Contrary Polish - Ain't That a Beach: Summer 2013 collection

Contrary Polish is one of my favourite indie brands and Carrie never fails to impress me with her smooth and shimmery shades.  Today I have the new Summer Ain't That a Beach collection, which is completely the wrong season for me. But the timing is perfect because on Tuesday week, I'm heading off on a winter vacation to places with lots of sun, sand and surf. These polishes are perfect to get me into the right mood.

Sky - medium sky blue with gold shimmer and blue microglitter.  Beautifully sparkly and shimmery in the sun with a smooth easy to apply formula.  I chose to do three thin, quick drying coats rather than two thicker coats.  Finished with Seche Vite.

A fresh and crisp day here in Canberra - winter is coming :) But at least we have beautiful sunny winter days as witnessed by the bright blue sky today.

Sand - a dusty tan colour with gold shimmer and brown microglitter. The gold shimmer is super strong and easy to see in all lighting situations.The speckles of brown glitter give this a warm and rustic feel.  Not really the colour of our sand here in Australia, which is generally sugary pale creme, but a a gorgeous shade none the less.  This was three thin coats with Seche Vite.

Surf - a green-leaning blue with bright green shimmer and blue/green microglitter. I love the explanation that Carrie has given for the parts of this polish. "The effect I was going for was blue base = deeper water, green shimmer = shallow water, blue/green microglitter = wave peaks". Beautiful! Three thin coats with Seche Vite.

The collection is a huge hit for me, two blues and tan/gold. The formula on all these were great.  All polishes dried smooth and shiny, even those with the micro glitters in them. After another collection, Contrary Polish continues to be one of my favourite indie brands.

Contrary Polishes are available from Llarowe in the USA and from Shoppe-Eclecticco in Singapore. Minis are also available directly from Carrie on the Contrary Polish blog.   

 

Polishes provided for review.

Shimmer Spam - yes more of it!

I've recently swatched some polishes that made perfect undies for my collection of Shimmer Polishes, so it would have been crazy not to double up and reuse my first swatch as an undies for my next swatch.

For your viewing pleasure, here are another bunch of beautiful Shimmer polishes.

Adrienne - Two coats over Furless Baby Cakes

Carolina - glitter gradient over Gelicious Open Toe.

Christina - 2 coats over Furless Freak

Leslie - Two coats of Orly Harmonious Mess

Melissa - Two coats over Furless Attention Seeker

Strength - Two coats over Orly Pretty Ugly. Its worth noting that the bigger silver hexes in this were rather thick and chunky and appear to be a little unstable in the base.  The macro at the bottom shows the weird wrinkling and pitting of those glitters.

I'm still loving these Shimmer polishes.  They really do look so much better in real life than these photos.  Every time I put one on I'm always pleasantly surprised.

My favourite combo out of this lot would be Adrienne over Baby Cakes at the top. The combo of blue and gold is just so pretty.

Shimmer polishes are available from Cindy at the Shimmer Polishes site. 

Products provided for review.

Furless Cosmetics Nail Polish

Tonight I have some new polishes from an Aussie brand that I did not know about.  The brand is called Furless and they are an Australian company that specializes in synthetic, fur-free professional makeup brushes and accessories. They also have a range of makeup (eye shadows, blushes, body shimmers, bronzers etc) and most importantly a range of vegan nail polish.

Attention seeker - a very bright almost neon magenta.  I can't decided if this is pink or purple, but either way, it sure is an attention seeker.  Formula was smooth an nicely pigmented.  This is two coats with seche vite top coat.

Baby cakes - a bright blue creme. Formula again was good and easy to apply.  This is three coats with seche vite.

Freak - a muted forest green creme that leans on the jelly side making it appear lovely and squishy. A little sheerer than the other two shades because of it's slight jelly appearance.  Three coats with seche vite top coat.

The bottles for these polishes are square with lots of glass, particularly at the bottom. They are heavy and feel like a high end brand. I like them.

There were just five shades in their "Fun Times" polish collection when I selected these colours a few weeks ago. But today I've discovered they have another five 'Discreet' shades that are all in muted and soft tones, they are definitely a new release and I like the look of them!

Tomorrow I have some swatches of glitters layered over these cremes, and they look amazing. Don't you just love discovering new brands! I sure do.

Furless polishes are available from Furless Cosmetics, but shipping is only available in Australia.

Products provided for review.

Emily de Molly - Cosmic Forces & Oceanic Forces

Last weekend when Hayley aka Emily de Molly was over for a nail catchup, I was lucky enough to score a bunch of very popular and stunning polishes.  Tonight I have a little pair of polishes to share with you. Cosmic Forces and Oceanic Forces.

Cosmic Forces - a dark purple jelly with large lavender holo dots and pink hexes and dots.  The large holo dots are generous in the bottle, and while they do slide off the brush a little, I didn't find I needed to fish for them at all and I was easily able to get one or more of them on each finger. What is it about dot glitter that makes me go gaga over it.  I love dots so much! If you like purple polish, then this one is a no brainer - you need this - it is stunning! This is three thin coats with Seche Vite top coat.

Oceanic Forces - I love that these two polishes are like sisters.  This one is a dark teal jelly with large turquoise holo dots as well as various sized turquoise holo hexes.  I put my bottle upside while I applied my base coat, and during that time any of the large hexes that had sunk a little were easy to get. I had no issue getting the holo dots out and it was easy to place them where I wanted on the nail. This is three thin coats with Seche Vite top coat.  If you are getting Cosmic Forces then you really have to have the matching pair.  This one is just as beautiful and you wont be disappointed.

Emily de Molly polishes are available in Australia from the EdM Etsy store. If you are outside of Australia you can get them at Llarowe in the USA, Shoppe Electicco in Singapore and Norway Nails.

Product provided for review.