Emily de Molly Majestic Flight

Right now we are in the nebulous in-between time of sale and new collection releases. Isn't this the right time for a ride through the stash and pull some older untrieds? During my recent dig through my stash I came across Emily de Molly's Majestic Flight - what an inspiring name to start 2014 - no? Majestic Flight is a dark turquoise or bright teal jelly base filled with green, purple and orange hex glitters as well as smaller blue glitter and - as far as my uneducated eye can detect - silver micro glitter.

I applied two coats of Emily de Molly Majestic Flight over Essence Hardening Nail Base. The formula of Majestic Flight is excellent - while a true jelly it is rather pigmented and provides a lovely opacity already after two coats. Despite the amount of glitter it spreads easily on the nail and the glitter lays flat and nice on the surface of the nail. I turned the bottle upside down about half an hour before I painted my nails and no fishing or digging for any glitters was needed. Dry time is so-so, while it remains sticky to the touch for quite some time, it is not overly sensitive to possible dents (always a high running risk at my end). It seems as if the polish dries from bottom up which of course doesn't make sense. One layer of Glisten & Glow HK Girl not only added my beloved high shine to Majestic Flight but smoothed out some few soft bumps and dried the mani completely.

Final thoughts: oh well, I am sure I am not the only one finding gems in the stash that got neglected because of too many new creations arriving at the doorstep. Emily de Molly Majestic Flight is certainly the perfect example for this. What I particularly like about Majestic Flight, is its appropriateness year in and out - I bought it in the summer months and look how beautiful it looks on a dark and murky winter day!

I ordered Emily de Molly Majestic Flight with Llarowe.

I look forward to reading your comments - thanks for visiting!
Christine

Polished Marvels Review of 2013 Part III: favorite nail polishes

This was at the same time my favorite and the hardest review to compose. Part I favorite brands can be viewed here and Part II covering my favorite Indie Brands here. How could I possibly limit the polishes to a number that simply didn't hold the majority of them? This year I jumbled them all together, no sorting color or brand wise, some brands appear more than once, some colors give repeated appearance. What they have in common on top of it? They stayed at the front of my nail polish memory to the day.

I start with what I would call my probably favorite polish of the year - the honor goes to Colors by Llarowe All Bidness. Its incredible complexity got me staring at my nails day in and out (grateful I never hit any lamp post or running into people while having this on my nails). I never got tired turning and twisting my hands to detect yet another color or shine:

Colors by Llarowe All Bidness original post

As striking and mesmerizing to my eyes is Elevation Polish Pic de Sotllo - a simple straight forward cream, what a contradiction to the above but this blue? It must come from out of this world…….

Elevation Polish Pic de Sotllo original post

Vampy is definitely my most worn look on my nails and Elevation Polish Toubkal is to me an epitome of vampy and subtly sparkly (and one of the very few polishes I own a back-up bottle of):

Elevation Polish Toubkal original post

and yet another Elevation Polish - Jengish Chokusu was in my eyes the most beautiful soft turquoise of 2013

Elevation Polish Jengish Chokusu original post

Now let's stay on turquoise territory for a while - I was into ALL sort of turquoise this spring and summer and one of the most captivating, saturated and vibrant turquoise I came across was Bondi Teal  Magnolia

Bondi Teal Magnolia original post

… and turquoise in glitter…. Emily de Molly's Monet's Garden original post

The most delicate neutral polish I added to my collection this year was Picture Polish Majesty, another Collaboration Shade, this gem was created by Sahrish Adeel

Picture Polish Majesty original post

I have swooned over Crows Toes already in my yesterday's post so here are two more stunners released this year - the first one is One Trick Pony, a purple charcoal holo

Crows Toes One Trick Pony original post

And of course, naturellement, naturalmente, natürlich Indian Summer, the most awesome duo chrome out there original post

Textured polishes hit big this year, I remember the mixed feelings of the first reviews. To be honest I was swept from my feet by my first textured polish and eagerly ventured into gritty territory exploring all available brands - that was until I received some Isadora Sugar Crush polishes. To the day, they are my favorites

Isadora Sugar Crush Pool original post

If push comes to shove holo polishes are my favorites this year. Most of my purchases were probably holos (now guess how many untrieds/unshown there still are in my drawers). Girly Bits Bachelor Button remains one of my favorites: vivid yet delicate, the holo visible yet a pigmented base - in short this polish looks beautiful in any lighting

Girly Bits Bachelor's Button original post

Last year I still was all over glitter (any form except bar glitters which continue to remind me of paper snippets) this year only few really got me drooling but the most outstanding, spectacular one clearly is Fish by Nail Junkie Polish.

Nail Junkie Polish Fish original post

You didn't expect to see no further holo polishes in my review of 2013 I hope! Pahlish Olea Eurpaea is such a complex and multi faceted polish that has another finish or look depending on the light, you never get tired to ogle your nails - I promise ;-)

I finish with a BANG! A England Excalibur reborn had me close to fainting the second I applied the first brush stroke of the first coat. Original post

Formula wise all of the above were wonderful to apply, while this sounds like a über-boring advert in the case of this review it is certainly true (as all the adverts state too) since not necessarily visible, the formula plays a major role in my rankings. Polishes that are tricky and challenging to apply are hardly ever in for another round on my nails. And however nice the end result might look, I would never consider them in a list of favorites.

And while all of the above have the one or the other "special effect" I do need a classic red once in a while - here are my two most used reds of 2013, both by La Couleur Couture

LaCC 1945 original post

LaCC 1940 original post

Of course I am more than eager to learn from you if any of the above grace your collection and what your personal favorites were in 2013!

Thanks for stopping by - have a wonderful day!!!
Christine

Emily de Molly Indigo Flow

Oh my, that Emily de Molly launch with Llarowe was one crazy experience - and I was shocked about my determination to make it through payment procedure and get those babies back home - LOL!!! One of the three polishes I ordered is an awesome blue holo - Indigo Flow:

I applied three coats of Emily de Molly Indigo Flow over Essence XXL Nail Thickener. I did try an aqua base coat but frankly - Indigo Flow was easier to apply over my regular base coat than over the aqua base :-O!!! The formula is impeccable, the pigmentation dense and it dries to an elegant shine.

Final thoughts: Indigo Flow certainly has not as the amount of holo rainbows as some other brands. BUUUUUT it's high base color pigmentation make this polish a beauty also in the shade or indoors and avoid looking dull and flat as the stronger holos I know (read Nfu Oh or Fnug). However hit by the sun your nails will start radiating the most beautiful rainbow holo - sigh - just awesome!!!

Indigo Flow reminded me of Cirque Bejeweled - let's have a look:

Yep - you see correctly - dupe alarm!!! If I stare for a while on my screen I see the smallest difference between Emily de Molly Indigo Flow and Cirque Bejeweled: Indigo Flow is a tiny tad lighter and definitely dries glossier than Bejeweled. Now which is which? Ring and index: three coats of Emily de Molly Indigo Flow, pinkie and middle two coats of Bejeweled. And here you have the last difference though not visible: Indigo Flow is not quite as pigmented as Bejeweled. But as far as my judgement goes those two can safely be classified as dupes and nope, no need to own both.

But look at this holomania and please note - this picture was NOT edited!!!

Final thoughts: This time round there is really absolutely no reason to own both Emily de Molly Indigo Flow and Cirque Bejeweled. Given the frenzy around the Emily de Molly launches with some of the e-tailers it might be easier to go for Cirque. But to be very honest, I could not suggest to buy either the one or the other - they are both equally stunning. Why I do have both? Hmmm I have only one excuse: I hit "add to cart" without thinking - LOL!!!

I order Emily de Molly polishes with Llarowe and MeiMei Signatures. Cirque is available with a couple of e-tailers: Pshiiit Boutique, Harlow & Co, MeiMei Signatures. I order them mostly through their own website though.

I look forward to reading your comments - thanks for visiting!!!

Christine

Saturday Skittelette with Bourjois

Two weeks ago I did a massive polish swap with my IG friend @natacha_wears_ a_tutu. She sent me a whole pack of Bourjois, Kiko and the mini set of the Essie Resort Collection 2013 - thank you my dear, you really made my day!!! I love each and every of the polishes - I can tell, I had all of them on at least one nail already - LOL!!!

Of course I wanted to do something with them immediately, what better than doing one of my Saturday Skittelettes with some Bourjois nail polish?

Ingredients:

From left: Bourjois Blue no Blues, Emily de Molly Fifth Element, Bourjois Prepp'hibiscus

Recipe:

Pinkie: two coats of Bourjois Blue no Blues

Ring: three coats of Emily de Molly Fifth Element

all other nails: three coats of Bourjois Prepp'hibiscus

Bourjois Blue no Blues is from their 1 Seconde line and a label on the bottle reads Gel Silicone Texture. One thing is for sure - this baby dries down to a super maximal high shine!!! The long stem of the 1 Seconde line makes the brush nice to hold but also loaded with polish. While the width of the brush is very convenient I had to be careful about the amount of polish flowing on my pinkie. This definitely will be of less concern on my wider nails though. 

Bourjois Prepp'hibiscus is from their SO Laque Glossy line and the bottle promises up to 10 days wear - I will never be able to try test this statement though, I will not have the patience to walk the planet for 10 days with the same colors on my nails - LOL!!! The formula of Prepp'hibiscus is fantastic, each of the three coats went on flawlessly and quick. Two coats are sufficient for full opacity. The funny thing - the polish looks darker at two coats and gets a boost of brightness upon the third coat. Since I opted for bright and vivid I went for the third coat. Dry time is normal.

Emily de Molly Fifth Element: here three coats definitely were core - the base color is too sheer, well unless you would use a similar colored base that is. The application is excellent and there is just enough glitter on the brush. However, those pretty red glitter gets drowned in the base color. I dabbed on three extra hex-shaped red glitter pieces to bring the color contrast forward. Compared to other glitters this was a piece of cake with Fifth Element. The glitter very willingly jumped on my wooden stick and let themselves get placed wherever I wanted them - no further pushing or dragging required.

Final thoughts: Merci mille fois @natacha_wears_ a_tutu - those Bourjois are AWESOME (as are the others). Those colors are channelling summer perfectly and I found this Skittelette so happy and bright.

I look forward to reading your comments - thanks for visiting!!!

Christine

My NOTDs of the week

Monday called for a Corporate nail do and having been so into Contrary Polish for the last two weeks this was a no-brainer - Contrary Polish Play Me was called on stage:

I applied three coats of Play Me over Zoya Anchor Base Coat. I always to tip wrapping with my Contrary Polishes. Their crelly "personality" tend to show some shrinkage around my tips. I sealed the look with Cult Nails Wicked Fast. Two coats of Play Me would provide decent opacity but I love my Contrary Polishes to show maximum shimmer and deepened base color.

Coming home on Monday evening from a nerve rubbing day I found the wonderful surprise mail of my so dear to me friend Jezz from Little Miss Nailpolish. She spoiled me with Depend Rough Sparkled polishes and a wonderful blue from Nordic and chocolate and goodies for Nell - Jezz - you saved my day!!! I would have loved to wear them all in a Skittelette but being still tuned corporate I felt I had to go "discret" and have at least the same color on all of my nails - look at this beauty of Depend Forget Me Not:

I applied two coats of Forget Me Not (one of my favorite flowers by the way) over Zoya Anchor Base Coat. Hands down - this is one of the best textured polishes I tried. It applied like a regular polish with a perfect formula and it dries super super fast. AND it lasts like rock - I had to do some major clean out of  Mark's Enduro stuff (read dirt and heavy gear and oily tools) - not a single chip!!!! The removal was a bit more time consuming than other textured polishes - like in-between Opi Liquid Sands and glitters but hey, that is a small thing considering its other starry qualities - thank you once more Jezz for that surprise mail - I am totally, maximally delighted <3!!!!!

And now to the mani that I could not bring myself to remove to do a Skittelette: Emily de Molly Monet's Garden. When I saw the picture on Llarowe I knew this needs to be mine - nice thinking, by the time I got around to check the launch it was long gone. Luckily Mei Mei Signatures offers Emily de Molly's now too (there, I shared one of my well kept secrets). Having finally had it in my greedy claws I was turning and twisting the bottle ogling all the awesomeness AND rather clueless what to layer it over. You have to know, I hardly ever wear glitters on their own, I prefer them layered to get away with one coat. The base color of Monet's Garden is the epitome in my eyes of one of Monet's colors, so this is immaculately achieved - BUT - it is such an unidentifiable green/teal with hints of blue, I had to do some serious brain and drawer racking to come up with the perfect base color.

Well sometimes I am glad for my considerable stock of only slightly varying shades - I dug out Colorama Hippie Chick. A very dark turquoise or light teal? It is a jelly and while the first coat goes on sheer and a tad streaky a medium thick coat evens out matters perfectly. I applied one coat of Emily de Molly Monet's Garden over Hippie Chic. I just love the Emily de Molly's - they apply like creams - the glitter spreads nice and easy - no coaxing or fishing required and just look at this gorgeousness:

Emily de Molly's Monet's Garden reminded me of this painting of the artist:

I wore this dress with it:

and lastly a painting by Claude Monet of his garden:

I ordered Contrary Polish Play Me with Llarowe and Emily de Molly Monet's Garden with Mei Mei Signatures.

I look forward to reading your comments - thanks for visiting!!!
Christine

My NOTDs of the week - part 1

This week was all about the Vintage Challenge that Jezz from Little Miss Nailpolish and myself have invited to. But by no means did my nails go bare - let me show you what I wore throughout the week - admittedly, I am so happy with each and every of the polishes I had on my nails this week. There were so many pictures and quite some stuff I wanted to say about those polishes, that I split the post into two parts.

I was over the moon when I received MeiMei Signatues Newsletter announcing the launch of Emily de Mollys in her shop - finally another chance to get hold of some lemmings of mine (YESSS I succeeded). The one I wore first Emily de Molly Cosmic Forces:

Cosmic Forces is a sheer purple jelly loaded with round glitter. If worn on its own it would certainly require three coats at least to achieve decent opacity. I wanted to keep the translucent feel of Cosmic Forces therefore I started out with one coat of Picture Polish Violet Femme, a very bright purple jelly and added one coat of Emily de Molly Cosmic Forces. Most of the glitters literally jumped on to my nails - only the saucer sized glitters were reluctant to leave their crib and had to be fished out. Despite the amount of glitter in this polish it dried nearly smooth and I could finish my mani with no more than one coat of Butter London Hardwear Top Coat. The removal required some elbow grease though.

I am a BIG fan of anything from A England and of course I could not pass Excalibur (revamped):

I applied two buttery, velvety coats of Excalibur (revamped) over Zoya Anchor Base Coat. I used Butter London Hardwear Top Coat. I spare you more text and rather add some more pictures as they say ALL about the beauty of the new Excalibur:

the above picture is taken indoors in daylight, the below photo in artificial light

This post ended up being so long, that I split it into two parts.

I ordered Emily de Molly Cosmic Forces with MeiMei Signatures and A England Excalibur (revamped) with Llarowe.

Now on to part two....

I

Glitter Me: Emily de Molly Copper Field over Picture Polish Tiffany

I have used Emily de Molly Copper Field here and there in the past but only to dab on some of the bigger copper hex glitters on my nails. But I did not buy it to be used as an Accessory only but for its incredible sparkliness and glamour. The combination of copper, teal, lilac and bordeaux glitters in various sizes has a very ostentatious effect - the colors remind me of oriental embroidery.

 

The above picture are taken indoors in daylight, the photo below outdoors in the sun

 

I applied one coat of Emily de Molly Copper Field over two coats of Picture Polish Tiffany. What you see in the above pictures is literally what you get on your brush, no extra dabs or chasing glitters in the bottle.

 

I remembered only after painting my middle finger, that turning the bottle upside down a couple of minutes prior to applying helps getting the heavier glitter onto the brush as well. This is why my pointer is so glitter crowded. First I wanted to redo the index finger but then I thought it would show the difference between the amount of glitters ending up on your nail pretty well. To be honest, I like it better when the glitter is not as dense.

 

I ordered Emily de Molly Copper Field with Llarowe.

 

I look forward to reading your comments - thanks for visiting!!!

Christine

 

 

 



Glitter Me: Emily de Molly Abstract Canvas over Cult Nails You're My Dandy Lion

This week will all be about clear based glitters. This season we have seen a mass of glitters in white, pastel, any color bases but I frankly love those clear based glitters that offer so much variety in wear and can alter a look within the stroke of a brush.

The week starts with Emily de Molly Abstract Canvas. Fans of this Aussie Indie Brand certainly have seen, read and heard about Abstract Canvas. It is all bright colors captured in a bottle. The icing on the cake are big black circular glitters - but why am I babbling away here, the pictures do way better talking than me:

The above two pictures are taken indoors in daylight, the photo below outdoors in the shade

I started with applying two coats of Cult Nails You're My Dandy Lion (this yellow has me truly and deeply drawn into the yellow polish league). I then applied just one coat of Emily de Molly Abstract Canvas. The glitters spread easy and nice only the big black circular glitters wanted to get fished out, but then I once more forgot to put the bottle upside down a couple of minutes prior to swatching :-S!!!

It really took me some patience to get hold of Emily de Molly Abstract Canvas - it used to be out of stock within minutes of the restock, but patience is a virtue and was DETERMINED to call it mine one day ;-)!!! I like the variety of base colors that look nice with Abstract Canvas - however, I prefer it over lighter colors - it really makes the mani pop!!

And just for quick reference a picture of Cult Nails You're My Dandy Lion:

I ordered Emily de Molly Abstract Canvas with Llarowe.

I look forward to reading your comments - thanks for visiting!!!
Christine