Nails Inc - Reeves Mews

Bright teal crelly  

Reeves Mews is a bright teal crelly -  the pictures make it look a bit more blue than it is in real life.

Application was of course good and the swatches are 3 coats as the formula is definitely on the crelly side.  But of course that makes it gorgeously shiny!

This shade is from several years back, perhaps 2012?  But as with most Nails Inc colours is relatively easy to pick up from ebay in the UK.

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.

Flormar - Blue Industry 450

Dark turquoise crelly  

Another polish from my long weekend in Istanbul (wonderful place despite the snow!) back in February when  I managed to grab a quick hours shopping on our last day including the Flormar and Golden Rose stores.

Blue Industry is a slightly teal leaning turquoise blue crelly, is that petrol blue?

Application was good and swatches are 2 coats, no top coat.  As it's a crelly there's a hint of nail line amongst the squishiness.

There's something quite old-school about the Flormar bottles, a combination of the tall handle and white plastic I think....

Nails Inc November - Chester Terrace

Teal leaning dark blue matte
  

Chester Terrace is a fairly dark blue/teal polish.

When I was swatching this I couldn't work out why the application was so tricky till I looked at my drying nails, it's matte! Well more of a satin as it's not a super flat finish.

I also applied topcoat so you could see how it looks shiny.

Swatch was 2 coats and application was tricky...

Essence - Street Styler

Mid blue with secret shimmer  

Another one from the Essence Urban Messages collection, this is Street Styler

The names of these polishes are making me feel very old!

Street Styler is a slightly teal leaning mid blue.  There's a fine blue secret shimmer and some small silver flakies

Swatch shown is 2 coats with no top coat.

I like it but I'd like it more if the shimmer was more visible...

Butter London - Artful Dodger

Teal creme

A few months ago Brand Alley, one of those designer sale sites, had a sale on Butter London.  They had sets of three polishes for £18.50 which seemed like a pretty good deal to me.  I may have gone a little crazy and spent over £100 on Butter London polishes!!

My willpower goes all to pot when confronted with pretty polish for a bargain price.  I bought 20 in the end and they averaged out at just over £6 each which didn't seem too bad as I think the RRP for BL is £12

Unfortunately I only swatched some of them at the time and now my nails are all stubby so you'll get to see some now and the rest later....

First up is Artful Dodger

Butter London describe this as a 'true teal' and I think I'd agree. It's a mid to light toned teal and there's a little hint of dustiness there too.  I'd say it was significantly lighter than the clutch of teal polishes that came out a few years ago - check out my comparison review of the time

Overall it's gorgeous and so shiny.

It did take 3 coats but I forgive it....

Totally missing my nails at this length - I should use this picture as a reminder to do my treatment regime to try to get them back to here....

Any tips on growing them back?  At the moment they're all short and seem to break very easily, crumbly rather than brittle if that makes sense?

I'm taking Biotin and general B-vitamins, applying Nailtiques 2 and Barielle Growth Activator for Natural Nails and attempting to remember to do Solar Oil and Revlon Nail Builders Intense Therapy on my cuticles and general hand/nail cream - phew!  That little lot's gotta work, right?!

Butter London - Victoriana

Muted tealish blue with silver microshimmer

I'm slowly building up my Butter London collection, this is one of my latest acquisitions courtesy of ebay.

I'd seen Victoriana on several blogs and really liked it but for some reason I'm reluctant to pay full retail for Butter London so when it popped up on ebay I snapped it up if not for a bargain price then less than the RRP of £12.

Victoriana is a slightly dusty, muted teal leaning blue with masses of silver shimmer, so much so that it almost looks speckled.  And as you can see in the third pic it looks more teal in the sunlight.

Swatch shown is 2 coats, no top coat.  And application was great.   This has the new style bottle with the removable cap.

Victoriana was from the 2010 and I think was part of the Alexander McQueen collection

I'm really glad I picked this up, it's a gorgeous and unique polish.

Essence - Street Styler

 Tealish blue with shimmer and flakies

I picked up a couple of shades from the Essence Urban Messages collection on my recent Germany trip.  First up is Street Styler.

Street Styler is a teal leaning mid blue with a fine blue secret shimmer and small silver flakies.  This combination really works, the colour doesn't look flat and although the shimmer and flakes are fine they're visible and super pretty in the sunlight


Application and formula were good and the swatch is 2 coats, with no top coat.

Basic - 489

Teal frost

This is another from my German drugstore raiding - I've been to Germany 3 times in the past 15 months with work and heading off there again at the end of this month!

I picked these up from a chemist/drugstore in a very small town in Germany. The brand is Basic and they're mini bottles, only 5ml. Can't recall how much, but cheap, 2 Euros perhaps?

According to the bottle Basic is made by Interco Cosmetics






I'd say 489 was a Teal frost, or is it a pearl?

The formula and application were good and brushstrokes not too bad for a frost.

The swatch is 2 coats, no top coat.

I quite like it despite the frostiness.... What about you, is frost a finish you steer clear of or embrace?

Ciate - Superficial

Dark Teal creme

One of the first Ciaté Paint Pots I got and it's a stunner. I don't think this is from a particular collection - I got it as part of a hat box deal.





Superficial is a gorgeous, deep teal creme. Application, brush and opacity were all great and of course the bottle is a cutie.

This is 2 coats, no top coat.

This colour, while stunning, is not particularly unique - check out my previous Teal comparison post for details. I should probably do another comparison with RBL Teal included too.

Catrice - Spruced Up

Here's the first of those Catrice's from Germany

This is Spruced Up from the Expect the Unexpected LE Collection




As hinted by the name this is a fir green/teal creme. Formula and application were great and this is 2 coats.

It's a lovely colour and I can see myself wearing this a lot over the winter.

And I really like how Catrice add different prints to the bottle for their limited edition collections.

La Femme - Teal

Just a quick post to share a cheap n' cheerful polish with you.

La Femme is is a low cost UK brand. You tend to find them in discount perfume stores, on the web and on market stalls and they can usually be picked up for £1-1.50. The bottle is oddly shaped, tall and narrow (but thankfully still fits in the Helmer) and together with the tacky printing, for me, just reinforces the cheapness.

I've bought several from this brand and I think it's fair to they're pretty variable in quality/opaqueness.

But this is one of the good ones!


Sunlight


Shade

This is Azure, a teal shimmer that is veering towards frost but manages to pull back in the nick of time. Two coats with top coat.  Application and brush were fine and it's a pretty colour.  All in all, a win!

Teal Creme Comparisons

After being inspired by the lovely Nikki's review of Totally Teal from Boots No7 I got hold of a bottle for myself.

It's a gorgeous teal creme but while swatching it I had a sense of deja vu, didn't I have another colour that was very similar?

So I dug out some bottles and did a quick comparison. First up, the bottle shot
 
l-r No7 Totally Teal, Illamasqua Muse, Nails Inc Portland Place and Ciaté Paint Pots in Superficial

They're all the same colour family, but Muse looks a bit lighter

 
 
On the nail it's the same story, Muse is significantly different and lighter. As for the other three, Totally Teal (index) and Superficial (pinkie) look very dupey. Portland Place is greener and more jellyish although this was more visible IRL. This was 2 coats of each, but Portland Place was the least opaque.

I left the skittles on overnight and the next day remembered the Nails Inc Hills collection had a similar colour, Rodeo Drive.

So I replaced Muse with Rodeo Drive (and freshened up the others)

 

So now l-r is Totally Teal, Rodeo Drive, Portland Place and Superficial

Rodeo Drive is more dupey than Muse but is slightly more navy toned. The closest dupes are still Totally Teal and Superficial although in these pics Superficial looks a tad darker - not much in it though!

So I probably don't need both. Price wise they're not worlds apart, the RRP for Ciaté Paint Pots is probably more at £9 compared with No7 at £6.25 but I got mine in a deal and didn't pay that much.

Update: Just found another comparison for Superficial on Parokeets site: Essence – Meet You In Budapest vs. Ciate Paint Pots – Superficial