Dupe Alert: Avon Smoky Plumes vs Essie Smokin' Hot

I picked up Avon Speed Dry+ in Smoky Plumes on a bit of a whim. I try my best not to buy more nail varnish these days, out of guilt for the number of bottles I already own, but it seemed churlish to turn down an offer of £2.50 for a bottle.

L-R: Smoky Plumes, Metro Chic, Smokin' Hot and Paradoxal

The colour, Smoky Plumes, really appealed to me. I do like a good gruple and I suppose I shouldn't have been shocked to discover that it was a dupe for something I already owned. As you will see from the nail wheel, Avon Smoky Plumes is pretty much a spot-on dupe for Essie Smokin' Hot. It also looks very similar to Chanel Paradoxal, only without the (well) hidden sparkle, of course.

L-R: Smoky Plumes x2, Metro Chic, Smokin' Hot and Paradoxal

Although the colours are practically identical, the formulas are quite different. Smokin' Hot has a thin, runny consistency, whereas Smoky Plumes has a thick formula and does have a tendency to drag. Personally speaking, I find the Essie easier to apply both in terms of the consistency and ease of manipulating the brush. However, the Smoky Plumes did look better the next morning, on account of the faster drying time. And yes, in case you are wondering, I am walking around with Smokin' Hot on one hand and Smoky Plumes on the other in the interest of accurate research...

As ever, I can't comment on staying power: I make all manicures look worn within 12-24 hours, standard. I find the quality of the Avon polishes is generally pretty good though and Smoky Plumes is worth considering if you're looking for a nice gruple.

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.

Topshop Adrenalin Nail Polish

This is another of my recent Topshop purchases. The rather oddly named Adrenalin is a lilac-y pink glitter polish with a mixture of small and medium sized pieces of glitter. The glitter is more densely packed than in the Junk Yard polish that I showed you last week but you still need to daub it on quite thickly to load the nail with glitter.

The glitter in Adrenalin has an iridescent quality which is very pretty and I have been admiring my nails a lot since I applied it. Strangely, the glitter coverage looks heavier in real life compared to the images below, which I don't really understand.  I am wearing Adrenalin over Essie Demure Vixen in these pictures (two coats of Demure Vixen followed by two coats of Adrenalin). This combination has lasted quite well again: glitter polishes really do seem to have reasonable staying power on my rubbish nails!

Adrenalin nail polish cost £6 from Topshop. I bought it from a reasonably sized store but I see you can also buy the makeup online.

Junk Yard Nail Polish by Louise Gray for Topshop

I finally had an opportunity to explore the Topshop makeup range on Saturday. Along with a couple of bits I had on my wishlist, I picked up this glittery nail polish from the Louise Gray collaboration. It was the perfect pre-IKEA shopping with children treat.

It's reminiscent of the Deborah Lipmann glitter polishes, although the glitter is not as dense. The glitter settles to the bottom of the bottle so it does require a shake before application. I decided to layer it over a base of pale blue polish (L'Oreal French Riviera) and splodged Junk Yard over the top to add the maximum amount of glitter in the shortest time!

I was surprised that the nail polish survived furniture building and a day of heavy day cleaning. It did eventually lift off as a complete sheet. It certainly beats trying to get it off with remover.

The Louise Gray polishes at Topshop cost £6.50 each and there are a total of four glitter polishes.

Orly Decoded Nail Polish

Decoded nail polish is part of the Orly Electronica collection. It's probably the most muted of the four shades and its hard to pin down 'is it is grey, is it navy, is it green?' colour is what instantly appealed to me. On the nail wheel, I think it looks more green whereas on my nails, I would say it looks more grey-blue. However you would describe the colour, I really like how it looks and it makes a nice change from my usual griege or gruple.

The first coat went on a little sheer and streaky, so this is definitely a two coat polish. It has a creme finish and as you can see in my nail pictures above, it doesn't cover up an uneven nail surface like more a glossy polish might do. Using a top coat would probably correct this however, I don't think it's that obvious other than in close up photos. Wear time was good on my left hand, average on my right. I will add the usual disclaimer that my nails are rubbish and I can chip nail polish in my sleep!

The Orly Electronica collection is available from BeautyBay where the nail polishes cost £7.50 each, they also have the mini mani set which contains all four colours for £12.75.

Disclosure: PR Sample

My Blues, Greens and Reds

The weather is so miserable outside that I felt inspired to do another colour grouping post. As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm not great at experimenting with colours but I wondered what a hunt for blues, greens and reds would uncover. I suspect that I'm repeatedly drawn to a single shade from a colour family rather than collecting a range from across the spectrum. So, no pretty rainbow of colours here.

Greens

Eyeshadows: MAC Club, Rouge Bunny Rouge Olive Violeteare, Green eyeshadow from Le Metier de Beaute Penelope Kaleidoscope, Green from the Chantecaille Sea Turtles palette, Lancôme Erika F, NARS Dogon and Rajasthan.
Eye Pencils: Annabelle Smoothliner in Jade, No.7 Metallic Eyes in Green, Sue Devitt Eye Intensifier in Bangalore and MAC Kohl Power Pencil in Mystery
Nail Polish: Barry M Racing Green, YSL in Wintergreen, Le Metier de Beaute Dionysus and Athena, L'Oreal Innocent Green, Nails Inc freebie in an unnamed Teal colour

Blues

Eyeshadows: YSL Pure Chromatics in shade #3, Sephora eyeshadow in Preppy Look (#41) and  L'Oreal Infallible Colour in Innocent Turquoise.
Eye Pencils: MAC Pearlglide liner in Petrol Blue and Annabelle Smoothie Crayon in Blubomb
Nail Polish: Joe nail varnish in Persian Blue, YSL Moonlight Blue, Lancôme Vernis in Love in Bleu de Flore (573B), China Glaze in Tempest, Orly Star of Bombay, Butter London Victoriana, L'Oreal French Riviera.

Reds

Nail Polish: Butter London Knees Up, Orly Glam, Lancôme Vernis in Love in Miss Coquelicot (154M) and Lancôme Rouge Saint Honoré (22)
Lip Liners: MAC Cherry and Le Metier de Beaute Rose
Lip Products: Tom Ford lipstick in Smoke Red, Ilia Crimson & Clover, Max Factor Colour Elixir lipstick in Ruby Tuesday, Lancôme lipsticks in Rouge Faubourg and Rouge in Love (159B), Revlon Colourburst in Raspberry, Kevyn Aucoin Liquid Lipstick in Aquarouge, Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss in Fume and Ellis Faas in L303
Cheek Colour: W3LL People Universalist Stick #5

I thought I'd add this final picture, so you can see exactly why all the images are so dark. I know we really need the rain but, seriously, enough already!! Hopefully I will get opportunity to take some of these again when the sun finally reappears.

Disclosure: The items shown here are a mixture of things that I have purchased myself, been gifted to me and PR samples. If you want to check the origin of any particular item, do feel free to ask.

W7 Metallic Mercury and Venus (with Orly Cosmic FX comparison)

I'm feeling poorly today (the small people have been sharing their germs again), so I thought I'd take the opportunity to show you some swatches that I've been meaning to post for ages. I hope you will forgive me for being less detailed than normal.

Left - Metallic Mercury, Right - Metallic Venus

I picked up these W7 nail polishes just before Christmas last year when I was visiting family. I've never spotted the brand locally and at only a couple of pound each, I thought it would be an inexpensive treat. The W7 bottles are very similar to OPI in styling, although the brushes aren't as good quality and are prone to sticking out at funny angles. The consistency of both of these polishes is quite thin and I applied three coats for the coverage you see here.

In the bottle, Metallic Mercury looks very similar to Orly Space Cadet, including that yellow green tinge at certain angles. On the nail, they look quite different as Metallic Mercury has a much darker base. The 'oil in water' sheen is lost a bit with the black base, especially with as you need to apply several coats. Nevertheless, I like the finished result very much.

Metallic Mercury

Metallic Venus has more of a metallic finish than Metallic Mercury (which is a duochrome finish - thanks Odyssey!). I particularly like how the tiny blue microshimmer gives the nail polish a lilac sheen. I think this Metallic Venus is my favourite of these two W7 colours.

Metallic Venus

Here are Metallic Mercury and Venus compared to the Orly Cosmic FX colours that I own. None of these colours are dupes but hopefully the comparison helps put the colours in context. At the very least it's an excuse for a bit of nail polish porn!

Right to left: Out of this World, Metallic Mercury, Metallic Venus, Galaxy Girl

Right to left: Galaxy Girl, Metallic Mercury, Metallic Venus, Out of this World, Space Cadet

I can't remember exactly how much these nail polishes cost from Savers, as the receipt has long since vanished. I suspect it was around £2.95 each. Although they're harder to apply than more expensive brands, the lasting power was fine so my overall impression is that they're not bad for a bit of cheap and cheerful fun. I found both colours available from Amazon and Fragrancemad.com.

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!

A Little Jubilee Makeup Silliness

I accompanied Small Person #2 to the school Diamond Jubilee party this afternoon. I'd had a glimpse of the bunting earlier in the day and couldn't resist going with a little red, white and blue theme. Well I guess it was more red, cream and blue unless you count my white hairs! Anyway...

I wouldn't normally go out of the house with shimmery blue eyeliner and red lips but no one batted an eyelid. Some of the children had full union jacks painted on their faces, so I figured I'd have to be going some to raise eyebrows. On my fingers, I went for alternating blue and red. I'm obviously not on trend as I don't own any white nail polish.

Here are my reds and blues. The red nail polish is Lancôme Miss Coquelicot* from the Vernis in Love collection and the blue is YSL Moonlight Blue. The eyeliner is MAC Petrol Blue Pearlglide  liner and the lipstick is Ellis Faas Glazed Lips in L303.

There are no proper close ups of my nails as they were done quickly before I went out and anyone with children knows that wet nails are an open invite to a series of calamitous polish smudging events. It also reminded me that I need another fast drying top coat.

Are you planning any Jubilee celebrations over the weekend?

*PR Sample

Orly Star of Bombay

Orly Star of Bombay is a gorgeous deep navy with pretty metallic blue twinkle. It's so dark in fact that is looks almost black and in overcast light (which we've seen a lot of lately) it can be hard to capture that sparkle. It's probably more obvious to the eye than it is to the camera and I confess that I kept staring at my nails when I was wearing this colour.

This polish is quite thick and opaque in consistency and I could have almost got away with a single coat. However, two coats are best to really bring out that pretty twinkle. As ever, the long brush and rubber grip handle of the Orly polishes makes for easy application.

I wanted to compare Star of Bombay to a couple of other dark blues, I prepared the colours on a nail wheel but the sun has refused to put in an appearance since. I will post a picture separately when the sun finally comes out again, I will need to get up first thing on Sunday to catch it if the weather forecast is to be believed. I'll get back to you on that!

Orly nail polishes are available from Beauty Bay where Star of Bombay costs £7.50. Other stockists include Look Fantastic and Feel Unique.

Disclosure: PR Sample

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...