It’s the first day of school, y’all! And guess what? My alarm didn’t go off this morning, which meant we were almost late for school. On the first day! What?!?!? My daughter, literally, had about 5 minutes to get dressed. I made breakfast and lunch and fed the dogs and let the dogs out all in a 10 minute rush. On the first day of school. Did I mention that? First day! *sigh*
Yep. I am winning at the Mom Life thing. Winning so freaking hard.
I have another hodge-podge swatch-a-palooza to share today. I am still working through my indie brands, and, as with previous posts, I am piecing together brands for which I have fewer polishes. For today’s post, I have three brands and a total of 12 polishes.
DOLLISH POLISH:
Dollish Polish is not a brand I collect regularly. If not for Polish Pickup, I probably would not have anything from this brand in my stash. Not because there is anything wrong with the brand or their polishes — there isn’t! From my limited experience with it, this seems to be a great brand. It is just not a brand that is on my radar on a regular basis. There are so many indie brands out there, and it’s impossible to keep up with them all. I have two polishes from Dollish, and, as I said, they both came into my stash via Polish Pickup.
Drop It Like It’s Hoth is an aqua base with turquoise shimmer and blue, turquoise, and emerald flakes and glitters. It has a good formula, but this is a sheer polish. I need 3 coats of it for full opacity on its own. I think it would also work well at 1 coat as a topper. I haven’t tried this yet, but I feel like it would be super pretty over a black. Or maybe a really dark navy blue.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a macro for this one. I took one, but the shot did not turn out. I need to remedy that one day in the future, when I wear this polish again.
So, this polish … I really am not sure how I feel about it. This polish has a lot of everything that I love. It should be right up my alley in terms of color and sparkly shimmer. The online swatches I saw for it floored me. I thought they were breathtaking. And I love how it looks in the bottle, too. But I can’t decide if I love it on my nails. It’s not that I dislike it. I really do like it. But I expected to LOVE it, and those feelings weren’t there for me when I wore it. I think it just looked different than what I was expecting. Also, I might have worn it on an “off” day, so my mood might have affected my feelings about it. Whatever the case, I am going to keep this one in my stash. I want to wear it at least one more time.
Black Hole Sun is a black jelly base with scattered holographic, red/orange shimmer, silver holographic flakes, iridescent color-shifting micro glitters, and flakes in red, copper, and gold. Whew! There is a lotta stuff in this polish! With so much flakie and glitter goodness, you would expect a thick polish. I saw some folks commenting online that this one was thick for them, but my bottle is fantastic. For me, this one is an easy 2-coater. I also like it at 3 coats. You don’t need that third coat, but it deepens the black to a beautifully moody, shadowy … well, “blackness”.
Do you see all the flakies and glitters in here? Do you? Huh? Huh? Because I do! And I freaking LOVE this polish. That is all. Bazaam.
ELLAGEE:
Ellagee is another brand that doesn’t have a large spot in my stash. Or, really, any spot at all. I don’t follow this brand, other than looking at their Polish Pickup releases. And the sole Ellagee in my stash came to me through my second ever Polish Pickup shopping spree. Or maybe it was the third one? I can’t remember. But it was Fall-themed. I do remember that. I think.
Ablaze is a dark, slightly dusty red jelly with gold and copper flakes and shimmer. This polish has a good formula. It was nicely opaque for me in 2 coats.
This is such a pretty polish. It looks just like rusty, deep red fall leaves. And I love the different glitters and flakes in here. They show the prettiest tones of copper, gold, deeper red, and even a hint of orange here and there. Maybe I imagined the orange, but my brain swears she saw it. She swears it!!
Even so, I found I did not love this one on my nails. I am a fan of these types of sparkly, glittery reds, so I don’t have a shortage of them in my collection. Even though this one is super pretty, I am going to send it to a new home.
EVER AFTER POLISH:
And so … We now come to the bulk of this post. I followed videos and blog posts about this brand for a while before I tried my first polish from them. Once I tried that first polish, I knew I had to have more. I still don’t have a large number of these in my stash, but this is a brand I actively follow for new releases. I have 9 Ever Afters in my stash so far, and I hope to continue adding to it in the future!
Charming as an Eel is from the “A Wonderfully Awful Grinch Trio“. It is a pale gray jelly base with orange-green multi chrome glitter, green-blue duo chrome flakes, and holographic shimmer. It is a sheer polish, but it has a good formula. It builds up beautifully on the nail, and it is opaque in 3 easy coats. You can see all the flakie and shimmery goodness through each and every layer!
I love this polish. I love how it is a gray-toned silver base color, as opposed to a shiny and shimmery silver. I’m not sure this makes sense, but I feel like the more subtle shimmer off of the gray base gives this polish an “ocean creature” or fish short of feel. Combine that with the iridescent flakes, which pop the most beautiful greens, and wowza! Total winner.
Haraineer is from the Dragons Collection. It is a grayed- out denim blue with scattered holographic, purple sparkle, and cyan-green-purple-blue chrome flakes. This had a great formula for me. It builds up nicely on the nail. I used 3 coats when I manicured with this polish, but I think it would also be okay at 2.
So this polish had me at “hello”. Actually, it had me at “denim blue base color”. Because, um … yeah. I have a weak spot for these types of blues. And any other type of blue. I have seen pictures of this polish online that look much more blue than my shots. On me in real life, I feel like the blue color is grayed-out, instead of being a true blue. This might be because of the shimmer or because of the purple tones that are in here. I’m not sure. But I’m not mad about it at all. It’s a beautiful polish full of delicate and lovely details. I love it.
Hey There Delilah was a Polish Pickup find. I purchased this polish during my first PPU shopping frenzy. Actually, it wasn’t a frenzy. I bought two or three polishes. Maybe it was more of a “pre-frenzy”. But I digress … This polish is a soft and slightly dusty sage green with holographic shimmer, and multi chrome (I think?) flakes. The flakes show up mostly darker green and a rusty red for me. It has a great formula. Like many of my Ever After polishes, it is slightly sheer. I feel like this polish is nicely opaque at 2 coats, but I usually use 3 when I wear it.
This is one of the polishes that started my PPU madness. I had been wanting to try Ever After for a while, and I fell hard for the soft and gentle base color in this polish. I love how it combines with the scattered holographic and the beautiful, jewel-toned flakes. It is delicate and shimmery and just oh-so-lovely.
Melt in Your Mouth is a translucent, slightly minty green jelly base that is packed with goodness. It has pink, orange, and gold shifting flakes … gold holographic glitter … and gold holographic shimmer. This polish has a great formula. It is a jelly. It is translucent. It is supposed to be this way, so, of course, it is sheer going onto the nail. But it builds up beautifully. Believe it or not, it is opaque with a hint of VNL at 2 coats. It is opaque with almost no VNL at 3.
I can’t even with this polish. I do not like minty greens. At all. I think I have destashed pretty much every minty green, with a very few exceptions, in my stash over the last year or so. And yet … I FREAKING LOVE this polish. It is so beautiful and delicate. It is like a shimmery, candy land fairy tale on my nails. I love all the soft and gentle colors. I love how every glitter and flake glimmers through every single layer of base. I love everything about this polish. It might be my favorite Ever After, and seeing it just makes me happy.
Mother of Dragons is, of course, from the Dragons Collection. This is a silvery-white crelly base with a hint of gray. It has rainbow metallic flakes/shards and gold shimmer. This polish has a fantastic formula. It is one of those polishes that basically applies itself. It was opaque for me in 2 easy coats.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you can probably guess this polish is based off of the Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen. She is the Mother of Dragons. I don’t watch Game of Thrones. I couldn’t get through the book series. I am probably the only person in the “first world” (for lack of a better descriptor) who has absolutely no interest in Game of Thrones. And even I knew this was based on Daenerys. Because she is the Mother of Dragons. (Funny side story: My daughter is in marching band. She plays the flute. Last year, all the marching band flautists agreed to dub their section leader Mother of Flutes. I thought it was hella cute.)
Even though I have no interest in Game of Thrones, I have lots of interest in this polish. I love the base color. And I love, love, LOVE the rainbow flakes. It is such a pretty combination. It’s beautiful on the nail, too.
Playing With Fire is a black jelly base with red to copper and green flakes, sapphire blue holographic, and green glitters. It is literally packed to the brim with glitters and flakes. And yet, it has a fantastic formula. It is not thick on the nail. It is easy to apply and builds up beautifully for full opacity in 2-3 coats, depending on nail length and application technique.
This polish came from the January 2017 Polish Pickup sale. The theme for that month was crystals and gemstones, and Ever After used fire opal as their inspiration for this polish. And the polish looks EXACTLY like a fire opal on the nail. It astounds me. Even if the polish looked nothing like its inspiration, it would be an incredible polish. I love all the flakes in here, and I love how the reds and oranges seem to burn through the layers of black base. And then, you have that bright blue holographic that sears through everything. It’s freaking amazing. But the fact that it looks exactly like the inspiration adds an extra layer of “wowza” for me. This is probably my second favorite Ever After. I adore it.
Seasick Crocodile is from the “A Wonderfully Awful Grinch Trio“. It is a mustardy-yellowy green crelly base with gold to pink UCC flakes. This polish has a great formula that is opaque in 3 easy coats.
When my daughter saw this polish, she said, “That is the ugliest polish I have ever seen.” And I was like: “I know! And isn’t it gorgeous??”
Um, yeah. She thought I was insane. And, maybe I am insane. But I love this polish. It falls right in my happy zone for ugly-pretty colors. This is definitely one of those polishes that, when you think about the base and flake color combinations, shouldn’t work. And yet, it really does. I love this one on the nail.
‘Twas the Night is an icy blue scattered holographic with blue-purple sparkle and color shifting micro glitter. It has a beautiful formula that is opaque in 2 easy coats.
This polish is just … breathtaking. It is so delicate and pretty because of the shimmers and the softly pastel colors from the glitters. This came into my stash from the December 2017 PPU sale, and it was inspired by Christmas Eve. I love the way the light sparkles across this polish. It reminds me of candle light or Christmas lights sparkling off of the surface of shadowed snow. I know that’s a very specific visual, but it’s what I think of when I wear this polish. Love it!
And last … although certainly not least! … is Wolfsbane. It is a deep blue holographic with electric blue sparkle and a hint of purple. The formula on this polish is perfection. It glides onto the nail, and builds up beautifully to full opacity in 2 easy-breezy coats.
This polish is from the October 2017 PPU. I went bat-shizzle crazy at the October 2017 sale. It was not pretty! But it was fun.
Do I need to say I love this one? I don’t think I do, because you guys already know it, right? Yeah. This is another favorite Ever After for me. It’s so spectacular.
THE WRAP-UP:
Whew! That ended up being kind of a long post. I got a little chattier about a few polishes than I expected to. I feel like I am making good progress with the indie part of my stash. I love all my polishes, but I have to admit I was more excited about the indie part of swatch-a-palooza than the mainstream part. And it has been fun so far! I am saving my “biggest” indie brands for the end, which means my beloved Colores de Carols will probably be last. But they are coming. One day! Also, this gives me lots of time to add new stuff. I just made a Colores de Carol order yesterday — ha, ha!
I am both excited and terrified because I finally broke down and ordered a Helmer. I have these cute little storage cabinets that came from The Container Store, and I use those for my polish. They are great, but they don’t hold nearly as much as a Helmer. This means I keep outgrowing my storage, no matter how much I destash. I could just stop buying but … noooooo! That’s crazy talk!
Anyhow, my Helmer is supposed to arrive today. I am excited about that. I ordered a blue one. I’m excited about this, too! But, once it’s here, I have to put it together. And that’s where the terror happens. Wish me luck!
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