Sheswai Nail Lacquer in Winesnob

Thanks to the sun putting in an appearance this morning, I finally managed to get a picture of this lovely nail polish. The Sheswai Lacquers are a range of 3-Free nail polishes and the formula is a good based on my experience with Winesnob.

I love this polish for the colour, the name and the fact that I can get away with a single coat if I'm pushed. In fact, I think the only thing I'm not struck on is the wooden handle. It's an aesthetic/textural thing too rather than it being difficult to use.

The colour is a beautiful, deep claret colour with a glossy finish. It reminds me a little of Chanel Rouge Noir but I find the Sheswai formula easier to apply. Edit: It looks slightly translucent on the nail wheel but two coats on my nails is completely opaque. Wear time is average but my weak and uneven nails make it very hard for any nail polish to last well, so I don't consider myself a very good barometer of this sort of thing. The current state of my nails is the reason why the colour has been swatched on a nail wheel rather than my finger nails. I draw the line at photographing pedicures!

The Sheswai Nail Lacquers are available from Mise Beauty and cost £12.50 each. They have a really nice selection of colours and they range is well worth a look if you're a fan of 3-Free formulas. You can find a review of the colour Rootsy here on London MakeUp Girl.

Disclosure: This item was sent to me without cost for consideration for review.

BECCA 2-in-1 Base/Top Coat

Although probably not as exciting to look at as colour products, BECCA 2-in-1 Base Coat/Top Coat is a staple in my grooming arsenal. Because nail colour chips so quickly on my nails, I don't wear colour when I'm working as it looks shabby very quickly. However, my nails do look better and seem less prone to damage when I wear a coat of clear polish. Of course, this is meant to be used as a base or top coat but I see no problem with using it as a clear polish, plus it has the advantage of being Formaldehyde, Toluene, Camphor and Di-Butyl Phthalate free.

My nails are still in poor shape and although I'm not strict about it, I do find they fare better with the 3/4-free formulas. Quite a lot of nail polish brands are at least 3-free now and, anecdotally, 3-free colours have better lasting power when used in conjunction with base and top coats of the same formula. I have used this successfully as a base coat works under HIPP x RGB Nail Foundations, Butter London and BECCA nail colours. I haven't used it much as a top coat as, unless I'm using a fast drying top coat, I tend to skip this step.

Ingredients (from the BECCA website)
Ethyl Acetate, Butyl Acetate, Isopropyl Alcohol, Nitrocellulose, Phthalic Anhydride/Trimellitic Anhydride/Glycols Copolymer, Acetyl Tributyl Citrate, Adipic Acid/Fumaric Acid/Phthalic Acid/Tricyclodecane Dimethanol Copolymer, CI 60725 (Violet 2).

The BECCA 2-in-1 Base/Top Coat costs £12 and is available from BECCA Cosmetics and Zuneta. I got mine as a gift with purchase, you gotta love a good GWP!

Butter LONDON Victoriana

When asked to choose a Butter LONDON polish to review, I set to pouring through many swatches online. I initially looked at a couple from the current collection: I rather like the look of Disco Biscuit and Knackered, but after some Twitter advice, I opted for a colour I had been interested in a while ago. Victoriana was first introduced in Autumn 2010 at the same time as All Hail McQueen.

Victoriana is a beautiful green-tinged blue packed with silver microglitter. On the Butter LONDON website it is described as metallic but I don't really see this as metallic personally. Mind you, the colour doesn't really say Syphilis to me either! Instead, the colour reminds me a lot of the Irish Sea at the height of summer. Would you judge me if said this brings to mind mermaids? What can I say, it's the Piscean in me! Should we experience a proper summer in the UK this year, I will be wearing this on my toes and pretending I'm Madison*.

In these picture I'm wearing two coats over a base of BECCA 2 in 1 Base/Top Coat. Victoriana is quite a thick polish so it was almost fully opaque on this first coat but I required a second coat for a more even finish. The finish isn't completely level on my uneven tips but I don't think this is visible other than in close up photos. The wear time was reasonable on my (rubbish) nails.

Because of the glitter, it did take a couple of extra swipes with a cotton ball to remove it but it's not a big problem. Like all nail polishes with green pigment, I find this has a tendency to stain so be sure to use a base coat.

Butter LONDON polishes cost £12 each and are available from Zuneta, Powder Rooms and www.butterlondon.com.

Disclosure: PR Sample

* How many of you are going to admit to knowing who I'm talking about? Hmmm...

HIPP x RGB Nail Foundations

The HIPP x RGB collection is a collaboration between RGB and celebrity 'green manicurist' Jenna Hipp. The Nail Foundations are designed to match your skin tone just like regular foundation to give the perfect nude manicure. There are four shades: F1, F2, F3 and F4, where F1 is the lightest and F4 is the darkest.

From left to right; F1, F2, F3 and F4

F3 and F4 are darker than my skin tone but I have applied them all to my nails so you can get an idea of the colours and coverage. Two coats gives good opaque coverage with all four foundations. I find the size and shape of both the bottle and brush easy to handle. I did experience some dragging if I had to go back over an area whilst applying a coat, so it helps to be precise first time. The RGB formula is free of formaldehyde, toluene and dibutyl phthalate (DBP), in fact I recall London Makeup Girl mentioning that they are in fact 4-free as they are also free from camphor. The polish lasted well on my (notoriously difficult) nails. I'm not sure if the fact that I used my BECCA 2-in-1 as a base coat helped with the lasting power, this is also a 4-free formula so it's probably a good match as a base coat.

F1

F2

I have to admit that I'm not sure whether I prefer F1 or F2 on my hands. F2 is a bit too dark to truly give the effect of mannequin hands but the undertone blends in better with my skin, whereas F1 seems to highlight the redness in my skin. F1 will probably be more flattering when my hands are less winter abused.

F3

Although the idea of the nail foundations is for them to match your skin tone, I really like the colour of F3. In the top picture, I think it looks unfairly.....erm, dungy which is why I have included the whole hand picture to give you a better idea of the colour.

F4

F4 is a really rich deep brown and I think it has the most glossy finish of the Nail Foundations.

As well as the Nail Foundation, there are four Nail Tints available which offer similar skin matching shades but in a sheer finish. I actually think I will get on better with these for finding my perfect skin match and I always thing that sheer fleshy colours are a good choice if you struggle to keep a manicure looking perfect.

The HIPP x RGB Nail Foundations cost £11.50 each and are available from Mise Beauty, who ship worldwide.


Disclosure: These items were sent to me without cost for review purposes.

Little Bu Nail Polish

Little Bu is a non-toxic nail polish range designed for little ones. It took Miss MB all of a couple of seconds to realise this and I struggled to get a look in. As you can see below....

Going, going, gone!

It's great that they have a non-toxic formula but I think the fact that they wash off excites me even more! My children are fascinated with makeup and I have already shared some of the disasters. Nail polish is something that makes me particular nervous around small hands. If you've ever had to try and remove nail polish from carpet, you'll know what I'm talking about.

I was a sceptical about easy it would be to remove with water but in the nail swatches below, I applied two coats and it washed off easily. In fact, it's so easy to remove that this wouldn't make a good manicure for me unless used with a top coat as I always have my hands in water. Little Bu do have a top coat in their range that will extend the wear.

CECILIA

Cecilia is perfect as a first nail polish for little girls. It has pretty iridescent silver sparkles in a transparent pink base. My nails don't really do it much justice but I couldn't get Miss MB to sit still long enough to be a good model (and the boys pulled faces). I like how it doesn't look too grown up on my little girl but she gets to feel a bit more like Mummy.

CHLOE

Chloe is dark pearlised lavender. I actually found it harder to get a good finish on the nail wheel (below) than I did on my nails. I find the finish similar to a metallic in that it takes some care to achieve a streak free finish. I actually prefer how this looks as just a single coat.

Cecilia, Chloe + Cecilia , Chloe

Oops, always read the label. I totally missed the bit about blow drying!

There are 8 polishes in the Little Bu range and I think there's a really lovely selection of colours. The bubblegum pink Riley and a soft blue Olivia both appeal to me. They are a bit more expensive from your average nail polish at £9.95 each for 9ml, but I think that is acceptable with the special water-based formula. It definitely works out a lot cheaper than replacing my carpet!

The Little Bu range is available from Harrods, as well as online from www.iluvlittlebu.com.


Disclosure: These items were sent to me without cost for review purposes.

Butter LONDON Knees Up

I won Butter LONDON Knees Up in the lucky dip at the Boots Children in Need event a few weeks ago. I was thrilled as it's such a beautiful colour and rather festive too. It's best described as a metallic red with very fine red microshimmer running through it. I often struggle with metallic nail polish on my crummy nails as they are less forgiving of uneven surfaces. I found this fared better than most. I had to take a little care to ensure there were no streaks whilst applying.

It's a stunning colour on the nail. I found it chipped quite quickly though, especially around the tip. This happens often with my nails so it may not be the nail polish at fault. Although it didn't last long, I really enjoyed the colour whilst it was on.

From bottom left hand corner clockwise: Lancome Rouge St. Honore, Avon Golden Wine, Knees Up, Avon Wicked, CG Ruby Pumps and LMdB Kontagious Koral

I'd quite like to wear Knees Up or China Girl's Ruby Pumps on Christmas Day. To help with my decision and also to put the colour in context, I pulled out a few of my reds for comparison. I don't have anything that similar in either the finish or the colour. My other reds are either cremes or shimmer finish rather than metallic. Knees Up is quite a deep red too.

L-R: Ruby Pumps, Knees Up and Golden Wine

0. Lancôme Rouge Saint Honoré*

1. Le Métier de Beauté Kontagious Koral*

2. China Glaze Ruby Pumps (3 coats)

3. Butter London Knees Up (3 coats)

4. Avon Golden Wine (3 coats)

5. Avon Wicked

On the nail wheel I applied three coats of Ruby Pumps, Knees Up and Golden Wine. All the rest were two coats and the Lancome nail varnish was opaque with one coat. Wicked is surprisingly dark when applied. In the bottle you can see much more of the red shimmer. I'm very taken with Avon Golden Wine seeing it applied on the nail wheel, the mix of gold and fuchsia shimmer is very pretty when it catches the light.

Butter LONDON nail polishes cost around £10 - £12 each and are available from Boots, Zuneta and Powder Rooms.  Do you have a favourite festive red?


Items labelled with * were received as PR samples

More BECCA Lost Weekend

I've been mean meaning to return to the BECCA Lost Weekend collection for a couple of weeks now. I have already shown the palette and my recreation of the promo look. As well as the Lost Weekend palette the collection includes three new nail colours, two new mineral blushers, a lip balm and Fig Beach Tint.

The Fig Beach Tint is actually part of the permanent line and I have reviewed this in a guest post on Zuneta previously. The Beach Tints are somewhere between a cream and gel formula and are water-resitant. I find they last very well as a cheek colour but I can always feel it on my skin. Fig is a mauve-pink colour and fits very well with the other colours in this collection.

From the moment I clapped eyes on Billy Tea, I knew I had to have it. Whilst the other items I have shown you were press samples, Billy Tea is something I bought for myself. Billy Tea is a chocolate brown creme, it reminds me of OPI's Over The Taupe. I have a number of similar colours and I can do a colour comparison if this would be of use to anyone. As with Tangerine Dreams, I like the brush and the rubberised handles of the BECCA polishes. The fact that they are free from formaldehyde, toluene, camphor and dibutyl phthalate is good news too. The two other colours from this collection are Saddle Up, a caramel nude and Toasted Marshmellow, a pinky brown.

I do not have any of the mineral blushes to show you. Both colours are quite muted, nude shades and fit well with the natural look of the collection. I did get opportunity to swatch these and they have a nice finely milled texture. Sweet Pea is described as a rosy plum nude and Wild Honey, a peachy nude. I may cave on one of these as I love a neutral blusher to sculpt the cheek.

I love the lip butter balm that was released with the collection. I'm not ashamed to admit that my favourite things about it are the fact that it's a stick so there's no need to get my fingers sticky and the packaging is sleeker than your average balm. It's packaged as a lipstick with a screw down lid and I'm assuming this is the same packaging as their sheer lipsticks. The balm also smells and feels very good. It has good staying power and no petroleum.

The Lost Weekend collection is available from BECCA counters now. If you don't have a counter nearby it is also available online from their website, Zuneta and other online stockists.



Disclosure: I bought the nail polish, the other items shown are press samples.

BECCA Manicure Tips from Session Manicurist Katie Hughes

I don't usually post press releases but I think this one is a little different. When I visited the BECCA Boutique earlier this year, I had the pleasure of a manicure with the gorgeous Katie Jane Hughes (for Twitter fans, you can find Katie tweeting here). I know some of you met Katie at the TOWIB Blogger event recently and she is a great Makeup Artist but she's also a bit of whizz with a nail brush. Katie gave me a manicure with one of the BECCA colours coming out in September called Billy Tea and hopefully I won't get in trouble for giving you a sneaky peek.

This manicure lasted really well. Longer even than my Shellac which I think says great things about both the BECCA formula and Katie's skills. With this in mind I thought you'd like to hear Katie's thoughts on the nail varnish and hear hear tips for a lasting, home manicure.

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Session Manicurist, Katie Jane Hughes, details unique features of BECCA Nail Colour

“I love the new BECCA nail polish - not only are they great colours, but the highly pigmented formula is

excellent and really easy to apply without streaks. After nearly 10 years in the business I'm very fussy and always searching for the next best formula, and BECCA have it. It's exciting for me as a pro because I know I can rely on these to perform...

They dry amazingly quick which is essential when working on shoots as things can change at the drop of a hat…

And clothes are always flying around so you need dry nails to avoid ruining couture garments!

I’ve been using the 2-in-1 Base/Top Coat to seal the colour and add extra shine. I love that it contains the little silver balls – unusual for a top coat – as this keeps the polish texture so thin, which not only makes it easy to apply but also means it won’t chip as quickly.”

PRODUCT FEATURES + BENEFITS, as noted by session manicurist Katie Jane Hughes

• Brush is perfect length for ultimate control and easy application.

• Brush has a sleek, flat end designed for optimum application and product placement; ensuring it splays across the nail for an even coat that doesn’t streak.

• Ultra gloss finish; even pastel shades look expensive.

• Long lasting, for up to five days.

• Superior nail adhesion to protect against chipping.

• Smooth, self-levelling pigment for ease of application.

• Fast-drying.

• Easily removed with Acetone or Non-Acetone remover.

INGREDIENTS

Butyl Acetate, Ethyl Acetate, Nitrocellulose, Phthalic Anhydride/Trimellitic, Anhydride/Glycols, Copolymer, Acetyl Tributyl Citrate, Isopropyl Alcohol, Stearalkonium Hectorite , Adipic Acid/Fumaric Acid/Phthalic Acid/Tricyclodecane, Dimethanol Copolymer, Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer, Citric Acid, and may contain Talc, CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 77491 (Iron Oxide), CI 77499 (Iron Oxide), CI 15850 (Red 6 Lake, Red 7 Lake), CI 19140 (Yellow 5 Lake)

Session Manicurist, Katie Jane Hughes,

shares her tips for the perfect
20 minute manicure at home
in eight simple steps…

WHAT YOU NEED

Gentle nail file, buffing block, cuticle oil, small lip brush, cuticle pusher, nail polish

remover, BECCA 2-in-1 Base/Top Coat, BECCA Nail Colour.

STEP ONE

Gently file the length of your nails to shape or shorten.

 

STEP TWO

If necessary, gently push back any over grown cuticles with a cuticle pusher. 

 

STEP THREE

Lightly buff the nail surface to remove any old build up and create a smooth surface for the polish.

 

STEP FOUR

Coat each nail with one thin, even coat of BECCA 2-in-1 Base/Top Coat.

 

STEP FIVE

With your chosen shade of BECCA Nail Colour, paint two very thin coats of polish over the nails. Ensure you always gently touch the tip of the nail with the colour – this seals the end and adds longevity to the polish as any typing or manual work with not chip the nails instantly.

 

STEP SIX

Dip the small lip brush into the nail polish remover, then very carefully sweep the brush around the cuticle area. This cleans up any uneven mess around the edges. 

 

STEP SEVEN

Finish with a thin, even coat of BECCA 2-in-1 Base/Top Coat to seal and add gloss to the nails. Don't forget to cap the edges by painting the tip of the nail.

STEP EIGHT

Wait for about one minute, then carefully apply cuticle oil around the cuticle and sides of the nail. 

TIPS

• Don't soak your nails in water before you do your nails, as the nail soaks up the water and swells. This can lead to premature chipping when the swelling goes down.

• Always use a good cuticle oil after you polish to help nails dry.

• File your nails in one direction only.

• For the most natural looking nail, the shape should mimic the cuticle.

• Don't overload the brush or nail with polish.

BECCA Stockist details: 

BECCA Boutique 91a Pelham Street, South Kensington SW7 2NJ

Online www.beccacosmetics.com 

Phone Mail Order 020 7225 2501

Guest review of Le Metier de Beaute Nail Colour in Hera

Once again I've enlisted the help of Helen of Just Nice Things to give you a nail bloggers thoughts on nail colour from one of my favourite brands. I'm especially appreciative as Helen took on this task in the midst of moving house. I don't think you can get more dedicated than that! Let's see what she has to say about Le Metier de Beaute's Hera nail colour.

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Le Métier de Beaute isn’t really a brand that had registered much on my radar. Of course, I have read about it on a number of blogs, nodded sagely as Jane waxed lyrical about it (more than once!) but still for some reason I hadn’t been tempted to explore the brand further. However, this might all be about to change, as Jane obviously couldn’t cope with my ignorance any longer, and generously lent me her bottle of Hera to test out.

First things first, the bottle is tiny. Like tiny weeeeeeny. The kind of size you might expect to find in a dolls house. A bit odd really. Its only 4ml and will set you back the best part of £6.50. Erm, that’s kind of ludicrous. So you’d expect a sample sized bottle to contain polish that covers in one coat, right? Nope. This was two. Ok, so two isn’t bad, but it won’t take you long to use this up. Not long at all. Are they having a little joke with us? I mean, it’s one thing to be an aspirational and exclusive brand, but another to expect people to pay £1.62 for 1ml of nail varnish. Even Chanel (the most expensive nail varnish around, although Nails Inc are giving them a run for their money…but that’s a whole other blog post) only charges £1.38 per 1ml of polish.

THE COMPLETE GODS & GODDESSES COLLECTION

Anyway, all that aside, what’s the stuff actually like?

It’s very nice. However, Hera, a metallic shade, absolutely loathed being applied over a base coat. It went on ok, but dried totally bumpy and strange. So I had to remove my first application and start again, on bare and dry nails with no base coat, not even matte Nail Envy. This annoyed me as that was £1.62 down the drain straight away! But once I’d realized that this was no friend to base coat, it applied absolutely beautifully. Two easy coats, applied with a great brush that didn’t cause pooling or dragging at all. Marvellous. I was left with burnished gold nails that looked totally smooth and flawless. Usually, metallics highlight every ridge and lump and bump and I was pleased to say that Hera was an exception to the rule. I thought that Hera was going to be a gold foil, but it wasn’t. The finish is unlike any I’ve seen before and I really like it.

The ultimate test was moving house. How did it stand up to a few days of packing boxes, messing around with tape, moving and shunting things around? Well, the answer is very well. Hera looked great for a couple of days before starting to chip, but I must point out that my nails were under a lot of stress during this time (as was I – moving house is HELL). I would imagine that it would fare perfectly well using it in a normal week where the most strain you’ll be putting on your hands is doing some typing or washing up.

So, what’s my feeling? It’s a nice polish. The finish is different and it is a lovely shade. It applies perfectly and seems to go the distance. But they’d have to come up with a really original colour to get me to part with £6.50 for such a tiny bottle. OK so storage would be less of an issue than it is with my larger 15ml polishes, but I’m still not convinced.

On a side note, I always felt really sorry for Hera, having to stay at home and be all gracious and ladylike whilst her husband was off misbehaving in the form of a swan or a golden shower (look it up if you don’t believe me). At least she’s had a nice nail varnish named after her now though, hey?

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Thank you so much again to Helen for giving lending her hands and of course sharing some illuminating facts about poor Hera!


Le Metier de Beaute's nail colours cost $10 (they reduced the prices earlier this year). The Gods and Goddesses nail collection is still available on the Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom websites. Nordstrom also ships internationally. Since my last LMdB post, I learned that you actually pay the customs fees as part of the shipping costs from Nordstrom. This does add a significant amount to the cost of course but at least there are no nasty surprises this end! 


Disclosure: The nail varnish was sent to me without cost for review purposes.