Deceit by George

My local Asda Living has a great range of George at Asda makeup.  Some of the nail polish colours are really lovely and so cheap at £1.75 a bottle.  They had deal on a while ago where you bought two and got £1 off (something like that anyway!) so I bought quite a few.

This colour was one I wanted as soon as I saw it.  Its a black polish full of flecks of finely milled silver glitter which gives the polish a kind of black granite effect.  On the nails it translates as slightly grey rather than black.

The polish has quite a thin consistency and the first coat went on rather streakily.  However the second coat went on smoothly and the polish was opaque after that.  As with most dark colours it started to wear off the ends of my nails after a while, but it was about three days which is pretty good for a cheap polish.

All in all I like the colour and am impressed with this polish.

Next in line is Denim by Barry M.
Until then,
Lealea x

Dark Silver by Barry M

This polish is one of the four new magnetic polishes from Barry M.  The magnet that comes with this one is supposed to create a wave pattern on your nails.  I have read other reviews of this polish and people have raved about the 3D effect it creates, so I was more than a little excited to try it.

Shame then that I either got a duff magnet or the effect just didn't work for me, but it took me ages to get the effect to even show up on my nails and when it did, it just made my nails look like I hadn't applied my polish evenly.  You can't even see there is supposed to be a pattern on there on some of the nails.  On a few nails I ended up painting four coats of polish on to try and produce something that looked like a pattern.  As you can therefore imagine, I was very disappointed with this product. 

Don't get me wrong, the polish itself is great, I love the dark silver colour you initially paint on and I think I would be more tempted to wear it like that than try the magnet again.  The consistency is great and even though on some nails I have four coats of polish it is not clumpy or thick and did not take an age to dry.  The wear on this polish is also fantastic, I have been wearing it for three days and it has only slightly chipped on my thumbnail and is barely wearing off the ends of my nails - amazing for such a dark polish when wear is much more obvious.

So thumbs down for the magnet, but thumbs up for the polish itself.  Maybe I need to test the magnet on different magnetic polish just to see if it makes a difference.

Next up is Deceit from George at Asda.
See you then,
Lealea x

Damson Dream by No. 7

I bought this nail polish as a mini set in the run up to Christmas sales last year, partly because it had this colour in it (and partly because it was a bargain in the sales!).  This is such a rich mahogany red colour colour, it is actually a perfect colour for christmastime (shame then that I'm wearing it in June but hey-ho!).

I find this polish a bit difficult to apply because it goes on streaky and uneven when you apply the first coat, and its only when you add the second coat that it takes on the full colour and the streakiness disappears. 

I did find it wearing on the edges of my nails quite easily and for this reason I didn't wear it for more than three days as I can't bear it when dark colours wear off the edges.

I did love the colour and I would wear this again, although maybe for a Christmas party and not in the summer.

Next up is Dark Silver Magentic polish by Barry M, can't wait to try out the new magnetic design,
Until then,
Lealea x

Daddy's Girl by Sinful Colors

No I didn't spell Colors wrong.  Sinful Colors is an American brand, hence the spelling!

I bought this polish in a cheap make up shop.  I didn't even know you could get Sinful Colors in England so needless to say I was very excited when I saw the Sinful Colors display and obviously had to buy a few to try out!  They cost me £2.99 each.  Bargain!

In the bottle Daddy's Girl is a beautiful deep purple colour complete with finely milled multi coloured glitter.  It looks amazing in the bottle and I do love anything purple.

It was a shame then I did not love this polish on my nails.  To start with the polish is so thin I had to put three coats on before I could achieve anything like full coverage and even then you could still see straight through it.  In artificial light the colour looked extremely dark on my fingers and the glitter didn't particularly stand out.  In natural light/sunlight the purple was much more vivid but it was still a weird shade given that in natural light you could see straight through it.

All in all I was disappointed with this polish.  Maybe I'll just keep it to look at the prettiness of the colour in the bottle!

Next up is Damsen Dream from No. 7.
See you then
Lealea x

Chameleon Pink by Barry M

So the third and final colour in the Chameleon series is pink.  I wasn't sure about this one, it had a mixture of silver and pink in the bottle and I was a bit worried about how that would translate on the nails with the foil effect these have.

It was then with great relief that I found I actually liked the pink colour once I applied it. It seemed the easiest to apply of all three, less streaky for a start with a nice dusty pink hue.  I decided I liked it that much I didn't want to ruin it trying to change the colour, so I left it as it was applied.  It only took one coat to achieve full coverage, although my only concern with that is that without a top coat to seal it and only one coat on, it will probably chip quite easily.  We'll see.

All in all, although I really like the pink and probably would have bought it on its own without the Chameleon gimmik, I can't say I have been impressed with the Chameleon effects.  Sorry Barry M, while I still love you, you didn't liv up to your reputation with these polishes for me.

With this polish this concludes the last of the C's and now we move on to the D's - hooray!!  The first polish up is Daddy's Girl by Sinful Colors.
Until then,
Lealea x

Chameleon Lilac by Barry M

So after my disappointment with Chameleon Blue I was looking forward to trying the lilac.  After all this is one of my favourite colours.  It could disappoint as much, right?  Wrong.

The polish again is foil effect, in fact this one is very similar to the limited edition Lilac Foil they brought out last year, the Lilac Foil is just every so slightly more pinker.  Again this makes it hard to apply as it shows up every brush stroke you do.  I was trying to smooth out my thumbnail but too many brush strokes seem to cause the polish to clog up and I ended up making a complete mess complete with streaks and bald areas.  Very annoying.

For the effect on this one I decided to just change one nail on each hand, my index finger.  I've seen this done with different coloured polishes and it can look really cool.  However after I added a coat of clear polish on both index fingers I realised that the change in colour was actually too subtle between the two different colours.  So much so you couldn't actually really tell that much.  Plus I realised I actually preferred the darker purple than the original lilac so I decided to paint all my other fingers apart from my little fingers with the clear to make them dark.  This sounded like a good idea until after I started painting them and realised that you definitely have to let the colour dry before you start to paint over it, otherwise it goes really streaky and you can see the other colour underneath, something which must have happened with the blue before.

As you can see my little finger is ever so slightly lighter than the others, but not by much.  The streakiness that was left was too much for me to bear, and I ended up taking this polish off before it had even been on for an hour.  Not a good start!

Next is the Chameleon Pink - hopefully this will be better!
Until then,
Lealea x

Chameleon Blue by Barry M

So in my last post I promised I was going to try out something special.  My favourite nail polish hands down is Barry M and they have just brought out something new - chameleon nail polish.

Chameleon nail polish is polish that changes colour when you apply a top coat, allowing you to change up your nails if you want to, do different designs etc.  Sounds cool right?

Well sort of.  I get how it could be good.  If I had patience I could wait for the polish to dry and use tape to create all sorts of shapes - diagonal stripes, horizontal stripes, spots, half moons etc.  Heck if I was talented and had a steady hand, I could do that freehand.  But I have neither patience or talent so lets just assume I am not going to do that.

I could mix it up and have one hand in one colour and one in another, or change every other nail, but then I could just do that with two different bottles of nail polish.  So really, I don't quite get the point of it.  It seems seems, well, gimmicky.  I would rather have had true chameleon nail polish that changed colour in the sun or cold, now that would have been cool!

Getting down to the actual polish part, there are three different nail polish colours in the Chameleon range - blue, lilac and pink.  The first one I tried was the blue.  It is a pale blue with a foil effect finish.  This makes it rather difficult to apply as you can see every brush stroke.  Not great for those of us without a steady hand.  The blue changes to a magenta colour when you add a top coat.  This also adds a problem in that you can't add a top coat to this polish without changing the colour of it.

The blue colour was ok, thats as much as I can say.  To its credit I did only have to apply one coat to achieve an opaque (albeit streaked) coverage.  To make the chameleon effect I decided to use a glitter topcoat on every other nail.  The effect of this was somewhat weird.  I had a mixture of glittery nails and matt nails, not being able to use my normal shiny topcoat on the blue.

I didn't really like the colour of the magenta either, it was like you could almost tell it was blue underneath.  Maybe it was the use of the glitter topcoat or maybe I hadn't left it to dry long enough, I don't know.  All in all I was quite disappointed.

Would this be something you would want to try?

The next one I have to try is Chameleon Lilac.  Maybe I'll like this better.
Until then,
Lealea x

Crave Me by No. 7

As I have said before this nail polish is very similar in colour to Copacabana by Nails Inc and Coral by Barry M.  Of the three, Crave Me is definitely the brightest.  Although it doesn't look it in the bottle, when you apply it, it takes on more of a red orange colour than a coral colour.  I must say it looks amazing on toes, and even my four year old is sporting it on her toes at the moment.

On my finger nails I am less keen.  Its just a bit too bright for my liking, just a little too in your face.  Plus once again two coats are just not enough to provide full opaque coverage. 

As with all No. 7 polishes, the consistency of the nail polish is good, and is very easy to apply.

Here are the three polishes so you can compare colours...

Crave Me by No. 7

Coral by Barry M

Copacabana by Nails Inc

Looking at these photos I think I prefer Copacabana on my skin tone.  But Crave Me definitely wins hands down for a toenail colour, I will definitely wearing it a lot this summer (whether we have one or not!!).

Which do you prefer?

Next up is something slightly different.  Once again I have been buying more nail polish (I can't help it!!) and before I leave the C's behind forever, I have three different polishes starting with C which I need to try.  All will be revealed soon...
Until then,
Lealea x

Cranberry Zest by Rimmel

This polish is part of the I Love Fruities collection.  It has a slight fruity smell after it has dried, although I wouldn't say it smells of cranberries, just an odd chemical fruity smell.  I'm not sure that I would buy the polish just for the smell gimmick, I just happened to really like the colour.

The colour is a deep cranberry pink, a colour I think would suit a lot of skin tones.  I feared because it was a deep pink it might make my skin look pale, but it doesn't actually.  It would even look good with a tan I think.

The polish is really easy to apply, Rimmel's brushes are nice and wide which make it easy to apply a coat in a couple of strokes.  The consistency of the polish is great, not too thin or too thick.  The only issue I found was that the brush seemed to make odd stroke marks on my nails, as if they were ridged, but that smoothed out when the polish began to dry.  Odd.

Hopefully this polish will last longer than the previous Barry M.  It does say "Lasting Finish", not sure how long that is supposed to be though!

Next up is the long awaited end of the C's - Crave Me by No. 7.
Until then,
Lealea x

Coral by Barry M

This was one of my first ever purchases of nail polish from Barry M.  I bought it on a shopping trip with my mother-in-law about 3 years ago and I remember the look of horror she gave me when I said I loved this bright orange colour.  I don't think its a colour that she would ever contemplate wearing!

I don't think the orange colour is too in your face, its just a nice shade of coral/orange.  My only complaint, and I don't remember it always being like this (maybe its just getting old) but two coats is just not enough and you can see the whites of my nails underneath the polish.  Is this just something that happens to me or do other people get this and find it annoying too? 

I also found that this chipped really easily and I took it off after two days as it had chipped of my index finger and I can't bear to wear chipped polish so had to remove it.

Overall I do like the colour, although it is very similar to Copacabana by Nails Inc and Crave Me by No. 7 (to be worn soon).  Once I've worn Crave Me, I'll let you know which of those I preferred.

Next up though is Cranberry Zest by Rimmel.
Until then,
Lealea x

Jubilee Nails

In honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Jubilee picnic I was invited to where I was only allowed to wear red, white and blue I decided to paint my nails to match the occasion.  Luckily I had just the two polishes in mind - Barry M's Blue Magnetic and Burgundy Magnetic. 

I used the magnet from the Blue Magnetic to give the magnetic pattern of the union jack and then alternated red and blue on my fingers using this pattern.

The effect is better on one hand than the other, its easier to use the magnet on my left hand as I am right handed, but no matter, I still like the effect it creates and it worked well for the picnic, to match my Union Jack Scarf and earrings!

Did you do anything special with your nails for the Jubilee?

Next I am back to normal programming with Coral by Barry M.
Happy Diamond Jubilee,
Lealea x

Copper by Barry M

This nail polish was bought a couple of weeks ago when I bought six new polishes from the new Barry M collection.  I saw this one and had to buy it immediately.  It is the most beautiful combination of copper, gold, green and pink/red finely milled glitter - amazing in the bottle to look at.  I was so pleased then that this translated onto the nails, they don't always.  In normal light the colour just looks a copper colour, however in direct sunlight or better yet under artificial light it just sparkles and glitters like gold, its truly gorgeous.

My only complaints about this polish are that the base colour is a bit thin, so it takes a few coats (I put on three) before it becomes truly opaque, and the fact that it would look better on someone with a tan rather than me who is perpetually pale and it seems to make me look even paler.

I can't make up my mind whether this is a good summer colour (if you had a tan it would look amazing!) or whether its more of an autumnal colour.  Whichever it is, I still love it!

Next up I am planning special Jubliee nail art to celebrate the Queens Jubliee so keep your eyes out for that.
See you then,
Lealea x

Copacabana by Nails Inc

I got this nail polish last summer, free with some Dove deodorant from Boots.  There were two different colours to get in The Beauty Collection, this one and a nude colour.  I actually intended to get both (you always need deodorant, right?) but when I went back the second time to get the nude, the offer had ended.  Rubbish!

This colour is a very vibrant orange/coral colour - perfect for the lovely weather we have been having lately.  As with all Nails Inc polishes it applies really easily.  My only bone of contention with this one is that it is slightly thin so you could still see the whites of my nails under two coats of the polish.  I didn't bother with a third coat though, it wasn't obvious enough to need it.

My only problem with this polish was that I only got to wear it for 24 hours.  Due to having out of town guests I found myself with a lot of cleaning to do the day after I put it on, and managed to not only chip the polish off my index finger, but also bend my fingernail back and lift the polish clean off my nail.  Ouch!  So that was the end of that.  It was great while it lasted though!

Next up is a new polish I've not worn before - Copper by Barry M.

Until then,
Lealea x

Bluebell by Nails Inc

This beautiful blue polish came free with June's copy of In Style Magazine.  There were three different colours - a nude, a pink and a blue.  I hunted through several shops before I found one that had anything other than the nude colour.   I must confess that In Style is not a magazine that I normally buy so technically I bought a nail polish for £3.90 with a free magazine thrown in!

This blue colour has a slight hint of light purple in it (hence the name Bluebell).  It actually reminds me of the first coloured nail polish I ever bought which was a light blue from Miss Selfridge back in the middle of the 90's (showing my age now!).  I loved that polish, I felt all rebel like wearing something other than the pinks/reds that my mum always wore.  I remember when it dried up and how upset I was when I threw it away.   This is why I am so glad I managed to track down a magazine with the blue and not the pink polish.

As ever Nails Inc polishes are easy to apply, have a great consistency and don't go streaky.  The polish lasted about four days before it chipped on a couple of nails and I had to take it off.

I do really like this polish, so thumbs up In Style and Nails Inc.

Next up is another freebie Nails Inc polish I have - Copacabana.
Until then,
Lealea x