Imagination In Colour UK Nail Polish Blog

Before I get into how much I undyingly love this polish – there are 3 new Ciaté shades free in Marie Claire this month, in ‘Bon Bon’ (taupe creme), ‘Jelly Bean’ (pink with blue shimmer) and ‘Purple Sherbet’ (pale purple creme)… at £3.70 each you really can’t go wrong! Also there’s a code for 25% off Ciaté orders in the magazine too, so you can get your favourites for less for a little while!

Ciaté Pom Pom is nothing new in terms of colour. Coral polish has been done and done and done – I in fact have 5-6 polishes in this exact shade. Where it differs is in the formula and finish. Observe:

Pom Pom is a gorgeous, glossy coral creme. This bold colour is so perfect for summer! This is the difference between Pom Pom and other similar corals (by Eyeko, NYC, BeautyUK etc.) – in my experience, corals tend to require several coats to hide the free edge of the nail. Pom Pom – a creme, applies smoothly and creamily and in 2 coats, is totally opaque. Equally, the Ciaté brush, of medium width and thickness, really adds to the flawless application. I find the long handle and the brush shape combined allow for quick and beautiful application, even for a messy polisher like me.

Application:

The photos all show 2 coats – I couldn’t see my free-edge in person. The polish dries quickly, and dries to a lovely glossy high shine – no need for a topcoat.

In my eyes, you get every penny you pay for with Ciaté. I feel that with brands like OPI, Essie and China Glaze, often you get a great and unique colour choice, but the application/longevity/finish/opacity of the polish lets it down, for the price you pay. I consistently find Ciaté to be of high quality… which in my eyes makes their polishes worth the £9, even if I do have to save up for them or buy them as a treat. (And no… I don’t work for Ciaté! These are my genuine thoughts I swear!!!).

What do you think? Is this worth splurging £9 on? What are your favourite summer colours?

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Disclaimer: This product was sent to me by Ciaté as a gift, but not for review purposes.

First of all a HUGE thank you to the lovely Mel who sent me this rather amazing polish in our swap recently – this is my second time wearing this one, it’s gorgeous and so fun!

No.7 released a line called ‘Colour Miracle’ a while back… sadly it’s now discontinued – do any of you own the Colour Miracle shades? I’ve only been able to find two online, were there more? Basically, you apply 1-2 coats of the polish, which gives a lovely colour. Add topcoat, and the colour changes completely. Hopefully my pictures will demonstrate this!

I was a little inspired to try it out by the Barry M Chameleon Nail Paint press release – Barry M are releasing 3 new ‘chameleon’ shades next week (eeee I’m so excited!). You can probably tell that my use of the clear polish was pretty much stolen from the press release!

2 coats of the polish applied over a basecoat – this is the ‘natural’ colour of the polish.

I added a few dots of clear topcoat to my index finger, painted 1 coat of topcoat over my middle finger, painted 1 coat of topcoat over my ring finger and added dots of the original colour, and painted a very rubbish tip with topcoat on my pinkie finger!

I swear my nails didn’t look that messy in person… hence the small amount of photos compared to usual! Anyway. I love this polish, so much fun! My only gripe is for those of you who like to wear polish for more than 1-2 days, there’s no real way of preserving the original colour or the nail art design, unless you do a topcoat sandwich underneath. Hmm. Anyway, I believe that this colour is very similar to one of the Barry M colours:

If this is the case, I’ll certainly do a side-by-side comparison to show you all since No.7 Miracle Plum is discontinued 🙁 as far as I’m aware anyway… Application-wise, Miracle Plum took 1 coat to be opaque, but I wore it for a day or so at just 1 coat and got a bit of tipwear so I’d suggest 2 coats to be on the safe side, if you have this in your stash!

Let me know what you think of the colour-changing polish thing, is it something you’re interested in, or too much of a faff?

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Disclaimer: This product was kindly gifted to me by a friend. Thank you Mel! x

Candyfloss Pink was apparently inspired by Elie Saab’s SS12 collection. The name is very apt for the colour – a sugary blue-toned pink shimmer polish, I think candyfloss just about fits the bill!

 Candyfloss Pink is a gorgeous pink creme with silver glassfleck shimmer – exactly the same finish as 2True Ocean Pearl. You know me – I’m a sucker for glassfleck! Candyfloss Pink is about as girly as one can possibly get when it comes to nail polish, but it has the bonus of making your fingers look lovely and tanned, which is a winner in my books.

Application:

The photos all show 3 coats. The polish applied evenly, but required the 3rd coat just to build up enough pigment to hide the free edge. Candyfloss Pink dried fairly quickly, so the 3rd coat wasn’t really a problem. It dried to a high shine too.

I wanted to mention that this did chip on a couple of fingers in the time that I wore it (2 days), but this was only on my weaker nails (which have a habit of peeling).  Also I’d lost my basecoat on the day I applied it so substituted topcoat which may have caused the chipping… I really don’t know whether it’s down to the polish or my application/nails. Anyways, I did notice that on the nails I then added topcoat to, there was no further chipping soo… sorry for the unreliability of the review! :s

What do you think of this colour? Too pink or is it an acceptable shade for you? At £1.99 in Superdrug you can’t really go too far wrong… or you can buy 3 x 2True products for £4.99.

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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.

Now this one is HOT for summer. 2True are well known for producing thin watery polishes (which I LOVE because they make fantastic layering polishes) but their latest collection seems to be full of lovely opaque polishes, which I know will be popular with non-layerers.

Here we have ‘Ocean Pearl’ 🙂

 Now, my first thought with this polish is that it’s pretty unique, for the UK high street. I did a tiny little bit of image hunting and really couldn’t find anything similar from the bigger US brands, either. All I know is that I LOVE it! Stunning bright turquoise base colour with silver glassfleck shimmer throughout – what more could we ask for! It reminds me of hotel pools in tropical sunshine. I love this so much. Hello summer toes!

Application:

The photos all show 2 coats. The polish dries fairly quickly – it does pull a little though so I’d leave  a few minutes between each coat as it may drag ever so slightly. Other than that, no problems!

The only polish I can think of that’s close to Ocean Pearl is Boots 17 Catwalk Couture, which has a similar bright turquoise base colour and the tiniest hint of silver shimmer, but the shimmer in Shade 49 is what sets them apart. Catwalk Couture is basically a creme by comparison.

Now the best part: 2True Glossywear polishes retail at £1.99, or 3 for £4.99 in Superdrug, so if you fancy giving the other new polishes in the range a whirl it really won’t set you back much. Fabulous quality for the price in this case.

Have you tried any of the new 2True line? You can have a peek at the 2True Pastel Fantastic press release over on Cute-tickle Nails – Tee Dee has also posted about two of the new shades so check it out!

Let me know what you think.

x

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 have been seriously spoiling us of late. 7 new polishes (Black Multi Glitter, Cappuccino, Copper, Denim, Nude, Silvery Lilac, Teal) as well as the 4 magnetics… lots to play with!

The Classics (Nude and Cappuccino) are both online-only until June, when they will be available in Boots and Superdrug at £2.99.

First off, it’s sheer. If you don’t like sheer polishes, you won’t like this – it’s one of those nude jellies that never really builds up to an opaque finish. On the plus side, it does even out staining (my nails aren’t too bad but they are certainly a touch too yellow for my liking) – they look a very natural beige-pink tone with 2 coats of Nude, very clean and fresh. Nude will look fab with a tan or darker skin too, it’s got that lovely ‘your-nails-but-better’ quality to it. Personally? I love it. It’s a lovely blend of pink and beige and the closest to ‘natural nail colour’ I’ve yet found in the UK high street. This is something I would consider for a bridal manicure or for in the office, or maybe even in school if you’re careful!

Application:

The photos all show 2 coats. As you can tell, it’s sheer, but buildable. I don’t think it will ever really reach total opacity so if that’s what you look for in a nude, this may not be one for you. Nude dries quickly and has a high-shine finish – no need for topcoat unless it’s longevity you’re going for. Very smooth application, it wasn’t streaky so you can get away with just one coat if you just want a touch of polish.

What do you think? Personally I’m a huge fan of sheer nudes, I really don’t like nude cremes much at all unless my nails are really in a state. I have a little trick for making a nude creme look a bit more sheer and glossy without sacrificing opacity – more on that soon!

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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.