Thursday 28 April 2011

Nails Inc - Limited Edition Royal Collection - Part II

So, with the Royal Wedding, just a day away, here's the second part of the Royal Collection from nails inc.

Windsor – a deep metallic navy





Again, swatch is 2 coats with no top coat and application was good.

It doesn't show in the pictures (of course) but there's definitely a hint of blurple in this polish.

Lastly in the collection is Westminster Abbey – a liquid gold shimmer





I'd say Westminster Abbey was a foil rather than a shimmer, either way it's pretty and I don't think I have anything like it.

And apologies, I don't know why my ring finger looks so lumpy

Overall I think this works as a collection, the colours seem to form a coherent group and definitely have a regal feel to them.

Wednesday 27 April 2011

Nails Inc - Limited Edition Royal Collection - Part I

Royal Wedding themed collection of four polishes

Oh blimey, two days to go and I still haven't posted this collection!

First up, let me say, I'm not a Royalist nor a particular fan of Wills and Kate, but I am a fan of extra Bank Holidays (yay) and a sucker for Limited Edition collections (foolish, I know) and hey the whole world has gone Royal Wedding crazy!!

So the Royal Collection is a set of "4 limited edition glossy nail polishes to nail the regal look" according to Nails inc.

They come in a gold tinged presentation box, all the polishes have appropriately royal names and more unusually they have gold coloured caps rather than the usual silver.





So onto the polishes...

First up is Balmoral – a delicate biscuit nude


Direct Sun



Indirect light


Swatch is 2 coats with no topcoat. Application was the usual nails inc goodness.

This is a nice neutral nude, very work appropriate.

The second polish is Sandringham – a glossy metallic red







Again application was great and swatch is 2 coats with no top coat.

Sandringham is a lovely shimmery red, it's definitely got that lit from within glow.

Tune in tomorrow for the other two polishes in this collection.

Wednesday 20 April 2011

Zoya Valerie

Plum shimmer/foil

A quick post to show you my current mani, Zoya Valerie, which I got in the last Zoya Exchange. Again thanks to my pal Carl (USA) and my frolleague Tim (UK) for enabling me with the Zoya Exchange as it's US only.





Valerie is a deep plum shimmer with a pink foil finish. In the bottle you can see a duochrome of bronzey gold but I can't see it all all on the nail although it can only be adding to the depth and gorgeousness of this polish.

As this is a full mani, pictures shown are 2 coats with topcoat (Revlon ColorStay).

Formula and application were great, it was pretty opaque in one coat, the second added depth. And of course the tiny Zoya brush works great with my tiny nails!

Beautiful colour and finish, I can't take my eyes off my nails...

Monday 18 April 2011

Effect Nails - 010 Purple Holo

Purple holo

I don't know much about this brand, I think I picked it up in Germany, although it may have been Amsterdam - Any readers know if this is Dutch or Deutsch?

It's a smallish bottle, somewhere between regular and mini, maybe 7 or 8ml?






The number on the bottom says 010 and I'd describe it as a mid lilac/purple holo

Application was fine, pretty fast drying like a lot of holos and this was 2 coats, with no top coat.

As you can see the holo effect isn't super intense but it's pretty. Unfortunately I can't remember how much it cost either, my guess is less than €5 as I grabbed at least 4 from this brand!

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Alessandro 213

dark burgundy shimmer

I picked this up in Germany and it's a bigger bottle (10ml) than I've bought before and it came in a box.






This is 3 coats with no topcoat. Application wasa bit tricky and the shimmer is not very visible.

Overall it's a classy colour just not very exciting.

Wednesday 6 April 2011

Ciaté - Camilla

Purple duochrome with gold shimmer







Gorgeous purple/mauve duochrome with gold shimmer

Swatch is 2 coats with no top coat. Application and formula were good.

I spotted what I presume are older Ciaté Paint Pot polishes on a cheap beauty/fragrance site, FrangranceDirect for a bargaintastic 99p.

When I opened the bottle I was worried it was going to be thin & sheer but not!

Now they may not have the cute and elegent be-ribboned bottles of current Ciatés but check out that duochrome! The current Ciaté range has some stunning cremes but they should definitely pull this one out of the vault!

All in all a complete win

Tuesday 5 April 2011

George - Cloudless Sky

Mid blue creme





This is George quick dry in cloudless sky, a gorgeous, pigmented mid blue creme.

Swatch is 2 coats and no top coat.

For a cheap polish, in fact for a regular price polish, application was great, good brush and formula and not so quick dry it was diffucult to work with.

And what a fab colour and name.


For non-UK gals, George is the brand used by Asda, a UK supermarket chain now owned by Walmart. The brand is named after George Davies who orginally headed up Next, a clothing and home store/catalogue.

I think it's fair to say Asda is a price sensitive supermarket, hence the George polishes are only £2.

I have a number of these to show you over the next week.

And just because I fancied it...




Here it is topped with 1 coat of old Body Shop mini (5ml) in shade 29 Flutter, a sheer turquoise with silver glitter.