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Category: NOTDs

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

ELLE Celebrate their 25th Anniversary with Mavala!

Be still my beating heart.

It’s perfect.

To celebrate ELLE’s 25th anniversary, the magazine has collaborated with Mavala to bring us a unique Limited Edition nail shade and I’ve been sent a sample to show you.

I die…. I really can’t overestimate just HOW much I love this colour. Grey meets Purple (Grurple!) in the perfect spot under the raincloud and they do a little dance as the sun goes down.

3 coats to achieve the above finish, although 2 will do for an opaque result. The third coat covered over a couple of drag marks that developed at the base of the nail. The finish is glossy and creamy… add a shiny top coat and you’ve got a beautiful glass-like cream that looks perfectly smooth (even on my slightly ridged thumbnail).

Tip wear sets in a little too quickly for my liking, but you know that I’m probably going to forgive it everything because of the shade.

Mavala’s ELLE (£3.95) launches today (1st September 2010) and is exclusive to John Lewis stores.

Posted in Mavala, NOTDs, Nail Polish | 17 Comments »

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

China Glaze Ingrid NOTD

I keep reading China Glaze Ingrid being described as a taupe or a greige. I’m not pedantic over shade names… hell, I’m always getting corrected for describing them a bit squiffy, but Ingrid looks like an out and out brown to me. Brown with gold micro-glitter.

It’s stunning, but the gold glimmer warms it up a bit too much for my skintone. You can’t see the gold very well on my nails thanks to the overcast skies, but it’s clearly visible in the bottle.

I found Ingrid to be quite thin and three coats were needed to reach the above finish. It’s a really lovely twist on the whole brown/greige/taupe (I’m so tempted to add ‘shitfingers’ – your fault Karleigh) and may be a great choice for those of you who find the trend leaves their skintone looking a bit flat.

Have you tried Ingrid yet?

Posted in China Glaze, NOTDs, Nail Polish | 11 Comments »

Sunday, August 29th, 2010

China Glaze Bogie NOTD

From the Autumn/Winter 2010 Vintage Vixen collection, Bogie (named for Humphrey Bogart) is a must have. No really, go and buy it NAO!

I don’t usually like frosts, but this is metallic enough to bring it up to date and stop it from looking like you’ve raided your Mum’s nail polish box.

It reminds me a little of my Dior Silver Purple from last Christmas… though is a bit less gun-metally (metally, totally a word) and more purple.

I’ve already worn this twice in a row and die-hard nail fans will understand that that’s QUITE the accolade.

A very, very pretty polish for Autumn/Winter.

I buy 80% of my polishes from BeautyZone2007 on eBay who I’ve had a faultless experience with so far.

Posted in China Glaze, NOTDs, Nail Polish | 11 Comments »

Friday, August 27th, 2010

Eyeko Chi Chi Polish NOTD

This one goes out to Charlie from LadyoftheLane.

Eyeko Chi Chi is a rosy pink which leans slightly toward gold. The glitter particles are chunky and suspended in a sheer pink base. 3 coats to achieve the opacity shown above though you could also layer this over a pink creme to achieve the same effect in less glitter coats. It’s girlie, but the rosiness (rather than pink) stops it from being too juvenile.

I must be into a bit of S&M with these 3 coats, my eyes are watering at the thought of the removal already (where’s my tin foil).

You’ll need a top coat to even out the rough finish from the glitter. I did one layer and it’s still rough (though not scratchy) to the touch. It reminds me a little of Butter London’s Rosie Lee although I don’t think the glitter is quite so dense or the finish so foiled.

Eyeko Chi Chi is priced at £3.50 from the Eyeko website who offer worldwide delivery.

Posted in Eyeko, NOTDs, Nail Polish | 14 Comments »

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

H&M – Envy Me Nail Polish NOTD

When I was in H&M last week, my attention was diverted (as always) by the polishes on display. I already own Goddess on Stage (a TDF purple) and just looking at the bottle, I could tell this was gonna be a knockout.

I wasn’t wrong!

Envy Me is a beautiful, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL shimmering emerald green. It practically dances on my nails.

Opaque in one coat, it needs two for a flawless finish – the formula was not that far off being perfect. All for £2.99 – is that even legal?

My photo is pants, I need to find a window which doesn’t have so many smaller panes of glass in it… the reflection really screws with the overall look. But anyway…

If you haven’t tried the H&M polishes yet, why not?

I also picked up Spending Cash with Carl which looks like a royal blue version of this and Grey Sky which looks like a shimmery putty grey.

Do you have any H&M favs?

Posted in H&M, NOTDs, Nail Polish | 21 Comments »

Saturday, August 21st, 2010

Butter London Victoriana NOTD

What a strange little polish Butter London’s Victoriana (£10) is… it applied with an almost fibrous quality. If you can call that a quality. But what I will say is that on me… this manicure lasted 5 days before I saw any tip wear. Was I painting polish or carbon fibre?

The first coat was a hot mess because of the thick texture…. if you’re smart fngered and can cope with thick polishes, this may be a one-coat wonder for you. I needed a second to even out the edges and fill in the drag marks.

The muted green/blue tone looks soft against my skintone… in the picture above it’s a little brighter thanks to the sunlight, but it shows up the dense silver sparkle nicely. Removal was a little tedious but nothing major. Just hold the remover pad to the nail for a touch longer than normal before wiping clean. No need for foil or anything hardcore like that!

I was truly amazed by the 5 days of wear I got before noticing any flaws in it’s appearance.

What do you think? Do you like the look of Victoriana?

Posted in Butter London, NOTDs, Nail Polish | 16 Comments »