Zoya - Rica

Orange/coral duochrome foil  

The sun is shining, the sky is blue so I've gone with some summery, sparkly goodness today.

Zoya Rica is an orange/coral foil with very slight duochrome tendencies which brings out the gold shimmer .  It's bright and very sparkly

Swatches shown are 3 coats with no top coat.

Zoya does this finish so well that even though orange isn't really my colour it looks amazing!

H&M - You Rock My World and Creme de la Creme

Gold & silver scattered holos  

My nails being broken and stubby for so long has allowed me to work through a lot of 'old' swatches, here are some H&M holos from 2009!

First up is You Rock My World..

You Rock My World is a silver scattered holo.  Out of the sun it looks like a regular silver polish, in the sun the fine holo isn't super strong but it's there.

Creme de la Creme is a slightly cool gold holo.  Again the holo effect isn't very strong.

Both sets of swatches are 2 coats, no top coat.

Application on both of these was good with the very fast dry time often found with holos.

Models Own - Utopia

Greyed pale pink/lilac creme  

I really thought I'd blogged this one years ago, but couldn't find it anywhere so here it is (maybe again!)

Utopia is a pretty unusual colour that totally works.  I'd say it was a pale pink leaning lilac that definitely has a hint of grey in there that stops it looking too 'standard' if you know what I mean.

Application was ok, although it did take 3 coats and I needed to add topcoat to smooth it all out, but it looks fab after all that!

And could this be the closest polish name to my blog name?!

China Glaze - Kaleidoscope Him Out

Light blue scattered holo  

Out of sun

Kaleidoscope Him Out is a cool light blue scattered holo. The holo effect didn't show super strong for me it's more delicate to match the base colour.

Swatch shown is 3 coats, no top coat.

Formula on this was thin and very fast drying, slightly sheer hence the 3 coats.

This polish is from the 2006 Kaleidoscope collection, a collection that was discontinued a few years later and rather sought after for a while.  I'm not a China Glaze collector as such, I picked this up in a bargain job lot of China Glaze polishes on ebay.

Hema - 08

Purple shimmer  

 Another un-named polish from Hema, this one does at least have a number, 08.

08 is a pretty purple shimmer (aren't all purple shimmers pretty?!) with fine pink flecks and sparkles.

Ok, so it's not super unique but it's nice.

Application was good and swatches shown are 3 coats, no top coat.

Models Own - Top Turquoise

Muted turquoise creme  

Top Turquoise is a mid, muted turquoise creme,  which is slightly unshiny when dry.

For me this was opaque in 2 coats but nearly all the other swatches I saw were 3 coats - weird

This is another old one (2009ish) and doesn't seem to be available on the Models Own site anymore...

Hema Brilliant with Diamond Powder - 11

Mottled gold foil  

Another un-named Hema.

Hema Brilliant with Diamond Powder - 11 is a mottled gold foil, out of the sun it looks like a dappled mix of warm, cool and rose golds.  In full sunlight it flashes back as a antique gold foil.

Application was good and swatches shown are 3 coats, no top coat.

This was a bargain €3 for a generous 11ml bottle.

Asda - 23 Aqua

Jade creme  

Aqua is shiny, almost squishy looking dusky turquoise creme from Asda.

This is one of Asda's really cheap polishes at just £1 and it shows...

The colour is pretty but the application was horrible, streaky and difficult to work with.  Swatches shown are 3 coats and could've really done with 4.

Ah well, sometimes you find a bargain, sometimes not...

Essence - Rock it Baby

Purple shimmer  

More old swatches as my nails are still growing out..  Not sure how this one sat unshown for so long...

This is Rock it Baby from Essence from back in 2009, maybe even 2008....

Rock it Baby is a gorgeous, stunning, if not totally unique purple shimmer.  The shimmer in the sunlight is pink and blue and really glows.

Application was good and swatches shown are 3 coats, no top coat.

I'm a sucker for a great purple and I love this one, time to dig it out from whichever Helmer drawer it's hiding in!

Black Up - Shade 08

Aubergine shimmer  

I picked this polish up from Debenhams (UK department store) when I was on one of my 'must check out all unknown brands' kick - thankfully I've grown out of that now - mostly!

Black Up, as you'd expect, is a range of cosmetics for women of colour and I think is only sold in Debenhams in the UK.  Their branding says Black Up Paris.

Shade 08 is a lovely, if not unique, burgundy/aubergine/eggplant shimmer

This had a great formula, easy to apply, opaque and long wearing

Swatches shown are 2 coats with no top coat.

As this is another of my swatches from 2010 they've actually changed the bottles since I bought this but there's still a colour called 08 which looks similar on the online swatch.

Hema - Glitter topper

Raspberry pink sheer glitter topper  

And here's yesterday's Catrice 'Vibrant Violet' topped with a pink toned silver glitter top coat I picked up in Hema

This unnamed, un-numbered polish is a sheer raspberry pink top coat with mixed size round and shattered silver glitter.  Some of the glitter looks pink but I think that's just the colour of the suspension polish

Hema is a variety store in The Netherlands, selling homeware, clothing and various other items including a small cheap beauty range.

Although the bottle looks fairly glitter heavy, that didn't translate so well to the nail and my swatches show 3 coats over the Catrice.

Catrice 60 Seconds - Vibrant Violet

Dark pink creme  

Total fail on the polish name, how on earth is this violet??!

This is Catrice 60 Seconds Nail Couture in 200 Vibrant Violet.  Except it's not violet at all, it's a deep pink creme, ah well.

Application was great, despite being a touted as a quick dry and it was nearly opaque in 1 coat

Swatch shown is 2 coats with no top coat.  Lovely and shiny.

Again this is one from the archives, I picked this up in 2010 and it might've been released in 2009 - oddly there are a few available on ebay uk....

Essence Colour & Go - Pool Party

Bright blue with silver glass fleck

It's the first day of June and the sun is shining here in the UK so I thought I'd show you a bright summery polish from several years ago

Essence Colour & Go - Pool Party is a bright blue with a good amount of fine silver glass fleck shimmer, this is no hidden shimmer.

This is definitely an oldie but a goodie, I think this range came out in 2009

It is a smidge on the sheer side, my swatches are 3 coats with no top coat and in the direct sunlight pic there is a hint of visible nail line but given the amount of shimmer I'm sure this would work well layered too.

Colour & Go were also a complete bargain, selling for only $1 in the US and less than 2 Euros in Europe.  They do have a slightly insane tagline of '1 second per nail' but I've ignored that for the nonsense it is!

The line still exists but they're now in stumpy, blobby bottles!  I'm not sure if this colour still exists in the current line, if it doesn't it should do!