Melancholia: A Powder Perfect swatchathon

I know there's been an absolute ton of Powder Perfect around here lately, but they just keep making so many pretty things, and keep being kind enough to send them to me, which means you guys get bombarded with pretty pictures! I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not really.

Melacholia is a sequel of sorts to the Euphoria collection from Powder Perfect earlier this year, and it's a DOOZY. It's kind of odd having so many awful, personal memories attached to words like "Foreboding" and "Despair", and still being so excited by how freaking gorgeous the polishes attached to these words are. Lot of cognitive disconnect, and being me, I'm sure there will be a pseudo intellectual analysis of that soon enough. But for now, PICTURE TIME!




 First cab off the rank is Addictive Personality, a very light pink crelly filled with pastel glitters. It reminds me so much of Fruit Tingles, which I guess it fitting for a portrayal of something addictive!

The formula on this was exceptional. I did need three coats for full coverage, but didn't need an undie colour at all, which is really rare for this type of polish. It walks the fine line between opacity and showing off the glitters perfectly, and I'm pretty sure all the girly Lolita types I know will be ALL OVER this one.

Next up is Foreboding, a stunning deep teal holo. Unfortunately despite trying three times the sun wouldn't play nice with me, so I only have pictures of this one under artificial light and kind of murky overcast daylight. You'll have to take my word for it that this GLOWS in full sunlight. 

Coverage on this one was excellent - although I feel like that should almost be taken as a given with any Powder Perfect polish at this stage. Two coats covered with no issues at all, and if you want to give it a bit more depth you can add another without it getting chunky or dragging.

Even when it's overcast, you can still see the holo particles twinkling away!

When I got this package, I pulled out Foreboding and Despair at the same time, and I gotta admit, I wondered why Powder Perfect would bother making two polishes so similar. In the bottle, they look almost identical - but on the nail, I was delighted to find they're actually quite different.

 UNF. That holo! I actually ended up keeping this one on for a week because I couldn't bear to take it off, which is how I managed to get some truly excellent sunlight shots. Despair is deep, deep navy holo - the navy is so dark it looks black a lot of the time, but in just the right light the navy really shows up.

 As with Foreboding, two coats will give you absolutely perfect coverage, and you can add an extra one to give the base a really deep, glowing effect. It kind of comes across like the darker, older brother of Celestial Cosmetics In The Navy, which you'll recall I also raved about.

Aggh, my eyes!

This next polish is called Obsession, and is absolutely gorgeous, but does come with a couple of caveats - firstly, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't capture all the different coloured sparkles in this. While it primarily uses green glitter, there is definitely a generous sprinkling of rainbow flecks in there as well, and in person it really lifts this polish from "pretty" to "WOW." Secondly, it is a little on the thick side, so if you struggle with glitter heavy polishes, you might want to thin this a little bit and use an undie colour.

These swatches are all three coats alone, but with a base colour you could definitely get away with two or even one. 

The deep forest green base gives surprisingly good coverage for a jelly, while still letting all the glitters shine through. If you're looking for a green that's a little out of the ordinary and you're willing to go carefully, I would highly recommend this. 

In My Dreams is another jelly glitter, and while it's easier to work with than Obsession it is still a touch on the thick side. But the stunning array of glitters in this really makes up for it.

 

If you're not super confident about getting crisp edges, I'd recommend using a base undie colour because the base for this a little bit transparent. But if you can get away with using this alone it's totally worth the effort.

I used three coats alone for these swatches, and it gives the base such a delightful squishy gummi look. The beautiful rainbow of iridescent and reflective glitters float around in the gummi base like fairy dust, making this a gorgeously complex creation.

And finally we have Grief, which is undoubtedly my personal favourite from the whole collection. The polish, that is, not the emotion. This is an incredible steely blue-grey, with loads of different glitters, shimmers, and a dash of holo flare.

In direct sunlight the holo flare kind of takes over, and while it's very very pretty I think I actually prefer it in the shade, where you can see the tiny pale blue flecks through it more clearly. 

Because of the variety of glitters in it, you do have to keep an eye out for hex glitters that like to hang out at the edge of your nail and drive you mad. But two easy coats gives perfect coverage, and a nice glossy topcoat captures the shimmery depth nicely. 

And with that, I think I've swatched most of the Powder Perfect store! Keep an eye out in the next couple of weeks for a very cool, exciting announcement about this brand...*wiggles fingers mysteriously*