A-Z Weekly Challenge - A is for Ciaté Apple and Custard

Hey everyone!

I've joined a new weekly challenge called the A-Z challenge. I needed a kick up the bum to get back to blogging as although I am still avidly painting my nails, I am not finding time to blog!

I am a few weeks behind, so here is my A - Ciaté Apples and Custard, with an accent of R&R Lacquers Shisou.

You can get Ciaté Apple and Custard from their website for £9 per 15ml bottle. R&R Lacquers is an indie brand (handmade). Shisou is part of our spring collection which you can find here for £6.50 a bottle or any 4 bottles (from any collection) for £22.

Don't forget to check out everyone else's manis for A by visiting the A-Z hub page!

Rach xxx

Hello.. hello... hello...

Hello!

I'm back again - I've had a nice little break, something I definitely needed. Life has been busy, and sadly very polish free. I have had almost a full month of no nail polish at all, which my nails have seriously thanked me for, even though they are now much shorter as they were suffering badly at work.

So I thought I would start off again with a few quick swatches of one of R&R Lacquer's new spring polishes - Hellibore.

Hellibore is a soft green based polish, with a sprinkling of tiny matte pastel yellow squares and semi sheer pink daisies. It reminds me massively of spring, and I just love this shade of green - its green, but still soft and feminine, which of course the yellow and pink compliment really well I think.

This is available at our Etsy shop for £6.50 (10ml) or you can get any 4 for £22 + P&P.

What do you think?

Rachael xxx

For the love of... dots! #4 - Taras Talons

Good morning all!

Another dot filled mani today, this time from the lovely Tara from Tara's Talons. This is called Princess of Darkness. I can't remember how or when I came to get this polish as I have quite a Tara collection now, but I am sure it didn't take much thinking to press the confirm button on my order when I saw the circles in this.

I have this swatched over two polishes. I actually didn't realise until I took photos, but I sleep painted my base colour and I have an OPI shade on my pinky, and Sally Hansen - Dorien Grey on my other nails. I love the mix in here of different shapes. Pink (especially neon) and black is just an unreal combo, never gets old. The silver circles just complement that really nicely.

You can find Tara here:

The Tara Emporium

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

What do you think?

Rachael xxx

For the love of... dots! #3 - Nail Lacquer UK

Hey again!

Another dot filled post for you this morning - today is a share of my very first circle glitter polish, which I got from Nail Lacquer UK.

Unfortunately she is not selling anymore, so I am coveting my polishes from AJ as I love them all! This is my absolute favourite, but I will have some more to share with you in the future.

Here is Heart or Love over black.

What do you think? 

Rachael xxx

For the love of... dots! #2 - Chubby Owl Polish

Good morning!

I am back again with another dot installment - this time from the lovely Chubby Owl Polish.

This is my first polish from Jemma - and definitely not my last! I picked this up from her sale and my goodness it is just beautiful.

I wasn't sure about the star element - I am pinickity about shapes. I have decided I like diamonds, squares and circles. Hearts are acceptable in the right polish. This is the first polish where I have okayed stars. They just work wonderfully with the colours in the mix. Metallic pink dots, royal blue small glitters and small silver stars. Such a simple combination but they just look beautiful on my nails. I can't stop looking at them!

You can find Jemma and Chubby Owl Polish at the following places:

Big Cartel Store

Facebook

Instagram

What do you think? Do you have any favourite CO polishes? 

Rachael xxx

For the love of... dots! #1 - Indy's Indies

Hey all!

I have been fairly quiet so far this year - its busy busy as always and blogging has had to take a backseat sort of, to all the new things cropping up!

I do love blogging however, and I want to stay in love with it - hence I will be keeping up my posting of between 1 and 3 posts a week, depending on how busy I get. It's nice to know that even a few people read my blog or check out my pictures - I'm not bothered about having loads of followers etc, I am happy with what I have - so if you're reading this, thank you!

Anyway, I thought I would share my latest loves with you - dots. Dots and indies. So I have a series of posts for you over the next week or so to showcase some of my absolute favourite indie dots from the very talented UK indie scene. 

So here are the first two - I grouped these together because they are from the same brand - Indy's Indies. You can find II at the following places:

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Etsy Store

The first I have for you is Balloon House, inspired by the film UP! I love the film, and I love the polish - it is jam packed with a rainbow of small matte dots all in one size, in a clear base. It is unique in my collection and was actually an impulse buy - when I was waiting for it to arrive I was almost regretting buying it, but now I have it I am just totally in love with it. The smaller circles are fairly easy to get out of the bottle with them being small aswell which is great.

The second I have for you is Baubles. This was a Xmas polish, but Danielle made me one up on request (how lovely is she?!) again, this is a rainbow of colours but in a variety of sizes and all metallic. I wore this just for an afternoon out shopping in Durham and I got so many compliments, and I also spent a fair amount of time wiggling my nails about and staring at them shining in the light. Gorgeous! 

Indy's Indies may be shutting down for awhile, so if you want anything - make sure you get in there quick! 

What do you think of these two polishes? Do you have a favourite? Are there any other II polishes that you love?

Rachael xxx

Whats on my nails? #3

Hey all,

Got some more R&R Lacquers to be sharing with you today.

Being as excitable as a puppy and as patient as.. something really not patient, I have been dying to share these, but as Becca is much more sensible, she has made me wait until they have completed their sit test.

So here are 3 more prototypes. The first will be releasing with our first collection, and the other two will be released as part of an Avengers inspired collection a little bit later.

Again, no names - naming things is so hard!

Avengers inspired - 

#1

#2

There are more of the Avengers collection to come - watch out this week for the rest, the last of the first collection and also some sneak peeks of our spring collection!

Rachael xxx

What's on my nails? #2

Hey all!

Well Xmas is over for another year, but I'm still enjoying the sparkly nails. I have another two prototypes to show you from R&R Lacquers.

#3 - this is what I am currently sporting. It's a lovely understated glittery-ness. One coat over black.

#4 - a bit more rainbow and sparkly! Again, one coat over black.

Go give the brand some love:

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

They'll be launching properly sometime in January - keep an eye out as I have some more swatches etc to come! I will be swatching these over other colours as well.

What do you think? 

And if you haven't seen - check out the other two I have swatched here

Rachael xxx

What's on my nails?

Just a quick post today - to show you whats been on my nails recently. Two unnamed prototypes for R&R Lacquers, a new UK indie brand opening in 2014!

#1

#2

What do you think?

Rachael xxx

Very late Pink Wednesdays Post for Breast Cancer Awareness

Hey all!

Dufus here forgot to press schedule on this post, so I've sat all week thinking it mustve been pants because I've had no views. As in NO views. Then I saw the big draft word next to it - duh! Hahaha! It's been a long week!

So these are dual purpose nails. They are using my favourite dusky pink 'Mrs Potts' by Taras Talons as the base, with decorated semi circles of pearls and a light topping of Barry M - Rose Glitter. I really love this base colour and it is surprisingly girly for me. I am getting into these pink wednesdays! I may have to make them a regular feature haha! I am also entering them into Taras current competition, so wish me luck! :)

Please let me know what you think - do you like / hate / would you change something? 

Don't forget to check out the other pink wednesdays we've done!

Rachael xxx

An InLinkz Link-up

Nelly Polish - Swatches and Review of Jonah's Green and Freckled Primrose

Hey all! Happy 1st October!

First of all.. what do you think of my swanky new header? I am really not talented with these things, but my wonderful friend Becca whipped this up for me. Thanks Becca <3 LOVE YOU LOTS! :)

Today I have two more beautiful colours from Nelly Polish.

After having the opportunity to review 2 of her first collection, I jumped at buying a few more colours. I really enjoyed making them up and now have biceps of STEEL from shaking them about so much!

The first I tried was Jonah's Green. I ADORE this colour. 

This is everything that Essie Naughty Nautical promised to be but wasnt. A gorgeous deep teal green with a sprinkling of small gold hex glitters peeking out at you on occasion. I just love it.



 It was really easy to mix (I did need a small amount of help from Becca's OH to get one tiny corner of dry pigment mixed) and the finished formula was lovely - much thinner and easier to work with than a lot of indie polishes I have had recently. It has lovely coverage as it is so pigmented - I used two coats here with my usual Rimmel Stronger basecoat and SV top coat.

Freckled Primrose was much more difficult to photograph. Firstly, I lost daylight as I was painting my nails and secondly, it was just a pig to photo. I ended up waiting until the morning to rephoto them. Even so, for a yellow I REALLY loved it (I have well over 500 polishes and I now own a grand total of 3 yellows including Freckled Primrose) and autumn be damned, I will be wearing this again soon! 



As per all yellows, it needed extra coats for full coverage and to level out - 3 in total. I used OPI topcoat to mix this one (lucky polish!) and I was interested to see if there was any difference in the suspension and mixing. Although it looked completely mixed (I sat shaking for a good 5-10 minutes) the pigment in this didnt mix quite as easily as Jonah's Green and when I applied it to the nail I was concerned that I could still see specks of pigment that wouldnt dissolve properly. However, once each coat dried you couldnt see them at all, so I wasnt bothered really as it didnt affect my finish. This mix has a gorgeous holo lavender hex mixed into it, so once dry you can see specks of lavender sparkling out at you. Such an unusual but really very pretty mix - I love it!

Both polishes dried super fast - much faster than any other indies I own. They dry matted, so you will need to add topcoat, especially if you're a matte hater like me. It will also help you protect your beautiful new Nelly'd nails for longer.

So, what do you think? Do you like either of these? Have any of them? Want any? I am sure in the coming weeks I will see some more that I want.. I just love playing mini polish maker!

Rachael xxx

Swatched: Taras Talons - The Best Things in Life are Polishes!

Hey all! Got another one of my TT beauties today to share - nabbed this awhile back as I love circle glitters, and I am pleasantly surprised which how much I love this!

The Best Things in Life are Polishes (TBTINAP) is a very pale mint-leaning off white crelly with a fine sprinkling of small gold circle glitters and large blue/teal holo circles. I impulse bought this for the circles, without thinking about whether the colour would suit me, but as it isnt stark white, I really like how it looks.

It is very thin in consistency, and this was 4 coats to build full opacity. Because of the small amount of glitters in the polish, I think it would be best as a topper to make sure every mani gets a fair share of glitters. I did have to fish for the circles but it wasnt a massive effort, I just wanted big circle glitters on every nail (have to be even!).

This had a beautifully soft look to it - I had loads of compliments while I wore it for work.

What do you think? Is it something you would consider buying? Are you a lover or a non lover of circle glitters and/or crelly polishes? 

Rachael xxx

ER31DC - Day 21 Inspired by a Colour (Nail Lacquer Heart or Love review)

Day 21 - Inspired by a colour time!

I was not inspired by this at all, so asked Becca from Kittys Painted Claws to suggest something, anything for me. She then delegated the choice to her other half.. who not knowing me so well.. chose PURPLE. ARGH!

My initial thoughts.. do I OWN any purple polish? So I had a little rummage about in my unorganised helmer drawers and discovered my little untried beauty from Megan at Nail Lacquer.

When she announced this was coming soon, I just had to have it. Megan was kind enough to give me one as a present, before it was released for sale. How lovely is that?

Heart or Love is a beautiful glitter topper packed full of circle glitter. Heaven. I LOVE CIRCLE GLITTER!

Not my usual colour combination - theres some purple in there, along with pink and blue.. but omg I love it so much! Here I have it layered over Sinful Colors Black on Black. Didn't want to take it off! Perfect going out / special occasion mani! Application was great, lots of glitter and the circles came out fairly easily. It levelled nicely and dried in good time. The circles laid flat to the nail with no curling. Can't fault it!

Don't forget to check out everyone else's mani's for this week!

Rachael xxx

Taras Talons - All Work and No Polish! Swatch

Hey all!

Another Taras Talons polish here - got a few more in my untried pile, but I'll break them up so I don't spoil you all at once haha!

This is a single mini (5ml) that caught my eye a few weeks back. I'm normally a bar glitter hater but its very sparse in this polish so I thought I'd give it a try. All work and no polish is a sheer grey base with a mix of black, white and pink glitters in a variety of hexes and bar glitters in black and white only. It can be built into an opaque look on its own, but I decided to layer it over Sally Hansen - Ion for quickness. 

I decided to wear it as an accent as you know how much I like non-matchy nails. So I went for 2 coats of Sally Hansen - Ion on my pinky and pointer, 2 coats of Catrice - Raspberry Fields Forever on my middle finger and 1 coat of AWANP over 2 coats of Ion on my ring finger and thumb (not shown).

I really like how it looks, I love glitters, and these matte glitters are great for an every day look. I love the variety of colours and glitters in this and surprisingly like the addition of the bars. It was a beautiful formula and had a nice variety of glitters that went easily onto the nail. I did fish for the bars though as they are quite sparse, but thats how I want the polish anyway so its not an issue!

Small thank you to Becca from KPC too as these are all her polishes (bar All Work and No Polish) as I was having a polish afternoon at her house! It was her birthday last week, so I took over her presents and we had a swatch fest! Happy birthday Becca, love ya lots! 

Anyway, back to the polish - what do you think?

Rachael xxx

Taras Talons - Polish Club September

Good morning all!

Today I have my very first indie subscription to show you!

Taras Talons recently set up polish club - the first UK indie subscription box. For a small price of £10 a month, you will receive 2 unique polishes, 1 full size (10ml) and 1 mini (5ml). These are like all Taras polishes and will be one offs.

The two I received I was uber pleased with. Theres a story behind one of them, which I'll fill you in on. The mini I received is called Forget Me Not. As soon as I saw this I loved it. More so for the name. September is my 'big Gran's birthday month. She passed away when I was in school - I was about 14/15, so over 10 years ago now. I've always wanted to get a tattoo to remember her by, and as I'm a big scaredy cat, and also because I want something tasteful and small, I decided that when I'm brave enough, I'll get a small forget-me-not in her memory. So of course when this polish arrived I did get a bit of a lump in my throat, but I do only have wonderful memories of my big Gran and wearing this on my nails will only make me think of her and how much I love her more.

Forget Me Not is a beautiful mulberry colour. Its unlike anything I own already and isn't something I would instinctively choose, but it was a lovely colour on my nails. It does look slightly more brown in the photos, but when it hits the light you can see the red tones and the lovely shimmer.

My second polish, the 10ml was a glitter polish. I won't lie, I did initially feel a bit disappointed at a gold glitter. But once I applied it I realised how lovely it was - its not a two dimensional flat gold glitter, but a mix of gold and gold holo hexes and multiple sizes of glitter, so its so sparkly! It transformed Forget Me Not from a classic work-appropriate mani to a beautiful sophisticated special night out mani. The polish is glitter packed, so rather than a full nail, I decided to lightly sponge it on as a glitter gradient. I had no problems with application, the formula was great and no problems getting glitter out. Lovely! Only problem was the dying light, so although you can see tiny flecks of holo, I didnt manage to capture just how sparkly it really was!

I am so happy with this subscription and can't wait for next month. I really think for £10, its a good price for something hand made and unique. 

If you fancy trying Polish Club, you can sign up for it at Taras Talons via Paypal.

What do you think? Did you sign up for polish club? What colours did you get / would you like to see? 

Rachael xxx

Dragonglass Nails - UK Indie Review and Swatches

Good morning!

Today I have for you a new UK indie brand - Dragonglass Nails by Georgia.

I stumbled across them originally on Instagram and then after stalking them for a while, finally parted with my cash in exchange for two polishes - Good Witch and Bad Witch.

I tried Good Witch first. Both polishes are described as being textured, but I found the two to be very different. Here's how Georgia describes it:

Good Witch is a pink iridescent shimmery polish. It is sheer and best used over another colour (both pictures show it over a pale nude colour, but it can be put over any colour) and layered to be more pink and glittery. It can be made opaque in 4-5 coats and gives a "jelly" appearance, but it has to be left to dry in between or it will go squidgy. Give it a coat of clear or matte top coat, and it's good to go! 

I found Good Witch to be incredibly thick, it definitely needed a drop of thinner. I dabbed it onto my nail for even coverage, over 2 coats of We're in it Together by Essie (a bright baby pink). I think it looks quite pretty, but for me I definitely need to tone down the undies as they really werent the best choice for me! Good Witch was very textured, so I decided to leave it that way - it was already very sparkly so didn't need a topcoat.

I did then see that Georgia recommends wearing it over nude. So i tested one finger with Ciate Cookies and Cream as a base. I also topcoated and you can immediately see the difference. It has a much softer, delicate look and is incredibly even more sparkly. This was 1 coat over 2 thin coats of Cookies and Cream.

And here is Bad Witch.

Bad Witch is a black polish with green sparkles that glitter in the light. It is opaque in one coat and dries to a leather-like finish, which can then be made smooth and sparkly with one coat of your favourite top coat.

 

This was pigmented enough to wear alone - I wore two coats over a base of OPI Nail Envy and with 2 coats of Seche Vite. It DRANK the first coat, so definitely needed the second to smooth everything out. This was nowhere near as textured as Good Witch. Infact, I would say it was more like regular indie polish - just in need of a good topcoat. I really liked this otherwise though - a great choice for Halloween which is scarily not that far away. Also, a great evening choice for green lovers (like myself). It was so sparkly in person, I really did struggle to capture how glittery it was on the nail. Unlike Good Witch, I could apply this like regular polish with no need for any dabbing.

What do you think? Have you tried any Dragonglass Nails polish before? 

Rachael xxx