Favourite Mainstream Polishes 2019

Today's post was quite an easy one for me to be honest.  As I mentioned yesterday in my Favourite Collections 2019 post I didn't really get many mainstream polishes this year, which means my favourites were quite limited.  I originally started off with twenty four polishes (which excludes the polishes from the Color Club Whatever Forever Collection and the OPI x Converse Neons Collection because those collections as a whole are a favourite) and narrowed it down to twenty polishes.  Like with all favourites posts of mine, these aren't in any particular order.  Let's take a look.  

     

CHINA GLAZE

China Glaze normally dominate my favourites throughout the year but this year I definitely haven't grabbed as many collections.  I did however come across some new favourites - all from the Seasame Street You Do Hue Collection released back in May.

Free To Be Sesame is such a gorgeous colour and so sparkly!  

Grover It is another gorgeous sparkly colours with a good formula.

Monster Piece is probably my most favourite of the three China Glaze polishes in this list.  Mainly because it's pink and I am more of a pink fan than blue or green (but they are both gorgeous polishes).

DANCE LEGEND

I'm still not really sure if Dance Legend should be considered a mainstream polish or an indie polish but because I had way more indie polishes to narrow down I thought it would be best to consider them a mainstream polish.

If was released as part of the OWL In Love Collection (you can find the post of this collection here).  It's such a gorgeous base colour and that sheen is stunning.

LE38 was released as part of the Step Holo Collection (you can find the post here).  While I loved both of the polishes that I was sent, this one is definitely my favourite.

When is another polish from the OWL In Love Collection.  It's such a beautiful shade both in and out of the sun.

ESSIE

I want to say that I only tried one collection from Essie this year (although they do have a matte collection that I really like the looks of) and I loved it.  I could have put it in my favourite collections but there was one polish that I didn't like so I figured it was best to show of the polishes individually.  All of these polishes are from the Summer 2019 Collection which you can find here.  To save repeating myself I love all of these colours and they have great formulas.

In Full Swing

Soles On Fire 

Strike A Rose 

Take The Lead

Tangoed In Love

OPI

Ah the brand that started my entire nail polish collection.  I will always have a love for OPI and I am sure they always end up in my favourites.  This year (aside from the Neons) I fell in love with the Tokyo Collection.  Again, this is a collection that I could have put in my favourite collections post but I had to narrow it down some how.  You can find my post on the Tokyo Collection here.
    

All Your Dreams In A Vending Machine 

Another Ramen-tic Evening 

Arigato From Tokyo

Chopstix And Stones

How Does Your Zen Garden Grow

Hurry-Juku Get This Color!

I'm On A Sushi Roll.  It was a toss up between this polish and Suzi-san Climbs Fuji-san for my favourites because these polishes are really similar. Ultimately I went with I'm On A Sushi Roll because I like the name better.

Kanpai OPI!

Samurai Breaks A Nail

That brings us to the end of today's post.  This was definitely a lot easier to narrow down than tomorrow's post - my favourite indie polishes from 2019.  Eek!

Let me know what some of your mainstream polishes favourites are.

Favourite Polish Collections 2019

It's that time of year again.  It's the time where I spend hours (literally!) going through all the polishes that were released throughout the year and try and narrow down my favourites.  Like previous years I will have a post for my favourite collections, my favourite mainstream and indie polishes, my favourite stamping plates and stamping polishes and my favourite nail art.  Today I have my top eleven favourite polish collections from 2019.  I tried really hard to narrow it down to ten but I just couldn't.  I love all of the polishes in these collections.  These collections are in no particular order (because that would be way too hard to do) and none of the polishes that are in these collections will appear in any of my other favourites lists (that's how I cheat and allow myself more favourites).  Right onto the collections!

 

Mainstream Collections
This year was definitely a little quieter on the mainstream front for me.  I didn't really purchase much this year due to a lack of time and funds but I still managed to get some awesome collections.

Color Club Whatever Forever Collection

I said this back in April and I'll say it again - I am absolutely in love with this collection and totally obsessed!  All of the colours are amazing both on their own and in nail art.  I also really like them on my toes.  They have definitely had a lot of use this year and I imagine I'll keep grabbing for them in 2020.  In case you wanted to see the original swatches and review you can find that here and some comparison swatches here.

OPI x Converse Neons By OPI Collection
I only had one minor complaint about this collection - Australia missed out on two of the colours!  At some point I will get my hands on them but until then I will just keep loving the four polishes I have.  The formulas aren't a favourite of mine but the colours are totally worth it.  You can find my original swatches and review here and my nail art post using this collection here.

Indie Collections
The indie girls killed it this year!  I think a lot of the brands have stepped up their game and boy did it make it hard to narrow it down (I'll talk a little more about this in my indies favourites in a couple of days).  In terms of full collections I have to say that Emily de Molly absolutely killed it!  And so did Hit The Bottle.

Emily de Molly Anniversary Collection
I don't think I can rave about this collection enough.  It is seriously AMAZING!  You can see all of my swatches and my review here.

Emily de Molly August 2019 Releases
Love, love, love this release!  All of the polishes are amazing and are a must have.  You can find the post for this collection here.

Emily de Molly February 2019 Releases
This was one of the first collections for 2019 and I knew from this collection that this year was going to be a really good year for Emily de Molly and they didn't disappoint at all.  I'm sure I'm not the only person out there that thinks that Hayley absolutely killed it!  You can find all the February polishes in this post here.

Emily de Molly LE January Releases
It's funny looking back at this post (you can find it here) because in it I spoke about how I had just rearranged all of my polishes and that I now have a full Alex drawer unit for my Emily de Molly polishes and room to grow.  Well the Emily de Molly's definitely grew because I am slowly running out of space again.  Eek! No complaints really because I have added a lot of amazing polishes - like the limited edition polishes that were released back in January.

Emily de Molly March 2019 Releases
Again, this was another funny post to look back on because I was talking about how much Hayley was killing it and that it was going to make for an impossible time narrowing down my favourites.  I was very much correct.  It has been near impossible to do!  I have had to cut out some really awesome polishes to keep my lists smaller.  Anyway, you can find the post for this release here.

Emily de Molly Neon Collection 
I bet this one comes as no surprise - neons are always a favourite of mine and then you add Hayley's amazing formulas and I'm head over heels.

Emily de Molly November 2019 Releases 
The last collection from Emily de Molly that I absolutely love was the November Releases.  November was such a great month!  I mean look at how gorgeous each of these polishes are?  Love, love, love!  You can find the original post here.

Hit The Bottle Stuck In The 80s Collection
Have I mentioned that I love neon polishes?  Michelle made some amazing neons earlier this year that stamp really well and also great to wear on their own.   You can find my swatches and review here.

Hit The Bottle Stuck In The 80s Collection
Have I mentioned that I love neon polishes?  Michelle made some awesome ones this year that not only look great on their own but they also stamp beautifully as well.  You can't go wrong with a two for one polish.  You can find my swatches and review here.

Hit The Bottle Jelly Shots Collection
OMG!  These polishes definitely got a huge work out from me this year.  Easily some of the best jelly polishes out there for lead lighting.  You can find my post about these babies here.

That brings us to the end of my favourite collections from 2019.  As I mentioned earlier none of the individual polishes in these collections will show up in any favourites posts.  Honestly, I don't think I could narrow down individual polishes any more than I already have.

What have been some of your favourite polish collections from this year?

December 2019 Favourites

On the last day of each month I always do a monthly favourites post just to wrap up the month.  December is really no exception to the monthly favourites rule - except that I don't do it on the last day of the month because I like to finish the year with a few different favourites posts.  I have done this for the last couple of years and I quite like doing it so I'm doing it again.  Starting tomorrow and all the way through until the end of the month with be a new favourites post.  Before rounding up the year let's wrap up December.

Nail Art

I finally managed to get some nail art done this month!  Woohoo!  I definitely didn't get much done but some is better than none.  Of course they are all Christmas manis.  I managed to do four (and one basic mani which I never actually photographed) and I love them all.  They were all so fun to wear.
  

Mainstream Polishes

I was lucky enough to receive the OPI x Hello Kitty advent calendar this month but I didn't get a chance to play with them.
     

Indie Polishes

Oh my beloved indies - it's this time of year that I begin to dislike how gorgeous these polishes are.  Why?  Simply because it is always hard trying to narrow down my favourites at the end of the year.
       

Emily de Molly Capture The Dream (Polish Pick Up December)

This is such a gorgeous shade (both with and without the magnet) and of course to formula is awesome.
      

Emily de Molly December 2019 Releases

While I am a massive fan of the December releases I am being tough!  My absolute favourites from this collection (in no particular order) are Whisper Of Desire, Lines We Cross, Card Trick, Thorn In My Side and Past The Breakers.
     

Emily de Molly Neon Cremes 
I'm really not sure what I can say about these polishes other than I'm obsessed!
      

Emily de Molly The Real Deal (Polish Pick Up November)

This is a polish that I saw swatches of online and I just knew I had to have it.  It definitely did not disappoint.  I love how different it looks depending on your lighting.

Grace-full Nail Polish Winter Blooms (Polish Pick Up December)

This is such a great thermal.  It switches between the colours really well and both colours are gorgeous.
     

That brings me to the end of my favourites for December.  Now to begin working out my favourites for the entire year.  Eek!  I'll be back tomorrow with my favourite collections that were released this year. 

Emily de Molly Neon Cremes - Swatches & Review

PRESS SAMPLE

SURPRISE!  There are more new releases from Emily de Molly this month and I couldn't be more excited!  Originally the polishes that I shared with you yesterday were going to be released earlier but there were some delays with supplies etc so now you can get all the goodies with one lot of shipping.  Woohoo!  Although your wallet/bank account may not be too happy with that but don't shoot the messenger.

LE195 is a bright azure blue creme.  I am obsessed with this one!  The colour is AMAZING and so is the formula.  You can stop at one coat but I used two coats because I knocked my nails when they were still wet.  Oops.

Picture taken in light box

LE196 is a neon yellow creme.  Can I say that I am obsessed with this one too?  Pretty sure I am going to say it about all of these polishes because I am honestly obsessed with this collection.  The formula of this one is a little on the tricky side.  I'm not sure if it was the weather that impacted the polish or just because it's a yellow and they are naturally a little more difficult.  Anyway, this one was patchy because it seemed to dry a little quicker.  I needed three coats for my swatch but I think if you work quickly with slightly thicker coats then you can get away with two coats.

Picture taken in light box

LE197 is a bright tangerine orange creme.  This one is perfect.  The colour is fantastic and the formula is amazing.  It is super close to being a one coater but I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box

LE198 is a neon coral.  Again, I'm completely head over heels for this one.  The colour is divine and the formula is fantastic and close to being a one coater.  I used two coats for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box

LE199 is a neon red/orange creme.  Now this is such a cool colour.  The formula is again is awesome.  You can get away with one coat but I used two for my swatch.

Picture taken in light box

LE200 is a bright pink creme.  LOVE!  Like with the bulk of these polishes the formula and colour re amazing.  I used two coats for my swatch but you could get away with wearing one.

Picture taken in light box

LE201 is a bright seafoam green creme.  I love this colour but it is by far the worst to photograph.  No matter what lighting I used my camera washed it out.  So with that said my pictures aren't accurate so I would highly recommend checking out Hayley's swatches.  Or just believe me when I say that the colour is awesome - and so is the formula.  My swatch shows two coats.

Picture taken in light box

Picture taken outdoors in shade

Picture taken in direct sunlight

LE202 is a neon green creme. Another awesome polish with a great formula.  I did find that this one was a little bit patchy on the first coat but evened out beautifully on the second coat (which is what I used for my swatch).

Picture taken in light box

Seriously, how amazing are all of these polishes?  Did I mention that I am obsessed?  I'll definitely need a back up set of these in my life.

The Neon Cremes will be available via Emily de Molly's Australian site on Friday 27th December at 10am AEDT and from their international site on Thursday 26th December at 6pm EDT.  Now while these polishes are called "LE" they aren't actually limited edition as Hayley has plenty of pigment.

Now before I go - I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas (or Happy Holiday/Wednesday depending on what you celebrate) for tomorrow.  I hope you all have an amazing and safe day with friends and family.  I will be back on Thursday with another post and then will have daily blogging write up until the end of the year....or maybe January 1st.  I haven't thought that far ahead yet.  See you soon!