Category Archives: Swatches

Franken Polish!!!

Hello! I hope you are having a lovely start to the week! 🙂

While I was ill I made five Franken Polishes!

If you haven’t come across the term “Franken Polish” before, basically it’s mixing polishes you already own to make something new and unique!

Pile of nail polish

I’m hoping it was because I was ill and full of medication, (rather than being scatterbrained and disorganized) but I didn’t actually write down which polishes I used…  But I did leave them all in a box…

I’ve mostly worked out which ones I mixed together, but the ratio of polishes, I have no idea :/ It’s a mystery!

Purple shimmer franken polish

The first one is this purple shimmery polish, this one is definitely made from a mix of Prosperity from Illamasqua, Little Misfit from Morgan Taylor and a few drops of one of the Jade Holographic polishes.

I have been asking myself one question while I have been trying these. “If I had brought this polish, would I be happy with it?”

This one is definitely a yes! Purple is one of my favorite nail polish colours ever, it’s pretty much one coat, (I did use two for this swatch) and it dries to a satin finish, and the slight holographic sparkle stops it from looking flat and dull.

I’m really happy with this one 😀

The next polish is this glittery dark blue jelly.

blue jelly glitter franken polish

After a close inspection of the bottle, this polish looks to be a combination of Blue Dahlia from Estee Lauder, Rimmel London – Finishing Touch Glitter Topcoat, Barielle Shades – Stardust, Filthy Gorgeous – Rock Chick and Maybelline Express Finish – Flash Cosmic.

This is such a pretty blue polish! It’s a shame it doesn’t apply very well… Hopefully all it needs is a drop or two of thinner. As is is right now, I have to say it’s like trying to paint my nails with lumpy jam!

The colour and glitter are really pretty but if I had brought this, I would send it back!

Next up is this dark silver/black holographic polish.

black silver holographic franken polish

The ingredients in this one was actually quite easy to work out. just two polishes in this one, Sally Hansen – Pure Midnight and Jade – Estasy.

It’s a really pretty sheer scattered holo polish (I’m really pleased with this one)

would I be happy with this if I had brought it? with out a doubt yes!

grey gold glitter franken polish

I don’t know what I was thinking when I made this grey one… I like grey polish, but I really don’t like this…

It’s made from Illamasqua – Raindrops, Bettina – Iron, Different Dimension – Light Year and Daring Digits – Batman

On their own each of these polishes are lovely, but when combined they become a thing of horror. HORROR!

Some of this polish dries the moment it’s applied to the nail, so the first coat was lovely, fast drying, really good amount of glitter. The second coat appears to re liquefy the first coat and changes the consistency to something resembling scrambled egg. Ugh!

This photo is from the second time I tried it, I left half an hour between the two coats and it was still a bit lumpy. I added two layers of Seche Vite to try and even it out lol

I hope that I never receive anything like this from a polish company.  It needs a stake through it and burying at a crossroad!

pink shimmer franken polish

Here is the last one! This pink is (as far as I can tell) a mixture of Pink Raindrops and Collide both from Illamasqua and Glass Slipper from Sally Hansen.

Pink Raindrops from Illamasqua is one of the most disappointing nail polishes I have ever brought. but I’m sure I’ll find some use for it! (even if it is just mixing it with other ones)

This is another polish that I’m not convinced about, it applies really nicely, and it’s really sparkly, but that shade of pink, it’s really not a shade that I would be drawn to. Maybe I mixed this one in the dark lol

If this was a darker or more purple toned pink it would be lovely, it’s opaque in two coats and dried quickly so yes, I would be happy with it if I had brought it!

I think next time I make some franken polishes I’m definitely going to write everything down lol! 🙂


A England Swatches

Hello!

I have some rather lovely polishes from A England to share with you today 🙂  there are quite a few, so this is a slightly more picture heavy post than usual.

As I couldn’t decide on which one to start with here they are in alphabetical order 🙂

Beauty never fails

Beauty never fails

Beauty never fails is a glorious black jelly with tiny gold flakie glitter, I’m not usually a big fan of gold in general but this polish is stunning!

This is two coats with no base coat, it’s so shiny!

Bridal Veil

Bridal Veil

Bridal Veil is a deep black cream with tiny scattered holographic glitter. This has a wonderful creamy formula and is perfectly opaque in two coats.

For some reason I was expecting this to be more of a jelly polish.

I really like how the glitter in this nail polish is actually quite subtle, This is definitely the most sophisticated black holographic one I own 🙂

This is two coats with no topcoat, Bridal veil doesn’t have quite a glossy finish as the other A England cream polishes I have, but I’m sure a layer of topcoat would fix that! 🙂

Camelot

Camelot

Camelot is a glossy black cream. This is one of the best black nail polishes I have ever tried! Ever! And I’ve used a lot of black nail polish!

The formula and colour are phenomenal, Camelot is like having a glossy abyss on your nails 😀

This is one coat (yes one!) with no topcoat!

Elaine

Elaine

Elaine is a very pretty grey toned purple cream, this A England cream polish also has a really lovely formula it’s so creamy and pigmented!

It just occurred to me that I haven’t mentioned anything about the drying times for these polishes, I found that all of these polishes dry slightly faster than average, only a couple of minutes to be touch dry.

This picture is two coats of Elaine with no topcoat.

Incense Burner

Incense Burner

Incense Burner is a really interesting multi chrome nail polish. The black base contains brownish gold shimmery particles that change to purple, green and blue depending on the light angle.

Annoyingly because I’m still having to use my phone to take pictures I couldn’t capture all the other colours 😦

I have to admit that my first impression of the polish was “Hmmm Brown”.  I’m not a big fan of brown polish and I was expecting to be disappointed with this one, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. This polish is so pretty!

This is two coats with no topcoat.

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is a vampy red flakie glitter in a black jelly base, it really is incredibly pretty!

I’m really liking these subtle glitters, on the nail the polish looks black until the light hits it then it flashes and shimmers this stunning deep red.

This is two coats without topcoat.

Ophelia

Ophelia

Like Jane Eyre Ophelia has a black jelly base, but with this lovely dark purple flakie glitter.

I found the glitters in Ophelia didn’t show up as much as the other jelly polishes, but even so it is still a stunning polish.

Again this is two coats to be fully opaque and shown here with out topcoat.

Princess Tears

Princess Tears

Princess Tears is a very pretty pale pink holographic polish with a beautiful duo chrome sheen that flashes green and purple. My photograph really does this polish no justice at all!

I think this is a sophisticated light pink! I found that Princess Tears has a slightly mate finish when dry

I did find that there was a little dragging on the second coat, but the third covered everything perfectly.

This is three coats with no topcoat.

Queen Of Scots

Queen Of Scots

Queen Of Scots is an amazing dark blue metallic polish, I have already written a little post on how amazing this is for stamping, you can find that right here.

This polish is without doubt a one coat wonder! It’s so intensely pigmented.

with any heavily pigmented polish it’s always a really good to have a good basecoat to help prevent staining. I can’t comment on if this polish stains as I was only wearing it for around five minutes.

Queen of Scots has a lovely creamy formula and dried really quickly, probably because only one thin coat was needed for it to be fully opaque!

Saint George

Saint George

The last polish is Saint George which is a dark teal/forest green holographic with a with a very subtle golden shimmer.

Saint George is another heavily pigmented polish, with careful application I believe this could be opaque in one coat.

This polish is so pretty, the deep teal colour is very flattering, and the holographic glitter in this polish makes it almost glow!

Shown here is two coats without top coat.

. . .

I have to say that all of these polishes are glorious! Not a single one was even slightly disappointing. I think I’m going to be collecting an almost obscene amount more!

😀


Morgan Taylor Pretty Wild, Little Misfit and Rebel With a Cause.

Hello! 🙂

Today I have three very pretty polishes from Morgan Taylor to share with you. Pretty Wild, Little Misfit and Rebel With a Cause.

Pretty Wild

morgan taylor pretty wild swatch

Pretty Wild Is a really lovely greyed out lilac. The formula is really nice, it has a very rich and creamy  consistency and dried really quickly.

I have to say the colour is extremely similar to Sally Hansen Greige Gardens although Pretty wild is a touch warmer. I should probably do a comparison post of all my purpley grey polishes, I’m starting to get quite a collection!

This is two coats Pretty Wild with no topcoat!

Little Misfit

morgan taylor little misfit

Little Misfit is a very sheer multi chrome polish, it is very pretty! looks like a silvery rainbow in a bottle!

On my ring finger is one coat of Little Misfit over black, on the rest of my nails four coats!

The flash did make the sheerness a little more apparent, there definitely is very noticeable VNL!

But as a topper this polish is really lovely. it dries quickly and the application is really smooth., and it’s shiny enough to not need a top coat.

Rebel With a Cause

morgan taylor rebel with a cause

Out of these three polishes this one is my favorite. Rebel With a Cause is a stunning deep wine/berry red, with a slight gold shimmer and iridescent micro glitter.

All of the glitters and shimmers in this polish make it look like a metallic finish but without all the pesky brushstrokes!

The coverage with this polish is amazing, with careful application this could be opaque in one coat, this is two coats, because I wasn’t very careful lol

😀


Nails Inc Paint Can Shoreditch Lane!

Hello! 🙂

Ok I admit it, I just ran out to buy this!

Nails Inc Paint Can Shoreditch Lane

Spray on nail polish! I had to try it! 😀

Ln the spray can you get 50ml of product and the 2 in 1 is 5ml. I don’t know how many full manicures you’ll get from the can.

According to Nails Inc this is how to apply this spray in nail polish!

Step 1. This part is essential – you must apply a base coat, we suggest Paint Can’s Best Friend – the Nails inc 2 in 1 Base and Top coat. Allow to dry.

Or apply The Paint Can over your nail polish for a speedy colour change.

Step 2. Shake the Paint Can and from a distance of 10-15cm, spray the polish directly onto the nail area. (Cover and protect the surface you are spraying on to).

Step 3. For a longer lasting mani (for up to four days), apply a top coat. Allow to dry.

Step 4. With warm soapy water wash away any excess Paint Can polish from skin and cuticles. Or use a cleansing wipe when on the go.

You will be left with a perfectly applied manicure.

from these instructions the thing really got my attention is spraying it over the nail polish your already wearing… I think this is going to open up a whole new collection of nail art techniques!

Here are my (slightly stained) nails all prepped with the Nails Inc 2 in 1 and ready to go!

naked nails

And here’s my nails and hands covered in spray paint!

😀

Nails Inc Shoreditch Lane Paint Can

Hahaha there was So much mess!

I don’t know about the pink spray but if you are going to use the silver, make sure your not wearing anything that you mind getting a thin coating of sparkles over, it’s in my hair, over my clothes, the whole of my bathroom is slightly sparkly! Oops!

But I don’t really mind as I’m usually covered in glitter! 😀

Nails inc shorditch lane

This photo is without the topcoat! It really is a lovely chrome!

I have to say that the polish comes away from the skin really easily, I found it was even easier to remove by soaking my hand in warm water for a few minutes.

It was slightly more difficult to remove the polish from my cuticles, I has to scrape it away with an orange stick.

When I applied the 2 in 1 as topcoat something rather strange happened.

nails inc shoreditch lane

There was rather a lot of what I can only describe as antiquing, and there is also some cloudiness to the tips of my nails, like a matte french tip, interestingly this is the same problem I have with Out The Door topcoat on normal nail polish (which is why I don’t use it).

Then I tried applying Seche Vite.

Nails Inc Shoreditch Lane

There is still a little antiquing, it’s not as bad and there’s no odd matte tips!

You can find the silver Paint Can here Nails Inc Shoreditch Lane (UK Only)

This is a really fun product! and yes it does exactly what it says on the tin! For me I don’t know if it is any faster than using a normal one coat polish with base and topcoat, as it did take a little while to clean the polish from my skin. I think this will be an amazing product if you are not not so good at painting your dominant hand!

My final thoughts on the 2 in 1 makes a good base coat, not so much as a top coat with this silver can.

I really hope that Nails Inc release some more Paint Can colours!

Is spray on nail polish something you would consider using?


Hug My Face!

Hey!

Today I have four polishes from the Darling Diva Hug My Face collection to show you! 😀

Bad Ass, In Space No One Can Hear You Scream, Long Live The Queen, and Xenomorph.

darling diva bad ass

Bad Ass

Bad Ass is black with a very slight purple tone, scattered holographic polish.

darling diva bad ass nail polish swatch

Look at that holo flare! In the bottle this polish really didn’t look too exciting… This really is a case of not judging a book by it’s cover! But when it’s on the nails this polish is lovely! but then I may be a little bias, seeing as my favorite polishes are black/purple and holographic lol

I found Bad Ass has an average drying time, it dried slightly matte, and it two coats to be opaque. The formula is creamy and self leveling and the application was a breeze!

darling diva bad ass nail polish swatch

In Space No One Can Hear You Scream

Darling Diva In Space No One Can Hear You Scream Nail Polish Swatch

In Space No One Can Hear You Scream is packed with Micro holographic shards iridescent hex glitter and holographic glitter all wrapped in a black jelly polish!

Darling Diva In Space No One Can Hear You Scream Nail Polish Swatch

This is a really complex glitter polish, it has so many different types of glitter in every drop!

On the nail it doesn’t look that OTT! The Iridescent hex glitters add a lot of depth!

This is three coats and it has a slightly longer drying time, it was dry in less than five minutes.

This is a thicker polish so the application was a little bit more tricky, but by no means difficult.

I have found that some shard glitter polishes can be scratchy with the little bits of glitter poking out all over the place, but that’s not the case with this one, it dried completely smooth!

Darling Diva In Space No One Can Hear You Scream Nail Polish Swatch

Long Live The Queen

Darling Diva Long Live The Queen Nail Polish Swatch

Long live the queen is a dark teal holographic polish packed with multi chrome flakies and glitter.

Darling Diva Long Live The Queen Nail Polish Swatch

The base colour of this polish is a really pretty blackened teal, and it really is packed with holographic glitter, unfortunately when it’s applied I couldn’t really see much of the multi coloured flakie glitter.

This is three coats and it has a similar drying time to In Space.

This is a thicker polish so the application was a little bit more tricky. it was slightly patchy on the first couple of coat but the subsequent coats evened everything out.

This polish is so pretty I didn’t want to take it off!

Darling Diva Long Live The Queen Nail Polish Swatch

Xenomorph

Darling Diva Xenomorph Nail Polish Swatch

Xenomorph is a dark teal/green polish filled with both multi chrome flakie and regular glitters, holographic micro glitter, and iridescent glitter.

Darling Diva Xenomorph Nail Polish Swatch

This really is a stunning polish, it’s so squishy and sparkly! some the multi-chrome glitters shift through red to blue while others are blue to red, unfortunately my pictures only show the green and blue, there is so much colour changing goodness going on in this polish!

the first coat was a little patchy but Xenomorph builds really nicely.

Darling Diva Xenomorph Nail Polish Swatch

These polishes are available here at Darling Diva 🙂

I really have to get the rest of this collection, no, I need the rest of this collection in my life right now!

In all these pictures I have used my usual base coat and top coat.

😀


Illamasqua Swatches Part Two

Hallo!

For your viewing pleasure here are the second half of the Illamasqua polishes I recently purchased!

These polishes are

  • DWS
  • Velocity
  • Scarab
  • Swarm
  • Harem
  • Regal
  • Vice
  • Scorn

Starting with a grey polish that’s been on my wish list for ages

DWS

Illamasqua DWS Swatch

DWS

DWS is a lovely light flat grey cream. The formula is fantastic, it flows easily from the brush and was opaque in two coats.

I’m so glad I got this one, I really like grey nail polish and this one is definitely going in my top 10 🙂

Velocity

Illamasqua Velocity Swatch

Velocity

Velocity is a lovely grey purple creme, like DWS the formula is fantastic, only taking two coats to be opaque.

Scarab

Illamasqua Scarab Swatch

Scarab

Scarab is a brown toned red metallic polish, this is a really foxy polish! The polish itself is a dark grey, almost black jelly which gives the finished colour a lot of depth.

This took three coats to be opaque.

I have to admit that brown/orange tinted reds are not my favorite, but this is a really flattering shade for my skin tone.

Swarm

Illamasqua Swarm Swatch

Swarm

Swarm is a black glitter topper, it’s made up of matte black micro glitter and matte black medium sized hex glitter, the glitter payoff is pretty good, I did find that the glitter tends to clump a bit  This is one coat over Illamasqua’s Collide.

Harem

Illamasqua Harem Swatch

Harem

Harem is a really pretty violet toned pink, the formula is really lovely, very creamy with loads of pigment, this is three coats.

Regal

Illamasqua Regal Swatch

Regal

Regal is a really lovely shade of dark blue, I found the formula to be a bit odd, it’s nice and easy to apply, if a little watery. I think the only way I can describe it is somewhere between a crelly and a cream, this is four coats and there is still some VNL!

Vice

Illamasqua Vice Swatch

Vice

Vice is a pretty pinkish wine. It has the lovely Latex finish, I found that it dries to a slightly more red than the shade in the bottle. This is two coats, I found that it also dries slightly faster than the glossy Illamasqua polishes.

Scorn

Illamasqua Scorn Swatch

Scorn

Scorn is an lovely satin finish black, it’s definitely one of my favorite black polishes! This is two coats.

😀


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