I've got another Aussie indie to intoduce to you... SM Polish :)

Hi guys, long time no post, how are you all? Well, I hope.
Ok, lets get down to business, today I want to share with you a new Aussie indie called SM Polish, which is handmade up in Queensland by a lovely lady by the name of Shakeela and has only been around for a few months.
They have quite a range of polishes already and today I am going to show you some lacquers from the Precious Gem Collection and the Farewell Winter, Hello Spring flakes collection.

First up lets have a look at the lovely precious gem polishes.
Application wise they all applied in a similar fashion- being packed with microglitter and shimmer they are a little thicker than a crelly or creme, so require a light touch and patience between coats, but they achieved opacity with only two coats and are very sparkly, especially in the sun.
You could wear them either as a textured polish or, as I prefer to wear them, with a couple of coats of topcoat for a smooth finish. However, I have swatched them here without topcoat to show you what they look like as is.

First up is one of my favourites, Tourmaline Crystal. This is a beautiful olive-leaning green lacquer that has sparks of true green, gold and bronze throughout. It's a very complex colour and really lovely both in the shade and outside;

Tourmaline Crystal

And here we have Shimmering Garnet, a silvery shimmering polish flecked throughout with red microglitter that adds a lovely flash of colour and sparkle in the sun;

Shimmering Garnet

This next one is probably my favourite, which took me by surprise actually as I've never really gravitated towards gold, but Tiger's Eye is just gorgeous- a soft gold polished filled with gold holo microglitter that flash green, red and copper. Really lovely;

Sky Blue Topaz is just that, a shimmery sky blue lacquer with scattered bright blue microglitter. Very soft and delicate;

Sky Blue Topaz

And finally this is Tantalising Tanzanite, a soft purple colour that has lots of shimmer and, like the others in this collection, has complimentary microglitter for that added sparkle;

Tantalising Tanzanite

I was also sent some of SM Polish's Farewell Winter, Hello Spring flakes collection, which consists of large, irregular shaped glittery flakes of colour in a clear base alongside smaller, matching coloured glitter. These polishes are meant to be worn as a topper, although I did apply them to one bare nail in both of my swatches, just to give you an idea of the sort of coverage you get with one coat.

The flake lacquers need to be applied a trifle carefully- I found if I used the usual painting-style brush stroke then the brush removed most of the large flakes as I moved down the nail. Instead I tried dabbing the polish onto the nail and was able to get a much better dispersal of both large and small pieces of glitter this way.

For the following swatches I applied "Get Lost Jack Frost" over FOA's Mystique and "Spring Comes Alive" over FOA's Wicked Witch of the West. I then applied a generous coat of Poshe for a smooth finish and was good to go.

Here's Get Lost, Jack Frost;

Get Lost, Jack frost

And here's Spring Comes Alive;

Spring Comes Alive

SM Polish also have a latex based skin protector called Spic and Span that is perfect for nail art clean up and they also have a latex based undercoat called Take It All Off that's designed to be used under glitter heavy polish for ease of removal.

Now, I usually use craft glue for a peel of base coat and have never used a latex based base coat before and I'm not sure how long it will hold up- I found I got a good day and a half's wear before moisture got under my polish and weakened the bond.
But I am also very hard on my nails and never wear gloves when doing the washing up and what have you.

The most important thing with any peel off base coat is to make sure you cap your tips and really seal the polish well with top coat, and if you do that and wear gloves when doing the dishes etc you may get several days out of a mani before the base loses its grip.

I also found that, unlike a glue-type peel off base coat Take It All Off dried very quickly as I was applying it, which could be great if you hate waiting for your peel of base coat to dry, but it might be an issue in the hotter weather as it may dry too quickly, resulting in pulling as you apply it- just something to keep in mind.
It did however remove really neatly and easily with no damage whatsoever to the nail and no polish left on the nail either, which is always a good thing when it comes to glitter removal ;)

All in all I was quite pleased with my first ever SM Polishes- their polishes are very pretty and also very reasonably priced for an indie at $9 a bottle. I definitely think they're off to a good start and I hope they have a promising future ahead of them.

You can find their etsy store here so go check them out and see if anything takes your fancy.

Until next time ~love and polish for all~

Em xox

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

Today's post; Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, by Grace-Full nail polish

Hi everyone, how's life treating you? Are you looking forward to xmas?  Personally I'm just scowling my way through the so called festive season, waiting for it all to be over for another year.
Yeah, I kinda hate Xmas.
But, I do have some goodies to share that would make for some fantabulous xmas pressies, so that's gotta be good, right?

A few posts ago I was very excited to be able to introduce you to a new polish on the Aussie indie scene, Grace-Full Nail Polish.
Theresa, the brains behind the brand, runs a well known blog called It's All About the Polish and, with her obvious love of polish combined with knowing what makes a really good polish, it came as no surprise that she eventually started dabbling with her very own creations. And so Grace-Full polish was born.

I really love the Grace-Full lacquers that I have tried so far, so imagine my excitement when I was asked to review polishes from Grace-Full's newest collection, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

As the name implies, this is a bright and cheerful collection, full of bold cremes, mega holo glitter and gorgeous shimmers. There is something for everyone here, with colours ranging from soft purple creme to bright lime shimmer to deep magenta glitter and I have 5 to share with you today.

Lets start with the two crelly shimmers. The shimmers do contain a lot of flakie/shimmer goodness, but even so the formula was very easy to work with, although you should wait a little between coats. I used 3 thin coats and, because of the sheer amount of flakies, the polish does dry slightly matte but a coat of Poshe gave it a great glossy finish.

First up is Hayley, a super vivid blue filled with blue flakies that gives it a fantastic reflective shimmer;

Hayley

Now, I make no secret of the fact that I just don't really like blues. I like turquoise and aqua and teal, but true blues really just leave me cold (lol get it- blue? cold? I am a comedic genius I tells ya!) but I have worn Hayley twice in the last week, so that should give you an idea of how fabulous I think it is.
This blue just grabs you by the eyeballs and demands that you show it some respect. It is so bright and shimmery and gorgeous. Really top work.

But not to be outdone, lime green queen Karen saunters onto the scene and ups the ah-mazing factor even more;

Karen

I mean, really. Such a stunner of a colour. Needless to say, I adore Karen. This baby is packed with green flakies that give it a luminous gold glow that is so beautiful- if you have a thing for vibrant greens you need this one. For real.

All up there are a total of 5 bright, bold, shimmery crelly flakie lacquers available in the collection at $9.50 each or $42.75 for all 5.

Next up we have the cremes.
Now, these aren't thick cremes like some, they're almost like a creme/crelly hybrid- when I applied my first coat I thought I might need 3 generous coats to build up opacity because of the crelly-like feel to them, but surprisingly I only needed 2 thin coats. 
I also found them to be pretty glossy as they are, but for that extra shiny look and to minimise wear and tear I still applied a coat of Poshe anyway (top coat is a must really).

Here we have Jessica, a very pretty medium purple with a slightly dusky feel;

Jessica

And Michele, a beautiful Jade green;

Michele

I must say, Theresa really does know how to make a good green- I have nothing quite like this colour and I really like how it manages to be subdued yet bold at the same time.

As with the shimmers, there are a total of 5 cremes in the collection. The cremes are priced at $8 each and are also available as a set with the addition of a complimentary topper called Maggie, full of matte orange, blue, fuchsia, white, and green glitters, in dots, triangles, diamonds and hex shapes, for $45 (Maggie is available individually for $9.50 too).

Finally we have Jayne, a holo microglitter jelly. Now, this is packed with microglitter but it never gets too thick to work with and I was able to apply 3 thin coats with no drama. Again, because of the microglitter, the polish dried to a texture finish so I just topped it with a generous coat of Poshe. 

I will add that this contains the most sparkly holographic microglitter I have ever seen. Seriously, my iphone didn't know what to do, poor thing.

Jayne

I really love the colour of this polish and the level of sparkle is just out of this world. Plus it's a surprisingly easy formula to work with when you consider just how much holo microglitter is in there. Indeed, the formulas of every Grace-Full polish I have tried have been fantastic so far. 

As with the other styles in this collection there are 5 glitter polishes, ranging from microglitters to crelly glitters, available individually for $9.50 each.

And that's it! What do you think? I love how the polishes really seem to epitomise the whole Girls Just Wanna Have Fun theme- I think Theresa has nailed it (again).

The whole range is currently available through the Grace-Full Nail Polish site, as well as some very cute Xmas mini's (ideal for stocking stuffers), and the Nail That Accent core collection, which consists of glitter polish specifically designed to be worn over a base colour as an accent polish (although they can be worn as is and are super pretty).

Oh, and I may have treated myself to some Grace-Full stocking stuffers myself (I have been eyeing the Nail That Accent range ever since I first saw it, and I needed some of the other crelly shimmers and cremes from this collection too... uh oh!) so no doubt you'll be seeing some more of Grace-Full products in the very near future.

I hope that Xmas isn't driving you all to distraction like it is me, and I look forward to posting again real soon.

So until next time, ~love and polish for all~
Em x

PS;
Please see my "product disclosure" page regarding my reviews. Needless to say, I don't back a product unless I think it deserves it, regardless of whether I paid for it myself or if it was provided to me for my honest appraisal.
Em x

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

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