Monthly Archives: April 2011

Accessorize – Shade 9 Fudge (My go-to base colour)

April 5, 2011 2 Comments

Please excuse the lack of cleanup – I was about to use this as a base colour and thought I’d show you what I use first!
1 coat!
You know when you have a really sheer nail polish that just won’t build up to an opaque finish? I’ve had this issue so many times.. I decided back in January that the only remedy to this was to paint my nails an opaque colour so that the nail line wasn’t visible. I remember reading on someone’s blog (I can’t remember whose I’m sorry!) that they use a white base colour which I suppose planted the seed in my mind and when I saw this near-skin-colour polish the seed blossomed and I just knew this was the one I’d use.. haha. I know that Liloo blogged about this a few days ago but I promise I didn’t steal the idea from her! (Even so go and check out her blog post, it has two much cheaper options for this trick). If you want evidence I used it with 17 Pink Grapefruit in this post!

So the Accessorize polish. This is fab, £4 in Superdrug and I think (although I’m not certain) that Accessorize polishes are sold in Accessorize too.  I know they’re available on the website (under ‘Lifestyle’ of all categories!) Fudge, along with all the others I’ve tried, dries very quickly with a satisfactorily opaque finish. If I was going to wear this alone I would add an extra coat as you can still just see some of the natural nail underneath but one coat serves the purpose for this trick.

Does it work? Yes! I’ve had no issues with using this with a base, it applies thinly and dries quickly so saves a lot of hassle in applying coat after coat of a sheer polish and waiting for each one to dry! All you have to do is paint one of two coats of said polish over the base colour et voila.

I know this tip is by no means original but if it helps just one person then my post is justified 😉 Apologies to everyone who’s ever posted this tip before!

I may have another post up by the end of the night, another M&S; polish 😀
Emma xxx

Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Marks & Spencer Bright Aqua (M2)

April 4, 2011 2 Comments

So I went a bit crazy on Sunday and bought 4 M&S; nail polishes. But they are so unique and beautiful! Here is the first of the 4.

This has more green in than you can see here. Absolutely stunning! It’s a turquoise-green shimmer, but it has a very pearly appearance on the nail. It’s kind of iridescent. I haven’t seen anything like this one before, even Andy told me I “MUST get that one!!!”.
This polish dried fast, with a gorgeous finish, and best of all, all Marks and Spencer beauty items are BUAV Approved, which is like the Holy Approval of Cruelty Free, and being that I am very uncomfortable with the current laws on cosmetic animal testing I am all for it and will be going back to M&S; for more.
I have had two problems with this polish. This particular one was so sheer:
This is one coat over a clear base coat (excuse my stained nails!)
I decided to start again. This time I applied base coat, and a nude polish as a base (I’ll post details of this in my next post) to cover over my nail lines and staining. This worked much better and the colour you see in the second and third photos are with 3 coats. It really didn’t need a third coat, two worked fine, but I went to bed soon after applying the second and woke up with the most offensive sheet marks ever, so I added an extra coat to try and salvage the polish before school.
My only other issue was that while the first coat dried super duper quickly, the second coat took ages to fully dry (as in to a state where it doesn’t dent easily) hence the sheet marks. However the third coat applied 8 hours later dried really fast again, which had me a little confused. Oh well!
All in all the hassle is totally worth it for the price (£3) and for the BUAV seal of approval! And to be fair the hassle wouldn’t have been hassle if I had just waited for the second coat to dry like a normal person would.
Hope you are all well, keep a look out for the 3 upcoming M&S; polishes! The next one I’m wearing is called Lagoon 😉 guess what colour it might be?
Emma xxx

Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Max Factor Nailfinity – 882 Angel Nails

April 2, 2011 2 Comments

This is a gorgeous foil polish, shown here at 2 coats. It has an ever so slight pink hue, while looking dazzlingly silver and flashy 😀 I couldn’t think of a better name for this polish, it really is very angelic and beautiful.
It’s a very flattering shade, not that you would notice looking at these lobster handed nails, but my fingers actually look darker in skin tone when wearing this polish.
I love the subtle pink in this, it’s very glamorous, it’s so hard to describe and the pictures really don’t do it justice but I would always wear this one in favour of a silver polish, just because it’s so beautiful and unique. It reminds me of Models Own – Mystic Mauve, only the colouration is much more muted in Angel Nails.
I know I’ve shown you this before, but I wanted to show you a proper swatch as the nail art photos didn’t do the polish itself justice.
Dry-time with this polish was great, and although I have reservations about the price (£5.99 in Boots, Superdrug and Tesco) I am so glad I bought this one as I am absolutely in love. It has a certain elegance about it, perfect for special occasions 🙂 My only complaint is that the brush is a little on the thin side which can prove difficult when trying to avoid visible brushstrokes, but thankfully this wasn’t a problem with this polish.
The Nailfinity range has some very pretty, very unique shades and it’s worth checking out despite the price. I am lusting after “Midnight Plum” which doesn’t seem to turn up anywhere!
Hope everyone is doing well and thank you for reading,
Emma xxx
Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.