Nails Inc November - Brooklyn

Nude pearl with pink flash  

The final polish in the 2011 Mad Men themed collection, it turned out I did have Brooklyn after all!

Brooklyn is a slightly sludgy, greyish nude pearl with a pretty strong pink flash.

Swatches shown are 2 coats, no top coat and pretty visible nail line.  I obviously decided that 3 coats wouldn't be enough either so stuck to two!

I am a big Mad Men fan, the styling, fashion, Don Draper (of course), cocktails, the level of detail etc but oddly I don't associate  Brooklyn with the show very much.

Nails Inc November - Covent Garden Ballet

Soft warm grey with copper shimmer  

Covent Garden Ballet is a gorgeous soft grey with a nicely visible fine copper shimmer.

My swatch pictures look to be running a little warm, it's definitely not a super cool grey but maybe not as warm as it looks here.

This polish does run sheer - swatches are 3 coats with no top coat

Luckily this polish is still available from Nails Inc - it looks to have been relaunched as a 'Ballet Sheer'.   Originally this was part of the 'A Listers' collection of four polishes back in 2012.

Nails inc describe it as being an iridescent pearl, I suppose that's what makes it look soft....

Nails Inc November - Designer matte finish - Southwark Street

Matte plum/purple  

Back in 2011 Nails Inc released two 4 piece collections of matte polishes, the Matte Violet collection and the Matte Cherry Collection.

Southwark Street was part of the Matte Violet collection along with Aldgate, a deep violet, Britannia Street, a cool grey and Borough Market, a navy/grey.

The bottles have a nice frosted finish in comparison to the usual clear glass bottles.

Southwark Street is a plum/purple matte, but one of those not completely matte matte polishes if you know what I mean, there's definitely a slight sheen there which gives it more of a satin finish.

Swatches shown are 3 coats, no top coat in the first pic, top coat on 2 nails in the second to show the contrast.

It's a pretty colour but as with most mattes, wear time is pretty bad and why wouldn't you just put a matte topcoat over an existing polish?

Nails Inc November - Curzon Street

Smoky brown creme  

Nails Inc Curzon Street is a smoky brown creme.  There's definitely a hint of grey and maybe green in there, this is not your standard chocolate brown.

Curzon Street was part of QVC's 5 piece Autumn/Winter collection back in 2009!

Amazing formula that is pretty much opaque in one coat

These swatches show 2 coats, out of habit, with no topcoat.

Nails Inc November - Belgrave Square Gardens

Warm red with gold shimmer  

Belgrave Square Gardens was a QVC exclusive from the 4 Piece Party Toes Collection back in 2010.  

I didn't buy that collection so this must've come to me via one of the many Nails Inc 'Lucky Dip' offers where you get 6 or 7 random polishes for £15-22, depending on the offer.  

For someone with a nails inc collection as large as mine (over 500 unique colours) they can be a bit of a gamble but I've never received one where I had *all* the colours already, I've come close though!

Belgrave Square Gardens is a warm, slight rusty red shimmer with a fine gold shimmer running through.  A very Christmassy colour, if it's not too early to mention the 'c' word!

Application was good and the swatches shown are 2 coats, with topcoat.

And Belgrave Square Gardens themselves are beautiful, surrounded by Embassies with a statue of Christopher Columbus and a tennis court but sadly private.

Nails Inc November - Glamour magazine giveaways

Nails Inc freebies

This month's Glamour magazine has a choice of 1 of 4 free Nails Inc polishes.

As the magazine is only £2 (and I'm obsessed) I picked up all four!

The colours are:

Hanover Square - burgundy creme
Marylebone Mews - Grey/lilac/taupe creme
Tate - classic red creme
Wigmore Street - Deep purple creme

Hanover Square is a wonderful vampy burgundy creme, fabulous application and so shiny.

Marylebone Mews is a grey/lilac that can look a bit taupe (bottle shot).  I thought this might be similar to the classic nails inc shade, Porchester Square, but a quick comparison showed Marylebone Mews is much cooler and less brown/taupe than Porchester Square.  This is the only shade that might've benefited from 3 coats.

Tate is one of the earliest Nails Inc colours, a classic glamorous red creme.

Wigmore Street is a dark purple creme that never looks black.

Formula and application on all these was up to Nails Inc's usual high standard.

All swatches are 2 coats with no topcoat.

If you haven't already, get yourself down to your nearest news outlet to pick these up!*

* Sadly UK residents only...

Nails Inc November - Mad Men Collection - Westchester

Deep red creme  

I'm back!  With what's becoming a yearly event, Nails Inc November.  Well when you have over 500 unique Nails Inc colours it's good to have motivation to swatch them all!

October was a bit of a washout in these blogging parts - holiday, work pressures and general lethargy meant little time nor inclination for blogging.

Enough excuses, on with the show...

Winchester is from the Mad Men collections released for Season 4 of Mad Men back in 2011

The collections was just 3 colours, Brooklyn, Westchester and Madison Avenue, all named after key locations for the show.  Brooklyn is where Peggy is from, Westchester is where Don & Betty lived and of course, Madison Avenue is the eponymous place where the (M)Ad Men work.

I have Madison Avenue too but am missing Brooklyn - you have to draw your obsession line somewhere, right?!

Westchester is a deep burgundy red creme with maybe a tiny hint of brown.

The formula is fantastic, pigmented and a joy to apply - if you were careful this could be a one-coat wonder.

Swatches shown are 2 coats with no top coat.