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