NOTD: Trustafarian

I haven't worn nail varnish in such a long time let along blogged about it!  Is it possible to be to busy to even apply nail varnish?!  My nails were getting too long and I was going to cut them so I thought I may as well take advantage of them being long and paint them first.  I'm tempted to shape them into that stiletto style actually, it's grown on me! 

This is Butter London's Trustafarian which is a pale green with a sparkly golden holograph through it.  The holo is fairly subtle but catches the light beautifully - the photos don't do it justice!  I applied 3 coats although 2 would probably be fine.

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Festive Nails!

Hello!  I feel like I haven't posted on here in sooo long!  I'm not even sure why?  I've just been  busy working and applying for jobs and stuff, not really had any motivation for blogging sadly!  

I've kind of decided what I would like to do as a career if possible.  I'd like to get into merchandising; they are the ones who work out how much stock goes where, and when to run promotions and markdowns going by the sales figures etc.  I have a background in maths and also in retail so it seems like something I can do!  Unfortunately most head offices are in London which would mean moving away from home but I'm not sure if I'm quite ready for something like that yet!  I have found one vacancy in Scotland so we shall see...  If anyone knows of any head offices that are in Scotland please let me know so I can investigate haha!

Never mind blogging, I've not actually painted my nails in over a month, it's shocking!  I actually felt like a 3 year old when I was doing it, I'm so out of practice... Also my nails are such a mess at the moment but never mind, at least now they look kind of cute and Christmassy.

I've used Nails Inc Victoria & Albert as the red underneath (only needed one coat!) with Deborah Lippmann Boom Boom Pow over the top.  There are smaller gold particles which are much more visible in person and give it a nice shimmer.

PS do you like my Christmas duvet set?  I got it from Primark - love it!

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NOTD: All Hail The Queen

If you remember back to my recent wishlist post I said I would like another Butter London nail varnish to add to my lonely little Disco Biscuit, so the next time I was in Boots I picked up All Hail The Queen!  After quickly swatching it on my finger I was quite disappointed, it was so sheer and streaky, so it put me off trying it properly for a while.  However when I finally did I was quite pleased with how it turned out, after 3 coats that is!  You could probably get away with 2 coats if you are very careful to get them even.  All Hail The Queen is a neutral brown with a slight scattered holo through it which is really pretty.  It is quite similar to China Glaze Fast Track which you can see here which is lighter with gold shimmer instead.

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NOTD: Peach Sherbet

Say hello to Peach Sherbet from Models Own.  It's probably not one I would have bought myself -  this one of the colours I won but I just picked it as I don't have many nudes and they are handy to have.  At first I wasn't too sure about it as it's a bit orangey against my skin tone to be a nice nude but if you set that thought aside and just look at it for the colour itself it is quite pretty and unusual.  It also has a nice coverage and finish, this is 2 coats without top coat as I had left it at my friend's!  I think Models Own are definitely my favourite brand of nail varnish, I don't think I've found one yet which has disappointed!

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Collection: Neon Nail Varnishes

Summer might well be over but who says you need to start wearing darker colours on your nails?!  I'm not really one for following seasonal nail colour trends, especially as I don't like having my nails very dark.  I will maybe have a couple of shades which would be particularly suited to that season but other than that I just go for whatever I feel like at the time.

Over the past year I have become a big neon fan and built up quite a nice wee collection!  I'll go through the colours I've got and add in any comments and full posts if available.

From left to right:

Nina Ultra Pro in Punki Pink - probably not CF.

Models Own Bubblegum - loved this in the summer!

Models Own Hedonist - at first I wasn't sure about this colour but saw it on someone's nails and loved it!

China Glaze Orange Knockout - I found the China Glaze ones didn't have as nice a finish as Models Own ones.

Models Own Beach Party - the brush came off so they sent me a new one which is actually darker, how odd!  My dad fixed the brush for me so now I have two...  I wonder if they look different colours on the nail?

Models Own Luis Lemon - love this, but haven't actually worn it yet...

China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise - An unusual neon, you don't often see turquoise.

Neons are notoriously difficult to try photograph but I've tried my best!  Swatched in the same order as above.

What are your favourite neon polishes?

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Nail Varnish Challenge #19

This is Wimpole Street from Nails Inc which seems to have been discontinued :( It's a deep, metallic purple colour.  Again, not something I would normally wear as it's quite dark but I do quite like it and it's perfect for Autumn!  I think I'll hold onto this one!  As you can see there's some tip wear but I took the photo about 36 hours after painting them so it had lasted quite well, and it's still looking pretty good considering how bad my nails usually are.

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Nail Varnish Challenge #18

I'm nearly finished my Nail Varnish Challenge!  There's only about 3 or 4 left in my box, yay!  This is The Serpentine from Nails Inc which described as a "muted navy slate" on their website, which I think is a perfect description.  Although this is isn't a colour I'd normally wear - it's a bit dark - I do quite like it.  However I found it shrunk quite a lot with Seche Vite and chipped even more quickly than normal on my nails!  Despite this unfortunate occurrence, I think I'll hold onto this one, I do have one other navy but it's more shimmery so this is a bit different.

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NOTD: Speckles!

This week I took another break from my Nail Varnish Challenge and tried out this little Illamasqua number I've had lying around for months!  I think I got this back in May when they did one of their amazing promotions.  I ended up getting it for just under £6!!!  In general I think Illamasqua are a little bit overpriced but they certainly make up for it by doing 50% off promotions and having really good sales!

I'm so pleased I got this.  I don't really like any of the other colours from the I'mPerfection collection, but this one is lovely.  I've used 2 coats and got an opaque finish.  I was worried the sequinny bits might be hard to spread evenly but they weren't too bad.  I have a couple of more 'bald' areas (see ring finger) but I guess that's part of the charm as well!

I've just had a look on Illamasqua's website and this shade has been discontinued!! :(

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Nail Varnish Challenge #17

Here we go again! I'm actually nearly finished the Nail Varnish Challenge, yayy!  This is a nail varnish that I've had floating around my collection for a very long time now, but I don't think I've ever actually used it.

It doesn't even seem to have a shade on the bottle, and the brand is Babes...  erm?!  Is it from Claire's?  Anyway, it's a sort of smokey grey colour with some silver shimmer through it.  It is quite pretty but I don't see myself reaching for it again anytime soon so it's going in the out pile.

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Nail Varnish Challenge #16

 

Okay I'm back on the Challenge again!  I have failed a little bit with the 'no buying new nail varnishes' part of it though haha oops.  I won 3 Models Own ones, bought another 2 and then bought an Illamasqua speckly one...

I'm really not sure about this one at all!  It looks okay from far away but I really don't enjoy the VNL (visible nail line - worse in real life too) and close up I feel like my nails look a bit diseased!  They are very shiny though which I do like.  While wearing this a lot of people commented on my nails!  They were sort of either "omg I love your nails!" or "what the F*CK is wrong with your fingers?!" haha!  I decided to remove it after only about 30 hours...

In case you haven't seen any of my other Clubworks nail swatches, they came in a Christmas set and don't actually have any names or numbers... so yeah, this is just the orange one!

I think this one might be going in the 'get rid of' box.

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NOTD: Summer?!

I decided to take a break from my Nail Varnish Challenge as all the colours left are a bit drab and Autumnal, and go for something brighter while we're having nice weather!  So I tried out a new polish I was lucky enough to win in a Giveaway last month ran by Fashiony Nails, I love it!  This is Bubblegum from the Models Own Ice Neon Collection, and as always, neons are a bitch to photograph!  It is recommended that you keep these in the fridge to keep the colour from fading, however I haven't really done that yet!  I found it was rather thick and gloopy to apply but it was almost opaque in one coat, after application I put it in the fridge and it did seem smoother.  I really want to try Luis Lemon!

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Nail Varnish Challenge #14

#14 worn on index finger! 

#15 worn on all fingers except index

These two colours are from the Clubworks (Superdrug) set I got at Christmas.  They are both so similar, no idea why they didn't make them a little bit more different!  The one on the left is more purple, and the right one has a bit more red through it - it reminds me of a watermelon sort of colour for some reason!  I used that one on my index fingers and the left-hand side one on the rest of my fingers, it looks a lot more purple in real life... stupid camera!! At first glance, and especially in the photos, it looks like I have just the one colour on all of my nails.  They dry to a semi-matte finish but they become really nice and shiny with a coat of Seche Vite on top.

I'm finding it hard to decide whether to keep any or both of these... hmm! 

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I've added this rubbishy photo of chipped nails from my phone to give a more realistic representation of the colour!! 

Nail Varnish Challenge #12

This one I definitely got from Diet Coke haha!  It is called London and it's a creamy taupe colour.  It's one of the few nude shades own, I'm not a huge fan of nudes on my nails cos I find them a bit boring!  I actually quite like this colour although it is slightly too dark for my skin tone.  I think this is quite similar to Barry M Mushroom although I don't own that shade to compare.  I am going to keep this as I have so few nudes, it might come in useful one day!

I decided to jazz it up a bit by adding Color Club Covered in Diamonds which also counts as #13 too!  I was so hopeful about this nail varnish but it's not the best... The flakies are so chunky and really stick out on the nail so you need to work quite hard to get a smooth, even coverage, and then top with a good top coat.  Overall I do quite like the effect this gives but it would probably be too much effort to do it on each nail!  I will keep this nail varnish too.

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Nail Varnish Challenge #11

Most of the ones I have left to use are very autumny colours, wahh!  However this one stood out to me so I chose it to use this time.  This is Victoria & Albert by Nails Inc and I think that I may have got it from a magazine, or free with Diet Coke, I'm not 100% sure!  For some reason I rarely wear red nail varnish and I have no idea why, it is stunning!  It was almost opaque in one coat, but as always, I gave it two and it was quite shiny without topcoat - but again, I applied it anyway!

Red nail varnish has a very glamourous feel to it.  It may have just been the warm weather we had on Friday but I actually felt more confident wearing this on my nails!  I am definitely going to keep this one, I need to wear this more often!

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Nail Varnish Challenge #8

... And #9!  I've created this french manicure style using two Nails Inc nail varnishes, Little Venice and Festival Pier (L-R).  Little Venice is a bit streaky but it turned out okay on some fingers.  Festival Pier looks much more neon in the photos than it is in person!  It does have a slight neon-ness to it which shows up in the photos a lot.  I do love this colour but as I remember from wearing it previously, it chips very quickly, even for me!  I applied this on Saturday night and by Sunday morning it was chipped...  I think I will keep Festival Pier but get rid of Little Venice cos it seems quite similar* to Topshop Milkshake which I prefer.

*Milkshake is more pink and Little Venice is more peachy/nude but I don't often wear those sort of colours so one is enough!  You can see Milkshake here for comparison.

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