A Trio from Ellagee

Polishes provided at a discount for review.

Continuing to work through my backlog of swatches, today I have three polishes from Ellagee, starting with Starlight, a black jelly with gold and olive green microglitter. I used three coats plus topcoat; it didn't really need the topcoat, but I was in the mood for extra shiny.







Gumballs has a mix of neon matte circle glitter in a clear base. I dabbed two coats of it onto a white creme base. The glitter laid nice and flat, so I didn't add topcoat.





So Long and Thanks for All the Fish has a deep navy blue jelly base with scattered holo glitter and silver holo dolphin glitter. I did three coats, fished for dolphins and placed them strategically, then added topcoat.





I like all three of these. Starlight seems perfect for the upcoming autumn season. Gumballs is just fun, great for summer especially. So Long and Thanks for All the Fish is like a night sky, with dolphins for added entertainment.

The polishes shown in this entry were provided provided at a discount for review purposes. The content of the entry was not dictated by the provider.

Even More Ellagee

Polishes provided at a discount for review.

Now that I've gotten started collecting Ellagee, I just want more and more. Today I have one from my latest order, which were the first non-Disney themed colors I've gotten from this brand.

Some Gave All was created for Memorial Day. This has blue, red, silver, and holo glitter, including some star shapes and dense microglitter.



To see how this would work as a topper, I put down a base of Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme on most of my nails, leaving an accent nail bare so Some Gave All could show its stuff on its own. I did one coat of it over the black and three coats on its own, adding a clear topcoat to smooth out the (not too bumpy) glitter.





Here's the holo popping in low light:



Some Gave All Can be worn alone, but I like it better as a topper, which lets the stars show through better rather than getting somewhat obscured by the dense microglitter.

I got three other polishes in this order but right now am so busy wrapping up things at work that I just don't have as much time for blogging as I'd like. Soon I should be able to settle into a new routine.

The polish shown in this entry was provided provided at a discount for review purposes. The content of the entry was not dictated by the provider.

More Ellagee Disney-Inspired Polishes

Polishes provided at a discount for review.

It's been a bit over a month since I shared the first polishes I bought from Ellagee; today I have the second set I got, since that first quartet just made me want more. These, too, are all Disney-inspired. Left to right: The Importance of Body Language, The Girl Who Has Everything, Magic Mirror on the Wall, and Poor Unfortunate Souls.



I started with The Importance of Body Language, a dark purple with holographic shimmer. This one's inspired by Ursula the Sea Witch from The Little Mermaid, one of my favorite characters (I used to keep a ceramic Ursual figurine in my office). This was nearly a one-coater, though I went ahead and did a second coat just to make sure I had full coverage (next time, since I know one coat is possible, I'll pay more attention from the start). In indirect light, this looks like a deep so-dusty-it's-almost-charcoal purple shimmer.





In direct indoor light, the holo starts to come out:



The sun did not feel like cooperating, so I had to resort to flash to get the holo to pop:



Because I am not always good at following directions, I paired The Importance of Body Language not with the topper it was released with but instead with The Girl Who Has Everything, inspired by Ariel herself. The glitter mix in The Girl Who Has Everything is mostly green in a variety of shapes and finishes, including holographic, with some red and violet accents. It's the tiny teal squares that really make it special.



I did two coats of The Girl Who Has Everything plus clear topcoat over The Importance of Body Language.





Magic Mirror on the Wall, named for the Evil Queen's companion in Snow White, is a shifty shimmer that on me pulled mostly navy blue. I did a black creme base on my index finger but the polish was so pigmented on its own that it didn't really look that much different with one coat over the black versus three coats on its own on my other fingers.





In low light, I got it to show its purple to blue shifty side:



Poor Unfortunate Souls is the companion topper to The Importance of Body Language that I mentioned earlier. It's dominated by teal and blackened teal glitter, with holo and red accents.



I did a glitter gradient with Poor Unfortunate Souls over Magic Mirror on the Wall, finishing with clear topcoat.





Because it had been more than an hour since I mattified anything, I added OPI Matte Top Coat to the gradient and quite liked the slightly murky effect; it seemed like a look that would fit right in to Ursula's undersea lair.



The two Ursula polishes and Magic Mirror are still available on the ellagee.com website, though Magic Mirror is in the On the Way Out section. Prices for these range from $10 to $12.50 depending on the ingredients. I'm sad to say The Girl Who Has Everything appears to be gone now, but room for new pretties must be made. I am sure these won't be the last Ellagee polishes I buy; next time I will see if I can make myself venture outside the Disney-inspired realm.

The polishes shown in this entry were provided provided at a discount for review purposes. The content of the entry was not dictated by the provider.

My First Polishes from Ellagee

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.