Festive Christmas Nails and Swatches - Part 3

This is my third post in my Festive and Christmas Nails series.  I'm trying to find out which is the most festive nail polish in my collection and I'll wear it on Christmas day.  My previous posts are here and here.

I've gone for some classic reds and greens in my previous posts, but today I'm going for something a bit different, looking at glittery polishes and colours that remind me of ice, snow and wintery nights.

From left to right, they are My Private Jet by OPI, Deborah Lippmann's Across The Universe, Gosh Rainbow, Orly Shine and OPI Extravagance.

Thumb: Extravagance OPI; Fingers L-R: Orly Shine, Gosh Rainbow, Deborah Lippmann Across The Universe, OPI My Private Jet

OPI My Private Jet is my favourite OPI polish - it reminds me of a night sky, fully of sparky that is very multi-dimensional.  Similarly, Across The Universe is also like a night sky, but more full on and inky.  Rainbow looks awful applied like I have, without a dark base, but if you click my link to it over a darker colour, you will see what a beautiful, sparkly polish it is.  Shine is a sparkly silver colour - very Christmassy and wintery.  Finally, Extravagance was in a Glossy Box and I hadn't tried it until this swatch - I thought it would be a glitter-tastic plummy purple polish.  However, it was a smooth application, very similar to My Private Jet, looking like a purple tinged galaxy on my fingers - I love it.

OPI My Private Jet

L-R: Deborah Lippmann Across The Universe, Gosh Rainbow, Orly Shine

OPI Extravagance

I can't decide which of these is the most festive.  I'm tempted to plump for Orly Shine, but I'm not sure.  Which do you think is most suitable for Christmas?

Thanks for reading! xx

Festive Christmas Nails and Swatches - Part 2

This is the second part of my Festive Christmas Nails series.  I'm showcasing nail polishes I have in my collection that I think are particularly festive and Christmassy.  The first post can be found here.

Please let me know which polish you think is the most festive in each post - I'm having a bit of a battle of the polishes competition to work out which is the most festive and I'll wear that one on Christmas Day. 

 

From left to right: Revlon Ruby Ribbon, Revlon Emerald City, Ciate Kitten Heels, OPI Rising Star from the Burlesque Collection and Barbara Daly Velvet. 

Thumb: Barbara Daly Velvet; Fingers L-R: OPI Rising Star, Ciate Kitten Heels, Revlon Emerald City, Revlon Ruby Ribbon

L-R: Revlon Ruby Ribbon, Revlon Emerald City, Ciate Kitten Heels, OPI Rising Star

Both Revlon polishes are matte, but I'm not sure why, because in the bottle they are shimmery.  I've shown them with a topcoat, as I don't think that matte nails have any place at Christmas.  The Ciate Kitten Heels polish is from a Glossy  Box and I think it might be a bit tomato-y for Christmas.  I wish Rising Star was slightly more golden, as it's a bit bronzy for me. Finally, Velvet by Barbara Daly is quite similar to Ruby Ribbon (when worn with a topcoat), but slightly darker.  It might be more of an autumn colour than Christmas, I'm not sure.  

I think that Emerald City with a topcoat is my festive pick of this lot - let me know what yours is!

Thanks for reading! xx

Festive Christmas Nails and Swatches - Part 1

I've been thinking about doing this post for a while.  However, when I was putting it together, I noticed that one of my favourite YouTubers Carah Amelie had just done a very similar post.  It must be a case of great minds think alike!

Anyway, I've put together a collection of nail polishes that I think are very festive.  I'm going to hold a little competition to determine which is the most festive nail polish I have in my collection and I'll wear that one on Christmas Day!  All the polishes shown are ones I own and unfortunately, some are limited edition and no longer widely available.  However, some are still around, so hopefully they'll be the ones you like!

From left to right, the polishes are Max Factore Nailfinity in Midnight Bronze, OPI Ali's Big Break from the Burlesque Collection, Illamasqua Veridian, Chanel Black Pearl and Butter London's All Hail McQueen (now available as All Hail The Queen).  I've chosen some reds and greens as well as some golden and silvery tones to balance them out.  Here are the swatches:

L-R, Max Factor Midnight Bronze, OPI Ali's Big Break, Illamasqua Veridian and Butter London All Hail McQueen

L-R - Chanel Black Pearl, Butter London All Hail McQueen, Illamasqua Veridian, OPI Ali's Big Break and Max Factor Midnight Bronze

I've linked to NOTD posts where I've done them for these polishes.  You will see that I actually wore Ali's Big Break for Christmas last year.  Seeing them swatched, I'm thinking that Black Pearl, All Hail McQueen (The Queen) and Midnight Bronze aren't as festive as I first thought.  However, Illamasqua's Veridian and Ali's Big Break both seem to me to be perfect Christmas colours.

Please comment and let me know which of these you think is your favourite festive Christmas colour!

Thanks for reading! xx

NOTD - Mavala Bronze Green

If you've followed any of my nail of the day posts before, you'll know that I'm a big fan of Mavala nail polishes - I've never had one that I don't love.  They're small, but perfectly formed, easy to apply, fast drying, have a good consistency, don't chip easily and come in a fantastic range of colours.  I love the fact that they're small, especially for a nail polish magpie like me who rarely wears the same colour twice!

Bronze Green is no exception, I love it, and I think it's a perfect autumnal shade.  The colour is from the carousel collection and I've had it for about a year.

Mavala polishes are also very reasonable.  I've been buying them at Debenhams and John Lewis for £4.10 each.  However, after reading a post by Georgia on my Mind, I'll now be purchasing them at BeautyBay for a bargainous £2.99!  Also, Beauty Bay has the largest range of colours, including Bronze Green.

Thanks for reading! xx

Nails Inc Gossip Girl Inspired NOTD - Chanel Black Pearl and GOSH Rainbow

I've seen quite a few posts over the last few days about the new Nails Inc Gossip Girl collection.  Basically, these are a nail colour with a sparkly, foiled over-glaze, sold at an eye-watering £20 for a set with the two polishes.  There are three colours to choose from, although I think they all look pretty similar to me!

I was reading Le Petit Jardin de Liloo's post on the new collection, where she mentioned that the over-glazes are very similar to Rainbow by GOSH (which is sadly now discontinued).  I do own Rainbow (I think I got one of the last bottles in the country), and I decided to use it to create my own Nails Inc Gossip Girl inspired/dupe nail look.

All the Gossip Girl colours are dark, in blue, black and deep maroon.  I don't own a pure black nail colour, but I do have Black Pearl by Chanel which is blackish/dark green/petrol, so I used this as a base colour.  I used two coats of Black Pearl and then put on a coat of Rainbow.

I'd not used Rainbow for ages and had forgotten how lovely it is - it has large flakes of foiled glitter in green, yellow and red depending on the light - you can see all the colours on the same nail.  It also dries smoothly (unlike some other foiled glitter polishes) and for some reason, I think it dries very quickly and speeds up all the undercoats drying as well.  It acts as a tough top coat, lasting for ages.

If you've got Rainbow, you can easily recreate the Gossip Girl Nails Inc polishes look using cheaper nail polishes - you definitely don't need to spend £20 to get this look!

Other than these sets, has anyone found a good dupe for Rainbow?  I'd be really interested to find out!

Thanks for reading! xx

NOTD - Accessorize Magical Mocha

Hi everyone - here's my NOTD for you - Magical Mocha from Accessorize.

 
Whilst I love this colour, and Accessorize polishes are quite good value, I've not been impressed by this polish, or by the previous one I've tried.  They are a pain to go on, with a fiddly brush that doesn't seem long enough, they dry ok, but then they chip like nothing else.  Literally this lasted less than a day and that was with a top coat!  I expect better from a polish, and you can get better polishes than this at similar prices.

However, the colour, a bronzey, brownish sparkle with a slightly mauve tone is lovely - does anyone know of any dupes?

I've since totally destroyed what was left of my manicure digging up the last of my potatoes in my garden, so it's time to start again!  Here's a picture of a massive potato I dug up about a month ago, with a mini Babybel for size comparison - it did for a whole meal of mash for two, with plenty left over!!!

Thanks for reading! xx

NOTD - Chanel Peridot

Hi Ladies!  You know that I can't resist a bit of Chanel bling, especially when it comes to nail polish.  With the launch of their A/W collection today, I had to get my hands on Peridot...  Luckily, with a bit of forward planning, I had rung John Lewis in advance and got them to put one aside for me.  I'm very glad they did, as apparently, after all the reserved Peridots had gone, there were only two left, and they were both sold out by the time I got there!

It's a kind of stunning, shimmery green and yellow polish with blue tones as well.  It's a surprisingly wearable colour, and I can see myself wearing it a lot over the next few months.  However, I do see it as more of a summer colour, rather than A/W, but I'll see how I feel about it as the nights draw in.

One coat is sheer, but with two it becomes opaque and I think two is enough.  I've made a mess of the application, largely because my nails are in terrible condition at the moment, and because I couldn't wait to put it on and didn't use a base coat.  However, I'm somewhat impressed with the formula.  There are some brush marks, but it wasn't too thick and it didn't bubble, something I've had issues with with every other Chanel polish I've tried before.

By the way, this is a shimmery polish, with none of the "hidden shimmer" Chanel trademark so well.  So, I think it'll be an easily dupe-able polish.  I shall wait to see who can make the closest dupe!

What do you think?  Will you be shelling out £17.50 on it?

Thanks for reading!  xx

NOTD - China Glaze Sea Spray

Hi ladies.  Just a quick nail of the day today - Sea Spray by China Glaze.

I bought it as I heard it was a close-ish dupe for Chanel Riva.  Unfortunately, as I don't own Riva, I can't really comment on that.  It does have a touch of the trademark Chanel 'Hidden Shimmer', but just a smidgen, and it's really much more of a 'flat' colour.  However, it's a lovely, pale blue toned colour - pretty inoffensive for wearing to work, and a good holiday colour!  I wore it a lot on my holiday (back in March - sigh)!

Application wise, I found it a bit heavy and creamy.  It bubbled slightly (although not on this hand) and took ages to dry.  I found two coats was just about enough, but it really needed three to get rid of any streaking and to have a totally opaque finish, which adds to the drying time.  However, it was pretty long-lasting, and I managed it a week on my toes whilst I was on holiday before it chipped - pretty good going, considering I was flip flopiting around on the beach!

So, although I like the colour, I wasn't that wowed by the formula.  This is the first China Glaze colour I've tried - I would try others, but I'd have to really like the colour.  I can live with crappy application and drying time from £3 nail polishes, but at around £10, I expect better!

Thanks for reading! xx

NOTD - Max Factor Max Effect Mini Nail Polish in Coral Diva

Well, the sun is just about shining here, so I thought I'd do a bright and cheerful NOTD.  I purchased Coral Diva by Max Factor ages ago and I'm sure it was just a few pounds.  It's a brilliant summer colour and would look great with a tan (which unfortunately I don't have).

It applies easily, dries quickly and is pretty long lasting.  You could probably get away with 1 coat, but I thought two was necessary.  I also like it, as it's a small bottle of polish; being a polish magpie, it's unlikely that I'm going to ever use up another polish before it goes gloopy, so smaller bottles = less wastage, less storage space required and kinder on my wallet.  What's not to like?!

I've worn this on my toes and I think it's even better than on my fingers, especially for a summer holiday.  Just wish I was going somewhere nice now... However, it's not too bright and I've happily worn it to work as well.

What's your favourite holiday polish?

Possible Dupe for Chanel Mimosa? Avon Arabian Glow Nailwear Pro in Sunshine

After I bought Chanel Mimosa Le Vernis nail polish, I realised that I already had a potential dupe for it, and one that I had bought and totally forgotten about - Avon Arabian Glow Nailwear Pro in Sunshine.

I decided to compare the two to see how much of a dupe Sunshine really is.

Hmmm - can see the Chanel shimmer here, lacking in Sunshine

L-R Mimosa, Sunshine, Mimosa, Sunshine

L-R Mimosa, Sunshine, Mimosa, Sunshine

L-R Sunshine, Mimosa, Sunshine, Mimosa

So, they don't seem to be quite as much as a dupe as I had first thought.  Sunshine is brighter and more, well, sunshiney, whereas Mimosa has a more lemon colour.  Sunshine also doesn't have the hidden shimmer trademark that all Chanel polishes have.  Saying that, you'd have to be a nail polish expert to know that Sunshine isn't Mimosa - they are close enough to fool most people!

I liked Sunshine a lot.  I've not really used many Avon polishes before, and this had a lovely formula, nearly opaque after one application, a good brush, easy to apply and dries relatively quickly.  However, I think it's a bit bright for me. Mimosa is slightly more subtle (although not much) and I just prefer the colour.

Mimosa costs £17, whereas Sunshine is currently on offer on the Avon website at £3.  
 

Which is your favourite?