something, right?

Hope everyone is well and go check out Powder Perfect if you're in the market for a new polish, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Em xox