NOTD: Sally Hansen Fire Opal Nail Glaze in Flame Opal

This week is the second week of the Easter school holidays and I haven't had any time to take any photos of new products, in fact I haven't actually bought much make up lately. I've mainly been focusing on nail polish (yes, I know I was supposed to be on a nail polish no-buy, but that didn't happen). So while I take time off of testing and reviewing new products, I thought I might as well try and get through my long back log of nail polish pictures. Normal service will resume next week.

Today I have Sally Hansen Fire Opal Nail Glaze in Flame Opal to show you. I really love Sally Hansen Nail Prisms for their amazing duochrome quality and when I heard about the Nail Glazes, I thought I'd ought to try them. Just like the Nail Prisms, these are also very sheer and look best when applied on top of a black polish (by Barry M). The Nail Glaze was terribly runny and took 3 coats for a good enough coverage. It was nowhere near as duochrome as I expected it to be. Also it took forever to dry. And when I say forever, I mean it!

I applied it around 9 pm and it was still soft the following day, it never really dried down properly despite using a quick drying topcoat. As a result I ended up with a very messed up middle finger nail, the polish basically got scrunched up when I was getting ready for bed. Really not great. The only one positive quality of the polish was that it didn't chip on me for 2 days (which is a big thing for me).

These Sally Hansen polishes aren't available in the UK, I bought mine on eBay for a few dollars.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Nails Inc Park Lane and OPI Purple With A Purpose

There are two things I love very much are combined in this mani: purple and glitter. I wore Nails Inc Park Lande over OPI Purple With A Purpose. I did 2 coats of the OPI polish and then one coat of the Nails Inc glitter polish on top.

To be honest, you probably can't even see the OPI polish because Nails Inc Park Lane has a fantastic coverage in just one coat! Although in the pictures it looks like the base polish is peeping through, but it's not really, just how the light falls on my nails.

Both formulas were lovely and I had very minimal chipping in the first 48 hours. The glitter polish was surprisingly easy to remove, so that was a bonus.

Both of these polishes are permanent, I believe, so you should be able to find them quite easily. I think they both cost £11 each, the Nails Inc being 10 ml and the OPI 15 ml.

The colours in the pictures are not at all accurate, so I included some I took with my phone camera, which are worse quality, but the colours are much truer to life.

See lots of pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Color Club Hot Couture over Oh My Gosh Electric Pink

Today's manicure is a lovely springtime one (although I actually did it back in November), it's very appropriate for Easter, even though the weather in the UK resembles more Christmas than anything else. It was 2.8 degrees at 9 am this morning. Brr!

I used Oh My GOSH Electric Pink polish as a base and then applied Color Club Hot Couture glitter top coat on top. The result: bright pink sparkly nails! Lovely.

Both polishes has a good formula, not too thick, not too runny. Hot Couture has a very good glitter coverage, you don't need to fish around for glitter. I only had a couple of tiny chips after the first day, but after 2 days I had loads of chipping and peeling. Still, it was very pretty while it lasted.

I bought Hot Couture as part of a set from TKMaxx and Electric Pink from Superdrug.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Mavala Sparkling Violet

Mavala Sparkling Violet is a gorgeous multicoloured (magenta, teal, gold) glitter top coat. It has I thought it might be opaque enough to wear on its own, but after 5 coats (which is what you see in the pictures) I gave up. It should definitely be worn as a top coat!

It is very pretty though, as well as quick drying and long lasting. It lasted on me for 3 days with minimal chipping (no chipping at all in the first 24 hours) which is pretty much my record.

Mavala polishes cost £4 for 5 ml, so they are very affordable and as the bottles are so small, you actually have a chance of finishing them. The 5 coats I used for this pretty much got through a third of the bottle! I got mine from BeautyBay.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots Holographic Polish

It's been a long and horrible day, so I only have the energy for a quick post, but I wanted to share this with you as it's so pretty. Strap On Your Moonboots is the first shade from the China Glaze Hologlam collection that I've tried on my fingers. This was the one that arrived broken, so I decided to quickly use it while I could. I now have a new bottle and managed to save most of the broken one, so all's good.

The formula was a little thick, but it could've been due to the fact that the polish hadn't been in a sealed bottle for a few days. After adding a few drops of thinner it was fine and easy to work with. I used 2 coats, but frankly, one would've been pretty much enough. It dried quickly which was just as well as I didn't use a topcoat. The holo effect isn't as strong as some others (Color Club, Glitter Gal, Layla), but it is very smooth and looks very classy. The colour is gorgeous, it's a smokey denim blue colour, again rather classy and unique (for me anyway). I was pleasantly surprised to find that it lasted relatively well too, I'd heard horror stories about the China Glaze OMG holos. It didn't chip at all for the first 24 hours and still looked good on the second day.

All in all, I really like this polish, even though the holo effect isn't nearly as strong as I had hoped. I ordered mine from Nail Polish Direct and they cost £8.95 for 14 ml each. I have seen these on BeautyBay for £16 each which is a joke though, I'm sorry, but these are never worth that much!

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Mac Immortal Gold and Topshop Black Dynamite Crackle

Topshop Black Dynamite Crackle polish is an interesting one, it's matte back with gold sparkles without a topcoat. I preferred it with topcoat, I prefer shiny polishes. I applied it over Mac Immortal Gold nail polish and the combo looked really nice.

Formula was good on both, the crackle effect is actually really good. Sadly, that's where the positives ended. The mani chipped on me within 24 hours and in fact one nail completely peeled off. I don't know which polish to blame, but generally Mac polishes don't last very long on me.

Mac Immortal Gold was a limited edition, so it's not available anymore. Topshop Black Dynamite Crackle costs £6 and is a permanent shade.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Team GB / Jubilee Nails

Yes, I know, I'm a few months behind, but this mani reminded me of last summer with the Queen's Golden Jubilee and the London Olympics. I used Barry M Jewel Britannia glitter nail polish on top of Max Factor Odyssey Blue nail polish.

Taken without flash in direct sunlight

I used 3 coats of Odyssey Blue and then topped it with one coat of Jewel Britannia. Both polishes for great, Odyssey Blue was smooth and quick drying and Jewel Britannia had a very good glitter coverage in just one coat. It has small holo glitter as well as medium size red, blue and silver round glitter. Very British looking indeed. The mani lasted for 3 days with very minimal chipping and it was so pretty, very sparkly and unique.

Max Factor Odyssey Blue is a mini size and costs £3.99, Barry M Jewel Britannia was a limited edition shade and I can't find it on any website anymore. For reference though, Barry M glitter polishes cost £2.99.

See another picture after the jump!

NOTD: China Glaze Stella and Haute Metal Crackle Polish

Firstly, I'd like to say sorry again for the lack of posts this week, but I've been busy with the children and I'm still not feeling well, so not had much energy for posting. Secondly, I just want to mention on a side note that a friend of mine's dog called Stella (the same name as the gorgeous burgundy polish in this post) is very poorly with kidney failure at the moment which is making me really sad. But I had this post planned for today, so I will still do it and dedicate it to my friend's family. Stella is a gorgeous loveable 10-year-old dog who is very much part of their family and will be sorely missed when the inevitable happens.

Taken with flash

I'm also a bit sad about this mani because it looked so gorgeous, yet it lasted very badly. As much as I love China Glaze polishes, they seem to chip on me almost instantly. This started chipping on me within the first 24 hours and had to be removed after just 2 days as it looked terrible. It did look very pretty while it lasted though.

I did 2 coats of Stella followed by a single coat of Haute Metal Crackle. The formulas were great on both, I was really happy with the crackle effect. I also used Seche Vite top coat (I think).

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Hits Mari Moon Multigirl Chameleon Nail Polish

I thought this would be a quick nail polish post but I've just spent ages cropping and watermarking the photos because I took so much. This polish is absolutely beautiful and I really wanted to show you just how gorgeous it is. It's actually very frustrating because despite all the pictures, it was still a million times prettier in real life.

I wore 2 coats over black polish, the polish is otherwise very sheer to be worn on its own. It has a lovely formula and it lasted really well on me, 2 days with just very minimal chipping, and in the end I wore it for 4 days which is my maximum.

The picture above was taken on day 2 and you can see some tipwear, but I was desperate to take some pictures in sunlight because it just looks amazing in the sun. The colour shifts from purple to blue to green to a greyish purply taupe colour, amazing!

I bought it from Llarowe and it cost $7 for 6 ml. Or you can buy a set of 4 for $21.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Nails Inc Garrick Street

Sadly, the pictures don't do this gorgeous polish justice, it was so much prettier in real life. Absolutely stunning duochrome from pink to purple to blue and a bit of teal at certain angles.

Taken without flash in natural daylight

I used 3 coats to achieve opacity, but it was good on its own, rather than needing to be layered over black polish like many duochromes do. The formula was nice and easy to use. It did start chipping on me fairly quickly though, so that's not great, but it was pretty while it lasted.

I bought this as part of a set from TK Maxx, but Nails Inc polishes normally retail for £11. You get 10 ml for your money which makes them pretty expensive, but I do like the sets in TK Maxx very much as they're great value (usually better than half price).

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Models Own Tropical Sun

This is one of the second batch of Beetlejuice polishes Models Own released and I regret to say, I'm still not blown over by their duochrome formula. These polishes looked amazing in the promo pictures, but every one I've tried so far has been rather disappointing.

Taken without flash in shade

Tropical Sun is a coral pink polish with subtle orange duochrome and tiny silver sparkles. The duochrome was only more of a tint, it looked orange most of the times and only looked more pink in the shade. The formula was a bit disappointing as well, it was pretty sheer and it bubbled up on my nails quite noticeably. It lasted quite well on me though, only had some slight chips after 2 days which is the better end of average for me.

Models Own polishes cost £5 each and you get 14 ml for your money which isn't bad. Boots often has a 3 for 2 offer and the Models Own website has some offers to if you buy more than one polish.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: A-England Ascalon

I have A-England Ascalon to show you today, a steel grey polish with a touch of lavender and subtle holographic shimmer. It's part of A-England's The Legend collection.

It took 3 coats to achieve the colour seen in the pictures. The formula was nice and easy to apply. I always do the last coat on top of the top coat (Seche Vite in this case) to seal it better and also not to dull the holo effect. Although with this polish I don't think it makes much of a difference as it has very subtle holo anyway.

The formula was nice and it lasted on me for 2 days with very minimal chipping (I wore it for 4 days in the end). That's a little better than average for me.

A-England polishes cost £9 each and you get 13 ml. Available to order from the A-England website.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Wet n Wild Gray's Anatomy

I'm not feeling well today, so all I have energy for is a quick NOTD post. Hoping to be able to do a more interesting one tomorrow.

Wet n Wild Gray's Anatomy looks amazing in the bottle, there's grey, purple, green and blue multichrome to it. Sadly on the nails it was less interesting, all I could see was mainly grey with a bit of purple and green tint at certain angles.

I did 3 coats and it had a nice formula, but it started chipping on me slightly after about 24 hours, so all in all, not the best polish. I think I bought mine for a couple of pounds on eBay, it's a very inexpensive polish. It's a decent size at 13.5 ml. I don't think you can buy Wet n Wild in the UK, so your best bet is probably eBay.

See more pictures after the jump!

2012 Favourites - Part 4: Nails

2012 was definitely the year of the nail polish for me. I bought over 550 nail polishes (I know, crazy!) and discovered some amazing brands. (Check out my stash video and pictures here.) Until 2 years ago I'd hardy heard of any nail polish brands that couldn't be bought in Boots or Superdrug (and back then there weren't a lot of glittery, shimmery, duochrome polish around, or at least I didn't notice them). As well as continuing to buy from mainstream brands like China Glaze, OPI, Orly and the likes, I discovered some very unique and interesting brands and nail polishes. My favourite polishes are holos and duochromes, or preferably both together in one product, and I'm also rather partial to glitter.

The picture above shows a few of my recent purchases including the new Color Club holographic polishes that I regret to say I haven't tried yet as well as Topshop glitter polishes and Enchanted Polish duo(multi)chrome polishes.

My favourite newly discovered brands in 2012 were Topshop, Enchanted Polish, Layla and Glitter Gal. Out of the four I'd say Enchanted Polish is my definite favourite, the only thing I don't like is how difficult it is to come by as the polishes are only made in very small quantities and the shades are limited edition. Nevertheless I have managed to get my hands on a few of them and here are some:

These are from the Beatles collection (I Am The Walrus and Magical Mystery Tour) and from the Falloween collection (Witchful Thinking). The new holiday collection came in a new style, fancier, more professional looking bottle:

Green Peace on Earth, Dance Of The Sugar Plum, Bruised Nutcracker, Olive The Other Reindeer

Enchanted Polish nail polishes are absolutely gorgeous, duo- or rather multichrome with scattered holo, straight forward holographic or glittery. I have showed you Across The Universe here if you want to take a peek.

Find out what other nail polishes and nail care products I loved in 2012 after the jump!

My Actual (Almost) Christmas NOTD: Color Club Gingerbread

I'm sorry, I know I said I was going to continue with my 2012 Favourites posts today, but after a whole day of putting away Christmas decorations and sorting things out for children starting school tomorrow, I just didn't have time for it. You'd be surprised if you knew how long those posts take. I promise I will continue with my 2012 Favourites post tomorrow.

Instead here's the manicure I did for Christmas. Or rather Christmas Eve as unfortunately it had chipped by the end of Christmas Eve and I had to change it, but never had time to take pictures of the actual Christmas Day manicure (it was Color Club Art of Seduction - a gorgeous red glitter).

This is Color Club Gingerbread, a gold glitter polish full of holographic glitter that sparkles in the colours of the rainbow. It was part of the Under The Mistletoe holiday collection (2010). It has a nice formula, and only took 2 coats for pretty full coverage. Unfortunately it chipped on me very quickly, so I had to remove it after just 2 days.It was very pretty while it lasted though.

Color Club polishes are available from TK Maxx, or I have bought many on eBay too. I don't actually know anywhere else in the UK that stocks them.They only cost a couple of quid on eBay, so even with postage you can get them pretty cheap. Beautyzone2007 is my favourite Color Club seller on eBay.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Barry M 344 Magnetic Gold Sparkle / Moon Dust

I'm still on the fence about magnetic polishes, even though I always get lots of complimentents when wearing them. I'd only owned 3 of them so far (one Nails Inc and 2 17 ones), and decided I wasn't going to get any more. I don't hate them but they can be quite fiddly. However, then I saw the recent shades Barry M had come out with and decided I had to try them out. I also like it that they come with different pattern magnets, so you can mix and match.

Magnetic Gold Sparkle (or as it's now been renamed Moon Dust) is an antique gold colour polish with gold sparkle. None of my other magnetic polishes had sparkle, so I thought this might look quite interesting. I didn't anticipate just how gorgeous it would look once I've put the magnet over it, in fact both my daughter and I exclaimed when we saw the result, it's truly striking.

You get silvery stripes as well as darker gold ones with sparkle, neither colour actually resembling the colour of the polish in the bottle. It's like two colours had been mixed together and then separated by the magnet. The effect is almost 3D, and it appears to move as I move my hand. I have had many compliments when wearing it, the beauty of these magnetic polishes is that they look like you've had your nails done whereas you can do them quite easily yourself.

I do find them a little fiddly to use, sometimes the design doesn't come out as sharp and sometimes I manage to touch the nail with the magnet. I also found that the stripes got a bit messed up when I applied the top coat, I don't know if maybe waiting a bit would've helped. Wear time wasn't that great, it started chipping on me within the first 24 hours. This isn't unusual, but not every polish chips on me on the first day, so I'm still not too happy about it.

I used two coats on most fingers, but some of them I had to redo several times, so I just kept applying extra layers. It dried fairly quickly and other than the top coat's brush leaving slight marks in the design, the polish was pretty easy to use.

Barry M magnetic polishes come in 5 shimmery shades and 4 non-shimmery ones, and they come with 5 different magnets (one each). They cost £4.99 each and you get 10 ml for your money. Of course there are usually deals on in either Superdrug or Boots, so keep an eye out!

See lots more pictures after the jump!

Festive Nails Part 6 - Green and Sparkly Like a Christmas Tree

This mani definitely reminds me of Christmas trees. I used Zoya Holly with Zoya Rina on top. Rina is a green shimmer polish with loads of green bar glitter, and also some blue and holographic ones. It looks like lots of very fine pine needles in a bottle.

It took only one coat of each polish to achieve fully opaque covergae which is fantastic. Unfortunately the staying power was less impressive, I had a few small chips in the first 24 hours and it pretty much all peeled off on day 3.

Zoya polishes aren't available in the UK (as far as I know), I buy mine on eBay. Holly and Rina were part of last year's Gems & Jewels collection but they are still available for around $6 to $8 each. You get 15 ml for your money which is the standard size for these professional polishes (Zoya, OPI, Orly, China Glaze).

See lots more pictures after the jump!

Festive Nails Part 5 - Holographic Silver

Holographic silver nail polishes always remind me of wrapping paper, don't they? This one is 17's new holo polish which I actually won in a giveaway from the lovely Liloo. (Check her fantastic blog out here.) As I'm a sucker for holographic polishes, I had to try this out asap!

The holo effect on this one isn't the strongest I've seen, it's probably up there with the GOSH holographic polish, maybe a little weeker. It's very pretty though and the formula was very nice. Application was a bit messy, but that's probably my fault. I did 2 coats then top coat then an extra coat to make sure the top coat didn't dull the holo effect. The only thing I didn't like about it, which I've not experienced with any other holo polish before, is how it faded by day 3 and was very dull at the end of my fingers. It lasted pretty well though, with only a few small chips by the end of day 2.

I like 17 nail polishes, they're cheap, but qood quality. You get 10 ml for £3.99 and at the moment there's a buy one get one half price offer on selected 17 cosmetics at Boots.

See more pictures after the jump!

Festive Nails Part 4 - Sparkling Snow and Ice

I have another Christmas manicure idea to share with you today, this time it's Topshop Ice Crush over Mac Frayed To Order. I'm loving all the glittery polishes Topshop have been releasing lately, this one is just so sparkly and perfect for a Christmas party or New Year's Eve party.

I used two coats of Ice Crush, a clear polish with loads of small and larger holographic glitter on top of two coats of Mac Frayed To Order polish, a limited edition shade from 2011 (from the Jeanius collection). It's a very interesting shade, it's a matte finish, but it's got pink duochrome, so it doesn't look at all flat. The glitter in Ice Crush is very dense, but it will never go on opaque, it is definitely a layering polish. It had a good formula, not too thin or thick.

The manicure lasted really well, only started chipping very slightly on day 2, but I wore it for 4 days and it looked fine even by the end of day 4. It was so sparkly and pretty too.

Topshop glitter polishes are 8 ml for £6. Mac Frayed To Order isn't available anymore sadly.

See more pictures after the jump!

Festive Nails Part 3 - Red With Silver Glitter and Stars

I have another glittery combo to show you. This time it's Zoya Sarah with Topshop Rising Star on top.

I used two coats of Zoya Sarah, but in all fairness, one would've been sufficient. It's a great polish and the colour is gorgeous too. I then added two coats of Topshop Rising Star, a clear polish with silver/holo glitter and stars in it. I was actually pleasantly surprised by this as there was plenty of glitter and the stars were pretty easy to scoop out.

The manicure lasted on me for 4 days with not much chipping, so I was very pleased with it, and it was so glittery, I couldn't stop looking at my nails.

Zoya Sarah came out 2 years ago, but is still available on eBay and also from Zoya's website. It costs $8 for 15 ml. Topshop Rising Star is a new addition to their nail polish line, I'm not sure if it's permanent or not, they seem to be bringing out new shades constantly. It costs £6 for 8 ml.

See more pictures after the jump!