Little Lost Ones Swatch & Review

I received some polishes from Little Lost Ones. This is a relatively new UK based indie brand run by the lovely Ria. They just celebrated their 1 year anniversary and this new collection is perfection!

The polishes are 3 and 5 free. The are £6 for 10ml on her Etsy page.

I LOVE the name and her map of Europe logo. I love travelling so I feel like this is right up my street! This collection consists of 4 cremes and 1 glitter topper. They all dry incredibly quick!

Check our Ria's Etsy page for more beautiful glitters. I've already decided I want to place an order ;).


More info and swatches after the jump!

Dior Lili 121 Swatch & Review

I saw a swatch of Dior Lili by @beautyaddictedd on Instagram and I instantly had to have it. So.. I went out the very next day to my closest Dior stand and bought it. It was the last one!

I have never bought anything from Dior before, but something just clicked.

It cost £18.50 for 1 bottle of 10ml. It's pretty expensive... but I just got paid so I needed a little treat.

Is it worth £18.50? I don't know, but I do have to say it's amazing!

Lili is a stunning warm nude. It leans very peachy, but is still clearly a beige-y nude.

I think nudes are perfect for any occasion and any time of year. If I could only wear one colour category for the rest of my life, it would be nudes. They're classy, subtle and beautiful.

More info and swatches after the jump! 

Free Nails Inc Nail Polish with Colgate Optic White Toothpaste

I feel like Nails Inc is ALWAYS giving away free nail polishes with EVERYTHING. This time they're with Colgate Optic White toothpastes.

This isn't anything new, last year at this time they had the same offer. It also included a red, blue and pink with the same names, but I have compared (bottle shots) and they aren't anything alike.

I fell in love with all three colours last year, and I'm not sure if this years collection quite matches up, but that blue kind of makes up for it! That being said, all three colours have an incredible formula.

More info and swatches after the jump! 

Kester Black Review & Swatches (part 1)

My all time favourite nail polish brand Kester Black is FINALLY offering international shipping! Kester Black is an Australia indie brand and I fell in love with them when I was living in Melbourne. But when I moved back to the UK, I was unable to purchase any of the new collections and it was sad. Plus I didn't want to use any of my Kester Blacks because I was worried of wasting them or finishing them and never being able to buy new ones. It was sad.

Last week they posted online that they are offering international shipping so I instantly placed an order. I received my polishes within a week! Incredible. Anyway that haul is coming up soon, but first I wanted to do a little (long) brand review.

I swatched 12 colours. I wanted to start off with 5... then 7... then 10... and then I decided I wanted a bit of every collection so it ended up coming to 12.... I am actually planning on swatching all of my Kester Black nail polishes in the same way, so I'm sure they'll be a part 2 (or part 10) coming up soon!

Kester Black is a Non Toxic, 5 free, Vegan, Cruelty Free brand that's proudly Australian made and committed to supporting local businesses. They use sustainable production methods including using recycled materials. The colours are high shine and chip resistant. Does that not sound like the best brand ever?!

Since I started collecting Kester Black nail polishes the brand has slightly changed. The front of the bottles has changed: The red colour is the old bottle design and Blush is the new bottle design. The brushes have also changed. They started off with very skinny round brushes like the US Essie's, and now they have very wide brushes like the European Essie's. The flat wide brushes cover my nail in 1-2 brush strokes so it really is an easy application.

More info and swatches after the jump!

China Glaze Road Trip Collection Swatches & Review

I picked up 3 nail polishes from the Spring China Glaze Road Trip collection.

The collection consists of 12 polishes. I've heard some mixed reviews about the collection and wasn't planning on buying any, but these were too gorgeous to miss out on!

First up is Dashboard Dreamer.

I am in LOVE! I am obsessed with baby blues anyway, but not only is this a stunning pale baby blue, it has very delicate pink shimmer.

It's very difficult to photograph and it is more apparent in real life than in the photos but a very subtle effect.

Lot's of people have said it before, but it's such a cinderella shade!

I used 3 coats for the swatch.

I have read a lot of bad reviews about this formula and was a little worried to try it, but with 3 careful coats it was totally fine.

The second colour is Wanderlust.

I love that name.

This is another stunning pale lavender shade. It leans more purple than pink, but I don't think it's a full on purple.

It again has that gorgeous pink shimmer running throughout.

I used 3 coats for the swatch.

It has the same formula as Dashboard Dreamer where with 3 careful coats you're good to go.

Honestly, the formula wouldn't have made a difference for me, both of these colours are so beautiful I'd use them regardless of how many coats.

The third colour is Boho Blues.

I'm in LOVE with all three of these!!

I'd seen so many beautiful swatches of this colour that I just had to have it.

This is a light periwinkle blue, but it's much more blue toned than You're Such A Budapest by OPI.

I used 2 coats for the swatch.

It's a bit of a crelly formula so a little sheer on the first coat, but fully opaque on 2.

I'm obsessed.













I'm not the biggest fan of China Glaze nail polish. In fact I only owned 5 before I bought these! (Not counting the mini's I just reviewed as I bought them in the same order!). And these were my first non neons! But my collection is slowly growing.

CM Handmade UK Nail polish Swatch & Review

The indie brand CM Handmade UK sent me some of their nail polishes to swatch.

This is a UK based indie brand established by 2 sisters: Anna Christina and Shelley Marie. They sell bath products, candles and of course nail polishes on their Etsy page.

The full size nail polishes (12ml) retail for £5 and the mini's are £2 each of £5 for 3.

I received a good range of nail polishes from beautiful cremes, to glitters in a creamy base and crelly's.

I'll go from dark to light.

More info and swatches after the jump!

Nicole By OPI Modern Family Xtras Haul

I've been eyeing up these Nicole By OPI nail polishes for AGES from Xtras. Xtras is a discount cosmetics website that sells older nail polish collections for a discounted price. I bought these for £2.99 each.

The reason I waited so long to pick them up is because I HATE the bottle shape of Nicole By OPI Nail polishes, they're horrible!! I found it really difficult to sort out a hand pose for them too.... Their wide brushes make up for it though..

First up is Am I Making Myself Claire? This is the one that I wanted the most. It's gorgeous!! It's like a purple-y nude. It's super creamy and opaque in just 2 coats.

The first coat was the tiniest bit streaky and the second got covered everything up perfectly. I didn't add a topcoat, it dries glossy on its own!

Second is Alex By The Books. This is a gorgeous minty seafoam green.

This had the same formula as the previous one, perfect in 2 creamy easy coats. And I didn't need to apply a topcoat.

The brushes are very wide, so I could almost cover my whole nail with just one brush stroke.

When I was trying to place the colour the first thing I thought of was OPI Mermaid's Tears.

Alex By The Books is much lighter and slightly more minty, whereas Mermaid's Tears is a bit darker and much more green.

The third colour is A Phil's Paradise. This is a pewter shimmer. It's a much darker silver than most silver shimmers, and this is kind of a mix between silver and gold.

It's super shimmery in real life and it's so much more beautiful than I expected it to be! In fact, out of all of them, this is the colour I want to put back on and wear as a full manicure!

Lastly is Stand By Your Manny. Don't you just love all these names?!

This is a light sky blue with lots of silver shimmer.

This formula was a bit meh.... The first coat was VERY sheer. The second coat was still a bit sheer, but once I applied the third coat I loved it.

I think it's a gorgeous colour and I'll definitely wear it again, but I have so many blues that have incredible formulas, this was just don't quite match up.

The silver shimmer, however, is very beautiful and makes this polish very unique.


The Modern Family collection came out AGES ago, but some colours are still available on Xtras.

Essie Blossom Dandy & Garden Variety Swatch & Comparison

I bought two colours of the Essie Flowerista collection for Spring 2015.

I picked up Blossom Dandy which is a gorgeous blue minty colour and Garden Variety which is a bright teal blue.

I bought them when I was visiting New York last month so these have the skinny brush, whereas the UK versions have a gorgeous wide flat brush which I much prefer.

First up is Blossom Dandy. I love Beauty Geek's description of it being an icy mint. It's very blue toned, but definitely still a mint.

I had no issues with the formula. I applied two easy creamy coats and no topcoat.

Of course, the first thing I thought of was Mint Candy Apple, also by Essie. They are SLIGHTLY different, but not really different enough to justify having both.

Blossom Dandy is a little more blue toned, whereas Mint Candy Apple is slightly more green toned. You can see a bigger difference in the bottle shot than on my actual nails.

Honestly in real life I could hardly tell the difference.

Both are absolutely stunning though, but I think I actually prefer Blossom Dandy, if I had bought it in the UK with the wide brush!

Garden Variety is a stunning bright blue teal. It's pretty tricky to get a colour accurate photo, but this is pretty close. It's a little brighter in real life.

Again the formula was fantastic. It was almost opaque in 1 coat, but I applied two for the swatch. I didn't have to apply a top coat!

This is a colour I haven't seen before from Essie, so when I saw it in store I instantly picked it up, no hesitation.

The only colour in my collection that's close is Barry M Guava. This has been a long favourite of mine. I don't wear it very often, but it's in my top 5 Barry M's.

Guava is a little lighter than Garden Variety and you could see a difference between the 2, however it wasn't very obvious at all.

I actually prefer Guava by Barry M since it's a little brighter and lighter.

Both had the same formula and the same brush, so I would recommend Guava as it's easier to get a hold of in the UK and much cheaper.




What did you think of the Essie Flowerista collection? Have you picked up any of the colours?
xx Elaine

Barry M Sunset Daylight Curing Review: Like A Nude

Hi everyone, today I have one of the new Barry M Sunset Daylight Curing nail polishes to share with you. This is a brand new range of Barry M nail polishes that require a special daylight curing top coat. It claims to be long lasting and glossy like a gel polish, but instead of using a special UV lamp, it cures just by daylight.

More info and swatches after the jump!

Shop Eighty4 Pastel Neon Collection Swatch and Review

I little while ago Shop Eighty4 posted a sneak peek preview of their new Pastel Neon collection and I instantly knew I had to have the entire collection....

So I bought the whole thing.

:)

The collection consists of 8 polishes. As a set it costs $60, and individually they are $8.50.











Let me start off with talking about the formula. All eight of these polishes are super opaque. I used 2 coats for all of the colours, however 6/8 I could have gotten away with just one coat. They can be a little tricky to apply when you first use them. They dry incredibly quick, for each coat I only used 3 brush strokes to cover the whole nail. You can't over work the polish, if you do more than 3 brush strokes the nail polish that has dried (super quick!!) will drag and it'll become a hot streaky mess. Also try and get the perfect amount of polish on your brush, not too much and definitely not too little. I wipe one side of the brush completely and dab the other side, I'll have a small bead of nail polish on the brush, just enough to cover my nails. Another thing to be aware of is that polish runs down from the stem of the brush, so make sure to wipe that too.

Phew, all that out the way. Honestly once you get the hang of how quick drying these are you'll be away to get away with just one flawless coat on most polishes. If your first coat ends up being streaky, it's not an issues since the nail polish is so opaque a second coat will easily cover all that up.

The polishes dry with a matte finish so I applied a top coat.

More info and swatches after the jump!

Kandy Colors Grown & Sexy Collection Swatch and Review

I have the Grown & Sexy collection to show you today by Kandy Colors. Kandy Colors is a UK indie brand that's 5 free and cruelty free. All of their nail polishes are quick drying and are usually opaque in 1-2 coats (depending on the finish).

The Grown & Sexy collection consists of 4 nail polishes: 2 cremes, 1 crelly and one jelly. They're all very warm sexy bold colours which I love! Especially now that the weather has been getting warmer and sunnier.

These are the mini bottles. The full size bottles are 10ml and retail between £5.20 and £5.50.

More info and swatches after the jump!

Danglefoot Polish Magpie Collection Swatches & Review

Today I have two Danglefoot Polish nail polishes to show you. These are both from the Magpie collection, which consists of 7 gorgeous glitter polishes. Danglefoot Polish is a UK indie brand that's 5 free and cruelty free.

First up is Love You Berry Much. This is a purple blue crelly polish filled with scattered holographic glitter.

In indoor lighting it looked purple, but in daylight (and daylight bulbs) it looked like a bright blue.

The formula was a little on the thick side, but for that reason it was also very opaque. I applied 2 coats for the swatch, but it was almost fully opaque in just 1 coat.

The polish is beautiful on its own, but when it hits the sun (or a flash) it becomes even more special. The holo is very apparent and makes the polish even more unique.

It dried to a little bit of a textured finish, so I did apply a top coat for the swatches.

The second colour is the bright purple holographic micro glitter in a clear base called Grape Expectations.

It's a very warm toned purple glitter which makes it different from my other purple glitters.

It's a very densely packed polish and I used 3 coats for the swatch. It was a little bit thick because it's so densely packed, but it wasn't an issue.

Again, this polish is packed with holo... and it's incredible. You don't need to be in the sun (or flash) to see the holo, it's always there no matter how horribly cloudy it is outside!

As most glitters, this dried to a textured finish so I applied 1 coat of fast drying top coat.

I paired it with Essie Go Ginza.

What do you think of these two glitters? I honestly don't know which one I prefer, they're both so different and so stunning. I know I'll definitely be getting a lot of wear out of these in the spring/summer.

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!

New CID Cosmetics Nail Polish Free with Cosmopolitan Magazine

I have another freebie alert! But this time I'm actually on time as these are currently available!!

This month Cosmopolitan Magazine is giving away 4 free New CID Cosmetics nail polishes... and let me just tell you now.. they're AMAZING.

CID isn't a brand I've every tried before, or that I've ever been interested in. In fact, I didn't even know they did nail polish! Last year I got some free New CID Cosmetics lip crayons free in a magazine and loved them, but never looked into the brand itself.

My friend Steph told me about these freebies, she's totally on top of all the freebies! Go check out her instagram!

More info and swatches after the jump!

Danglefoot Polish Digital Dreams Collection Swatch & Review

I think I'm at that stage in my nail polish addiction where I own every single main stream colour (twice) so it's time to move onto the indie world!

I have slowly been getting more and more into indie brands because they have such unique colour and glitter combinations. They do incredible glitter combinations with all sorts of different glitters, and make cream polishes so creamy that they only require one coat... and everything in between!

Today I am reviewing nail polishes by the UK indie brand Danglefoot Polish created by Hayley.  All Dangefoot Polishes are 5 free, cruelty free and handmade. They have anything ranging from creme polishes, crelly polishes with glitters, glitter polishes and holographics. The mini bottles of 5ml retail for £3.10 and the full size bottles of 12ml are £5.50.

This collection is called Digital Dreams and consists of 5 polishes: 1 creme, 2 glitters in a clear base and 2 glitters in a jelly base.

More info and swatches after the jump!