Mavala - 135 Amber Drop

Copper shimmer  

 

Amber Drop is a gorgeous gold leaning metallic copper shimmer.  The colour and finish are very glowy and the shimmer almost seems suspended in the polish.  And somehow it doesn't look terrible with my cool-loving skintone!

Application was good, despite the size of the brush and the brush strokes aren't too bad.

And this was pretty much a one-coat wonder!  I did two coats for the swatches for completeness.

Mavala - Neroli

Pale orange/peach pearl  

Hmm - orangey peach pearl - that's all I need to say right?

Swatch shown is 3 coats, this has significant brush stroke marks and still isn't opaque

Just horrid - this went straight into the sale box!

Can anyone find any love for this?

Mavala - Silver Angel

Shimmery sheer white pearl  

Silver Angel isn't silver, but it does have an angelic, silvery feel to it.

This is the kind of colour I wore many years ago at school, I was a fan of a mildy pearlescent  finish plus it didn't show up too much so I was less likely to get in trouble with the teachers!

I'd describe it as a slightly sheer, shimmery white frost.  Mavala, on the bottle, describe it as a pearl, but anything that isn't creme is pearl in their books!

Swatch shown is 2 coats, no top coat.

Mavala - Romance

Rust shimmer with silver foil  

Romance is a brick/rust shimmer with masses of silver foily shimmer

Liked this much more than I thought I would

Swatch shown is 2 coats with no top coat.

Mavala is a Swiss brand that only comes in these tiny 5ml bottles.

Mavala - Nabucco

Dusty red brown subtle shimmer  

Nabucco is a slightly dusty, red brown polish with a slight shimmer and a mild pearl finish.

It's a very sophisticated colour, it reminds me of the 1970s, something Joan Collins or Bianca Jagger would have worn with a white jumpsuit and a turban!

Swatch shown is 2 coats, no top coat

And Nabucco is another word for Nebuchadnezzar- who knew?!

If you want to channel your inner Joan Collins, pre-Dynasty then check out Nabucco, turban optional!

Mavala - Dakar

Warm rose pink shimmer

Mavala Dakar is an warm deepish rose pearl/shimmer that leans a little brown.  This is a rather traditional, almost old-fashioned colour but I still think it looks nice

For their core colours Mavala label the bottle either Cream or Pearl, a fairly binary categorisation! although oddly not on the special edition colours like Cedar Green.

Mavala name their core colours after cities around the world, Dakar is the capital of Senegal in Africa and for me is most well known for the Paris-Dakar rally, an off-road endurance race.

Swatch shown is 3 coats with no top coat.  Application was good, the tiny Mavala bottles and brushes don't cause me any problems.

Mavala - Electric Green

Bright green shimmer/pearl    

Sunlight

Shade

Electric Green is a bright shimmery green with fine lighter greeny-gold sparkles.

The Mavala bottle describes it as a pearl but I think that all polish is either 'cream', 'pearl' or not specified in Mavala's world!

It does have a pearly base but to me there's too much sparkly shimmer visible for it to be a true pearl.

Swatch shown is 2 coats with no top coat.  You can see a hint of vnl (if you squint) but nothing too heinous!  Application was good as usual.

Mavala - Smoky Blue

Greyed mid blue with shimmer  

My nails are still not back to swatching length, but no worries I have sooooo many swatch pics stockpiled!

Here's one from 2011, Mavala Smoky Blue

Smoky Blue is unsurprisingly a slightly greyed, smoky, blue but that also has a fine blue shimmer

Swatches shown are 2 coats, no top coat.

Unfortunately the shimmer is not massively visible on nail, slightly more visible in the sun shot but it does still add a bit of interest to the colour.

I love this colour, it's definitely in the Air Force blue family.

Mavala bottles are a tiny 5ml and usually retail for around £5.  Personally I don't have an issue with the tiny bottle or tiny brush - but then I have tiny hands & nails!

Mavala - Cedar Green

Very dark pine green jelly with secret shimmer

Gah - 3 weeks without a post!  How did that happen?!  Well, I was on holiday for part of the time, a wondeful 5-day trip to Finnish Lapland with my beloved and the youngest step son (aged 13) but the rest of the time, I really don't have a reason.  I just lost my posting mojo.  Did lots of swatching though!

So to get back in the saddle here's Mavala's Cedar Green

Mavala Cedar Green

As you can see it's a super dark green with a fairly hidden secret shimmer.  I'd say the colour is a smidge more green/less black IRL but it's still pretty damn dark!

I'd describe Cedar Green as a pine/cedar green jelly with slight silver secret shimmer
It was very streaky on first coat, overall a bit tricky to work with and took 3 coats to really even out

Swatch is 3 coats with top coat

Apart from the streaky/jelly issues application was ok, the tiny bottle/tiny brush seems to work well for me.

And apologies for the stumpy pinkie - I know I should cut them all back when I break one but I find it really hard to do that!

Mavala - The ELLE Grey

Mid grey creme

This was a recent covermount free gift with Elle Magazine.  Elle isn't usually my choice of reading matter, too much expensive fashion for me, but who can resist a free polish?!

There were 3 colours available, this Grey, The ELLE Red and The ELLE Orange

Formula and application were great and for such a small bottle & brush I find the brush easy to work with.  The swatch is 2 coats with no top coat.  My only complaint is the polish wasn't very self-levelling.

Anyone else pick thse up?

Mavala - Black Cherry

Dark plum with secret shimmer

Jen's post earlier this week reminded me that I hadn't shared any Mavala love on this blog despite having reasonable collection, 20+ I think.

So here is an old swatch of Black Cherry

In most lights Black Cherry is a deep plum, dark but not black. But see it in the sunlight and the secret pinky shimmer is revealed.

This swatch is 2 coats with no top coat.

More about Mavala:
They're a Swiss company, they started out with nail hardener and now make a range of nail and feet treatment products as well as polish colours. All the colours in the mini 5ml bottles which are handy for travel. They also have some other beauty/cosmetic treatments.

In the UK I've usually found Mavala in independent chemists rather than Boots or Superdrug and I think usually retail for around £4-5