Mulberry Shimmer by Miners

This is the last of the three polishes I bought when I did my big Miners order a few weeks ago. I loved the colour of the polish on the website, it looked like a shimmery, burgundy red. In fact the colour comes out more rusty red/brown on your nails which I was slightly disappointed with as I expected it to be redder. The shimmer was nicely translated on the nails but the colour was just not quite right for me.

As with the other two Miners polishes I tried, the formula of this polish was great, the brush was easy to use and it applied easily taking two coats to be opaque. I would not hesitate to recommend checking Miners out.

Next up is Naomi from Andrea Fulerton.
Until then,
Lealea x

Minted by Revlon

Regular readers of my blog will be able to work out that this polish is yet another from the bargain £10 for 10 Revlon polishes I bought from Costco. Minted is a pastel green colour, similar to Mint Green from Barry M, perfect for spring.

It's a shame then that the downfall of this polish is again how thin the formula is. It took three coats to make it opaque and the polish was still streaky and too thick in places which made it uneven and took as age to dry. As the colour is very similar to Mint Green by Barry M, I think I will stick to that one which applies much, much easier.

Next up is Mulberry Shimmer by Miners.
Until then,
Lealea x

Midnight Lavender by Miners

This is another of the three nail polishes I bought when I did my big Miners order a couple of weeks ago. The colour of the polish in the bottle is lovely, a purple heather colour with a silver sheen to it. On the nails it is slightly darker than I was imagining, it was actually a bit of a dull colour when on. It was nice, but had no wow factor for me.

The formula was great, it applied easily in two coats, the brush is easy to use and it stayed on a couple of days without chipping . For £2.99 you can't go wrong with these polishes if you ask me. It's a shame you can't buy Miners products in stores as I think these would be a great rival for Barry M polishes.

Next up is Minted by Revlon.
Until next time,
Lealea x

Lilac Pastelle by Revlon

Yet another one of the bargain Revlon nail polishes to try, this time it's Lilac Pastelle which is one of the colours in Revlons permanent collection I believe. Pastel colours are all the rage this spring (or so I am led to believe) so in wearing this colour I was actually in season for once!  Regular readers of this blog will know that I love all things purple and lilac so I was excited to try this colour. It is a lovely creamy lilac colour, similar to my favourite Berry Ice Cream by Barry M but slightly paler I think.

The main thing that lets this polish down is how thin it is. I had to put three coats on to make it anywhere near opaque and then it took an age to dry and was uneven in its application. I was so disappointed as I have been wanting the polish for ages. I'll be sticking to Berry Ice Cream thanks.

Next up is Midnight Lavender by Miners.
Until then,
Lealea x

Grapefruit Fizz by Revlon

Yet another of my bargain nail polishes from Costco (there will be ten of these in all!). This is part of the Scented Collection. I don't really understand this craze. I can understand not wanting that nail polish smell when painting your nails but its not often that I sniff my nails after they are painted so I don't really see the point. Plus the smell is so artificially sweet, it does kind of smell like grapefruit but its not amazing.

The finish of this polish is similar to that of Gold Coast in that in the bottle it is a beautiful shimmery colour but it is so thin it could not be used as a polish in its own right. It would need to be layered over something else as a top coat to give a nice shimmery depth to another polish. I have two coats on my nails in this photo and you can see straight through it. Again I was disappointed with the formula and the finish. Sorry Revlon.

Next up is Lilac Pastelle by Revlon.
Until then,
Lealea x

Gold Coast by Revlon

This is another one of my bargain £10 for 10 Revlon nail polishes from Costco. A bit of googling reveals that this polish is from the Gucci Westman for Revlon Escapism Collection from Summer 2012. Say that ten times fast if you can! The polish looks beautiful in the bottle, a lovely shimmery gold colour. It's such a shame then that the polish is so thin you hardly get any of that colour on your nails. I was expecting it to take a few coats but I didn't realise that just using this polish alone will not  create an opaque finish. I painted two coats on my nails and its as if I have just added a very thin sheer topcoat on my nails.

I think the polish would actually look nice layered over another just to add an extra dimension of shimmer. However it does not work well on its own. Very disappointing.

Next up is Grapefruit Fizz by Revlon.
Until then,
Lealea x

Gold Glimmer by Avon

I was given this polish by a friend for Christmas. It is a gold glittery crackle polish that is supposed to create a mosaic effect on your nails. I layered this over Dorothy's Shoes from Miners to give what I thought would be a Christmassy effect.

What I found was that the polish did not really separate well and so I did not really end up with a mosaic effect on my nails, rather that I had tried to paint gold over red with a weird end effect. I did not like this polish at all (don't tell my friend!) and it's not one I would chose to use again. Sorry Avon.

Next up is Gold Coast from Revlon.
Until next time,
Lealea x

Dorothy's Shoes by Miners

Miners is not a brand I have ever bought from before. They are available from selected pharmacies or online only so they are not readily available to view. However I have seen makeup from Miners raved about on YouTube so whilst I was making an online order I decided I would try a few of their nail polishes as well. These were £2.99 each so perfect for my budget.

I loved the colour Dorothy's Shoes when I saw it online. It looked like a beautiful shimmering red. In real life it is slightly darker than I imagined but it does have a lovely shimmer to it that does translate well on the nails.



The formula of this polish was really good, the brush was easy to work with and it applied easily. It only took two coats for it to be opaque. All in all I was impressed with the price, the formula and the range of colours they had and would not hesitate to recommend people to check them out.

Next up is Gold Glimmer from Avon.
Until next time,
Lealea x

Demure by Revlon

This is another polish from my bargain £10 for 10 Revlon polishes from Costco. This polish is a muted peachy pink colour, fitting of the name Demure. The colour is nice, but does not have any wow factor about it. However as an everyday colour or for those that just want a polished but muted look, the colour would work well.

The main downside of this polish is that the formula is really thin. I had to use three coats and even then it was still not fully opaque.  It's is for this reason that I did not really like this polish.

Next up is Dorothy's Shoes by Miners.
Until then,

Lealea x

Craving Coral by Revlon

I bought this polish as part of a pack of 10 Revlon polishes from Costco, just after Christmas. The whole pack cost £10 meaning they were £1 per polish. I couldn't leave them on the shelf for that price!

This polish is a reddy orange coral with slight hints of shimmer running through the bottle. It is a very bright vibrant colour which would be nice to wear in the summer and would look good on toes especially.

My main problem with this polish was how thin it was. It took three coats to achieve an opaque finish  which took a long time to dry. I have other corals that only require two coats and are much easier to work with and if this polish had not have been so cheap I think I would have been annoyed at paying full price (Revlon polishes are usually around £6.99) for such a thin formula.

My opinion therefore is that the polish is ok, but the colour is so common I would rather spend less money and buy a polish that quite frankly is better (Coral by Barry M for example).

Next up is Demure by Revlon.
Until then,
Lealea x

Nothing Else Metals by Essie

I've been looking forward to wearing this polish ever since I bought it cheap from xtras-online with the rest of the Mirror Metallic collection from Essie around Christmastime. I love lilacs and all things purple in general so a pale metallic lilac colour is just up my street. I was therefore surprised when I didn't really love this polish on. I'm not entirely sure why, out of all the ones I have tried so far I just preferred Blue Rhapsody, that colour makes your nails look like ice. Nothing Else Metals just doesn't quite compare.

Again the brush and the formula are easy to work with, although like all metallics every brush stroke shows up on your nails so you have to be careful when applying it. It did need two coats as I found the first coat to be slightly streaky.

All I all I liked this polish but I didn't love it.

This is the end of the N's but before I move on to the O's I am going back in time through the alphabet to wear all the Revlon and Miners polishes from A to N that I recently bought. Normal alphabetical polishes will resume after that.

Until next time,
Lealea x

No Shrinking Violet by Revlon

I was sent this polish by a friend in America so I'm not sure it is available in the UK. It's a beautiful purple with silver shimmer running through it, lovely to look at in the bottle. On your nails the silver shimmer does show up slightly under bright lights. As I love all things purple I did like this colour.



I find with Revlon polishes that the formula is a bit thin so it takes a few coats to achieve an opaque coverage and this polish was no exception. The brush is easy to work with though. All in all a nice polish.

Next up is Nothing Else Metals by Essie.
Until then,

Lealea x

No Place Like Chrome by Essie

This is another Essie polish from the Mirror Metallics range which I bought from Xtras-online for a bargain price.  This is a much brighter silver than Nightmare by George although has a similar metallic finish. In certain lights it does look a lot like you have wrapped your nails in aluminium foil. I like it, but for some reason I can't say I love it but I'm not sure why.



I wouldn't say this was a one coat polish as I found the first coat went on slightly streaky but two coats was fine. As with all metallics you can see your brush strokes so a steady hand is required for a good finish. The formula is easy to work with though.

I do like the brightness of this compared to Nightmare by George but if I were paying full price for both, I might steer towards the George polish because you get a similar effect and colour but for much cheaper.

Up next is No Shrinking Violet by Revlon.
Until then,

Lealea x

Nightshade by No. 17

First up, my apologies for my absence, I have been wearing lots of nail polish over the last month, I just have not had time to blog about it. So there will be lots of catch up posts from me over the next couple of weeks.

First up is Nightshade by No. 17. I got this polish as part of a free gift when you spent a certain amount on No. 17 products. It's not a brand I would normally buy from although I do have a few of their polishes that came as part of free gifts.

This polish a shiny black colour which looks better on short nails than long. Black is always a hard colour to pull off on your nails I think as it can make you look very pale. I'm not sure whether I like the colour on me as I am quite pale to start with.

The polish was not that great to apply, I found it very streaky and the brush is not that easy to work with. However it only took two coats to become opaque and it did dry quickly. I can't say I would recommend you rush out and buy this polish, buts is not the worst I have tried.

Next up is No Place Like Chrome by Essie.
Until then,
Lealea x