Today I have the formal review for EL Molten Lava. EL polishes don't seem to get much love (Metallic Sage is the only recent one that got raves), which is weird considering how awesome they are (or at least how awesome this one is). Last week I did a comparison post of it with RBL Piu Mosso; check it out here if you haven't yet, as I actually captured Molten Lava in natural light. I'll make this review short and sweet; this polish is awesome. The shimmer is visible, the formula was great, and the color was beautiful. This is the trifecta of my standards for an unbelievable nail polish. I love it! It's a purple taupe with pinkish gold shimmer that runs throughout the bottle. It's one of those colors that you have to pause to admire because the floating shimmer looks surreal in the bottle. On the nail, the shimmer is less apparent, but it is still very much present. I swatched two coats in the pictures below, but you can apply one careful coat to cover your entire nail. I used one layer of Essie's No Chips Ahead as a topcoat.
Molten Lava is limited edition and is still available for $19 at department stores, their websites, and EL's website. I don't own a color like this, but I think there might be one that could be similar to it. Not too long ago, swatches of Dior Les Violets Hypnotiques appeared on the net. The one that I thought looked similar to Molten Lava was Shadow, a dark shimmery purple with coppery pink shimmer. This is just speculation on my part, but Molten Lava IRL looks a lot like the Shadow swatches I've seen.
