Seche Fast Dry One Coat NOTD - Signature

If you are a nail polish enthusiasts, you are bound to know about Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. If not, please familiarise yourself because it is one of the bestselling top coats on the market. Now it was really only a matter of time until Seche would enter the world of nail colour. And, ta-da, in October 2012 Seche launched their very own collection of Seche Nail Lacquers in 33 beautiful colour options. The Fast Dry One Coat polishes promise to deliver full colour opacity in just one coat and to dry quickly and down to a naturally shiny finish.

Lucky me received aSeche - The Fast Dry One Coat nail polish in the shade Signature as part of my December Glossybox. Here is my recent NOTD:

Signature is described as a True Red Crème - £9.95 (14ml). I really liked the formula of this nail polish, smooth and it did dry quite fast. It definitely leaves a nice shiny finish which meant I skipped on a top coat – easy peasy! :) The shade is very much a true red which is vibrant yet classic and elegant.

Have you tried one of the Seche - Fast Dry One Coat Nail Lacquers yet?

Deborah Lippmann - Razzle Dazzle NOTD

Christmas is just around the corner and every part of me is getting in the festive spirit...even my nails!
Nothing screams Christmas to me like glitters so I decided to add a bit of sparkle to my look with this recent nail of the day.


I got this Deborah Lippmann polish as part of last years December Glossybox. Razzle Dazzle contains lots of cranberry coloured glitters in a blackened raspberry jelly base. The base is quite sheer which did mean it took three coats to achieve full opacity. The varnish applied smoothly and drying time is super quick but when the polish dried it was a little grainy so I added a layer of Seche Vite topcoat to smooth it out.

Above photo is with flash. It was hard to properly capture the glitter and how they catch the light in these photos but I have to say I loved rocking these festive sparkly nails. Overall I really liked Razzle Dazzle and I am now very keen try some more Deboral Lipmann nail polishes.

For example check out these two lovely limited edition 2012 holiday sets!

ROCK THIS TOWN set which includes: Moon Dance (deep lavender swirl glimmer), Chain Reaction (dirty brass glimmer) and Phoenix Rising (foxy copper glimmer).

SHE'S ALWAYS A WOMAN mini set which includes: Putty in your hands (putty taupe creme), Raspberry Beret (flecked berry) and My Prerogative (royal blue creme)

Deborah Lippmann nail polishes retail at £14 each sold in House of Fraser online and in selected stores. 

Have you tried any Deborah Lippmann nail polishes before?

ESSIE - Mamba NOTD

Mamba by Essie is one of the nail polishes I picked up when I was in New York but have to say I am still a bit undecided about this shade. Part of their 2011 Spring collection, Essie describes Mamba as a “shimmering café au lait” but I personally think it is more of a warm peachy nude colour with a brown undertone. The polish has a very slight shimmer and the formula is creamy and goes opaque in two coats.

Mamba is a great natural polish that is suitable for every season and appropriate with work or casual wear. However as the shade is quite peachy and a bit similar to my skin-colour I actually think Mamba would look best on people with either really fair or darker skin tones. Overall I’d say it is a good every day nude polish but at the moment OPI’s Tickle my France-y remains my holy grail nude nail polish!

What do you think – do you like the look of Mamba?

LOOK Beauty - Nail Pop in City NOTD

Did you know that UK LOOK magazine has their very own high street make-up range called LOOK Beauty; which is designed, tested and worn by the beauty brains from the magazine? Their collection contains lots of great products for your eyes, face, lips and nails and prices start from only £4 for say an eyeshadow and go up to £18 for a Glow, Bronze and Sculpt Kit. Plus a donation a donation will be given to their cancer charity, Look Good, Feel Beter, for every LOOK Beauty product sold.

The people at LOOK Beauty send me one of their Nail Pop shades recently, which I was more than happy to put to the test! Nail Pop promises hard-wearing, colour perfect nails in 30 trendy shades. I was sent the shade City...



City is a dark taupe grey shade. The formula is smooth, pretty fast drying and easy to apply. I found it was opaque and had a lovely shiny finish after just two coats. Overall I was pretty impressed and I love this shade for winter!

Nail Pop polishes are priced at £5 and you can buy them on the LOOK Beauty website or at Superdrug.

 

Have you tried anything from the LOOK Beauty collection?

 

Totally Fort Worth It?

When I was in America I picked up a new OPI nail polish that's described as “A shimmery lavender grey that’s so worthy of you.” Its Totally Fort Worth It is from their 2011 Texas collection.

In the bottle the polish looks like a grey with quite a strong pink shimmer through it but unfortunately when on your nails the shimmer hardly shows. This polish has quite a sheer formula meaning that it takes minimum 3-4 coats to get opaque cover. This is after 3 coats...

I found this nail polish a little underwhelming because I just was hoping for a grey with bit more oomph because of the pink shimmer but it turned out to be more a sheer shimmery silver.
So I thought what can I do to make my nails a bit more exciting? I know, add a Essie LuxEffects topcoat! Shine of the Times is a gorgeous multichromatic flaky glitter topcoat which shifts to every color except purple, but the most dominant colors are red/orange and green. There's a heavy amount of flake in here and it provides very good coverage with only one coat.

Tadaaa much better. What do you think?
It's even more gorgeous in real life but the shine was hard to capture on camera.

I think Shine of the Times is a must-have top coat. It looks fabulously pretty on top light polishes or fun and edgy over darker shades. Have you tried any of these two polishes or can you recommend a great Shine of the Times combo? Xoxo

1 Seconde Nail Enamel by Bourjois

In June 2012 Bourjois will launch their new '1 Seconde Nail Enamel' collection. A few weeks ago I got a preview to this new collection which contains a new gel silicone-enriched formula allowing the polish to glide on perfectly, offering maximised contouring and an ultra-glossy finish to the nail....in record drying time! 

Check out the three lovely colours I chose to take home withe me...

From left to right:

N°13 Figue Chic; a muted easy to wear lavender

N°04 Taupe Classy; a beautiful grey, warmed with brown notes for an elegant look

N°05 Corail Féérique; a fresh coral sprinkled with golden micro particles for a vibrant radiance. 

The only thing is, I am not quite sure why they have called this '1 Seconde' because it's fast drying but definitely not that quick! I'd say it dries in about 50 seconds leaving you with super shiny nails and still plenty of time to spare ;)

This is N°05 Corail Féérique which I just love :)

The pigmentation of the formula is great; non-streaky and awesome coverage in just 2 coats.

The 1 Seconde Nail Enamel collection comes with a newly designed 'fan effect' brush that by pressing down lightly or heavily against the nail adjusts to its size and shape. Meaning one stroke and the whole surface is coated in a neat finish!

1 Seconde Nail Enamel will be available in 10 lovely shades (£5.99/ €7.99 each) ranging from trendy pastels, stylish reds and pretty soft nudes. 

Plus as part of their 'Sweet Paris' Spring Trend 2012 collection they also added two lovely new colours to their 10 Days Nail enamel range:

Left: 26, a pastel pinky-mauve

Right: 25, a spring pastel coral

All these lovely polishes are available from your locals Boots or Superdrug or find out more stockist information at www.bourjois.co.uk. So do any of these new nail polishes tickle your fancy? xoxo

Essie: Mint Candy Apple nails %

As you know I am loving anything in the colour mint at the moment so this was something that I just HAD to add to my nail polish collection....

Yep we are talking MINT nail polish!

I think Essie's Mint Candy Apple is the perfect shade for spring 2012 or just imagine it on feet with sand between your toes, while on the beach..... oh yeah baby bring on summer :)This could have been just my bottle but the formula of Mint Candy Apple was a little thick for me which made application a bit tricky. You definitely need 2-3 coats for smooth/opaque cover.

Oh and my lovely flattie also got me a little gift from her recent holiday trip to Dubai.... .....in the form of a mini mint nail polish from Sephora....oh she knows me SO well :)

Teeny Bikini nail polish by Sephora (link) is a lovely mint shade. 

It's a little more green than Essie's Mint Candy Apple. 

It has a great, non-streaky formula and the mini size makes it super easy to just pop into your handbag for a quick mint fix anytime, anywhere :) xoxo

Pastel Spring Trend: ORLY Cool Romance

Right on trend for S/S 2012 is Orly's latest 'Cool Romance' collection. 'Cool Romance' consists of six gorgeous new nail polishes with pastel crème colours and creamy and shimmery textures. These shades are bound to steer you away from winter to spring, warming your days as we gradually wind out of winter!

Top Row L-R

♥ Prelude to a Kiss: pastel pink creme shade

♥ Faint of Heart: muted grey creme

♥ Jealous, Much?: pastel mint

Bottom Row L-R

♥ You’re Blushing: soft lilac creme

♥ Artificial Sweetener: dusty rose shimmer

♥ Steel Your Heart: charcoal shimmer

The collection comes in full sized (18ml - £9.25) or mini sized (5.3ml - £5) bottles.

I am very much loving the pastel trend at the moment and think these polishes are all super pretty!

 

This weekend I wore Prelude to a Kiss....

(Sorry for the shoddy application and the condition of my fingers...)

Anyhoo a very pretty shade right :) It's a bit more pink than I was expecting because from the swatches I'd seen here it looked way more peachy? The formula was a bit streaky and it definitely needs 2-3 coats to get an opaque/smooth finish. This is only two coats and as you can see it probably needed a third coat but I did this quickly in the morning because I wanted to rush out to enjoy the lovely spring weather we were blessed with London this weekend! At the moment you can get a cute mini trio at Boots for only £13 containing Faint of Heart, Prelude to a Kiss and Jealous Much (Link). Or check out the Orly Website for further stockist information. 

What do you think of the 'Cool Romance' collection, are you loving the pastel trend like me? xoxo

ESSIE Chinchilly at NYC Fashion Week '12

Here is a quick trend report from Essie at NYC Fashion week.
This is what they spotted backstage at 3.1 Phillip Lim Fall/Winter 2012....

♥ Trends:
Short oval nails
Romantic yet edge makeup
Neo-noir, comic inspired clothing and nails

♥ Colours: One coat of licorice, topped with a thin stripe of chinchilly and highlighted with blanc for a shadowed, crescent-moon effect.

♥ Heard: “This graphic nail design is dramatic, yet incredibly wearable. Women of any age can wear this look to make a super modern statement that is still totally chic.” – Essie Weingarten.

Love this funky nail look! Essie in Chinchilly is one of their best selling shades. 

It's a 'sleek granite grey' that flatters many skin tones.

Normally Chanel Particulière is my go-to elegant taupe nail polish but at the moment am loving the whole greige look. Chinchilly is a darker version of my OPI's Skull & Glossbones but this has slightly more mauve/purplish undertones. It is creamy, chic and natural yet a little sexy and very versatile!

The formula of this nail polish is fantastic. Not too thick, very smooth but not streaky which meant opaque nails after only two coats. The brush is also makes applying a breeze. This is definitely a new favourite of mine and as it seems right on trend....So are you loving the greige nail look? xoxo

OPI Skull & Glossbones NOTD

I first spotted this nail polish on Laura’s blog (Buy Now, Blog Later check it out, it’s FAB) and then my little eyes were drawn to it again at the OPI store in Selfridges and I just knew I had to have it. 

I ended up buying it on e-bay (link!) for only £6.99 including free postage! 

Skull and Glossbones is a Limited Edition colour from OPI's Pirates of the Caribbean 2011 line. 

The collection contains seven shades. From left to right:

♥ Silver Shatter - a shimmering silver with a crackled, two-texture silver finish

♥ Skull & Glossbones - a gorgeous light gray

♥ Sparrow Me the Drama - a pink that means business

♥ Steady as She Rose - a dangerously seductive rosy pink

♥ Planks A Lot - a lust-worthy purple

♥ Strangers Tides - an unchartered sea of sage

♥ Mermaid’s Tears - a magical green

I wasn’t 100% sure how this would look on me, in fear of it making me look washed out, but surprisingly the nail polish compliments my (NC20) skin tone.I think this shade is a perfect greige (combination of beige and grey). It also has the slightest hint of green/sage that gives this polish that distinctive ‘dirty’ look at that colours in this collection seem to have. 

I love the look feel of this lacquer; it looks sophisticated and modern chic! 

The formula is creamy, goes on smoothly and opaque in two coats and has a lovely glossy finish.

Skull & Glossbones is neutral whilst eye catching at the same time! What do you think? Xoxo

Orly – Birds of a Feather collection

Right on trend for fall and winter is Orly’s latest AW11 nail polish ‘Birds of a Feather collection’! Dazzling metallic shades paired with sophisticated neutral lacquers gives a twist on standard fall hues! The shades in the collection represent the vibrant plumage found on some of the world's most exotic birds.
The collection contains 6 striking colours; (L-R) Fowl Play is a multi-dimensional purple sparkle,  Lucky Duck a rich green, Nite Owl a neutral beige shimmer, Peachy Parrot a beautiful orange coral shimmer, Sea Gurl a stunning gun menal grey shimmer, and Sweet Peacock a peacock blue shimmer.

Orly’s new collection definitely reflects themes as seen on the AW11 catwalk, for example Gucci’s AW11 runway show which featured gorgeous jewel toned gowns and lot’s of ruffle and feathers!

The other day I tried Sweet Peacock on my own little fingers:

Sweet Peacock is a striking electric blue polish with a silvery foil finish. I have to admit I was a little shocked when I first put this on my nails because the colour was just SO intense and blue!

The formula of this polish is amazing. The Orly polish applied like a dream, this was after only two coats. It was already pretty much opaque after just one coat which is pretty impressive for such a high shine/glittery polish. Plus it's also very long lasting!

This is definitely not a nail polish for the faint hearted, because you will attract attention when wearing it. But if you are not shy to shine and love blue then this is just gorgeous! I wasn't sure if it was quite me to start with but it definitely grew on me, I loved seeing this bright shade on my nails :)

What do you think of Sweet Peacock or any of the other shades from the 'Birds of a Feather collection'?
I'm definitely keen to try Nite Owl after seeing some swatches online! xoxo