Shades of Phoenix Beware of the Dark Arts Collection Swatches + Video

Hi guys! Today I have a new collection from Shades of Phoenix to show you! I'm so so excited about this collection! It's called the Beware of the Dark Arts collection, and it is inspired by Harry Potter! The Harry Potter books & movies are some of my all-time faves. When I was 9-10 I was obsessed with Harry Potter and remember watching the first movie a L.O.T that year.
These polishes are all beautiful sparkly glitter polishes in a dark base, and they're all named after spells that have been used in a form of "Defence Against the Dark Arts". Very vampy colours and super nice for winter especially.

This will be pic heavy so the rest of this review is after the jump!


If you're not a Harry Potter fan, or perhaps have forgotten what the names mean since the last time you read the books or watched the movies, don't worry, I'll include a little background behind each name. :)

----- Expelliarmus -----

The Disarming Charm, also known as the Expelliarmus Spell or Disarming Spell was a defensive charm which forced the victim to release whatever they were holding at the time, and sometimes block spells, usually against his or her will. It is common to see this spell used in duels, to make an opponent release their wand.

Expelliarmus is a very dark almost black base, but it has a little bit of an olive-y tone to it. It has lots of golden flakes and glitter throughout, and an iridescent shimmer. It was almost opaque in one coat but I used 2 coats + top coat.

----- Imperio -----

The Imperius Curse is one of the three Unforgivable Curses. When cast successfully, it places the victim completely under the caster's control, though a person with exceptional strength of will is capable of resisting it. This makes it unique among the unforgivable curses, as it is the only one of them with a known, reliable (depending on the victim's will) method of resistance. The curse's incantation is Imperio.

Imperio is a charcoal black base with teeny silver flakes, holographic silver squares and some larger iridescent flakes too. This one takes a little patience to apply because it's pretty packed with glitter but it's not a big deal at all. I used 2 coats + top coat.

----- Lacarnum Inflamarae -----

Lacarnum Inflamarae is the incantation of a charm used to ignite the cloak of a witch or warlock by shooting a fireball from the tip of the caster's wand.

Lacarnum Inflamareae is a super dark red base (almost black, again) with silver micro glitter, red flakes, red squares and red hexes. Super pigmented! :) Super easy to apply. I used 2 coats + top coat. Sadly I only got one photo of this polish in the sun. I took a few in the shade but they were all horrible so I hope the one sun photo does the polish justice!

----- Morsmordre -----

Morsmordre is the incantation of a spell used to conjure the Dark Mark, the skull-and-serpent sign used by Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. The Death Eaters cast their mark over the homes of anyone they killed.

Morsmordre is a super dark green base with green micro glitter, green flakes and green squares. This one was a little less pigmented than the others but still very opaque. This was definitely one of my faves from the collection, I love it! 2 coats + top coat again.

----- Riddikulus -----

Riddikulus (protection from a Bogart) helps to learn to face your fears and practice defensive spells

Riddikulus is a charm that is used in defence against a Boggart. It causes the creature to assume a form that is humourous to the caster, thereby counteracting the Boggart's ability to terrorise. Boggarts are defeated by laughter, so forcing them to assume an amusing form is the first step to defeating them. However, because Boggarts are ammortal, this spell does not truly dispel them, similar to the Patronus Charm.

Riddikulus is a super dark purple base with silver holo micro glitter, purple flakes and purple holo squares. This one was a bit sheer also but it was opaque in 2 coats. So again I used 2 coats + top coat.

----- Wingardium Leviosa -----

The Levitation Charm (Wingardium Leviosa) is a charm used to make objects fly, taught to first years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Wingardium Leviosa is a super dark blue base with silver holo micro glitter, blue flakes, and blue dots! This one was a wee bit sheer but it built up in 2 coats, and I think the thinner base helps the glitters to shine through. :) I loved this one.

I also made a little video of swatches so that you can see how sparkly and beautiful these polishes are in the sunlight. :)

My faves from this collection are Morsmordre, Riddikulus and Wingardium Leviosa, but they're all sooo beautiful! And I'm not even usually a huge fan of dark colours so that's saying something! :D

PS. There is also a suuuurpriseeee with this collection! :O So make sure you stay tuned to find out what that is and get your hands on these beautiful polishes!

This collection will be available on the Shades of Phoenix Etsy store at 7pm AEST July 17th (this Wednesday)!

*Product(s) in this post were provided to me by the company or PR for my 100% honest review. For more info please read my Disclosure Policy*