Tuesday 31 May 2011

Nails Inc - Special Effects - Sloane Square

Grey holo glitter

The last of the 3D Glitters from the Nails Inc Special Effects Collection is Sloane Square.

Again, the first swatch pictures show the polish as it dries, and then with lots of topcoat to give a glossy finish.



















Closeup, blurry bottle shot to attempt to show the holo glitter.

Sloane Square is a sheer base with masses of darkish grey glitter and a scattering of larger holographic glitter.

Swatch is 2 coats.

Overall, for me the 3D glitters are interesting but not quite successful. The coverage is good but the matte and very gritty finish isn't great.

Nails Inc - Special Effects - Bloomsbury Square

Purple & pink glitter

Here's the second of the Nails Inc Special Effects 3D Glitters, Bloomsbury Square


Again I've shown it as applied with a matte finish and then with top coat to shiny it up!












And a close up of the glitter in the bottle




Bloomsbury Square is a sheer base packed with fine purple glitter and smaller amounts of larger pink glitter.

Again the swatch is 2 coats.

It's a stunning colour and with top coat it's fabulous but I'm still disappointed with the matte finish.

Removal is as expected, break out the foil!

Friday 20 May 2011

Nails Inc - Special Effects - Connaught Square

Mega blue glitter

A few weeks ago Nails inc launched their Special Effects range which I think consisted of 3 crackle top coats and 3 '3D Glitter' polishes. The crackles didn't interest me much but the glitters looked interesting, so I ordered all 3!

All three polishes consist of a clear base (or if there is a tiny smidge of colour in there it's very sheer) and masses of glitter in two different sizes. Most of the glitter is very fine and gives the polish it's base colour as such and then there's a fairly generous sprinkling of larger glitter pieces in a different colour.

They have quite a pong to them, a real chemical whiff! And they dry matte which doesn't make the most of the glitteriness so I also added a couple of thick coats of Seche Vite.

Blimey what an explanation - how about I show you some pics, both with and without topcoat so you can see.

As usual click on the pics to make 'em bigger



No topcoat


No topcoat



2 coats topcoat


2 coats topcoat


2 coats topcoat

The swatches are 3 coats of polish and then topcoat.

The polish dries very gritty - perhaps that's the 3D aspect of them?!

And apologies for the state of the pics, the blue was the third one I swatched so my fingers and nail edges are covered in glitter and I'd had a very low break on my ring finger that I was trying to grow out a little before trimming so that nail is a bit wonked.

I'll try and post the other two tomorrow.

P2 Sun Love - Summer Heat

Orange shimmer

And lastly the orange one!





I'd describe Summer Heat as a verging on pale orange shimmer.

This one was a bit sheer, much more so than the others in this collection. This swatch is 3 coats and looking at the pics now it probabaly needed four...

Given my cool skintone, orange and me don't usually get on but this doesn't look as awful as I thought, I wouldn't say it was flattering but it's not as bad as I thought. I wonder if it could be fab on toes, with a smidgen of fake tan?

Wednesday 18 May 2011

P2 Sun Love - Summer Affair

Red shimmer

The Red one...


Sun


Shade

So perhaps this one isn't madly unique but it is pretty and was so nearly a one-coat-wonder.

Summer Affair swatch shown is 2 coats with no top coat.

Tomorrow I'll show the final polish I have from this collection - the orange...

Tuesday 17 May 2011

P2 Sun Love - Summer Party

Pink toned Purple shimmer

More German polishes as I really have to get more of my collection posted before I head back there on Sunday and pick up more!

I have three polishes from the P2 Sun Love collection, unfortunately the most interesting colour (for me), a taupe with shimmer was sold out. There was also a turquoise shimmer.



The bottles are cute, different from the usual P2 squared off style.

First up is Summer Party





Summer Party is a yummy pink toned purple shimmer.

Great formula and application and this swatch is 2 coats, no top coat.

And these were super cheap - only €2 IIRC

Tuesday 10 May 2011

IsaDora - Magic Green

Bright green shimmer

Prompted by Jen's post on NailPolishUK I thought I'd share my tiny collection of teeny IsaDora's.

They also fit into my ongoing Germany theme as I picked these up from Douglas, a seemingly fancy chemist/drugstore in Sindelfingen IIRC.

So here is Magic Green (love that name, reminds me of the magic paddle incident in the Turkish GP last Sunday!)







I'd say Magic Green was a bright, apple green shimmer.

Swatch shown is 2 coats, application and formula were good.

The bottles I have are tiny, only 4ml.

I don't know much about IsaDora, am I right in thinking they're a Swedish brand?

Sunday 8 May 2011

Basic - 010

Purple jellyish creme

The last of the weeny Basic polishes I got from Germany





010 is a lush mid purple creme. It's definitely got jelly leanings with a squishy feel.

Overall I was very impressed with these, the strange little worn bottles and low price set my expectations pretty low, but overall I was impressed. Application, formula, brush and opacity were all good.

Saturday 7 May 2011

Basic - 120

nude creme

Another of those Basic mini's from the German drugstore.






This is 120, a nude beige creme

It's a bit 'mannequin hands' on me, but I do quite like it. Also this is the only bottle which has those palm trees on so I assume it was some kind of special edition

Friday 6 May 2011

Basic - 489

Teal frost

This is another from my German drugstore raiding - I've been to Germany 3 times in the past 15 months with work and heading off there again at the end of this month!

I picked these up from a chemist/drugstore in a very small town in Germany. The brand is Basic and they're mini bottles, only 5ml. Can't recall how much, but cheap, 2 Euros perhaps?

According to the bottle Basic is made by Interco Cosmetics






I'd say 489 was a Teal frost, or is it a pearl?

The formula and application were good and brushstrokes not too bad for a frost.

The swatch is 2 coats, no top coat.

I quite like it despite the frostiness.... What about you, is frost a finish you steer clear of or embrace?

Thursday 5 May 2011

Etos Effect Nails - 905 Blue Holo

Blue holo

Not much time tonight as I need to go and vote! So remember that Dutch drugstore purple holo I showed a couple of weeks ago?

Well here's its blue sister!









Again application was good and this swatch is 2 coats with no topcoat.

Like the purple one the holo effect isn't OTT but it's pretty.