NOTD: Gold Holo Goodness - Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish Gold Idol

I have another gorgeous holographic polish from Layla to show you, this time it's a gold one, aptly named Gold Idol.  

As with other Layla polishes, the formula was lovely, and the holo is very strong. I experimented to see if the holo would be stronger or weaker by using Nfu Oh Aqua Base under the polish on all fingers except for my little finger, and I didn't apply topcoat on my thumb to see if it would make a difference to the strength of the holo. The answer is no. This is just a bloody good holo polish that works without a holo basecoat and still looks as strong with a topcoat. Easy.

Weartime was little disappointing, I had some tiny chips after a day's wear and some bigger ones after two, but that's quite normal when it comes to holographic polishes. All in all I was very happy with this polish, there's a reason why I own all 16 polishes in the Layla holographic range.

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!

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!

Lancome Color Design Palette in 103 Golden Frenzy

I wasn't sure whether I should do this review since the product itself isn't actually available on its own or in fact anymore for that matter, but I decided to do it anyway because you can pick up practically everything on eBay plus this palette might actually be available elsewhere. Lancome don't sell these 5 colour palettes in the UK but they do in America, I picked up the purple one last year in Florida.

I got the palette as part of the Christmas Beauty Box back in November and sadly it isn't available anymore. It took me a while to get around to using it, but finally I have. It's a really nice neutral palette with some sparkle. The palette consists of 5 eyeshadows and they are labelled as: all over base, lid, crease, highlighter and liner. Of course you don't have to use the eyeshadows as they're labelled, I actually used the all over base colour as a highlighter and the highlighter colour in the outer corner of the lid because I don't think that such a dark colour would look good as a highlighter.

I found the eyeshadows nicely pigmented, soft and smooth, they stayed on without creasing and fading for 12 hours or so. I wouldn't say this is a must have palette especially if you have a lot of eyeshadows already, but it's a nice, all in one palette, and it certainly looks gorgeous too.

As these palettes aren't sold in the UK, I have no idea what they would cost if they were, but in the US they're around $48. You only get 4 g of product which isn't a lot, but I'm not really bothered about the weight anymore since I already have so much make up anyway, I will never use it all up in a million years.

See more pictures including swatches and a look I created using this palette after the jump!

Festive Nails Part 2 - Red With Golden Glitter

When it comes to Christmas, nothing beats a lovely red nail polish. I have OPI The Spy Who Loved Me with China Glaze Golden Enchantement on top for extra sparkle. Lovely!

Taken without flash in direct sunlight

I did 2 coats of each nail polish and sealed it with Seche Vite. The result: shiny, shimmery gorgeousness. It lasted pretty well on me with no chipping on the first day and only minimal chipping on day 2.

The Spy Who Loved Me was part of a set, it's a mini size 3.75 ml, but it's also available in full size. I think OPI polishes are now around £11, but I never pay full price, always buy on eBay from the US usually. Golden Enchantement is a permanent shade, it's also a dupe for Angel Wings from the new Holiday Joy collection. China Glaze polishes cost around £6.95, but again I tend to buy them on eBay for a lot less.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Milani 3D Holographic Nail Polish in 3D

As you might know, I really like holographic nail polishes, so when Cherry Culture was having a 20% off sale a little while ago, I took the opportunity to order some of the Milani 3D Holographic nail polishes (okay, all 6 to be precise). The first colour I tried was this pretty yellow gold shade also named 3D, which is a bit confusing, but never mind.

This nail polish wasn't as holographic as I had hoped, it looked more like it just had silver glitter in it, although at some angles you can see some faint rainbow colours, but only in sunlight. Indoors it's really just yellow gold with silver sparkle. It's pretty, but not really holographic. The formula was very nice. It took 2 coats for full opacity and it wore okay on me, it started chipping on day 2 which is normal for me.

As I mentioned before, I bought this nail polish from Cherry Culture and it cost $3.99. You get 13.2 ml which is great. I'm looking forward to trying out the other shades as well and I will report on how I got on.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Chanel Diwali Nail Polish

Today I have Chanel's exclusive limited edition nail polish, Diwali to show you. This came out with the Bombay Express collection and I've already showed it to you here, however now I have swatches as well.

Taken with flash

Diwali is a very pretty, light, almost silvery gold, looks like liquid gold on the fingers. The formula is nice, it's a bit on the runnier side, but not too much and this allows you to do thin coats. Opaque in two coats and dries quickly. The brush strokes aren't too noticeable, despite it being rather metallic. Unfortunately Chanel polishes really don't last on me at all long, this one chipped on me within 24 hours, and by 48 hours I had some rather big chips and pretty much on every finger. Nail polish doesn't last that long on me normally, but I would expect to get through a whole day without chipping.

It costs £18 for 13 ml, so it's not cheap, but it's Chanel, so there you go. The Chanel Bombay Express collection is available exclusively from Chanel boutiques, Harrods, Selfridges W1, Selfridges Manchester Exchange, House of Fraser Glasgow and Fenwick Newcastle. I ordered mine from Harrods, they charge £8.50 for shipping (ouch!).

See more pictures after the jump!

Chanel Route Des Indes Illuminating Powder and Diwali Nail Polish - Bombay Express Collection

Firstly I apologise, I don't have swatches. I just cannot bear to touch the gorgeous gold powder and I haven't had time to use Diwali nail polish yet. So all I have is some pretty pictures for you. But they are definitely very pretty!

The Chanel Bombay Express collection is available exclusively from Chanel boutiques, Harrods, Selfridges W1, Selfridges Manchester Exchange, House of Fraser Glasgow and Fenwick Newcastle. I ordered mine from Harrods. The powder cost £48 for 15 g and the nail polish was £18 for 13 ml. Harrods charge £8.50 for shipping (ouch!).

See lots more pretty pictures after the jump!

Guerlain Terra Soleia Tan Enhancing Bronzer

You may remember my post about the upcoming Guerlain fall collection and at the end of the post there was a gorgeous golden bronzer, Terra Soleia. Although the fall collection isn't out until August, Terra Soleia is already available. I don't know if it's out in the UK yet, I ordered mine from Sephora (in France). *Edit: I've just seen this for sale in House of Fraser!

I don't have a full review for you because I haven't actually used it yet, I only swatched it. The gold shimmer on top is an overspray, and I didn't want to ruin the bronzer by removing all the overspray, so I only swatched a small area. The powder below the gold overspray seemed to be bronze with a gold tinge (could still be the overspray). It is very pretty.

The powder is absolutely humongous, you get 27 g which is about 3 times the size of an average face powder. It comes in a brown seethrough compact, the lid has Terracotta written on it in big gold letters, and you can see the pattern of the powder through it. As a result there is no mirror in the lid which is a bit strange, but I guess then you couldn't see the lovely pattern through the lid. I'd prefer to have a mirror, although to be fair, I don't see myself carrying it around as the size of the compact is absolutely massive.

I don't have a price in GBP for this, but mine cost 54.50 euros (approx. £44) from Sephora. The do have a 20% off code going (SOLEIL20) right now, so if you wanted it, this could be yours for 43.60 euros. They also deliver to the UK for 15.90 euros (approx. £13). I will let you know if I see this in the UK. For now, I'll leave you with some pictures to drool over.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Want It! Chanel Bombay Express Collection for Summer 2012

Chanel is coming out with a few smallish collections this summer and one of them is the India inspired Bombay Express. Ever since I first seen images of the gorgeous gold powder, I knew I wanted it. The gold nail polish is also calling my name.

Available from 27th June exclusively in Chanel boutiques, Harrods, Selfridges W1, Selfridges Manchester Exchange, House of Fraser Glasgow and Fenwick Newcastle.

For now, here are the details of the collection:

Poudre Compacte (Limited Edition)

• Route des Indes de Chanel

Illusion D’Ombre Long Wear Luminous Eyeshadow (Limited Edition)

• Nirvana

Joues Contraste Powder Blush  (Limited Edition)

• Brume d’Or

Rouge Coco Shine (Limited Edition)

• Empreinte: #437

Le Vernis (Limited Edition)

• Diwali

See more pictures after the jump!

Guerlain Terracotta Sun In The City Golden Glimmer Powder Review and Swatches

So here it is, the gorgeousness that is the Guerlain Terracotta Sun In The City Golden Glimmer Powder. Accordring to Guerlain it's a "sweep of sunlight". Well it kinda is, being a shimmery golden yellow powder. My first impressions were how beautifully made it is, with the two inter-linking G's and the woven texture, but most of all with the powder in a wavy pattern. I didn't realise it was like that, the promo pictures don't show how wavy it is, but I took a picture of it from the side so you can see properly.

The compact is absolutely humongous, it barely fits in my hand. Quite funny actually because it's supposed to be the same weight (15 g) as the Chanel Lucky Stars powder, but the compact is so much bigger. The powder itself is shimmery but not at all glittery, very fine and a gorgeous golden colour. The colour you see is what you get, there's no overspray here. It's not orange, so it works well with cooler skin tones as well, I'm wearing it now and I'm not tanned in the slightest, but it looks lovely. I imagine it will look 10 times better once I have a bit of a tan (whenever that may be, this is the UK after all). This isn't a bronzer, it's definitely a highlighter and it's too shimmery to be an all-over powder.

Do you need it? No, it's not a necessary purchase, especially if you already have a gold highlighter. But it is ever so pretty. I bought mine with 10% off from Debenhams, but normally it costs £43. It is a limited edition product and will probably sell out quickly, since it's so pretty.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

My Purchases From Chanel Las Vegas Collection

When I first saw pictures of the Chanel Las Vegas collection I fell in love with the Lucky Stars powder and was very disheartened to find that it retailed for $95 in the US and seemed to be a Las Vegas boutique exclusive. Luckily it came to Selfridges and the best part is, it cost quite a bit less than $95. (I think I paid £48 which is still A LOT, but not $95 - that would've been more like £57, eek!) So I picked it up on a recent trip to London and also the gold Rouge Coco Shine (called Brillant) which I initially wasn't even planning on buying. And here they are:

Being me, I haven't actually swatched either of them, so I'm afraid all I have is some more droolworthy product pictures. But really, just how pretty is that powder?! So happy drooling and let me know if you have picked up anything from this collection at all?

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Inglot 207 Nail Polish

I bought this gorgeous gold holographic glitter nail polish back in October when I first visited the Inglot store in London. It's taken me this long to wear it and show you how pretty it is. I love glitter and holographic nail polishes and so I was very happy to find a nice gold one that I didn't have before. It's not fully holographic, but you can definitely see every colour of the rainbow in there and at certain angles you can actually see the rainbow. I took many pictures to try and capture its true beauty, but the pictures don't really do it justice, it is even prettier in real life.

The pictures show 3 coats and even that doesn't give full coverage, but I got bored with painting my nails. The formula is nice, not too thick, not too runny and dries quite quickly. The glitter is very fine, so the end result is nice and smooth (I did use a topcoat though, I always do). Wear time was average (2 days without major chipping) and I would be happy to recommend this if you're after a nice gold holographic glitter polish. Available from Inglot, it costs £8 per 8 ml.

See more pictures after the jump!

Festive Nails: China Glaze Champagne Bubbles

I've bought a lot of nail polish lately, including lots of glittery ones from the current holiday collections, so I thought I'd do a little series featuring some of them. First up I have China Glaze Champagne Bubbles from the Let It Snow holiday collection, a yellow gold with silver glitter. The glitter is very smooth and not very noticable, but it's a nice twist on regular gold nail polish.

Taken with flash

I've only worn it for a day, so can't comment on how longlasting it, although I have 2 small chips already which is not unusual for me. The formula was a bit slow drying with 3 coats, even with Seche Vite on top, so I actually managed to put some small dents into it on my right thumb. I got mine from the US, but in the UK you can get them from Sally Express for £6.49 each. You get 14 ml which will certainly last you a good while.

What do you think? Do you like it? Is this the sort of colour you would wear during the festive season? Let me know in the comments!

See more pictures after the jump!