Smitten Polish Mother of Dragons

I'm not sure exactly when indie polish maker Smitten Polish released Mother of Dragons, but I know it was over a year ago now. I remember pondering it in Noelie's etsy shop, helplessly bewitched by it's softness and subtlety. I never did purchase it, though, and then it was gone. Amazingly enough, it turned up at auction on ebay and I was finally able to get my hands on this lovely lemming.

Mother of Dragons was inspired by the character of Daenerys Stormborn of the House of Targaryen, played by actress Emilia Clarke, in Game of Thrones. It's a perfect tribute to the Khaleesi's ethereal beauty.

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This glitter crelly has a pale creamy griege base softly accented by tiny metallic hex glitters in muted gold and pale sky blue. It has a fluid, thin consistency that is easy to work with. A good random mix of glitters makes itself available with each brushful, and disperses smoothly over the nail with a minimal amount of tumbling and protrusion over the free edge. Pigmentation is good. I got opaque coverage in two coats although I ended up doing three to even it out a bit. Mother of Dragons dries in very good time to a slightly flat finish that is textured from the glitters. I used two layers of topcoat, one of HK Girl and one of Seche Vite, to get a smooth glossy finish. It also looks great matte. Ida Nails It has a nice photo of Mother of Dragons mattified on her blog, here.

Photos show three coats of Mother of Dragons over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of HK Girl followed by a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Smitten Polish Mother of Dragons

Smitten Polish Mother of Dragons

Smitten Polish Mother of Dragons

Smitten Polish Mother of Dragons

Smitten Polish Mother of Dragons

Smitten Polish Mother of Dragons

Smitten Polish Mother of Dragons

Smitten Polish Mother of Dragons

Smitten Polish Mother of Dragons

Smitten Polish Mother of Dragons

It's hard to separate how I feel about this polish from how I feel about the character of Daenerys. If you've watched Game of Thrones, Daenerys is kind of a polarizing character: some people really love her, some really can't stand her. I'm in the former group and as a matter of course I'm disposed to love this polish. Beyond the fact that it so articulately mirrors elements of Dany's appearance, the pale blue of her eyes, the gold of her hair, the milkiness of her skin, etc., it's just a lovely fluent polish composition with a graceful understated neutrality.

Except for the occasional sparkle when light hits the glitters just right, in terms of glitter polishes Mother of Dragons is very low key. The small size and pale colors of the glitters themselves contribute to this and so does the ratio of glitter to base. It's not as sparse as some glitter crellies out there, and the natural translucence of the base allows you to see buried glitters in addition to what's on the surface, but I get the feeling that the ratio of glitter to base was determined with a bit of reserve. It's a beautifully put together creation by Noelie -- she did an excellent job tying the polish to the character and I'm glad I had the chance to add it to my small stash of Smittens.

love,
Liz