NOTD - Gargantuan Play Date!

Essie's Play Date is a bright pastel purple that is a huge colour in fashion for this spring and summer. Essie have captured the most amazing colour here as it is super bright for a pastel shade. I teamed it with an accent nail in OPI's Gargantuan Green Grape a pastel minty green shade. I love the colours together and I will wear this again but I think I will do polka dots on the accent nail in the Essie colour, I think that'll be really fun for the summer. 

Essie's Play Date applies smoothly and perfect in two coats, OPI's Gargantuan Green Grape is a monster to apply. It's thin, watery and streaky which is probably why I've never worn it as a full manicure which is a shame as its such a pretty colour. I only had the patience for two accent nails this time!

xoxo

Essie Haul!

I recently splurged on the new Essie collections, I was desperate for some new Spring colours and their new collections hit the spot!

First up some from Navigate Her, Essie's Spring 2012 collection.

Olé Caliente is a super bright tomato red. It's a stunner, so bright and summery, exactly what I wanted. I realise it's not a unique colour but it's a great version of this shade. I have it on my toes now and I love it! This is two coats and the application was great, smooth and creamy to apply.

Navigate Her was a gamble that paid off! I wasn't sure at first but I really like the light pastel green shade. I have nothing like it in my vast collection of minty colours. The formula was thin but easy to apply it was opaque after two coats but you may feel you need three. 

A Crewed Interest was the badly behaved one of the bunch! A light peach shade, I can't deny I love the colour but this is three coats and the polish itself is quite thin.

Orange, It's Obvious! is a searing bright orange. I love it! It's the brightest orange I own and is the perfect accent colour for the summer. This bright shade was featured in the Mulberry LFW fashion show this weekend and Pantone have selected Tangerine Tango as the colour of the year. Perfect!

Play Date is from Essie's resort collection, a small collection released for the summer, it's called Go Overboard. I have a love hate relationship with lilacs, lavenders and lighter purple shades I love them in the bottle but hate them on my nails. However this one I love! It's super bright! It reminds me of the new Dior polish that I toyed with buying, this will be fine!

Now I had a major DUH moment here! I bought a colour that I already had in my stash! I knew the day would come! I was convinced I didn't own Lapis Of Luxury from the Resort collection of 2010, but I was wrong. Nevermind! The colour is a lovely shade of cornflower blue I love the colour but the polish itself lets it down. Again it's thin and needed three coats China Glaze Electric Beat is a better more opaque version.

Finally Turquoise and Caicos again from Resort 2010 I have wanted this polish for ages! The colour is a gorgeous bright turquoise cream the colour of the ocean lapping a Caribbean island! My God I want a beach holiday soon! Again it's a thin polish but builds in two coats, Barry M's Mint is very very similar you wouldn't need both.... unlike me!

Overall I'm pleased with my new additions, I am particularly in love with Olé Caliente, Orange, It's Obvious! and Play Date.

Have you dabbled in the new collections?!

xoxo

NOTD - Polka Dots

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone enjoyed their New Year celebrations and aren't feeling too fragile today! I had a late night and a very leisurely morning all I've done today is look around the internet at furnishings, watch You Tube videos and eat my Mum's amazing homemade sausage rolls! 

I did muster up the energy to paint my nails earlier today with the gorgeous Essie Mint Candy Apple but I felt it needed something else. I've always wanted to do a polka dot manicure but I don't have a dotter and have never got round to buying one! Still keen to try out my Topshop Nail Art Pen I bought in December I thought I'd give it a go with the pen!

I'm pleased with the outcome but I wish I had done them a bit more uniform. I found the pen very easy to use on my left hand hand but almost impossible the other way around my right hand's dots are bigger and a bit messier. I found I had to go over the dots to make them more opaque, the first coat of white was a bit watery for my liking. I love the look, the white dots on a duck egg base remind me of a Cath Kidston fabric and it feels a bit vintage. I think I'll invest in a dotter if I do this again. I really want the dots to all be the same size and not looking so random! 

xoxo

NOTD - Essie Jamaica Me Crazy

Jamaica Me Crazy from Essie is a bright sparkly fuchsia from the Dive Bar collection released in the Autumn. The collection contains some stunning jewel toned shades including this one that caught my eye in John Lewis amongst the cremes and nudes I also love from Essie.

I love the colour, I have nothing like it in my stash, it's a fab Barbie pink!

The polish itself is thin and applies nicely, two coats is perfect. I would recommend a shiny topcoat as despite is glittery-ness in the bottle it falls a smidgen flat once dry on the nail. My fave Nails Inc Kensington Caviar topcoat sorted that out!

Although I love the colour, I wish it was a tiny bit brighter or a bit sparklier and it's neither! I think I'll prefer this colour on my toes with a glitter topcoat.

xoxo

NOTD - Essie Mesmerize

Purchased in my most recent haul Essie Mesmerize is a stunning bright cobalt blue. I love it as a contrast to all the mustards and rusts that I'm wearing this autumn. This was two coats and as creamy and perfect as I expect from Essie! It's an older polish from the line but it's a classic!

xoxo

Essie Cocktail Bling

Essie keep giving us amazing collections and their latest Winter collection, Cocktail Bling is no exception.

I love the name of the set and of course the colours themselves! I picked out my favourite five from the collection.

Bobbing For Baubles is a dark dusty navy. I love it! It was the one I knew I had to buy! It's clear its a blue tone not black, it's quite unique.

Bangle Jangle is a greyed out lilac again a unique shade in my collection, I have a couple of lilacs and I love the shade in the bottle however I'm left feeling disappointed with them on my nails. Bangle Jangle is not disappointing at all, I love the grey tone to it but most of all I love the name, I definitely have a bangle jangle on a daily basis!

School Of Hard Rocks is a dirty green like most of the collection it has a dusty tone. I simply adore this one, it has teal tones to it too which is great for this season.

The collections namesake, Cocktail Bling is a lilac toned grey with a hint of a dusky blue. Such an unusual colour, it feels very sophisticated on the nail. I can't compare it to anything else I own!

Finally Brooch The Subject is my perfect nude. It has the right balance of pink and yellow to make it perfect for my skintone. This colour was used at New York Fashion Week in some of the catwalk shows as it provides the perfect mannequin hand!

These are all lovely polishes, the days of good Essie and bad Essie have gone, these were all creamy and perfect with two coats. My favourites are School Of Hard Rocks and Bobbing for Baubles and I can't wait to wear them!

I can't wait to see what Essie has up her sleeve for next year!

xoxo

NOTD - Essie Cute As A Button

Essie's Cute A Button is a summery, salmon, coral shade. It remains bright yet is demure and very attractive. I purchased this on my most recent polish buying binge and I am really pleased with the colour. It applied thinly and needed three coats. The colour is from Essie's Summer 2009 and collection but is a perfect colour for this summer too!

xoxo

Birthday NOTD - Candy Apple Leopard!

So today has been my birthday! I haven't done anything today and have mostly hung out with my family and eaten.... a lot!!

I wore a plain black maxi dress from H&M and wanted to something cool with my nails, it was a choice between this look and China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy!

 

I went with Essie Mint Candy Apple and Nails Inc Portobello Market for the leopard dots, I love the summery feel of this leopard and I ADORE the combo of minty/turquoise with peach/coral. 

I'm keeping this look for tomorrow when I'm off to the cool city of Toulouse for a spot of lunch and shopping with the fam on my last full day on holiday!

xoxo

NOTD - CG Cracked Concrete

China Glaze Cracked Concrete is a mid toned grey crackle. I used it over Essie Nice is Nice, I like the combo of the pastel with the grey and I bought this particular polish with the intention of using it over the pastel shades that are everywhere this summer. I'm not sure that I like the way it has cracked, I think I need to use a thinner coat, I still haven't quite got the hang of this yet! I think I would like the look more if I could see more of the lavender showing through, it's not a look I will wear for long, I imagine I'll get bored after a day or so. 

xoxo

NOTD - Neutral Leopard Print

Now you know I love a bit of a leopard print nail and I have been experimenting with different colours. So I tried a less blinged out version with my newest polish purchase, Essie's Sand Tropez.

I used my trusty Models Own nail art pen for the black detail and Nails Inc Cadogan Square for the brown spots. 

I'm really happy with it and I'm sure I'll be doing this again soon!!

Whaddya think?!

xoxo

Spring Swatches

Alongside the clothing spring collections the make-up and nail varnishes are creeping into the shops to complete your spring wardrobe!

I made an order with Transdesign for some polishes from the latest collections from OPI, Essie and China Glaze.

I really love colours that are coming out this season. Pastels, different shades of blues and greys and juicy bold colours.

First up, OPI's Texas collection! Inspired by the American state where I hear bigger is better! It's a mixed collection with some bold colours and a new sorbet formula in juicy colours.

San Tan-tonio.

A beautiful caramel tan colour. This colour really flatters my skin tone, it's not too yellow against my pinky skin. I loved wearing this one, I felt very grown up and sophisticated! I think it will look lovely with my new blue blouse I posted about previously!

Suzi Loves Cowboys.

A delicious chocolate brown! I guess the colour is similar to a horses saddle! You all know I love these shades! I did enjoy wearing this one but I felt it falls a little flat after a day or so, I still prefer Sephora Brownie for my chocolate fix!

Don't Mess With OPI.

Amazing! A fabulous shade of grassy green. I really love this yellow based green it will look amazing in the summer with a white top and gold accessories!

I am pleased with these three, they were the most obvious shades that I would be drawn to in the collection. I haven't seen many swatches around of the whole collection yet and I like the look of some of the sorbet finishes.

Next up Essie French Affair.

Nice is Nice.

A gentle lavender. Very pretty, not sure that it works with my skin tone. I'm not sure on this one yet! Application was lots better than its sister shade OPI's Rumple's Wiggin.

Coat Azure.

Oh my! I just adore this one! A shimmery pale blue that reminds me of the sun glistening off the ocean in the South of France! Such a romantic image! The iridescent glimmer in the polish is quite stunning and really makes this one stand out in the collection.

Essie are on a roll at the moment and have given us another beautiful collection. There are two more from this collection that I would like to get, Barefoot and Topless, a creamy nude and French Affair, a pastel pink.

Finally China Glaze Anchors Away a nautical inspired collection!

First Mate.

I am so into this shade right now! I love it! It's a dusky navy blue, and a true blue too! No black looking blues here! Can't wait to wear this with my new spring wardrobe!

Pelican Grey.

A light grey with shimmer. At first I was disappointed with this one as I felt I had other polishes in the same vain. However on closer inspection it contains a subtle shimmer that really stands out in sunlight and make this particular shade different from the rest.

Sea Spray.

I gambled on this one and it payed off, I love it! It's a blue based grey and at first look looks similar to Pelican Grey. As with the previous colour it is laced with a multicoloured shimmer that really sets this colour apart. Such an unusual colour too, I suppose it's getting more and more difficult to develop new shades. 

To show you that it is more blue than grey here are the two bottles together,

This is Sea Spray swatched on the nail holding the Pelican Grey bottle,

You can see here how blue Sea Spray is in comparison. 

Overall I am very happy with my choices, my favourites have to be, San Tan-tonio, Don't Mess With OPI, Coat Azure, First Mate and Sea Spray! Definite must haves!

Have you managed to get anything from these collections?

xoxo

NOTD - Essie Going Incognito

From Essie's winter collection, Going Incognito is a delicious dark emerald green. 

Application was excellent, Essie have obviously worked on getting their formula more consistent as previous collections were a bit hit and miss with application.

Similar to OPI Jade Is The New Black but I would say Going Incognito was the darker of the two.

This type of green is my favourite shade to wear!

xoxo

Festive Polish Haul!

With Christmas only a week away I have recently bought some new colours from Jessica and Essie to glam up my nails for the festive season! 

I am excited about the colours so I thought I at least get some bottle pics ups for you tonight and will swatch soon!

 

L-R Black Ice, Majesty Blue, For Your Eyes Only, Sexy Siren

Black Ice is totally gorgeous, it is a black polish with very sparkly silver glitter, it really does glitter in the bottle. I think I'll wear this on Christmas day!

Majesty Blue I have worn this week and is a stunning sapphire blue, quite eye catching.

The last two are so difficult to take a picture of, they aren't nearly as light as the picture would have you believe. I have taken dozens of pictures but all are wrong! For Your Eyes Only is much more purple in reality a true Blurple, hate that word but its the only way to describe it!

Sexy Siren is a rich wine colour I wore this for my work Christmas party.

As always with Jessica polishes the application was perfect on the two I have worn at least and I expect the same from the others.

L-R Hot Coco, Going Incognito, Smokin' Hot.

These lovely Essie polishes, from their newest winter collection, only came today so I haven't had a chance to wear them yet however I will be painting on Going Incognito later tonight!

Hot Coco is VERY similar to Mink Muffs, I can't really tell the difference in the bottle other than Mink Muffs is a hint darker. I feel a little cheated.

Going Incognito is GORGEOUS! A dark green, darker than Essies' earlier Pretty Edgy and a different shade of green to OPI's Jade Is The New Black.

Smokin' Hot is a greyed out purpley colour, quite sophisticated and very fashionable. 

I am really becoming a fan of Jessica polishes and I will look forward to their collections for next year. The quality of their colours is exceptional. Essie is on a roll at the moment and I anticipate their Spring collections too!

xoxo

Haul - The Nail Polish Kind!

I splurged a bit on polish over the last few weeks and here are the spoils!

Chop-sticking To My Story is a warm pumpkin orange hue from the Hong Kong collection. Very autumnal, its a little darker than the picture I'm not really sure what colours I'll wear it with yet!

Funkey Dunkey from the Shrek collection. I'm sorry about the quality of the picture but any picture taken with a flash gave a very false view of the colour, this is much more true to life.

I saw Mary J Blige wearing this colour on the MTV VMA's a few weeks ago and it jumped out of the tv at me, a little research online and I found out it was this little beauty. I have nothing like it in my collection.

Just A Little Rosti At This is a gorgeous medium dark red from the Swiss collection. It falls between those classic bright reds and the vampy dark ones. I really enjoyed wearing this one, it's similar to Malaga Wine but maybe a little more towards the red. This one really needs three coats to get it even, you can get little patches that need a bit of filling in.

William Tell Me About OPI also from the Swiss collection is a dark aubergine. The lighter friend of Lincoln Park After Dark. You can see more purple than black in this one. A great staple colour for winter. Again I would do three coats of this one as before it can be a little patchy near the cuticle.

Tease-y Does It is a stunner from their newest range the Burlesque collection. It has an amazing sparkle to it thanks to the pinky, goldy glitter within a beautiful burgundy base colour. Gorge!

Black Onyx is a patent black it has a lovely shine to it. 

Essie Sew Psyched is a greyed green from their Fall collection. I really like it, its so different from anything else in my collection and it feels like a very fashionable colour. 

I bought all of these from Transdesign.com.

Sooo, I guess that should do me for a bit. Althoughhh have you seen Essie latest collection, prettttty nice!

xoxo

Autumn Polishes - Chinchilly by Essie

Chinchilly is from Essie's Cuddle with Colour 2009 collection. I'm sure many of you have this polish as it was one of the must haves from the collection.

It's a light grey colour that can have olivey tones to it. It depends what you put it next to and how many coats you do! I did two and it stayed more grey, if you did three obviously it becomes darker and starts to take on those olive tones.

Also this picture was taken outside.

You may have heard that Essie tend to have good and bad polishes. Good ones are two coaters, no streaks, dries evenly. Bad ones are three or even four coats, streaks, cuticle drag and long drying times. This is a good one, the formula is nice, no streaks when applying and it wears well. You can use only two coats if you want to keep the lighter colour.

I love these kind of dusky drab colours, I think they are very chic and quite noticeable when on the nail. 

I'm always drawn to Essie as a brand despite the inconsistency in formula. I love the images they use for the collections and I love that they have recently changed their colour palette to include more unique shades, which seems to be proving very successful for them.

xoxo

Going to the Dark side!

Since coming back from holiday I have noticed a lot of the Autumn fashions and makeup collections around in the shops.

All of these warm wintery colours are making me crave dark polishes!

Seriously I am becoming obsessive!

I have my fair share of dark polishes all ready but have only worn them a handful of times. I like to wear bright light colours especially in the summer!

My predictions for the winter will be that dark polishes will be huge and I think they will come in many shades not just the usual plum and black.

Navy

Chocolate

Khaki

Steel

Mulberry

Teal

These are some of the colours I expect to be wearing this winter and I'm excited!

On a polish swatching picture binge last night, I decided to seekout Essie's A/W 2010 collection to see if any announcements had been made!

Success!

This is Essie's Fall for Fashion 2010 collection. I love it!

In Stitches – cheeky blush pink

Limited Addiction – Racy Garnet red

Sew Psyched – soft sage pewter

Merino Cool – sensuous autumn mulberry

Velvet Voyeur – intense chocolate amethyst

Little Brown Dress – beguiling black coffee

It has some of the colours I have predicted and some are named after fabrics that will be everywhere in winter fashion like velvet and merino wool.

They will be available from September.

Thanks to Chic Profile for the info!

What do you think of my predictions? Am I right? Will you be wearing these colours?

xoxo

Holiday Polishes

While I was packing for my little holiday my biggest dilemma, apart from taking too many clothes, was choosing which polishes to take! 

I couldn't take too many but I couldn't rule too many out!

This was my final selection.

I think I covered all bases!

However I have to admit I only wore a couple of them! 

I went wearing OPI You Don't Know Jaques so took the bottle for top ups and repairs. I wore that for a few days until I got paint all over my hands from decorating the house!

Then I switched to OPI Shorts Story. Its such a pretty pink and it goes/tones/clashes nicely with so many if my clothes. When I say clashes I mean, I had a turquoise top on so the pink is opposite but in a good way!

Then finally I used OPI Hot and Spicy to travel home in!

I only changed my toe polish once. I wore Nails Inc Spring Mews almost the whole time!

Again it tones or clashes with the taupe and the pink I wore and looked fab with my pink Birkenstocks that I wore loads!

I only changed it on the last day to Number Seven 60's Mini Skirt, the cream colour, to go with the orange of the Hot and Spicy.

Well that was my holiday in nail varnish form! I thought I'd be more inclined to change my polish but I wasn't!

What would be your holiday polish must haves?

xoxo

I'm Becoming a Nudist!

I do not want to alarm you here, there will be no actual nudity in this post!

I'm referring to my new found love of nude and natural coloured nail polish!

Here's my collection so far,

This is really a colour range I had never really worn before, I used to be a pink or purple kinda girl.

I think my first experience was with OPI's You Don't Know Jaques, and I absolutely fell for it. I had never loved a colour like that before, I guess that was the start! That was only a year or so a go, all of these have been purchased since then!

Do you like these colours?

Is there one I'm missing out on?

xoxo

PS. I'm not a nudist!