China Glaze Lubu Heels + Nails Inc Trafalgar Square = Awesome Bling!

Don't you just love how cool my nails look right now? I love how this looks - just like red stars in a deep, black sky, or burning embers in a bed of lava. This look was actually two polishes layered together. For the base, I used China Glaze Lubu Heels, a black jelly with small red glitter, one of the classics in their permanent collection. However, it wasn't quite blingy enough for me, so I layered Nails Inc Trafalgar Square over it. Nails Inc Trafalgar Square consists of large chunks or red glitter in a clear base - perfect for layering over Lubu Heels!



I'm always been a fan of both China Glaze and Nails Inc, and both of these were polishes I bought awhile back but never used as often as I liked (although I've previously used Trafalgar Square in another NOTD, one that's really old.)



Both these brands generally work very well on me, and the application for China Glaze and Nails Inc was quite trouble-free for glitter polishes. As always, since the glitter does tend to clump up in some places, you do need to work a little with the brush to try to ensure as even a distribution of glitter as possible. Otherwise, I had no issues with application.

Both China Glaze and Nails Inc wear well on me, so this lasted for around 3-4 days before chipping. That's pretty decent for me, so I have no complaints about lasting power.



I love my nails, and I love the glitter and bling. Although I don't always use glitter polishes, I can't wait to do another manicure like that again!

Nails Inc Paddington + Nail Art Pearl Rhinestone = Classy But Fun NOTD

I don't always get to do nail art, so whenever I bling up my nails, I get all excited! So please humour me while I start off this post with a photo of my awesome blinged up nails.



The nail polish in question is Nails Inc Paddington, a gorgeous glossy deep red I bought in my craze to own as many Nails Inc colours as I possibly could before leaving the UK. It's distinct from Nails Inc's other famous colour, Victoria, in that Victoria is a jelly (sort of), while Paddington is a creme, and Victoria has a tinge more purple to it, whereas Paddington is more maroon.

Anyway, I first applied Paddington, which applies like a dream, as with most of my Nails Inc polishes. I loved how absolutely classic it looked. So I decided that if I wanted to bling it up, I would have to use something equally classy - and lo and behold, I took out this little baby.



This humble-looking set of nail art pearls is available from Born Pretty Store, which has been quite popular among nail bloggers lately for their vast array of nail art products. The store simply has everything, from shatter polish to nail art tools, and of course, nail art decorations like this set of pearls. This set of pearls is the 3 sizes nail baby pearl rhinestone decoration wheel, available for a very reasonable price.

The pearls come in three sizes, so you can pick and choose to form various designs, or to suit very large or small fingers. I've taken the liberty of photographing a pearl of each size against a ruler, so you can guesstimate how large these are. The smallest pearl is really quite tiny, while the largest pearl is pretty big.



For this look, I used just the medium-sized pearl. For round items like nail art pearls or rhinestones, I find it best to pick and place them on the nail by using a damp toothpick, a tip I learned from some other nail bloggers. Basically, you dampen the end of a toothpick, and touch the surface of a pearl or rhinestone. The pearl or rhinestone will then "stick" to the toothpick due to the surface tension of the water, thus allowing you to move the pearl and hover it over the nail until you are fully satisfied with its position. Then, you can lower the pearl or rhinestone on to the surface of the nail, and the wet nail polish will have a stronger surface tension than the water on the toothpick, so the rhinestone will stick to the nail even after you lift your toothpick. Nifty, right? Sometimes I also use a pair of tweezers, when I can't find a toothpick lying around.



Another tip I've found handy when working with nail art is that topcoat is needed over the pearls and rhinestones, otherwise they will fall off within a couple of days. I typically use two coat of topcoat over the nail art. I first use a slow-drying topcoat, and then apply a second coat of fast-drying topcoat, like Seche Vite, over it. That way, the pearls and rhinestones stay firmly in place for as long as possible, without me having to wait for hours for my manicure to dry. With this method of slow topcoat and fast-dry topcoat, my manicure is typically ready to go after half an hour. Meanwhile, in the interim half-hour, I can use my hands, but carefully.



Lasting power of the manicure was very good. If you've been a longtime reader of my blog, you'll know I'm an absolute hoor for all Nails Inc polishes, since they work very well on me. Nails Inc's Paddington applied smoothly, and stayed on for 3-4 days before chipping, which is about usual for me. I only wish that Nails Inc was cheaper, and available outside the UK! In my humble opinion, the Nails Inc formula is the best there is in nail polish - outstripping even - dare I say it - RBL. I personally find the consistency smoother in Nails Inc polishes, and the application less streaky. Okay, now I'd better run before the RBL fans stone me.



I don't know about you, but I am absolutely loving my nail art, although it was a little more time-consuming than your average manicure. I love the combination of deep red together with white pearls, and I love how it looks classy with the deep red colour, but still a little fun with the pearls! I'm not going to lie - I simply couldn't stop looking at my nails when I had this manicure on.

(Nail art product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Christmas Green and Gold Glitter Gradient Nails with Etude House Lucidarling

Christmas is coming, and it's showing on the nails! Today's nails are Christmas-inspired in the seasonal holiday colours of green and gold, and to add to the festive spirit, there's glitter involved. I attempted to do a gradient manicure with the gold glitter, but it was a big fail.

The green nail polish is Nails Inc Fitzhardinge Street, a deep, dark forest green that's so dark as to be almost black. And the glitter was Etude House's Lucidarling Fantastic Nails in 04 Sequin Crystal Gold.

Here's a shot of my gradient fail Christmas mani:



I love Nails Inc Fitzhardinge Street - it's almost black, and looks black in most lights, especially with 2 coats. What you see on my nails is one coat, so it still looks green. But any thicker and it will look black on the nails.

I also really like the Etude House colour, 04 Sequin Crystal Gold. For those unfamiliar with Asian brands (and how is that possible, I wonder :P ), Etude House is a Korean drugstore brand that can be found in Asia, and they have cute and girly packaging. The colour, 04 Sequin Crystal Gold, is part of their Lucidarling range, and it contains two sizes of glitter - a small gold glitter, as well as larger circular holographic glitter. And they do have really cute packaging! Take a look at the awfully girly bottle:



So now that I've shown you the kawaii-ness of the bottle, let's get back to my nails. I attempted to do the gradient by painting my tips, and then extending the glitter area a little outside the tips. I don't think I did well, but I guess it was my first time:



I know it's not as awesomely blingy or nail art-y as it could have been, but this was the easiest way to sneak in some Christmas spirit without my boss at work noticing!

NOTD: Nails Inc Diet Coke Paris: A Lovely Berry Creme

I'm sure you already know this, but for this month, whenever you buy 2 500ml bottles of Diet Coke, you get one bottle of Nails Inc polish free, out of a choice of four colours. The colours are all named after fashionable places - London, Paris, New York, and Milan. In one of my previous posts I featured Nails Inc London, with some comparison swatches HERE, and this post I'm featuring another colour - Nails Inc Paris!

Despite being a freebie, Nails Inc Paris, as with Nails Inc London, applied beautifully, was well pigmented, and totally opaque in 2 coats. It has a lovely creme finish, as does Nails Inc London. But while Nails Inc London is a greige-y nude, Nails Inc Paris is a bright but still muted berry-toned plum creme. I really love this colour, it's perfectly in between plum and purple. It looks really delicious, it reminds me of berries and jam. Yum. Berries.

Ooh, stubby fingers:



And here's a picture with the bottle. I know it's blatant product advertising, but I actually think the Diet Coke logo on the bottle is kinda cute:



This is actually similar to Nails Inc Piccadilly Circus (which I used in a very unfortunate and ugly KOTD HERE). Both of them are cremes and of similar colour and depth, but I think Paris is a lot more purple than Piccadilly Circus, which is a more straightforward berry pink.

My First Ever Nail Swatches!

Today is nostalgia day! These are my first ever nail polish swatches - and as you can see they're the lousiest possible swatches anyone could make. They're made on a paper towel, and these were a bunch of swatches made at the Nails Inc store, and I made them on a piece of tissue paper because that was all I had to swatch on, and I couldn't do it on my own nails because they were painted with something else at that point in time. LOL!



Here are the names by rows:

1st: Belgrave Place, Maddox St, Regents Palace, The Thames
2nd: The Serpentine, Kensington Palace, Bruton Street
3rd: Hanover Square, Jermyn Street, Berkeley Square
4th: Victoria Caviar, Victoria Gate, 80 Fulham Road
5th: Instyle Bare, New Bond Street, Belgravia
6th: Burlington Gardens, The Mall, Basil Street
7th: Dover Street, Hampstead Heath

I can't believe I started out making swatches like these, because they really are quite craptastic! I just posted them here for a laugh more than anything else, so I hope they've entertained you!

RBL Grunge, Nails Inc Diet Coke London, Instyle Mink, Jermyn Street: Any Dupes?

While I was wasting my youth on that infernal time-sucker called Twitter, I was chatting with Liloo (who is @tsunimee on Twitter - PS you should follow her because she's really awesome!), and she was asking me if the Nails Inc Diet Coke London shade was similar to the Nails Inc Instyle Mink shade, and she wanted to know if I could do swatches to compare the two.

For those of you who are non-UKers, Nails Inc is a luxury brand of nail polish in the UK, and every now and then they have promotions that allow you to get a bottle of their polish for cheaper than the really pain-inducing retail price of 10.50GBP. As luck would have it, this month in the UK, there are not one but TWO Nails Inc promotions - one that allows you to get a free bottle of Nails Inc polish with a purchase of Instyle Magazine, and another one that allows you to get a free bottle of Nails Inc polish with a purchase of two bottles of Diet Coke. And as is usual with Nails Inc, the colours released for both promotions were right on trend.

In fact, so right on trend that people thought two of the colours from both promotions were dupes. The colours in question are London (from the Nails Inc Diet Coke promotion) and Mink (from the Nails Inc Instyle promotion). Both of them are the classic, yet still-edgy mushroomy, taupey-brown greige shade I absolutely love. They looked similar, so people started speculating that they were dupes.

Fortunately, because I am a mushroomy-taupey-brown-greige hoor, I bought both Nails Inc Diet Coke London, as well as Nails Inc Instyle Mink. So if you have been wondering if they are dupes, wonder no more! The mystery will be solved!

And because I love you guys so, I thought I could do better than that - and I found two similar colours in my stash, RBL Grunge, and Nails Inc Jermyn Street, to compare both of them to as well! Aww, don't you love me now?

So without further ado, let's begin our comparison post with the requisite bottle picture:



L - R: RBL Grunge, Nails Inc Diet Coke London, Nails Inc Instyle Mink, Nails Inc Jermyn Street

Ooh, photos like this just make me drool all day long. I am SO loving this greige/mushroomy trend. Also, I got really excited when I was doing bottle comparisons, because when I saw how close RBL Grunge was to Nails Inc Diet Coke London, I was like, "OMG YOU HAVE GOTTA BE KIDDING!!" Seriously. Something that us UK girls can get free (with two bottles of Diet Coke) is a dupe for something the US girls pay USD$25 for?! Is Nails Inc London really a dupe for RBL Grunge?

There was only one way to find out: nail swatches! Unfortunately, because my nails were already painted with an NOTD I didn't want to remove yet, I was forced to make do with swatching on fake nails. (Note - I don't wear fake nails, have never worn 'em, will probably never wear 'em. I just love my real ones too much, LOL.)

So here are the swatches:




L - R: RBL Grunge, Nails Inc Diet Coke London, Nails Inc Instyle Mink, Nails Inc Jermyn Street

Aww shucks. As you can see, nothing is really a dupe for anything else, although RBL Grunge and Nails Inc Diet Coke London are really close. The main difference between London and Grunge is that London is more purple. They aren't dupes, but they are similar. Nails Inc Instyle Mink is a lot more brown than any of the colours featured here, and Nails Inc Jermyn Street is darker than any of the colours here. I'm so glad I don't have any dupes, it allows me to keep them all. And I LOVE these colours, they are my favouritest colours to wear on my nails. And for some reason Nails Inc looks really really dark, but it isn't that dark - I think it's because all the other colours are relatively light in comparison, so my camera's contrast settings made it look darker than it really is. I don't know why though. I had to take this picture multiple times to get a decent effort. Anyway, I did a previous NOTD with it before, and you can view it HERE.

So here's the question I like to answer at the end of every comparison post - which one should you choose, if you aren't a mushroomy/taupe/brown/greige hoor like me and think four nail polishes from the same colour family is too excessive?

Well the answer would depend, as always, on your skintone, and colour preferences. Skintone-wise, I personally feel that these greige/mushroom colours are pretty neutral, and have the ability to flatter a wide range of skintones, but for the sake of comparison, relatively speaking, shades that have more brown in them tend to flatter warm tones better, while shades with more purple or grey tend to flatter cooler-toned ladies. And of course, your preference for colour - whether you want your greige mushroomy shade to have more purple, grey, or brown, is also going to play a factor.

Out of all of the 4, RBL Grunge is the most beige, so for girls who don't really like the mushroom trend, but want to dip their toes into it, this is a good way to go. Nails Inc Instyle Mink is by far the most brown, so that might be good for warmer-toned girls, or girls who want a colour leaning more brown. For cooler-toned girls who are averse to any hint of brown, it's a good toss-up between RBL Grunge and Nails Inc London. For someone who wants a colour that's equal parts brown, purple, and grey, Nails Inc Jermyn Street is probably your best bet.

Nail Bling: Nails Inc Dover Street Market and Nail Crystals NOTD

I like my bling and I cannot lie! You other fellas can't deny! OK, I'm going to stop channeling my inner Sir Mix-a-Lot right now. LOL. But you gotta love that song (and if you don't know it, go on youtube and search for Baby Got Back - it was like THE song of the 1990s at some point...Gee, I'm old). The bling in question is from today's NOTD, which is my first attempt at using little crystals on my nails.

I have to say, it does take a bit of practice. It isn't as hard as running regressions using Stata (haha!) but it requires a LOT of attention to detail and patience. I didn't use nail glue for these. I just used a pair of tweezers and popped the crystals onto my nail when they were still wet, then sealed them in with two coats of topcoat - I used a random slow-drying one under Seche Vite to prevent shrinking while still ensuring a fast dry time. For me, the really difficult part was positioning the crystals on your nail in the right spot, and nudging them to where you want them to be without messing up the still-wet polish on your nail.

The base is Nails Inc Dover Street Market, a much-vaunted medium-to-dark purple creme, and I can see why this is so popular among nail fanatics, and was all the rage like a year back. It's smooth, gorgeous, and applied well. The crystals were some random no-brand plastic ones my friend brought over from Asia because they're a lot cheaper in Asia than elsewhere for some reason - thanks Rachel! I just chose a simple pattern of three crystals down the nail, like coat buttons, because I didn't feel up to doing intricate flowers and hearts and shapes, since it was the first time I was trying them out. I really really want to try making shapes one day though.

Here's the NOTD pic. So, how'd I do? Fail, or yay?



As you can see from the picture, when I was moving the crystals around on my ring finger, I accidentally got some purple polish onto the crystal, which is why it doesn't look white like it should.

While I'm not really a nail art fanatic (the really intricate nail art is too impractical for my lifestyle, which involves lots of typing and cleaning my own toilet LOL!), I'm really liking these. In fact, I LOVE them, and for the past two days I've been shoving my nails in the face of all my friends. So far, I'm on my third day of wear, and the crystals are still holding up fine, even though I haven't refreshed my manicure by putting on an extra layer of top coat. I think the key is to seal them in with two layers of topcoat - one didn't seem quite enough to me.

I know this bling isn't quite everyone's cup of tea, but I'm really loving this one! Have you ever tried using nail crystals? Did you like how they turned out?

Rimmel Blue Me Away and Nails Inc Trafalgar Square NOTD

Sometimes, you just want to wear something weird. And clashing. And really ugly. And sometimes, it ends up sort of growing on you.

Like this NOTD, from a few weeks back. It all started when I decided I suddenly wanted to wear blue nail polish. If you know me, you'll know I'm not THAT big a fan of blues, for some reason. I don't even know why, especially given that I LOVE purples, and purples are essentially half blue? But that day I decided I wanted to wear blue. So I dug out Rimmel's Blue Me Away. It's a beautiful blue with fine red-orange shimmer. It's pretty cool, actually - it's rare to see a blue with shimmer of a contrasting colour, since most blues I've seen have silver shimmer.

So I put it on. While I like Rimmel's Lycra Pro Finish range, and their Lasting Finish Pro Enamel range, Blue Me Away was from the 60 Seconds Nail Polish range, and applies less well. I also don't like the brush as much - while the other two ranges have brushes with a curved end (which I particularly like), the brush on this one is cut across horizontally, and it is a little stubby. But it's nothing that can't be dealt with.

After putting it on, I decided that it wasn't weird enough. So I decided to put glitter on top of it. And I thought, why not put a red glitter on top, since there's already red shimmer in the polish?

So I dug out Nails Inc Trafalgar Square (which does seem quite a lot like China Glaze Ruby Pumps, another cult colour), and applied it on top. And as usual, this applied like nearly all the other Nails Inc colours I've tried before - without a single flaw.



There. Are your eyes begging you to spare them the sight of my nails yet? I don't know why I like it, but I do. But I'm pleased to tell you that this lasted for a good 4 days before the first chip came on :P

Chanel Particuliere Dupes: Do They Exist? Comparison Swatches

I never bought Chanel's famed nail polish, Particuliere. I just couldn't imagine spending 16GBP on a polish, especially when Orlys, Nubars, OPI, and China Glazes go for less. But I was curious to know if there was a dupe, and to see for myself if any of the other taupe-brown-purple polishes were close enough. So I borrowed my friend's bottle of Particuliere, and made a few swatches. Mind you, these are very messy swatches, because I wanted to return Particuliere to her immediately (I'd feel bad hogging a 16GBP bottle of polish!), so I didn't really have time to be as neat as I wanted to be, and we all know haste makes a mess of nails!

First up of course, are bottle pictures.



L-R: Asos Paints by Ciate Sienna, Rimmel Steel Grey, Nails Inc Jermyn Street, Chanel Particuliere, Essie Mink Muffs.

Nothing seems to be an outright dupe for Particuliere. Essie Mink Muffs does look similar, although deeper, in the bottle.

And here's how they fared in swatches. Once again, please excuse the terrible state of cuticles and my messy swatches. Like I said, they were done in a hurry because I wanted to return Particuliere ASAP. The swatches show two coats of each:



L-R (Thumb to Pinky): Essie Mink Muffs, Chanel Particuliere, Nails Inc Jermyn Street, Rimmel Steel Grey, Asos Paints by Ciate Sienna

Application-wise, I had no complaints about any of the colours. They all applied like butter, although the Nails Inc, Essie, and Chanel were better than the other two. And as you can see, nothing is quite a dupe for anything else.

I know Essie Mink Muffs and Chanel Particuliere look like dupes for each other in this photo, but in reality they aren't that close. The Essie is a little darker, and a little more brown than the Chanel. I don't think most people would notice, but if you're a nail fanatic like me, if it's not an exact dupe, it isn't a dupe! :P

Here's a photo that exaggerates the differences between the two. Essie Mink Muffs is on my thumb, while Chanel Particuliere is on my pointer finger. The differences aren't as massive as they are in this photo (stupid camera), but you get the idea:



L-R: Chanel Particuliere, Essie Mink Muffs

And I remembered reading somewhere that Essie Mink Muffs is a dupe for Chanel Particuliere, if you lighten it by wearing it over white. So of course I HAD to try that. So I applied Essie Mink Muffs over GOSH Snow (a sheer white), and here are the results:



L-R: Chanel Particuliere, 1 Coat Essie Mink Muffs over 1 Coat GOSH Snow, Essie Mink Muffs

Similar, but no dice. It's a tad lighter than Particuliere. The purple in Mink Muffs really shows up when you layer it over white. It's really cool.

So, I added on another thin coat of Mink Muffs on top of GOSH Snow, and the results were better:



L-R: Chanel Particuliere, 2 Coats Essie Mink Muffs over 1 Coat GOSH Snow, Essie Mink Muffs

As you can see, it's close, but not identical. Mink Muffs is now the same depth of colour, but just a tad browner than Chanel Particuliere, while Particuliere is a hair more grey than it's Essie counterpart. I think someone might be able to franken a dupe of Particuliere using Mink Muffs, white, and something to make it more grey.

So, which of these should you choose, if you only had to go for one of them? All the colours applied well, so your choice would depend on your colour preferences, and your skin undertones. Although all these colours are pretty neutral, in general, colours with a stronger purple/grey tinge to them look better on cooler skintones, while colours with more brown tend to look better on warmer skintones. And it also depends on your preference - do you want more grey, brown or purple in your colour? If you want more brown, Essie Mink Muffs or Chanel Particuliere are good choices. If you want something that's more grey, Rimmel Steel Grey is a good choice. And if you want something that leans more purple, Nails Inc Jermyn Street and Asos by Ciate Sienna are your best bets.

Nails Inc Belgravia: NOTD

I know brown isn't the conventionl choice of nail colour, and if it's badly done it can look like poop, but colours like Nails Inc Belgravia and Essie Mink Muffs really appeal to me for some reason. Maybe it's because they're incredibly chic, yet understated enough for work in some areas, and they aren't your "usual" colours. But whatever the reason is, I like brown. Not all browns, some browns. It's hard to describe. Some browns are just "off", but some are chic.

Nails Inc Belgravia is one of the "chic" ones, that doesn't look like you stuck your fingers into a soiled baby's diaper. It's a brown that looks slightly grey in some lights, although it's always definitely brown. It also has a subtle shimmer that I quite like - I feel like it's the shimmer that gives it a dimension that keeps it from looking like poop. And as proof that it's a "chic" brown and not a poopy brown, I actually got a compliment wearing this! And as you can tell from the crappy paint work, this is also an older NOTD.



Application was smooth as butter, as is usual for Nails Inc. It was also very nicely opaque in 2 coats. I know I've raved so much about Nails Inc in my previous posts that you're just expecting me to do the same for this one, and rave about how the application is the best, the formula is the best, and the wear time is the best...And you're almost right. Almost. Application was the best, formula was good, but wear time was disappointing. I've no idea why though, because all my previous Nails Inc polishes lasted an average of 3-4 days on me, which is usual. But this one chipped in 1-2 days. I've no idea if this was because I was particularly rough with my nails or not, but I was surprised that it chipped so easily. Otherwise, I would be raving. Still, great colour. Pity about the lasting power, though.

Nails Inc Elizabeth Street and Fitzhardinge Street Leopard Spots KOTD

Today's KOTD is using two Nails Inc colours, Elizabeth Street, and Fitzhardinge Street. I konaded using plate M57. As you can see it wasn't that great - I'm still struggling to put on a full nail design properly.

Nails Inc Elizabeth Street is a sheer-ish, pale milky pink creme, very subtle, very pretty, and work appropriate. The first coat is a little streaky, but it applies well after 2 coats, and evens out after that. Nails Inc Fitzhardinge Street is a deep, deep green that looks like black, also another creme. It looks a little more green when you konad with it, because you only use a thin layer of the polish for konading. I guess this isn't the best konading job ever - as you can see, there are patches in the leopard print.

Anyway, here is the not-that-great konad job, in natural shaded light:



I really love Nails Inc, I do believe they're just about the best polish brand I've tried out there. And I keep saying it everytime I use something from them, but I can't help it. I'm starting to have this dangerous need to collect every Nails Inc colour out there. I've always found the application and wear to be pretty good. Elizabeth Street isn't as awesome as some of the others, but it is still really decent. I suspect this relative lack of quality might be due to the fact that I got Elizabeth Street when they were giving them out free with a copy of Glamour, and maybe the free bottles aren't as good as the bottles in stores? I really wouldn't know though, it's just a guess, since all my other Nails Incs apply soooo smoothly. Fitzhardinge Street had the usual awesome Nails Inc application. This konad lasted for about 3-4 days before chipping, which is about average for me, so wear time is decent as well.

Nails Inc Miss Nail Bar and Kensington Caviar 45 Second Top Coat Reviews

Today, we have a tale of two Nails Inc top coats. Non-nail fanatics often ask me why they should wear a top coat, and I usually give them three reasons - to smoothen out the finish of their nail polish, and to extend the wear time of their manicure, and, if you use a quick dry top coat, the top coat dries your manicure superfast, so you don't have to sit around waiting for your polisth to dry. Seriously, the last reason is pretty important. Many a nail fanatic (including me) swears by quick dry topcots. Without them, I probably would only wear polish once a month, because you know I'm impatient and clumsy, and if I had to wait any longer for it to dry, I'd nick it and totally ruin my hard work. But with a good topcoat, nicks, smudges, and the dreaded sheet marks, are a thing of the past! So, today's review will be on two Nails Inc top coats, both which are billed as fast-drying. The first one is the Miss Nail Bar Top Coat (now discontinued, I believe), and the second one is their ever-popular Kensington 45 Second Top Coat.

First, we'll look at Nails Inc Miss Nail Bar Top Coat. It dries clear, and is clear in the bottle with a pink tinge.



Looks cute right? Unfortunately it's not a very good top coat. In fact, it kinda sucks. For one it dries reaaalllly slowly despite being a fast dry top coat (which is why I bought it), and when I was using it, I had a suspicion that just leaving my nail polish to dry would be faster than using this topcoat. The only good thing about this is that once dry, it does have a nice glossy finish, and it does extend the wear of my polish, but you know me, and you know I hate waiting for my nails to dry. Not impressed! I like to use this in tandem with the much celebrated Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat, or the cheaper-but-equally-celebrated Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat, because these two tend to cause major shrinkage on me. I find that if I layer a really slow-drying topcoat (like Miss Nail Bar) under my Seche or Insta-Dri, the shrinkage of colour is much reduced. So I still have a bottle of it around, but I only use it to prevent the dreaded shrinkage with a real fast-dry topcoats.

Now for the second topcoat of the day, Nails Inc Kensington Caviar 45 Second Top Coat. This one is one of the perennial favourites, and if you ever watch QVC UK, they're always putting it in sets and things like that. It also dries clear, and is clear in the bottle. Take a look at my baby bottle!



So how does this one do? I'm glad to say - I like it! While they're lying when they say it dries in 45 seconds (I think only Seche Vite lives up to this claim, and even then it's more like gingerly-dry-to-the-lightest-touch in 45 seconds, not dry-and-hard in 45 seconds), it does dry fast. Now it doesn't dry as fast as Seche Vite or Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, but it's a close second. In the case of Seche Vite and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, once you're done with all your fingers, you can (very) lightly touch your nails, and they'd be pretty much surface dry, although not totally dry. With the Kensington Caviar Top Coat, you have to wait a couple of minutes to be able to touch your nails. But tht said, I like it better than either Seche Vite or Insta-Dri because it doesn't cause any shrinkage on me. I guess it's a trade-off; drying time for shrinkage. But I do think this has a good balance of the two. I also like that unlike Seche Vite and Insta-Dri, this one also works well over dry, in addition to wet, polish. With Seche Vita and Insta-Dri, using them over dry polish causes the polish to peel off in sheets for some people, but I haven't yet had this problem with the Nails Inc Kensington Caviar Top Coat. It's not replacing my Seche Vite, or my Sally Hansen, because those are the ones I go to when I'm really impatient, but this one is pretty good, because it doesn't shrink as much. It's also really glossy when dry, which I like, although it's not as glossy as Insta-Dri or Seche Vite.

So that's it for my two topcoat tales. I've no idea how the same company can produce two topcoats, call them fast-drying, and have one suck so bad, and one be such a winner, but I guess it just goes to show every company has its hits and misses, and just looking at the brand name of something doesn't tell you anything about how good it is. But I guess it also applies to other areas of life, you know, sort of like dating and guys - kinda like how some seemingly nice and decent guys can turn out to be absolute jerks, and how some guys look like a write-off actually turn out to be not so bad. LOL.

Nails Inc Ebury Place NOTD: Attempting the Lilac Trend

You know, sometimes I really think the nail polish companies are just out to get me. They're always making the "trendy" colours of the season some colour that I think is just plain ugly, or some colour that just doesn't look good on me. Well, to be fair, there was the whole taupey-brown-purple mushroomy craze that I really liked - hellooo Sephora by OPI Metro Chic (here), Nails Inc Jermyn Street (here), and all your imitators. That one I liked. And then there was the mannequin nails trend, which while I know was boring as heck, was at least good for me (here). But for the most part, the polish companies just seem to hate me. Take the mint green trend for example, inspired by Chanel Jade (which isn't really jade colour at all, but more a mint colour) - I actually tried it out, and it looked like a pastel green puke of death on my fingers. And then now there is the LILAC trend, thanks to Color Club's Light As Air and Essie's Lilacism.

Can I tell you how much I hate those kinds of pastel lilac purples? Granted, I like them in the form of eyeshadows for some looks, but for nail polish, I just KNOW it's going to look like the pastel-purple-puke-of-death on me. But you know, I can never resist something if it's hyped up enough, and so I decided to give the trend a try. Of course, I wimped out of wearing straight up lilac, so I rooted around in my stash for something lilac, but with a tinge (okay a pretty strong tinge) of pink to it to make it less purply-pukey and more pinky-nude. And this is how I ended up with Nails Inc Ebury Place for my NOTD.

So here is my half-hearted attempt at wearing a lilac-ish shade, in the sun:



See see see? See what I mean about lilacs looking like purply death puke on my fingers? While I could certainly think of worse colours to wear, I initially felt like it made my fingers look really dirty. And not in a good way.

But anyway, I didn't have much to complain about. This was actually surpringly pigmented given that it's a light colour, especially since most light colours tend to be formulated (or mis-formulated) as sheers - as though an opaque light colour doesn't exist. Anyway, this was actually pretty much opaque in one thicker coat, although I used two out of habit. I think I might actually try konading with this someday, I think it could do. It also has a superfine silver pearl finish to it, that doesn't show up in most lights, if at all. But I think this slight pearlized finish is why this shade looks really glossy and reflective in the light.

Here is Nails Inc Ebury Place indoors. Here you can sort of see the silver pearl finish, if you squint. It's best seen in the bottle, around where the light hits:



Application on this, was, as is usual for Nails Inc, absolutely smooth and problem-free. I actually feel sorry for my fellow US girls, because it's hard for them to get their hands on Nails Inc, and they don't know what their missing. Every bottle I've had has been awesome in terms of application and consistency, with the slight exception of just one bottle, out of the many I have.

Wear time on this was also really good, as is with almost all my Nails Incs (except one). I don't know what Nails Inc puts in their polishes, but every company seriously needs to learn from them.

Anyway, I guess this didn't look THAT bad on me, although it wasn't my best colour. I feel that it's a little too cool-toned for me - it kind of really draws out the yellow in my olive undertones. The colour itself is interesting though - it's a lilac pink that looks either more lilac or more pink depending on the light. And that slight pearlized finish helps prevent it from looking too flat and uninteresting. I guess it's not a bad buy if you like these colours, and if you, like me, want to try out the lilac trend but don't dare to wear a straight up purple, this is probably a better bet for you.

Nails Inc Fulham Road and Piccadilly Circus KOTD: Annoying V-Day KOTD!

I'm not really a girly girl. I don't have a fondness for cutsey things, I HATE wearing pink, and I hate pink nail polish in general (which is really odd, considering that I'm one of the more colour-conservative nail bloggers out there). And I'm not that feminine in general. So obviously it must have been the effects of too much stress (or pear cider) that influenced me to do this:



I know, I know. The overwhelming pinkness and girly-ness of this KOTD really makes me want to puke too. But Valentines Day is coming up soon, I figure why not? Much as I think Valentine's Day is overcommercialized, and you shouldn't wait until Valentine's Day to show appreciation, etc etc etc, I have to admit, pink and roses is quite in the spirit of things. And I love trying out new things, even if it's something like pink polish with a KOTD of roses. (Now I'm not sure if that's me or the stress - or cider - talking.)

Anyway, the base is Nails Inc Fulham Road (NOT 80 Fulham Road, which is a totally different colour altogether), and the roses are Nails Inc Piccadilly Circus. And the konad plate is M65 really like both colours, although maybe to use them both together with the rose konading pattern wasn't the best idea ever.

Fulham Road is a very pretty frosty pink, with a hint of lilac. I think it's a good wearable way to take on the lilac trend that seems to be going on now, especially for warmer-toned girls who don't look good in deathly pale pastel purples. I swear the nail polish companies are just ganging up against me by releasing nail trends that don't suit me. First it was the death-hand inducing mint green, and now it's death-hand inducing lilac (thanks a lot, Essie Lilacism). But this one is more pink and less purple, and quite pretty. It has a really interesting purplish sheen to it that's unfortunately lost on the nails, so sadly it just looks pink on. But I still like it quite a lot, and it's not OTT frosty either, so you could probably get away with this at work. This one is a little sheer, but it reaches pretty good opacity in 2 coats, although if you want to really completely cover everything, you'll need 3. In this photo I'm using 2 coats.

And Nails inc Piccadilly Circus is a beautiful deep pinky-red creme. I really love this one. It's a lovely colour that works for all seasons, and I think this is pretty much the kind of colour you could wear all the way from Spring to Autumn, especially with the trend of bright nail polish going on right now (China Glaze Up and Away, anyone? I'm still wiping the drool off my mouth for that collection). So this one is really pretty and versatile. It's also a good way to wear something that is as statement-making as red nail polish, without actually having to wear straight up red, which some people might not like wearing. This one is a beauty, and is opaque in 1 coat.

And of course, both Piccadilly Circus and Fulham Road have that beautiful unsurpassable Nails Inc application - flawless and requiring almost no clean-up. I really love Nails Inc..despite the unwieldy cap on the polishes, they've done everything right. I love the consistency, the opacity, the brush, and the drying time (not that fast, certainly not as fast as GOSH, but definitely decent). In general, I just have much love for them, even if they're certainly not cheap.

So there you have it, the official worst Valentine's KOTD ever. But I thought I'd put it up anyway, because why waste a perfectly good KOTD, when you can put it up in a puke-inducing post right? :P

Nails Inc Half Moon Street and $OPI Absinthe Makes the Heart: My Nails are Nubbins!

The main reason why I hate travelling is because it ruins my nails. (I know, I have a problem.) This is what happened after a 12-14 hour flight:



Just to compare, this is how they were before the flight (they were longer, but I was waiting for them to grow out a lil more before I filed them into the right shape, hence the uneveness in length and shape):



That NOTD was $OPI Absinthe Makes the Heart. That one I love. I don't normally like greens, because I'm a colour wimp, but I LOVE this one. It's a greyish green - or a greenish grey - with super cool foil effect, and a good amount of glitter. I really love how it looks, and I think it would look cool with a matte topcoat over it too. Somehow, my skintone seems to draw out the extreme colour possibilities in it - on me, sometimes it even looks positively emerald green, while other times it looks like a metallic gunmetal grey. I really like this one. It's like, deep, jewelled green with tons of grey. Cool. It applied a little sheer, so this is 3 coats. 2 would have covered most areas, but I wanted to cover everything.

Anyway, back to the sad state of my travel-worn nubbins. They're all short and uneven now. I'm hoping they'll grow out soon. It just makes me want to cry, because that was 3.5 weeks of growing out my nails down the drain (yes, my nails grow slower than snails move, and they break and peel, so that was my record length so far). If only there was a way to travel that wouldn't ruin my nails...I'd love travelling so much more.

But since I'm all stuck with short nails for however long they take to grow out, I'm going to wear all the bold and vampy colours I can while the nubbins last. So, you know, the next few NOTDs are going to be bold and dark! No more nudes!

So for now, my mani is Nails Inc Half Moon Street. This is an exclusive I believe, but I cant remember what exactly it was exclusive to. I believe it was one of those "Wow-you've-spent-so-much-money-on-our-stuff-so-here's-a-little-something-for-you" free gifts they give you if you place a big order on their website, which would absolutely explain how and why I have it. Its also very beautiful. It's a glowy magenta-pinky-red type of colour, with a lit-from within look, and a finish that defies description. I'd call it a shimmer with a metallic leaning. It has superfine silver shimmer that shows up as a sort of metallic glow. Very lovely. I don't really like bright pinks in general, but this one really has me staring at it all day long.

Application, as is usual for Nails Inc, was a dream. This one was very pigmented and smooth. I did two coats, although if I had better skills I could have gotten away with one coat. Love this one.

Here it is in artificial light, and you can see the shimmer in greater detail here:



And because I do so love this colour, here is a close-up shot of my nails. Take a look at the glowy goodness emanating from this thing!



I'm really starting to like Nails Inc a lot. With the exception of Elizabeth Street which was a dud (and I'm thinking it may be a dud because it was the free polish that came with Glamour Mag, and maybe they cut corners for the freebie), every Nails Inc polish I've tried has been nothing short of fabulous. The only thing is, most of their interesting colours tend to be exclusives, leaving the permanent line of colours a little dull. They've only just started coming out with mattes, months after all the big players have made their moves, and they've yet to come out with a duochrome, a flakie, or a holo. Awww come on, Nails Inc, I'm tired of waiting already!

And since we're hurrying the world along, while we're at it, let's tell my nubbins to hurry up and grow out! I'm waiting! And my polish stash is waiting!

Mannequin Hands Nail Polish Shade: I Unwittingly Haz!

One of the latest trends in nail polish (other than the is-it-over-already annoying jade green trend which looked awful on me) is the Mannequin Hands trend. That's one of my favourite trends. I think it's super cool, especially when paired with the Lace Manicure, or with painting one of your fingers on each hand a different colour from all the other hands (two of the trends I've been seeing too). I'm not a fan of jade or mint green (although I do love that ASOS Paint by Ciate, and I'll be posting an NOTD with it soon), but I do love lace, and I am ALL for painting mroe than one colour at a time!

Anyway, unlike so many people, I don't actually have any problem finding a more-or-less mannequin hands shade. (I don't believe there'll actually be a nail polish the exact shade of my skin, so I'll settle.) And, what's more, I already did an NOTD with it HERE. In fact, in another of my old posts I wrote about the different nude nail polishes I owned, RIGHT HERE. Of course, you know, that's all because I'm such a fashion forward, edgy chick...Hah. Who am I kidding. It was pure coincidence.

Anyway, what's this marvelous perfect nude polish I love so much I just have to blog about not once, but twice? Well, I raved about it then, and just for kicks, (and because not many people will have seen my previous posts as those were made when my blog had a total of like 0 followers), here is the closest I'll ever get to a Mannequin Hands Manicure:



I know! Isn't she a beauty?! That's Nails Inc Basil Street for you. :) Perfect nude beige creme with almost no pink, perfectly opaque in two coats, and so smooth that it nearly applied itself. I didn't even need to clean up on that one! That's how perfect it is. Love it to bits! Anyway, for anyone who is still searching around for their Mannequin Hands shade and find most of the popular nudes too pink, I strongly urge you to try this one.

Comparison Swatches: Nude/Beige Nail Polishes

So I've finally decided to do a comparison of the various nude/beige nail polishes I have. So far I have 7 of them.



L - R: Nails Inc Elizabeth Street, Nails Inc Basil Street, OPI Tickle My Francey, Rimmel Beige Style, Misa High Waist Hue, OPI Barefoot in Barcelona, Rimmel Euphoria

OK OK so I know Nails Inc Elizabeth Street isn't really a beige nude..But I'm putting it in there anyway.

Here's the first four of the nail polishes, swatched. Each of these were 3 coats, although most only needed two.



Index to Pinky (that's R - L): Nails Inc Elizabeth Street, Nails Inc Basil Street, OPI Tickle My Francey, Rimmel Beige Style

Nails Inc Elizabeth Street was a bit disappointing. First of all, it was streaky and uneven and sheer, and required 3 coats to be opaque, and even then it didn't really look that good :( This was why I had to use 3 coats for all the swatches - I figured since I had used 3 coats for Elizabeth Street, for comparison's sake I might as well use 3 coats of the rest, although they weren't nowhere as sheer. It's a pale milky baby pink type of colour, a creme finish. I don't mind this colour, I just wish the quality was better.

Nails Inc Basil Street...I've talked about this before haven't I? Creamy, smooth, and opaque in two coats. I really love this, and I really LOVE Nails Inc, so I have no complaints about this one. It has a little pink in it, but it's pretty beige for the most part.

OPI Tickle My Francey needs no introduction, with it's now-famous pink-grey-nude hue. I like this one a lot. The grey tinge gives it an edge and makes it more unusual. This requires two to three coats, depending on how thin or thick the coats are, to acheive full opacity.

Rimmel Beige Style also was a 2-3 coater. Unlike the other colours, which were all creams, this one has a slight shimmer. It's more pink than Basil Street, but less pink than Tickle My Francey. I really like this one, I imagine it'd be pretty much universally flattering on most people because it has a nice balance of pink and beige.


Here's the last three, along with OPI TMF again for consistency:




Index to Pinky (that's R - L): OPI Tickle My Francey, Misa High Waist Hue, OPI Barefoot in Barcelona, Rimmel Euphoria

Wow. These all look so different on the nail.

Sadly, Misa High Waist Hue and OPI Barefoot in Barcelona seem to veer very warm on me - and I have no idea why. Barefoot in Barcelona looks positively orange, and Misa High Waist Hue looks like it has a slight peach tinge to it. Unfortunately I don't really like how they look. The OPI was nicely opaque in 2 coats, while the Misa required a little more, 3 to be perfectly even.

The last one, Rimmel Euphoria, is a pinky nude that seems to have a little bit of taupe thrown in - maybe its the shimmer. I really like this one, and I think it's a rather interesting colour. It applies a bit unevenly, but nothing nightmarish.

I guess out of the entire lot, my favourites are Nails Inc Basil Street, Rimmel Euphoria and of course, OPI Tickle My Francey. But of course, a good nude is so dependent on skintone that it's hard for me to say who would look good in which nude. I just hope these pictures and my ramblings have helped someone.

Nails Inc Basil Street and GOSH Purple Haze: KOTD

Did I tell you I've been on a nude nailpolish kick lately? As of now I have 7 nudes in my collection, and I totally plan on doing a swatch comparison one day. But for now, here's a simple NOTD/KOTD for you!

Here's Nails Inc Basil Street:



Excuse the frazzle, and the fact that there are cotton wool bits stuck in my mani (I hate when that happens).

Basically, the perfect opaque non-pinky (or almost non-pinky, rather) beige nude. Perfect, perfect perfect. This one was smooth and easy to apply, and it was even and opaque in 2 coats. Unlike most nudes which can be often sheer or streaky or just a pain to apply (ahem, Essie), this covered well in 2 coats. Love, love, love.

Then, because I was bored, I just had to do this over it:



I know, I know, let's not talk about that smudge ok? :( And the fact that I suck at centralizing my designs :(

The interesting thing about GOSH Purple Haze is that it's a very dark, almost-black purple/green duochrome. AND it's opaque in 1 coat - thus making it ideal for Konading. The interesting thing though, is that depending on what color it is used to konad with, Purple Haze shows up either as a dark purple, or in this case, a dark green. It feels so weird to see your konad being green when you really used a dark purple, but I love this colour. It's like, self-adjusting or something. Really, really cool. So far when used with pinks it tends to veer purple, and here, with a beige it looks green. GOSH nail polishes are also in general one of my favourites, because they dry very fast. Sometimes I even wonder why I use a topcoat with them, but then I remember that I need to prevent the polish from chipping so fast. They also have a pretty decent wear time. Basically, I've pretty much liked everything I've tried from GOSH and Nails Inc.

Well, that's it for this post! I hope noone threw up from my terrible mani skills...