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.

Mavala - 135 Amber Drop

Copper shimmer  

 

Amber Drop is a gorgeous gold leaning metallic copper shimmer.  The colour and finish are very glowy and the shimmer almost seems suspended in the polish.  And somehow it doesn't look terrible with my cool-loving skintone!

Application was good, despite the size of the brush and the brush strokes aren't too bad.

And this was pretty much a one-coat wonder!  I did two coats for the swatches for completeness.

Vintage Valentines - Yardley - Bronzed 29

Warm brown/bronze shimmer  

Yardley definitely takes the prize for the oldest brand featured this month.  Yardley of London was established nearly 250 years ago in 1770.

Yardley have mostly been known for their perfume and toiletries like soap and talc with Lavender being the scent most associated with them.

They were big in cosmetics (in the UK) in the 60's and 70's, although I'm not sure they offered nail polish then..

In the 90's, after changing hands several times and with sales slumping they attempted a relaunch, famously appointing Helena Bonham-Carter as their 'Face' before terminating her contract after she announced she "never wore make-up and couldn't understand why they'd chosen her".

This was followed by a more radical change to the marketing with supermodel Linda Evangelista in print ads featuring handcuffs and chains (not actually as extreme as they sound!)

Sadly that didn't work either and Yardley went into administration in 1998 - which means this nail polish is at least that old!

Paint and Go - Bronzed is unsurprisingly a warm bronze shimmer.

Application was fine and the quick drying aspect didn't cause any issue.

Swatches shown are 2 coats, no top coat.

Yardley do still exist in the UK but they've gone back to their heritage of perfume and toiletries.

Does anyone else remember Yardley cosmetics?

Leighton Denny - Honey Pot

Suede finish copper shimmer  

Honey Pot is a suede finish copper shimmer

The suede finish was a bit of a surprise and the polish/finish combination is pretty different than the colour appears in the bottle.

Looking at it close up, it's speckled finish of mainly copper and some silver and, of course, dries with a suede finish - not quite matte but a long way from shiny.

Honey Pot was part of the Per Suede Me collection that might've been a QVC exclusive.

Swatch shown is 2 coats, no top coat in the first pics, one coat of topcoat added for the final picture to see how it looks shiny!

Models Own Beetlejuice 2012 - Copper Pot

Bronze shimmer with gold/green duochrome shimmer

The second of the three new colours in the Beetlejuice collection is Copper Pot

Copper Pot is a warm bronze with gold/green duochrome shimmer.  The duochrome is supplied by masses of sparkly shimmer and is reasonably strong. Again it looks wonderful in and out of sunlight.

Swatch show is 3 coats with no top coat.

Boots 17 - Fury and a Peridot comparison

Warm gold/green duochrome

**Heavy pic spam alert**


Fury is from the latest Boots 17 collection which I think is the Autumn collection.

Let's acknowledge the elephant in the room - it's not a Chanel Peridot dupe although they are kissing cousins!

So, onto the many swatch pics - hey it's a duochrome, 3 or 4 is the minimum, right?

 
Fury is a slightly copper toned gold with green duochrome.  It is really gorgeous and even looks good with my skintone which I was a bit worried about.  The gold is a rich warm gold and the green is warm too, I'd probably say olive toned.  Overall I love it, it's stunning.

Swatch is 2 coats, it's a little brush-stroky but I'm gonna forgive it.

At the time I was slightly obsessed with all the Peridot pics but it seemed to be sold out everywhere and I don't have a close relationship with my local Chanel counter so I unless I stumped up the fearsome delivery charge and ordered it from the Harrods site, I had mostly resigned myself to not getting my sticky mitts on it!

But then, on *another* trip to Germany, I'm killing time in the airport and yay, they have it in stock and it's cheaper than the internet (about £14) and no delivery charge, so I succumbed.  And spent a week in a hotel room twisting the bottle and admiring the gorgeousness.

So long story, here's the comparison...

Here's the comparison, in sunlight and indirect light.  Peridot is index and ring finger, Fury is on middle and little fingers.

As you can see they're not dupes but are similar.  Peridot is much cooler toned, both the gold and the green.  And Peridot is much greener.

And if you want to see an amazing Peridot franken made from this polish then check out this Fab Fingertips post

Catrice - Black Beauty

Black packed with copper flakes

 

 After yesterday's disaster I thought I'd redress the balance with a fab Catrice

This is a different type of Catrice polish, 60 Seconds Nail Couture in a taller, narrower bottle. Pretty sure this is the only one of this type I have.

Black Beauty is a gorgeous black (it looks more brown to me but given the name I'm assuming black!) with lots of sparkly copper coloured shimmery flakes.  Easy to apply and dries smooth and glossy. Fabulous.

Swatch is 2 coats, with no top coat but look how shiny it is?! Definitely a winner