Category Archives: Swatches

Illamasqua Swatches!

Hello! 😀

I decided to split my Illamasqua swatch post into two (I might possibly, have brought more than I should have *cough)

The lovely polishes I’m going to show you today are

  • Raindrops
  • Collide
  • Glitterati
  • Pink Raindrops
  • Nomad
  • Ouija
  • Viridian
  • Speckle

I’m going to start with a polish I have wanted for ages!

Raindrops

Illamasqua Raindrops Swatch

Raindrops

Raindrops is a lovely pale grey crelly with loads of tiny silvery white flakey glitters along with silver micro glitter.

I really like the formula for this polish, even with all the glitter the application was really easy, it’s not thick at all and flows easily across the nail bed! This took three thin coats to be opaque.

Collide

Illamasqua Collide Swatch

Collide

Collide is an incredibly pink neon shade, honestly it’s even more pink in real life! The formula is wonderful, creamy and smooth, remarkably self leveling, Because of the lovely formula the application was a breeze! This is two coats with no undies!

As with most neon polishes this doesn’t have a really glossy finish, but it’s still quite shiny!

Glitterati

Illamasqua Glitterati Swatch

Glitterati

Glitterati is a wine coloured jelly with small and medium sized holographic hex glitter and a slight gold shimmer.

I think this is a really pretty polish, The glitter is a lot more subtle (but still very sparkly) than I was expecting from looking at the bottle! I found that the formula is a little harder to work with, it’s a little thicker than the other Illamasqua polishes I have tried so far but saying that, the application really wasn’t tricky at all. This is three thin coats, but with careful application it could only need two to be opaque.

Glitterati is one polish from the Bright Duo the other polish is Viridian

Viridian

Illamasqua Viridian Swatch

Viridian

Viridian is a very dark metallic green toned teal. The formula is really lovely it’s very strongly pigmented and has quite a light consistency.

The application was a breeze! although there where a couple of visible brush strokes. It was opaque in two coats.

Pink Raindrops

Illamasqua Pink Raindrops Swatch

Pink Raindrops

Pink Raindrops is a pale dusty pink with the same small silvery white flakey glitter and a pink iridescent shimmer.

This is a really pretty polish, but the formula is a definite let down, it’s very thick and has an almost chalky quality, the first coat felt gritty and uneven when it had dried, with the second there was bunching up, streaking and bald patches, on the third I decided on a thicker coat and that helped hide it all.

I’m not sure if it’s because I was expecting a polish with a similar formula to the original grey Raindrops but this was a bit of a disappointment.

Nomad

Illamasqua Nomad Swatch

Nomad

Nomad from the Human Fundamentalism Collection is a light mint/jade cream, it’s a pale shade but it’s definitely not pastel.

The formula is creamy and flows easily from the brush, I found the application to be really easy, it dried to a very glossy finish. This is three coats.

Ouija

Illamasqua Ouija Swatch

Ouija

Ouija is a bright fuchsia pink with a foil like micro glitter silver shine that glows under UV light, from the Paranormal collection.

The formula is really lovely very heavily pigmented, with careful application this could be opaque in one coat. I found that it didn’t dry very quickly as some of the other Illamasqua polishes but when it had dried it has a very pretty satin finish.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find my UV light so no Photos of that 😦 but I think I’m going to have to get the other two polishes from this collection!

Speckle

Illamasqua Speckle Swatch

Speckle

Speckle is from the I’mperfection collection it’s a pale lilac crelly with black hex and micro glitter. I found the formula for this to be surprisingly easy to work with, but I did find the glitters do like to stick together in the bottle so giving these polishes a really good shake is a must before using them. The application was very easy, (after the surprise brush full of glitter) this is three thin coats.

😀

 


Barry M Silk. Poppy, Orchid and Forest.

Hello 🙂

Today I have three new (I think) Barry M nail polishes from the Silk range to show you. I found these while polish hunting in Boots, and they are on a 3 for 2 offer. Bargain! 😀

Poppy   

Barry M Silk Poppy

Barry M Silk Poppy

Poppy is a really pretty pinky red with a gold and silver shimmer

It is a dream to apply, opaque in two coats, no visible brush strokes and dried within a couple of minutes. I applied this over my usual base coat.

Barry M Silk Poppy

Barry M Silk Poppy

Forest

Barry M Silk Forest

Barry M Silk Forest

I really love this dark teal colour! Along with the shimmer it also has a subtle green to purple duo-chrome colour shift.

Again the polish formula was really nice, fast drying with no visible brush strokes.

Barry M Silk Forest

Barry M Silk Forest

Orchid

Barry M Silk Orchid

Barry M Silk Orchid

Orchid is a very pretty intense magenta toned purple with silvery shimmer.

I found there was less sparkle in this polish, but the silver shimmer gives this an almost but not quite metallic quality which I think is very pretty.

Like the other two polishes the formula for this polish is lovely, opaque in two coats and dried really quickly!

Barry M Silk Orchid

Barry M Silk Orchid

I really like the finish of these silk polishes, but I love matte polish so there’s not much of a surprise there lol 😀 I have to say I much prefer these bright colours to the pastel shades from the rest of the collection.

I really hope more bright and dark colours are going to be released in this range!

😀


ILNP Swatches! Sirene, My Little Glacier (H), Birefringence and My Private Rainbow (L+S)

Hallos!

This is a pic heavy post!

I brought a few polishes from the ILNP sale! I couldn’t resist them!

It took me quite a while to decide on these four, but I had to be strong and limit myself…

I eventually decided on Sirene, My Little Glacier (H), Birefringence and My Private Rainbow (L+S) 😀

Sirene

ILNP Sirene

ILNP Sirene

This is Sirene, It’s an amazing multi-chrome! Emerald green, Teal, Purple, Pink, Gold and Lime green!

ILNP Sirene

ILNP Sirene

The colours in this polish remind me of petrol. It’s so pretty!

ILNP Sirene

ILNP Sirene

This is three coats over base coat and no top coat.

The formula for this polish is lovely, it glides over the nail like butter, the drying time was quite fast, I only waited a couple of minutes between coats.

Oh and the brush and the top are lovely too, the brushes are quite thin and flat, and the tops have a fab rubberized feel which gives so much more control over the application!

ILNP Sirene

ILNP Sirene

My Private Rainbow (L+S)

ILNP My Private Rainbow (L+S)

ILNP My Private Rainbow (L+S)

This is an incredible topper, it’s a combination of linear and scattered holographic sparkles.

ILNP My Private Rainbow (L+S)

ILNP My Private Rainbow (L+S)

This is two coats over Twilight from Filthy Gorgeous. with no extra top coat. I really like how even with two coats it doesn’t overwhelm the base colour! The drying time for is really good, I only had to wait a couple of minutes between the coats.

ILNP My Private Rainbow (L+S)

ILNP My Private Rainbow (L+S)

I get distracted by shiny things really easily, I must have looked at this for hours! I have to say my photographs really don’t show how stunning this is!

ILNP My Private Rainbow (L+S)

ILNP My Private Rainbow (L+S)

My little Glacier (H)

ILNP My Little Glacier

ILNP My Little Glacier

This is the holographic version of My Little Glacier,

ILNP My Little Glacier

ILNP My Little Glacier

It’s a lovely metallic silver to blue duo-chrome with stunning linear holographic shine. I have holographic polishes that much less of an impact than this one!

ILNP My Little Glacier

ILNP My Little Glacier

This was two coats over base coat, and again no topcoat for this one, the formula for this polish was lovely, fast drying with amazing coverage. With careful application this could be applied with one coat!

ILNP My Little Glacier

ILNP My Little Glacier

Birefringence

ILNP Birefringence

ILNP Birefringence

I have wanted a bottle of this for ages! Birefringence is a Blue, Purple, Pink, Gold then Green Multi-chrome!

ILNP Birefringence

ILNP Birefringence

I did find the polish to be slightly streaky on the second coat (but that could just have been me not waiting long enough between coats) but the third coat was perfect.

ILNP Birefringence

ILNP Birefringence

This is over base coat with no top coat.

The colour shift in this polish is stunning! every time I look at my nails the are a different colour!

ILNP Birefringence

ILNP Birefringence

You can find all of these polishes in their shiny new square bottles here https://www.ilnp.com/

😀


China Glaze – All Aboard and Choo-Choo Choose You!

Hello!

Today I have two polishes to show you from the China Glaze All Aboard Collection!

These have been kindly supplied to me for review from nailpolish.co.uk! They have also given me a rather lovely 10% discount code to share with you! 🙂 and you can find that at the end of this post!

China Glaze All Aboard

All Aboard

The first polish is All Aboard. This is a mid purple cream with a grey/blue undertone. This is a really lovely autumnal purple shade.

I found the formula to be slightly thin but it was very easy to apply, dried quickly and took 3 coats to be opaque. I really like this colour and I couldn’t resist a little accent nail!

Oh and it water marbles really nicely too!

One thing I did find a little annoying is that when painted over O.P.I natural nail base coat it bubbled like crazy, But when I applied it over my usual Collection Ridge filling base coat it was absolutely fine.

This is three coats of All Aboard over Collection ridge filling base coat, with no topcoat.

China Glaze All Aboard

China Glaze All Aboard

This polish is called Choo-Choo Choose You.

Choo-Choo Choose You

Choo-Choo Choose You

This is a really pretty purple grey duo-chrome shimmer. The application was really easy, the polish flows really nicely from the brush. I did find the polish was a little patchy on the first couple of coats but is fully opaque in three.

This is three coats of Choo-Choo- Choose You over O.P.I Natural Nail base coat.

China Glaze Choo-Choo Choose You

China Glaze Choo-Choo Choose You

It really was a pain to show the colour shift in this polish but after some hand yoga and some creative camera placement I managed to get a rather rubbish picture lol!

This is favorite from these two polishes, it really is lovely!

China Glaze Choo-Choo Choose You

China Glaze Choo-Choo Choose You

I almost forgot! The black polish I used for the water marble accent nails is Black from Barry M this is also available from nailpolish.co.uk But I brought my bottle on the high street ages ago 🙂

The discount code is “CLAW” which gives 10% off all orders until 31st March 2015.


Chanel Swatches!

Hallo! 🙂

After my last post I realized that I haven’t shown my Chanel polishes nearly enough love lately, so here they are in all their glory! 😀

I have had these for quite a while so the bottles are looking a little on the “well loved” side… But if you are anything like me then that shouldn’t matter too much as it’s the scrummy insides that you want lol!

Chanel Black Satin

Black Satin

This is Black Satin, it’s probably the blackist black nail polish I own, this is two coats over base coat, but you could easily get away with one!

Chanel Black Satin 219

Black Satin

The formula is wonderful, creamy, self leveling and with the slightly longer bristles in the brush it really is one of the easiest black polishes to apply!

This intense red polish is called Dragon.

Chanel Dragon

Dragon

Dragon is a bright red cream, the formula is just as wonderful as Black Satin. This is also two coats, for some reason I completely forgot to wrap my tips Ooops!

Chanel Dragon 475

Dragon

This one is called Black Pearl.

Chanel Black Pearl

Black Pearl

It’s a shimmery dark silver grey, I find the formula for this polish to be a tiny bit thinner than the others, it wasn’t difficult to apply, just not as easy as the others.

I applied three coats, I really like the subtle iridescent shimmer in this polish, It makes the polish slightly different, and maybe a bit more special than all the other dark silver shimmers polishes out there!

Chanel Black Pearl 513

Black Pearl

This bright pink cream is called Splendeur.

Chanel Splendeur

Splendeur

This applied polish in one coat! the coverage is amazing! Splendeur is a fabulous pink, it’s almost a neon but still really glossy.

Chanel Splendeur 217

Splendeur

This is Paradoxical, it’s one of my favorites!

Chanel Paradoxical

Paradoxical

This is a lovely warm grey with a purple iridescent shimmer. this took two coats to be opaque and dries really quickly!

Chanel Paradoxical 509

Paradoxical

This is the classic Rouge Noir

Chanel Rouge Noir

Rouge Noir

Out of all of these polishes this was the most tricky to apply. The formula is slightly sheer/almost a jelly so this took three coats to be opaque, the colour is a lovely dark wine red and it’s incredibly glossy.

Chanel Rouge Noir 18

Rouge Noir

The last polish is Vendetta

Chanel Vendetta

Vendetta

This is a stunning dark purple, and the formula is amazing, it only took one coat and dried in about 60 seconds!

It was really difficult to capture the intense purple shimmer with my camera, it looks so much better in real life!

Chanel Vendetta 483

Vendetta

Vendetta, Paradoxical and Black Satin are definitely my favorites from my little collection of Chanel polishes!

I just have to keep telling myself to stay away from the Chanel counters when I’m out shopping just in case I “accidentally” buy all of them!

😀


Nail Polish From Japan – Beauty World Dot Artist Set

Hi! Today I have another nail polish from Japan to show you 🙂

This is a Dot Artist set From Beauty World It has three 5ml polishes A bright pink cream, a pale pink almost nude shade and a black cream. The set also contains a small and large dotting tool.

Beauty World - Dot Artist Set

Beauty World – Dot Artist Set

How cute is that packaging! 😀 Because I don’t think I’ll be able to get another one of these sets I decided on a Skittle mani rather than swatching each of the polishes.

Beauty World - Dot Artist Set

Beauty World – Dot Artist Set

The black polish is very nice! it is opaque in one coat, it applied really easily and dotted over both the pink shades really well!

I found that the pale pink is nowhere near as well pigmented, it took four coats to be opaque, it looks nice over the bright pink but it didn’t do so well over the black, it looks grey and washed out which is a shame.

The bright pink is opaque in two coats and dotted really well over both of the other colours.

I found that these polishes have a quite a strong chemical smell but they dried really quickly! I think this is a really fun little set 🙂

I was originally going to post this on the 14th but I have just not had the time :/ and when I have had a little time I’ve been far to tired to do anything.

I have been really busy sorting out my allotment! I am so glad that we have finally got the paperwork! My lovely OH took some time off from work and has spent the last two weeks weeding and digging, (in between playing computer games) I have been weeding, starting seeds, and planting stuff, mostly flowers and early crops so far, The down side of it is my flat is filled with soil and seed trays… So much mess! Ugh! And my hands are really dry… It seems that no amount of hand cream/cuticle balm is helping :/ I have had two horrid nail breaks on my right hand (index and middle fingers) but luckily my left hand nails are still happy!

I like to make sure I have had a couple of evenings during the week where I can sit down, paint my nails and write my posts, over the past couple of weeks there’s been “stuff” happening on there days one of these was my upstairs neighbor (top floor) accidentally dropped a brick from their balcony. They where using it as a door stop, it made a lot of noise and a fair amount of damage on my patio when it landed!  Damaged palm tree, broken pots and a broken bracket on my fence oO I’m so glad that I wasn’t outside at the time!

The other thing that happened was much nicer! We had a little kitty visitor for the night! very cute black and dark brown stripy cat with bright yellow eyes, He was a lost house cat who was crying outside our front door! The poor little guy was very scared of the outside world so we decided to let him in until we found his family. Gave him some food, water and a box and he seemed to be quite happy! My OH managed to find out where the cat lives and left a message (the cat hadn’t come from to far away) His owner came to collect him really early in the morning! In the afternoon the cats owner came back with a bottle of wine and thanked us again for finding and looking after the kitty.  🙂


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