Fairy Teal by Sally Hansen

I saw reviews of this polish on Youtube and thought it looked like a cute colour.  I couldn't find it in my local Boots so I tracked it down on ebay (many a nail polish bargain to be had on there!).  To be honest I was disappointed with the colour, I expected it to be a bit lighter than what it is, I thought it might be more pastel but its quite dark.

It applied easily enough with the wide Sally Hansen brush, the consistency is good and after two coats it is fully opaque.  I'm just not fully sold on the colour, I think it makes my hands look quite pale.

Up next is another IT polish that I've wanted for a while and not worn yet - Fantasy Fire by Max Factor.  Can't wait to try it!
Until then,
Lealea x

Facets of Fuschia by Revlon

This was the IT polish last Autumn from Revlon, I wanted it as soon as I saw it on the Boots.com website.  The price tag of £6.99 put me off though, I don't like to spend that much on nail polish.  However after several trips to Boots just to stare at it, I finally succumbed and had to buy it.

Its such a shame then, that I was so disappointed with this polish.  The black undercoat is too weak, so you need at least three coats to make it opaque and the fuschia glitter polish just does not stand out enough for my liking.

Its hard to apply evenly as the large pieces of glitter seem to end up either all in one place on your nail or as I found, hanging off the end of your nail.  This was a problem after it dried as the bits of glitter chipped off. leaving small white marks on the ends of my nails, or ragged edges where the glitter had been.

I find with glitter polishes that its so hard to take them off, but I followed a trick I had watched on Youtube to remove this and it worked a charm.  You wrap your nails in a nail polish soaked cotton pad, wrapped up tightly with tin foil and leave for 10 mins (you do look a bit like Edward Scissorhands!).  When you pull the tin foil/cotton pad off, the glitter just slides straight off on the cotton pad.  Magic!  Sadly discovering this trick was probably better than wearing the actual polish.

Next up is Fairy Teal from Sally Hansen.
Until then,
Lealea x

Eyes Like Sapphires by China Glaze

I bought this China Glaze polish from ebay so did not see its true colour until it arrived.  The colour is almost electric blue with fine silver glitter running through it.  The glitter does translate onto your nails, giving them a nice silver sparkle.  I love the colour of this polish and I did get complimented on it whilst I was wearing it.  However it does have a really strong smell when you are applying it, something I have heard about other China Gaze polishes.

I don't know whether its because I bought this on ebay and its old, or whether its this polish but the consistency is rather thick and it was a bit difficult to apply an even coat.  That would be my only complaint about this polish though and it smoothed out ok when I applied a top coat.

This polish marks the end of the "E's" so next up is the start of the "F's" - Facets of Fuschia by Revlon.
Until then,
Lealea x

Endless Possibilities by Revlon

This is another one of my bargain £1 Revlon polishes from Poundland.

In the bottle, the nail polish is lovely.  It is a nude caramel/cappuccino colour with a shimmery golden hue to it.  Shame the golden hue does not translate onto the nails though.  The colour on your nails is slightly darker than a nude but a is very neutral colour.

I think this is a colour you would choose if your own nail colour was not that fantastic and you just wanted a subtle colour on.  It was ok, but I prefer brighter colours on my nails, so I would not class this as one of my favourites.

Next polish is Eyes Like Sapphires by China Glaze.
Until then,
Lealea x

Emerald Green by Barry M

This polish truly is Emerald Green in colour.  Think St Patricks Day green.  The polish is metallic and really is a beautiful colour when applied. 

(Sorry for the rubbish photo, this was taken with my phone camera as I did not have access to my normal camera).

The only complaint I have about this nail polish is that it is quite thick, meaning it was slightly hard to apply consistently across my nails.  I also used my Sally Hansen Insta-Dri topcoat which was already thick and gloopy which did not help when I was dragging this across my not yet dry nails and smudged a couple.  I tried putting some nail polish remover in the top coat bottle to thin it out, but it has done something weird to it and when I applied that thined out version on my other hand, the ends of the nails went cloudy!  Ooops!  It faded though, so all was well in the end.

This colour lasted about three days before I chipped the end of my index finger.  I could have gotten away with it but unfortunately I then went swimming and half the polish on my index finger peeled away in the pool (uh-oh!).  So off it all came.  Still, it was lovely while it lasted!

Next up is Endless Possibilities by Revlon.
Until then,
Lealea x

Effervescent Opal by Revlon

I bought this nail polish for £1 from the local Poundland shop.  £1 for a Revlon nail polish?  Bargain!

In the bottle this polish is beautiful - a pearly pinky purple colour.  It is however really transluscent so when you put it on your nails despite numerous coats it does not go opaque on your nails.  For this reason I would say it will only work if you wear it as the pinky coat for a french manicure or just a couple of coats your nail to give them a pearly sheen. 

(Sorry for the rubbish photo, this was taken on my phone camera as I did not have access to my normal camera).

I can't say that I really like this look, I don't like being able to see my nails under the nail polish colour (whats the point?).  For this reason I did not wear this for long.  If I ever do a french manicure though, I would probably wear it.

Next up is Emerald Green by Barry M.
See you then,
Lealea x

Eel Skin by Sally Hansen

I bought this nail polish for the bargainous (is that even a word?) price of £1.99 from a discounted cosmetics shop in the next town over from me.  Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes usually retail at £6.99 at Boots so £1.99 is amazing value!  The only thing is that the discount shop usually have discontinued polishes but to me thats no bad thing, it means you can get polishes from there which you can't buy in Boots.  I really, really wanted Delphinium by Sally Hansen which I know someone else had bought from there the week before, but it was long gone by the time I got there :(

Anyway, on to the actual polish.  This is a light grey colour, very similar to one I have from Rimmel called Grey Matter.  I am always on the look out for a light grey polish as I think they can look amazing, but I have never found one that is light enough for my liking.  This one included unfortunately.  To me it just looks a bit dull on.  Not light enough to be interesting, not dark enough to be dramatic. 

So not my favourite colour then.  The consistency of the polish is ok, a little thick to apply but it did even out after two coats.  As always the really wide Sally Hansen brushes are great as you only need a couple of swipes to cover the whole nail.

So thumbs down for the colour and the polish itself is ok.  Don't all rush out to buy this at once will you!

Next up is Effervescent Opal by Revlon.
Until then,
Lealea x

Dusky Mauve by Barry M

The last of the D's!  When I first clapped eyes on Dusky Mauve when it was released last year I thought it was such an amazing colour.  Not quite purple, not quite brown, with a purple shimmer running through it.  The polish in the bottle is just amazing when you hold it up to the light.

It is a shame then, that this does not translate that well to your nails.  In dull and artificial light it looks more brown than purple.  Its only when you get it into bright natural light that you can see the purple hints to it.  It does look good in that light, but its a shame its not that way all the time.

I did find that the first coat went on slightly streaky and I don't know whether it was the consistency of the polish or the brush but I also found the second coat left strange brush marks as I was putting it on.  These smoothed out though when it dried.  I found it wore off the ends of my nails in a couple of days, even with a topcoat.

All in all, I'm not sure whether I like this polish or not.  It is unusual, I'll give it that!
Next up is the start of the E's - Eel Skin by Sally Hansen.
See you then,
Lealea x

Dollar by No. 7

This again is a No. 7 polish that I bought last summer during their spend over £5 and get a £5 voucher for No. 7 products.  It worked out at £2 a nail polish - bargain!!  This is a dark green colour, with flecks of very fine green shimmer that give it an overall shimmery look.  The colour is nice although green isn't my favourite colour.  I do find though that it makes my hands look almost dirty, I don't know why (I swear they are clean!), so maybe not the colour for pale people like me.

I do normally love No. 7 polishes with the large applicator brush and great formula.  I was very disappointed with the application of this polish though.  It took three coats to make this polish opaque and given how dark it is, I would have expected better.  It seemed very thin, even after I had shook it up in case it had separated somehow.  I know its a year old, but I have older polishes that have worked better than this.  After three coats it was fine, and it didn't take that much longer to dry with my Sally Hansen Insta-Dri topcoat so I can't complain too much I suppose.

I can't say that is is my favourite colour to wear, although it does make a change to my favoured purples, pinks and blues.

Next up is the end of the D's - Dusky Mauve by Barry M.
Until then,
Lealea x

Disco Ball by Rimmel

Disco Ball is what I call a clear glitter polish.  That is a clear polish with flecks of different colour glitter within it.  This particular polish has a mixture of different sized glitter pieces but is not too chunky.  It is predominantly a mixture of silver, blue and pink glitters and goes very well on top of the Denim from Barry M I have been wearing this week.

The one thing I don't like about these type of glitter polishes is that it is very difficult to get an even coat on all your nails.  It depends on how much glitter you get on your brush and how well it comes off on the nails.  For example on some of my nails there is a lot of glitter, on some there is a small amount, and on some it is on the ends of my nails only, others its closer to the nail bed and not near the ends.  It takes several coats to get it more even and you end up with several coats of polish on before your nails look ok which can take a while to dry.

I can't say I am taken with this glitter look, I don't think its something I would choose to wear on a regular basis.

On that disappointing note I will depart.  Next up is Dollar by No. 7.
Until then,
Lealea x

Denim by Barry M

This is one of Barry M's new nail polish colours.  Its a mixture of blue with silver flecks to give the appearance of denim.  I did not realise until I applied it that it actually dries matt which further adds to the demin look.

The consistency of this polish is great and with one coat only it was completely opaque and no further coats were required.  The only problem with this polish however is that as it dries matt you can't really add a topcoat otherwise it adds shine and removes the matt finish (unless you have a matt finish topcoat which I don't).  So by only having to apply one coat of polish and no topcoat, the polish tends to chip and wear off really easily.  I had chips on my index finger and it was wearing off the ends of a few nails before I had even being wearing it for 24 hours.  A quick touch up solved this problem however and adding a second coat to one nail did not make my polish look uneven.

I did like this polish and the effect it gave, although I'm not sure I like matt finish polishes - I much prefer a shiny look! 

Next up is Disco Ball by Rimmel,
Until then,
Lealea x