I’ve been really reluctant to go down this path for a few reasons. Firstly, do you really know what you are getting from an indie polish? If something goes wrong with a purchase, what sort of product guarantee will/can they offer. Are the ingredients they use suitable for cosmetics? Where do they sell from and what would availability be like for anyone wanting to purchase the polishes. There are so many indie sellers out there, where do I draw the line – how can I be fair to them all and share my nail polish love evenly?
Finally, and the one that has weighed hardest on me: what if I receive an indie polish to review and I think its crap? I’ve recently seen some stunning swatches of some really average indie polishes. Polishes that are just cheap premixed glitter mixed into a lacquer base and sold for $10. For me being an indie seller means you are putting time, effort and creativity into a polish, so I’d find it hard to give a glowing review for something like that.
I also have a problem with indie sellers blatantly ripping off other indie sellers polishes and selling them for their own profit. Don't get me wrong, I totally get why people try to dupe polishes and I’m ok with that (hell, I’ve done it before when I couldn’t get the polish I was lemming). Dupe ‘em for your friends I say, but I personally don't like blatant and deliberate copying for your own profit - I just wasn't brought up that way. If I were to receive a polish for review that was a deliberate attempt to copy another indies polish, I'm not sure I could say too many nice things about it.
Which leads me to say: a harsh review can really blow it for a new indie indie starting out, and I don’t want to be responsible for that. But I also wont sell out and tell people a polish is great because I got it for free. Readers are entitled to an honest opinion, and that’s what they will get from me. So I’ve come to terms with the fact that indie polish makers need to put their big girl panties on and be ready for the truth. After all, my opinion is only that, mine! And is only one opinion in the many billions of opinions out there.
This recent realization resulted in me saying yes to Erica from Glimmer by Erica to try the polishes in her first collection.
She has eight polishes in her collection, and she sent seven of them to me to try. Let me tell you that when I opened my package, I breathed a sigh of relief to see her polishes in real life. They didn't seem to be deliberate knock offs, nor did they look like half arsed efforts of premixed glitter in suspension base. To be perfectly honest, they looked stunning in the bottles. I'd hoped to show them all, but I only have two of them to show today - simply because I'm enjoying wearing each of them as full manis.
First up is Beneath the Blue.
It has very fine light blue glitter, small and medium aqua hexes and large aqua and navy hex glitters, in what appears to be a clear base. For this mani I layered two coats over Cult Nails Time Traveler.
I found that the fine, small and medium sized glitters layered perfectly smooth on my nails, but some of the large navy and aqua hexes did get a slight taco curl to them. I know taco glitter shits some people, but I can cope with it ok by using a couple of coats of top coat. And I actually think that the curved glitters reflect the light in different angles making a more interesting polish.
The second polish to share today from Glimmer by Erica is Muy Caliente, which googling tells me is Spanish for Very Hot. If google is right, then this is a really excellent name for this polish.
Muy Caliente is packed full of red, orange, and yellow large hexes, as well as large red squares and red, salmon and fuchsia small hexes in a clear base. I love that the yellow glitter in this is yellow and not gold.
This polish was much much smoother on the nail that Beneath the Blue. I only saw a tiny bit of curling with some of the red squares.
For this mani I layered two coats of Muy Caliente over two coats of LA Girls Copper Alloy. I really must show Copper Alloy on it's own, because it's amazing. Copper Alloy has a pinkish base with a strong in your face orange shimmer. It was the perfect matching undies for this polish.
Both these polishes were absolutely packed with glitter. In fact they felt a little dry when getting the brush out of the bottle. It seems like there wasn't really enough polish, or maybe they needed a tiny bit of thinner. They take a bit of work to get glitter placement right and you will need to do some brush wobbling, but the end result was totally worth it.
Glimmer by Erica's are available on her etsy store. She sells 15ml bottles for $10USD.
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