Dipped In Gold

This week I tried out a new nail look and I have absolutely loved it! I have had so many compliments!

I used Nails Inc Wellington Square with Sephora By OPI in Only Gold For Me as the Glitter. I just love the gold and peach together!

I was going for a glitter fade but I love that the nails look like I've dipped them into a pot of glitter. The glitter from the Sephora polish is so sparkly it really does look like little diamonds!

 The glitter tips also meant that the polish was extremely hard wearing and is still going strong after 5 days!!  I will certainly be re-creating this look with other colour combos this summer!

xoxo

American Apparel Nail Lacquer

I have always been intrigued by the American Apparel Nail Lacquer line but I really wanted to see them in person before commiting to purchsing. I threw caution to the wind and purchased online, since there are barely, if any shops outside London. Loads of you guys recommended a couple of colours to me when I mentioned in a vid that I wanted a searing bright red for the summer. 

Sunset Boulevard, Crescent Heights, Poppy, The Valley and Neon Red.

First up Sunset Boulvevard,

Sunset Boulevard is a bright coral peach. It has a soft look to it and will be perfect for the summer, the sort of colour that looks fab with gold accessories and a tan! 

It's ok! I know what you are thinking! However Crescent Heights is actually a pleasant colour on the nails, it's not quite as fugly or as slimey green as it looks in the picture! I bought it to do some nail art with, I thought it was similar to the OPI Nicki Minaj colour Did It On Em' which I haven't been able to find on its own. I ended up liking it although it's the sort of colour I would tire of and would probably reserve for an evening out or a weekend. I actually think it would look great with a black dress and a bright lippie.

Poppy was one of the colours recommended to me on You Tube. It's not a ground breaking colour however it is a fab example of a bright summer red. Poppy is the perfect description for it, I found it to be similar but not a bright as Essie's Ole Caliente.

The Valley, along with Crescent Heights are newer to the range. It's a sky blue that has a slight dusty quality. I like it a lot, I can't think of many dupes in my collection although I'm sure I'll find one!

Another recommendation and probably my favourite from the haul is Neon Red. This is almost exactly what I was looking for, I say almost as I wanted this brightness but a shade or two darker! However I adore the searing bright tone of this polish. I wore it with black and looked amazing! Application is great on this one, I found it wasn't cursed with the problems of patchy streakiness like many other neons. This will be fab toe colour whilst on holiday!

So that's my little haul. Overall I'm impressed with the quality, I love the bottles and I love the labelling. In hindsight they are little too expensive for what they are I think £9 is a couple of £'s too much and I wish they did an offer like three for £15 or something, I would definitely buy more that way. I believe they do somthing like that in the US. If I had seen them instore I would have skipped on Poppy as I can dupe it a number of times from my own stash and probably The Valley as I'm not blown away by it, I feel like Barry M would have a similar colour. 

My experience with the actual purchasing of the polish was pretty bad, they took nearly three weeks to arrive and it was only after pestering the customer service team that they were sent out. I was told one of the colours was out of stock but I didn't receive a notification in that whole time. I think it took the shine off my initial excitement of ordering.

I will be following the collection though and wouldn't hesitate at getting another unique colour from the range. I kinda feel a bit cooler wearing an AA polish!

Have you got any recommendations, I nearly purchased Office and L'Esprit, maybe next time!

xoxo

China Glaze Electric Beat

China Glaze Electic Beat is the only polish I purchased from their new Spring Electropop collection. The collection is a large selection of bright colours a great collection for those needing some new colours. I however, have similar colours that are in the set and this was the only one I couldn't resist or dupe!

A pastel cornflower colour, Electric Beat is a beautiful polish. A dream to apply with it's creamy consistency. Opaque and bright in two coats. 

It will look fab against a hot pink or bright coral or will blend beautifully with the candy coloured jeans that are everywhere this spring.

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

Sephora By OPI Polish!

This week I received an awesome, albeit late present from my brother who is currently working in Canada. I had a feeling I knew what the gift was as I had been asked for a wishlist from Sephora!

What I didn't know was which colours I would get and I love the ones he chose!

First up is Meet Me For Drinks and wine coloured shimmery polish that glows from within. I love the colour, not unique but its a "lit from within" type shade and I always love those! I found the polish very thin and a little difficult to apply the first coat as I put too much polish on the brush and it slid all around my nail! A second coat evens it out and makes it opaque.

Read My Palm is a deep mint tone and one that I really wanted to get. I love these shades! This was a really nice polish to apply, like the previous polish it was thin but built up nicely with two coats! I love it! I can say no more!!

Finally, maybe the best until last?! Only Gold For Me is a stunning glitter topcoat with both small and large chunks of sparkling gold glitter. I wore this over Read My Palm this week and I adored it! I got lots of compliments on it. I just loved the combo of the minty turquoise with the gold. What you can't tell from the picture is how sparkly this is, it looks like little twinkling lights on my nails! Love!

Application is similar to OPI's Rainbow Connection in that you sort of have to place the glitter rather than paint it on. I did two coats so I got a few more bigger pieces. You have to pick them out of the bottle with the brush and dab them on to get a decent spread! 

I was seriously impressed with the durability of this polish, I had three very physical days at work this week, moving things, lifting and dropping things on my hands and this polish did not budge! 

I love these polishes, I love that my brother chose them and I love that I can't get them here and they feel a little more special in my collection!

xoxo

Accessorize Nail Wraps

I've always wanted to try some nail wraps, the early ones seemed to all be of a leopard print design and I've always preferred to paint my own leopard! Now however there are many different designs to choose from and I was quite taken with these floral ones from Accessorize.

They were a total impulse buy at the till. I had been saving them a bit but since it's New Year's weekend I thought I'd give them a whirl.

The instructions were simple, cut to fit, peel off and apply. It suggests using a hairdryer to warm the wrap to make it more pliable. Application was easy, I cut them down to size with some excess which I filed off, I tried a few sans hairdryer but they weren't sticking so I decided to use some heat, however they didn't actually go on very smoothly and each one has a lump or a bump in it. 

Be very careful when filing the excess, the wraps are very soft and will tear if you are too rough, I chipped almost all of them with the nail file.

I chose to apply a topcoat as the wraps themselves were clearly peeling away from my nail and I thought a topcoat would help to adhere them to my nail. This was initially successful however throughout the night and during my bath this morning the topcoat completely peeled off. 

Wear on these is pretty bad. I chipped it within the first half an hour of wear and I was only getting ready for bed! I've had a leisurely day today and they have somehow chipped some more! 

I absolutely love the design and the look of these wraps and although I have no other brand to compare them too I would suggest these were fairly bad quality, cheaply made to jump on the nail art bandwagon. Price wise they were £5 so I'm not too upset that they haven't worked out and there is enough in the pack for two uses on my tiny nails. I would  suggest they are best used for a party or night out as they would never last more than a day or two.

They have whet my appetite for trying a different range, maybe a Nails Inc or Sally Hansen. Have you had any success with nail wraps?

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

Festive Fingers!

Merry Christmas!

I just had my Christmas dinner and I'm chilling by the fire for a bit and since we've just had some Christmas pudding I remembered I wanted to show you a manicure from earlier in the week!

I purchased on the of the new Topshop Nail Art pens earlier this week with the intention of doing a wintery snowflake manicure after seeing some amazing nails on The Illustrated Nail, here and on WAH Nails, here. However I thought I try out my new pen with something a bit more fun! Since I was wearing brown anyway I thought I'd try out a little Christmas pud!

I have no idea why my fingers look so pink! I can assure you I didn't have freezing fingers!

I found the pen extremely easy to use with my right hand on my left finger but I was a bit clumsy the other way around! I've never been very ambidextrous! I had to do a couple of coats to get the white opaque and the polish itself was a little chalky, a top coat was most definitely needed.

I have the WAH Nail art pens from Models Own but I've never got on well with the white one. I prefer this style as the nib is much more like a pen making it a lot easier to use, the WAH pens have a metal nib that you can't really control the flow of polish and it can drag on your design. I think I'd still prefer the black WAH pen for leopard print as it looks less uniform.

I still want to have a play around with it but so far I like it! I hope they expand the range and I'd like to try some of the other colours as I've always wanted to do an Aztec design. The pens are £6.50 from Topshop, link!

Have you tried these? What designs have you done?!

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

Petit Purchases

Evening!

I bought a couple of cool new autumnal items this week and I thought I'd share. The weather here has been amazing for the time of year, in fact hotter than many of the days of summer! So some of my purchases are not entirely appropriate just yet but soon I'll be enjoying them!

Magnetized Nail Polish from 17 at Boots. I bought three of these as they are on 3 for 2 at the moment, I'm sure my Mum will pinch one of them! I really want to get a Nails Inc one but I got all three of these for the price of one of those! I'll get one soon. I tried out the green one last night but I kept hitting my nail with the magnet and ruining the polish. I loved the look but I got annoyed and gave up. I'll try again this week!

H&M polish in Envy. This was a "picked it up by the till" purchase! It's amazing emerald green glittery shimmer caught my eye! It's a stunner!

Zigzag and mustard tights from H&M. I already have a pair of the mustard tights and these are a back up, they only had two pairs left and I have loads of autumn clothes I can wear them with. The zigzag pair caught my eye as I love the Missoni style pattern, they have an orange base with a black design.

Red suedette brogues from Accessorize. I have picked this up and put them back so many times recently, I bought them this time as they were half price! £15, barg! I love the brogue style and I really wanted a heeled pair but I love the colour of these. 

Can't wait to wear them!

xoxo

What I Wore This Week!

This week I was certainly on a cool toned polish theme!

I started the week with one of my favourite Nails Inc polishes, Albert Place. Its a fresh pale cornflower blue. I absolutely love it, I got it in a five piece set in the summer, I wore it for three days! It looks fab with white.

Then I wanted to wear a grey polish as I was wearing grey and white for work, I couldn't decide between a darker shade or lighter but plumped for OPI Skull And Glossbones. I only wore it for the one day but I enjoyed it, it has a slight green undertone and looks quite nude toned on the nail.

Then on Friday I chose to go with H&M's Spending Cash With Carl to go with my new Zara cardi and my rust dress. I bloomin' love this one! It has an amazing shimmer in the polish without being glittery, it apples wonderfully with no streaks. I have to admit to getting a bit bored of the shade after two days but I couldn't stop looking at my nails for those 48 hours! I urge you to get this one if you see it in your H&M, it's in the older style packaging so I'm not sure how available it is. I will certainly be reaching for this one again this winter, it looked amazing against the rust dress.

I caught up with Keeping Up With The Kardashians Bora Bora episodes last night, the girls were all rocking bright, neon shades and I was totally envious so expect to see something of that nature next week, they looked ah-mazing!!

xoxo

Presents From A Pixie :)

Last week I was sent a lovely gift from Katherine aka ProductPixie. After streamlining her own polish collection Katherine offered me a box of surprises! And surprised I was! 

After some faffing around with the post office I ripped open the packaging in the street and was presented with my own little Glossybox, a lovely presentation box which I will keep! I was overwhelmed with Katherine's kindness as there were 3 OPI's in that box! I have yet to try any Ciate polishes so I am excited to use those and I love the Models Own Navy and the Bourjois grey/blue.

Thank you Katherine! 

Check out her blog here and follow Katherine on Twitter, she's hilar!

xoxo

What I Wore This Week!

I thought I'd share the polishes I'd picked out to wear this week since I don't always get the chance to do a NOTD and I'm sure they'd get a bit boring! 

I seem to average about three polish changes a week and I try to mix it up a bit in terms of colour, I want people to notice that I made the effort to change my nail varnish!

My first choice this week was a classic red, you can't beat it for feeling classy and polished! My favourite is this bright tone from OPI, Comet Loves Cupid.

Mid week I chose one of my newest additions, Topshop Miss Marmelade. I loved it for a couple of days then grew bored of it and it had started to show signs of wear, no chips but it kind of cracked a bit from using my hands at work!

Then this weekend I went with OPI Cuckoo For This Colour. A fave from last winter I haven't worn it since then and I had a sudden NEED, yes it was that strong, to wear it! I have had the most compliments for this colour this weekend, normally nobody at work bothers but I had three today and two yesterday! I just adore it, but it wears badly on the tips which is not a look I like.

I'm just pondering my next polish choice for the start of the week, maybe I'll do this again next Sunday?!

xoxo

Topshop Nails

These two stunners are my first try of Topshop's beauty range, I know I'm waaay behind but my local Topshop isn't big enough to stock it so I've rarely seen it! On a little shopping trip this weekend in a bigger town I came across the new Smoke and Mirrors collection, Topshop's AW11 seasonal collection.

I was instantly drawn in by the mustard yellow shade on the left. Miss Marmelade, I think they've spelt it wrong because I also notice they spell duffel, duffle which is wrong, but I'm quoting from the bottle. I wasn't sure if the colour would suit me but I knew I had to try!

I actually love it, it makes my hands look a little pink but I don't care! What I like is it is a soft yellow which suit me a lot more that the bold vibrant yellows of the summer. I know the colour will divide your opinions but I'm obsessed! Application was perfect, the brush was little thin but two coats gave a nice even glossy finish.

The second colour is called Fallen Leaf. How appropriate for the change in season!

The two looked so perfect together on the shelf I picked up this one too! I love the dusty tone of the green, it's like looking into a forest from a distance. I felt like this colour offered a nice contrast to the mustard clothing that is in the shops, I'm sure I'll end up with a mustard coloured cardi this winter! Application was fab too, two coats was all that was needed.

I adore the packaging, I prefer it to the normal range which is also very cute. I love the bronze lettering and Aztec style brush handle.

I'm impressed with the quality and I will surely look at the rest of the range. The Smoke and Mirrors collection also featured some very nice lipsticks, not in the store I was in though, and bronzers. I haven't seen these two particular polishes online but there is a very attractive dark brown shade. They were £6 each.

Tell me what you think of Miss Marmelade!

xoxo

Nails Inc Battersea Power Station

Nails Inc's Battersea Power Station was recently very kindly and generously sent to me by the fab Leanne from  the Obsessive Cosmetics Disorder blog. We have bonded over our love of Nails Inc and shopping on QVC and Leanne had been watching my Nails Inc video and tweeted me that she had the perfect polish for me in her stash. Unused by Leanne, she offered to send it to a new home!

This polish was in a set on QVC that was designed to go with a range on handbags that they were selling. I loved the polish at the time but didn't commit to the whole four piece set. This particular one was designed with tan handbags and accessories in mind, another obsession of mine! 

I adore the colour, I'm reminded of milk chocolate as well as my favourite tan handbag! This colour is also perfect for complementing the rust colours that are featured in every high street shop this season and according to Pantone a complimentary shade to the Spring 2012 palette. I bought a teal coloured dress yesterday and this will work perfectly as a contrasting colour for my nails!

I know this polish will split opinion and have have seen less than rosy descriptions of the shade however I am quite smitten. The application was fab as usual, two coats, glossy finish and no colour dragging.

So thanks again to Leanne, you made my day!

xoxo

Nails Inc comes to Sephora!

After much anticipation Sephora has now started to stock one of my favourite polish brands, Nails Inc. I am very pleased for my American friends as I really feel the brand deserves more success. I know there are split opinions on the brand but I personally love their colours, the quality and the exciting things to come from this British brand.

To help out newbies to the range I have taken pictures and done a little video on the polishes that I own from the basic range that Sephora are stocking, I was originally given the idea by a couple of You Tube followers!

Sephora are stocking 42 of the main colours in the Nails Inc line and they will have seasonal limited editions and special effect polishes throughout the year.

I have 19 of the main line, the topcoat and base coat and one of the special effect polishes.

Belgravia, Brook Street, Cadogan Square, Carnaby Street

Belgravia is one of those "Blurple" shades, I feel it's quite a recognisable shade from the range and I have noticed it on friends, I have to admit to only wearing it a handful of times.

Brook Street is a gorgeous summery coral, quite bright.

Cadogan Square I would describe as a true camel shade, it's not beige, greige or any other taupey colour, it's more yellow based and I find it very flattering, perfect for the upcoming season.

Carnaby Street is a vibrant egg yolk yellow! A statement polish for sure but unfortunately one that doesn't flatter my skin tone despite many attempt to get it to work!

Chelsea Square, Devonshire Row, Floral Street, Jermyn Street

Chelsea Square is a stunning sparkly rose glitter, I have loved wearing this on my toes and want to try it as a ring finger polish a la Lorraine of TheCurrentCustom!

Devonshire Row is a more pink based purple, I have to confess to preferring this type of purple that blue toned ones, I'll be wearing this one soon!

Floral Street was originally purchased for French manicure tips however I personally found it too thick for this use, it's great for using on a full nail for a nail art base or if you are confident enough to wear full on white manicure!

Jermyn Street is Nails Inc's You Don't Know Jaques. Their own version of the taupey nude colours. This one leans purple and is like than YDKJ.

Haymarket, Maddox Street, St John's Wood, St James

Haymarket is a gorgeous duck egg blue, amazingly pigmented and a one coater! One of my top ten polishes.

Maddox Street is a gunmetal grey, perfect shade for this autumn, it has a subtle shimmer to it.

St John's Wood is an interesting shade of purple, it definitely has a blue tone to it too, quite unique and I can't think of anything similar to compare it to.

St James is a classic pillar box red, a good staple if you have nothing like it.

Shoreditch, Tate, The Thames, Victoria

Shoreditch is my one of my original purchases, a vibrant bright pink. One of the only polishes I have re-purchased!

Tate, again one of my firsts is a classic deep burgandy, another good one if you have nothing like it in your collection.

The Thames, a grey creme, not too cool a shade again another fabulous colour for the next few months.

Victoria is a timeless blood red shade, one of Nails Inc's best sellers.

Warwick Avenue, Warwick Way, Wellington Square

Warwick Avenue is a sheer pale pink, one of those shades that you would use for a French manicure, I'll be honest I have never used it but I am keen to try it for a French mani soon!

Warwick Way is one of their newest shades, I have yet to try it but am excited to wear this bright teal shade soon, I must emphasise the brightness of this polish it's quite amazing!

Wellington Square has been one of my favourites from this summer, again a recent addition to their line it is a soft yet still noticeable peach.

Farringdon Crackle

I am so excited to wear this gold glitter crackle despite not being totally convinced I like the crackle trend yet, this is somehow different. I think it's because it's a glitter and not a solid colour. I will be wearing this over brown shades and teals this autumn!

Kensington Caviar base coat and top coat

Finally the start and finish of any of my manicures, which ever brand I am using. I love these as they have conditioning elements to them and the top coat in particular is amazing. 

It dries in 45 seconds and allows me to quickly change a polish if I want to but the best aspect of this top coat is the glossy, wet look finish it gives.

ALU has a list of all the colours in the line and at which Sephora stores they will go to, the whole range is online too.

Of the other colours on the list I can highly recommend Fouberts Place, this will be my next addition, it's an olive toned taupe and I love it! Sephora also has the new Autumn Winter four piece collection that I will be buying this week. I have also seen the special effects polishes that are coming this Christmas and they are blooming amazing!! I can't wait to get my hands on one!!

I hope that helps a bit, I know it was a bit of a long post but here's the video of me banging on about the polishes mentioned above!!

xoxo