NOTD: Sally Hansen Nail Prisms in Ruby Diamond (Holographic)

Although school has now started, I've still been very busy trying to sort out my house, but it's all done now, so finally I will have some time to take pictures and swatch my new purchases (although there aren't that many actually), and also go shopping this week. But for now, I have a quick nail polish post for you.

Oh and don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY, it ends at midnight (UK time) tonight!

So this is Sally Hansen Nail Prisms nail polish in Ruby Diamond which is a bright fuchsia pink holographic polish. It took 3 coats for this coverage, the polish was very runny and also slow drying. I used a top coat between the second and third coat not to dull the holo effect, but still try and make it last longer. I had a tiny chip in the first 24 hours and a few more chips the following day. Still, it was very pretty while it lasted.

I believe Sally Hansen Nail Prisms aren't available in the shops anymore, in fact in the UK they never were, but there are quite a lot of them on eBay which is where I got all mine from. The prices vary depending on the shades, but I managed to grab mine for around £6-7 each.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Nails Inc Shepherds Market

I believe this was a limited edition colour, I bought it as part of a set in TKMaxx, so not sure, but it's not on the Nails Inc website. Shepherds Market is a silver glitter polish with lots of multicoloured glitter. The glitter in it is very fine, and the coverage is very good, the pictures show two coats.

The formula was nice and easy to apply. It did show up the imperfections on my nails and sadly chipped within the first 24 hours, so I wasn't pleased with that. It was fairly easy to remove at least.

Nails Inc polishes cost £11 and you get 10 ml for your money. I find the quality variable, some are nice, some aren't that nice. To be honest, I don't think they're worth £11, so I try to buy them in sets in TKMaxx instead. They do have some lovely colours though.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Eye Candy Colour Flip Nail Polish in Regally Yours

Another quick NOTD post. Normal service will resume next week. Today I have Eye Candy Colour Flip Nail Polish in Regally Yours to show you. In the bottle this looks duochrome, but on the nails it's pretty much just a slightly purpley blue. It's a pretty colour, but it doesn't flip anywhere.

I used 2 coats, the formula was lovely and it dried quickly. Really shame about the lack of duochrome as it's actually a pretty nice polish. It did chip rather quickly though, I had 2 small chips by the end of the first day and a lot more the second day.

I bought it from Sainsbury's, it cost £8 and you get 12 ml for your money. It's an okay polish, pretty colour, but don't expect the duochrome you see in the bottle.

See more pictures after the jump!

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!

Topshop Holographic Nail Polish Swatches

I have been on a MASSIVE nail polish kick (especially holographic nail polish!) lately, even though I shouldn't be buying any more, so expect to see a few more nail polish posts here on the blog.

I picked up these holo beauties on a recent trip to Topshop as I'd seen them on their website. I was a bit worried they might not turn out very holographic, but to my surprise these are actually pretty good. The holo effect isn't as smooth as the China Glaze Hologlam polishes, the holo particles are bigger in the Topshop ones. The effect is more similar to the Color Club Halo Hues polishes (maybe I should swatch all 12 of those too), but less strong.

The colours are nice, but nothing special, you get a silver one, a pale blue one and a pink one. I hope they come out with more colours as these are really nice polishes and at £6 for 8 ml each. I've yet to wear them, but they swatched really nicely and dried quickly and you can see for yourself how pretty they are. Now if only Urban outfitters sold their holo polishes in the UK...

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!

Do You Want A Dupe (Or Two) For OPI Polka.com Nail Polish?

With my China Glaze Hologlam order I also got OPI Polka.com, the only polish I was interested in from the Euro Centrale collection (which is quite unexpected since I'm from Hungary and there are a few references to Hungary/Budapest, but none of the colours called out to me). Of course me being me, I managed to accidentally pick up a couple of dupes before I even received Polka.com. I thought I'd show you what they are, so if you'd like the OPI polish but it's a bit too pricey for you at £12.

The polishes you see in the picture are (left to right) Beauty UK Posh Polish in Pinkabloo, OPI Polka.com and Topshop Hope Floats. There are very slight differences, but the over all look is pretty much the same. While OPI has blue and pink micro glitter (as well as the larger blue, turquoise and bright pink hex glitter they all have), the Beauty UK polish only has blue micro glitter and the Topshop polish has turquoise micro glitter. However, as you can see in the swatch pictures, the difference is very hard to see. The hex glitter is pretty much the same in all 3. Consistency wise they seemed pretty similar, while OPI had the best brush, it's nice and wide, and Beauty UK had the worst, thin little brush.

Pricewise the Beauty UK one is the cheapest at £3.49 for 9 ml, then it's the Topshop one at £6 for 8 ml and then the OPI one at £12 for 15 ml (I bought mine for £7.15 from Nail Polish Direct by the way). Technically the OPI is cheaper than the Topshop one gram per gram, but question is, do you actually NEED 15 ml of glitter polish?

See swatch pictures after the jump!

China Glaze Hologlam Collection Haul and Swatches

My China Glaze Hologlam collection holographic nail polishes arrived today! I was so excited, I had to take pictures and swatch them all. Unfortunately one of them (Strap On Your Moonboots) broke in transit, so there is quite a bit of polish on some of the other bottles, but I just quickly wanted to take some pictures while it was sunny. Luckily the bottle didn't smash completely, only the top broke off, so I could still swatch the polish (there's about 2/3 left in the bottle as it remained standing).

I haven't worn any of them yet, so can't comment on wear time. The swatches show just one coat, I'd probably do two for a better coverage, but they are nicely pigmented. The holo effect isn't as strong as some other (namely Color Club and Glitter Gal), but it's not too bad, it's still linear and perfectly visible. The pictures were taken in strong sunlight, so they are as good as they get. All the pictures were taken without flash.

The colours are nice, not massively unique, but pretty anyway. OMG A UFO looks rather yellow/gold in the pictures, it's actually more khaki than yellow in real life. Don't Be A Lunatic and Sci-Fly By are very close, Sci-Fly By is a little bit darker, but hardly noticable. Get Out Of My Space and Astro Hot look quite similar in the pictures, but Get Out Of My Space is definitely more purple in real life.

While the holo effect isn't as strong as I hoped, these polishes are really nice and I'm glad I got them all. I ordered mine from Nail Polish Direct and they cost £8.95 for 14 ml each.

See lots 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!

Topshop Nail Polish Swatches

In my 2012 Favourites post I showed you some of my Topshop nail polishes, a brand I discovered and grown to love in the last year and I thought I might as well show you what they looked like swatched. Since I never have time to do proper nail swatches, I have finally acquired some nail wheels and put them to good use.

Front row: Mercury Rising, Plume, Ashes & Fire, Hope Floats, Sleepwalker, Bowl Me Over
Back row: Rising Star, Neptune, Dark Knight, Brazil, Jem, 3D

These are just some of my Topshop polishes, I actually own 35 of them, these are just my most recent purchases. I cannot go into Topshop and not buy their nail polishes, they always have so many lovely colours, glitters, duochromes, the lot.

The swatches below were done with two coats. I have already shown you Rising Star (click here to see details), so I decided not to scoop out any of the stars for the swatches because there aren't that many of them in the bottle. As you can see, some of the glitter polishes would work best on top of a darker colour, also Plume would probably look more amazing on top of a black polish to bring out its duochrome quality best. Some of them though are nicely opaque in just two coats.

See lost 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!