Ellagee Polish Part 1

Warning - this is an extremely pic heavy post!

So anyway, here is Part 1 of my review of a brand new indie line - Ellagee by Laura. 

Spotted these beauties through a shared link on facebook - obviously it was fate! 

Their first collection is one called the Sparkling Spring Wildflowers collection - originally a set of 5 (when I ordered) but now a set of 7 tinted base jelly polishes - the two later additions being Lantana and Cherokee Rose (coming soon!)

Here's a little bit about the collection which I took from Laura's Etsy page - 

"If you've ever been to Texas in the Spring you know how breathtaking the fields of wildflowers are. Everywhere you look are patches of brilliant color, the bluebonnets are sometimes so thick the patches can look like water. These polishes were inspired by some of my favorites."

such cute, beautiful wrapping!

 

I really struggled which to swatch first - they all looked so cute in their little bottles! As you can see, they came beautifully wrapped in little gift bags, and I also got some really cute free gifts!

So, before any further pictures are shared, I do need to apologise. On sunday, it was my birthday - this lucky girl got a DSLR camera, which I have of course used to take most of these photos. Unfortunately, a good camera does not mean my skills with it are any good, so my shots are with varying degrees of success, but I think you will agree, I have improved over the 5 swatches, even if its only a tiny bit!

Anyway, hope you love these as much as I do!

The first I swatched was 'Good Morning Sunflower'. 

'Good Morning Sunflower is a gold jelly base with shades of yellow, gold, brown, and bronze hexagon and square glitter. Other colors in the photos are reflections from the holographic glitters.'

The formula on this was lovely - not too thick or too runny, a nice even mix of glitters that spread well on the nail with no dabbing required. I chose to go for 3 medium coats in an effort to hide my VNL. As you can see, its still visible but I was surprisingly pleased with the finish. I expected a really rough finish with it being so packed with glitter, but I only needed one coat of top coat (I chose Seche Vite) for a smooth finish.

As you can see, the result is a beautiful, shiny, well levelled finish. Really happy with this one and surprised by how much I like the colour - love it when you like a polish you didn't think would be a favourite!

The second I chose to swatch was Fluttery Meadow. This was the polish I was most excited to see. I am not a fan of bar glitters on the whole, but I liked the idea that it represented the grassy meadow and of course I couldn't pass up the cute little holo butterflies too :)

 

'Fluttery Meadow is a green jelly base with shades of green bar and tiny hexagon glitter and accents of silver butterfly glitter. As with most large glitters, the butterflies may require the fish and dab game.'

 (This one taken with my iPhone, but more colour accurate!)

Here I used 3 coats, plus 1 coat of SV. Application was again smooth, although I did need to dab a little to get some of the bars flat. Quite hard to see, but there is a little butterfly on my index finger. I only ordered a small bottle, so I didn't expect to find enough for one for each finger - this one came out voluntarily but none of the others wanted to play today! I did however swatch these previous to the new camera and I got two out without needing to fish for them.

Accidentally took this, but it shows you how gorgeous this polish is when it hits the light!

This next polish was such a pain to photograph - it was probably my second favourite of the bunch, it was stunning on my nails but I really struggled to get a colour accurate photo - hence why most of these are at my windowsill just before the natural light died tonight.

 

 This is Downy Paintbrush - 'Downy Paintbrush is a coral jelly base with shades of red, orange, yellow, gold, and hot pink hexagon and square glitter'.

The finish on this was just perfect - a little thicker in consistency than the previous two, but levelled out really well on the nail. I think Laura got the balance of glitters just right - the colour is superb and the hints of gold, orange and yellow shine through just enough to make your nails really pop. In love with this!  I used two thick coats here with 1 coat of Seche Vite to top it off. No dabbing required.

Now I will warn you, I did go slightly OTT with this next polish. I have a love/hate relationship with purple polishes. I buy them thinking they look beautiful, then I never wear them. Or when I do, I don't like them on the nail. This did NOT happen here. This is my favourite of the bunch - Prairie Clover. The colour in the bottle does it no justice whatsoever - on the nail it is a beautiful grape purple packed with various glitters. There are many photos because I feel the first couple in artificial light do not give you a true picture of how beautiful this colour is!

 

'Prairie Clover is a purple jelly base with shades of purple, lavender, lilac, magenta, and white hexagon and square glitter'

As you can see, I had no problems with application. I used 3 coats here as the colour intensifies with each coat - a third made all the difference. Beautiful formula, no problems at all. Winner <3

Below are the shots in natural light - they give a true reflection of the deep grape purple shade that Prairie Clover is.

 Aaand last, but by no means least - Pillow of Blue Bonnets. 

'Pillow of Bluebonnets is a blue jelly base with shades of blue, yellow, white, and silver glitter.'

This polish was the most pigmented of the lot - it only required 2 coats to achieve this finish. I did of course add Seche Vite as a top coat, but as for all of the polishes, I only needed 1 coat. I love the description that my friend gave it when I showed her these - 'It looks so deep, like water over rocks'. Perfect description!

 

So there you have it! If you love any of these as much as I do, then they are available at Laura's Etsy shop here.

She also has Cherokee Rose & Lantana available, as well as Party Like Its 1999 which is from a different collection. All Laura's polishes retail for $9/£6.10 for 15ml (full) and $4.75/£3.22 for 5ml (mini). You can also save a few pennies by buying the full sets of 7 ($29.95/£20.20 for mini, $52.50/£35.60 for full size).

And the best part... she is currently shipping internationally - yay! :)

Don't forget to come back later this week for my review of 3 polishes from her next collection - debuting this month!

Please feel free to let me know what you think of these - I love hearing your opinions! Would you buy any of these / do you already have some? 

Rachael xxx