w7 Mystery Blue-Green Shimmer Polish

This is the last polish from my giant w7 haul from a couple of weekends ago. Unfortunately, it's another one where the label came off when I cleaned up the giant spill, so I don't know what this one's called! However, it is a really pretty bluey green shimmery glass fleck polish.

This is three thin coats on each nail, except on my ring finger, which is one coat over black.  The formula on this is quite sheer and runny, so I wanted to see if putting it over black was easier, or if it looked as good.

I think it works fine over black! The shimmer isn't less pronounced than on the other nails, and it was easier to apply - although there was no problem on the other nails, it just meant using fewer coats. 

Whilst it isn't very springlike, I like how this polish looks. I wish the greeny blue shimmer was a bit more obvious in all lights, but I think this will look great in the winter!

This polish was provided for review. Opinions and words are entirely my own.

Rimmel Cocktail Colour in a Flash

Today I have the new Rimmel collection, Cocktail Colour in a Flash to show you.  I don't often wear or buy Rimmel, as their colours just seem a bit ordinary to me. They're fine, lots of decent colours and a decent formula, but rarely anything to get excited about.

There are three colours in the new Cocktail Colours collection: Shirley Temple, Baby Bellini, and Hawaiian Punch.  The label describes these as "One coat nail polishes. Dries in less than 60 seconds."  Firstly, these are NOT one coat colours. One coat was very sheer on all of these, and on the purple (Baby Bellini) also very streaky. These swatches are all two coats.

This is Shirley Temple, a bright orange glass fleck polish. This is a much paler orange than many of my other orange polishes, but still nice and vibrant.

Next up is Hawaiian Punch, a bright fuschia pinky red. It is definitely more pink than red in real life, but it is leaning red in the photos, which I can't capture easily in photos. 

I think this is pretty, and the sparkle is nice.

Last is the purple, Baby Bellini. I don't understand this name at all! Bellinis are a pretty pale peachy colour, not purple!  I think this is my favourite of the three. 

I don't have as many purple polishes as I do orange or red/pink, so maybe it's more unique in my collection.

These are all pretty, and the glass fleck is sparkly and quite pronounced. However, I just don't think they're that unique. There are plenty of other, better, glass flecks out there, and I have colours that are similar (but nicer) than these, such as China Glaze Riveting, or OPI Be a Dahlia Won't You... These are cheaper, and more easily available in the UK (these are £3.99 each i Boots, and are currently on 3-for-2) so they may well be a better option for many people. I think they're pretty, and I'm sure I'll wear them, however, I'm really not blown away by them.

OPI DS Luxurious

The OPI Designer Series polishes have been a bit hit and miss over recent months. These are the special OPI polishes that come with a silver cap and cost a couple of pounds extra. The first ones were holographic, or at least very special. The more recent ones have been a bit ordinary, judging by most of the posts about them that I've read.  The lastest ones however, are a different story!

This is OPI's DS Luxurious, one of two new designer series polishes for Autumn 2012. (The other is a redder toned one that is very similar to this.)  This is two coats, with topcoat. 

I am in LOVE with how this looks! If you're a regular reader, you'll know I love orange anyway, but oh my goodness, how gorgeous is this one! It's so bright and shiny and shimmery in direct light, and it positively glows in low light, as you can see by this very early morning photo, when the sun wasn't quite up. 

The formula on this one is excellent - it went on smoothly, evened out quickly and dried well to a lovely smooth finish. It wore really well, despite the fact that my nails are super long at the moment, and are catching on everything possible. 

Luxurious is quite a reddy gold, with lots of golden glassf-leck pieces that really add depth to the colour. This is very similar to China Glaze Riveting (another of my favourites) and they look almost identical in the bottle. However, on the nail they are clearly different (just realised I didn't take photos, what an idiot!) as Luxurious is redder, where Riveting is slightly more yellowy. Unless you're a total orange freak though, you probably don't need both. 

I think this might just about be the happiest colour there is!

OPI Be a Dahlia Won't You

I've mentioned this before, but not actually written about it on its own.

This is OPI's Be a Dahlia Won't You? - two coats plus topcoat. 

Be a Dahlia is a bright pink polish with a lovely glass fleck finish. It really shines in the sunlight (of which we actually had a couple of days this week! I know - amazing!) and I love how this looks.

Here it is in closeup.

Be a Dahlia Won't You? was part of the Summer 2011 Nice Stems collection. This and I Lily Love you were the only two I bought.  I wore Be a Dahlia for a day on its own, then added a coat of I Lily Love You.

I Lily Love You is a pink tinged sheer jelly with lots of shiny glitter flakes in varying colours and sizes. Some of the flakes are very random shaped, and move from gold to purple in the light. It's very pretty on its own, and over dark colours, but this is one coat over Be a Dahlia Won't You?