Nails Inc - Draycott Place

Deep orange creme for Halloween  

Hmmm, I didn't set up that scheduled post very well - this obviously shouldn't gone out yesterday!

As regular readers will know I'm not one for nail art (I've never tried Konading, freehand painting, taping or even a French mani!) so I'm afraid a orange mani is the best you'll get from me for Halloween!

This is Draycott Place from Nails Inc.

It's a  deep orange creme

Swatch shown is 2 coats with no top coat and unfortunately you can see a not very well covered repair on my ring finger - apologies!

Butter London - Perfect Prezzie

Deep burgundy red shimmer   

Another Butter London with some slightly elusive shimmer.

You can see masses of of fine golden shimmer in the bottle - look, swathes of it!

That doesn't transfer to the nail, don't get me wrong, you can certainly see the shimmer on the nail but it's nowhere near as visible as in the bottle - ah well, the joys of nail polish eh?!

Application was great, the formula, brush and application were all fab.

And it's pretty much opaque in one coat, the second (shown in the swatch pics) just adds depth

Butter London - Fash Pack

Grey toned brown creme  

Some more Butter London swatches from the Picasa archive!

Here is Butter London's Fash Pack

It's a deep/dark greige I suppose, but definitely more brown leaning than some and without a purple tinge.  I'd describe it as a slightly grey toned brown creme with some very secret gold shimmer that really isn't very visible at all - can you spot it?

Application was great and the swatch shown is 2 coats with no top coat.

I do like it, just wish the shimmer was a little more front and centre....

Alix Avien - 243 (Paradoxal dupe)

Purple/taupe with purple shimmer

I picked up this polish on hols in Turkey last year, from a quick google search I'm pretty sure it's a native Turkish brand which is cool.

Obviously it's not the most unique of colours, I'm sure it was created as a dupe for Chanel Paradoxal, but hey, it's a good dupe and was a lot cheaper than Chanel!

Swatch shown is 2 coats with no top coat.

Formula was gloopy and a little tricky to work with.  I wore this on holiday and it lasted well

It's pretty of course, just like the original!

Barbara Daly - Glamour

Vampy purple shimmer  

Glamour is a gorgeous purple shimmer. The shimmer is purple and pink and really makes the polish glow

Swatch shown is 2 coats with no top coat and the polish is nice and shiny.

Barbara Daly make-up was created by the eponymous British make-up artist and is exclusive to Tesco, the biggest supermarket chain in the UK.

The polishes retail for £3 IIRC

China Glaze - Laced Up

Bubblegum pink creme

Blimey, my first China Glaze swatch!  Not sure how that happened as I have a reasonable collection of them including a great joblot haul I picked up from ebay for a song.

Laced Up is a fabulously pink creme from the China Glaze Summer 2009 collection so this must've been one I picked up on ebay.

Application was fine although as you may be  able see in the pics that I had some problems with the polish not self-levelling.  Would easily be fixed by a coat of top coat though.

Swatch shown is 2 coats, no top coat.

Overall it's nice but nothing unique, in fact I have another China Glaze, Rich & Famous which looks very similar.

Essence - Show Your Feet - Purple Magic

Purple shimmer for toes

Don't panic - there are no toes in this blogpost!

So, a first for this blog, toe nail polish.

What makes it toe nail polish you might be asking?

...an antibacterial formula, long lasting and great coverage with just one coat - according to the bottle

Antibacterial formula?  Now I'm no chemist or doctor but my gut feel is that the cocktail of chemicals that make up your average nail polish is pretty inhospitable to bacteria at the best of times, right?  And generally I'm not a fan of antibacterial chemicals being added to stuff as it just gives all the nasty bugs time to get used to the low doses and become immune.  Anyhow, rant over.

Purple Magic is a purple shimmer with very fine pink and grey shimmer.   I love the colour if not the concept!

Swatch shown is 2 coats with no top coat and as you can see it's not v. shiny and would benefit from top coat to gloss it up!

What you think of the Toe Nail Polish concept?  Marketing gone mad or a useful addition given some folks feet?!

Barielle - Gotta Have Fate

Coral jelly

Gotta Have Fate is a fabulous coral jelly that I got as part of a boxset from TK Maxx.

I've picked up several of those boxsets, they're a complete bargain at £10 for 5 polishes.

Not to mention that Barielle are almost impossible to find in the UK through normal stockists....

Gotta Have Fate is a fantastically pigmented jelly
Swatch shown is just 2 coats with no top coat - it's so very shiny

Famous by Sue Moxley - SuedeFX 29

Dark silver suede

The last of my 'old style' Sue Moxley Famous polishes

Suede Finish - Shade

Suede Finish - Sunlight

With Topcoat - Shade

29 is a dark silver grey suede finish polish.  The main polish colour is dark grey with masses of more silvery speckles.  Again I've shown this with a coat of topcoat to bring out the speckles

Swatch shown is 2 coats, with and without topcoat.

I don't have a lot of suede finish polishes but I do like them, I like the suede finish, I find it more pleasing than a pure matte, almost lush and I love the speckled effect finish that is really bought out by topcoat.

Famous by Sue Moxley - SuedeFX 26

Pinky brown suede finish

I have a couple more Sue Moxley's to show you and then my collection is done.  Until the new ones arrive that I ordered from her website this week arrive - d'oh.

They've changed the bottles so it'll be interesting to see if the quality is the same.

2 coats without topcoat

With Topcoat

The imaginatively named 26 is a brownish warm rose gold suede finish polish.  There's masses of silver speckles which gives it a mottled finish out of the bottle.

Add a coat of topcoat and the shimmer comes alive.  I think this one I prefer with the original finish.

Sue Moxely Famous - Scarlet Sparkle

Glowing red foil shimmer   

Another Famous by Sue Moxley polish...

Hmmm - Who knows why I only took one picture of this glorious polish on my nails?!

Scarlet Sparkle is a deep red shimmer with red and gold flaky shimmer.  It's definitely got that lit from within glow too.  Yummy...

I know this isn't the most unique of colours but it's a lovely shade, done well.

Swatch shown is 2 coats, no top coat as usual.

Sue Moxley - Purple Dazzle

Purple foil shimmer

Sue Moxley's Famous line used to be sold in Superdrug but I'm not sure if they still carry it, my local Superdrug certainly doesn't.  Also I used to source some at the discount store TJ Hughes till they disappeared from down south, sniff (Eastbourne excepted)

I can't recall whether this was a Superdrug or TJHughes purchase, IIRC they retail at £5 but there were often multi-buy offers on.

Purple Dazzle is a gorgeous purple with masses of foily shimmer.  The foil shimmer is pink, purple and maybe a little pale gold from what I can make out.  Either way it's lush and nicely visible.

Application and the brush are good and this swatch is 2 coats with no top coat.

I've got a sweet little collection of Sue Moxley's and they've mostly been great, maybe she should give up on the other cosmetics and just concentrate on the polish!

Essence - Street Styler

Mid blue with secret shimmer  

Another one from the Essence Urban Messages collection, this is Street Styler

The names of these polishes are making me feel very old!

Street Styler is a slightly teal leaning mid blue.  There's a fine blue secret shimmer and some small silver flakies

Swatch shown is 2 coats with no top coat.

I like it but I'd like it more if the shimmer was more visible...

Essence - Skyscraper

Greyed out beige with shimmer and small flakies   


This polish is from the Urban Messages collection from 2011, IIRC.

Skyscraper is a very greyed out beige with a mottled look from some fine golden secret shimmer and small blue flakies.  I really like the combination, it looks like fancy polished concrete, definitely an unusual finish and shimmer combination.

I'd say it was reminiscent of Zoya Harley and OPI Sheer Your Toys but without doing a comparison I'd say those colours were more blue/grey toned and without the flakies.

Swatch show is with 3 coats and no top coat so it's a little sheer.

Butter London - Dosh

Green sparkly shimmer  

This is the last in this run of Butter London swatches - Dosh

Dosh is yellow toned apple green with fine foily shimmer.  The shimmer is predominately gold but I also detected some some silver and green shimmer.

Although I don't usually have trouble photographing  greens I'd say this polish is a smidge  more yellowy/olive toned IRL than it shows in my pics.  Click the pics to see them in close up.

Swatch show is with 3 coats and no top coat.  Application was great.

Dosh is British slang for money and our £1 banknotes used to be green (now we just have coins for £1) and of course I saved a load of dosh buying these BL's on a sale site!

Don't you love a nail polish bargain!

Butter London - Snog

Raspberry pink jelly/creme

Another pink jelly/creme from Butter London, this one is called Snog and it's not the same, I promise.  Similar but not the same!

Snog is an intense pink, leaning towards a pinky red.  I'd call is a raspberry pink, more raspberry sauce than the colour of actual raspberries (mine are often much darker in colour)...

The finish is again a jellyish creme, primarily a creme but with mild jelly qualities i.e. it's super shiny with mild VNL but not to much in the way of squishiness.

Swatch shown is 2 coats with no topcoat.  Application was a breeze.

For me, this just edges it over yesterday's Primrose Hill Picnic, I find the colour is more flattering on me although they are both pretty.