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

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