Me! Me! Me! by No. 7

I bought this polish recently with a No. 7 £5 off voucher so the polish cost me £2.  It is a bright creamy pink colour, very Barbie-esque.  I loved the creamyness of the colour in the bottle and it does translate the same on the nails.

As with all No. 7 polishes it has a wide brush for easy application and the formula was great.  Creamy polishes are usually easy to apply and only take a couple of coats to achieve an opaque finish.  My only complaint about this polish was that it chipped on my nails after 24 hours of wear and I had to touch up the ends on a couple of nails to cover up the chips.  Other than that, I do really like this polish.

Next up is Milan by No. 7.
Until then,
Lealea x

Marron Glace by Mavala

I bought this polish in a set with another Mavala polish - Aquamarine.  It was in the reduced makeup items section in Boots and cost me £5 for the whole set.  Mavala is not a polish I had ever tried before but I did like the Aquamarine so I bought the set.

Marron Glace is a brown/grey colour with a shimmer running through it.  It is very similar to Commander in Chic from Sally Hansen but with the added shimmer.  Its not a colour I would be immediately drawn to however, a bit dull and boring if you ask me.

The polish applies ok, a bit streaky on the first coat.  On the strength of trying this polish, I would not rush out to buy more Mavala polishes, unless I saw one in a colour I absolutely had to have. 

Overall the polish is ok, nothing special.

Next up is Me! Me! Me! by No. 7.
Until then,
Lealea x

Mardi Gras by Jessica

I got this nail polish for free after I had a mani/pedi at a spa on holiday last year.  I did not realise I was getting the bottle given for free until after I had picked the colour, but I was really pleased that I had picked this, as at the time I had no polishes in a vivid orange/red colour in my collection.  A large bottle of Jessica nail polish will set you back approximately £9 - £10, so this mini bottle should have been worth about £5.

The orange colour is so bright and vivid, the polish applies really easily and is opaque within two coats.  It looks more red in the photo than it actually goes in real life.  I also have this polish on my toes and it looks amazing whatever your skin colour.  I think this is the type of colour everyone should have one of in their collection.

Next up is Marron Glace by Mavala.
Until then,
Lealea x

Magenta Glitter by Barry M

I bought this nail polish at the same time as I bought Aqua Glitter by Barry M.  As you may know from my review of the Aqua Glitter, I thought that this polish would apply like the Red and Blue Glitters, in that they contain nail colour and glitter, but both the Aqua Glitter and the Magenta Glitter are just high concentrate glitter polishes with a clear base.  Therefore you need a good base colour under them, otherwise it takes forever to build up enough layers of glitter on your nails to cover your nails.  I did not layer anything underneath the Magenta Glitter and so it took four coats to build up some coverage before I gave up. 

The colour itself is lovely, a nice Magenta colour which has a purply appearance.  I'm sure the effect over a base colour such as Barry M's Raspberry or a violet colour would look amazing.  However note that as with all glitter polishes it takes forever to remove unless you use the nail polish/tin foil trick. 

I would maybe wear this polish for a night out, but not necessarily as an every day colour.

Next up is Mardi Gras by Jessica.
Until then,
Lealea x

Lilac Foil by Barry M

This is a limited release polish that I think was only available in Superdrug (or was it Boots?) sometime last year.  As I love all things purple, I just had to make sure I bought it.  This is a metallic foil lilac colour, very pretty on the nails.

The only problem I had with this polish was that it was difficult to apply evenly and you can see every brush mark made on my nails.  However this can only really be seen at close up range, and from a distance the effect of the metallic polish looks really good.

If you like metallic polishes, I would suggest hunting this down on ebay, it is a lovely polish.

This polish marks the end of the L's - next up is the start of the M's with Magenta Glitter by Barry M.
Until then,
Lealea x

Lilac - Magnestised by No. 17

As you know if you regularly read my blog, I do really like the effect of magnetised polishes.  This is one of the first ones I bought when No. 17 released their range at christmas last year, however I never got chance to try this one out and so I was quite excited to try this colour. 

The colour is a dark metallic purple of which the magnetised part almost goes black to give the striped effect.  Having not tried this polish since I bought it 9 months ago, I don't know whether the consistency of the polish was thick when I bought it, or it has degraded since its been sat in a drawer, but the polish was difficult to apply.  It was uneven and very thick.  This made the magnet very hard to use and on a couple of nails, there was hardly any magnetised effect. 

Also, given that Barry M have since brought out magnets which make different patterns, the wavy pattern made by all the No. 17 magnetised polishes seems quite boring.  Overall I was disappointed with this polish, with both the colour and its application.

Next up is Lilac Foil by Barry M.
Until then,
Lealea x

Lemon Drop by Rimmel

This polish is part of Rimmel's "I love Fruities" range, which are scented polishes.  This one smells of lemons (hence the name!).  The colour is a very pale lemon yellow, a colour that in my opinion should really be worn in the summer on people with a tan. 

The scent does linger on the nails for a couple of days and really does smell like lemons (although its a chemical lemon smell, a bit more like scented kitchen cleaner than actual lemons).  The polish is easy enough to apply, although it did take around three coats to achieve an even coverage and even then the polish was not truly opaque.  I would say that yellow is not a favourite colour of mine to wear as I don't think that it suits my colouring.  Still, the scented gimmick is interesting and certainly is better than the usual nail polish smell!

Next up is Lilac - Magnetised by No. 17.
Until then,
Lealea x

Lavender Hexagons by Barry M

This is another glitter polish that I bought last year when I was going through a glitter phase.  The polish is a clear consistency with minute particles of silver glitter mixed in with large purple hexagons of glitter.  This is not a polish to wear on its own and so I layered this polish over the top of the Lavender Cloud by Sally Hansen that I was wearing.

Once again with these glitter polishes I found it hard to apply the larger pieces of glitter evenly across the whole nail.  The minute particles of silver glitter really showed up and looked great, but the larger hexagons just didn't work for me.  I used two coats and still found it difficult to get an even look.  Its not a look I would choose to wear again.

Next up is Lemon Drop by Rimmel.
Until then,
Lealea x

Lavender Cloud by Sally Hansen

I bought this colour from ebay in a set with another Sally Hansen polish that I really wanted.  This is not a colour I would normally choose to wear, its a very pastel lavender colour, almost white.  The polish has a creamy consistency and just really reminds me of tipex.  Not a look I would normally go for on my nails.

As ever the Sally Hansen brushes are easy to use as they are wide with long handles.  The consistency of the polish was ok, although I used three coats and polish was still not completely opaque.

Overall I do not really like this polish and its not a colour that I would encourage people to go out and buy (unless you really like the look).

Next up is Lavender Hexagons by Barry M.
Until then,
Lealea x

Lagoon by Marks and Spencer

I bought this polish last christmas when Marks and Spencer were doing a buy one get one half price offer on makeup.  Marks and Spencer is not somewhere I would normally shop (let alone for makeup) but I had heard good things about their range so decided to check it out.  They had some great colours at the time and I especially loved this colour which is a bright, sparkly blue.

The consistency of these polishes are great, two coats covered my nails fully.  The brush is easy to use and the polish was easy to apply.  I really like this polish and looks great on my nails, such a pop of colour.

Next up is Lavender by Sally Hansen.
Until then,
Lealea x

Knockout Red by No. 17

I got this nail polish free in a No. 17 offer (buy so much and get some makeup free - I think it was an eyeliner, eyeshadow and nail polish set).  The polish is from their Fast Finish range so is supposed to be dry in 60 seconds.  The colour is a pillar box red which is nice although I think should be worn on shorter nails so as to not look like a 1960's secretary!

Although the colour is nice I had an awful time applying this polish.  Although the polish is not new (probably 18 months old or so) I would not expect it to have degraded that much yet.  However the consistency of this polish was very thick and because it is fast drying, it was actually drying faster than I could apply it to my nails.  This meant that if I did not apply the whole thing in one stroke, the polish would clump and bobble together with the next stroke giving an extremely uneven finish and on some nails, chips and pieces missing.  It was only when I added a topcoat that it smoothed everything out, although some nails are far from perfect.  For this reason I do not rate this polish at all. 

Furthermore it chipped off the end of one of my nails not more than 12 hours after I had applied it.  Not impressed at all.

Well that was the end of the K's (that was fast!) so onto the L's next with Lagoon from Marks and Spencer.
Until then,
Lealea x

Kismet Elated by Sinful Colors

I bought this polish from a cheap make up shop at the beginning of this year.  Sinful Colors is not regularly available in this country so I only have few in my collection.  This colour is very hard to describe, its like a russet pink metallic colour, very unusual.  I can't quite decide whether I like it or not.

The problem I found with this polish is that again it is very thin which is a problem I have found with a lot of the other Sinful Colors polishes.  However the polish is very cheap so you can't always expect amazing quality and get what you pay for.  The brush is good and allows you apply the polish easily enough.  I applied three coats with this polish and it is mostly opaque on my nails.

All in all, for the price of the polish it is good, although I would not tell you to rush out and buy this colour immediately.

Next up is Knockout Red by No. 17.
Until then,
Lealea x

Jester by George

This polish is a bright red colour with tiny fine flecks of red sparkle glitter running through it.  The polish is lovely looking in the bottle and the fine flecks of glitter do translate onto your nails giving them a lovely effect (not glittery but not flat colour). 

My only complaint about this polish is that it is again very very thin.  I added four coats onto my nails and it was still not opaque on my nails.  The size and shape of the George bottles are very similar to the small bottles of no. 7 polishes, but the consistency and coverage is slightly thinner.  The price of these polishes at £1.75 - £2 a bottle is great though, so I would put up with having to apply slightly more coats.

This polish concludes the end of the J's - onto the K's next with Kismet Elated by Sinful Colors.

Until then,
Lealea x