#NOTD: Essie After School Boy Blazer

Navy.

It seems to be a thing this season. Navy. Navy is everywhere. From my coolest new H&M premium collection handbag to my new Primark socks to the new hue to grace my nail polish drawer.

Here we have a navy cream called After School Boy Blazer from Essie's autumn collection.

I haven't really had a navy in my collection. I have a few pastel blues and a really amazing inkjet blue shimmer polish from Leighton Denny but i'd never been a one for just navy nails. Until now.

It really is the perfect navy colour. Really opaque with one coat I found but for a flawless look you might want to add two coats. Settles on the nails and gives a really nice dark with a twist finish. I love it, and i thought i'd gone more of a pink person. It seems the leaves on the ground and the nip in the air has muted my personal colour palette and i'm kind of okay with the navy.

It's easy to apply with the brilliant Essie wide brush. I go on about this all the time but the brush can really make or break my decision to apply a polish. I have to really steady my hands with a thin brush which can then take ages to do. I like the wide brush for a quick and smooth application. A couple of strokes on each nail and you're done.

Good stuff.

Angela

Greige #NOTD

Models Own  Utopia

I wasn't really a fan of the greige nail trend when it came out. I avoided it for far brighter or completely dark colours. However, there is a colour that falls somewhere in between greige and very pale lilac. That colour (above) is Utopia from Models Own.

Having pale freckly skin, I don't think certain colours suit me. Like proper full on beige colours, they wash me out. Utopia is the perfect beige but not really beige pale alternative. It lay at the back of my nail polish drawer, unloved and unopened since a first wearing some time last year. At that time I paired it with a glitter polish from OPI - Rainbow Collection. It was lovely.

Top - Models Own Utopia after 4 days wear (decent); Bottom Barry M Lychee

This time I've left it alone. I've had two coats on for 4 days now and there's only starting to be a little bit of wear on the edges (top photo above). You definitely need two coats, three for a fully opaque coverage. The application is nice but can be patchy. I suggest a thin first coat then a slightly thicker second one.

Whilst in town I browsed the nail section in Superdrug and completely off the cuff bought Barry M Lychee gel polish (bottom photo above) and Rimmel Mary Mary Quite Contrary. I wanted to compare the three. 

Rimmel Mary Mary Quite Contrary, Models Own Utopia, Barry M Lychee - Flash on

Rimmel Mary Mary Quite Contrary, Models Own Utopia, Barry M Lychee - Flash off

I've already tried the grey Rimmel polish and I love it. It will be a good autumn colour with the pale simple colour palettes that are gracing the windows of my favourite shops. It's almost exactly like Utopia except it's grey instead of very pale lilac. You'd hardly notice the difference, though there is a slight one. Lychee is an obviously more beige colour. I'll give it a try but it may not suit me.

What's on your nails?

Angela x

NOTD: Essie DJ Play That Song

I've got a couple of purple nail polishes in my collection but every time i reached for them i was met with this pang of doubting niggles in my head. It's too dark, it's too lilac, it's too reddish. Until now.

This, my friends, is what i'd call the perfect bright true purple from Essie neon summer collection - which may not be released in the UK yet (if at all). It's called DJ Play That Song. I know, great name right! And it's bedfellows in the summer collection are all a little bit bright and neon. Perfect for summer (if we ever get one). But if not, perfect to cheer up these dreary grey showery days.

I got this from my trusty favourite eBay store in the USA so it has that thin brush. I was a bit wary of using it but the formula is good. I put a very thin first coat on (that looked almost jelly-like), then made it more opaque with a second coat. Lastly, and unusually for me, I put a coat of the famous Seche Vite top coat on. My first use and i'm impressed, although 2 days on and i have a little bit of tip wear where i have a ragged nail.

The colour is great on my light freckley skin tone. They call it 'jammiest neon plum'. I'd call it freaking delicious! It pops without being ultra neon bright. As I'm looking at it now it does in some ways have an almost jelly-like look about it. Perhaps that's the top coat though.

Really pleased I picked this colour purple, finally. I don't know what I was afraid of.

Angela x

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#NOTD OPI I Theadora You

Yes, as you can tell, OPI have again come up with another great quirky name for this polish. This pale, creamy, milky pink polish. This polish is from the recent Oz The Great and Powerful collection.

OPI I Theadora You

This is called I Theadora You after the nice witch (played by Michelle Williams). Is she from the East or the West? I can't remember. The film is pretty decent. James Franco perfect in that role.

Anyway. The polish. This is a great alternative to the bright fuchsia pinks that I've been unusually drawn to recently. It's also less boring than a beige. It feels clean and calming on my fingers.

The formula is nice. Not too thick or thin. However, I found that it did streak a bit and I had to apply 3 coats to be sure you couldn't see my ridges or the nail line. I wore this for 3 days and had no chipping and only a few little signs of wear and tear. (Perhaps because it's quite pale I couldn't see any?). I use OPI Nail Envy as my base coat and no top coat (lazy!) but I'll have to buff my ridges down on next wearing to get that perfected look.

I love this pale pink colour though. It reminds me of Nails Inc South Molton Street or Rimmel Pro French Rose, although i'm not sure if it's a direct dupe. It's pale, creamy looking and elegant. I'd say a good wedding day manicure colour if you don't want very sheer nails. It also reminded me of OPI Pink Friday but quite a bit shearer and less 'bright'.

Overall, I do like it a lot. Nice work OPI.

Angela x

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all pics were taken on iPhone 4S as you can probably tell, they're pretty grainy! oops.

#NOTD OPI The Colour of Minnie

As you know, red is one of my favourite colours. Before 2010 I would always have considered red nails to be 'tarty'. How very old fashioned of me! (Cringe).

But look at this... This luscious candy cane red is OPI The Colour of Minnie from the Vintage Minnie Mouse collection that was released in summer 2012. I bought this from my usual eBay shop last year along with I'm All Ears from the same collection.

I really love this red. It's shimmery and not at all glittery. It is enough to brighten up any outfit and as a classic red it goes with most outfits. The consistency is not too thick nor is it too thin. The wide OPI helps the polish glide on. Two coats are best. I use OPI nail envy matte as a base coat these days as my nails really quite dry and ridged and that seems to be the only thing to help them out these days.

But back to the colour. Look at it. You could just pop it in your mouth, BUT DON'T!! It's my go to red shimmery polish at the moment. I always find myself drifting back to this one. I wouldn't say it's a dupe but it's pretty close to Chanel Rouge Karat that I have too. Except this is more shimmery. Rouge Karat has tiny golden shimmer running through it and is less candy-cane-esque. So actually probably not a dupe at all.

you can see the shimmer better here

Overall a really nice red shimmer polish.

Angela x

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Essie She's Pampered, with a bit of sparkle #NOTD

On New Years day I sat and watched a whole day of Kim and Kourtney in New York on Viva channel. It was great as I hadn't seen the episodes immediately after Kim's short marriage to Chris. The Kardashians of course. Anyway, I sat on my bed, blogged and watched this and in between times painted my nails.

For this, a new year, i decided to go for something bright with sparkle. I opted for Essie's She's Pampered and then Beyond Cozy on the ring fingers. Both polishes from the recently new winter collection.

Essie She's Pampered - true red creme

Beyond Cozy on the right. Looks a bit pewter here too

She's pampered is a bright red creme with a blue tone in it, not orange toned like Snap Happy from the same collection. I have She's Pampered in the normal sized bottle and Beyond Cozy in the mini size from the set i'd bought just before Christmas which you can read about here.

She's Pampered is what i call a true blue red. Not too dark, not too light, a true red. One of my favourite colours. As with the newer style Essie polishes this comes with the wide brush (even in the mini size bottles) which is just a dream to apply any polish with. The polish applied well and dries with a shine. 

Beyond Cozy is a strange fine glitter colour because in the bottle it looks like dull golden flecks but on the finger it can take on a silver tone. Strange, but nice all the same. I don't think I'd apply this by itself on all the fingers (it would be a pain to take off) but it certainly added that little bit of sparkle for the new year that i was looking for. 

Essie Beyond Cozy - in a mini bottle

An arty processed shot of my ageing fingers.
She's Pampered is darker here than in real life.

A truer colour representation

As always I applied my polish over a base coat of OPI Nail Envy Matt. Recently i've been wearing my nails bare to let them heal from using all the dark polishes. The Nail Envy has worked a treat to help prevent my nails from splitting since they are pretty ridged on my thumbs and index fingers. I find the OPI Nail Envy to be the only thing that helps me with that. At £18.50 per bottle it is pretty expensive but i bought a new set from QVC where they had both the matt and original versions in a set for £18.50 (2 for 1). Can't really grumble with that.

Overall a really great show-stopping red. What do you think?

Angela 

Nails Nails Nails... #NOTD

For Christmas I wore Chanel Malice on my nails and I wore it well. You can see those nails over there. It is a classic dark shade with a beautiful light barely noticeable shimmer in it.

But for the week between Christmas and New Year I fancied a little change from the dark colours I'd been wearing lately. I decided to go with pink! It makes me smile.

left: OPI I juggle men, right: Essie off the shoulder

I opted for Essie Off The Shoulder from the summer collection and to add that little bit extra zing to them i added a topcoat of OPI I Juggle Men from the Femme De Cirque collection which i believe may be a few years old. I caught sight of this lovely polish whilst browsing one night and ordered it immediately.

see that shimmer? see it!

It is an almost clear base with very subtle iridescent flecks of violet, pink and blue... shimmer. The particles aren't glitter, they're much much smaller than glitter. They're barely there shimmery flecks and they are so pretty on top of almost any colour. I added them over the top of Essie Off the shoulder, a bold pink that isn't pale and isn't bright. It's that just right shade of pink that will suit most people.

As ever i used one base coat of OPI Nail Envy, two coats of Essie and one top coat of OPI I Juggle Men. It was a perfect pick me up on the dull rainy days that we had.

I love this OPI veil of shimmer in a bottle. The bonus is that is comes off easily too, none of that wrapping your fingers in tin foil to remove glitter.

Happy nails.

Angela x

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Essie Winter Collection 2012 - mini version

This collection sort of creeped up on me. I'd read about it back in October and it slipped my mind. The Anna from Viviannadoesmakeup mentioned on Twitter that she'd bought a mini set from ASOS and i went searching again. Found the swatches over on Polishaholic (best swatches in my opinion) and decided these would be mine. Thing was, all the information i could find suggested they wouldn't be available until January.

That was that.

I headed off to Glasgow on Sunday for the last of my Christmas shopping and went into Boots. I had £23 on my Boots card and decided i'd have new La roche-posay eye cream and maybe something else. Of course I always wander to the make up section and specifically the Essie stand and lo and behold look what i found!!

Essie Winter 2012 mini set

Another cute little Essie Winter mini set for a reasonable £9.99. This one has 3 as opposed to Anna's 4 set mini from ASOS, only the turquoise blue colour is missing here. I don't mind that because those types of colours don't suit my skin tone.

What we have in this set is Leading Lady - a cranberry jelly with small dainty ruby red glitter particles in it. It looks just like Dorothy's slippers. A beautiful Christmas red glitter. We also have Snap Happy - an orange based true red creme. It's not the kind of red i tend to go for but lovely all the same. And then we have Beyond Cozy - a sliver gold glitter polish. This isn't chunky glitter but fine glitter. It would need a topcoat if you like a smooth finish. Leading Lady would need one too.

The glitter one looks really silver in this picture, there is some gold in it though

This is a set of colours that would happily go nice on any Christmas day, party night nail. I was a bit disappointed that She's Pampered wasn't in this set but luckily there was one full size bottle left so i snapped that up too.

She's Pampered is what i like to call a true red. Darker and more blue toned than Snap Happy. I'd describe it as the red from a candy cane. That proper Christmassy red. I'll definitely have this on over the next few weeks too. I can see this whole set being rotated with Chanel Malice.

She's Pampered

I quickly painted a nail with each colour to see what they were like on and they don't disappoint. I didn't think the gold glitter one would suit me but it's really nice. Perhaps i'll wear it as a ring finger accent of colour... I'll decide later.

Snap Happy red on middle finger, She's Pampered red on pinky

The formulations were smooth and triple bonus is even these mini bottles have the great wider Essie brush. Thank goodness. I hate thin brushes. You could pretty much get away with one coat if you were in a rush. Two coats for totally opacity. I'll do a proper NOTD report soon.

So glad I found these!

Angela x

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#NOTD Every Month is Oktoberfest by OPI

Quick NOTD post.

I bought this Every Month is Oktoberfest by OPI about a month ago and decided it was time to give it a go.

Every month is Oktoberfest (flash used)

In the bottle it leans towards a shimmery looking purple rust colour (not my bag), but i'd seen swatches of this and thought it was a good alternative to the wine stains that are out just now for autumn. Look at the photo above. It looks like a lush wine shimmer. That was under lamplight and a flash. Deceiving...

It applied really well. I could've gotten away with one coat but all pics (iPhone pics btw) are 2 coats and no top coat.

close up of the shimmer

On the nail it goes between a dark blue toned purple with dark burgundy shimmers to just plain dark brownish metallic (Don't you just love my descriptions?!). I'm not sure exactly what colour it's meant to be but in plain daylight (no sun) to me it was a dark (leaning towards rusty brown) burgundy colour. When the light shined on it it sparkled a little and the wine tones showed through more.

Overall I don't think i liked it on my nails. I'm sure some people love this colour. However, the formula was great as is usual from OPI. If it hadn't been so rusty looking in daylight then i'd change my mind. I prefer the straight up wine colours out like Essie Skirting the Issue or Bahama Mama, also from Essie.

Angela x
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#NOTD Essie Skirting The Issue

I've been really getting into dark red, burgundy, vampy if you like, nails. I bought Head Mistress from Essie's Autumn (Fall) Stylenomics range a few weeks back and i was really disappointed when i opened the packet it was in. From swatches I'd seen I was expecting a true apple red like the apple from Snow White, it looked like that in swatches. What I had in my hand was a darker red colour, leaning towards wine. I was sure it had been labelled wrongly. I applied it and was surprised again because it looked slight different again. More like the swatches I'd seen on the web. Then I took a picture and realised that the swatches must have been taken with a flash or in bright light because it now looked like the swatches. Thing is, in normal light it was darker than i wanted. It was a mid tone blue tone cool red, i think. That classic shade. Anyway, with the thought that i had a wrongly labelled bottle still in my head, i went to my local Boots who miraculously had this new range in. I compared it to the other red tone colours and in fact Head Mistress was the lightest red shade of them all. Hmmm.

Top is with flash, Bottom no flash. Left: Skirting the Issue, Right: Head Mistress

But I tried out another colour and here it is...
Essie Skirting The Issue from the Stylenomics range.

Skirting the issue, flash used

It's a wine colour. A creme jelly like consistency. It almost looks transparent in the bottle. Like you can see through it. With the now much coveted wider brush from Essie, this applied well. I have one coat on and no top coat. (You know how I can't bare the faffing about with a top coat). I change my nail colour every couple of days. Or have a few days bare nails per week.

I think this is similar to Bahama Mama, also from Essie, but it's not an exact dupe. This is more reddish, where as  I think Bahama Mama is a more purple toned burgundy shade. Also very lovely too though.

Skirting the issue, Bahama Mama, Head Mistress (L to R)

These will probably be staples throughout the autumn winter months. I can see Skirting The Issue being on my nails at Christmas party nights with a black outfit. Nice.

skirting the issue, 1 coat

What are you wearing on your nails just now? boys? :)
Angela x
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NOTD Essie mint candy apple

This here is a post about my nails and how I paint them on occasion. I've done a couple of posts like these because I quite like painting my nails now, after years of never having anything more than the palest of pink nail polishes.

Thursday night I gave into the hype that surrounds Essie mint candy apple polish and bought it from Boots, who now stock Essie polishes. Before I'd have gotten them from my favourite shop on eBay. So here it is.

Ok so it looks more green here, but in real life for me it is blue-er

First off it's £7.99 from Boots which is a bit middle of the road (price wise) for nail polish. Some cost £3.99 and others can go as high as £16. Depends on the brand really. So although not really cheap, it was cheap enough for me to be interested enough to buy this colour that everyone and their granny raves about. Second of all, there's new brushes. A wider brush is the order of the day here. Well done Essie!! no more of those skinny minny brushes please. The wider brushes make applying nail polish a heck of a lot easier. I really love the Rimmel brushes for this fact. Anyway it applied okay. I used two coats for the picture. But honestly I can't ever be bothered to do three coats of polish. Too much time waiting for it to dry. I used a Seche Vite base coat too. The colour was a bit streaky but ended up fine.

In the bottle I'd say mint candy apple was leaning more darker than I expected. On my nails I think it leaned more blue than green, and if I'm really honest I don't think it suits my skin tone. I liked it, but only a tiny bit. I'm not sure I'll wear it again. I mean I will wear it but maybe not that often.

Essie As gold as it gets from the Luxe Effects range

I did end up trying a few glitters over the top and that was a much better way to wear it. I used the Essie luxeffects As Gold as it Gets shimmer polish and it made the mint candy apple a much more pleasing mint, leaning towards green. This was more like it. The gold shimmer brought it to life. This will be the way I wear it again. I also tried some OPI Rainbow Collection multi glitter over the top just as I was about to take it off. It rocked and I'd wear it this way too.

Overall a good enough formula, good wide brush and a nice colour. But it just doesn't suit me. Or does it, what do you think?

Angela x


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

OPI Pink Friday - its all about the nails NOTD

I just had to talk about my newest nail polish. OPI Pink Friday from the Nicki Minaj collection. It's the closest link you'll get to Bubbly chewing gums or strawberry Hubba Bubba. I added 3 coats on Thursday night and loved it straight away. It's a cream polish and you definitely need at least 2 coats. It had pretty smooth application but of course the OPI brush helps (these are my favourite brushes. Nice and wide).

I've tried to capture the exact colour in these iPhone pictures but you can't really can you. The polish looked diffent under different conditions. To get more accurate pictures you can head over to The Polishaholic blog. She has great photos amd descriptions. I've shown them with and without flash so you can sorta get an idea. Believe me, this will be a favourite on my nails in the coming months. For someone like me who has never have been a 'pink' girl this colour is awesome. As its part of a collection I'm not sure it'll be around for very long so grab yourself a bottle if you fancy it.

At the same time I also bought Save Me on the same collection. It's a silver glitter polish. The glitter is in little bars rather than hexes and they are almost holographic. You can see pink, green, blue, orange, yellow in differing light conditions. Fab. 

Angela x

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Top Picks from 2011

Since 2011 is over i thought i'd take a loot back and list a few things that i absolutely loved from then. Yes, it's another list and no, i'm not sure how long this list is going to be. And yes, it will be a bit picture heavy too.

So...
* iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4S.
Literally could not live without my phone now. Not for the reason we usually have a phone (to call people) because no one EVER phones me on it. Although i did get a nice surprise phone call the other day from someone who was just about to jet off on holiday. That was particularly nice. No, i use it mostly for the internets. The usual Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Words with fricking Friends. Frankly i could not live without a phone. End of. My trusty 3GS saw me through two years without so much as a slight glitch. The quality of the 4S is more superior and aside from the stupid data usage scandal(!), i actually do LOVE it. That is no exaggeration. I can hear folk groaning at reading this but hey, we all have our things we love don't we.

* Instagram.
I know some folk have only just cottoned on to Instagram [you know the type. The social media luvvies who always seem to be 3 weeks behind on the latest thing! Would you trust anything you read from them?.. No, me neither]. Anyway, some folk have only just cottoned on to the fact that Instagram deserves it's title as App of the year on iTunes (probably the only reason they cottoned on to it). I was an early adopter having posted my first photo on 15th October 2010. And i know this because I got this cool little badge from Statigram (that i run alongside Instagram). It's full of cool stats about your Instagram stream.

What I love about Instagram is that you can see a shot, take the shot, enhance it with a filter if you want and upload the photo and share to the web all within a matter of a few minutes. Seconds even but i'll stick with minutes. The filters are basic and cool, there's enough for now. There's a great community feel. I follow Instagrammers from all over the world. I love seeing photos and lives from the perspectives of these people. It's grand. Take a look.


* blogs.
I've discovered loads of new blogs this year and i'm going to list them below. A list within a list. These have been keeping me entertained all year. Thank you Bloggers!
Vivianna Does Make Up - the clue is in the title. Fab young beauty blogger.
RocknRoll Bride - Kat does a fantastic blog about alternatives to the 'big white wedding' every girl is supposed to dream of. Frankly, id rather my wedding day be like one of those featured here. Fab Fab Fab.
The Daybook - lovely lovely Sidney shows us fashion a shares stories from her life with husband Tyson and new baby Ever. Such a lovely family.
Whatleydude - Whatleydude's happy place. Discovered this one back in April/May time, I think. Love the variety of posts. Some days there's the writings from his Moleskine's. Other days there's three lines of words. Always interesting and sometimes cryptic. But always a joy to read.
Pacing The Panic Room - ok, this is a cheat. I've followed this blog from Ryan Marshall for years. It's so incredibly fabulous i just can't describe it. It's honest and candid and the family are just the cutest. It's the ups and downs and he shares a lot of it right there on the page. He and Cole are also massive Instagrammers too. Hearts.
Miss Smidge - LOVE THIS BLOG. Honest, great writing. Fab recipes. Real stories from the life and times of the writer. Miss Smidge also loves shoes, which makes me happy.

* Elemis skin nourishing body lotion
does exactly what it says on the bottle. I have dry skin all over really, except my tummy, i have a really nice smooth flat tummy. But anyway this lotion sorts my dry patches out and smells lovely and clean. Like a new born baby. It's a bit on the pricey side but i'm on my second bottle from a set i got for Christmas last year and hopefully it'll last until my birthday when i might get another bottle?! someone?

* Converse trainers
Except they're not really training shoes are they. They're the comfiest guttie i've ever worn. My purple 2009 affairs were heading on their way out. The sides have started to split and the purple was feeling a little old so i decided it was time for another pair. A RED pair. I love them. Except i made the mistake of wearing them with new dark indigo and black jeans a few times and now they have that annoying faded mark on them from the colour rubbing. Grrr... Oh well, this means i can buy another pair when we're heading into spring / summer. There's bound to be a nice bright colour i can get.

* Cineworld cinema card
I've now had my card for exactly 1 year and it's been a godsend. I've seen more movies than i ever would have if i didn't have that card. Let's face it, the cinema isn't cheap so £15 a month isn't too bad. If you go to 3 movies per month you're already saving money. Oh and i only did popcorn once. Never again. it was like eating the most tasteless balls of rolled up cardboard, and that was the sweet flavoured one too. No, my munchies of choice were salt and vinegar crisps and a bag of sliced apple. Oh and a wee bottle of Irn Bru of course. Anyway, i'd recommend the card if you can afford it and like going to the cinema. Some favourite films were The Hangover Part II, Drive, Blue Valentine and 50/50. Not sure if i want to see The Iron Lady though....

* nail polish
I was never ever really into nail polish. You'd never catch me wearing scarlet red nails... until this year. In particular, the summer gone. I suddenly become more than just a pale Rimmel French ivory girl and ventured into yellow Mimosa from Chanel, bright pink strawberry margarita from OPI and even Rainbow collection glitter top coat too.

It's fun and certainly can brighten up your day when you've got nice nails. It depends what mood i'm in too. Some days i'm all about the nudes, others the reds and lately i've even headed towards the nearly blacks. Brave of me. But i'm not buying any more. I bought some more from a great eBay shop (US) which sells all the top brands (OPI, Essie, China Glaze) much cheaper and they were delivered within a week. They're at least 50% cheaper than here and that includes delivery. Pretty good but i have to stop. As you can see there's not many colours i don't have. Oops.

Anyway that's all for now i think folks. What were your top picks from 2011?

Angela x

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