On My Nails This Week: Revlon Nail Enamel in Posh

This week saw my first foray into Revlon nail polishes. I don't know why I hadn't gone there before, as I'm a big fan of Revlon as a brand and love their makeup, but for some reason I had never thought to try out their nail-related offerings. However, while on the hunt for a dupe of Essie Mojito Madness, I stumbled across this beaut, which is called Posh (Shade 571). As well as this being a first for Revlon nails, it's also the first time I've welcomed such a shade to my collection. You'll often find me wearing mint and pastel greens, but emerald and forest greens were lacking in my collection until I saw the lovely Helen from The Lovecats Inc (if you don't already read her blog then get yourself over there after reading this post - Helen posts daily outfit posts and always has the most wonderful selection of beauty products to talk about - her hauls are second to none.) post an image on Instagram of various different green Essie nail polishes. It was a bit of a no-brainer really - I love emerald green, so why hadn't I thought about popping it on my nails?

I have to say, I'm really quite impressed with the formula of this nail polish. It goes on so smoothly without the merest hint of a streak, and it seems to dry pretty quickly too. (I used the Post Trauma Nail Treatment  - also Revlon as a base coat, but we'll talk more about that one later.) In terms of chipping, the tips of my nails did need a bit of retouching after a couple of days, but I have to take responsibility for that one as I didn't use a top coat.

These polishes come it at £6.49, which is a pretty mid-range price, and considering how high-end I think the sturdy packaging looks I think it's pretty good. You get 14ml for your money, which is more than you would with some of the more expensive brands, which is another bonus.

Have you tried any of the Revlon nail polishes? Which are your favourites?

xx

Experimental Jungle Nails (Rush Job!)

If you read my post on Dior's new Golden Jungle collection over the weekend (if you didn't find it here), you will know that it's probably one of the most exciting new lines due out for A/W 2012,  featuring earthy greens, leopard print and crocodile effect alongside nudes and rich browns. One of my favourite things from the collection is undoubtedly the Golden Jungle Nail Art Duo in Crocodile Leather Effect. The combo features a golden base coat along with a khaki top coat, which, similarly to crackle polishes, dries to create the croc leather effect.

Well, last night, I found myself with chipped nails and no nail varnish remover, so I decided to do a quick patch-up job until I could get my hands on some today.

I slapped on a couple of coats of this Gold Miss Sporty polish, and then I painted on a thin layer of Up Colours Green Chrome Crackle polish, and this is the effect I got. As you can see, due to the layers of polish already underneath and the fact that my nails were badly in need of a shape and a file, the end result is not even a tiny patch on Dior's offering, but the look is not a million miles away and captures the luxurious urban jungle colour scheme that is going to be all over the place next season.

I just did this as a quick experiment really, to see how it would turn out, as I had never actually used my green crackle polish and was excited to try out the colour combo! I think that if I actually started from scratch and shaped my nails nicely, painting them carefully and finishing them off with a clear top coat to even out the surface a bit then this could actually look reasonably good (admittedly, as it is it looks a bit crap!), but I think I am definitely still going to find my debit card 'accidentally' making it's way into the chip and pin device at my nearest Dior counter before long!

If you pop on over to my Golden Jungle post (linked above) then you will see exactly what I mean - there is absolutely no contest!

What's on your nails today? Do you like the idea of the Golden Jungle colour scheme?

xx

Polka-Dot Nails

Just a 'spot' of nail art for you this evening.......sorry, couldn't resist that one!!

I have been wanting to try polka-dot nails for a long time now, but I had always assumed that I was just too clumsy to be able to do it! I used to be horrendous at doing my nails, but nowadays I am reasonably good, so after a little bit of a foray into crackle effects and ombre nails, with successful results, I decided that now was the time to give this cute little look a go.

I decided to go for this gorgeous pastel turquoise shade as a base, which is called 'Maltese', by popular Brazilian nail polish brand Risque. This is actually from their 'Dogs' line, which features an array of pretty pastels with a hint of shimmer, all going by names such as 'Poodle', 'Husky' and 'SharPei'. A bit of a random theme to go for, in my opinion, but the polishes are lovely all the same.

'Maltese' goes on pretty smoothly, and only requires one to two coats to achieve opacity. In the bottle, there is a subtle hint of shimmer, but this does not appear to translate onto the nail. I did find this particular formula to be a little slow-drying, but nothing too excessive.

For the polka-dots, I used OPI's Alpine Snow, which is a lovely bright, opaque white. I used an orange stick to dot it carefully onto the nails. As you can see, the look this created is not completely uniform, and the dots are not perfect, but I think it turned out pretty well nonetheless and quite like the results.

What's on your nails at the moment?

Have you tried any nail art this week?

I've said it once already today, but I'll say it again: Hope you've all had a splendid weekend!

xx

NOTW: Ombre Effect

Please excuse the state of my nails in general, I have been sporting this look for about a week now and have only now got round to taking some pictures for you!

I had been wanting to ombre my nails, but my first attempt a few weeks ago was far from successful, and very messy! But, not one to be deterred, I decided to give it another go, and this was the result.

First, I painted all my nails with two layers of Colorama's Pop Art Yellow and waited for it to dry completely.

I then took a plastic folder (just one of those cheap flimsy ones you put in ring binders) and painted on a generous line of each of the three colours I was using, from lightest to darkest (I chose Miss Sporty 326, which is a gorgeous bright coral, and 302, a pretty hot pink) . I used a small piece of sponge to soak up the polish and moved it up and down a little bit while doing so in order to blend the colours.

Then, I just pressed the sponge onto each of my nails, making sure to cover the whole surface, waited for it to dry and repeated the step a couple more times to achieve my desired result.

A couple of words of warning if you've never tried this before: 1) It is reeeally messy! Make sure you've got plenty of nail varnish/polish remover at hand before you start, as you do not want to run out and find yourself with rainbow hands you can't get rid of! And 2) The sponging means that the texture of your polish ends up being quite rough and bumpy, so you will need a couple of layers of a good clear topcoat to smooth things out and protect your artwork - I don't know about you, but after spending such a long time doing my nails and cleaning them up, I want them to last, even being someone who gets bored with my nail colours so easily!

I love this look for the summer, and love that you can mix it up with loads of different colour schemes. Next time I'm going to try some pastels and some pretty greens.

What's on your nails at the moment?

Have you ever tried to ombre yours?

xx

Nails Of The Day!

I just wanted to quickly show you the look I have been enjoying on my nails for the past few days before I take off the polish and do them a different colour, but unfortunately, my camera is still up the spout, so I have had to find pictures to illustrate what I went for online. So, picture credits for this particular post must go to http://oxentechique.blogspot.com.br/2011/10/verniz-poodlegemssamba-juliana.html, and I do hope she doesn't mind. I want to make a point of saying that this would not be my normal approach, I just really wanted to show you how my nails are at the moment, and this was the only way to do so!

So, for this look, I used Brazilian brand Risque's nail polish in 'Poodle'. It's a lovely pastel lilac colour, but I have to say that I was slightly disappointed after application, as though smooth and fast drying, it had appeared to have some subtle shimmer in the bottle, which didn't transfer to the nails.

The second polish I used is this pretty glitter one, which is 'Gems', by Milani. Actually, I did it slightly differently and only applied the glitter to my ring finger nails, but I couldn't find a more accurate photo for you!

Milani nail lacquers are available from their website, but you can also find them quite easily on Ebay. For a choice of their gorgeous glitter polishes, as well as some other brands like Kleancolor and NYX Girls, visit Joy's Cosmetics ebay store. Joy is a top-rated seller.

Unfortunately, I can't find a supplier of Risque in the UK for you ( I picked mine up in Brazil), but I will keep my eyes peeled and let you know if the polishes become available.

Milani Glitter Polishes (£2.75 - £2.90) in Gems, Gold, Silver, Fuchsia, Lavender, Teal, Hot Pink and Red.

Hope everyone is over the Monday blues and having a lovely evening!

xx