Hey nail friends! Today I've got a special evening-edition post for you. I'll be showing you swatches of the beautiful new Fall 2015 collection from Delush Polish called Dames of Thrones!

This collection takes inspiration from pivotal female characters in the Game of Thrones series, of course! If you're anything like me, you love the show AND you love circle glitter, so this is exciting!



Before we get started, I wanted to mention that all swatches, except where noted, show 1 coat of Glisten & Glow- HK Girl plus 1 coat of American Classics- Gelous. None of these glitters were especially top coat- hungry (for glitters), but I really prefer anything with large glitter to be perfectly glassy.

Let's get started!

First, here is Delush Polish- A Knight to Remember:



A Knight to Remember is a charcoal jelly (that builds to black) with large holo circles, silver and holo silver hexes in a couple of sizes, as well as small metallic teal and blue hexes. This one is inspired by Brienne of Tarth!

Artificial light, three coats:


This polish really looks like a galaxy, I think! 

Closer!






Formula: It's sheerer with a nice medium viscosity. It's not overly thick, and very workable, making it easy spread the glitter around. Dry down is fast, and the second coat is actually pretty opaque, although it continues to deepen at three. As far as the biggest holo circles go, I had to fish most out, although one did come out naturally on the brush.

The one thing you have to watch with formulas like this is sheerness at the nail tips. I used three thin coats for swatches, and wrapped the tips during each coat!
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Next, Delush Polish- Girl of Many Faces:


Girl of Many Faces is a deep brown jelly with bronze, orange, and sparser red microglitters. There also seem to be some sparse, translucent or iridescent blue/ green shards which I only noticed in the macro photos. Inspired by Arya Stark!

Artificial light, two coats:


Brown is so in right now, and this is such good one! (But, to be fair, I've always loved brown polish!)

Closer!






Formula: It's nice! The base is a bit on the sheerer side, but the particles within are pretty dense, so there's actually a nice amount of coverage on the first coat. Dry down is very fast, and you can basically start your second coat as soon as you finish your first coat on the fifth finger. Two coats are perfectly opaque, and I didn't need Gelous to smooth this one. Overall, very nice!
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Here is Delush Polish- The Priestess:


The Priestess is a deep maroon jelly with large holographic circles, bronze hex, smaller holo gold circles, and a smattering of fine magenta and gold flakie particles. Inspired by Melisandre!

Artificial light, three coats:


I can't lie: this is easily one of my favorites in the entire collection! Look at it!

Up close:





Formula: The base is not quite as sheer as some of the others, and maybe is more of a crelly than a jelly. It's a nice texture- not too thick, and everything spreads easily on the nail. Dry down is very quick, and the second coat is opaque! Like A Knight to Remember, the largest holo circles are a bit tricky to get out on the brush and I did fish for what you're seeing in photos.

To build depth and deepen the color, I chose to use three coats, but this is totally wearble and opaque at two!
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Next, Delush Polish- Belle of Winterfell:


Belle of Winterfell is a burnt orange jelly with red, gold, and yellow hex and circle glitters. (None of the gold circles made it into my brush shot, but they're the same size as those orange hexes, pretty much.) Inspired by Sansa Stark!

Artificial light, three coats:


Okay, this is a great orange, and this one surprised me. I wasn't extremely excited for it at first, but it comes alive on the nail and the shade of burnt orange is so nice for Fall. Very dimensional, too!

Closer!





Formula: The base is sheer since it's a jelly, but the texture is really, really nice, and allows you to bring the glitter all the way down the nail bed easily. It also dries down very quickly like Girl of Many Faces.

Depending on polishing style and how much glitter accumulates on your brush, the second coat can be nearly opaque or have an unacceptable level of VNL. On some of my nails, I was quite happy with just two coats, but a couple nails were sheerer, so I added a third coat to all. Very workable, easy formula overall!
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Here is the blue of the collection, Delush Polish- Dancing with Dragons:


Dancing with Dragons is a mid-toned blue jelly, approaching cobalt territory, with iridescent, translucent shards, and various sizes of metallic hexagonal glitters in aquas and blues. There is also gold and bronze hex in there, but it looks much softer on the nail than in the bottle due to all the blue. This one is inspired by Daenerys Targaryen, of course!

Artificial light, three coats:


I have to say that blue doesn't come to mind when I picture Daenerys, but I do think I remember her being presented in blue attire many times. Either way, this is a pretty blue, no doubt.

Up close:





Formula: The sheer jelly base is thicker and stickier than the others. It's technically workable and carries the glitters well, but it's hard to get nice thin coats. It doesn't pull or drag though, and dry down is still quick, although maybe not as super fast as some of the others.

During the second coat, I had some clumps of glitter that were harder to disperse, and definitely had to dab a bit to get everything in place. Three coats were mostly opaque- not my favorite formula, but not impossible to use either (although my end result was thicker than I'd normally prefer).
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Next, Delush Polish- Garden of Thorns:


Garden of Thorns is a jewel-toned, blue-leaning green jelly filled with a couple sizes of green hexagonal glitters, metallic green squares, circle glitters in chartreuse and magenta pink, as well as some larger green metallic circles. Inspired by Margaery Tyrell!

Artificial light, three coats:


This polish really had to be heavily color-corrected. The above photo is very accurate, but everything taken with the macro lens was very blue (and still looks slightly too blue). This type of green (which does have a touch of blue in it) makes the camera's cyan just record as blue. I think you can still get an idea though. It's definitely a green polish, overall! 






Formula: This was one of the final shades in the collection that I swatched, and I decided to leave it upside down for about a day prior to application since I'd had trouble getting the big circle glitters out of A Knight to Remember and The Priestess. I am happy to report that that really did the trick, and several came out on my brush naturally- no fishing!

Texture-wise, the jelly base of this one is a wonderful consistency, not overly thick, but still carrying the glitters well. I used three thin coats. Very nice, overall!
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Finally, here is Delush Polish- Queen of No Mercy:


Queen of No Mercy is a "royal plum," slightly-warm toned purple jelly filled with red and magenta metallic hexes, some red hex that looks more matte, some large metallic red circles, and some small holo/ red metallic circles and hex that spark deep bluish purple. Inspired by Cersei Lannister!

Artificial light, three coats:


My very favorite in the collection! The red of the glitters against the purple base is such a nice contrast, and I think this overall color palette represents Cersei well!

Up close:





Formula: Like Garden of Thorns, I also turned this one over for about a day prior to swatching.

Like all but Dancing with Dragons, the base is a great texture: workable and carries glitter well while not being overly thick.  Dry down is very quick, and I was able to get some (but not all) of the largest circle glitters out naturally. Three coats were a nice opacity for me!
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Overall, I thought it was really cool to see these GoT characters interpreted as colors! One of my favorite things about these glitter mixes is that the color schemes are very harmonious and coordinating, and there's not a lot of unnecessary competition for your eye. (I think the exception is Garden of Thorns with the contrasting magenta/ pink glitters in a green base, but it works there!) Color-wise, my favorites are easily Queen of No Mercy, which I loved wearing, The Priestess, and surprisingly, Belle of Winterfell!

I mostly had no issues with application other than Dancing with Dragons which just had a base that was a little too gooey, and will likely need thinner in the future. I'm not the best at applying dense glitter jellies, so that alone should speak to you about the workable nature of these formulas! The issue with not being able to get many large circle glitters onto the brush without fishing is not unique to these polishes specifically, and was pretty much solved by turning the bottles upside down for about a day prior to application!

At the end of the day,  I think the collection is very successful, and there will be something here for everyone!



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*Disclosure: polishes in this post were provided to me as press samples for honest review, and all opinions are my own.