Summer NOTD: Bright Green Neon Nails With A Bit Of Glitter

Today I'm wearing China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard, a neon green polish from their Summer Neons collection from 2012, with China Glaze Sour Apple, a bright green glitter topper (I don't know which collection it is from).  

I'm With The Lifeguard is a very bright neon green, less yellow than my pictures show, with green and yellow sheen in the sun. It's very glowy and cheerful. The formula wasn't perfect, it's quite runny, so had to be careful with it, but after 2 coats it looked perfect. Sour Apple has fine glitter in it and it also took 2 coats to look even. The two polishes go together really well.

I took another picture to show you what it looks like in shade, and was also hoping to capture its real colour, but even this is too yellow. Anyway, I'm loving this combo.

Do you own any neon polishes? Which are your favourites?

See another picture after the jump!

NOTD: Polish Me Silly Mind Blowing over China Glaze Want My Bawdy

I have another mani to show you (I told you I'm really into nail polish) and this time it's another fabulous indie polish called Mind Blowing by Polish Me Silly. I used China Glaze Want Me Bawdy, a dark blue and purple duochrome polish as the base and added Mind Blowing on top which is a multichrome topper with glitter. It goes from purple to blue as well, so a good match to Want Me Bawdy. It lightens the base colour and creates a galaxy like effect. Very pretty. It's really sparkly in direct sunlight, unfortunately the day I took the photos was a cloudy day. 

The formula of both polishes was great, Mind Blowing in particular and wore well for 2 days (which is my average and the frequency I change my nail polish usually).

Polish Me Silly polishes are available from their Etsy shop and from Rainbow Connection in the UK (although currently these multichrome toppers aren't in stock). If you buy from their Etsy shop, you can choose whether you want full size (15 ml) or mini size (9 ml) bottles and you can also purchase all 6 multichrome toppers available from the brand.

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!

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: 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!

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!

Festive Nails - Part 1

Since it's now December I thought now would be a great time to start a series about festive nail polishes. However, as I'm still playing catch up and have had absolutely no time to take, crop and watermark pictures, I thought I'd start out with a quick recap of the festive NOTD posts I did this time last year. I have gained a lot of followers since last year, so some of you might not have seen these posts anyway, and even if you have, it's always nice to get some ideas for Christmas.

So without further ado, here are the links to last year's festive NOTD posts, and I will be back soon with some frest posts. To see more pictures and read the relevant posts, just click on the pictures.

China Glaze Champagne Bubbles

Check out some more festive nail ideas after the jump!

NOTD: Enchanted Polish Once Upon A Time

Time for another NOTD post. This time it's Enchanted Polish Once Upon A Time. Enchanted Polish is quickly becoming one of my favourite nail polish brands, their polishes are really gorgeous and quite different to everything I own. Although having said that, Once Upon A Time did actually remind me of China Glaze Liquid Crystal, only better.

Taken without flash in direct sunlight

The glitter particles in this polish are smaller than in Liquid Crystal, making the whole effect smoother, and this also has subtle holo, something I love in Enchanted Polish nail polishes. This was the polish I wore in my Nail Polish Stash And Storage Video if you want to see it "in action".

I used 2 coats for the coverage you see in the pictures,which is pretty opaque. I had a tiny chip after about 24 hours and managed to chip another nail quite badly the next day, but after patching it up I wore it for the total of 4 days. So all in all, a good little nail polish. I bought mine from Llarowe, it cost $15 for 15 ml, although sadly it's not available anymore. The only downside of this brand is its very limited availability. She only makes them in very small batches and once they're gone, they're gone. If you like this though, check out China Glaze Liquid Crystal for a similar effect.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: China Glaze Deviantly Daring

Deviantly Daring is one of the duochrome polishes from China Glaze released in the Bohemian Luster Chrome collection.It is a bluey green polish that looks blue at certain angles. Reminds me of Sephora Moody Woman polish but this is more blue than green. The duochrome is quite strong, certainly noticable.

Taken without flash in natural daylight

Application was fine, can't remember whether it took 2 or 3 coats, but I probably did 3 for good measures. It did chip on me quite quickly, I don't find China Glaze polishes at all long lasting. It is very pretty though and I change my nail colour every 2-3 days, so it's not a massive deal.

I bought mine from eBay, but in the UK China Glaze polishes cost around £7 (although BeautyBay are selling this for £12.75?) and you get 14 ml for your money.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: China Glaze Liquid Crystal

I actually mentioned this nail polish in my nail polish stash and storage video, so I thought I'd show you properly. A gorgeous duochrome glitter polish with lots of different coloured larger (not large though) glitter. Beautiful.

Taken without flash in natural daylight

It is actually very similar to Enchanted Polish Once Upon A Time (the polish I wore in the video), but more gritty and it's only a duochrome rather than holo as well (I will do a proper NOTD post on that polish too because it is absolutely gorgeous). It is a light turqouise colour in one light turning more pinky-purple in other. Liquid Crystal was a little bit on the thick side, but applied fine and gave a good coverage (I think I did 2 coats), however due to it being a chunkier glitter it did actually chip pretty fast. I had a few chips within 24 hours and actually ended up taking it off after 2 days as I really didn't look great.

I bought mine on eBay, but you can buy it from BeautyBay for £6.95 and Sally Express sell China Glaze polishes for £6.59, although I can't see this one on their website. You get 14 ml which is a very good amount.

See more pictures after the jump!

My Nail Polish Stash and Storage Video (and Lots of Pictures!)

I've spent a couple of days re-organising my nail polish storage and creating a spreadsheet, so I know exactly where every single one of them are, so I though I would show you the fruit of my hard work. Also I enjoy looking at other people's stashes, so hope you enjoy it too.



I have also taken pictures of the contents of each box and separate packs, so if you're interested, have a look! No individual pictures, but I did do a rather extensive series on my nail polish stash last November, so click here if you'd like to check it out.

See lots more pictures after the jump!

Is It Possible To Have Too Much Of A Good Thing (Or The Same Colour Nail Polish)?

Question: How many different nail polishes am I wearing in the picture below? Yeah, I know, it looks like the same colour on every finger nail. The truth is, I'm wearing 4 different polishes form 4 different brands ranging from £6 to £14. Confused? Let me explain.

I now have a ridiculous amount of nail polishes (over 500) and I managed to fall into the trap of buying the same colour several times. Partly because I didn't know what I had, although partly because I do have a tendency of buying colours I like over and over again. But even so, I never would've thought that it is possible to buy 4 nail polishes from 4 brands that will look EXACTLY the same. Similar, maybe, but exactly the same? All these polishes are fairly recent releases, so it seems that some brands are copying other brands here. Anyway, let me tell you what I have here.

On the index finger I have Deborah Lippmann Private Dancer. This one costs £14 for 15 ml. On the middle finger I wore Nails Inc. Cheyne Walk polish. It costs £11 for 10 ml making it the most expensive per ml. On the ring finger it's China Glaze No Plain Jane, around £7 in the UK (although BeautyBay are selling this for £12.75?) for 14 ml. I got mine on eBay for $4.50 plus pretty reasonable shipping, making it the cheapest per ml. On the pinky it's Topshop Amethyst nail polish, £6 for 8ml. 

So are they any different? I'd say there are very slight differences, but not enough to justify paying over double the price for the higher end brands. In fact for me the Topshop one had the nicest formula which is the second cheapest per ml (or cheapest per bottle, however you look at it, it's still one of the cheapest). The Deborah Lippmann polish is a tiny bit pinker, but really, noone would say you're wearing 4 different polishes on your fingers, they are that similar. The duochrome effect was about the same with all of them (not overly strong and a bit muddy).

I can't comment on how longlasting they are because I only wore the Deborah Lippmann polish on all my other fingers, the other 3 I only wore on one finger each, and I wouldn't compare the ring finger to my index finger, because the pinky and ring fingers are always the last ones to chip and the index finger is the first, whichever polish I wear. The Deborah Lippmann one lasted on me for 2 days without major chipping, but buy the end of day 2 it wasn't looking its best.

I would like to apologise about the application, but I was in a big rush to take pictures because my middle finger nail was actually slightly broken (you might be able to see it in some pictures), so I didn't have time to clean up properly. Also apologies about the picture quality, I took all pictures with my phone because my normal camera cannot handle purples and turns them into blues, but this is such a pretty shade of purple, I really wanted to show you the true colour. The pictures of the bottles turned out the worst, sorry about it.

Right then, onto the pictures!

NOTD: Darling Diva Polish in Dangerous Driver

I have recently discovered some indie nail polish brands, one of them is Darling Diva Polish. In this post I want to show you Dangerous Driver, a beautiful purle polish with green duochrome, red sparkles and subtle holo. I'd say it's not as blue purple in real life as it is in the pictures as my camera always turns purples into blues. This reminds me of Max Factor Fantasy Fire but with holo.

Taken without flash in direct sunlight

I layered this over 2 coats of China Glaze Gothic Lolita, and I think I used 2 coats of Dangerous Driver as well. You can use it on its own too, it's not too sheer. The consistency of this was really nice, not too runny, not thick, just right. The combination lasted on me for about 24 hours without chipping, by the end of day 2 i had some bigger chips. Not the longest lasting, but China Glaze polishes don't seem to last on me very well, so maybe it was China Glaze's fault. I'm not sure, I've never used Gothic Lolita on its own.

I bought my Dangerous Driver from the Darling Diva Polish shop on Etsy, it cost $12 for 15 ml. They ship internationally for quite a reasonable price, $7 per bottle, but for 4 bottles only $10. I have bought another 3 polishes from Darling Diva that yet I need to try and there are a few bottles in the shop I quite fancy, but can't justify right now due to my excessive nail polish stash.

See more pictures after the jump!

Want It: China Glaze Bohemian Luster Chrome Nail Polish Collection

Lately I have gone crazy buying so many nail polishes, I will need to paint my nails every day for 2 years to use them up, and one of my favourite brands is China Glaze. One of my favourite finishes is duochromes, so you can imaging how happy I was to see info about China Glaze's Bohemian Luster Chrome Nail Polish Collection. It contains 6 gorgeous duochrome colours, one of them looking suspiciously similar to Chanel Peridot that every brand is trying to copy nowadays, but the other 5 are really interesting. Can't wait to try them out.

Here are the names of the polishes in the collection. This is due out sometime in the summer, I believe July. Can't wait!

• Unpredictable
• Want My Bawdy
• Rare And Radiant
• Swanky Silk
• No Plain Jane
• Deviantly Daring

Source

2011's Favourite Products: Part 3 - Lip and Nails

2011 was definitely the year of the lipstick for me. I purchased over 100 new lipsticks, spent a whole month wearing a different lipstick every day and really got into wearing bold, bright shades that I used to shy away from. So let's have a quick rundown of this year's favourite lipstick - in no particular order.

Guerlain Rouge G lipsticks have become one of my favourite lipsticks and this year out of them all Garconne and Girly, the two bright autumn shades were my absolutely favourites. Garconne is the most perfect red lipstick for me, and Girly is a fun bright pink shade.

Guerlain Rouge G in Girly (left) and Garconne (right)

Keep reading to see which other lipsticks made it into my favourites!

Festive Nails: China Glaze Luna

Okay, so I know, Christmas is over, but there's still New Year's Eve, and in any case, you don't even need an excuse to wear a gorgeous glittery nail polish. China Glaze Luna is a beautiful icy blue nail polish with lots of shimmer and holographic glitter that shimmers in every colour of the rainbow depending on how the light hits it. Absolutely stunning.

With flash

My only problem with glitter nail polishes like this is that they chip and peel off very quickly. I like painting my nails the night before a party or meal out, and often with glitter polishes I have chips within a matter of hours. I actually had to stick back one nail back as it completely peeled off (just the nail polish, not the nail obviously). Of course there's always the pain of removal of course, but I'm starting to get used to it now. I also found this to be a bit thick, so drying time was a bit long, but just look at it, still very much worth it!

I got mine from the US on eBay, 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.

See more pictures after the jump!

Festive Nails: China Glaze Ring In The Red - The Ultimate Christmas Red

Sorry about the slightly fuzzy picture, I took it on my mobile. But you can still see what a gorgeous sparkly red nail polish this is, just perfect for Christmas. This was part of China Glaze's holiday collection, Let It Snow (same as Champagne Bubbles).

It is a really fabulous red nail polish with red glitter in it which is quite fine, so it doesn't feel gritty at all. It took 2 coats to look even, but I did 3 for an even nicer finish, plus Seche Vite top coat. Unfortunately a couple of nails chipped after just one day, but sadly that is not unusual for me at all. It did at least dry pretty quickly, so if I have to reapply, it won't be a big deal.

I got mine from the US on eBay, 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 is your favourite Christmassy nail polish? Let me know in the comments!

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!

My Ever Growing Nail Polish Collection Part 1 - OPI, China Glaze, Orly, Mavala

I had some requests to show off my nail polish collection, so here it is. I'm going to do it in 3 parts because I have a lot of nail polishes, so make sure you check out part 2 and part 3 as well!

Some of my nail polish stash

Would you believe it that just a couple of years ago all the nail polish I owned fitted into this box?

Wanna see what's inside? A bit boring really, but here you go:

A bit samey, all pastels and hardly any colour. I just wasn't into nail polish, mainly because my nails are really thin and bendy, so nail polish chips off within a matter of days, and I couldn't be bothered to repaint them all the time, so I just used barely there shades. What's changed? I realised that there were some really gorgeous nail polishes out there from brands I'd never heard of! I also realised that nail polishes come in seasonal collections like make up, which of course made me buy even more so I don't miss out. And suddenly I don't mind painting my nails every 2-3 days. At the last count I had 130 nail polishes, which is really crazy, especially as some (most of them are large 15 ml sizes). I will now have to stop buying them and be sure to use them all, although that will certainly take a while. I'd say about 75% of the nail polish I own has not been used yet, so I'd better get cracking!

Without further ado, here are the detailed pictures. I haven't put the shade names down simply because it would take too long, but if you have any questions, just ask in the comments! Enjoy!