Models Own–Purple Grey

So the first polish I decided to try from my recent Models Own haul was the coveted Purple Grey which has been compared to Chanel Paradoxal and dubbed as the ‘must have’ shade for Autumn/Winter. Now, I don’t have the Chanel polish but I have to say I LOVE this colour!
It is a brown, purple, grey mix which looks different in every type of light! At its best it looks like it does in the picture above, a gorgeous deep purple with a hint of grey. In the shade it looks more purpley-brown, as below…
This polish applied well with two coats and was a nice consistent formula. What do you think of this shade? I think it’s a love it or hate it colour! Do you have Paradoxal? Comment and let me know your thoughts!
Also – just to let you guys know I will be away for the next 2 weeks I am going to the USA! I’m hoping to get my hands on a few goodies so look out for my haul post when I am back! 

Blue Leopard

As mentioned in one of my previous posts, I loved the mani that Gem Fatale got at the Models Own/WAH nail pen launch night. So I decided to try and re-create it on myself. I don't think I did too bad!I used H&M Blue My Mind, which applied brilliantly and only needed one coat! I really need to get my hands on some more H&M polishes, I also like the new bottles. Here is a pic of the polish on its own...
I LOVE this colour! Next I applied a layer of Rimmel's Matte Topcoat. I applied the leopard pattern using GOSH's Black Passion and a cocktail stick!(With Flash) Black Passion is a black polish with tiny bits of shimmer in so it added a little bit of sparkle to the look. Let me know what you think!

Models Own–Pink Fizz

I have a love-hate relationship with Models Own glitter polishes. The love part being that I think they look awesome on and the hate part being that they are a nightmare to remove! Despite that, I finally got my hands Pink Fizz and gave it a go this week. The fact that they are tough to get off means they stay on really well and this polish has worn very well with no chips and very little tipwear. This is a light pink/silver heavy glitter polish which is actually very wearable for both day and night. I love how good the coverage is for this polish and this was after 3 coats (over just a clear base coat). I would have Scarlet Sparkle to show you all but unfortunately the bottle smashed on its way to me, so I’ll need to try and get hold of another bottle!

Models Own Nail Pens

Models Own have teamed up with WAH Nails to create some nail art pens in black and white – you can see some pics of the launch event over at the Models Own blog – my absolute favourite mani has to go to Gem Fatale, adorable!

(Pic from Models Own facebook page)

These go on sale on the Models Own website from 15th November – no confirmation of the price yet. So what do you think of this? Will you be getting your hands on these?

MUA Swatches

I thought I’d do some swatches of the Superdrug £1 MUA range polishes that I have purchased.

Shade 1 – Navy glitter
With flash:

Without Flash:This is actually quite a pretty polish, it definitely needs two coats as it looks a pretty gross colour after the first coat! This reminds me of Christmas and is a perfect colour for Winter. The specks of glitter are quite hard to make out when not under light, so it looks more like the picture without flash in real life.

Shade 3 – Dusty Fuchsia
With Flash:

Without Flash:

I LOVE this colour! It is a very inoffensive and wearable shade of pink and I don’t have another polish like this. This was two coats but looking at the pictures I think it could have done with three.

Shade 4 – Coral
With Flash:

Without Flash:

I actually bought this polish a while back and wore it a lot over summer. It is a really pretty coral colour and I do love a good coral polish! I have a few in my collection but this is definitely one of my favourites as it is a perfect mix of orange and pink. This polish had the best consistency of the three I swatched and I used two coats.

These polishes don’t last that long without chipping but for £1 per polish, you can’t really go wrong. Slap on a top coat and you’ll get a few days wear out of them so go for it!

Zoya–buy one get one free

Unfortunately this is not much use to us UK-ers as Zoya.com do not currently ship to the UK, boo! But those of you in the US may be interested to hear that Zoya are currently offering a BOGOF offer using the code ‘BOGO5’ at the checkout. This is valid until 5th November, full t&c’s can be found here. I am yet to get my hands on a Zoya polish, but there are some gorgeous shades available…maybe one day. Happy shopping!

P.s...Happy 1st November - pinch, punch first day of the month!

Superdrug Haul

So I caved when in Superdrug this week and I saw the Barry M
2 for £5 offer and they had the much talked about ‘Crackle Polish’…so of course I had to purchase!

For some reason I didn’t get a fancy gold lid like I have seen on some other blogs but I did pick up Raspberry too which is a really pretty dark pink. Swatches coming soon!
I also noticed that my local branch has started stocking the MUA range so I picked up a couple more shades to try out…
Shade 1 (L) is a navy blue glitter and shade 3 (R) is a dusky fuchsia . I am soon planning to do a swatching session of these and the MUA polishes I picked up a while ago!

P.s - do you like my new layout?

The Internet Is Really, Really Great…

Today one my my favourite West End shows is closing – Avenue Q. Well it is going on tour actually, but it is leaving the West End after 5 years. I have seen the show 4 times in 3 years and will be going to the last show this evening. In honour of this, I decided to try and dedicate my nails to the show today…ta da…I used Miners Photo Finish shade 34 (which I have had far too long) and Special FX Black nail pen. I then did a topcoat of Rimmel Pro Matte Finish.If you haven’t seen the show – you should definitely try and catch the tour!
In other news…my Models Own order arrived!L-R: Peach Sherbet, Purple Grey, Grace Green, Vintage Pink & Purple Ash. Cannot wait to get these polishes on my nails!Have you seen Avenue Q? Do you have any of these Models Own shades, let me know your faves!

Boots No7 - Help!

So I need your help...I have a few of those wonderful £5 off Boots No7 vouchers but can you guys recommend some nice shades to me? Over the past few months I've got my hands on Beanie, Heather and Night Silver so let me know if you can recommend any...

OPI Barefoot In Barcelona

I have been meaning to get this polish for a long time now and I finally managed to get my hands on it last week! I got it along with a few other polishes that I ordered from ASOS but this had to be the first one to go on!

As usual with OPI, this polish went on nicely with two coats and lasted a good 4-5 days before starting to chip. The colour is such a pretty warm brown colour and I have had lots of nice comments whilst wearing it too! Looking forward to doing a few comparisons with this too. I adore this polish and can see myself wearing it a lot in the future, recommend to you all

Models Own: I Did It!

So I finally bit the bullet and ordered my favourites from the new Models Own collection, I took advantage for their 'buy 5 save £7' deal (I'm such a sucker for a bargain) and ordered 3 from the 'Car Key' collection plus 2 other shades that I've been lusting after for a while! My order came to £18 in total plus free delivery so that is only £3.60 per polish...so I keep telling myself! Anyway hopefully my order will be here sometime next week so I shall leave you in suspense until then and I can show off the colours I ordered :)

Non Nail News

While I sit here deciding whether to apply Pink Fizz or Blue My Mind, I wanted to introduce a new idea I’ve been thinking about called ‘Non Nail News’. Basically every now and then I will blog about a random topic/product/tv show that I am loving. Don’t worry, the majority of my posts will still be nail related but I just thought this would be fun so you guys can get to know me and I get to know you!

So this week I am LOVING…

I have just finished Season 2 and am totally hooked! After a slow start for the first few episodes, it all went crazy and I was gripped. I think Stephen Moyer is great so I love Bill but I am still not sure about Eric…If you have never seen this show then I urge you to give it a go, I think Season 2 is currently airing on Channel 4 in the UK. I’ve heard Season 3 is even better…I think I might explode!

"Don't say UH-OH! Vampires do NOT say UH-OH!"

OPI My Big Break

This polish is a gorgeous purpley-pink colour with green/silver sparkles, which actually doesn’t come across very well when photographed.

As expected from OPI the formula is nice and I particularly like the brushes on OPI polishes as they seem a bit bigger than normal and this makes foreasier application! This shade took a good 3 coats to get a decent coverage and not a bad drying time. I have also included another photo that gives a better idea of the ‘sparkles’

On another note, how amazing is the new Car Key collection from Models Own?!

I can see myself ordering Grace Green, Purple Ash, Garnet and Vintage Pink in the not so distance future <3

Has anyone got their hands on any of these yet? Any favourites, recommendations?

Let me know!

GREY MATTEr

Hey everyone, I am back! I had to have a break from this blog due to a few reasons one of them being that my camera broke so I was unable to post any pics. Anyway I have a new camera now and ready to share more polish love with you all!
I am so excited about this NOTD look, I recently purchased the Rimmel PRO Matte Finish Mattifying topcoat with my trusty Boots points and have been dying to try it out! I decided to partner this with a polish which has been occupying space in my drawer for a while now but I have never gotten around to actually wearing it. (I’ve a feeling this will change after today!)
I have always loved Grey polish on other people, so when I saw this beauty in H&M for £2.99 (I think!) I had to snap it up. Enter ‘Miss Stone Heart’. This went on really nicely and was wearable after just one coat. It also dried surprisingly quickly. Here is a shot of the polish pre-matte topcoat…
I do have one other H&M polish, but I am not too keen on the colour but this has really encouraged me to try a few more shades! Anyway, now for the moment of truth…I applied a generous amount of the matte top coat on and voila!

I think this is my new favourite!! Looking forward to trying some other polishes with the matte top coat as I am really impressed with it so far.
How is everyone anyway? Have you tried any matte polishes or top coats before? Let me know what you think!
Speak soon

No7 Beanie

I decided to buy this polish after seeing a review on another blog and the name stuck in my head, so when I went to Boots to use my magical £5 off No7 voucher I decided to give it a go.

My first impressions weren’t great as the formula was particularly thick and hard to work with, resulting in quite a lot of lumps and bubbles. 

So unfortunately, due to this the colour didn’t even last 24 hours on my nails. But I am willing to forgive and forget and give it another go sometime. I only have one other No7 nail polish and that one has a great formula (note to self: must do a NOTD for that polish) so hopefully application will be a smoother with Beanie next time I use it.

Apart from this, it is a really nice, subtle and unique shade which is not quite brown and not quite grey. I don’t usually go for neutral colours but this could be the start of something new. I am still searching for the perfect nude polish though!

Anyway let me know what you think of No7 Beanie or if you have it/have another No7 polish with questionable consistency!

NOTD - MUA Shade 14

Sorry it’s been a while, I’ve been away with work for a few days so have been unable to update!

Just wanted to share the MUA shade which I have given a try so far – Shade 14 (the red coloured polish from my ‘haul’ pic).

I was quite pleasantly surprised with the way it went on, it was quite a thick consistency and the brush is quite large so took a bit of getting used to. It only took two coats to get a decent coverage and it lasted very well, I had to do a slight re-touch after a few days but apart from that I was relatively impressed.

I do have a million different shades of red polish, but I like the pretty gold fleck effect in this one, which is not very visible in the first pic, but this pic shows it better…

I am still yet to get around to trying the other three MUA polish I purchased, so I will let you know my opinion on those when I get round to it.

 

Have a few more NOTD looks to come as I have a bit of a backlog now! Glad to be back though :)

Pure – Grape Wine

I’ve never used this brand before, so thought I’d give them a go as I really liked this deep subtle purple shade.

It went on quite well, if not a little too thick but it was very easy to cover brush strokes and only needed one coat really but I went over most of them again with a second coat. This picture was taken last night when I did them, I put a flower nail art sticker on my index finger and a little dragonfly on my little finger… 

 

 

 

 

It looks more red in that picture than it really is, so I took another one in daylight which gives a better idea of the colour. It is such a lovely deep purple colour that pops in the sunlight. It almost looks brown in the shade but it’s still a pretty brown!

I will be looking out for some more PURE polishes as I was quite impressed with this one and I will let you know how it wears.