Sonia Kashuk – Fairy Princess

A very quick post for you today to show you a polish I received in a swap with the lovely Marissa from You Had Me at Make Up. Her blog is great so I recommend popping by.

I first saw this polish on Vampy Varnish and I couldn’t get it out of my mind.  Sonia Kashuk Fairy Princess is a minty green creme with a blue shimmer.  You can see it in the bottle and I’m delighted to say it translates well onto the nail.

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The colour looks great on the nail, its soft yet bold all at the same time.  I think the inclusion of the shimmer makes this really unusual.  Formula was also great, I was a bit worried it would be a bit on the sheer side, but three thin coats later and its completely opaque.  Drying time and wear were also excellent.  A couple of days later, I topped it with my one and only Lynnderella polish, Attitude Adjust Mint.  It refreshed my mani nicely and you could still see the shimmer peeking out from under the glitter.  I quite like this combo!

I used Seche Retain for my base and Hong Kong Girl for the top coat.  I put the Lynderella directly over the top coat and then applied another coat for sealing.  It was a bit thick, but it looked so nice.

I’ll take any suggestions for nice underwear for my Lynnderella and I’d love to know if you have ever seen Sonia Kashuk make up in the UK.

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Nicole by OPI – Its All About The Glam

Yet more habit breaking here… another light colour *gasp* what I have to show you today is another Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kolor polish.  This is a lovely, white, with an understated shimmer.  I’ve had this one knocking about for a bit and pulled it out of the stash.

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The formula is not bad, it can be a bit gloopy, but what you can see here is four thin coats to build up opacity.  It dried well between coats and all you need is a bit of patience.  The shimmer is very subtle but works well when we have *cough* sun in the UK, which isn’t often let me assure you.  Base was CND Stickey and top coat is my beloved Hong Kong Girl.

L to R; Chanel Attraction, Nicole by OPI It’s All About The Glam

So, a quite comparison for you, with the only other white in my collection.  Attraction is pearlescent against the shimmer of Its All About the Glam.  And Attraction has a very discrete pink tone.  So not the same.  Nope.  Not at all….

In the UK, Kardashian Kolor’s can be purchased through Lena White where they will set you back £9

Would you wear a white like this?

Dior – Bikini

I’m a very lucky girl.  This turned up on my birthday as a gift from my mum.  This and St Tropez no less.  Wow.  I’d been eying up the Spring/Summer Dior Croisette collection for some time, I’d even given Waterlily, from the Garden Party Collection and its other scented counterpart a miss.  But I longed for those two.

Bikini is a coral, pink, slightly orange tinged polish.  Blessed with the lovely Dior formula it really hits a home run…

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What you see above, its Seche Retain as a base coat, followed by two rather swift coats of Bikini and then Hong Kong Girl Top Coat (she really goes well with everyone).  Coverage was excellent, I could hardly see my nail line with one coat, two was perfection.  Plus it dried well in between coats that as soon as I had done all my fingers I was nearly ready to do a second coat.  I love that.  It didn’t drag or pull, just glided onto the nail.

Wear was also excellent.  I pulled out some similar shades from the stash, Catrice Pimp My Shrimp is more orange/pink, WnW Club Havana is also more orange and WnW Heatwave is much more orange.  So I have nothing like it.  Score! Oh and I am ROCKING St Tropez toes…. seriously cool colour…

Dior is available form high end department stores in the UK, such as Debenhams and Selfridges.  It can also be found in the larger Boots stores.  Polish retails at £18.  Lucky ladies in the US can order directly from Dior.com

NARS – Space Odyssey

I don’t often buy many polishes online, I like to see what I am getting, but whilst browsing ASOS’ beauty section they had some KILLER deals.  I managed to pick up the polish I am about to show you and its sister colour for a steal.  The one I am showing you today is Space Odyssey, the NARS contribution to 2011 Fashion Night Out. (pssst its still available on narscosmetics.co.uk for £14)

Anyway, its a lovely silver with the lovely NARS shimmer.  Its such a saturated colour that on the nail it just pops and is so noticeable.

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The formula is great, it does err on the thin side, so be careful not to overload the brush and end up with flooded cuticles.  What you see in the pictures above is three thin coats, the third coat does make the brush strokes disappear, and it nail in person looks like its coat with a foil.  Excellent stuff.  I top coated with Seche here and it ensured that it looked good and shiny.

Just love it.  What other silver foil like polishes do you like?

Chanel – Diwali

I have a little treasure for you today, in the form of a limited edition Chanel polish from their Bombay Express De Chanel release.  I wasn’t going to get it as I thought I’m not into gold at all, but then I saw it.  Its a lovely pale, cool, silver toned gold.  The kind of non yellow gold that looks good on us paler ladies.

So, here come the pictures!

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As with nearly all Chanels, the formula on this polish is lovely.  What you see above is three coats of an average thickness.  It dries well and the brush strokes are not very noticeable.  I’m glad I picked this up as I have no golds at all in my stash really, plus I would imagine its a great base for a black glitter!

What do you think?  Lovely, isn’t she?

Nicole by OPI – I’m in a Pool for Love

I recently had a lovely swap with the fabulous ZedleyQ, she’s been on a little break but is now back and blogging it! She filled up my swap box with all sorts of wonderful goodies including some Cake Beauty Hand Scrub, see below, and a whole raft of wonderful polishes.

Click the image to visit the Cake Beauty website

Anyway, in my lovely swap box, was this fabulous colour I am about to show you now, by Nicole by OPI. I’ve never seen this one before, and boy, is it a beauty! As I mentioned to some polish friends, I wondered how close this was in colour to the Sally Hansen Loves Me Not limited edition that was recently out. I have both, so a short comparison will follow.

This is a fantastic deep blue polish with hints of copper, red and purple in a duochrome shimmer. Its a complete stunner! Formula was good, what you see here is three thin coats. First coat looked exceptionally patchy, second coat gave the depth seen in the bottle and the third coat really brings out the shimmer. The only downside is that the effect in the bottle is not as apparent as on the nail, but it a small downside let me assure you.

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I used Seche Retain AND CND Stickey as a dual base (I’d heard the Sally Hansen stains like a….) and then my Hong Kong Girl top coat. Wear was great, 4 days later only one small chip. Love this colour. From what I can tell this was one of the 2011 releases and is not available through the UK Nicole reseller Lena White.

What do you think?  Below are some comparison posts, you can click on them to make them bigger, should these just be in the slideshow or should I have them laid out individually?

L to R; I’m in a Pool for Love, Sally Hansen Loves Me Not, Hard Candy Beetle, MAC Formidable!

Comparison with Models Own Purple Blue

Wet N Wild Megalast – Club Havana

I think my love of Megalasts needs no introduction, but in case you are new here, I LOVE THEM.  You can see them all by clicking here…. I love the range, colours, formula, the shape of the bottle, brush, everything about them.

I’ve been very lucky in being able to get another on to add to the small collection I am cultivating.  This one is called Club Havana, a rich tangerine orange.  In the pics it is leaning quite coral.  Like all the other ones I have, this has a tapered brush, meaning you can get up close and personal with your cuticles and NOT get polish on them.

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Now the formula on this one is lovely, my brush was a bit raggedy, but that it OK I can work with that.  It glided onto the nail.  The first coat was a bit streaky, but careful application for coats two and three left me with a great even coverage.  I used Seche Retain for my base and then Hong Kong Girl on the top.  Look no shrinkage!  Hurrah, I’m loving Hong Kong Girl.  The wear on this mani was great, nearly three days before I was itching to change it.  Megalast by name, Megalast by nature.

I’m going to the US in October and I’ll hopefully be able to fill the Megalast gaps in my collection, they are SUCH a great price and SUCH a great formula, its a real shame that Wet N Wild do not sell in the UK market.

 

Nail Files: Bare All Tag

I was recently tagged by GirlInTheGlasses about doing a Nail Files:Bare All Tag.  Never having done a tag before I thought why not…. so below you can now see my nails as nature intended.  No glam, no gloss, no glitter.

Actually, they don’t look too bad do they?  I’m actually quite pleased with them.  After a horrible winter where they split and peeled and make me cry, I’ve finally got them in a place I am happy with.  There are two things I credit with this, firstly for 3 months I used Nailtiques Formula 2 under everything.  I used it as a base coat and even under a base coat.  It was amazing.  I used the whole 0.5Oz  bottle.  Then I tried Nailtiques Formula 1 – didn’t like it.  Made my nails dull.  So then I got a bottle of Essie Billionnails in the sale at Boots.  Loved this.  Then in a different sale, but still in Boots, I snagged a bottle of Seche Retain.  And I love this.

The second thing is Julep Nail Growth Revitalising Serum.  I got this in a mystery box that was sent to me from a friend in the US in exchange for an equivalent amount of Models Own polish.  I struck out and got the Super Mystery Box, with lots in and a credit of $120.  The Nail Growth Serum was in here.  Now I don’t use it everyday anymore, but I do use it daily.  I also have an Island Girl Cuticle Oil (thanks ZedleyQ) which I love and heartily recommend.

And actually, now I think about it, there is a third.  And that is probably my mum.  She has beautiful hands and nails.  Both my sister and I have identical hands, just like mums.  We are blessed with long nail beds, so even super short, my nails have a good length on them. Thanks Mum, plus being a habitual nail biter until I was about 15, she was super supportive of me stopping biting and now indulges me in my nail polish seeking habits.  We have many a happy hour or so catching up with new additions to my stash and she even gets to take some home with her.

Nail Files: Bare All Tag:

• Include a photo of your clean, product free, natural nails: see above!
• Preferred length:  Short to Mid
• Preferred shape:  Squoval
• Favorite base coat:  Seche Retain and CND Stickey
• Favorite top coat:  Hong Kong Girl UV Top Coat
• Favorite cuticle cream/oil:  Island Girl Cuticle Oil, but I liek burt Bees Lemon Cuticle Cream too
• Favorite hand cream:  Atrixo Regenerating Treatment or Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Hand Cream
• Favorite nail clippers:  None, I file
• Favorite nail file:  I have some lovely Sally Hansen ones.  I do like to buff my nails as I find it helps to prevent peeling.  I try to do it once a month.  I like the Revlon Crazy Shine Buffer Pad but really want a Tropical Shine one after a super positive experiences at a nail salon.
• Favorite remover:  Sally Hansen removers, they very depending on the quality of my nail or Andrea Fullerton remover (smells minty!)
• Self or professional manicure:  I do my own, although I do like having a professional polish now and then
• How often do you polish:  Everyday if I have time, or every other day.  I usually add something to my manicure on Day 2 to prevent boredom
• Most wanted nail product:  Chanel Skyline
• Be sure to include the nail files bare all tag in your post or video response

So, I think its now *your* turn for Nail Files:Bare All Tag.  Leave me a link below if you do!

Essie – Sexy Divide

There are no words to describe how much I adore the polish I am about to show you today.  This is because of two reasons. 1. At Christmas, it was the polish I wore after my manicure treat (and I knew I should have bought it then) and 2. It was given to me as part of my Bunny exchange (previously discussed)

I don’t own many Essie polishes, I have Dive Bar (as we have seen), I have one of their Lux Effects and I have a small mini duo that the lovely Adina sent me.  This is something I need to correct quickly and bearing in mind we now have high street access to them in the UK, I’ve now got my eye on the Mirror Metallics.

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As you can see, Sexy Divide is a deep rich, velveteen purple.  It is positively glowing on the nail.  I wish we had more sun so that I could show you her showing off.  Anyway, formula was good.  Quick drying time.  I waited a fair bit between the three thin coats I put on.  Mainly because on coat two I created some unattractive nail drag near the cuticle.  But you can’t see that in the pics.  If I had been a bit more careful, two would have been sufficient.  Base coat was Seche Retain and I’m still rocking a Hong Kong Girl Top Coat – I don’t see us ever falling out.

So, which Mirror Metallics or other Essie polishes should I snap up?

Catrice – Pimp My Shrimp

Who doesn’t love a nice bit of Catrice nail polish?  I know I do, but its frustrating that you cannot buy such loveliness in the UK.  Its readily available all over mainland Europe and in Ireland.  I keep my fingers crossed that eventually we will see it in stores here, or at the very least, be able to purchase it online for a reasonable non-eBay fee.

The other thing I adore about Catrice, is the clever naming they come up with.  Its not quite a cutesy as those you might find adorning a bottle of OPI polish, but clever nevertheless.  I also have a bottle of the wonderfully named Khaki Perry that I will be sharing with you very soon, but other naming delighted include ACid/DC, Salmon & Garfunkel and Dulce & Havanna.

Pimp My Shrimp is a shrimp coral orange, perfect for the summer, for toes or fingers.  There was something about the name that struck me and then the colour became so desirable that I had a friend pick it up for me on a trip to visit her family in Ireland (to be fair, they enjoyed hunting out the polishes I had asked for and now I get one or two every trip – lucky me!!)  Anyway, here are the pictures….

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The formula was a little bit on the thin side for me, meaning that what you see here is four thin coats.  However it does dry quickly and because they are so thin, I don’t think its much extra effort because the colour is BANG on trend.  Its probably not as pink as shrimp but I’m not going to pick holes here.  It has a nice creme finish to it and a bit of top coat gives it a nice shiny finish.  Wear was also good as I had four days before I just had to change my colour.  It was also nice to be able to take pictures outside to give you more of a sense of the actual colour.  If you do try to do thicker coats then you will experience some considerable pooling of the polish along the sides and cuticles of your nails.

What shrimp colours are you currently rocking  (or not) on your nails?