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

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

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