Butter London - Posh Bird

Smoky lilac foil shimmer  

Posh Bird is a lovely polish but somewhat tricky to describe.

There's purple there and some grey and maybe a bit of taupe/mushroom.  And it's packed with foily shimmer which mostly looks silver but sometimes duochrome goldish as you can see in my bottle shots.

Either way, it's gorgeous - easy to apply and very opaque.  Swatches shown are two coats with no top coat.

Posh Bird was first released as an exclusive in the US for NY Fashion Week back in 2012.   Unfortunately it's no longer available from Butter London and doesn't seem to pop up very often on eBay in the UK.

Any dupe suggestions for anyone who's fallen in love with this one?

And as for that name?  Ha, I am so far from being a Posh Bird!

PostQuam - Purple

Plum creme  

You can tell it's feeling autumnal here in the UK, my second plum polish in a row!

This one from Spanish brand, PostQuam.   The polishes are pretty good but I really don't like the labels, the shiny foil printing makes them look cheap.

But onto the polish itself, this one is helpfully called Purple, although to me it's more of a plum, leaning pink rather than blue.  Slightly darker than yesterdays SuperDry but also super shiny.

Swatches are 2 coats, no top coat.  Unfortunately this one was a bit gloopy to apply but seems to have evened out in the pics.

SuperDry - Tom Thumb

Plum creme

Another winner from SuperDry.

This one is Tom Thumb, a mid to light pink toned plum creme.

Not a unique colour by any stretch but it's well executed, easy to apply and nicely shiny.

Application was good, as all the SuperDry polishes I've tried have been, this one is two coats, no top coat.

Butter London - Lady Muck

Soft blue grey with flakie shimmer  

Lady Muck is a soft blue/grey  creme with visible fine silver flakie shimmer.

Butter London describe this as periwinkle blue but I really don't agree, periwinkle to me is a violet toned blue and this is blue/grey - hey ho!

Application was good, formula is a little sheer and these swatches are 3 coats with no top coat.

I picked this colour to match our weather here in the UK, it's very cloudy but also fairly warm and humid!

Nails Inc - Instyle - Love Will Tear Us Apart

Orangey red creme  

It's a scorcher here in the UK today so here's a hot polish to match.

Nails Inc for Instyle's Love Will Tear Us Apart is from their 2015 freebie collection themed around '80's anthems.

Love Will Tear Us Apart is a bright orangey red with a hint of coral creme.

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

Love the song, love the polish!

PostQuam - Intense Sky

Blue with secret shimmer  

Intense Sky is a mid to dark blue creme with a brighter blue secret shimmer.  The shimmer is just strong enough to be visible on the nail which is always a good thing.

Application was ok - I did find the brush pretty tricky.  Swatches are 2 coats, no top coat but this could probably be a one coat wonder if you were careful.

Despite the slight application issues I really like this, the shade and shimmer combination are unusual and unique in my collection.  And I was convinced it would stain and I'd end up with smurf fingers but it removed like a dream!

Another new brand to the blog, PostQuam, who as far as I can work out are a professional brand from Spain.  Most of the range is skincare, treatments and supplements but they also have a cosmetics line.  I picked up four polishes from a private sale site - unfortunately I don't think this brand is available in the UK.

Anyone spotted PostQuam around Europe?

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.

SpaRitual - Can You Dig It?

Brown/burgundy shimmer  

New month, new brand - my first SpaRitual

Can You Dig It? is a warm brown/burgundy shimmer with lots of fine gold shimmer within.

The base colour is an interesting shade, sometimes a warm brown, sometimes leaning more burgundy and even heading towards purple.  Almost duo-chrome although I'd hesitate to call it so.

Swatches are 2 coats with no top coat.  This isn't necessarily a colour I'd be drawn to but it does look good on.

SpaRitual is a brand I've been aware of for a long time, it used to pop up regularly in the 'olden days' of nail blogging, but was never very easy to get hold of in the UK and pretty expensive with it.

CYDI is a classic shade that's been around since 2008 at least.

This polish came to me through the wonders of TKMaxx, I'm so much more likely to take a punt on a polish where I don't have to pay postage and it's massively reduced from RRP - pretty sure this one was £3 or £4

Maybelline MNY - 549 Midnight Taupe

Dark taupe creme  

549 Midnight Taupe is a dark, slightly purple leaning taupe creme.  The name suits it very well.

Swatches are 3 coats, no top coat.  This polish was pretty sheer on the first coat but does build eventually.

I'm not sure how long I've had this polish but check out that pigment separation?!  I did shake the bottle vigorously to mix it back up but it wasn't shifting.

This reminds me of buying custom mix paint colours from a DIY store -  it starts with a tin of base colour (usually pretty pale) and then type in a code for the colour you've chosen.  Intense pigment gets squirted into your pot but often you're watching thinking 'Why is that mustard yellow going into my blue paint?! - did they type in the wrong code?'  But somehow it comes out right once it's all mixed up.

Who would've thought that this purply taupe would contain so much khaki green pigment!

Debby Gel Play - 23 Milk White

White creme  

23 Milk White is a gel-effect slightly soft white creme - the softness stops it looking too much like I've painted my nails with tippex!

Swatches are 3 coats and for a white polish, application was pretty good.

I don't have a lot of white polishes, I don't think I'd ever wear white as a regular polish and I'm yet to dabble in nail art where finding the perfect white polish is key.

Who'd have thought, out of the Debby polishes I've shared so far, this is definitely the best.

White Space - Red

Bright red crelly  

 

'Red' is a classic mid-toned red in a jelly finish,  application was good although there were a few rogue hairs in the brush.

Swatches shown are 3 coats, there was just too much VNL at two coats for me!  No top coat but it's super shiny without.


White Space Beauty is not a brand I've come across before - I picked this up on a whim at TK Maxx - and their branding/style is certainly interesting.

The bottle itself is completely blank on the front,  there's a label on the back with the shade name, Red, and the inci.

The company is registered to an address in Essex that looks like a residential property (gotta love a google maps snoop!).

I presume they've gone out of business as the website address now redirects to KeepMe Cosmetics, a white label manufacturer who seem to manufacture products/packaging for ModelsOwn, Ciate, Nip&Fab and Lottie.

Rococo - Brown Button

Deep burgundy creme  

Another of my bargain Rococo's - this time the slightly oddly named Brown Button

Odd because Brown Button isn't actually very brown at all - it's more of a deep burgundy creme.

Brown Button also leans purple unlike the burgundy classics like Chanel's Rouge Noir or Nails Inc Victoria which tend to lean red and have more of a crelly finish.  Instead Brown Button has a slight creamy/opaque aspect to it rather than the sheer of a crelly.

Application was great, swatches shown are 2 coats, no top coat.  But look at that shine!

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.