Hi Goddesses
Wow, it's been a mad few days in the nail world, hasn't it? Time got the better of me this weekend, so I couldn't do a blog post on the Mentality soap opera, but I may still do a video post this weekend. We'll see.
One of the things I DON'T want the Mentality issue to cause is a distrust of indie brands in GENERAL. Let's be very clear - the Mentality situation occurred because the man was an ASS, not because he was an indie maker. If the situation had been handled well from the start, then we wouldn't be where we are today.
Anyway .... the purpose of this post is to rebalance the universe, share some indie love, and reassure you that you SHOULD still use indie polishes. About 95% of my polish purchases are indies. I am going to guess that at least half my entire polish collection is indies, and that over the last 3 years I have bought, tried or reviewed well over 50 indie brands.
So what I wanted to do today was share with you the brands I would stake my life on (and my nails). Brands who *I* believe are safe, and to be trusted. This list is not exhaustive, but I felt there had to be 2 conditions to appearing on this list -
1. that I have used the brand regularly
2. that I have had enough conversations with the owner to build trust in that individual
There are some indies I love who are not on the list, and that is simply because I haven't spoken to the makers in a long time, or ever, I haven't used the product for a while, or ever, or indies who I feel are too new to the scene to be judged.
So here you go, for what it's worth - The Crumpet's Golden 10 - all linked to take you directly to their shops.
Girly Bits
Literary Lacquers
Indigo Bananas
Grace-full Nail Polish
Different Dimension
Darling Diva
Lacquistry
Elevation Polish
Cadillacquer
a-England
I repeat, if the indie isn't on the above list, it ONLY means I cannot personally vouch for them, either because I don't / haven't yet used their product (eg Love, Angeline), or because I don't really have a relationship with the owner (eg KBShimmer).
Mistakes happen, ladies. That's why Lacquistry is on the list. When she discovered bleeding glitter 2 or 3 years ago, she replaced EVERY SINGLE BOTTLE she'd ever sold of that polish. In my experience, that tends to be the indie standard - awesome customer service from ladies who love mkaing polish as much as you love wearing it.
Feel safe, and continue to enjoy xx
Hi Goddesses
I have a monster post for you today - the divine new collection from Grace-full Nail Polish. It's 7 holos, all inspired by the characters in fairytales, and it's beyond cute!
Let's start with Amethyst the Unicorn, a silvery purple. The bend on this is really warming against the cooler tone of the polish.
I've owned a lot of polishes similar in colour to this one, and I can't put my finger on it, but this is just a little bit richer in some way. Divine.
Charming Frog is an iced green. Very cool toned. This borders on a being a green-toned aqua.
There's also some beautiful shimmer in this - it stays hidden a lot of the time, but is most visible in indoor light. I loved the chilled beauty of this one, and even though I am not a green lover, I genuinely liked this.
Coral Castle - aaaah! Isn't this gorgeous. My camera loves this, although it's a fraction less bright in real life.
I love coral holos because you get this amazing pay-off between a "hot" colour and the cold fizz of the holo - love seeing that blue and pink dancing light!
Crowning Glory is an unexpected favourite from this collection and I have used it LOADS for nail art. It's a very opaque gold holo bomb. It's not a super smooth holo though, and that makes it more interesting.
There's a ot of crunch to this polish, and a lot of unexpected glitteriness and magic.
I also matted it to see whether that made its components more visible - I didn't even KNOW it had flakies!
Knight Silver Lake is STUNNING, definitely one of my favourites. It's a bright pale-to-medium blue holo, beautifully bright.
Again, there's a lot of extra action in this polish and it's SUBLIME, a beautiful complicated blue.
Princess Rose is the quintessential fairy princess - sugar pink, super gentle, super girly.
This is a trifle girly for me, but there's no denying how pure and smooth and pretty it is.
And finally, Violetta the Dragon, the other purple in the collection. This is much warmer than Amethyst, and is probably my favourite of the two.
I love the warmth of this polish and the blue sparkle of it - really lovely.
Overall, I love this collection. My number one rule for a collection is that it works as a WHOLE and this one does. Everything is in the same "mid-tone" and very congruent, and they have all nail arted together beautifully! You'll also love the cute fairy tale logos on the side of each bottle.
Happily Ever After goes on sale on 1st September. You can follow on Facebook here and buy here (and I'd recommend you pick up some other goodies too!).
These products were sent to me for my honest review.
