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

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...

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.

Illamasqua Vice Nail Polish

I'm being lazy today with a nail polish post. I'm going to blame my laziness on my lack of sleep. I'm also somewhat distracted this morning trying to decide whether a trip to Henley to look at the SpaceNK sale is a good idea. Henley is a lovely place to visit but my trips to SpaceNK are often brief as makeup shopping with three small children and my husband looking on isn't the most enjoyable experience. But shopping sounds a lot more appealing than staying at home and finding new homes for all the new toys and Christmas presents. Anyway, I digress....

Vice nail polish was released with the Illamasqua Theatre of the Nameless collection and has an unusual rubberised finish. This rubberised texture was inspired by the Boots girls of Berlin who wore different coloured rubber boots to advertise their specialty. I quite like the unusual finish, the only issue I had is that, unless you don't mind spoiling the effect, you cannot use a top coat and for me this led to a few dents in the polish as I was waiting for it to dry.

Vice is my favourite colour of the four Theatre of the Nameless polishes. This kind of reddy plum/wine colour is quite vampy and I think the rubberised finish adds a little interest. It makes a nice change from shimmer too. You can see the other three nail colours in my original post about the collection here.

The Illamasqua nail polishes cost £13.50 and all four nail colours from the collection are still available. As an aside, Illamasqua has a sale on at the moment with quite a lot of items reduced in price so it's worth a little browse if you're in the mood for a bargain.

Disclosure: PR Sample.

Update on Avon Wicked Pro Nail Enamel

I didn't manage to capture the red in Avon Nailwear Pro Nail Enamel in Wicked whilst taking the comparison photographs for my recent Butter LONDON Knees Up post. I spotted the nail wheel on my table a couple of days ago and noticed that in that particular spot with the just the right lighting, the red shimmer in the dark base showed up perfectly.

I hope you will forgive me for sharing these photographs with you. Winter in the UK can be lovely and festive but it's not so amazing for blog photography. I was so pleased that I managed to capture the hidden beauty of this nail polish, I couldn't resist the urge to post them! I do suspect the red shimmer in Wicked is similar to shimmer of Chanel Paradoxal in that you will only see it in certain lights at the right angle but you can see the true beauty of the colour when you finally do see it. At £3, it's not quite as upsetting that you can't see the red twinkle all the time!