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!

Nails Inc Mindfulness Nail Polish

Hi everyone! Anyone else just delighted that it's the weekend?! I really have that Friday feeling, especially with the weather being so uncharacteristically good! It feels like summer has come already! Today I have a couple of Nails Inc polishes to show you. It seems like ages since I've bought Nails Inc shades, as I buy so many more indie polishes now. I was distracted by these in Debenhams when I went to buy some of their Nail Kale base coat which I swear by (blog post on that to come). I wouldn't usually spend this much on individual colours (my upper limit is about £12) but I didn't discover these were £15 till I got to the till, by which time it was too late, I was attached!

Anyway, enough rambling and on to the nail polish! First up is And Breathe. Both polishes are from their 'mindfulness' collection, with five polishes, each 'enhancing' different areas of your live. Not the sort of thing I go in for really but it's a nice idea! This one is for 'stress relief and positive energy' which tickled me as to be honest all nail polish brings me that! :D

I absolutely love the brushes in Nails Inc bottles, they are wide and nicely tapered so application is just lovely. The polish was easy to apply too and gorgeously shimmery. I can't quite figure out what colour this is. I'd say it's mostly copper but there's a hint of rose gold to it. There are teeny tiny gold flakes in it which are more visible in the bottle but give the polish a gorgeous shine. Id like to try this with my new UberChic owl stamping plate.
Next up is Good Vibes, a glitter topper with a lovely subtle rainbow shimmer to it. It's quite different to how I expected it to turn out from seeing it in the bottle. Also very difficult to capture the sparkles on camera. I was expected it to be subtle scattered glitter with a rainbow sparkle to it. It was more of a densely packed shimmer and also had some iridescent flakies scattered around. It creates a vibrantly shiny manicure but was a little less sparkly than I'd thought. I'm wearing it over Oasis, a muted purple from Barry M. I did try it on my Uber Mat over black, white and nude as well but I really couldn't capture the sparkle on camera. I think it works well over pale shades for a bit of unicorn shimmer.
So in conclusion, I like them! And Breathe is my favourite, as it's quite an unusual shade and the finish is very smooth (both polishes are shown with no top coat). I look forward to using Good Vibes with more colours, and getting it involved in some nail art!

Monthly Indie Review: Fun Lacquer

Hi everyone! Today I have a monthly indie review I've been waiting to do for a long time - Fun Lacquer. When the Simply Nailogical collaboration came out I just couldn't resist giving it a go! The collection featuires three shades, each one in a holo glitter, and a holo glitter with extra holo particles. I thought the extra holo ones looked a bit more silvery so went with the normal holo glitter in Black Holo Witch and How Deep Is Your Holo. They are both intensely glittery glitter, in a clear base.

First up is How Deep Is Your Holo, a super glittery cobalt blue. I have seen a lot of video's of this suggesting that you need to sponge it on. It's definitely a good technique for this type of glitter, but I managed to get the below look using three coats. It's a gorgeous shade of blue, and in the light its twinkles in lovely blue and green sparkles. As expected it dries with a textured finish, but this can be smoothed out with a top coat.
The second colour I tried is Black Holo Witch, very appropriate for the season! I'd say it's more of a grey than a black, but when those sparkles get going it is sooo lovely and rainbowish! For this one I did sponge on the glitter. This was a quicker process that painting it on layer by layer, but was a little bit of a faff getting it to cover the whole nail! I suppose that will improve with practise.
I enjoyed both of these polishes, and their extreme sparkle! I did find them a little heavy on my nails though, and being a glitter they need a peel off base coat or to be soaked off. I tried soaking the first off and it was still quite tricky to get rid of it all! I am glad to have these in my collection, they are great colours and the boxes are so fun too! (yep, they're holo!) I probably won't buy many more glitters this intense though. I did buy a two tone colour shift polish from Fun Lacquer as well which I can't wait to give a go.

Monthly Indie Reveiw: Cirque Colors

This months indie review is a quick one, as I only have one polish to show you. I went on a bit of a buying spree, and I couldn't justify any more polishes! So I got just this one from Cirque Colors as it was one I'd had my eye on for a little while. From the looks of things Cirque do a range of lovely creme's and bright colours which are well loved.

The shade I chose to try was Hatch from The Awakening spring collection. Shame I have bought it at this time or year really as it would be so perfect for spring! It looks like a little speckled egg, although also a little like toothpaste, or as one of my work colleagues said, a kitchen work surface! I think most of all it has the speckled egg look! I love a pale grey shades enjoyed this creamy speckled polish, I'd say with the speckles it is almost a pale grey.

The consistency was good and it was easy to paint on. It covers in two to three coats. I look forward to trying this with some cobalt blue and or gold, and perhaps some Aztec type patterns.
That's all for now!

Barry M Molten Metals Review

Hello, happy Saturday! It looks like a beautiful day today so I'll be off to enjoy the sun after this long overdue review of Barry M's molten metals collection. Torturously I was on a buying ban of nail polish when these came out, so I had to wait some time to give them a try. Then when I finally did get my hands on them and take some pictures they stayed on my computer for weeks while I posted more summery nail art. So I am very glad to finally be sharing my thoughts on them. Read on for how I found each one.

First up is Gold Digger, a pale metallic gold. This one seemed a little thin at first but built up easily in two to three coats. All of these as expected come with the wide brush which I am a big fan of as it makes application easier. I like how this gold is a little different from others I have, what with the recent Meebox Zoya gold I think I have a full range of shades of gold now! I'm sure that will come in handy at the end of the year... Below is two coats, so you can see a little nail line still, but this can be rectified. I think it will be a good base for some Autumn/winter nail art when the time comes.
The second I'm showing today is Silver Lining. I really like the dark metallic feel of this one. It covers well in two coats and again is a little different to any of the silvers I currently have. As you can see from the below it's super shiny! With all of these I like the touch of shimmer they have as well.
Now onto the more unusual ones! Copper Mine is different to a lot around at the moment. I had though this collection was quite wintery, but actually this one or the next one would look lovely with a white dress in the summer. The shimmers catch the light well too. Again covers easily in two coats, and possibly my favourite of the collection, but it's hard to say!
Lastly is Bronze Bae, not sure about the name! I love the shade though. My only concern is that I'm perhaps a little pale to pull it off. If it wasn't for that this would be my favourite of the collection above Copper Mine for sure. A great all year round colour and covers in two coats. I particularly like it as a summer metallic. It reminds me of lovely flowing white Grecian dresses and bronze or gold leaf patterned accessories!
To conclude, it's a thumbs up from me! I think I like the bronze and copper ones best as they are more unusual. I didn't find they stood out particularly well when used for stamping, but would work stamped over black so you've got a bit of contrast.

Dance Legend - Peel Off Glitter Base

Today I'm going to talk through my first experience with a peel of base coat. It's not the sort of thing I would normally I use (I'm quite happy with the foil technique for most glitters), but I thought it might come in handy for those super stubborn glitters with large glitter particles. The peel off base I chose is by Dance Legend and was purchased on Rainbow Connection. I'd seen it well reviewed and also like the bottle! It's available in a few shades, white, black, nude and pale pink. So you can choose one that best fits with the glitters you use. I went for nude to look as similar to my nail as possible.


For my first try I didn't want to use a particularly glitter, so I went for A England's Heathcliff. The glitter particles are quite small so I knew I could revert to the foil technique if needed! On the top right is the glitter base alone, it was a very thick consistency so only needed one coat. I think it looks like gels it's so shiny!

Below you can see the process in action. On the left is Heathcliff with no top coat. It's got teeny glitter particles in a variety of colours. To remove the polish I used a wooden orange stick, and found a corner that I could wedge it under. I then slowly worked it underneath the polish to pull it up. It's quite satisfying but freaked me out a little as it looked like I was peeling off my nail!

As you can see below I had some trouble when it came to getting it off the tips of my nails (which are looking frightfully yellow due to all the glitter abuse!). I think this is because I didn't seal the ends of my nails with the peel off base, but did seal the ends with the glitter (doh!). Another mistake I made was using a normal base coat under the peel off base. If you look closely you can see there is a slight peeling on my nails, this is because the peel off base will have also pulled up the base coat underneath. Using it straight onto the nail is less risky as it acts as a base coat already,


So after all that picking (I did get it all off with the orange stick in the end!) my nails looked a little sorry for themselves. I gently buffed them and then painted them with my Charlotte Street perfect nude polish from Nails Inc, as a sort of remedy/cover up. All in all I like the peel off base, it worked surprisingly well and I think it will be more of a time saver when I'm using chunkier glitters. I'll just remember not to use a base coat next time!

Barry M Spring Gelly - March 2016

Hello nail world! Tonight I'm sharing my thoughts on a couple of the latest Barry M Gelly colours for Spring. Can't believe Spring colours are coming out already! Still so many darks I want to try!

So the latest colours from Barry M follow a subtle/ grown up sort of theme, and are rather lovely. There are four new Gelly shades, the two I'm showing you today; an off white and a beige. I already have one of their previous cream/off white polishes and the beige one wasn't for me, but I wanted to give these two a try.

Don't usually go for pinks but these are sort of muted which I like. I think they both make really nice classy shades.


Below are the brushes in action. I love that Barry M now has a wider brush in their new polishes. I find them soo much easier for painting with.I thought it was just the new speedy range but the new Gelly colours have this too :)


So on to the polish. The first up is Acai Smoothie, a lovely grown up muted pink. I've included shots of it in different lighting. I'm really taken with this colour. I tried a little nail art over but but regretted it instantly as it's so nice on it's own! I think it would look good with gold stamped over it too though. It's gloriously shiny and in true Barry M style applies smoothly. A very worthwhile buy.


Next we have Pink Lemonade, a muted super pale pink. Again this applies beautifully with the wide brush, and has a lovely finish. I think it looks really elegant and suits my skin tone which is an added bonus! This is lovely on it's own as a chic colour for Spring, or any time of year really, it's quite versatile. Also a great base of nail art or stamping

In conclusion, I am definitely glad I bought them. I haven't bought any mainstream polishes for a while so it was really handy to be able to pop into the local shop and get them on lunch! I also don't have any colours quite like this in my collection, and as time goes on it gets harder to find such a thing! My favourite has to be Acai Smoothie, I think the colours suits me well and it goes with so many things. Perhaps I should be buying more pink!

Thanks for reading :)