Imagination In Colour UK Nail Polish Blog

Marks and Spencer have brought out a brand new line called the ‘Limited Collection’. In wake of this release they are selling all their old stock of make-up from their previous line (I don’t think it had a name, but in terms of nail polish, it’s the oblongy-squarey bottles!) cheap as chips, so get there while you can! 😉

The new line is fantastic in terms of polish (and the eye makeup is pretty funky too!) I just had to pick up a few – okay four – of the new bottles. They’re quite unique in terms of UK high-street polish, which is awesome!

Today I have for you the lovely ‘Lilac’. I want to apologise for the yucky sore cuticle on my middle finger!

 This reminds me of some kind of flower, I really can’t put my finger on it though! Lilac is basically a lavender purple base packed with gold glassfleck shimmer. I found it was much less purple than the bottle would suggest – the gold is SO reflective that in certain lights the polish looks like a taupey-purple colour, and does take on a bit of a dull tone. But in natural daylight it’s just amazing! So soft and pretty! I think this is the perfect work-appropriate polish as it’s really quite subtle in anything other than direct light or out-doors daylight. It almost has a duochrome effect with the purple. So pretty.  My Andy told me it’s his very favourite nail polish I’ve ever worn!

Application:

It’s pretty much opaque at 2 coats, though I added a third just because I have some staining on some nails which makes the free-edge harder to hide! The polish dries very quickly, so to avoid dragging, load your brush up with more polish than you’d usually put on. This polish is going nowhere – I only used basecoat, no topcoat but it hasn’t budged in pretty much 48hours, after some fairly heavy duty paper-lugging and plenty of grappling with tights – always a sign of a good polish!

Overall, YES YES YES!! It’s just £3.50 and should be in-store by now. Alternatively you can buy it from Marks and Spencer online. Oh and the best part? It’s cruelty-free. All Marks and Spencer makeup is BUAV Approved.

What do you think? I love this to pieces. I reckon you could use this one for a super layering polish too! Worth £3.50?

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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.

The third Barry M Magnetic polish is this – a lovely gunmetal and black shimmer with a fishnet-style magnet. The pictures don’t do this justice. And sorry for the messiness of my nails this time!

This is just stunning on the nails! The pattern is fantastic, I can’t decide whether I prefer this pattern or that of Barry M Magnetic Blue. I think I’ll have to try this pattern on the blue… seems like the perfect combination! Anyways, Dark Silver applies a silvery-gunmetal grey, then the magnet pulls the black particles through to create this wicked 3D effect.

Application:

The photos show 2 coats. The polish does dry fairly quickly so be sure to get your magnet over it fast! If you aren’t familiar with how to magnetise your polish, Barry M have given us a great Magnetic nail paint tutorial. Basically, as soon as you’ve painted the 2nd coat, hover the magnet over your nail using the curved lip on the edge of the magnet as a guide to how much space you leave between magnet and nail. I think I’m getting the hang of magnetising now… I think!

And if you aren’t a fan of the magnetic look, Dark Silver does also look gorgeous as a normal polish:

A lovely gunmetal shimmer!

What do you think? The Magnetic nail paints are currently on sale in Boots, Superdrug and Barry M’s website, and retail for £4.99. Which one is your favourite?

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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.

This is one of those shades that is notoriously difficult to capture on camera – fabulous in person, but the camera just doesn’t like it! Sherbet Fizz, I believe, is a re-release from Ciaté, as part of their ‘Forget-Me-Nots‘ collection. It’s so perfect for summer! A lovely glacé cherry-red pinky coral colour (I totally can’t make my mind up what it is!) and ever so pretty.

 Sherbet Fizz is a gorgeous cherry pink red jelly packed with shimmer. It is very sheer, which is both an advantage (it can be used for layering) and a disadvantage (it takes a lot to build up to opacity). Nevertheless I love it, it makes me think of delicious puddings with cherries on top 🙂

Application:

The photos show 4 coats. And I could still see the free edge of my nail, though I’m sure this is partly due to the staining on my nails. I don’t know whether this polish would ever be opaque, it seems to have that ‘I’m going to make your free edge glow’ property about it, lol! In most lights the free edge wasn’t visible apart from outdoors in natural daylight. Which incidentally made the polish look a lot more orange than it is, too. The polish dried quickly which is always a bonus with sheer polishes. The application was an absolute breeze, like with Ciaté Angel Wings, the long brush and flat bristles of perfect thickness and width make it an amazing polish to work with. I think it’s probably my favourite nail polish brush of all time.

Overall, I really really love the colour. I think it will look fab layered over various different pinks and reds, maybe even orange, over the summer! Also for those of you with short nails and little free-edge, the opacity won’t be a problem. What do you think? Sherbet Fizz retails at £9.

I had a moment of inspiration and decided to do a flowery accent nail:

(It didn’t look this tatty in person – promise!) I used:

• Ciaté Sherbet Fizz as the base
• 2 coats of Barry M Matt White
• Marks and Spencer Blue for the dots
• Rio Nail Art Pen in Red for the petally bits
• Rio Nail Art Pen in Black for the stripe

Hope you like it. I’m aiming to do much more nail art in the near future!

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

According to their website, Angel Wings is a new release from Ciaté. Angel Wings is a beautiful pure white shimmer (how cute is the name?!). This has to be the best way to wear white polish – pure white cremes are just a little too tippex-y for my liking, but something about the cleanliness of white is appealing. Add in shimmer and it’s soft enough to take away that corrector-pen edge – it actually looks incredibly sophisticated. This is something I’d definitely consider wearing on my nails or toes on my wedding day!

 It’s not often you get a pure white shimmer with absolutely no duochrome… and I love it! There’s something so pure, polished and clean about it, like virgin snow! The polish is somewhere between shimmer and frost. Soo pretty!

Application:

The photos show 3 coats on all fingers except my middle finger, which has 4 coats. The polish is opaque at 3 coats. Despite this, I quite like the effect at 2 coats – you can just about see the free edge and some of the pink of the natural nail shows through, giving a lovely glowy effect. The polish dries quickly. It’s worth mentioning that any imperfections will show through this polish (see my index finger for reference!). If you have ridges, I’d recommend you use a ridge-filler before applying Angel Wings. Also, try to paint in a straight line from the cuticle to the edge, because wonky brushstrokes do show up! I want to also mention how easy it is to apply this polish thanks to the long handle and the flat, roughly 5-7mm wide brush. For me at least, this was a dream to apply, requiring next to no cleanup, which is practically a record for me!

I love love love this polish, way more than I thought I would. Ciaté Angel Wings retails at £9. Worth it? I think so. For a bottle of 13.5ml, which is also 5-Free, it’s still £2 cheaper than OPI and is a pretty unique polish, in my eyes!

What do you guys think? I absolutely love it! It just looks so elegant. Also a perfect base for nail art or layering, methinks!

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

I love mint green as a colour. And I LOVE mint green on other peoples’ nails. But on my nails? It gives the illusion of my skin being lobster pink and generally clashes completely and looks dreadful. Which is a sad day for me. But, Marks and Spencer Jade has come along and alleviated all my mint green-related woes. This lovely sagey green creme looks bright and almost pastel enough to be perfect for Spring, yet causes no problems with skin tone and clashing. I reckon this is a great green for all skin tones.

Pretty cute. I like this way more than I thought I would! It was one of those curiosity-purchases, but I am so glad I have it! I wore this for 2 days straight and still wasn’t sick of it, which is saying a lot, for me. Perfect creme finish, no streaking, bliss!

Application:

Jade is definitely opaque at 2 coats, although the photos show 3 as my brittle nails have reared their ugly head and have been peeling which resulted in a chip off my middle finger :(. The polish dries quickly, and did not streak, not once! It dried to a high shine, so you won’t need a topcoat unless you want it to last for a while.

Would you guys like a comparison of this one and Barry M Mint Green? Just to prove the difference. I’m reluctant to put this one in my ‘already-blogged’ pile of polishes, I think I may wear it a few more times before that! I’m surprised how much I love it – I’m not usually this taken with cremes.

The Marks and Spencer ‘nail colour’ range retails at a measly £3, which I think, for the quality of it, is a super duper bargain, like Barry M. Not only this but all Marks and Spencer polishes are cruelty-free, and BUAV Approved.

What do you think? Have you suffered at the hands of mint green nail polish? Does this look like something you’d try?

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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.