China Glaze - Mingle with Kringle

This week I had a bit of a clear out of polishes that I didn't think I'd use again. I passed on about 20 bottles to ladies in my office! And of course, having made that space on my shelves... I immediately went out and bought some new ones!  Here is the first, China Glaze Mingle with Kringle. 

This is a China Glaze mini - my local independent shop was selling a whole bunch of minis at £6.50 for two.  This is from the 2013 Christmas collection. As you know, I do love a gold!

This is two coats of Mingle with Kringle. It's a really lovely gold foil, with a yellowy slant to it. There are particles of different shades of gold when you look in close-up, which gives it some depth and lots of shimmer. I love this colour!  

As you can see, this wasn't the easiest to clean up, as the tiny particles did seem to get everywhere. However, I don't care - this is beautiful! I kind of wish I'd bought the full size bottle now.

I need to do a comparison with OPI Goldeneye, as they really are very similar. 

 

Barry M Aquarium Collection - Caspian

This is the second of the Barry M Aquarium collection that I bought last week - Caspian. 

This is three thin coats, with no topcoat. 

Caspian is a really pretty gold foil. To be honest, I can't really see any duochrome in there, apart from a slight pinkish tinge to it, especially in the bottle, but it is a really pretty colour, and I found it very flattering with my skin tone. 

The formula is good - application is smooth, and this dries really well. 

I find that these types of foils sometimes wear very quickly at the tips, but after a day at work with plenty of typing, it's still looking perfect. 

These are on sale in Superdrug and on Barry M's website for £3.99

 

 

 

 

Barry M Aquarium Collection - Mediterranean

Barry M's latest new collection is the Aquarium collection: six sea-related colours. There are 4 duochromes and two shard glitters.  I chose two of the duochromes, Caspian on the left, and Mediterranean on the right.

Aren't they pretty?  First up, I tried out Mediterranean, the pinky-gold one.  And just to warn you - this is going to be photo heavy, because it's PRETTY!

Did I say pretty? I mean DROP DEAD GORGEOUS!

This is three thin coats of Mediterranean, with no topcoat. Two coats would probably have been fine, but it's quite a sheer formula, so I added a third.  This is a lovely pinky gold foil that moves between deep pink to bright orange, via peachy gold tones. I ran round the house taking photos in every different light I could find!

Formula is fine - this is smooth and even, dries well and applies easily. The first coat is a bit sheer, as this is a foil, so the particles don't cover the entire nail straight away. 

It looks great in the sun. 

It looks great in the shade. 

I think it's a really flattering colour.

I think I love this polish!  Because I can never leave well alone, I decided to also stamp over it.  I used Barry M Gold Foil and MoYou London Nature 02 stamping plate. 

I used the peacock tail section of the plate to get this feather design. I think the combination works really well!

I like the subtle contrast between Mediterranean and the gold stamping - it's not too obvious, but it is pretty.

The Aquarium collection is out now in Superdrug, and costs £3.99 each. However, I bought these two yesterday on a 2-for-£6 deal, so you can get them cheaper.

Pink & Gold & Rhinestones

I (re)watched Slumdog Millionaire last night and alongside enjoying the film, I enjoyed the bright colours of Latika's outfits. I then got sidetracked into looking at my dvds wondering what to watch next, and saw the blue/pink/gold combo on the Jewel in the Crown boxset (also set in India), and that gave me the idea for these nails.

This is three coats of OPI's Goldeneye (it's quite sheer and grainy - I should really have used a base under it). I then taped off the nails and added a coat of Barry M Shocking Pink down the sides of the nails. Then I added the turquoise rhinestones to my ring fingers and topcoated everything. 

I really like how sparkly Goldeneye is (I posted about it here) and how it contrasts with the creme finish of the pink. The sun's out today, so Goldeneye is being very sparkly. 

The one thing I don't like about Goldeneye is how hard it is to clean up! Believe it or not, I did clean these up as much as I could, but it's so hard to get the tiny glassflecks of gold off my skin. It's pretty tough to remove too, unless you go for acetone & foil.

 

Barry M Christmas Limited Editions - Round 2!

After yesterday's post of the Superdrug limited editions from Barry M, today I am wearing the two Boots limited editions.  On the bottles these are called BLE 2012 A and BLE 2012 B, but on Barry M's Facebook they're called Christmas Gold and Christmas Pink.

Like the Superdrug versions, these come with a shiny, textured cap. They're only available as a free gift if you spend £6 on Barry M, they're not available to purchase separately.  This is two coats of Christmas Pink, and two coats of Christmas Gold on my ring finger.

Like the Christmas Blue yesterday, these are super shiny! Application was a little draggy, but after yesterday I'd learnt to paint this fairly thickly, so it was fine. The finish is really nice - the particles make the colour look foily and give the colour a bit of depth. 

Barry M have had a few dodgy releases in recent months (Web Effect, anyone? Urgh!) but I think these are really nice. I don't even need any more golds - I have dozens - but I can't resist this one.

Barry M Christmas Limited Editions

Barry M have launched four limited edition Christmas polishes this week - two in Boots (free if you spend £6, not available for purchase) and two in Superdrug, which are either free if you spend £6, or available to buy for £3.99 each.  Here I have the two Superdrug colours.

On the bottles, they're labelled 'SLE A' and 'SLE B', but on Barry M's Facebook page, they're called Christmas Blue and Christmas Glitter. 

This is two coats of Christmas Blue, with Christmas Glitter on my ring finger. Christmas Blue is an icy foil metallic blue, with lots of shimmery particles. Application is a little draggy - too thin a coat does drag and leave bare batches; I found a thicker coat went on more smoothly.

Christmas Glitter is a clear base (rather thick, and very smelly!) with lots of tiny blue and green glitter, and larger pieces of blue, green and reddish fuschia glitter. I love how sparkly it is!

I really like both of these.

The bottles look great, with the textured foil caps (so shiny!) - the display in Superdrug looked so pretty!  The limited editions in Boots were all gone in two stores I looked in this week, although I managed to find some in the third, so i think these are pretty popular!

OPI Goldeneye

The recent OPI James Bond Collection mostly did very little for me I'm afraid - there weren't too many that didn't look like lots of other colours out there, and I thought I would be fine to avoid them all. 

However, you may know about my obsession with gold nail varnish, and my quest to find the perfect gold! On my way to the States on holiday earlier this month, I departed with BARE nails and no nail supplies at all (argh!). However, at Manchester Airport, with several hours to kill, I discovered an OPI stand, and fell in love with Goldeneye.  I wore it for two weeks, just topping up with another coat every few days, when I started to get tip wear.

This is three coats of Goldeneye, with topcoat. To be honest, I doubt I needed topcoat, as I managed fine without it on holiday, but I added some anyway.  

Goldeneye is a very fine metallic gold foil. The particles are tiny, and have a few varying shades of bright, warm, yellowy gold, that together create a slightly textured looking opaque gold look. I absolutely LOVE this colour! So much so, that I think I can actually say that THIS is the gold I have been looking for. 

It's such a bright, shiny, reflective finish, and a lovely warm colour. I love it. 

This wore really well on holiday, and only started to get tip wear after about 4 days, and even then it was minimal. Removal was a bit of a pain, but I'm going to use acetone next time, and I'm sure it'll be easier (I was using nasty travel pads that I bought in the airport). 

 

Nails Inc - Wardour Mews

This is another of the Nails Inc set that I got in TKMaxx for a bargain price. This is two coats of Wardour Mews, with topcoat, and - because why on earth not? - a matching ring.

Wardour Mews is a gorgeous deep purple-y lilac jelly packed full of tiny gold glitter that gives a lovely foil finish. This polish is a bit less duochrome on the nail than it is in the bottle, but it still moves between a rich purple colour and a lovely warm pinky gold, and like many polishes of this kind, really comes alive in the sunshine.

Application was the usual Nails Inc good quality. Nice and smooth, dries quickly with no lumps or streaks or bald patches. Nice brush, and the polish lasted well too - I wore this for two days before taking it off, and it still looked perfect. 

I really love this colour! This is definitely one to keep!

Nails Inc New Burlington Place - and more pendants

This is one of my new Nails Inc polishes. I found a set of 4 (New Burlington Place, Wardour Mews, Lexington Street and Symons Street) for £15, so just under £4 each. 

This is two coats of New Burlington Place, with topcoat.

New Burlington Place is a gorgeous shimmery reddish bronze colour, with a foil finish and a duochrome edge to it. The duochrome is more visible in the bottle, but it's still there on the nail, especially in low light. It shifts from a bright fuschia red to a golden bronze colour.

Application was lovely - really smooth and even. I like the brush, it's smooth and easy to use. I'm not overly fond of Nails Inc bottle caps though - they're quite large to hold, which makes them a bit clunky to turn round in your hand. 

I love this look!  I liked it so much that I also made a pendant to go with it. 





What do you think?