Polishes provided at a discount for review.
I don't remember where I first heard about Ellagee, mostly because it was nearly a year ago. However, I do remember the polish that drew my attention: We Wants the Redhead. Not only was it a pretty glitter, the name took me back to happy trips to Disney theme parks, as the name is a phrase from a scene in the Pirates of the Carribean attraction. After continually getting distracted and being too busy for months on end, I finally put in an order for We Wants the Redhead and three other fun glitters using a discount generously provided by Ellagee.
I'll start with the polish that sparked my interest: We Wants the Redhead. (Between the time I wrote that first paragraph and now, I stumbled across where I heard about it: a post on Rainbowify Me.) This has a red jelly base packed with red, gold, and copper glitter in various sizes and both hex and square shapes.
I did two coats plus topcoat for my swatch; I was tempted to do three, not because it needed it but because I liked the depth created with two and thought three would look even richer. I'll try it next time I wear this.
The other three polishes I got are all glitter toppers (though I bet We Wants the Redhead would look good with one coat layered over a base color; I'll have to try that the next time, too). I swatched them each over a skintone neutral and a Skittled handful of base colors.
First of the toppers I tried was Faith Trust and Pixie Dust, a mix of mostly green glitter in different sizes and shapes with some iridescent shimmer and holo to make things even more interesting.
Here's two coats plus topcoat over OPI Samoan Sand:
To see how Faith Trust and Pixie Dust would look over different colors, I laid down Skittles in light but not pastel yellow, bright yellow orange, medium spring green, and very dark green. Left to right below, all with two coats of glitter plus topcoat: Revlon Top Speed Crystal Glow, Formula X Seismic, SinfulColors Hey You, and Catrice Hugo Moss. I was pretty sure before I started that I'd like it over the medium green base, and I do. What surprised me was how much I loved it over the yellow orange, which I grabbed on a whim since Mr. K always thinks I should wear more of his favorite color.
The next topper is The Birds Sing Words. (A name which kicks off the Tiki Room song in my brain ... the birds sing words, and the flowers croon, in the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room.) The glitters here are a different shapes, sizes, and finishes in turquoise, orange, red, green, and white.
I used Essie Perennial Chic as my skintone base for this one. I added three coats of The Birds Sing Words then topcoat. The glitter was definitely not a topcoat eater; this was so shiny my camera was bit confused by it. I was delighted by it, especially how some of the small green glitters really popped; I hadn't expected that to be so strong based on looking at the bottle.
I started with a red orange on my index finger for the Skittles under The Birds Sing Words, then went dark: red wine, navy, deep green. Left to right below, with two to three coats of glitter plus topcoat: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Rebel, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Red Zin, Kiko Quick Dry 839 Blu Ottanio, and Nuance Prickly Pear. The darker bases show the glitter best, but I think the combinations orange is more festive, more in keeping with the party going on in the Enchanted Tiki Room. Yes, some of the glitter does get lost against that particular orange; it shouldn't be a problem for me to find a slightly different one that works better.
I'll wrap things up with the party in a bottle that is Magical Day. This glitter mix has black Mickey heads, lime stars, various sizes of hexes in yellow, lime, red, and blue, plus red squares. For added interest, some of the glitter is matte and some metallic.
Sally Hansen Insta Dri Express Way served as the skintone base for Magical Day, which I used two coats of plus topcoat. I had to do a bit of fishing for the Mickey heads and stars, but it wasn't too hard; I didn't have to resort to pouring some polish out and going at it with a dotting tool like sometimes happens with large glitters. I was happy to find that the Mickeys and stars were of a size that laid pretty darn flat on my fairly curved nails (my C-curve is pretty much a half circle).
Magical Day got Skittles of white, green, blue, and red. Left to right below, with Magical Day plus topcoat: unknown white (it's a decant I did for some reason I no longer remember), Essie Avenue Maintain, SinfulColors Hey You, Orly Rogue Encounter.
Now that I've tried these four, I'm a little annoyed with myself that I waited so long. They apply nicely and the glitter mixes have a lot going on without looking random or messy. They're available at from the Ellagee website, with the exception of We Wants the Redhead, which appears to have been discontinued. Glad I didn't wait any longer than I did.
The polishes shown in this entry were provided at a discount for review purposes. The content of the entry was not dictated by the provider.
