Femme Fatale Embercrush

Embercrush was released by Australian indie polish maker Femme Fatale earlier this summer as a Color4Nails exclusive. It's a deep violet-leaning amethyst jelly bearing a gorgeous, jewel-toned mix of flakies and shimmers: gold and fuchsia irregularly-shaped metallic flakies with smaller metallic shimmers in purple, violet and fuchsia at least (there may be other colors in there too), as well as a sprinkling of holographic particles. It all comes together as a richly colored and dimensional tapestry of deep purple with glowing embers of gold, fuchsia, violet, purple and lavender-pink radiating flashes of color from within the polish as it turns in the light. It's a beautifully constructed polish displaying a regal mix of precious hues perfect for ushering in the cooler months of the year.

Application was lovely. The consistency of Embercrush is fluid and dense with components. It's not sticky and doesn't run or pool. There's a little bit of flakie tumbling as the polish goes on, but in the end they all lay flat against the nail and do not protrude over the free edge. I shouldn't have been surprised at how smoothly Embercrush applied, but I was and happily so. This polish is easy to work with. Pigmentation is excellent for a jelly: the first coat is only a little sheer, and completely opaque, even coverage is attainable in two coats, which is what I used. Cleanup is also surprisingly easy given all of the components. Embercrush dries naturally in good time to an ever so slightly textured shiny finish. A healthy layer or two of topcoat adds gloss, pops the colors and helps to unite all of the elements.

Photos show two coats of Embercrush over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite followed by an additional topcoat of Poshe.

Femme Fatale Embercrush

Femme Fatale Embercrush

Femme Fatale Embercrush

Femme Fatale Embercrush

Femme Fatale Embercrush

Femme Fatale Embercrush

Femme Fatale Embercrush

Femme Fatale Embercrush

Femme Fatale Embercrush

Femme Fatale Embercrush

Femme Fatale Embercrush

Femme Fatale Embercrush

I love how Embercrush stays true to its amethyst base without straying into the burgundy spectrum of purples. It's a nice darker polish that retains its native color in dimmer lighting and doesn't look black. The golden flakies are particularly beautiful, picking up variations of pink and purple as they shine through the layers of polish. I wore this polish for four days without the first sign of wear, even tipwear, which really impressed me. I think I'm probably biased to love a Femme Fatale polish, but this one absolutely deserves it. I mean, look at it! It's scrumptious!

All of those flakies means that a bit of patience and elbow grease are required for removal, but I didn't feel like I needed to break out the tin foil or anything. Just letting the nail soak under a remover-saturated pad for a minute before beginning to scrub helped a lot. So don't let this deter you if you like the looks of this puppy, it's worth the tiny bit of extra trouble. Especially if you're a purple-lover!

love,
Liz