My Top Ten Favourite Nail Polishes

Hey all!

Today I have something a little different - a review of my top ten favourite polishes (of all time). This was much harder than I thought - after all I do have around 500 different polishes so to cut down to 10 is asking a lot!

I had a few in mind - I really don't think I can order them though. I love all my polishes and these 10 are just the best ones.. no better than each other all equally amazing!

But the first I will show you are my basic go to colours. 

The first is Modern Love by Deborah Lippmann. Until they recently started showing up in TK Maxx, I was a DL virgin. This was the first I picked up, along with 2 others - one of which is also in my top 10.

Modern Love was the first nude I ever got that suited my skin tone. I have very pinky red flesh, so many nudes just look awful on me. I also struggle to pull off purples for the same reason. This however has an almost mauve-ish undertone and is simply wonderful. When everyone went crazy raiding TKMaxx for them, I saw some terrible reviews for Modern Love but for me it really is just the best nude polish ever. It even applies well - 2 coats which for a creme polish I think is pretty good.

The second and third are both Barry M Gelly polishes. You just can't beat these - easily one of the best brands ever made for the UK. Both of my picks are blue - easily my favourite polish colour. The first is Blackberry - this was my first Barry M polish ever, and one I blogged about a couple of times almost a year ago now. I still love it, and intend on wearing it a lot this winter. Flawless application - 1 coater for me and my little nails, fantastic shiny finish, although I do always topcoat to prolong my manis a bit further. I actually realised I had no photos of it on its own, so you have the new one above  of it on its own and  one further on where I have worn it with KBShimmer Hex Appeal.

The second is Guava. I never imagined Guava as a blue colour, but there ya go! I love this shade immensely, and I am still very fond of this nail art I did using it earlier in the year. Again, a gorgeous shiny finish and in just 1 coat. Whats not to love? I miss my long nails....

A new favourite of mine is Blue Himalayan by Beauty UK. It's one of their new Gel FX range which is along the same lines as Barry M. I should let you know that I did get this as a press sample, but it has still become one of my new favourites. It is a beautiful bright cornflower blue - something that I have nothing even similar to in my collection. I have worn this alone a few times now and it wears really well and does really have that beautiful plumped gel look finish.

Now, onto the glitters. I became enamoured by glitters and polish in general when I saw a link on Facebook to a review of KBShimmer's fall line for 2012. The two that stood out to me were Quantum Leaf (below) and Jack (above). To get them at the time, I had to ask a friend across the water to purchase them for me and ship them to me as they were as easy to find as gold dust on Harlow and Co. He (the wonderful man) bought me 2 of each, and I have treasured both bottles all this time. I am almost down to 1 of each - I do wear both quite frequently and I generally wear them as they are, rather than layering. I have never found another indie quite like KBShimmer for their multi-level glitters.. they are just stunning. I have however only featured them on my blog a handful of times, so I apologise for the quality of my then newbie pictures. I hope you feel I have improved even slightly since then with these ones!

Since that time, I have fell in love with several other KBShimmers, but none so much as Hex Appeal. This just combines everything I love with a little bit of something I hate (purple) and yet comes out as one of the most beautiful polishes I own. Really cannot fault it. This is one coat over Barry M Blackberry.

This next polish was also originally sent to me as a press sample. Ellagee kindly sent me a tiny little 5ml bottle to review, which I ended up using in the space of about a week. I have since purchased a larger bottle and as you can see, I am steadily making my way through this one. You have to have a bit of multi rainbow glitter in your life - this is mine. Crazy He Calls Me was one of Ellagee's first lines - one of a number of glitter toppers (most of which I also own!) there are lots of almost equivalents out there - I suppose it depends on what calls to you - but this definitely calls to me and makes me feel unbelievably content and happy to watch it sparkling away on my nails.

Back to the Deborah Lippmanns. This was the original polish that found me diving for a shelf in TKMaxx and making me look just a little bit crazy! This is Deborah Lippmann - Across the Universe. There are a few dupes of this about now, but I still love it. When I first applied it I was massively disappointed - it takes 3 coats to get to the wonderful jelly effect that everyone loves, but even so - I love this polish and have plenty of plans for it this holiday season!

And last but not at all least - Cadillacquer We'll Meet Again. I was saddened to see this is discontinued, so I hopefully will be able to pick up a backup bottle before its all gone. The colour and whole makeup of this polish is just wonderful. A muted pink base with a holo shimmer and packed full of fine red glitter. It applies really smoothly and only needs 2 coats. It reminds me of curling up toasty warm in my favourite jumper.. except my favourite jumper is neither pink, red, or sparkly. Hmmm. Love it anyway!

What do you think of my choices? Any of your favourites in there?

Don't forget to check out everyone else's favourites!! 

Rachael xxx

Pokémon NAC Week 7 - Poison

Hey all!

Yaaaaaaay another installment of my favourite challenge - Pokémon (gotta paint em all :D)

Today is Poison, which I proper groaned at. I hate poison attacks, theyre so annoying. I'm a hit them and bash them hard, very little strategy type player, unless its against a friend, then of course I am full of strategy. But poison is never something I go for, I'm a lover of the Ghost move Curse and then I tend to revert to hitting them with everything I have and reviving constantly haha!

There are only 3 new poison pokemon in Gen 2, so I went for the one I actually used in game. The first time round I played, I started late at night and picked up a low level Spinarak. They're actually pretty cute I think for a bug / poison pokemon and especially for a spider. I played with him for at least 2 or maybe even 3 gyms, so thats a long time for a bug pokemon which are pretty much weak and rubbish for fighting with.

My nails are a base of Deborah Lippmann - Wicked Game, with some freehanded spiders webs and of course my freehanded Spinarak.

What do you think? I wasnt sure at first, but I quite like the duochrome background for these :)

Rachael xxx

Back to School NAC - Day 1 Apples

Hellooooo!

Promised you a post, so here it is! My apples mani for Day 1.

Here I used Deborah Lippmann Modern Love as a base colour, an unnamed red Essie (472) for the apples, Catrice I'm Not a Greenager for the leaves and Mentality - Proper for the stalks and pips. The half apple also uses Ciaté Cookies and Cream for the flesh, and of course any white is my trusty Sinful Colors Snow Me White.

Pretty pleased with how these turned out! Don't forget to check out everyone else's nails for this challenge! If you're thinking of joining in - please do! More the merrier! 

Rachael xxx

ER31DC - Day 15 Delicate Print

Good morning! Catching up quickly with the 31DC again. Here's my 'delicate print' mani.

I think I may have gone off on a tangent here, but I did these because I have seen them done and I always think they look delicate - so this is what popped into my head when I looked at today's theme. Dreamcatcher nails!

What do you think? Would you wear them? I have to admit, I am in LOVE with the base colour - Deborah Lippmann Modern Love. The other colours I used were Sinful Colors Black to Black and Snow Me White. I think this would look lovely with another colour interjected, maybe for the beads and feathers such as pink or blue. Will definitely do these again!

Don't forget to check out everyone's delicate print manis!

Other posts you might like:

Is there ever a time when glitter is not appropriate?

Hey all - slightly different post from my usual swatches and reviews today.

Last week was a pretty crap week for me - first I was pretty badly with the worst migraine I have possibly ever had, and two, wednesday was the funeral of my other half's grandma.. who after 9 and a half years is pretty much another grandma to me.

Grandma was a beautiful lady inside and out, and I chose my outfit carefully - a navy blue dress and black leggings, with Deborah Lippmann - Across the Universe on my nails. The service was a beautiful tribute to her and the flowers everyone sent / brought were beautiful. The wake afterwards was full of family and friends all ready to share a happy story of how they remembered her.

When I said I would paint my nails however, I was met with 'its a solemn occasion - is glitter really appropriate?'. Here are the nails I wore - I like both versions, but I chose to top them with my Butter London Matte Top Coat for the occasion.

Normal:

Matte top coat:

Quick few comments on the polish - really panicked when the first coat went on so thin - hardly any glitter, it wasnt looking positive. But it really evened out on coat 2, and I added a third to fix a couple of patchier nails. Lovely and smooth, nice thin formula and nice to apply. Dries quite slowly however. Levels really quite nicely but little bit of dabbing needed to distribute glitters evenly.

Back to being told glitter isnt appropriate - what are your thoughts on this? I thought my choice was 100% appropriate - it wasnt illuminous or in your face in any fashion.. no, it wasnt black or a plain colour.. but it was in my eyes matching to the rest of my outfit and a darker colour choice suitable for something like a funeral. 

Would you wear glitter to a funeral?  

Rachael xxx