Nail Polish

Boots 17 Lasting Finish Pink Grapefruit

March 2, 2011 1 Comment

Err… excuse the missing chunk out of my middle fingernail, the polish decided to go walkies :s I decided to take full advantage of what feels like the first sunshine of the year 🙂
So this is the most lovely lovely polish in all the world 🙂 After craving this polish for a while, I finally managed to get it 🙂 yaaay!
I first tried this alone, over my bare nails, and it was very very sheer. The colour was also a lot brighter with my first try, and I still had VNL after 3 coats. So the second time round, I cheated and put Accessorize’s Fudge polish on as a ‘base’, as it’s virtually the same colour as my nails and is opaque in one coat, thus hiding any VNL! 😀 I then acheived the colour shown in two coats.
As usual with Lasting Fix polishes, this dried super super fast, so all in all I am a very happy bunny! And, true to it’s name, this did last like cement. Lol. I’m dying to try some nail art over this as it’s practically crying out for it though 🙂 love it!
£2.99 in Boots, well worth the money spent says I 🙂
Hope you’re all having a lovely week,
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.

My first (slightly failed) attempt at leopard print

March 1, 2011 2 Comments

Umm well as you can see my left hand has tiny dots and my right hand has splodges. Again, I blame my non-dominant left hand. Arrghh.
What I used:
Barry M Nail Paints – Mushroom (base)
Boots 17 Fast Finish – Catwalk Couture (spots)
Rio Nail Art Pen – Black (outlines)
So, to cut a waffle of a story short, I wore the Barry M Mushroom the day before I did this. That evening something possessed me to do this. The Mushroom colour was crying out for something interesting to draw attention to it! It did look like very yummy melted chocolate.
I took 17 Catwalk Couture and attempted to do some even splodges of colour. I’ve always loved the combination of chocolatey brown and turquoise, hence the colour choice. The splodges didn’t turn out as even as I wished. Oh well.
I left this overnight and then the next morning very crudely outlined the splodges to make them leopardy with the ‘pen tip’ of the Rio Nail Art Pen.
My one tip from this experience – for impatient people like me it is best to use a fast-drying nail polish for the splodges because some will be thick, and even with fast-dry polishes it does take a while to dry properly, resulting in holes in your manicure when you knock the top off by mistake!
I have learnt from this experience that even if your nails do not look amazing (see exhibit a, b and c) up close, they still look fairly snazzy from a short distance, like if you just casually stroke your face. Well maybe not stroke it but you get the gist!
I should really be doing an essay right now. 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.

Boots 17 Fast Finish Peacock

February 28, 2011 7 Comments

The pictures really don’t do this polish justice. Please excuse my red hands (cold!) and the lack of cleanup.

My brother bought me this polish for Christmas. I think this must be ‘my colour’ or something because I received a couple of very similar polishes!

I was quite reluctant to try this as it’s a Fast Finish and my experience with Catwalk Couture (will post some pictures next time I wear it) was less than desirable. However Peacock was workable and very pretty.

It has a turquoise base with a lot of green shimmer. It really is so pretty, and although the turquoise/green polish is far from unique I am very pleased with this particular shade! The colour looks almost luminous at a casual glance, probably due to all that green shimmer. It reminds me of those minerals where you go into a dark room and they glow.

Formulation-wise, it was quite thin, which is good for a Fast Finish. I hate when they are thick and you end up dragging the polish *coughcatwalkcouturecough* but this one was pleasant. It dried fantastically fast which I love (being an impatient polish addict was never going to work) and I had a lovely opaque colour after 2 coats – 10 minutes = happy Emma! It’s shiny but could probably do with a topcoat. I didn’t bother as I knew I’d only be wearing it for 1 day max.

The one thing that I have found to be a problem with both my Fast Finishes, is that when I take them off they leave a horrible stain on the skin around your nails. This wasn’t so much of a problem after a day’s wear but it is something to be aware of. Acetone won’t shift it, but most of it seemed to come off when I washed my hands :S just a word to the wise.

Hope you’re all having a lovely Monday!
Emma xxx

P.S. This is a gorgeous polish for toes! My toes felt like gems 🙂

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.

No.7 Damson Dream 105 Stay Perfect Nail Colour.

February 26, 2011 1 Comment

Another £5 off No.7 purchase! Damson Dream, aptly named for once, is a very rich purple colour with pink shimmer. In the bottle this appears to have an orange shimmer laced in but this wasn’t present on the nail. It really does look damson-esque though, that lovely deep purple colour. These colours always used to be my favourite, I had a similar one named Aubergine by M&S; a few years back but it dried out 🙁
This is opaque-ish in 2 coats but what you are seeing is 3, I did a third for good measure. It’s a funny formula really, I found it getting quite gloopy as I applied it, and it dragged a little in some places. Dry time was good for the first coat, but after that it was a little “Barry M-ish” in that it dented easily and didn’t fully dry for a long while. I only wore this for a day (admittedly without topcoat) but already you can see the tipwear, particularly on my thumbnail. I am forced to dispute the “Stay Perfect” labelling!

I would’t say this was a unique colour and while it is beautiful, I would not pay full price for it as I just don’t feel it deserves to be £7 (I paid £2). When I buy any polish over £5 I at least expect it to have a reasonably good formulation, since all the cheaper brands do! Sad day for No.7 🙁 Oh well there are more No.7 polishes to come!

And since the £5-off vouchers are coming back (again!) I still may end up buying more – I have my eye on Pink Grapefruit.

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.

Barry M Mint Green Nail Paint

February 25, 2011 1 Comment

I wore this a few days ago, for about a day and in the end couldn’t wait to take it off. I’m not quite sure why, as it’s a lovely colour, and it surprised me that it actually suits my skin tone better than I expected. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s because it’s hard to find an outfit to go with it? I don’t know. The reason the polish is fairly sheer is because I got fed up after two thin coats and went to bed!

Anyway, the formulation was good (as is usual for Barry M!) I find the trick with these is to build up with very thin layers, otherwise you’re there for hours dodging furniture etc in an attempt to save your nails from indentation and other such markings. Even the thin layers take a while to dry after the second coat, so this is definitely one to apply while watching a long programme or film, or any other time where you aren’t likely to be moving. Having said that I applied this while watching Marchlands and spilt it on my keyboard – oops! The polish was shiny without a top coat, again, a given with Barry M polishes.

I would have to disagree with the name “Mint Green”, I don’t know what this colour is to me but it definitely doesn’t say ‘mint’ to me. Agh, it’s so awkward, maybe that’s why I don’t like it. I love the colour, just not for nails!

I can see why so many other people like it though. It’s rumoured to be a dupe of MAC’s Peppermint Patti.

Emma xxx

P.S. Less waffley? Or still too waffley? Lol xx

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.