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Friday, June 23, 2017

Moonflower Polish La Isla del Encanto Summer 2017 Collection Swatches and Review Part 1

Moonflower Polish has just released La Isla del Encanto Summer 2017 Collection, a set of eight slightly duochrome shimmery stamping polishes inspired by Nadia's home island of Puerto Rico. I have four of the polishes to show you today and will be back with the second half soon. All of them work as both regular polishes and for stamping so I used them together. Let's have a look!
*sent by the maker for photography and review*
Moonflower Polish La Isla del Encanto Summer 2017 Collection

First of all, I will discuss the formula, since all performed the same.

For wear as normal polish: These are stamping polishes, so they are much thicker and more opaque than regular polishes, though they work for conventional manis. Nadia mentioned it is possible to use a polish thinner on them if desired, but I did not find that necessary. As regular polishes, they were all solid one-coaters. They self level, which is fantastic for such an opaque formula, and dry to a satiny finish that I chose to top coat. I recommend wrapping the tips to make sure you get full coverage, but there is no shrinkage. They also wore like iron on me, unlike most super-opaque polishes. After some hard use of my hands these polishes held up with zero chips or tip wear, which is unusual for me.

For wear as stamping polishes: As for stamping, since they are so opaque, they work nicely over both light and dark shades. As you will see in my examples below, they are pigmented enough to not be altered even by strongly contrasting shades. Shimmers can be more challenging to pick up than cremes, and I did have to be careful to use good technique to get perfect images - occasionally I would have to redo a pickup, but it was mostly when I was sloppy or did something wrong (I am a medium-skilled stamper). I used them all with the Moyou London Crystal Clear Stamper and found they worked best with a very quick roll. Crystal stampers more generally are less forgiving, and these polishes were up to the test. I found the one plate that was more challenging to use with them was a very shallowly etched Born Pretty Store Plate with small patterns, but I was still able to get the polish to work even under these challenging conditions.

With those notes out of the way, let's get on to the polishes! Below I will include Nadia's description of the polishes and the inspiration, since I already gave my thoughts about formula.


Atardecer en el Morro - (Sunset in el Morro) - metallic orange with pink/purple/orange color shifting shimmer and gold micro flakes . El Morro is the short name for the Castillo de San Felipe del Morro, which is a 16th century citadel right on the entrance to San Juan Harbor. It sits on a large hill overlooking the bay on one side, and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. It's one of my favorite spots on the island, during the day it's a popular tourist spot and a great place to go kite flying. But my favorite time to visit is right before sunset. You get an amazing view of the sun as it sets over the bay. When my husband and I were still dating, it was our tradition to go see the sunset, and then go hit the bars/restaurants/hang out spots in the city. He proposed to me during one of those dates, right on the hill, at sunset. 


Moonflower Polish Atardecer en el Morro (Sunset in el Morro)

Moonflower Polish Atardecer en el Morro (Sunset in el Morro)

Moonflower Polish Atardecer en el Morro (Sunset in el Morro)

Moonflower Polish Atardecer en el Morro (Sunset in el Morro)

Here is Moonflower Polish Atardecer en el Morro (Sunset in el Morro) stamped over Calles del Viejo San Juan (The Streets of Old San Juan) using the Uber Chic Op Art Magic plate
Moonflower Polish Atardecer en el Morro (Sunset in el Morro) stamped over Calles del Viejo San Juan (The Streets of Old San Juan)

Moonflower Polish Atardecer en el Morro (Sunset in el Morro) stamped over Calles del Viejo San Juan (The Streets of Old San Juan)

Moonflower Polish Atardecer en el Morro (Sunset in el Morro) stamped over Calles del Viejo San Juan (The Streets of Old San Juan)


Calles del Viejo San Juan (The Streets of Old San Juan) - metallic indigo with purple shimmer and indigo/purple/red color shifting micro flakes . While San Juan is the actual capital of PR, Old San Juan refers to the small island right on the bay (connected by a bridge to the mainland) where the Spanish built their 2nd settlement and eventually a city. (The 1st was farther inland, away from fresh water and in a swamp...not so great). The old colonial streets are covered in blue cobblestones that were originally brought in the Spanish ships as ballast. Time has aged and faded a lot of them, but some of them still retain their darker indigo color. I have spent a lot of time in Old SJ. I took art classes on one of the oldest art schools in the island inside a colonial era building for a few years, and it was our designated date spot before we had kids. The area is full of history, museums, shops, restaurants, and homes. 


Moonflower Polish Calles del Viejo San Juan (The Streets of Old San Juan)

Moonflower Polish Calles del Viejo San Juan (The Streets of Old San Juan)

Moonflower Polish Calles del Viejo San Juan (The Streets of Old San Juan)

Moonflower Polish Calles del Viejo San Juan (The Streets of Old San Juan)

Moonflower Polish Calles del Viejo San Juan (The Streets of Old San Juan)

I stamped Moonflower Polish Calles del Viejo San Juan (The Streets of Old San Juan) over Cavernas del Rio Camuy (Camuy River Canyons) using Uber Chic 3-01
Moonflower Polish Calles del Viejo San Juan (The Streets of Old San Juan) stamped over Cavernas del Rio Camuy (Camuy River Canyons)

Moonflower Polish Calles del Viejo San Juan (The Streets of Old San Juan) stamped over Cavernas del Rio Camuy (Camuy River Canyons)

Moonflower Polish Calles del Viejo San Juan (The Streets of Old San Juan) stamped over Cavernas del Rio Camuy (Camuy River Canyons)



Cavernas del Rio Camuy (Camuy River Caverns) - Bronzy/brown with gold microflakes and gold shimmer . The Camuy River is a river on the north shore of the island, that has our largest and most complex cavern system. It's a gorgeous place to visit, with guided tours down into one of the most accessible caverns and you can also go spelunking or diving for the most experienced visitors. Pictures of this one are from a trip I took with the hubs back when we were still in college. 


Moonflower Polish Cavernas del Rio Camuy (Camuy River Canyons)

Moonflower Polish Cavernas del Rio Camuy (Camuy River Canyons)

Moonflower Polish Cavernas del Rio Camuy (Camuy River Canyons)

Moonflower Polish Cavernas del Rio Camuy (Camuy River Canyons)
Moonflower Polish Cavernas del Rio Camuy (Camuy River Canyons)

Next I stamped Moonflower Polish Cavernas del Rio Camuy (Camuy River Canyons) over El Yunque with Uber Chic Lovely Leaves.
Moonflower Polish Cavernas del Rio Camuy (Camuy River Canyons) stamped over El Yunque

Moonflower Polish Cavernas del Rio Camuy (Camuy River Canyons) stamped over El Yunque

Moonflower Polish Cavernas del Rio Camuy (Camuy River Canyons) stamped over El Yunque



El Yunque - (no real translation for this one). Dark metallic green with green-gold-purple-blue color shifting shimmer and green-gold micro flakes. El Yunque National Rainforest (which, fun fact is the only tropical rainforest in the US National Forests System), is one of our national treasures. It has 3 main mountains, the most famous one also called El Yunque. It towers over the landscape and is visible from almost anywhere on the northeastern coast. You can even see it as your plane circles around to make a landing, a green mountain, it's top so high it's usually covered in clouds. The forest covers over 28,000 acres of land and is an amazing place to go hiking and swimming in it's natural pools formed by the many waterfalls and rivers. It was considered a sacred place by our indigenous people, the Taino. The color was inspired by this picture I took on a trail near the top of one of the mountain peaks. I’ve taken many trips over my life here but one of the most memorable was when I was 15 and my husband was 17. We were both in our school’s science club and it was during a field trip there that we really started to develop a friendship. 

Moonflower Polish El Yunque

Moonflower Polish El Yunque

Moonflower Polish El Yunque

Moonflower Polish El Yunque

Moonflower Polish El Yunque
Finally, I stamped Moonflower Polish El Yunque over Atardecer en el Morro (Sunset in el Morro) using Born Pretty Store  BP-L060. This is a pretty shallowly etched plate and the stamping is still crisp.
Moonflower Polish El Yunque stamped over Atardecer en el Morro (Sunset in el Morro)

Moonflower Polish El Yunque stamped over Atardecer en el Morro (Sunset in el Morro)

Moonflower Polish El Yunque stamped over Atardecer en el Morro (Sunset in el Morro)

I will be back soon with the second set of four polishes. I was really happy with how well these worked and I love the complexity of them. They had a kind of graphite-like sheen in natural light, but were not too reflective for the patterns not to show well. It was also so fun to have a tour of Puerto Rico compliments of Nadia - for me that made the polishes all the more special! I highly recommend these if you are looking for some indie shimmer stamping polishes and I look forward to showing you the next batch. If you want to see these over straight white and black with a variety of plates, be sure to check out Nadia's own post at Mama Hearts Polish.  Do you have a favorite among these? They are available in shop now as both minis and full size bottles and in sets. I also have a discount code for you - use HIPPY10 for 10% off!

*sent by the maker for photography and review*

Moonflower Polish is a stamping-polish-focused line made by blogger Nadia in Florida.


Lantern & Wren, retailer: https://www.lanternandwren.com/

Social media:
Facebook group, Painted Moonflowers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/260038131088771/



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