Nails Inc - Marylebone Road

Spring green creme  

We've had warmer weather, several days of sunshine and all the trees are in bud so I'm officially calling Spring!  So here's a lovely spring green creme.

Marylebone Road was part of the Picnic Perfect collection in 2014.  It's a light green, not super pastel but not strong either.

As you can see the shade varies depending on the light, looking more pastel or warmer in different conditions.

Application wasn't great - like a lot of pastels this had pretty streaky application and I had to apply 3 coats to get it looking ok

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.

Nails Inc - Moonlight Shadow

Khaki/grey creme

Oooh I love this.  And it's a freebie!

Moonlight Shadow is a super glossy green-with-a-big-dose-of-grey creme that was a Nails Inc cover mount giveaway with Marie Claire magazine back in April.

Although I'm a subscriber to Marie Claire (along with 10+ other magazines) several years ago Marie Claire changed the subscription model so you don't get any of the free gifts - gggrrgghh.

So I waited a few weeks and then started scouring eBay - sure enough the polishes started appearing - I think it must be from newsagents returns as they're usually available as a set of all 4 colours.

The four colours available were inspired from Moon-themed music.

I didn't have any issues with application and the swatches are 2 coats, no top coat.

Rococo - Peace Out

Bright warm green creme  

Recently I picked up a handful of Rococo polishes from the SpaceNK sale.  Mostly because they were only £1.50, which for a brand that retails at £12 seemed like quite the bargain.  And because I didn't have any Rococo in my stash.

Peace Out is a cross between a lime and khaki green, it's bright but also a bit murky, I don't think I have anything similar to this - it's definitely more yellow toned than the OPI Shrek greens

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

Butter London - Poole

Robin's Egg Blue creme

Butter London call this a Robin's Egg Blue creme and it's definitely in that arena but I'd say it's on the green side of that colour range.

Application was great, swatches shown with 2 coats with no top coat

Poole is a seaside town in southern England, to me known for its harbour and Navy connections and for being the home of Lush, the cosmetics company.  Lush's previous incarnation was a company called Cosmetics to Go and I visited their shop in Poole nearly 20 years ago!

Next - Molten Platinum

Greenish Charcoal Pearl  

I always forget that Next make cosmetics, probably because I so rarely go in one!  But my lovely Sister had a Next perfume on her Christmas list so I found myself browsing around the cosmetics area and discovered some interesting nail polishes - and a deal, 3 polishes for £8!  So it would be rude not to, right?

First up is Molten Platinum which they say has a 'hardwearing pearl' finish.  I don't know about hardwearing but I'd agree it's pearly  - and also a bit metallic, no?

Molten Platinum is a charcoal grey pearl that leans a bit olive green.  I did google molten platinum to see what the real thing looks like but all the pics are of super hot hot orange/red stuff!

Being a pearl application was a little tricky as I was trying to avoid brushstrokes and the formula was kinda gloopy - you can see I had a little trouble getting a smooth looking finish near my cuticle.

Swatches are 3 coats with no top coat.

The bottle is a rectangle, similar in size/shape to American Apparel and NailGirls so I'd assume they're about 15ml.

I like the colour and I think it's pretty unique in my collection but the formula wasn't so great - so a bit of a mixed bag for me.

Anyone else tried Next polishes?

Go - 91

Teal purple duochrome  

More from 2009, this is Go - 91.  A polish this lovely really deserves a name but unfortunately it is stuck with 91.

91 is a teal green/purple duochrome.

Swatches are 2 coats with no top coat which is brilliant coverage from a £2 polish.

In the bottle it's much more green than on the nail and in the sunlight it sparkles, in the shade it's almost a pearl.

I think I picked this up from an Indian fashion shop in Slough that had a small selection of cheapie cosmetics.

Nubar - Reef Green

Bright green shimmer

Reef Green is a bright apple green pearl.

Application was good, although you have to take care with brushstrokes.  Swatches shown are 3 coats and there's still a little VNL in full sunlight.

This is certainly an unusual colour and not exactly one that suits my skintone but hey, it's fun!

Flormar - Pale Eucalypt

Grey creme

Sorry readers, October was a bit of a washout.  I was away on holiday for a week and managed to catch a horrible lurgy which lingered and lingered and I just haven't had the energy to do anything. Finally feeling myself again so back into blogging!

Here's another Flormar from Turkey, this time the intriguingly named Pale Eucalypt.

 

Pale Eucalypt is a mid grey 'jelly look' creme which seems more blue toned than the green you'd expect from the name.

This is a 'Jelly Look' polish which made me think it'd turn out crelly but actually I think 'jelly look' is more like 'Gel Look' in that it's super shiny.

Application on this was great, even with that pesky looking flat wide brush!  Swatches are 2 coats, no top coat.

Leighton Denny - Morning Dew

Cool green creme  

Here's the second of my Harper's Bazaar covermount freebies, Morning Dew.

 

Morning Dew is a cool green creme that leans towards turquoise

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

Ooops just realise you can see the break in my index finger nail, time to top up the superglue!

Soigné Botanique - Pistache

Pale grey/green creme  

Soigné Botanique is a new brand to me, this one came in a monthly beauty box.

The name means elegant & well groomed and the polish is made in France, which seems appropriate!

Pistache is a Grey/Sage Green creme.

I really like this colour, I'm a big fan of grey and the green tinge lifts it.

Pistache is part of the Macaroon collection and all the shade names in the range are French.

Soigné RRP is £11, bottle size is 10ml, which is the same as Nails Inc but somehow seems smaller!  Although they have a great sale on at the moment with loads of polishes at £4.95.

SuperDry - Scrambler Green

Pale green creme  

Another SuperDry from TK Maxx which only cost me £3

Scrambler Green is a light green creme, maybe a little pistachio leaning.

Application was good, swatches are 2 coats which was just about enough...

No idea what the name means, to me a scrambler is a motorbike, maybe it's different in the world of SuperDry...

Vintage Valentines - Mary Quant - B11

Soft blue/green jelly  

This may be the newest Vintage Valentine I'm going to share but I don't feel too bad as Mary Quant is a very vintage brand!

This polish is, I think from 2008, but Mary Quant has had a cosmetics line, off and on, since 1966 and the lady herself opened her first shop in 1955!

I remember when the bottles looked like this...

But sadly don't have any...

But the signature black daisy is still around.  In fact on the version I have the (removable) cap is shaped like the daisy.

The bottles have changed again since I bought these and are now an even less interesting design..

Here's the brochure I picked up when I bought them - toy soldiers with nail polish hats?!

Anyhow, on to the swatches

Sadly the polishes don't have names, only numbers.

B-11 is a soft sage green jelly that I think looks more blue in my pics.

It's very shiny and slightly squishy.  Application was good, if a little scarily thin on the first coat.

Swatches shown are 3 coats, with no top coat.

I bought this and 3 others from the Mary Quant store in London, before it moved to it's current location in Chelsea.

The cosmetics company is now wholly owned by a Japanese company and there are many stores in Japan, but I believe the shop in Chelsea is the only one outside Japan.