This Second's Obsession

You are here: Home / Archives for nail polish

nail polish

Nails of the Month August 2013, featuring Barry M, Sinful Colors, and L.A. Colors

By

I love nail polish. I have a lot of it. I’ve wanted to write more about it for some time but the Nails of the Day or one-polish-review format doesn’t really suit me, as I often keep the same nail varnish on for about a week, adding extra coats as it wears down, or piling glitter on top. I started Instagramming my nail varnish this month, and have decided to post a regular monthly round-up of all the photos, with more detailed reviews. Let me know what you think of this format!

I’ll warn you in advance – I have short nails, and slightly raggedy cuticles. If this offends your sensibilities, I suggest you skip my nail polish posts! I always keep my nails short because if they get longer than my fingertips they start to annoy me.

I’ve found that short nails chip less, so nail polish tends to last longer on me than on the average wearer, even though I use my hands a lot. I get tipwear quickly but that can easily be covered with a new coat of the same polish.

I use Barry M’s clear basecoat/topcoat. I really like the consistency and it has two ball bearings in the bottle so it stays smooth.

Barry M’s ‘Lilac Foil’ (£3.99)

 

This picture shows one coat after three days wear. The tip wear was not overly noticeable but on day two I acquired a few dents in the middle of the nails which looked a lot like smudges although the nail polish had been dry for ages. After taking this photo I gave one thumb an extra coat to cover up a really obvious dent. Despite this, it’s a beautiful colour and I would buy it again. It surprised me as I usually don’t like metallic-effect polishes very much.

Sinful Colors’ ‘Let’s Talk’ (£1.99)

 

I am in love with this colour! It’s definitely my new favourite purple polish. I took the photo with a bar (okay, a bit of a bar) of Cadbury’s chocolate so that you can more easily judge the colour, but it’s bluer and brighter and better, in my opinion, than the Cadbury’s purple shade! The photo shows one coat, I’d been wearing it for four days. There was some tip wear and the polish had worn quite thin on my thumbs, I could see the natural colour of my nails through it. I gave the thumbs a second coat, and then I applied:

L.A. Colors’ ‘Jewel Tone’ (99p)

 

I’ve never liked this polish all that much – it’s just purple, magenta and turquoise-blue glitter in a clear base and it doesn’t look very impressive alone or over dark polish. However, on top of Sinful Colors’ Let’s Talk, it looks brilliant. I will definitely be repeating this combo. It applies easily, although the brush is on the small side, and dries fast. After a few days wear I’ve found that the colour starts to come off the glitter near the tips. I’m still wearing it now, and I keep admiring my nails!

Have you tried any of these polishes? I was so excited when Boots started to stock Sinful Colors, but ‘Let’s Talk’ is the only one I could find from my wishlist, and now the stand seems to have vanished.

May 31 Day Fashion Blogger Challenge: Day 15 – Nail art/your favourite polish and your nail varnish collection

By

Since I already took a photograph of my whole nail varnish collection to show you how ridiculously big it is, I thought I’d take pictures of my favourite polishes (sadly no nail swatches – I still haven’t got the hang of taking decent photos of my nails) and write about them.

Left to right
1. L.A. Colors Color Craze in Tropical Breeze – if I made a April Favourites list this would definitely be the star! When I first applied it I was disappointed as the first coat is really sheer but after the third it’s a really lovely lilacy purple. It also makes a great base for glitters.
2. Maybelline Colorama in Jelly Bean – this is such a brilliant turquoise. A tad streaky on the first coat but fine after the second. They don’t make these any more but there are loads on eBay.
3. Bourjois So Laque in Bleu Violet – a beautiful blue that I don’t wear a lot because I only have a few outfits that will go with it, but that applies and dries really well.
4. Revlon Facets of Fuschia – one that I shouldn’t even need to name if you’re a make-up blogger! The cosmetics blogosphere was obsessed with this one around last Christmas, people were getting friends to send them bottles because they couldn’t find it locally etc. It is fab and I think it was limited edition (I haven’t seen it since) so I’m making it go further by applying plain black polish (a super cheap one from Miss Sporty) first.

5. 17 Nail Xtras Matte Top Coat – a fantastic, cheap, fast-working, matte top coat. I love the way this can transform a polish, though I have to remember that they usually end up looking darker once they’ve been mattified.
6. L.A Colors Nail Lacquer in Plum Wine – an amazing deep red.
7. Barry M Instant Nail Effects black crackle  – the easiest nail art method ever! Also my secret weapon for avoiding nail varnish remover – if my polish is chipped I just fill the gaps of naked nail in and slop this on top and no one can tell I did a repair job.
8. Accessorize Purple Dream – the most beautiful polish my nails have ever worn. It looks like a purple base with pink sparkles it it. Or are they blue? It depends on which way the light is hitting it, which means that when I’m wearing this I spend a lot of time tilting my hands in the light.
9. L.A. Colors Nail Lacquer in Shocker – a bright pink with a blue duochrome effect, I think this is lovely. I’ve become a big fan of L.A. Colors polishes. They’re only 99p in Beauty Base, despite the generously sized bottles. The brushes are a bit stubby but the polishes are quite thin in consistency so they’re easy to apply, The thinness also means that they wear down at the tips rather than chip off, which is great as it means that I can just pop a new coat on top of the old one and the finish will be just as smooth as it would have been if I’d taken the polish off and applied a fresh coat.