NOTD - Caviar by Nails Inc

For Christmas I was given a Nails Inc gift box containing two mini polishes, a nails file and cuticle cream.  The mini polishes were a dark pink and a glitter (Caviar).  This is a clear polish containing tiny flecks of glitter of red, green, silver, orange, and pink. 

I decided to layer this over the current polish I am wearing (Burlesque by Ciate) to see how well it shows up on a dark polish.  The answer is pretty well.  I have only applied one coat and I think two coats would give a more even coverage but even with one coat you can definitely see the glitter flecks.

The main thing I find about glitter polishes like these are that they are actually quite hard to apply.  The glitter does not go on in even strokes or sometimes does not come off the brush so its hard to get good coverage across the whole of the nail.

The other thing I noticed immediately about this polish is the smell.  It does not smell like nail polish but rather paint fumes.  Its very strong too even after it has dried on your nails.

All in all I do like this glitter and I find it pretty but I'm not sure when I would actually choose to wear it or what colours I would wear it over.

Next up is one of my new polishes bought only a few days ago - Casting Call by Sally Hansen.
Until next time,
Lealea x

Nail Polish Haul!

So after nearly 8 weeks into the new year I have finally caved and bought some new nail polish.  Bad, naughty me!

I had heard about this really cheap cosmetics shop the next town over to me that were selling Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes for £2.99.  As these are about £7 each in Boots, I was immediately interested so after thinking about it for ages (do I really need more nail polish?) I concluded that the answer was yes at those prices and I must get there immediately. 

I tell you it was like being in nail polish heaven!  Most of the stock was discontinued items or last seasons colours but that does not bother me.  I really wanted Delphinium from Sally Hansen which is a lilac-y purple colour but they didn't have it.  *sob*  They did have lots of other lovely colours and it did take me a while to choose.  They also had the scented Revlon polishes of which I don't have any so I thought I would try one of those. 

The most exciting thing for me though was they had Sinful Colors polishes.  These polishes are not readily available in the UK, I have never seen them in anything other than ebay shops so to find a huge collection in a bricks and mortar shop was very exciting. 

All in all I restricted myself to seven new nail polishes.  I tried to pick colours that I didn't have although when I got them home I notice a few are similar to other shades I own.  But hey who cares when they are pretty right?

Here they all are lined up

The colours I got from left to right are:
Casting Call, Eel Skin and Model Behaviour (Sally Hansen), Passion Fruit (Revlon) and Kismet Elated, Rich in Heart and Daddy's Girl (Sinful Colors).

Can't wait to try them all out as they appear in my A to Z!

Until next time,
Lealea x

NOTD - Burlesque by Ciate

I got this nail polish free with a magazine last year.  The polish is normally £9.50 to buy and that is way above the amount a cheapstake like me is willing to pay for a nail polish, so to get it with a magazine that cost £3.50 was well up my street!

The colour of this polish is deep purple, almost black - very goth like.  It actually looks good with pale hands like mine, quite dramatic.

I find Ciate polishes a bit difficult to apply.  I have heard others say that the long handled brush makes it easier to hold but I don't really find that.  I don't find that the consistency is that great, I find it a bit thick.  As this is a dark colour the coverage is really good, you can achieve a good finish with just two coats.

My main concern however is again that this has chipped really easily after just two days wear, and this is with a topcoat.  As with all dark polishes it is really noticeable to me so it may have to come off sooner rather than later.

With Burlesque this concludes the B's of my A to Z.  Next I start on the C's and my next polish is a glitter polish from Nails Inc, called Caviar.  I am going to try and layer it over the Burlesque, just to see what effect it gives.  Not sure how well it will show up on top of the dark purple, we'll see next time won't we?

Until then,
Lealea x

NOTD - Bright Purple by Barry M

As much as I loved Bright Pink, I'm not a huge fan of Bright Purple.  Its not actually that bright.  Its a mauve, plum purple I would say.  Okay not nothing particularly special.  As a lover of all things purple I really wanted to like this colour, but I just have others that I prefer more.

As with most Barry M polishes it has a great consistency and gives good coverage with two coats.  However what I have found is that it chips really easily which is unusual for Barry M.  For this reason it won't be staying on my nails for more than two days. 

My next polish is Burlesque by Ciate and I am looking forward to the switch.

Until next time,
Lealea x

NOTD - Bright Pink by Barry M

I picked this pink as one of my top 3 favourites even though I hadn't worn it for a while.  When I first put this on a couple of days ago it was at night and in artificial lighting I just wasn't sure whether it was going to live up to my expectations.  Then out I went out in the daytime and changed my mind.  This polish is so bright its almost fluorescent.  It certainly makes your nail stand out.  I wore an all black outfit yesterday to work and my nails were my accessory, I didn't think I needed anything else!

This photo is not taken in that great lighting as its raining and miserable here today, so I'm not sure it does justice to how bright this pink really is!

My only bugbear is that it has chipped on the ends of a couple of nails already (you can see it on my index finger in this pic) and so it is not really that long lasting.  I have enjoyed wearing it though!

The next polish is Bright Purple by Barry M.  Lets see if it lives up to its name!

Until next time,
Lealea x

NOTD - Blueberry Ice Cream by Barry M

I can't begin to tell you how much I love this nail polish!  It just makes me happy to look at my nails when I am wearing it.  Such a beautiful bright blue colour it is truly vibrant on your nails.  I don't think my photo does it any justice at all to how lovely it really is.

As ever the consistency of Barry M nail polishes are impressive, they are so easy to apply.  This polish was pretty much opaque after the first coat but I put a second one on anyway so that it would last.  At £2.99 you can't go wrong with Barry M and if you are bold enough to wear a bright blue on your nails, I would not hesitate to recommend this one. 

For my next NOTD I am breaking my A to Z vow.  Naughty me!  My reason is that I am going to a wedding this weekend and my next nail polish in the A to Z list is Bright Pink which will not go at all with my outfit of muted tones.  So I am opting for a french manicure.  I'm doing it myself so I hope it turns out okay!

Until next time,
Lealea x

NOTD - Blue Glitter by Barry M

Ok so the eagle eyed readers amongst you may have noticed my inability to correctly work out the alphabet this week.  You see Blue Moon (my previous colour) comes after Blue Glitter (my current polish) in the alphabet.  Duh!  Goodness knows where my brain is lately!  Oh well, no harm, no foul as they say.

After my disappointment with Blue Moon and I actually glad I get to wear Blue Glitter next.  It is everything that Blue Moon was not - bright, bold and sparkly!  The colour is almost electric blue and the glitter has a silver hue to it.  So, so pretty.

My only complaints about this polish are the fact it takes 3 coats to achieve a full opaque coverage and the amount of time it takes to remove glitter polish from your nails.  Taking this off will probably take me at least half an hour of rubbing and scrubbing to remove all of the glitter.  It is for this reason that I don't have as many full coverage glitter polishes like this one.

A slight small grumble as well is that I haven't even been wearing this for 24 hours yet and it is slightly wearing at the tips of my nails, but that usually happens with darker colours on my nails - I must be hard wearing on them.

All in all a beautiful polish, you just have to be bold to wear it.

My next polish is one of my favourites - Blueberry Ice Cream from Barry M.  Can't wait!

Until next time,
Lealea x

NOTD - Blue Moon by Barry M

The only problem with doing an A to Z project with colours is that a lot of the time the names usually have the colour in them.  So the next few polishes in my collection all start with Blue _____, meaning I will end up wearing lots of blue polish without any different colours in between.  I'm sure this will probably happen with the pinks as well and you'll get sick of me replacing one pink with another!

I first saw Blue Moon by Barry M in a Barry M magazine add.  The colour looked amazing and I thought "I have to have that".  However I am almost convinced that either the magazine add was airbrushed and showed a slightly different colour or the model was not wearing Blue Moon but Blueberry Ice Cream instead.  This blue is so much lighter than the ad showed.  Its very pale.  I actually noticed today that it is the same colour as blu tack.  Not sure how I feel about having a nail polish the same colour as that!

As with all Barry M polishes the consistency is great and easy to apply.  I did find that as this is a very light colour, two coats were not enough and I had to put three on.  Even that was not enough for it to be fully opaque and you can still see the whites of my nails underneath the polish (my main bugbear about some nail polishes).

I see this as the weedy version of Blueberry Ice Cream which is so much more lively and strong.  Maybe it would look better with a tan?

Next to be worn is Blue Glitter by Barry M.  I've never worn this before (despite owning it for several months) so I'm looking forward to seeing what I think of it.

Until next time,
Lealea x

NOTD - Blue Magnetised by No. 17

Of all the different nail art crazes at the moment magnetised nail polish has got to be my favourite.  I am completely not arty at all in the slightest and not having the steadiest of hands (if I was one of the Mr Men I would definitely be Mr Clumsy!) I am totally incapable of doing anything remotely great with nail art.  So to have something as foolproof as magnetised nail polish which gives you great looking nails with minimum effort is right up my street!

If you are unfamiliar with magnetised nail polish, basically you paint your nails like normal with the polish.  I like to do two coats just to give an even coverage.  However after putting on the second coat, you take the handy magnet built into the lid of the polish, hover it above your nails for 10 seconds and voila!  Beautiful nails in seconds.  You have to do it nail by nail though, the polish needs to be wet for the magnet to work.

The blue colour is lovely without even using the magnet - you could totally just use that as your polish colour without the magnetised effect if you wanted to.  I have four magnetised polishes and of them all I think Grey is my favourite, but the blue comes in a close second!

I haven't tried changing the direction of the magnet yet just to see what effect that gives me.  Maybe I'll try it with the next magnetised polish I use.  Probably will be Green when I get to the G's.

Have you got the magnetised look yet?

Next up is Blue Moon by Barry M.
Until next time,
Lealea x

NOTD - Leopard??

The next polish in my A to Z collection is not a normal polish.  This is a Barry M Nail Effects polish in Black.  This essentially is Barry M's version of the crackle trend which was all the rage last summer.  I think Barry M got in on the trend early, I think it was one of the first crackle type polishes brought out.  I thought I would love it, but I don't.

I think it looks too gaudy, too cheap and dare I say a bit chavvy.  As you need to layer it over another polish for the crackle effect to appear, I kept Ciate's Big Yellow Taxi on my nails and painted the black crackle over the top.  I thought the effect might be Tigerish but actually I think it looks a bit more Leopard like!

The polish is a bit thick to apply and you are not supposed to overlap but I always find this so difficult and always get overlapping parts which creates a thicker black pattern (as you can see on my middle finger).

I only have a couple of crackle polishes and I don't think I would be in a hurry to buy any more.

Next up is one of my favourite new crazes - magnestised polishes.  This one is in the colour blue.  Can't wait!

Lealea x

NOTD - Big Yellow Taxi from Ciate

Yellow is not a colour I would normally choose but I saw this nail polish last summer on another blog and I needed it in my life instantly!  At £9.50 and only available online it was too expensive for me to pay though so I kept trawling ebay until I eventually found it.  I think this one cost me £4 including postage and packing.  I was so eager to try this when it arrived and I was so disappointed when I put it on.  It is the most hideous yellow colour against my skin.  It is too canary yellow and too bright and I never wore it again after the first time. 

I thought I would try it again this time and maybe it would be better.  No, I can assure you my first impressions were correct.  It does not suit me at all!

I was also disappointed with the quality of the polish.  It is very thick to apply, applies very streaky and you can see every brush stroke.  It took me three coats to achieve a somewhat even coat and even then it was streaky on my thumbnail.

I cannot see me wanting to wear this colour again anytime soon.  So glad I did not pay full price for it!

My next polish is a Barry M nail effects in black which I intend to layer over the yellow.  Should make for an interesting look!

Until then,
Lealea x

NOTD - B-Girlz by China Glaze

Probably not the bext colour of polish to be putting on over the top of blue stained nails but B-Girlz is a bright pink with a hint of silvery/bluey shimmer to it.  The colour in the bottle is very shimmery and this does slightly translate onto your nails.

The consistency of this polish is quite thin and I find this lets it down.  You can see the whites (oranges!) of my nails clearly underneath the polish and this is with two coats of polish on.  It also chipped easily even with a topcoat (if you look closely you can see the chip on the side of my thumbnail). 

I must say I have other pinks which I prefer although this is pretty in the bottle.

Next up is Big Yellow Taxi by Ciate.

Later,
Lealea x

NOTD - Betty Blues by No. 7

First off I just want to preface this by saying when you apply dark nail polish, always make sure you use an appropriate base coat and not just a clear nail polish!  I have  just learnt the hard way as not only do I have orange stained tips, I also have a blue tinge to my nails as well after wearing this polish!  Grr!

Betty Blues is a dark navy, almost black looking polish.  It really contrasts well against pale hands (like mine), definitely good if you were going for a gothic look. 

The polish that I have came in a set of five small No. 7 polishes and was a Christmas present a couple of years ago.  I do not know whether it is due to the polish being a couple of years old, or whether the consistency is actually like this, but it was rather thick to apply, very gloopy and hard to use.  It really gives good coverage though when you do manage to get a couple of coats on.

Overall I like the colour, but I would not rave about it.  Also I was disappointed that it stained my nails (although that was more likely user error than the fault of the polish! Must buy some more undercoat!).

Next up is B-Girlz from China Glaze.

Until then,
Lealea x

My guilty secret...

I have been wearing nail polish on my nails almost continuously since last April.  I know it was April because thats when I went for a manicure whilst I was on holiday.  I had my nails painted a beautiful orange colour (Jessica's Mardi Gras) and I was hooked.  Before that I had dipped in and out of using nail polish, I went through phases of wearing a few colours and then I stopped for a while.  However since April I started expanding my polish collection and wore a different colour at least twice a week without giving my nails much of a polish free break.

All this has therefore done a bit of a number on my nails.  For the last few weeks I have started noticing that when I take my nail polish off my nails have been slightly discoloured.  Not just discoloured - orange!!  I don't have white tips, I have orange ones!

Here they are in all their naked glory...

I don't know whether it is a particular polish that has stained them, or whether it is just mistreatment by myself.  I wanted to try lemon juice to lighten them, but the only thing I had in the house was Jif Lemon to squeeze on pancakes which did nothing!!  I imagine you are supposed to use real lemons!

My plan is to let my nails breathe for a couple of days just to see if the colour will fade.  I also plan to leave a day or so between polishes just to give my nails more of a break in the future.

So let this be a warning, too much nail polish makes your nails look like you have been Tangoed!

I'll keep you updated on the orange situation!

Until next time,
Lealea x