Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Emerald & Ash: Life in Color (Partial) Collection Swatches and Review

Good evening, dear readers! I have four polishes from the Life in Color Collection by Emerald and Ash to share with you, and I wanted to get this post up as they will be closing in a few days for a much-needed break. These colours are beautiful, and you definitely want to grab them while you can! Let's check them out!

Water Bay
This name invokes memories of our first trip together down to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. We figured why not name it after the breathtaking bay we stayed on. Laughter then ensued when we realized that we stayed on the most lazily named bay ever. Water Bay. Whatever, it still works. Water Bay is a pool blue foil that has a pop of holo hiding in it that’s just waiting for the sun. Much like the way that the tropical waters shimmered as the sun hit it.

This is such a beautiful shade of blue and one of my favorites from the collection! Like most foils, it left some bare spots with the first coat, but it evened out perfectly with a second coat. It is also a great transitional shade into fall: it still has the brightness you want for summer but not too bright for the quickly approaching fall season. I used two coats plus top coat for these photos.

Thunderfuck
A name that came to us thanks to a friend pointing out that she was recommended some interesting “similar” pages, having nothing to do with us, due to her liking our Emerald & Ash page on FB. We just couldn’t pass on making a polish with one of the names that had popped up. This is a crazy cool polish that has a touch of silver pigment and a whole lotta gun metal and midnight rainbow flakies. That wasn’t enough for us because then we added in a smattering of holo and neon purple flakies. A full-coverage, in two coats, polish that will smack you in the face with its awesomeness.

I have to apologize for the not-so-great photos of this one. Even though it was very smooth on my nails, my camera wanted to give the flakies more of a 3D appearance than they really have. This is such a cool polish! In spite of the photos, it does apply smoothly and does not look lumpy at all in person. I used two coats plus top coat for these photos.

Elevendy Seven
Growing up when I used to ask my mom about an amount of something, quite often the reply would be that we need “elevendy seven”. So maybe we needed elevendy seven of...eggs, or...dogs, or who knows what. It’s a term that stuck with me into adulthood and is a fitting name to go on a color that was my mom’s favorite (green, that is). A beautiful grass green stain crelly that is filled with yellow shimmer, rainbow flakies and a touch of holo. You might just want to pull your shoes off to run your feet through it. Due to the pigments used this polish will dry to a stain finish, if you like a glossy look add a top coat to it to make it shine.

I was a little unsure of this one when I first read the description, but when I saw it in the bottle, I was in love! One of the best things about this polish is you can still clearly see the flakies even when applied in the nail. Nothing is sadder than buying a polish because it looks amazing in the bottle but just does not translate well on the nail. That is definitely *not* the case with this beauty. The flakies are subtle against the green background, but they are definitely there. I used three thin coats plus top coat for these photos.

Tomato, Tomato
You say tomato and I say...this tomato based polish looks amazing with flakies that throw off a red and gold shimmer while trapped in a sheer red jelly base. Can be worn to full coverage in 2-3 coats, depending on your application or it can be placed over your favorite reds to add a quick punch of fun!

Tomato, Tomato is another polish that was camera shy for me and did not want to photograph well for me either. It's a shame because this is such a gorgeous colour! There is something about red jelly polishes that is just sexy, and I feel like hot stuff (in a non conceited way of course!) wearing this baby! I used three coats plus top coat in these photos.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, Emerald & Ash will be temporarily closing to take a much needed break. The shop is scheduled to close on September 6th through September 30th, so now is the time to get a quick order in. They will still be available via email and will post the occasional teaser on Facebook during their break, but definitely get that order in now. You can purchases these and other gorgeous polishes at their shop here.

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful night!
XO!










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