nails

Here we have Leighton Denny's "Up in the Air" polish, which is a cool toned, slightly lilac silver. Applies beautifully, as all Leighton Denny polishes do, and is fully opaque in two coats. It has a subtle metallic sheen which unfortunately means you do get a few brush marks on the nail if your final coat isn't applied quite thickly and quickly.

Incidentally, I didn't buy this polish myself. If you follow us on Twitter, you might recall that I received a HQHair order containing a smashed bottle of Seche Vite (sob), which I immediately reported to both HQHair and everyone on Twitter. BeautyBay.com, who seem to really have their proverbial finger on the social media pulse, replied to me with an offer of a free polish to cheer me up, as they were in a festive mood. Which was jolly nice of them, and virtually guarantees that next time I need any beauty goodies, I'll be heading towards their site. After all the crappy customer service I've had recently, it's lovely to have some that goes above and beyond, even for an as yet non-customer.

If you'd like to try this out for yourself, you can get it from BeautyBay for £10.

Inspired by MizzWorthy, who has picked up another shade from the range! I don't usually go for colours that are flesh toned (it's paler sans flash) or peachy, but I made an exception for this OPI Designer polish, in Vintage. It has that gorgeous holographic sparkle that's so pretty.

It's also helping me to slightly get over the lack of amazingly blingy glitters on our shores.

Time for a gratuitous close up!


If you'd like to try one of these yourself, you can find them plentifully on eBay from £8 to £16 - the RRP is usually £16.

At the moment, there's one type of product I'm desperately lusting after - the glitter nail polish. And not sparsely glittered, subtle glitter polish, oh no.

On the left we have the Lippmann Collection's Happy Birthday, which contains large multicoloured glitters in a clear base. Blingy, ultra-sparkly, very noticable. And, it seems, impossible to get over here.

On the right, one of Le Chat nails (no, I'd not heard of them either) Disco Tech collection - aptly subtitled "Dare to Wear", in Techno Beat. I've been dribbling over this since Polish or Perish posted swatches. A kind commenter provided me with a shop that'd post them to me - for about $40 (NOT including the polish). Sigh.

Do the Americans have the monopoly on seriously glittery polish? Or are there some available-in-the-UK brands that might satiate my needs here?

There's a Nails Inc sale going on over at SecretSales.com at the moment; only one thing is currently sold out, but I imagine that that'll be changing rather soon.

The large Lucky Dip Box on the left is reduced to £20 from £50. Bit of a bargain. Other items such as smaller sets and single polishes are available, but this isn't the biggest sale I've ever seen, with only 7 items currently available.

Head to SecretSales.com and sign up if you want to take advantage; the sale ends at midnight Thursday.

It's gone decidedly nail-focused around here lately, what with all these freebie Nails Inc shades and Gemma's adventures with Zoya and China Glaze. Here's the latest shade to adorn my nails, Illamasqua's Hectic.

It's a cream finish mid-tone khaki that I purchased over the summer during my first stages of fascination with Illamasqua but only now am I actually getting around to writing about it.

It applies translucent, and unlike its label-mate Muse it does take about three coats to get an opaque finish. Once dried however the lasting, shiny wear is very similar.

The thing I love most about this polish is the unique colour - the fact that it wears so well is just a bonus!

Hectic is available from Illamasqua, prices £12.50 for a 15ml bottle.

This is the first time I've used a China Glaze polish; the formula is quite thin and easily spreadable, but maybe a bit too thin for my liking - I missed my nail a coupla times and painted my cuticles too (oops).

But at least that gave me something to do while waiting for my dentist appointment, hey?

Anyway, this is Raspberry Festival, a very pretty red with tiny tiny raspberry coloured sparkles. It sort of screams FESTIVE at me, but that's probably because the Christmas onslaught has started and I'm a famous scrooge.

UPDATE: This lasted a grand total of one day before it chipped badly enough that I took it off. I'll try it again later this week, maybe it requires a more hardcore topcoat than my current one.

As Sarah posted about a while back, Glamour are giving away Nails Inc polish with their December issue. After reading Sarah's post, I went out and bought a copy - ending up with this gorgeous shade, Shoreditch, and a magazine to read while it dried, for just £2. Bargain.

It's a bright, slightly orangey-pink colour with a cream finish, which to me just says "cheerful". Not a particularly wintery colour, but I know I could do with an injection of summer with all this rain we're having.

Nails Inc polishes are usually £10.50 at NailsInc.com, or from salons and concessions nationwide.

Excuse the ragged and nibbled cuticles, I'm due a proper manicure any day now! As my nails are rather short at the moment (I lopped them off before going on holiday), I decided to go dark. Zoya Freja is a deep gunmetal grey-silver, which is a nice compromise if you don't like to go full-on black on the nails. It goes on beautifully opaque in two coats and dries to a shimmery metallic finish.

I topped that off with some of my Inglot XL6 polish, which didn't work so well on it's own, but looks rather pretty on top of the Zoya base colour.

I buy my lunch from Boots nearly every day at the moment, and I usually pick up something or other I need at the same time. As a result I end up with a wallet full of free £5 No.7 vouchers every time Boots do that promotion. If I get around to using them, it's usually nail polish I buy, as the voucher brings the price down to less than £2.

Although the latest run of the voucher promotion has now expired, another one is sure to be along soon, so I was very interested to see 3 new shades of nail polish added to the range. As well as a deep silver/gunmetal and (I think!) a deep purple colour, there's a shade called Totally Teal.

I happened to be wearing Illamasqua's "Muse" teal polish the day I noticed these, and the colour match between my nails and the look of the colour in the bottle was pretty much dead-on.

I can't imagine the Boots' polish will have the same creamy opacity or lasting power as Muse, but it could prove to be a great value dupe, and No.7 nail polish is usually quite good quality. Keep it in mind for the next £5 voucher promotion!

There are also 3 new glitter eyeliners from No.7, but having seen Gemma's rave about Collection 2000's budget version, I think I'll visit c2000 for my glitter needs.

Here's nails inc's "Victoria" polish as worn on my short nails. It's a very very deep red, though it just about manages not to look brown when worn. A true red-black. This is three coats.

Glamour magazine are giving away Victoria with their December issue along with 3 other shades - Tate (bright red), South Molton Street (neutral pink) and Piccadilly Circus (hot pink). You can see the shades at the nails inc website.

Glamour costs £2, so even if you don't read the magazine this is an £8.50 saving on the RRP of these shades. Worth buying a couple! All shades are boxed, so you could also give them as gifts if you're not a particular fan of the colours.

Leighton Denny make some excellent high-end hand and nail products, and are responsible for probably my favourite ever nail colour - Best Seller. It's a beautiful rich raspberry red colour, with silver and red glitter. It's not too flashy, not too sparkly, applies beautifully, and is almost-opaque in one coat (I always apply two coats for extra depth and sparkle).

Given my recent not-so-hot nail polish experience, one of the absolute best things about this polish is that it lasts. The photo on the left was taken two days in, and although there's a touch of tipwear, there are no chips, and the colour still looks fresh and shiny. Definite win for me.

Leighton Denny nail colours are £9.79 for 12ml from Helen Marks online, or can be found in numerous other places, including high end nail salons.

My second Inglot nail polish purchase was this beautiful creamy pink. It has a sort of beigey-neutral undertone, and in certain lights, looks more mocha than pink on the nail.

Application on this one was OK - the polish is fairly thin and spreadable, but with a teeny tiny brush which requires you to make a number of strokes to get the whole nail evenly covered. This, coupled with the relatively fast drying nature of the polish, means you have to apply a fairly thick layer in order to get decent coverage before it starts drying. I managed to achieve bottle colour in two of these thick coats.

Unfortunately, the wear on this was terrible. Paired with the same top coat and base coat I always use, the first chips set in after just one day, and the picture to the right shows the state of my right hand after two days.

Overall, despite the lovely colour and good drying speed, I'm very unimpressed with this polish, and doubt I'll be trying any more from Inglot's vast range of colours.

If you'd like to try it yourself, you can purchase from the Inglot store at Westfield - as I didn't get a proper breakdown receipt, I can only tell you that 2 polishes and an eyeshadow cost me £22.

On Saturday, I happened to be at Westfield, London's newest shopping centre. It's a bit of a destination for beauty lovers; as well as the multitude of counters available at Boots, Debenhams and House of Fraser, there's a freestanding MAC store, and also an Inglot store. While I managed to avoid the counters and the MAC store, I'd never tried any Inglot stuff before, and that made it hard to resist!

Inglot is a Polish brand and I'd probably describe them as being much like MAC, in that they stock a wide range of shades in both face and colour cosmetics, but at a slightly less expensive price point. One of the things I picked up was a nail enamel in XL6 - a milky clear colour with lots and lots of blue/green/yellow glitter. I had trouble choosing even two shades from the range of polish - literally, there must have been hundreds of colours laid out, including some oh-so-fashionable matte shades.

The polish, once applied to my nails, had a disappointingly sparse glitter effect. In the photo to the right here, I've layered 4 coats to get a more sparkly effect (so difficult to photograph!), but unfortunately that seems to have left my nails with a slight yellow tinge under the glitter. I was also surprised that what seems to be a topcoat dried down with very little shine.

This shade, I think, will be nice layered on top of other colours, but it won't give me the solid-glitter, ultra-sparkly look I was hoping for. Still, the texture of the polish was smooth and easy to apply and the sparkle pretty, so this is a bit of a mixed result.

Unfortunately Inglot gave me only a combined receipt, and they don't have a UK website yet, so I can only advise you that two nail enamels and an eyeshadow cost me £22 at Inglot Westfield.

Recently, I decided to give Rimmel London's LycraPro nail polish a road test. It purports to last for up to 10 days, with a long-wearing and chip resistant formula.

Did it last 10 days? No. The picture below, which shows a fair few chips, was taken two days after application. I applied two coats, over a base coat, and added a thin layer of topcoat.

However, while this polish doesn't impress on longevity, it does impress on application. A maxi brush is included for "mistake-free application", and indeed, the width of the brush does make applying the polish very easy - you can paint most of the nail in one quick stroke. Plus, this colour, which is #307, Grape Sorbet, is a very pretty slightly metallic rose.

So, even though this product doesn't live up to it's long wearing claims, it still has its good points. If you're interested in trying it out for yourself, you can get it from all Rimmel stockists; I got mine from Boots, where it's £4.49 for 12ml.

Well, too bad you've just missed them! Held in London, the Nailympics - previously called Nail Olympics- ended last week. Apparently this competition attracted 354 contestants from 24 different countries and takes place every year! It looks nuts but at least you have an excuse not to do the dishes with those things!

Just a quick note to spread the word that Flashy Nails, who supply Diamond Cosmetics polishes and various Konad stuff, are closing down - prompting a sale in their remaining stock.  If you've ever wanted to try Diamond Cosmetics polishes, this is a good time to snap up a few shades at a good price - £1.50 for single shades, or packs of 6 polishes at £7.  Bargain.

I've snapped up six dark shades for just £7, which includes a matte shade - not something I'm usually keen on, but I'll give it a go!  Postage was a reasonable £3 - a tenner for six polishes is pretty good in my book!

This is OPI's Past, Present and Fuschia, which is a deep, vibrant fuschia with a hot pink and blue flash.  I was quite scared of it in the bottle; it looked very loud, and I was a bit worried I end up with 80s nails.  On the nail, though, it's bright, but not excessively so, and very cheerful.

This polish has OPI's Pro Wide brush.  If you've not had the pleasure of using an OPI with this kind of brush - it's an extra wide brush with plenty of bristles, and with it, it's pretty easy to cover most of the nail in one stroke.  Love it.  If all polishes came with a brush like this, I'd be one happy lady.

Now, the photo above makes the polish look a bit more rose toned than it appears in daylight - it's been very hard to photograph.  The photo to the right is the closest I could get to how it looks in real life.

If you love this colour and want to grab it for yourself, you can find it in a set with two more subtle pinks at QVC, where three polishes will cost you £24.

This is Essie's Spaghetti Strap, a pale pink cream which is just sheer enough to let the whites of the nail shine through for a French effect, while being opaque enough to even out the colour of the nail bed.

It's a very grown up colour.  So much so that I've been peering at my fingertips a lot whilst wearing it - I'm much used to brights and glitter, so this level of sophistication is not something I'm used to!  I can imagine this would be a fantastic wedding colour, and is also appropriate for interviews or for work.

This is my first Essie; the formula is smooth, of medium thickness, and very easy to apply.  The polish is spreadable and two coats provided a very even finish.  Wear is pretty decent - two days later and I can't really see any tipwear, even if I look closely.  That said this is a pale and fairly natural colour, and shades like these disguise tipwear very well.  I will definitely be trying out more Essie polishes.

Also, mental note - keep cuticle oil on desk and stop nibbling fingers when concentrating.

If you'd like to grab a bit of grown up sophistication for yourself, you can find this polish at BeautyBay.com for the reasonable price of £7.50 for 15ml, which is a nice mid-end price - cheaper than OPI, but better quality than cheaper high street brands.

Would you wear this colour?  Is the French manicure look passe or is it still a classic?

After several years as a niche brand catering particularly to women with dark skintones, Sleek have branched out and become a major drugtore player with shades to suit anyone/everyone. Perhaps their best-known product is the i-Divine palette, but there's plenty more tricks up their sleeve. They're busily expanding their range, and the "Nailed" polishes are the latest addition.

I picked up "Turquoise" (aka shade 19), one of 30 bright, classic and neutral shades available from the range. My local Superdrug only had a handful and this was easily the standout, but after perusing the shades on the website, I'm also tempted by the bright orange "Burnt Amber" and greigey "Truffle" colours they're offering.

The brush that comes with the bottle is pretty standard - it's not one of those user-friendly flattened brushes, unfortunately, but it does an OK job. The formula, with "Turquoise" at least, is thick to the point of gloopy, and very tricky to apply without dragging or leaving an uneven finish. Sleek say that "Nailed" polishes "provide complete coverage with only one stroke", but I'm afraid that as far as I can see this is a massive fib. It took me three coats to get a reasonably even, opaque result.

Hard work pays off however - this is one of the longest-wearing nail polishes I've ever owned. It actually stayed on long enough that I started to see bare patches by my cuticles where it had started to grow out. You may be able to see this in the second photo, which was taken after four days of wear. Pretty much unheard of for me (except on my toenails). I'm extremely impressed to get this result from a £3.49 polish.

You can buy the full range of nail colours direct from the Sleek website at £3.49 each. Sleek is also available from Superdrug, however the Nailed polishes are not currently on the website. (You can find them in stores though.)

I've recently really been digging cream finish polishes, so the almost metallic shimmer on this beautiful ocean turquoise shade is making for a really refreshing change. This is my first go with a Revlon polish, and as I'd heard, the formula is pretty fantastic.  This photo was taken after three days wear, and there's virtually no tipwear and no chipping whatsoever.

Application was lovely too - the polish is fairly thin, easy to spread, and while it took three coats to get full opacity, it dried pretty quickly with no bubbles, streaking or bumps.

Interestingly, this polish, which was part of Revlon's Scent of Summer collection, is scented when dry.  The fragrance reminded me of the Oceanus perfume I used to love from the Body Shop, and it's quite noticeable when the polish is just dry.  It does fade pretty quickly though, which is a good thing - I'm sure I would have attracted some strange looks if I'd spent the entire weekend sniffing my nails.

Unfortunately, while I can find info on the whole Scent of Summer collection, I can't find out if anywhere in the UK actually stocked these polishes.  I will do my best to find one - in the meantime though, if you'd like to try this one for yourself, beg an American buddy to help you out!