NOTD: Chaos Colour

For the past few months my NOTD posts have mainly focused on individual shades, so I thought it was about time I brought back my themed and quaintly named attempts at nail art like I used to do.  Have you missed them? Have ya? No?  Okay then.

Anyhoo, here is something I've been wanting to try for a while after I saw this post (scroll down before you get confused by the black) as I thought it looked cute, colourful and most importantly, fairly easy.  The colours in the above post were mostly pastels, so I thought I'd try some brighter shades.

The shades I used are:

Nails Inc St James's* (bright red)

OPI Get Your Glamour On (coral pink)

Nails Inc Notting Hill Gate* (neon pink)

OPI Need Sunglasses? (yellow) 

Nails Inc Holland Park* (neon purple)

Avon Arctic Waters* (bright sea blue)

All these were applied over a base of Nails Inc Floral Street*.  I kinda like these, although I'm not sure on the colour choices as the merging of the blue, yellow and red has all gone a bit too primary colours for my liking.

This is very easy to do and it's just a case of applying your base shade (Floral Street needed two coats to stop any streaking), let the base dry for ten minutes or so and then literally just layer each colour one stripe at a time.  Once you've worked your way through all the colours, start again, then work out what colours are under-represented (I'm nothing if not an equal opportunities nail painter) and add a bit more of them.

I like the fact that these are the antithesis of winter nails; they're bright, colourful and fun and that's what I'm craving at the moment so in that regard it works well.  I have to say, I'm mostly leaning towards loving these but I think the fact that they're so chaotic - something I'm not usually a fan of with nail art - is leaving me a little non-committal.  If I try this look again I think I'll allow a bit more of the white to show through and I'll also use thinner strokes as, ironically, the streakier the finish, the better it looks.

So what do you think? 

Are they bright and fabulous or garish and unkempt or all of the above?! 

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NOTD: Nails Inc Concrete in Stonehenge and London Wall

I've been meaning to try these new Nails Inc Concrete varnishes for a while, but to be honest I kept putting them off as I wasn't sure I'd like them! The two colours I have are Stonehenge* (blue) and London Wall* (grey-tinged nude).

I've spoken to a few people who have the Concrete polishes in their collection and the general census has been that the whole "anti-smooth" finish of them is rather off-putting.  My main fear was that nails would look like you've painted them and then not been careful afterwards, resulting in lots of pulls and smudges.

I actually really like the shade of London Wall even though it isn't a colour I'd normally seek out.  The reason I chose it was because I figured it was the one that looked most like the colour of concrete...if you're going to do something different you may as well do it properly.

Sadly, even though I like London Wall as a colour, it doesn't really suit my skin tone and tends to bring out ruddiness on my hands that I wasn't aware I had. I think this is a shade that'd really suit olive or dark skin tones.

Stonehenge is pretty much a Concrete version of Baker Street; a brilliant, bright blue that manages to stay slightly shy of neon; it's an all-round flattering shade that I would say would suit most skin tones.

In all pictures there's just one coat; I wasn't sure if additional coats would spoil the effect so I thought I'd better err on the side of caution.  I'm still very undecided on these Concrete textures as I quite like them, but I'm not completely taken with them.  They do look interesting and thankfully they don't look like a botched paint job, but I think out of all the upcoming Nails Inc textures these are probably my least favourite.

Available now in four different shades priced at £12 a pop at Nails Inc.

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January Sale Binge featuring SpaceNK and Nails Inc

 

Can I ever be accused of doing things by half when it comes to spending money on beauty-related products?  Sadly not, which is why judgemental Pug is judging me:

"I don't think you really needed all those nail varnishes, did you mum?"

Even though there's quite a bit here, I didn't actually spend that much...it's all relative really isn't it? Yes, yes it is.

Space NK

I bought four things in total from Space NK, 2 palettes and 2 single items.

Here is the first of the two Laura Mercier palettes I got which is the Shimmer Neutrals Eye Trio as, let's face it, I don't have enough neutral eye shades in my collection. There are two variants in the Laura Mercier Trios and it appears every blogger I follow bought one or the other.  The other one contained cooler shades and leaned towards purples and burgundy shades.  It was difficult to pick which one I wanted, but I have a few similar shades to the cooler one in my Colour Luxe palette, so it had to be this one.  It was £10 and is sadly sold out, but there are a few other shops who are still stocking it (I believe Harrods is one) for £20 which is still a bargain considering you get three individual and full-sized shades.

The next palette is the Laura Mercier (yeah, her again) Bonne Mine Face & Cheeks Colour Palette which contains five cream shades for contouring and sculpting.  I took a risk on this as, due to dodgy skin, I can't really get away with cream finishes as creams don't blend well with the high coverage powders I use.  However, as my skin has recently showed signs of easing up, I'm optimistic that I'll be getting plenty of use out of this soon.  Apologies for the rubbish shots, unfortunately the palette refused to stay open so I had to hold it in position.  This is quite a palette as it contains little sculpting guides that you slide out from the lid, plus a decent sized mirror.  An absolute bargain at £8.50.

Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimted Supreme Shine in 326 was a bit of a punt for me, as the shade swatch on the site came up as black for some reason; so I thought I'd risk it and see what shade it turned out to be.  Thankfully it was a risk that paid off as this shade is a brilliant, glossy, baby pink that is right up my street and has been getting plenty of use since it arrived.  I thought I'd risk it as I have a red variant of this lipstick which has a wonderful finish and formula and I've wanted to add to my collection for a while.  Is it just me, or are the shade numbers really confusing with Shu Uemura lipsticks?! I remember finding the red one difficult to work out and I had the same issue with this one.  I dig these lipsticks though so it's no biggy.

I've never tried anything from Chantecaille so I thought this would be a good opportunity to sample their range without spending a fortune.  I opted for the Poudre de Perle because I've been hunting for a new highlighting product (for no real reason other than boredom as my Mac MSF is still doing a great job) and I hoped this would be a great and easy to use highlighting product that would add some pinky warmth along with light in the right places.  So far, I'm not blown away as it appears to just be a load of powdery glitter that's difficult to use and I can't believe that this originally costs £48.  This was half price for £24 and not the best introduction to the range, but there you go.  Sometimes products land in sale lines for a reason...

Total SpaceNK spend: £50. 

Nails Inc

I was immediately wooed by the products in the Nails Inc sale so it was inevitably that I'd have a little binge. I opted for 2 colour sets plus a corrector pen.  I also joined the VIP club which I'll explain more of below.

Two things I'm loving at the moment are metallics and pastels, so I bought colour sets that fit in both of those themes.  The first is the Winter Metallics Collection which contains 3 autumnal, moody shades and 1 bright pink.  I haven't swatched it yet, but the pink doesn't appear to be particularly metallic so I'm not sure why it was included, but any pink shade is always welcome in my collection.  This was £10.

Next up are the pastels, otherwise known as The Candy Shop which contained a pink, a blue, a yellow and a purple.  I like all these shades so I'm looking forward to giving them a go, and I think they'll be perfect for SS13 with it's inevitable, yearly popularity of pastel shades.  This was also £10.

The Nails Inc VIP club costs a one off payment of £5 and comes with some fairly decent perks, such as 10% off every time you shop, a free nail varnish on joining and a birthday present.  There's also a rewards scheme; you get points for every order which you can eventually redeem. I thought this was quite a sensible £5 investment, although I'm not too sure on the free shade (which I believe is the same for everyone - Ledbury Road) so I'll try and swatch it soon to give you an idea of what it's like.

I was very close to ordering the Corrector Pen a while ago, then I decided to just pick one up from Boots.  I ended up buying the OPI one before losing it...so I went ahead and bought this, making use of both the VIP discount and the first order discount of 20% (which you get when you join their newsletter) meaning that this ended up costing £7.20.  After a pretty high level of commitment to nail polish for well over a year, it seems my application technique has shown no signs of improving, so I definitely need this!

Total Nails Inc spend: £32.20

So quite a binge for January! I actually thought this would be a nice, quick post about my little buys, but it's turned into an essay it seems.  In my defence, I didn't go out on NYE so I saved quite a bit from that; there's my justification and I'm sticking to it.  Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to review.

Did you buy anything good in the January sales?  

Or did you miss out on something you've been lusting after for a while?  

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NOTD: Pink Sparkle featuring Seche Precious and Models Own Show Stopper

As promised, here's a NOTD featuring the new Seche nail lacquer in Precious* as well as an accent using Models Own Show Stopper*, which is a Clothes Show Live exclusive, so if you're heading to the event over the next couple of days then it's definitely worth picking up as you won't be able to get it anywhere else for the time being.

The Seche nail lacquers have strong pros and cons, although it's noteworthy that I've only used one shade so far so I'm basing this review on only using Precious.  The colour and the finish is absolutely beautiful; it's a pale, salmon pink with the tiniest bit of blue-toned shimmer.  The shimmer is virtually undetectable unless you're really looking for it, but it stops the colour looking flat and gives it a little extra dimension.

I did struggle a bit with the formula as I found it a tad gloopy.  This NOTD uses 2 coats of the lacquer plus a base coat (Essie) and a top coat (Nails Inc).  Because the formula is rather thick, it went quite streaky and I probably could've done with another coat to even it all out, but that might just be me being fussy.

I think my eagerness to straighten out the streaks paired with the thick formula might have caused an issue with the drying time as a couple of hours after application the nails still weren't dry and I managed to mark them which was a bit annoying.  I'm reserving judgement until I try the other shade as pale shades can be a bit prone to streaking, so I'll update in the next shade review.

The Models Own Show Stopper is a different story.  I've tried it a couple of times over the last few days and I'm so impressed by the formula and the glitter payoff.  I've used two coats, each applied in quick succession, and I love the multi-dimensional finish that includes various shades of glitter suspended in a translucent, barely-there lilac shade.  The drying time is impressive and this is just as good as the Nails Inc Nail Jewellery line, yet much cheaper at £5 a pop.

So in summary I have mixed feelings about the new Seche nail lacquers as I do like the shade range, I think they're reasonably priced at £9.95 and the super skinny brush means the lacquer can be used for nail art too, but the thick formula is a bit tricky to work with. I'll try Opulent - which is the other shade I was sent - and let you know more then.

Available now from Nails by Mail for £9.95.

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New Seche Nail Lacquer

Seche are a brand most famous for their super glossy top coat, Seche Vite, which has a mega-following and is often the go-to top coat for many nail fanatics.  The brand has now branched out and launched a range of 33 new nail lacquers.

The shade selection is impressive and covers a wide range of the main colour favourites, so I'm sure there'll be something for everyone; from Debutant (a shimmering baby pink) to Mischievous (a burgundy black and I would assume the brands take on Rouge Noir) there are plenty of colour choices and not just the standard pinks, reds and nudes that you might expect from a new colour line.

I've been sent two of the pink shades to try: Precious which is a light salmon with a very faint blue hue and Opulent which is a deep fuschia.  I'll be posting a NOTD soon featuring Precious (just waiting for the base coat to dry as I write this so I can get painting!), so if you'd like to hear my thoughts on the lacquer in more detail then keep an eye out for that.

Seche Vite nail lacquers are available now priced at £9.95 from Nails By Mail.

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NOTD: HJ Manicure Pink Metallic

I was seriously excited when I was contacted by HJ Manicure and offered the chance to try some of their nail polishes as the range is absolutely amazing and brings something different to the market, an achievement that is pretty hard in the already saturated nail polish arena. I'm not confident my shoddy application "skills" have done this shade any justice, but I've included plenty of pictures anyway!

For me, the two main appeals of HJ Manicures are the shades and the sizes available.  The majority of the shades are interesting, fairly unique and really fashionable; there are so many shades on the site that I would love to try and I can happily spend quite a bit of time nosing through the online catalogue.

You can buy two sizes - 5ml and 15ml - the 5ml bottles are £4.50 and the 15ml bottles are £9.50.  I like the fact that all the shades are available in minis as they allow you to try more shades without the commitment of investing in large bottles.

There's also gift packaging available which is a black box containing a foam insert that can fit 2, 3 or 4 bottles of varnish, so something from HJ Manicure would make an ideal Christmas gift...certainly for me anyway!

Out of the shades I was sent, the one that immediately jumped out at me was Pink Metallic*; before I even had it on my nails I showed the bottle to my mum who agreed it was a "wow" shade, and this is a woman who has absolutely no interest in nail varnish whatsoever.

Pink Metallic is a beautiful shade that I absolutely love and have received many compliments on.  It's not a typical pink as it's heavily blue-toned, in fact it's almost purple in finish.  In these pics I have two coats plus a base and top coat.  The finish is the tiniest, teeniest bit streaky but you do have to search hard for the streaks.  Having tried quite a few metallic shades, this is the best formula I've tried so far.

I took this right under a bright light so you could see the shimmer finish. 

I'm writing this having had the varnish on for over five days, so it's safe to say I'm impressed with the formula as much as I am with the colours.  All-in-all I highly recommend checking out HJ Manicure if you're a nail fan as you'll find a lot of shades that you won't see elsewhere for a very reasonable price point.

HJ Manicure Metallic Pink is available for £4.50 for a 5ml bottle and £9.50 for the 15ml bottle.

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NOTD: Nails Inc Feathers in York and Brighton

As mentioned in my Nails Inc SS13 post yesterday, I had the chance to have my nails painted at the Nails Inc preview event, and I went for a couple of shades from the Feathers collection.

Feathers is exactly as it sounds; it gives a 3D effect by using small pieces of confetti like colour in a couple of contrasting shades.

Having studied my nails quite carefully since last night, it appears the 3D effect is achieved by having a dominant colour, a slightly lighter version of the dominant colour and a contrast colour and this works really well as you can hopefully see in the pictures.

Before the cuticle brigade pipe-up, yes I know they're in a shocking state, but unfortunately I didn't have a chance to tidy them up before I visited Nails Inc yesterday.  I will aim to improve them drastically by the time  I do my next NOTD.

If my understanding of Couture fashion is correct, it's fashion that is beautiful to look at but not essentially easy to wear (among many other defining factors) and therefore I would call these textural finishes "Couture Nails", as they're really lovely to look at but not the easiest things to wear.

Because the effect is so textural, the finish is a little on the scratchy side and therefore I doubt this will last for more than a few days.  That hasn't put me off though as they really are so different and interesting to look at, so consequently I'll be purchasing Cornwall as soon as they land in March 2013.  The scratchiness does settle down after 24 hours: I think it's a the fact that as there's a lot going on within the varnish, there'll inevitably be a level of overhang from the little bits of confetti, so once you've used your hands a bit you end up knocking these bits off and smoothing down the nail edge.  I suppose a quicker solution would be to wait until your manicure is dry and then give your nail edges a quick file.

All-in-all I am bowled over by the many exciting textures coming from Nails Inc next year and definitely feel that Feathers is one of my favourite finishes.  They'll launch in March 2013 for £11 each.

Disclosure: paint application provided free of a charge as part of the Nails Inc event.  

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Nails Inc Spring/Summer 2013

It feels very strange typing 2013 already!  I've just returned from the Nails Inc S/S 2013 showcase and my head is swimming with info as there are sooo many new releases.  SS13 is all about textures, so just in case you thought everything that could be achieved with nail textures has been done already, you were very, very wrong!  Expect this to be a long and picture heavy post...

Concrete 

First up we have the Concrete collection of four shades that dry to a matte, "concrete" finish.  Just to be clear, the name Concrete is a reference to the finish and not the weight of the polish! The four shades are Marble Arch (red), Stonehenge (blue), London Wall (nude) and Monument (lime).  I picked up London Wall and Stonehenge so expect NOTDs with those two soon.  The finish is really interesting as it's a little grainy and very, very matte.  It's definitely different to the standard matte and I absolutely love the colour range.  These will launch in December for £12.

Denim and Stars 

I loooove this polish! It's not only denim in colour but denim in finish too.  It's a denim blue (obvs) with a swirl of a lighter blue that accurately captures an indigo denim finish.   This comes as part of a kit that contains star embellishments, but we'll have to wait a while for its arrival as it doesn't land until June 2013 priced at £19.

Leather Effect

The finish of this collection, as the name suggests, is leather, and the shades are all leather-like shades to stay in theme, so you have Shoreditch Lane (mulberry), Soho Mews (tan) and Noho (black).  The finish of these is fantastic and these were apparently the most popular choice for manicures among bloggers at the event.  These will launch in March 2013 for £12.

Crystaltastic 

£45

£30

£20

£25

It was about time Nails Inc did their take on fake nails and here they are! Obviously, they're not just any old fake nails and instead they all feature beautiful, crystal designs and come with nail stickers rather than glue so you can easily reuse them.  The crystals are genuine Swarovski crystals, so the price of each set varies depending on how many crystals are used.  They'll be launching in March 2012 and the price range is from £20 - £45.  Sadly, my favourites are the multi-coloured ones which annoyingly come in at the top price range of £45.

Bling It On

There are a couple of new additions to the line of Bling It On Kits including Rebel, which contains a Leather Effect varnish in Shoreditch Lane as well as a selection of studs and Swarovski crystals and Romance, which  focuses on bow and crystal embellishment and contains a mini of Porchester Square and Electric Avenue.  Both will be launching in March 2012 and will cost £25.  There's also be a Neon kit that'll contain a couple of neon shades of glitter (in pink and blue) plus a mini Floral Street varnish and a Kensington Caviar top coat.  This will launch just in time for summer in May 2013 and cost £20.

Feathers

Do you see what I mean about there still being plenty more textural takes on nails? During my last visit to Nails Inc I thought they'd covered them all, but, as you can see, they've thought up plenty more!  These Feather polishes had bloggers all a'flutter (pun intended) and come in four shades: Edinburgh (pale blue and peach), Brighton (teal and yellow), Cornwall (blue and white) and York (peach and white).  One of the PRs had Cornwall on and it looked amazing, so I decided to get my manicure done using York for most of my nails, but having Brighton as an accent on each hand. I'll upload pictures tomorrow as a NOTD.  The effect of these is very feather-like and incredibly textural.  My manicure was finished with a top coat, but I actually really liked the finish without the top coat as it allowed the texture to show through more.  These will be £11 each and launch in March 2013.

SS13 Trend Shades

Now *these* are gorgeous!!  The SS13 shades are beautifully summery; bright, fun and I want them all.  There's nothing textural here and instead the focus is on the colours themselves, which is fine by me as they really are little treasures.  The four shades are St James Park (coral/red), Royal Botanical Gardens (mint green), Chelsea Physic Garden (baby blue) and Kensington Palace Garden (peach).  I honestly can't decide on a favourite and I went from Kensington Palace Gardens to Royal Botanical Gardens before deciding on Chelsea Physic Gardens as my favourite...but now I'm back to Kensington Palace Gardens again.  These arrive in March 2013 and will cost £11 each but there's also a mini kit launching at the same time which will cost £22 and will include 3 of the shades mentioned above plus three more garden-themed shades.

Extras 

There's a new base coat and top coat being added to the Kensington Caviar collection in January 2013 for £12 each.  The base coat promises a primer like base with a fast dry finish and the top coat is a Gel Effect, meaning that it'll give that plumped-up, ultra-glossy finish you get with gel manicures but without the commitment.  There's also a corrector pen available now for £10.

So that's it (I think...) and there we have all the amazing new Nails Inc launches for SS13.  There are so many amazing things arriving and Nails Inc continue to revolutionise the nail art industry so I can't wait to see what's next.

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