China Glaze Electric Nights Swatch and Review

I purchased the Baby Beats set of the China Glaze Electric Nights collection from Nail Polish Direct. It consists of 6 mini polishes and they are ADORABLE. I also bought one of the 3 glitter toppers called Point Me To The Party.

This collection consists of 12 polishes in total. 9 of them are squishy neon crellies and there are 3 neon matte glitter toppers.

First up is Glow With The Flow. This is a super bright neon hot pink. I used 2 coats on its own, no white base. 

The first coat was quite sheer and I was worried these would all need a white base, but the second coat covered everything up beautifully. 

It dried semi glossy, so I would recommend using a top coat. 

More info and swatches after the jump!

#ColourMeMarch Pastel Gradient

Today, March 11th, is Ladies Day at the Cheltenham Racecourse and this year it's all about colour, dressing up and being a royal for a day. When I heard about the #ColourMeMarch campaign from Etail-Pr I know I had to join in. Traditionally the campaign looks at outfit ideas, what to wear to the races. I have to be honest, I'm not very good at putting outfits together... but I can do my nails!

I've created a super festive colourful spring look, that's classy and fun at the same time!

I wanted something bright that'll pop right off the nails, but at the same time I didn't want something that was too crazy, too complicated and something that would take away from whatever outfit I'd decide to wear.

Gradients are one of my all time favourite things to do. They're easy and always look so impressive! For this gradient I used the new Neon Pastels set from Shop Eighty4. This is an American 5 free hand crafted nail polish line. I fell in love with their nail polishes on Instagram and knew I had to have them. The set comes with 8 neon pastels which arrived just in time for ColourMeMarch!

I started off with a white base using Barry M Cotton. This is one of the best white polishes I've used. I actually only used one coat!

I then applied some Bye Felicia Latex Nail Tape from Shop Eighty4 to protect my skin and for easy clean up. I finally understand the hype about these things! They're incredible!

I then used a cheap cosmetic sponge and applied First Date (pink), Creamsicle (Orange), S.O.S. (yellow), Candy Mint (green, and Power Puff (blue). I slowly dabbed it onto the nail making sure every "coat" was dry before sponging on a new one.

I pulled off the Latex Nail Tape and had hardly any clean up left to do. Perfect!

I'm so happy with how they turned out. They're really simple yet festive and they're definitely very colourful!

What do you think of my #ColourMeMarch nail art for Ladies Day at the Cheltenham Racecourse? Would you have any outfit ideas that could go with these nails?

xx Elaine

Pipe Dream Polish - A Night In Vegas

Everyone has been going cray cray for the Pipe Dream Polish A Night In Vegas collection.... and with good reason! I managed to get my hands on these during the summer from http://meimeisignatures.com, and of course bought them to marble with. I actually water marbled with them before even swatching them!

The collection consists of 7 colours: On The List (pink), 110 Degrees (coral orange), Light Of Day (yellow), High Roller (green), Happy Hour (teal), All In (blue) and V.I.P. Pass (purple). If they weren't so great at marbling, I most definitely wouldn't have bought the whole set.

All of the polishes are gorgeous creams, although a few have some very subtle shimmer. They're easily opaque in 2 coats and no white base needed.

For my water marble nails, I used all 7 colours. They all spread out so smoothly and are easy to play around with on the waters surface. Of course I applied a white base to start off with to really make the colours pop.

I'm literally in love with the result. It's super summery and neon and just gorgeous.

Getting hold of these polishes is pretty tricky, they are VERY popular and always sell out within minutes. Check out http://pipedreampolish.com for their restock info!

Claire's Nail Polish Haul

I've been really curious about the Claire's nail polishes recently so bought 2 polishes and one nail art set. I posted this photo on my instagram and asked people which brand they thought it might be. One of the guesses was Orly, but no one expected it to be from Claires!

This holographic glitter beautify is called Magical Unicorn. It's a super gorgeous pale purple ultra beautiful scattered holographic micro glitter polish. I used 4 coats to get it fully opaque, but you can definitely get away with three thicker ones or some extra glitter placement at the tip.

I paired it with Kester Black Lilac and created a quick glitter gradient.

The second nail polish I bought is White Neon. It's a pastel neon, which are totally on trend this summer.

The formula on this was amazing. I used three coats to get it fully opaque. It was really easy to apply and I had no trouble with bald spots.

This is what I was hoping Grass Is Lime Greener from China Glaze would be like. The formula on that is pretty horrendous, streaky, bald patches, dries too quick and matte finish. White Neon is smooth and super glossy. Although the colours aren't identical (Grass Is Lime Greener is slightly more warm toned) I'd pick this over China Glaze any day!

The nail art set I bought are these neon studs. They come in this little wheel and have round and square studs in blue, orange, green, pink, yellow and purple.

The colours are really bright and will add a cool pop of colour to any manicure. I decided to apply the studs to a plain white base and paint my middle and ring finger with Peonies and Park Avenue by China Glaze.

What do you think about these items from Claires? Will you be stopping by and checking out their nail polishes?

xx Elaine

China Glaze City Flourish Collection Swatches

When the China Glaze Spring 2014 City Flourish collection was released I NEEDED every colour. I held off buying them for a long time and ended up only buying three of them (a 4th is on the way though..). I purchased Petal to the Metal, Grass is Lime Greener and Peonies and Park Avenue.

The formula on these isn't so great, I have read a lot of review about them so I kind of knew what to expect...

First up is Petal to the Metal. This is three coats and no top coat. The formula was a little streaky, but if you're careful it isn't too bad. I found that you can't really brush over the same place twice or else you will get bald spots.

This is a gorgeous colour and I instantly put this on my toes. The camera couldn't quite pick up the neon effect, it's definitely brighter in real life!

All these colours dry to a matte finish, but of course you can easily add a topcoat to get a beautiful shine.

The second colour is Grass Is Lime Greener. I am so in love with this colour!! It's a super bright pastel green.

I applied three coats for the swatch, but it could have probably done with a fourth coat, it's still a little uneven, but looked good enough for the photos!

Although it's a pain to have to do 4 coats of a polish, with neons I don't mind as much because they dry so quickly, it doesn't take long. Obviously I still prefer one coaters...

This colour is so unique though and I don't own anything close to it. That being said I think it's also a very wearable colour for the summer, it's bright and in your face and a different twist on ordinary neons.

The third colour is Peonies and Park Ave. This is probably the least unique colour in the collection, it's a bright hot pink. That being said, this is brighter and more neon than any other hot pink I own and that's the reason I bought it.

I applied three coats for the swatch, but this one definitely had the easiest formula.

I also ordered At Vase Value online so I'll receive that over the next couple of days.

What do you think of the City Flourish collection?
xx Elaine

Nail Art Challenge June - Neon Gradient

I decided to take part in two nail art challenges during the month of June. To view my other posts click here!

The theme for #nailartjun by @Californails on day 11 was Neon Gradient. I love mixing neons with neutrals and also love these triangle gradients. They're super easy to create and always look so pretty.

For my base I used Barry M Coconut, this is a beautiful off white part of the Summer 2014 collection. I'm a huge fan of the Gelly line by Barry M as their formula is always very easy to work with and they are super glossy without a top coat. The recent spring collection was a little streaky and needed three coats, this polish was the same. It was a little more tricky to work with as it was quite streaky. For the swatch I applied two thin coats and a third slightly thicker coat. I think the end result is beautiful and definitely worth the three coats. I've had this nail polish for about a month now and have used it more than any other polish. I think it looks great to use with nail art but also looks fantastic on its own. I'm in love.

When that fully dried I drew tiny little dots on my nails where I wanted the tape to line up and carefully applied the tape to my nails. Usually I stick the tape onto the back of my hand first so it loses a bit of its stickiness, that way it's less likely to pull up your nail polish.

I used a sponge from Primark, they're the best sponges I've ever tried for ombre, and added one line of Models Own Beach Bag, one line of Models Own Shades and a third line of Essie Bottle Service. I dabbed the sponge onto my nails and applied three "coats" of that to get the real neon pop.

I carefully removed the tape and added a top coat. I'm so happy with the outcome! The colours blend together really smoothly and they are so bright!! I love that the base is just an off white colour, I think the white would have been too overpowering.

Models Own Polish For Tans

I went shopping at the Westfield in Stratford last week and of course had to go to their bottle shop! It's shaped like a huge nail polish bottle and it's filled with rows and rows of Models Own nail polishes and accessories. It's like a miniature heaven. They have an offer for 6 nail polishes for £20, or £5 each. So that's two free nail polishes! I picked up 4 of the Polish for Tans and two of their new scented nail polishes.

The collection is called Polish for Tans because the neon shades are supposed to enhance a tan, even if you're pale like me! The first colour is shades, a bright coral pink. It's definitely different from most neon pinks as this is much more warm toned.

The application was very easy and I only needed two coats for full opacity. I didn't use a white base for any of the swatches and there is no need for that since they're so opaque.

The second colour is Beach Bag, a bright peachy orange. This is the most flattering on my skin tone and is one of those colours I just can't stop looking at. This one had the trickiest formula as it was very streaky. I used three coats for the swatch.

Next is this bright highlighter yellow called Bikini. It's slightly brighter in real life as my camera didn't pick up the neon very well.. The application was very easy and I used two coats.

Finally Flip Flop, the most unique colour from the collection. It's so bright!! I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull this colour off, but I did think it looked beautiful. Definitely very eye catching!

The application, again, was easy. It's a slightly thicker formula and for the swatch I used two coats.

I didn't pick up the final colour in the collection since it's the least unique. It's called Sun Hat and it's a bright blue toned barbie pink.