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Glitter, Swatch, Uncategorised

JENsations Bubble Gum Swatch

10th September 2012

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From what I hear Etsy is a great place to buy polish nowadays. The selection on there is endless! It’s especially fun if you’re looking for something a bit unique that’s different to the stuff you see on the shelves – but I haven’t looked too deeply in to it myself as I’m sure I would just end up with massive cravings for polishes that are a bit out of my price range! Especially once you add in shipping from the US and the potential taxes at this end.

When Jen from JENsations asked if I would like to try a few of her polishes, I jumped at the chance. Her shop is full of pretty glitter and shimmer polish toppers. This particular polish is called Bubble Gum – a clear base packed with tiny Blue, White and Pink hexes with a few larger Blue and White ones scattered in there too.

I swatched Bubble Gum* over BYS Pretty as a Peach. It was a bit tricky to get good coverage but I find that with all glitter polishes and I’m sure most of you will be nodding along in agreement! Instead of painting it on in normal strokes, I tend to dab it and just swirl it around where I want more bits, kinda like this!
I used a top coat of Essence Better Than Gel and then one coat of my old and gloopy Cult Nails Wicked Fast to ‘glaze’ it and give it a super smooth surface.

You can buy this polish from JENsations on Etsy. The glitter toppers are $7.50 for a 10ml bottle plus shipping.

*This item was sent to me for review. All opinions are my own. See my disclaimer for more information

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Swatch, Uncategorised

H+M New Moon Swatch. This is a Flakie.

1st September 2012

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This is a polish I picked up in H+M. I spend a lot of time admiring the polishes in H+M but have never bought one before. I really like the look of some of their blues, although I couldn’t tell you the names of the ones I’m picturing!

Anyway, I spotted this little gem which was in a different bottle to the standard H+M polishes. It’s smaller and round. I spent ages just staring at it trying to figure out what I was actually looking at because it’s gold and has the sparkle of glitter, but the pieces are distinctly flake like. Then I saw that the polish was only £1.50 so definitely worth a try and whatever it turned out to be, I’d have fun trying it!

Well it turns out that it is a flakie, a very pretty flakie. There’s no duochromy colour changing tricksyness here, it’s purely gold which I prefer. When I don’t really know how to describe polishes, I just make up words and hope that you’ll know what I mean!

By the way, it’s called New Moon!

I dug out my much neglected extension tube (which is the cheap alternative to a macro lens) for some major close ups of this beauty.

I swatched one coat of H+M New Moon over A-England Lancelot and Cult Nails Time Traveler on the ring finger. I added one top coat of Essence Better Than Gel thanks to Bregje who sent me a few bottles from Europe after my cry for top coat help!

I was so impressed by this polish that I went straight back to H+M the next day to pick up a few bottles for a quick giveaway!

I have two bottles to give away and all you have to do to be in with a chance to win is follow this blog in some form and fill out the Rafflecopter below. If you don’t already follow me somewhere, your options are all in the sidebar near the top.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Glitter, Swatch, Uncategorised

W7 Salt n Pepper Swatch

22nd August 2012

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This is the second interesting polish from my Nail Polish Direct order that I mentioned last week, W7’s Salt N Pepper. I think it’s odd that this polish is part of the summer collection as it looks quite wintery to me. It practically looks like snow on my nails! Either way, I still love it and it’s the perfect way to wear white polish without it looking like you just Tipp-Exxed your nails!

I used four coats for these swatches followed by two top coats of NYC. It was silly of me not to use a plain white base first, but I wanted to give the polish a proper try to see how many coats it would take by itself.

I can’t find Salt and Pepper on the site any more but here is a link to W7’s Summer Collection where they still have the other two glitter polishes – Mosaic and Lava Flow.

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Glitter, Swatch, Uncategorised

W7 Mosaic Swatch and Review

14th August 2012

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W7 is a brand that I’ve loved for a very very long time. I’m all about the budget brands and I really think that W7 is the best budget brand out there. It also happens to be one of my top 5 brands EVER! I’ve just looked through my archives to see how far me and W7 go back. Amazingly, W7 Black was one of the polishes I used on the very first day of The Nailasaurus’ existence, so I guess you could say there’s some history there!

The polishes retail for around £2 but special ones like the shatters cost a little more. The brand isn’t sold in any of the normal places you’d look for polish in Britain such as Superdrug and Boots but I nearly always see it in The Original Factory Shop and BM Bargains. Even in those places that do stock it, it’s always uncertain whether you will actually find a full collection on the shelves or just odds and ends that have been dug out of a corner in the stockroom!

Recently, Nail Stories posted a swatch of one of W7’s new polishes that she found on Nail Polish Direct so of course I had to check out the site. There are literally hundreds of W7 polishes on there! I never really buy nail polish online but I got so excited when I saw these that I just went for it. I ordered two of these interesting glittery polishes – Mosaic and Salt N Pepper and even ordered my fourth bottle of W7 Purple Paradise which just so happens to be my favourite polish of all time. I think. I really need to make a definitive list and get it laminated!

Mosaic is a blue jelly base packed with Dark Blue and Gold Glitter. I used 4 coats for full coverage which is a bit of a chore. In the future, I’d probably use a layer of colour before applying this glitter polish just to keep the coats to a minimum. It dries quite bumpy so lots of top coat is needed.

It is a glitter polish so I was expecting it to put up a bit of a fight – lots of coats, patchy coverage – but I still love it and for the unique effect it gives, it’s easy to get over those little hiccups. I love that it looks like a jelly sandwich but it all came out of one bottle! Also, it’s blue = WIN!

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Swatch, Uncategorised

Look Beauty: Nail Pop Glamrock Swatch and Nail Art

22nd June 2012

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The Nail Pops from Look Beauty have been on my wishlist for a while now but at £5 for a 10ml bottle, they’re a bit out of my every day price range. Luckily for me, they’re running money off offer across the range and the Nail Pops have £2 off. Now £3 a bottle is a price that won’t keep me awake at night, so I indulged in the shade that struck me most out of the range – Glamrock. It’s purple glitter packed in to a deep berry jelly and can I just say? It’s amazing!

I was tempted by just about every single colour in the range but I’m trying to limit my polish purchases because I’m running out of space to store it all! I’ve decided I’m only going to purchase polishes that really stand out from the crowd and only if I don’t have something similar in my collection already. Glamrock definitely fits that criteria and I also have my eye on Catsuit from the same range – it’s a blue glitter but the pieces are a bit chunkier.

As gorgeous as this colour is I was dreading removal, as I always do with glitters, but it came of surprisingly easily. It did need a bit more work than ‘normal’ polishes but I think it was easier than quite gritty glitters because the glitter is very fine.

All pictures are 3 thin coats with a top coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast. You’d be safe with two thicker coats but I wanted quite heavy coverage.

Loads more pictures after the jump!

I added some Glequins and a Chanel Decal for a bit of bling!

You can buy Nail Pops in most larger Superdrug stores, Superdrug online or from the Look Beauty Website.

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Stamping, Swatch, Uncategorised

A-England Guinevere Swatch + Stamping

18th May 2012

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A-England is a brand I have buckets of admiration for. I’ve yet to find one of their polishes that disappoints and the brands creator, Adina, is one of the most inspiring women I’ve ever had the pleasure of speaking to. Guinevere is from the Mythicals collection – a collection of sublime cremes – and this one’s no different. Look how creamy!! The colour is a slightly greyish lilac, it’s so pretty and neutral enough for work.

All swatches are 2 coats of A-England Guinevere* with a top coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast.

Click ‘read more’ for more pictures and the nail art!

You can buy Guinevere from A-England.co.uk right here with free worldwide shipping!

Stamping Plate: Red Angel RA108
Base Colour: A-England Guinevere
Stamping Colour: Barry M Gold Foil
Top Coat of NYC

* Items marked with an asterisk were sent for consideration. See my Disclaimer for more information

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Stamping, Swatch, Uncategorised

Summer Sorbet

27th March 2012

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I normally avoid pastel polishes like the plague but the recent flux of summer weather has me buying them left right and centre! It’s not that I have a particular dislike for pastels but my disposition lends me to darker, moody colours.

I picked up these two BYS polishes today in the £1 bucket and I wasn’t expecting to love the peach as much as I do. I only picked it up to push myself out of my comfort zone a little and now I might not return there until the weather turns bad. The brighter colour, Purple Rain is one I’ve had before (many years ago) and I wore the hell out of it until it was a globby, unusable mess and I had to bin it so I was chuffed to find a bottle in the sale.