Grace-full Nail Polish Louise

Hi guys

I've just found this post which for some reason didn't publish when I thought it did. 

I had to buy this polish after finding it on rainbow-connection.co.uk. Not only does it have the same name as me but it's also a blue-leaning purple holographic polish and purple is my favourite colour. After seeing it for the first time my husband described this polish as "you in a bottle".

The swatches show two easy coats plus base and top coats.

Have you bought polishes named after you?

Bye for now, Louise x

Polish Me Royalty Worst Heroes EVER! Collection Daddy's Lil Monster

Hi guys

Daddy's Lil Monster is the second polish in Polish Me Royalty Worst Heroes EVER! collection. This is a baby blue polish with white, light pink and mid tone pink medium sized hex glitters, light pink square glitters, purple and pink small hex and micro glitters and pink stars. The first coat was thick and slightly gloopy so I added a little thinner and even then the formula was tricky to work with. This polish did not paint on easily, resulting in streaking. I applied three coats for an even finish and the end result was worth the extra effort. My pictures show three coats with Seche Vite top coat which smoothed out the glitters.

Do you have any of this collection? Have you tried this polish? Did you find it tricky to apply? 

Until next time, Lou 

Polish Me Royalty Worst Heroes EVER! Collection Cute But Psycho

Hi Guys

It's been far too long since I posted to my blog. Although I've been painting my nails, my writing mojo well and truly disappeared for a while. Hopefully it'll stick around now it's decided to return.

During the recent Polish Me Royalty sale I treated myself to this collection in the mini bottles which I think are adorable.  Polish Me Royalty is a UK indie nail polish brand created by Sarah Lee with support from Mrs P. The packaging the polishes arrive in is a padded envelope with gems stuck on it, the same gems are stuck to the top of each bottle top. The polishes are in bubble wrap and placed in little mesh bags with some added goodies in the form of a tube of glitter and nail embellishments. These are all wrapped in tissue paper. You can tell from the packaging that a lot of love goes into the making and distribution of these polishes. This personal touch is one of the differences between indie polish makers and mainstream polish distributors.

Now onto the polish! Cute But Psycho is a baby pink polish with blue small and medium hexes and star glitters. The first coat was thick and slightly gloopy. I added a small amount of thinner to make it easier to work with. I applied three coats for an even finish.

I would have preferred the polish to be a bit less opaque as the glitters in the first coat were not as apparent after the third coat as I would have liked. That being said I enjoyed this polish.

My pictures show three coats with Seche Vite top coat.

Hopefully I'll be back with a review of another polish in this collection soon.

If you want to treat yourself to this polish you can find it here.

Until next time, Lou ☺️

Cupcake Polish Berry Good Looking

Hi guys

I've been seeing a lot of pictures of this polish in the nail community and nobody has anything bad to say about it so I took the plunge and decided to try to grab it on a recent restock. Success!

I applied this polish on the day it arrived to see for myself what all the hype was about.

The first thing I noticed was that this polish was thicker than I like although this made it almost a one coater. I applied two coats to cover the few thinner areas.

The second thing I noticed was that the holo is quite muted in normal household lighting and in shade although it came alive when in direct lighting from a bulb or the sun.

The basic colour of the polish is a beautiful purple but from the hype I was expecting this polish to be spectacular at all times. I was therefore disappointed to find it was quite underwhelming. My disappointment continued when one nail chipped within 24 hours and two more chipped while I was sleeping!

I will give this polish another chance to impress me, maybe using different base and top coats to hopefully extend wear time.

If you want to try this polish for yourself you can pre-order it from Rainbow Connection UK here.

Did anyone else have a similar experience with this polish? Are there any others that didn't live up to the hype in your opinion?

Bye for now, Louise x

Different Dimension Love To Hate You

Hi guys

Today I'm wearing Different Dimension Love To Hate You.Love To Hate You is a jam packed glitter topper filled with small white and purple circle glitters as well as larger circle glitters, squares, stars, diamonds and hearts. The pictures show one coat of Love To Hate You over Nails Inc Colville Mews. I didn't need to redip my brush to get more glitter or fish for the larger glitters although I did have to manipulate the polish on my nails to make sure I got even coverage. The circle glitters really catch the light and this topper is very pretty. This is my first polish by Different Dimension and I'm sure it won't be my last.Which Different Dimension polishes do you think I need to add to my collection?

Bye for now, Louise x

Glisten and Glow Youngwildandpolished collaboration polishes

Hi guys

I recently ordered the 4 polishes in the Glisten and Glow Youngwildandpolished collaboration. They arrived within a week from the USA which I was pleased about.

For this mani I am wearing two of the polishes from this collaboration - Topaz's Cabin on my pointer and pinky nails and Dukeberry on my middle and ring nails. Topaz's Cabin is a mid to dark grey cream and Dukeberry is a dusky dark purple.

The polishes applied in 2 easy coats and I'm also wearing base and top coat.

Do you guys have this collection? Which is your favourite polish?

Best wishes, Lou x

Picture Polish collaboration with Brit Nails - Unicorn

Hi guys

Happy new year! I hope you all had a fab Christmas.

I recently placed an order with Rainbow Connection using money I received for Christmas. I treated myself to 3 polishes including the stunning Unicorn which is a polish from Picture Polish made in collaboration with Brit Nails.

Unicorn is a turquoise crelly base with pink and silver glitter running through it and a pink sheen.

In my photos I am wearing Sally Hansen base coat, 2 coats of Unicorn, another coat or Sally Hansen base coat and a coat of Sally Hansen Insta Dri top coat. Adding a coat of base coat before top coat may seem a little odd but I discovered this tip from Polishedways on YouTube to help manis last longer. So far it is working because I wore this mani for 5 full days and before I got a chip. I type for a living and usually this causes both tip wear and chipping!

Do any of you guys have any other tips for making your manis last? If so, I'd love to read them below. If you try Polishedways' tip let her know how you get on.

I hope you love this polish as much as I do, it's even prettier in real life.

Until next time, Lou x

December 2015 Nail Box UK

Hi guys

This is my third Nail Box UK subscription box.

The polishes in this box include Nails Inc Bloomsbury Way from the Blossom collection. This is a little confusing because I have another Nails Inc polish with the same name! The second polish in this box is Morgan Taylor Best Ball Gown Ever. This brand is new to me. Before I saw the name of this polish or looked into it I mentioned to my sister that it looks like Cinderella's dress then I discovered it is from a Cinderella collection! The third polish is Rimmel Marshmellow Heaven. All three of these polishes are new to my collection.

In addition this box contained Elegant Touch professional slanted tweezers and a white Sally Hansen I Love Nail Art stylo.

In my opinion this box was much more original than the last one.

Has anyone else received this box? What do you think of it?

Lou x

November 2015 Nail Box UK

Hi guys

I recently received my November 2015 Nail Box UK and with it being advertised as a Christmas theme I was really excited.

The polishes in the box were True Brit London Park Lane, OPI Happy Anniversary! and Rimmel London Double Decker Red.

The polishes are typically festive but anyone other than a complete nail newby will have at least one "Santa" red nail polish in their collection. The green polish is pretty but not very unique and the silver polish is extremely sheer. The photo shows 2 coats of each on clear swatch sticks.  

The box also included a set of Elegant Touch clear nails and a 180 grit Orly nail file. I am personally not a fan of false nails and the nail file seems as though it would be much harsher than my favourite Leighton Denny crystal file.

Finally the box contained a candy cane which was a nice treat. 

I was underwhelmed by this box but I'm not ready to cancel my subscription just yet because I get so excited when my box is due to arrive.

Does anyone else share my views on this box?

Until next time, Lou :)

Essie Blossom Dandy and Nails Inc Montpellier Square

Hi guys

For this diagonal tape mani first I applied 2 coats of Essie Blossom Dandy. The first coat didn't go on well at all. The brush picked up polish as I was painting so it was very streaky. Luckily the second coat went on smoothly and levelled the polish out. I applied tape to the bottom half of my nails before applying Nails Inc Montpellier Square which was opaque in one coat. I topped the entire mani with Sally Hansen Insta-dri top coat. The base coat I used was Rimmel Nail Nurse Nail Rescue.

Lou x

Storing nail polish swatch sticks

Hi guys

I've recently swatched all of my nail polishes onto swatch sticks. 

I then had to find a way to store them! I don't have a spare drawer in my helmer to store them and there are too many to put in jars so what was I going to do? I was beginning to think I'd wasted my time until I remembered a scarf/tie hanger that I'd ordered from eBay that wasn't being used. There were as many hangers as I had rings holding my swatch sticks as if it was meant to be!  

They are currently hanging in my wardrobe upstairs which isn't ideal as my polishes are downstairs. 

Can anyone suggest another way to store over 500 swatch sticks nearer to my polishes? 

Lou x

 

Nail Box UK October 2015 box

Hi guys, long time no see!

This month I subscribed to Nail Box UK and I've got to say I'm very impressed. The box arrived 2 days after being shipped and was full of nail goodies, including 3 polishes: Nails Inc Kensington High Street gel effect polish which is a deep red cream, Essie Lux Effect polish in Summit of Style which is a gold glitter top coat and Rimmel Caramel Cupcake which is a nude cream with a shimmer. Also in the box was a bottle of Nicole by OPI drying drops which claims to make polish dry completely within 5 minutes. Last but not least was a pair of professional nail scissors by Elegant Touch.

As Nails Inc is my favourite brand I have quite a few of their polishes. I was happy to get one in this box and even happier that it was one I don't already have in my collection.

Both of the cream polishes applied in two easy coats and the glitter polish built up well. I used the drying drops although I also applied Nails Inc Kensington Caviar top coat to cover the texture of the glitter.

I checked the value of the items of this box and was surprised to find that it was worth nearly £50. Not bad for something that only cost £15!

Here is a picture of the mani I created with the polishes from this box using two coats of each of the cream polishes and two coats of the glitter polish on the tips with base and top coat. Please leave links to yours in the comments.

Hopefully it won't be too long before my next post.

Take care, Lou x

Black Cat Lacquer Chivalry is Dead

Hi guys

This polish is a subtle thermal because the difference between the colour of it warm and the colour of it cold is not too contrasting. When both warm and cold there is a lovely fine glitter sparkle to it.

When warm this polish is mid brown and when cold it is dark brown, leaning towards black.

I've been wearing this polish for most of this week with OPI Nail Envy and HK Girl top coat and it was only last night that it began chipping.

I got this polish from Rainbow Connection UK where the lovely Annette sells lots of indie polishes to us British girls that we probably wouldn't be able to get our mitts on otherwise for which I'm very grateful although I don't think my bank manager is! Be warned guys, your wishlist will probably grow immensely!

Do you guys like thermal polishes?

Are there any that you'd recommend?

Love Lou x

Color Club Beyond

Hi Guys

I've been wearing this pretty black holo polish for a couple of days and although I like it a lot I've noticed that the tips chip quite easily and quickly.

I applied two coats with Glisten & Glow HK top coat and OPI Nail Envy on Sunday night and by yesterday they were a little chipped. I didn't want to change my polish so soon so applied another coat of polish and top coat early yesterday evening and then went in the shower before bed and when I came out I noticed that my nails were already showing tip wear!

Anyhoo, I still like this polish and I'm sure I'll wear it more often when the sun decides to make a come back!

Here is a collage of some of the pics I managed to get of it:

If you fancy treating yourself to this beauty, I got mine here.  You have to sign up which is quick and easy and you don't need a trade account.

Do any of you have this polish or any tips to prevent it chipping so easily and quickly?

Love Lou x

I'm Back! (and so is my mojo!)

Hi Guys

So firstly I owe you a bit of an explanation for my absences! We lost my uncle to cancer in September and I've been emerging myself in work and hibernating to try to deal with this!  Although I've still been painting my nails regularly and posting pics on Instagram and my Facebook page I'd lost my mojo and didn't feel able to put my views on any of the polishes I used into words!

Anyhoo, there's something going round t'internet called #sharethelove and I don't know where it started but I found out about it on the All Things Nails Facebook page.  Basically people are posting and promoting their own blogs and Facebook pages and those of others to 'share some love'.  In the last few hours my Facebook likes have gone up from 23 to 184 and this makes me very happy and has given me the kick up the butt I've needed to do this post!

Hopefully this will be the first of many regular posts and I really hope you guys will stay for the ride!

To keep you going until next time here are some pics of some manis I've worn recently: 

Glam Polish Aquanaut & PMP Starry Starry Night over OPI Solitaire

Zoya Payton

Zoya Odette with Literary Lacquers Proud Titania

Girly Bits Wave the Sails

Take care,

Love Lou x

A catch up!

Hey guys

Sorry it's been a long time since I last posted.

Here are some of the manis I've worn since then!

If you want any details as to what I used please just ask.

I hope you guys are well and are looking forward to Christmas and new year

Love Lou x x