Friday 31 August 2012

Mystery Vintage Polish! Unnamed NARS jelly.

Today I am wearing a NARS polish that is probably around 20 years old. This was my mother's, and I recently "borrowed" it from her! I remember her buying this in Liberty's in London in - I think - the early 1990s. We were having a day out, and she bought me a Chanel polish that was a clear, bright red jelly (I think it was a Vernis Cristallin, but not sure) and this one for herself. 
vintage nars 6
There is no label, or writing at all, other than NARS on one side of the bottle, and NAIL POLISH on another. 
vintage nars 3
This is a deep blackberry-ish coloured jelly, and is in perfect condition despite the age. The bottle cap lifts off, like a Chanel bottle. This is three coats, with no base or topcoat. I woke up early this morning, so these photos are in very early morning sunshine. 
vintage nars 2
The colour is very very sheer, so the first coat is almost invisible in colour, but is very shiny. The second coat starts adding more colour depth, and the third makes the colour a lot clearer. The formula is a little thin, and the polish tends to pool a little round the cuticles, but application is really smooth, and the finish is extremely glossy!
vintage nars 5
I remember really loving my red Chanel jelly (I would really love to find another) as it looked a bit like a boiled sweet, but that this purple polish was a bit less impressive. Still, I do really like it, and I love that it's still great after all these years.
vintage nars 1

I wore this with my newest ring, made with Deborah Lippmann's Forget You. I did already have a Forget You ring, but the cabochon fell off during the Springsteen concert in Manchester, so I have now made a new one. This one has a larger, domed cabochon this time round, which is quite heavy and chunky, and adds to the effect. I like it a lot more than my old one.

forget you ring 1

forget you ring 2
       
If you have any idea what this NARS polish might be called, please let me know!

13 comments:

  1. I had a pinkish red Boots No7 sheer jelly of the same era. Generally just made your nails look really really healthy. There's a vague chance I still own it, up in the attic of the old house (I know there's a few treasures up there, but I don't know what condition they're in, might need to invest in some Restore.)

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    Replies
    1. I think old polishes are often chockablock with chemicals, so they often don't dry out as fast! So you never know.

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  2. That is so neat!

    I cleared out all of my oldies a few years back, but they were all completely dried up already, so no loss there! My mum hates nail polish, so I won't be finding any treasures from her either. =P

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    Replies
    1. Awwww noooo! Polish only dries out because some of the chemicals have evaporated. Even dried to a solid lump they can be restored! If you add specialised nail polish thinner (Sally Hansen make one, and so do Seche Vite) you can restore them to useable quality, honest!

      Look at this post! It's amazing!
      http://www.nailxchange.com/2011/08/how-to-restorerevive-old-bottle-of.html

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    2. I have since learned better. ;) This was probably ten years ago, though, so definitely too late to go back and save them. =P

      Thanks so much for the link!

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    3. Oh phew! I feel so sad when I hear about people throwing out old nail varnish that could have been saved!

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  3. That dark raspberry jelly is so cool!
    Makes me want to try some frankening. ;)

    I found this image online for you:
    http://vogue.blogimg.jp/fubuki-nakagawa/imgs/9/4/94af8caa.jpg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh god, aren't they gorgeous! I might have had Clarte, although I remembered it being a bit more strawberry coloured, ish.

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    2. Yesterday I found something similar at a dollar store: Maybelline "Blue Water" and "Emerald Water".

      It's like barely tinted clear varnish. The one labeled "Emeral Water" is all messed up. The bottle is dirty, pigment is globbed up and stuck to the inside. It doesn't even look green! (It was the only one in stock.)
      http://www.mylatestobsession.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Maybelline-Waters-2.jpg
      I'd seen them online and kinda lemming'ed after them. Now I find out there's a "Violet Water" and I want that one. LOL!

      Oddly enough, Zoya is coming out with some "tinted waters" too.
      http://www.letthemhavepolish.com/2012/08/zoya-2012-nyfw-gloss-collection.html

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    3. Oooh, that's interesting! I'm sure you can fix the spoilt one too.

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  4. Wow......really nice and great helpful post.thanks for share....:-)

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  5. I wish I had seen this post years ago when it was published! It's called Ultra Violet and I have been trying to find another bottle of it for years. I bought mine in 1999 after reading an article in Allure Magazine where Karen Elson mentioned owning it and how it looked like watercolor. There was a line of jelly polishes from Nars out in the mid-late 90s and I miss them! There was a red, a yellow, an orange, this one, and possibly another.

    ReplyDelete

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