OPI - Planks A Lot and Top Shop - Firework

Dusky lilac creme  and holo glitter  

I'm sure you've all seen this one before...

Planks A Lot is a dusky lilac creme from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection from a few years back.

Swatch is 2 coats with no top coat.

I decided to use this as the base coat for a lovely holo glitter I picked up in TopShop that was a bit too sheer to wear alone.

So here is PAL again topped with 2 coats Topshop Firework

Blurry close-up to show the holo goodness

And a bottle close up (and a random oversized blue glitter?!)

Firework is a sheer pinky lilac fine holo glitter

Application was good but it doesn't dry v. shiny and leaves a slightly bumpy finish so this is one that would definitely benefit from a nice thick gel-type topcoat.

But it's such a pretty polish I can forgive it!

Nailgirls - Blue #4

Blue/grey shimmer   

Blue #4 is a muted blue/grey with fine blue and silver shimmer

The Nailgirls site calls it a shimmering blue grey which I think is pretty dead on.  As you can see it takes on an almost muted turquoise hue in bright sunlight.

Swatch shown is 2 coats, with no top coat.

I really like this colour, greyed out blues always float my boat.

And apologies, my ring finger seemed to pick up a ding - ooops.

Nails Inc - Royal Ascot

Red jelly

"It's not Ascot Week until you've seen a drunk woman carrying her shoes"

It's Royal Ascot this week and I live in Ascot!  Unfortunately when you live in the area, Ascot Week is a an ordeal to be battled through due to the traffic and general chaos.

I read somewhere that over 1/2 a million people descend on Ascot during the 5 days of racing - that's a lot of people for a very small town.  The races finish around 5.30 and then there's a steady stream of often progressively drunk folk attempting to get home.

The ideal situation is either to go on holiday or to stock up and not leave the house till it's all over!

I'm not much of a fan of jellys but a couple of these were cheap on the nails inc site when I was ordering something else so I thought I'd give them a spin.

Royal Ascot is a tomato red jelly.  For some reason it's also known as Cherry Juicy Sheer on the nails inc site.  In my pics it definitely looks more tomato red but IRL it's definitely more pinkish red.

Swatch shown is 3 coats, the first coat is very sheer but there wasn't much difference between 2 and 3.

I actually quite like this and despite the name tying in with my week I think the Juicy Sheer name is very descriptive - this has very juicy qualities.

Nails Inc - Nail Jewellery Pink Diamond Princes Arcade

Mixed pink glitter

You can definitely see the bald patches here...

Hmmm, bit of a mani fail  - this colour really needs undies... ah well,  on with the description

This is Nails Inc Nail Jewellry Pink Diamond Princes Arcade - now there's a mouthful!  The Nail Jewellery collection was first released in April 2012.

Description from Nails Inc  - This revolutionary formula has been created with hand cut particles creating faceted fragments that dazzle like precious stones. Who needs diamonds when you can have nail jewellery? 

Princes Arcarde is multi sized pink glitter in clear base with some blue/copper duochrome glitter

The swatches shown are 2 thick coats, pretty good coverage but not quite there.

As I said this would be better layered as it's pretty thin on the the tips and would be neater around edges.

Famous Nail Addict - Gold Star

Muted Gold & Silver glitter  

Nail Addict is a new nail polish range from Famous Makeup.  Famous used to be sold in Superdrug and were Famous by Sue Moxley but the branding and the products seemed to have changed.

I picked up a few nail polishes with a recent order - they were very reasonable at £1.99

And at the moment everything is half price on their website - Famous

I have reviewed several Famous polishes in the past and was generally impressed

Must admit I prefer the old bottles - these ones look a little cheap with the slender chrome lids...

Gold Star is a mixed glitter muted gold and silver glitter

Swatch shown is 2 coats but good, almost full cover for that

The formula is pretty gloopy though.

OPI Mariah Carey Liquid Sand - Can't Let Go

Purple glitter/sand finish  

I hadn't planned on picking up any of the textured polishes that have been released this year, I was totally 'meh' about crackle and had ruled these out as similar.

But I spotted the mini collection of OPI Mariah Carey Liquid Sand polishes for a nice price on a business trip to the US and decided to give them a try.

And hey, hands up, I was too hasty.  I really like them!

Can't Let Go (I know very little about Mariah Carey - I'm assuming these are song names?) is purple and packed with largish glitter pieces and with an underlying 'sand' base.  I'm sure it isn't actual sand in there but it definitely gives the impression of you having thrown a big handful of fine sand into a bottle of polish.

Because of the 'sandy' finish there's no shine although to me it's a sheen off being a true matte.  And I love the way the big glitter catches the light.

For me this swatch was 2 coats, although I possibly could've done with 3.

I really liked the finish and shine and wore this without topcoat.  And it wore like iron - very impressed.

OPI - Suzi's Hungary Again

Coral creme 

Another mini bottle, this time an OPI.


Suzi's Hungary Again is a coral creme.

And if you look really closely in the last full sun picture (click to enlarge) there are tiny, sparse silvery microsparkles in there too.  Although really too small and sparse to be of much interest...

For me this took 3 coats to be opaque

Leighton Denny - Embellish Me

Deep purple creme  

Embellish Me is a deep purple creme

The formula is wonderful and it's a one-coat-wonder if you're careful.

For this swatch I needed 2 coats on my ring and pinky but only one on the others

And it has that slight enamel-like formula and finish that means it's a dream to apply and dries super shiny.

Gorgeous!

Essie - Raspberry

Berry pink creme

Another brand first for my blog, Essie!

Like Nubar I don't have a lot of Essies (< 30).  Until fairly recently they were a little hard to get hold of in the UK but since they were acquired by L'Oreal and went retail rather than salon only, they are now stocked in Boots where they retail for £7.99.

And for me Essie were traditionally associated with those pale pink, Ballet Slippers colours that just aren't me!

But of course the brand has majorly branched out over the past few years and have produced several iconic colours such as the super HTF Starry Starry Night,  Mesmerize, Sew Psyched and Merino Cool.

This isn't one of those colours...

Raspberry is a pinky red berry creme.  Much more a traditional Essie colour.  But pretty all the same.

Swatch shown is two coats with no top coat and you can see how shiny it is.

Application was great, Essie has a narrow longish brush that works well for me.

Revlon - Ruby Ribbon

Red and pink glitterbomb 

Revlon Ruby Ribbon is an amazingly festive looking glitterbomb - and unsurprisingly  it was a Christmas gift with purchase in December 2012 from Superdrug.

There's  a lot going on in there but here goes.  It starts with masses of pinky/red glitter in a sheer base, then there's lots of fine pink/plum bar glitter and finally a handful of  holo bar glitter.

Definitely click the images for bigger versions of the gorgeousness.

It does dry a little lumpy, I've added a coat of top coat to the 2, yes only 2, coats of polish.

And apologies for the messiness of some fingers, this polish was not very forgiving or easy to clean up.

So happy I picked this up - it's gorgeous and unique in my collection.

Revlon - Moss

Sludgy green creme

Another of the Revlon minis.... this time Moss

Moss is a mid to pale olive green, slightly grey leaning but not as strong as something like Essie Sew Psyched.

This, and yesterdays pink mini are from the Revlon Bloom With Captivating Color for Spring collection from 2011 and this is the Tea Party trio.  There's also an orange creme that I have temporarily mislaid!

I've not seen these minis in regular stores - I picked up mine in TK Maxx

For me this swatch needed 3 coats but I've seen other bloggers succeed with 2 so maybe it was my base coat....