Fun Lacquer Platinum Diamond - A Comparison

Hello nail people of the world! Today I'm doing something a little different from my normal stamping nail art, and reviewing/ comparing a couple of nail polishes by Fun Lacquer. Back in 2020 Fun Lacquer released a new magnetic gel polish (Platinum Diamond) with a really pretty silver glitter effect that is different to any other glitter I had seen before, it has a sort of crushed velvet look to it and sparkles like crazy when you move your hands! I was waiting for it to come back in stock again on Rainbow Connection in the UK, and once it did they had also released a regular nail polish version. I had read previously that the gel one was better for getting the true 3D shimmer effect, but the pictures of the regular one look pretty good too! So I dithered over which one to get and ended up deciding to get both and compare. It seems like a waste of money in some ways but it gives me options and something to do in lockdown!

I'm going to summarise below the key points to compare and my final view, so hopefully if you're struggling to decide which to buy this might help! Underneath all the text I've added pictures, the gel polish is on my thumb and index fingernails. I've tried a few different colours underneath.

Consistency - Very good for both, not too thick in either case but just one coat needed.

Price - £14 for regular and £19.50 for gel - it's not cheap but it is worth it!

Application - The application of these was really good as usual, though I am less used to gel so probably haven't perfected that yet! I think there's a trick to getting that 3D sparkle effect which I achieved better on some nails than others, it will take some practise and is also pretty hard to capture on camera - but when it works it's wow!

Sparkle - Wonderful! I managed to achieve the sort of crushed velvet flare effect better with the gel but both are beautiful. The regular polish one had slightly closer together particles I thought.

In conclusion, I need to practise my technique with these, but I think I found the gel one slightly better. The unlimited drying time meant it was easier to get the effect I wanted before curing, and I think the sparkle effect is more unique. However, the difference is small, both are gorgeous and you have to look closely to tell the difference. It may even be that I'm just not well practiced enough in creating the effect. Therefore I would recommend choosing the one you're most comfortable working with - it will look gorgeous either way!

Colours used: Black Gel - FairyGlo, Pale Pink Gel - FairyGlo, Lady In Black - OPI, Fascinating - Fun Lacquer, Cobalt Jelly - Cirque Colors, Platinum Diamond Gel - Fun Lacquer, Platinum Diamond - Fun Lacquer

Quixotic Polish - Trying Another Lovely Indie Brand

Hello all! Got some plan old swatches today rather than nail art, but I'm excited to share these with you as I rather like them (spoiler alert!). Earlier this year I decided to buy a few polishes from Quixotic Polish for the first time, but didn't try them for ages as they are more the sort of thing I'd wear in the autumn/winter. These two are from their Flakie Bombs collection which is soooo incredibly beautiful! I resisted the other shades but that was tough! They had a picture of them all together which looked so pretty I wanted to frame it! Still tempted to go back for the rest...

ANYway, onto the polishes... first up is Nightshade, a deep green jelly polish with green flakes and specs of glitter. This polish is SO beautiful! It's got so much depth to it. I thought it might just be quite dark and come out a bit more black but I'm so pleased with how green it is. A very strong start! 

Next up is Ambrosia, a beautiful teal-blue-green, I'm not really sure what you'd call this to be honest but it's lovely! It looks different colours in different lights, my favourite is when that purple-y red flare shows up as you can see in the picture of my thumb nail. Looking at the pictures again it's hard to choose a favourite but this one really did wow me when it caught the light!

Cirque Colors Juicy Fruit

Hi everyone, hope you're doing well. It's such a crazy world we live in at the moment! Sending positive thoughts and pictures of nail polish to you :)

Today I'm sharing pictures from my first time wearing Juicy Fruit from Cirque Colors, such a gorgeous shade! My last nail polish look didn't last that long due to the peel off base, and I lost a peely when trying to get out of my raincoat (long story, my scarf got stuck in it - I am free now)!! So as it was mid-week and I didn't have a long time to do nail art I decided to try out one of my 'untrieds', and I am certainly glad I did! These pictures were taken in sunlight through thin curtains and you can see how packed this polish is with flakies. I used three coats and a top coat for this finish, and kept admiring my nails while wearing it. They looked super shiny and at a glance almost as if there was some kind of foil effect going on. I would highly recommend this polish!

Cirque Colors Facets Collection 2019: Lazy Swatches

Hey everyone! Some swatches to share with you today, which is rare for me! I've done what I did a few years back when I reviewed the first Facets collection and have painted a colour on each nail, in what I call lazy swatches! This collection was very good for that as it consists of five polishes! If you weren't already aware, Cirque Colors first launched the Facets collection in 2016, with 6 gorgeous gem inspired shades. These were a huge success and remain my fave collection of all time! Due to all the hype they re-released them in 2018, which six new shades, and this year they were joined by five more (earlier in the year this time).


Above are the polishes in different lighting, they are all stunningly sparkly in direct sunlight or bright artificial light. With the exception of the deep purple I'd say these shades are more summery than the previous collections, which makes sense given the time of year they were released. You can see my review of the original set here. Looking at it now I wish I'd done the same hand poses with these! Keep reading for a review polish by polish.


First up is Peridot, I would call this a grass green, with lots of lovely flakies, as all the polishes in this collection have. Above I have used two coats, as I have done with all the swatches for this blog post, but you may want three to get it really opaque. This was one of the two most sheer of the collection, but not too much effort to get a good build up! I was a bit concerned this would turn out to be the same as Someday by ILNP, but although similar I am pleased to say it's not the same. This is a tad darker with fractionally larger flakies, whereas Someday is more of a Spring green.


Next we have Citrine, which is a lovely sparkling amber shade. This as it turns out is my birthstone, I googled it after I saw people commenting on Instagram that their birthstones were included in the collection. This polish is quite unusual, and completely different to anything else in my collection. I don't normally go in for this sort of shade but I love this with the jelly effect and all the glitter! I think it will be a great one for autumn. This is two coats but again you may want three, this is one of the sheerer polishes in the collection.


Next up is Amethyst, a rich purple with a galaxy of flakies. I was looking forward to this as I knew I'd love it, and it did not disappoint. I have many sparkly purples, but I feel like I probably can't have too many... I'm very drawn to them. To me this is a very classic shade of purple. I used two coats for consistency with the other swatches but it's definitely a one coater, very opaque.


Next up is Tourmaline, another gem I had never heard of! Tourmaline is a bright pink jelly polish with the classic Facets flakies. Cirque Colors released some stunning pictures of this coming out of the bottle, where it reminded me so much of a sparkly jam I once bought at a market! I sense some jam themed nail art coming soon! The above is two coats but again this is a one coater, and possibly the most opaque of the collection.

And finally we have Crushed Ice, a beautiful and immensely sparkly silver. Now I must admit, I find it a bit frustrating that it's called Crushed Ice. I can't deny the beauty of the polish itself but I would have hoped it would have another gem themed name like the others in the collection, maybe Diamond. I suppose perhaps they previously had another polish called diamond. Anyway, I've used two coats here and was really impressed with how well it built up. I'd recommend 2-3 coats. It's definitely the most sparkly as you'd expect with a silver, I've included a bonus picture on the left where you can really see the sparkle!

So which one is your favourite? I'm finding it very hard to choose! Crushed Ice is the most sparkly, while Tourmaline and Citrine are the most different to things I currently have. I've thought about it and to be honest I don't think I have a favourite, I love them all! I am marginally more excited about Citrine as it's so different and will be so lovely for autumn designs, I have some ideas already! Also maybe Amethyst, can't get enough of those sparkly purples...

I absolutely adore Cirque Colors, it's hard to say as there are a few that I really love, but I think Cirque Colors may be my favourite brand. As well as being beautiful and often unusual, their polishes come in such lovely collections with great themes behind them. They must be sick of me tagging them in Instagram by now as I seem to always be wearing their colours at the moment!

Emily de Molly - Gravity Drive

Hello nail people - long time no see! I've been away on a couple of weekends away and a week in Scotland so while it has been lovely I have got a bit behind on blogging. Today I've just got the one polish to talk about. I took it with me to Scotland and although it's not the most seasonal shade I love it! It's a really sparkly colour with lots of depth. Quite a good glitter density as well, the below pictures show the polish directly painted on rather than sponged.

This is my forth Emily de Molly polish, they've not been one of the brands I've got really into. However after a few recent purchases I've realised every one of my four Emily de Molly polishes has blown me away, so I think we can see where this will go! Below I have put a few pictures where I've tried to capture some of the wonderful sparkle.

Lazy Swatches: Fun Lacquer Valentines Collection 2019

Hi everyone, today I have GLITTER to show you!! Glitter is always a great source of excitement for me! Fun Lacquer released a very sparkly valentines collection at the beginning of the year and I just had to treat myself after seeing some of the lovely videos of them under bright lights. There are six colours in total and I have done what I call 'lazy swatches', where I do one colour on each nail instead of each hand. I do this to try and save time as otherwise it would probably be months before I got round to blogging it!

All six shades are fine holographic glitter densely packed in a clear base, and are show below with three coats and a top coat. Scroll down to see how I got on...
Crazy In Love (little finger) - First up is this vibrant purple with a pinkish tone in  certain lights. Lovely and holo and very girly!

Lucky Girl (ring finger) - This is a bright green leaning towards teal/turquoise and intensely sparkly.

Kiss Me (middle finger) - Classic sparkly red. Not quite as glittery as the others in some lights but super sparkly in bright sunshine or artificial light.

BFF (index finger) - Bright blue holographic. Some similarities to 'How Deep Is Your Holo' from Fun Lacquer's Simply Nailogical Collection but finer glitter and slightly less green.
Love Potion (index finger) - This is a classic bright pink glitter. A rich sparkly pink.

Precious Moment (middle finger) - Pale pink/rose glitter with a hint of champagne. Classy yet also incredibly sparkly! This one came out the most sparkly of all six.

I feel as if I've been describing a box of chocolates for some reason! I didn't go into much detail on each colour as they were very similar in terms of consistency and glitter density. I was particularly impressed that I was able to do this in three coats. Normally I would expect to be sponging on this type of polish. If wearing these out and about and not just for swatches I think I would probably add one more coat, but only because I have long nails which makes my nail line more visible in bright light.

My favourite has to be Precious Moment. Normally I am more of a blues/greens/purples sort of person but this one is just so intensely glittery! I also think it's a classy shade despite all the sparkle, and a little different to what I currently have.

Will you be trying these out this year? Let me know what you think!

A England - Return to Manderley Review

Hey everyone! Finally getting round to putting up my swatches of A England's Return to Manderley collection (insert heart eye emoji)! Disclaimer: my swatch pictures are really not the best. I suppose at least it gives you a glimpse at them in different lights. When I'm trying to decide whether to buy a polish, I quite like to look at some lovely well presented images, and a few more casual ones to try and get a fair picture. I think these still look good in all pictures though :)

So this collection is themed around the book Rebecca, by Daphne de Maurier. A England polishes tend to be themed around books, pieces of music, art or ballet. I haven't bought any for quite some time and forgot how good they were! I enjoy the classy themes of the collections as well. There are seven polishes in the collection, all have a holographic flare and a semi-matte satin sort of finish. I've written a little about each of them tomorrow.

First up and above left is Mrs de Winter, an unusual shade. I'm not quite sure how to describe it, it's a mauve/brown/grey I suppose! I like how unusual it is and how sophisticated it looks. The holographic flare really adds a lot to it as well, turning it into something gorwn up and ordinary to something a bit special. I used one coat for this and most of the other polishes, I'll let you know which one needed two. If you have long nails like me you might need two, but I was impressed with the opacity. Above right is Maxim, a sophisticated pinky burgundy with a lovely hint of rust in the holo flare. This is the most unusual of all the polishes, I thought it would be similar to things I already have but the rusty tint to it is unique.
Next up above left is Mrs Danvers... of course she would be in black! Didn't really capture the holo flare in this one unfortunately  which is a shame as it was a good one. I have another polish similar to this but this one is definitely more holo! Again one coat used and the polish has a great consistency. On the right is Manderley - makes me a little sad! Another lovely colour though, it makes me think of the posh cars they drove to and from Manderley. I can't actually remember if any of them were green but I imagine them that way! Again I didn't capture the holo very well but it does also have a good holo flare.
Above left is The Scent of Azaleas. I think this one is my favourite, despite the quirkyness of Maxim. It's a gorgeous bright and super sparkly/holo purple.  The image is a little blurry but gives you a hint of the holo! Another one coater but a little closer to needing two for this one. Above right is Je Reviens, a holographic silver with a hint of lilac. I really love this one too, not sure how well the lilac shows up in this, or it might be because I've put it next to a more purply purple - but in person it's definitely a little lilac. I would recomend using two coats for this one as it's a tad thinner than the others.

And finally, Rebecca! This one is a holographic magenta and very fitting for the character I think. It is also my name! Though pink isn't my usual colour of choice I did think my collection was missing a holographic pink - I'm sure it will come in handy! It's not too garish ether, and is quite subtle away from bright lights. I wore this one to a client meeting last week.

 So overall I am of course pleased with these! They are a lovely set of colours and I enjoy the theme. It's a great book and of course my name - so I had to have them really. I was impressed with the opacity of all of them and the holo flare was better than I thought it would be too!

Prim & Copper

Hello nail people! Short post today, just showing off one of those rare polishes I wear alone, without any nail art or other adornments. This is Prim & Copper, from the lovely Femme Fatale Cosmetics. It's an exclusive polish for Rainbow Connection (pretty much my favourite shop!). I had my eye on it for a while so I'm glad I managed to get hold of it while it's around, it's still available now if you like the look of it.

The colour as you can see is a burgundy/purple shade, varying depending on the lighting, with flecks of copper glitter scattered throughout. My photography skills still need some work but you can see it below in some different lighting. I need to get some way of capturing really bright lights without making my hands look funny... as this one does sparkle wonderfully under bright lights or sunlight. As always the formula is good, I used two coats for the pictures below. The finish is slightly textured but if this isn't your desired finish it can be smoothed out with a top coat.

Let me know what you think :)