Essence – Be My Lucky Star

Today I have a textured polish for you today – this one is Be My Lucky Star from Essence.  They call this a sparkle sand effect.

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This is two coats over a base of Essence Anti Split nail sealer.  No top coat so you can see the nail effect.  The effect is silver without being too much,  the effect does remind me of the Zoya Pixie polishes as the glitter when it dries is a couple of different sizes.  Formula is good, it doesn’t try too quickly, so care is needed when waiting for it to dry as it stay tacky for a while.  This is nothing out of the ordinary with textured polishes.

The Essence range changes regularly, including trend editions like this. The range changes often and reflects things like colour of the year and recently has included more textured polishes in the line up. Find out more on the Facebook page or main website.

*Disclosure: This product was sent to me for review but this does not influence the opinions expressed in this blog which are entirely my own.

Don’t forget that you can follow this blog via Bloglovin’, either by clicking the icon to the right or by clicking here. I can also be found on Twitter @BakingNails

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Essence Effect Nail Polish – Skyfall

More Essence lovelies for you today – this one came from a Dutch work colleague on one of her trips homes.  This is Skyfall and is part of the Effect Nail Polish range from Essence.

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This is a lovely teal green/blue, that dries to an effect not unlike the now very common textured polishes that are readily available.  Skyfall dries to a slightly matte but delicate textured finish.  I do like the colour.  As with all textured polishes, no top coat required unless you want to use top coat to change the look of the polish.

I think I need to be careful with what textured shades I pick up in future this is quite similar to another one I have that is more glittery (so its not the same at all!) but I seem to be attracted to this this shade in textures.  But thats not a bad thing, I am look at it!

Have you got or tried any of the Essence Nail Effect Polishes?  Let me know in the comments 🙂

Don’t forget that you can follow this blog via Bloglovin’, either by clicking the icon to the right or by clicking here. I can also be found on Twitter @BakingNails

Essence – Heart Explosion

Don’t you just hate finding pics on your camera you have no idea were there?  Clearly changing my polish (nearly) daily has addled my brain.  In my defense I do remember wearing it, just not taking pictures!  This is an Essence polish that a Dutch friend picked up for me when she popped home for a trip.

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As you can see above Heart Explosion is a really shiny, bright tomato red.  It is one of the effects polishes meaning its a bit like a textured polish.  Its not super textured like some, its a bit more gentle and only slightly bumpy.  It does have glitter pieces in it, so it catches the light quite magnificently.  I wore this with no top coat over a base of G&G Stuck on Blu! over a layer of Nailtiques 2.

What do you think?  Still loving textures as much as I do?

L’Oreal – The Reign of Studs

So I also picked up a couple of the L’Oreal Gold Dust Collection that I left behind on the shelf in NYC.  I’d been kicking myself about some of these once I had seen all the swatches, as most of them are just STUNNING!  This one is no exception and I am so in love with it…..

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You know the drill – no top coat with these textured shades.  They dry super quick and to a glitter matte finish.  This one is the most perfect Easter lilac colour, it just screams springtime!  I love the fact that all the texture pieces are in the exact same shade, makes for a great amount of interest on the nail.

This is the fifth one I have, you can see the others buy clicking the Gold Dust Collection tag below.

I wore this was three days solid and hardly a chip.  Gotta love a textured shade for that – plus removal was not a huge pain in the backside.  Another plus! I just wish these were available in the UK, they are the GOLD standard for textured polishes and I think I love these even more than Zoya Pixie Dusts.  In terms of texture and finish, they are similar to the ANNY Textured Shades (limited edition however but Europe based) as they larger pieces of glitter in them.  Unlike the P2 shades with are smoother and have grains all of one size, like the Maybelline Crystallize polishes.

Anyway, would love to hear what you think in the comments and thanks for popping by!

L’Oreal – Pop the Bubbles

I think most days, especially in the last few weeks, every colour that has grace my nail tips has been textured.  I think I am slightly obsessed!  And I really don’t feel this is something that I am going to get over anytime soon.  One of my favourite ranges, apart from the European based P2 sand style polishes, has been the US only release by L’Oreal of the Gold Dust range.  This is nine gorgeous shades with lots of glitter and sparkle to make your heart sing.  I’ve been stalking them just a *little* bit on eBay….

This is the last one I have to share with you, that a lovely friend picke dup for me in the state, knowing the extent of my obsession.  I give you Pop The Bubbles

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As you can see, this is just the most spring like shade of aqua.  It is just lovely.  The glitter is of several different sizes but all in the same shade.  It really lends itself to being in the sunshine because when they sun does hit, this baby shines!  Formula was excellent, a good consistency allowing placement close to the cuticle without flooding.

What you see above is two coats over a base of G&G Stuck on Blu! OOOohhhh I do love a nice bright texture.  I’ve worm this twice since I received it into my grabby hands.

What are your favourite textured brands? Let me know in the comments

Don’t forget that you can follow this blog via Bloglovin’, either by clicking the icon to the right or by clicking here. I can also be found on Twitter @BakingNails

Maybelline Color Show Crystallize – Light Up

Moving onto the second of my new Maybelline Color Show Crystallize polishes – this one is called Light Up and is a true silver colour.

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Wow, sparkly huh?  I just adore this.  In my ever growing stash of textures, a pure silver shade is one that I have definitely been missing!  This is a pure, bright silver shade.  The larger glitter pieces are the exact shame shade as the leading colour – leading to super sparkly nails!

Formula for this one is excellent, I could almost get away with one coat, but I did two for opacity of a base of G&G Stuck on Blu! base coat.  Drying time was faster than I had expected and I was done with two coats in the minimum amount of time.

Maybelline Color Show polishes retail for £3.99 each in most drug stores and supermarkets.  There are a number of cosmetic multibuys available at the moment, so I do recommend you check these out asap if they catch your eye.  They are limited edition and we’ve seen the Polka Dots, Brocades, Vintage Leather and Street Art shades fly off the shelves.

Which one has YOUR name on it?  Let me know in the comments.

L’Oreal – Too Dimensional?

I just can’t help myself – I am suckered completely into this textured trend.  And texture and glitter – its a given winner!  I have a polish brought to me from a friend who was in the US, this is from the Revlon Gold dust collection, a range of 9 glitter textured polishes of which we have already seen I Like It Chunky and Hidden Gems, plus can see all shades on this post at Nouveau Cheap.

This one is Too Dimensional? A purple and silver combo.  Lets look at some pictures!

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Gosh, isn’t this pretty?  Such a great shade of purple, almost lilac, with hints of silver and a smattering of gold.  Formula was good, what you see above is two average coats.  Drying time was longer than average, you do need to leave time between coats so that you don’t ding them and take chunks out of the polish. But you only have to prep your base – here is G&G Stuck on Blu, my trusty base.  I find a textured polish is easy to touch up however, if you do crack a bit off or catch it before its perfectly dry.

At the moment, I can’t see any plans for L’Oreal to release these into the UK market – huge shame as the whole range is full of stunners!  Your best bet for these is currently eBay where you can score some or hope they pop up on blog sales.

Let me know what you think in the comments – what is YOUR favourite texture colour at the moment?

New Things I Have Spotted #78 – Rimmel Sweetie Crush Texture Polishes

Another quick spot for you today – these I noticed in my local revamped Tesco beauty department.  I hear that some also have a HUGE Barry M counter.  Not in mine!  But look!  New textured shades from Rimmel London.  All with Sweetie sounding names!

You can see the names here, but form the left – Sherbert Sweetheart (yellow) candyfloss Cutie (pink) Fizzy Applelicious (green) Violet Swizzle (violet) and Blueberry Whizz (blue)

So what do you think?  A hit or a miss?  Sweetie  Crush polishes are listed on the main Rimmel UK website. They are probably too pale for me and so I left them on the shelf.  Let me know if you pick these up – I’d love to hear what they are like!

Don’t forget that you can follow this blog via Bloglovin’, either by clicking the icon to the right or by clicking here. I can also be found on Twitter @BakingNails

Maybelline Color Show Crystallize – Red Excess

So after all the excitement of finding yet ANOTHER limited edition range from Maybelline Color Show Nail Polish, I snapped up all four in a buy one get one half price deal (seems rude not to!) and I shared my new findings on Twitter.  You may have noticed, I popped up on Nouveau Cheap (exciting!) and so have picked up a few new readers – so hello if you are new to my blog and welcome to my world!

This was the one from the range that had me smitten first, and I knew I would have it on my nails before the night was out.  And I did!  This is Red Excess.

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Right, I know what you are thinking – that looks just like Countess from Barry M or Stay the Night Liquid Sand.  I did initially too!  However, this is a dark brown with COPPER glitter accents.  Not red as in Stay the Night or in the same shade as the base colour in Countess.  No no.  This is just GORGEOUS!  No idea why they have used Red in the title because frankly its a bit misleading.  Towards the end of the slideshow you will see comparisons with a nail stick with Countess on.  It has a different base colour, so its not a dupe, but it is close than any others I have found.

Anyway, formula was good.  Drying time was longer than some other textured shades I have – care needed if you do two coats close together as you can ding the underlying layer.  Occupational hazard however. Once dry, its a bit like cooled sugar.  Slightly rough to the touch, but not exceptionally bumpy.  Bit of a pain to remove as that copper glitter welds itself onto your nail bed.

What do you think of the Crystallize Polish range – are you over texture yet because I am so not! Let me know what you think in the comments

Don’t forget that you can follow this blog via Bloglovin’, either by clicking the icon to the right or by clicking here. I can also be found on Twitter @BakingNails

EDIT – I did some Googling, these are other shades in the range according the Maybelline French website here, other shades include Silver Touch (pale lavender silver akin to P2 Strict) and Green Depth (looks a lot like L’Oreal Hidden Gems or a glittered up Rimmel Space Dust in  Total Eclipse).

Image from http://www.escapadadulce.es

New Things I Have Spotted #77 – Color Show Crystallize, Rita Ora for Rimmel, Barry M Aquarium Nails & Revlon Rio Rush Spring/Summer ’14

Oh my goodness!  Color Show by Maybelline are at it again!  Another new range – this one appears to be texture polishes.  four shades in total as per all Ltd Ed Color Show releases in Europe.  One of them looks distinctly duochrome-ish, like a textured Downtown Brown….

From the left,  Nearly Black, Light Up, Red Excess & Rose Chic.  Here you can see what the US might be getting, this includes on that looks very much like Rimmel Space Dust Total Eclipse (a green/blue duochrome)

Then LOTS of Rita Ora for Rimmel all over the place… stand after stand after stand…

After stand….

After stand….so many shades I can’t be bothered to name them all.  Plus there is NOTHING on the Rimmel website which I think is a bit poor for a HUGE release like this.

Also new on shelves, Barry M Aquarium Nails.  Each ‘set’ is three polishes, two duochromes (a bit like Sally Hansen Lustre Shine polishes ) and one glitter.  Shades are a blue set or a red set.

As you can see, shiny!  From the left, (blue glitter) 1. Mermaid. 2. Treasure Chest. 3.Caspian. 4. Mediterranean. 5.Arabian. 6 Pacific.  Clever naming Barry M, clever naming!

Finally for todays Spotted!  The new Rio Rush Revlon Spring/Summer ’14 insert.  The wrong polishes are in it, but the first one is correct…

The only correct shade in the stand is Beautiful on the left.

So there we have it, LOTS of new things.  What catches your eye?  Let me know in the comments!

Don’t forget that you can follow this blog via Bloglovin’, either by clicking the icon to the right or by clicking here. I can also be found on Twitter @BakingNails