Tuesday 13 December 2016

All That Jazz - Hello, Mr. Wolf!

Cool brown creme  



  


After seeing this new-to-me UK brand on another blog I picked up a couple of 4-bottle collections from ebay.

Hello, Mr Wolf! is a cool toned milky brown creme.

Application was good, swatches shown are two coats with no top coat.  And you can see it's not super shiny without one.

The bottles are a generous 15ml and this one was from The Enchanted Forest Collection.  The collections are available from the All That Jazz site for £29.98

Sunday 27 November 2016

Nails Inc November - Alice & Olivia - Sheer Beauty

Peach nude creme  







Sheer Beauty is an extremely misnamed peach nude creme

It's not sheer and it was certainly not a beauty.  The formula was horrible, it pulled back on every coat and even with three coats there are some baldish patches - bleurrgghh.

Swatches shown are 3 coats, no top coat.

I picked this polish up as part of a cute set of two mini polishes, a full size shimmer and this lovely printed bag.  Thankfully I didn't pay full price and the other two polishes are good.


The Alice & Olivia collection is a collaboration with alice + olivia by Stacey Bendet, a fairly high end fashion line.

Friday 25 November 2016

Nails Inc November - New Oxford Street Gel Effect

Aubergine brown creme 





New Oxford Street is an aubergine/brown/mauve shade with a slightly dusky feel.

This is a Gel Effect polish, nicely self-levelling, shiny and even the flat, wide brush isn't too bad on my tiny nails.

Swatches are two coats, no top coat.

I can't keep up with Nails Inc and all their different bottle shapes and sizes but I do like these self-coloured overcaps.

Wednesday 23 November 2016

Nails Inc November - Burlington Arcade

Deep pink/red shimmer  




Burlington Arcade is a deep pinky red shimmer that definitely glows due to the fine purple and red micro shimmer.

It's not the most unique colour but application was good and these swatches are 2 coats, no top coat.

This is an old polish as you can see from the bottle - at least 2010, maybe older...


Wednesday 16 November 2016

Nails Inc November - Fleet Street

Baby blue creme  





Fleet Street is a fabulous mid to baby blue creme.

Application was a little streaky but not as bad as I was expecting!  Swatches are 2 coats with no top coat.

This is a vintage Nails Inc that I stalked on eBay for quite a while.  In the end had to pick it up in a bundle of other polishes I already had....  Which is probably why I have three boxes of nails inc dupes!

Given the annoying Nails Inc habit of reusing polish names, there is a much later edition of Fleet Street that is a taupe Leather Effect polish.

Monday 14 November 2016

Nails Inc November - Diet Coke - Paris

Plum creme  



Paris is a shiny plum creme.

Application was good, swatches are 2 coats, no top coat.

So back in 2010 Nails Inc teamed up with Boots (drugstore) and Diet Coke to offer a free bottle of specially branded Nails Inc polishes when you bought 2 bottles of Diet Coke.

I'm not a coke drinker but of course I still bought the coke and donated the bottles to pals - anything for free polish eh?!

There were 4 shades available in 2010, according to my spreadsheet I might be one missing from the following collection - looks like I have all the 2010 shades but only 3 of the colours from 2011 when they ran the promotion again with different shades.

Friday 11 November 2016

Nails Inc November - Duke Street

Grey/mauve creme  

 





Duke Street is a greyed out blue/mauve creme.

Application was good, swatches are two coats, no top coat.

This is an old shade from 2010 and a swatch from then too!

It's a rather downbeat, melancholy colour which matches my mood today with the news of Leonard Cohen's death and Armistice Day.


Wednesday 9 November 2016

Nails Inc November - Instyle Bare

Creamy nude creme  





Instyle Bare is a soft peachy nude creme with a great shine.

Application was good and these swatches are 2 coats, no top coat.

As the name suggests it was a covermount giveaway with Instyle magazine way back in 2009.


Monday 7 November 2016

NIN Nails Inc - Palace Mews

Mauve creme



Palace Mews is a glossy mauve creme that I'd probably say leaned crelly.

This is a  old swatch I found lurking on my hard drive so apologies for just one pic and a slightly strange angle!

Application was good and this swatch is 2 coats, no top coat.

Palace Mews was from the Sorbet Collection




Wednesday 2 November 2016

Nails Inc November - Bubble Trouble

Coral pink creme 

I'm featuring only Nails Inc polishes for November as I've done for the previous 4 years.  I usually find these theme months good for focusing my attention on blogging and I often end up with more posts for the month!

I'll show some older shades - my personal preference as I have an extensive collection of Nails Inc polishes in the old style round bottle with the hands/fingers overprinting - some of the later round bottles and some newer style Nails Inc where they can't seem to decide on a bottle type!

First up an old one...






Bubble Trouble is a coral pink creme that's almost neon in its brightness.  Love the name, love the colour, love the shine.

Application was great, swatches are 2 coats, no top coat.

This polish is at least 7 years old, maybe older and may have been an ASOS exclusive.  I picked it up on ebay after the fact.

I thought this might be similar to some other Nails Inc polishes in my collection so here's a comparison swatch

L-R  Bubble Trouble, Miami, Shoreditch, Bubble Trouble

As you see it's no dupe, Bubble Trouble is lighter and more creamy than the others.

Monday 31 October 2016

Essie - Leggy Legend

Old Gold shimmer  

Happy Halloween folks!  I'm not a big fan of Halloween, although it's become a much bigger deal here in the UK recently, but we also celebrate Bonfire Night, which is this weekend when I'll head down to Kent for the annual family firework party.

Despite that  I thought I'd post something vaguely seasonal for today!





Leggy Legend is a pretty,  almost metallic shimmer in an old gold shade.

Application was good and this is 2 coats, no top coat.

Leggy Legend is from the Fall 2015 collection.

Saturday 29 October 2016

Mavala - Sienna Red

Autumnal red creme  





Sienna Red is a lovely warm brick red creme -this shouldn't really be my thing but it's seasonally appropriate and I like how it looks on me.

Application was good, swatches are 2 coats with no top coat

I love the dinky Mavala bottles and that they don't do bigger bottles - after all who ever, especially a nail polish blogger, uses up a big 15ml bottle of polish!

Friday 28 October 2016

PostQuam - Intense Grass

Pine green shimmer 



Ah PostQuam, you and your slightly odd polish names, Intense Grass - really?!  Aside from the unintended drug reference, what on earth is intense grass?  It's certainly not this colour which is much more pine forest than grass!

Intense Grass is a deep pine green creme with fine green shimmer running through.  It's definitely not a secret-shimmer and in the sunlight looks very pretty.

Application was ok, bit on the gloopy side and swatches are 2 coats with no top coat.

Thursday 20 October 2016

Debby - ColorPlay 216

Taupe creme  


216 is a nice if not particularly interesting purple leaning soft milky taupe creme

Application was fine, swatches are 2 coats, no top coat.

You may notice the bottle has patches of turquoise polish on...?

This polish arrived in a package from a French private sale site, sometimes their packaging leaves a lot to be desired...


Everything loosely packaged in a box with no padding to stop it all banging around

Two bottles of polish broke (one was a clear flaky topper so doesn't show so much)
Every single item had some polish on it!

Definitely a Nail Mail Fail!

Monday 17 October 2016

Essie - With the Band

Warm brick red creme  




With The Band is a lovely autumnal polish, a warm brick red creme.

Application was great, this was opaque in one coat, of course I did two for completeness. I really like this, a warm red shouldn't really be my bag but this one works.

With The Band is from the Fall 2015 collection so I'm only a year behind with this one!