Really old NOTD: No7 Jammy

This No7 polish usually retails for £7, which makes it only £2 with those £5 off tillspits they often have.

It's really good! I usually chip my nail polish after only a day or so, this lasted a good three or four days with minimal tip wear, including a couple of swims. Also you can see the amount of  shine on the nails - that's without a top coat! I know, amazing, right?

NOTD and review: 17 Lasting Finish 'Glisten'

Do you ever have moments where something doesn't work how you thought it would, but you like it better that way? That's what I'm thinking about this nail polish.

I thought it would be a bit duochrome-y, which it isn't really. There's a very slight gold/pink gradient, but most of the time you just see the golden colour, and it's lovely!

Packaging

Fairly standard for a nail varnish, it has a nice long handle on the lid/brush which is good for ease of application.

The bottle contains 8ml, which is the same amount as in the Rimmel 60 second varnishes.

Does it live up to its promises?

This product promises to deliver up to 5 days of shine.

It is very shiny, yes, and the colour does stay on really well. I've had it on since Friday at this point, and while I've had to 'fix' some of the nails, the fix lasts well and blends in, as well as drying very quickly.

I did get bubbles on one nail where I didn't let the coat below dry fully, but the others look fairly perfect.

A downside is that it's very sheer, which could make it really good for syrup nails, and since it dries so quickly it's not an issue that it takes a good three or four layers for full opacity.

It also looks good with one layer over a solid colour.

Something I like about this colour is that it's fairly close to my skin colour, meaning that although this is a little bit of a 'party' colour it actually looks appropriate for anything.

Would I repurchase it?

I would, yes, and I'd consider purchasing others from the range. It sells for £2.99 and is currently on 3 for 2 with the rest of the 17 range.

Project Pan update - Week 2

Make-up

2) I finished these. They're good, so much less hassle/mess than a bottle and cotton will - especially as I have a tendency to spill things. I already had a backup - though from Quickies brand not Superdrug's own ones.

Books

None yet, so I stay on two.

Also I have 1000 views on my blog - wow! Thanks everyone, it means a lot. =)

NOTD: Miss Sporty Clubbing Colours Metal Shine

This is a polish that I've had for ages and forgotten how good it is, but which surfaced during yesterday's nail painting session with my friends ( unfortunately more than half of my not-well-painted nails chipped during the day or flaked off entirely, so I just shoved this on the top.

This is a very very shiny pink/lilac/purple. It looks fairly good as a one-coat polish, and any attempt to fix it will result in brush marks showing and it looking a bit awful, so it's one to get right first time...

Sadly this colour is no longer in the range that I know of, but it looks very similar to this, just a bit darker. The finish is very cool, though I keep expecting duo chrome that isn't there.

Nail painting!

Yesterday evening I went to my friend's house where we all indulged in a bit of nail art of various quality. Here are some pictures (apologies for non-sharpness, my camera decided to focus on everything but the fingers...)

Here's what one of my friends did. Overall she did the most impressive nails of all of us - I thought I'd start off with the best ones! We all thought the lips on her little finger were really cool and personally I liked that they were quite modern. The flowers on her ring finger are also really cool. We liked that she had a heart on what we referred to as her 'swearing finger,' though it could lead to mixed messages. Then on her index finger was an amazing desert island, which I tried to copy, but it didn't go so well.

Here are three of mine. If you look at the far left one you can see my disastrous copying of a desert island... I like the purple sparkles though, and there's a better photo of my index finger's white sparkly nail further down the page.

This was my most arty friend, she did flowers on all of her nails, I was really impressed!

This is Philly's 'cosmos hand' which is epic. She thinks she ruined it by adding the stars, but I am envious, they're really pretty. You can check out her blog here.

This is one of mine. I used a white base, and then a subtle glitter (my elf one from my freebie at the start of this month) and then a chunky Barry M glitter.I think this is really pretty, definitely one to do again.
My most talented friend (from the first picture) put this on her thumb. How cute! The flash kind of wiped out the top of the nail, but it had a little yellow for the sun. It looked really professional.

This was what I attempted to do on my thumb - it didn't work out quite how I intended, but it still looked cool, so I'm happy.

One of the things I most like about these get-togethers is that they get you to use some of your own products that you hadn't used for ages, and there's a NOTD using one of those coming right up.

NOTD: Lucky Dip - Barry M's Blueberry Ice Cream - shade 306

It's half term, yay! I couldn't decide what colour to paint my nails earlier, so I decided to just dip my hand into my nail polish bag and pick one at random, and I happened to pick this one.

And I'm so glad I did. I reviewed another Barry M polish that I've had for the same amount of time (years) here and hated it. I'm going to have to try my other two Barry M polishes again once the weather warms up (somehow, I can't help thinking yellow and orange are a little inappropriate for this freezing weather) and see which camp they fall into. Because this polish is fab.

Again, it took a little longer than I'm used to with my quick dry polishes for this to set completely, with the result that one nail got a little ruined when I tried to pin my hair back off my face, but the brush in this bottle seems much more easily handled than in the other bottle - and maybe the formulas are slightly different, especially since Spring Green is from the general colour range while Blueberry Ice Cream is from the, um, ice cream colour range.

I noticed that, although when first brushed on it didn't look as if it could be a one coat polish (and I actually put two or three coats on) when I let the polish dry it spread across the nail slightly, if that makes sense - so it could very well be a one coat job in the future.

This is a lovely colour, great all year round. In this freezing weather it makes me think of snow and ice, and it could look really cool with glitter. In the summer, by contrast, it's fresh and clean.

This polish retails at just below £3, and there are often special offers of two Barry M nail polishes for £5.

NOTD: Because if you can't have sparkly nails on your birthday,when can you?

The title says it all, really...
Base coat: Miss Sporty vitamin cocktail (not in range any more, sad face)
Main colour: No7 Stay Perfect in Jammy (mentioned here)
Top coat: elf nail polish in Twinkle ( mentioned here) (the under a fiver bit)

OPI new collection: Holland!

Image from www.squarednails.com which is an amazing blog I'd urge you to check out.

The first thing to say is that, as always, the colour names are amazing. I think my favourite four are Vampsterdam, Kiss Me On My Tulips, I Don't Give a Rotterdam, and A Roll In The Hague.

The colours are also really nice - if this is summer 2012's palette, then I'm looking forward to it!

I love Gouda Gouda Two Shoes. It looks look it would look really sophisticated on the nails, as would Wooden Shoe Like To Know - both polishes look like they mean business!

I think the colour I Don't Give a Rotterdam might be my favourite in the bunch - it looks like there are slight grey tones to the blue, which is really elegant. It looks similar to Barry M's Blueberry Ice Cream in my opinion, but that might just be me.

A Roll in the Hague looks like quite a vibrant orange. Again, I have something similar in the form of Barry M's block orange, which I might have to dig out again...

Pedal Faster Suzi is a very pretty pale colour, which I think would look best on those with either very pale or very dark skins.

Dutch Ya Just Love OPI is a really nice colour, a cool purple which I think looks quite urbane and chic.

Thanks a WindMillion isn't a colour that appeals to me, but mainly because it reminds me of mint, which I don't like. However, pastels are very on trend this summer, and, similar to Pedal Faster Suzi, I can see this looking good with very pale or very dark skin tones.

Red Lights Ahead... Where is a classic red I think - there's not much to say about it, really.

Kiss Me On My Tulips is a really nice colour, a little cooler than some other hot pink nail polishes (ahem, No7 Stay Perfect Jammy, I'm looking at you), which makes it look much more wearable I think - classy, though I don't like the word.

Vampsterdam is an amazing colour, it reminds me of Rimmel Lasting Finish in Black cherries. So nice, it would look quite cool done like a French manicure, with that as the tip colour, and Kiss Me On My Tulips as the body of the nail.

I Have A Herring Problem is such a nice colour - I think this would be ultra-wearable, and suitable for pretty much anoint.

I really want to like Did You 'ear about Van Gogh because of the name, but I'm just not a fan of the colour - though I can see it looking good on very pale or dark skin tones.

There you go, a bit of a roundup.

There is a mini set, called Dutch Treats, featuring I Have a Herring Problem, Red Lights Ahead... Where, Kiss Me On My Tulips, and Pedal Faster Suzi. I think I might treat myself to it, especially as it's only £13 and I like all the shades in it - it works out at £3.25 per polish, which is really good value.

Review and NOTD: Rimmel Lasting Finish shade 193 - Black Cherries

In a way similar (probably) to most of you, I can't resist a bargain, so when I saw that this polish had £1 off at Sainsbury's, reducing the price to £1.99 I had to take advantage of it. I had a brief dilemma between this colour and a sparkly one (which I can't find anywhere online, darn Boots.com being down for maintenance), but decided that I'd get more wear out of this one.

The colour is lovely , a rich dark purplish red which, if you look closely under the right light, has tiny glimmery bits in it. I love the colour so much. Definitely made the right choice.

It goes on really nicely, it's nice and thick and gloopy, and although the brush is more like the Barry M ones than the Rimmel 60 Second one, it is thick enough, and the polish thick enough, for it to work.

It dried fairly quickly, and once it was dry it stayed dry and fixed to the nail (ie, not like the Barry M that slides off). The photo above was taken after I'd been wearing it for a day, with a little bit of wear but overall still looking very presentable. The one thing I have noticed is that there are a few little grooves from the tips of my other hand's nails (I think), but that seems to be a serial problem with most polishes for me. The colour of this polish seems to disguise those grooves quite well, though, so I'm happy.

As for Lasting Finish, I'm not yet entirely sure... it has seemed to stay on quite well, as you'd expect, but I'll have to see how it looks later in the week before I can really assess that.

Overall though, I love this polish, and I can see it becoming a staple.

http://www.superdrug.com/rimmel/rimmel-lasting-finish-nail-polish-black-cherries/invt/499951/

(note that it's only £2.49 at Superdrug anyway)

NOTD: Barry M Nail Paint shade 290, Spring Green.

Right, I'll admit it, front and centre.

I used to be a Barry M Nail Paint devotee. Loved it.

But, since trying others (most notably Rimmel's 60 second one) I've realised that, actually, it's not that good.

I put on Barry M polish for the first time in a while today, in what for ages was my favourite nail colour. But, I'd forgotten how much better the little stubby brush in the Rimmel polishes is. The Barry M brush, long and thin, is very difficult to control, and get a good finish across the nail without getting polish all over your fingers - my nails now are even more untidy than normal.

Then there's the drying time. I know I'm used to special quick-dry formulas, but this still took quite a while, probably as a consequence of my bad brush usage meaning that I put too much polish on.

I've also put a topcoat on (for once) - 2true's clear polish, which says it lasts for 5 days. It has made the nail look overall much more 'finished'

It's a shame, really, to have to say bad things about a product I used to love.

One thing I can't fault, though, is the bottle size. For £2.99 (often £2.50 when there are 2 bottles for £5 deals) you get 10ml, working out at just under 30p per ml. In contrast, for the Rimmel 60 second polish you pay £3.69 for 8 ml, just over 46p/ml.

I think, to conclude, that the Barry M is still a very good nail polish for what you pay, but that there are better ones available at a similar price point.

http://www.superdrug.com/barry-m/barry-m-nail-paint-290-spring-green/invt/396362/

Afterthought: I'm writing this bit two hours after putting on the polish. 6 of my 10 nails are smudged horribly. I remember this being a problem with this polish, that it appears to have dried, but over an hour after putting it on it still doesn't seem to stick to the nail.

I'll have to take it off, it's annoying me that it looks so rubbish and I'm going out tonight.

Review : Rimmel 60 Seconds Nail Polish - Shade 610, Pompous

This nail varnish is definitely my favourite, so I thought it would make a good first review.
I bought it on a whim to match a dress I was wearing for a Hallowe'en party, and have worn it almost constantly since. I used to be a Barry M nail paint devotee, but that's all changed.
As you can see in the swatch, it's sparkly, which is always fun for nails, especially during the holidays and for parties. The sparkles in this polish, though, are quite subtle, and just add to the catching-the-light effect.
So now we now that I love how it looks - is it actually any good?
Yes!
It doesn't fully dry in the 60 seconds suggested by the packaging and name, and nor can I get the full colour payoff in the one coat stated on the bottle, but it's darned good. It dries almost fully in a couple of minutes, and enough to put the necessary second coat on very quickly - usually, by the time I've put he first coat on my second hand, the first hand is ready for the second coat.
Durability is a key issue for nail varnish, and one I can report back on with a smile on my face with regards to this polish. I've had this polish last three or four days with only tiny nicks before, and since it dries so quickly, touch-ups aren't an issue. For some polishes, I've noticed that due to slight colour variations it's very obvious where I've 'mended' the polish, but for this polish it isn't. Presumably it would last even longer if I could be bothered to put a topcoat on it.
Also, and this is a big bonus for such a dark polish, it doesn't seem to stain my nails when it comes off.
This polish sells at £3.69, and in my opinion is definitely worth it.
http://www.boots.com/en/Rimmel-60-Seconds-Nail-Polish_867420/