Polished By Leanne Perfect Pairs Collection Swatch & Review

I received some nail polishes from Polished by Leanne to review on my brand new YouTube channel!

I received the Perfect Pairs collection. I already owned one of the polishes, so Leanne sent me the other 5. The collection consists of a total of 6 polishes. There are three creme polishes with a hint of glitter, and three glitter toppers.

Polished by Leanne is UK based hand crafted nail polish brand. Check out her instagram for more details!

I have live swatches of the whole collection on my YouTube channel so check it out!!

I'll start off with Sky High.

This is the polishes I already owned, check out my previous Polished By Leanne review here!

This is a beautiful sky blue shade with some white iridescent glitter.

The polish is quite sheer and it required 3 coats for full opacity. It builds up easily though and I didn't have any issues with dry time, streakiness or bald spots.

It dries to a glossy but gritty finish so I would recommend a topcoat.

The glitter that goes along with Sky High is Cloud Nine.

This is stunning.

It's a multicoloured iridescent glitter with larger silver heart glitter.

The glitter is quite dense and easy to get out of the bottle, however the hearts are a little bit more tricky.

I had to swirl around and really fish one out, but in the end it's worth the trouble, it really transforms the polish. I think this is a great combo for a spring wedding guest.

Next up is Head Over Heels.

This is an absolutely stunning deep rich berry shade. I love these types of colours in the autumn and want to wear them all year round.

This has what looks like black multi coloured iridescent glitter.. if that makes sense??

The formula of this was amazing. You could probably get away with 1 thick coat, but I applied 2 thin coats for the swatch.

It's really opaque and applies beautifully.

The glitter that goes alongside this polish is Queen Of Hearts.

I looove this colour combination and it reminds me of something I'd wear for valentines day!

The glitter is super dense, I only applied 1 coat for the swatch. It has red, pink and silver glitter as well as the larger silver hearts.

Next is Berry Juicy which is a slightly darker toned barbie pink.

This has that same black iridescent glitter, but the different colours don't show up as much as Head Over Heels.

The formula of this was amazing again. It was very opaque and you could almost get away with just 1 coat.

I applied 2 for the swatch.

The accompanying glitter is called It's All About The Glitz!

This is a really dark blue and aqua turquoise-y glitter with the large heart glitters.

It is such a gorgeous glitter I want to layer it over everything!

Layering it over this pink creates a really interesting effect and I'd love to see it layered over Sky High too.

Again the glitter was quite dense and really easy to apply. I had to do some fishing for the heart shaped glitters.



My favourite glitter topper is Cloud Nine and my favourite creme with glitter Head Over Heels. I love the multicoloured glitter in Cloud Nine, it gives such a beautiful unique effect and I'd love to layer it over a darker navy blue to really see those colours pop. Head Over Heels is a much darker shade and the glitter really does pop inside that polish. It creates a gorgeous effect.

For live swatches of this collection please check out my youtube video and let me know what you think!
xx Elaine

OPI Venice Collection Swatch & Review

Ever since I first saw the OPI Venice Collection press release I knew I had to have them. I don't have a lot of will power when it comes to OPI... I picked up 8 of the 12 shades. The collection is set to release in August, but tnbl.co.uk had them early! It's a Autumn/Winter 2015 collection, but if you look at the colours, they're very pastel, nude, red, spring, summer. I don't really mind because I wear these types of colours all year round (especially the nudes!). Another reason I picked these up is because some of these are so unique in OPI's collection. A minty green! A warm pastel purple! A melon shade! It's all so new and exciting!

I have live swatches of these colours on my youtube channel, so if you want to see me applying these only my nails and really see what the formula is like, click here!

Anyway let's get started!

First up is Worth A Pretty Penne.

How cute is that name!??

This is like a rosey gold type of colour. When you look at the macro shot below you can see it's actually silver and copper shimmer instead of rose gold.

The formula is so easy. A lot of the time these shimmery shades are super sheer and need at least 3 coats to build up opacity. This was opaque in just 1 coat. I applied 2 for the swatch to see if it would make a difference. It didn't. You only need 1 coat!

Next is Gelato On My Mind.

This is the perfect minty green. It's right in the middle of a blue and a green.

This is quite similar to Essie Blossom Dandy, but I don't have a comparison yet.

The formula on this was really easy to work with. It's a little bit on the thin side, and the first coat was quite streaky, but the second coat covered everything up.

I used 2 coats for the photos.

Next is Purple Palazzo Pants.

This is a beautiful warm toned slightly dusty pale purple. This is something I've never seen from OPI. I have a pale lilac, Rumple's Wiggin, but that's much much cooler toned, and other dusty purples, such as Planks A lot, are much darker.

Autumn/Winter? No. Pretty? Yes.

The formula is the same as Gelato On My Mind. A little on the thin side and streaky on the first coat. The second coat covered everything up beautifully.

Next is A Great Opera-tunity.

This is described as a melon shade. It's a pale dusty orange. If that's a thing.

It's another beautiful unique shade. This leans a little more autumn, but like a warm autumn, not a grey cold english autumn.

The formula was similar to the others. It was on the thin side and streaky on the first coat. This was more streaky than the previous 2. The second coat covered everything up perfectly.

Now on to the neutrals.

This is Tiramisu For Two.

This is a slightly pink toned neutral and I love it! These types of shades really suit my skin tone.

The formula was slightly thicker on this one, which made it easier to work with.

It wasn't quite as streaky as the other on the first coat, but it definitely needed a second coat to cover everything up.

My favourite of the collection is I'll Be There In A Prosecco.

I've been loving these types of ivory creme colours lately. I think they look so sophisticated and elegant.

The formula was the same as Tiramisu For Two, it's slightly thicker and easier to work with. Not quite as streaky as the first few cremes, but definitely needs a second coat.

Next is My Boyfriend Scales Walls I Cannoli Wear OPI.

I'm pretty sure this is exactly the same as My Boyfriend Scales Walls from the Spiderman collection. Unfortunately I used up my entire bottle so I can't do a comparison for you.

It's a white with maybe 1 drop of grey. It's really beautiful and great if you just want white nails, but not too white.

The formula was easy to work with. A tiny bit thicker than the first few cremes and streaky on the first coat, but the second coat covered everything up perfectly.

Last up is a red. Of course I had to pick up the red polish from the collection since I have an unhealthy obsession with red polish.

This is Amore At The Grand Canal. It's a beautiful slightly deeper darker red.

It has more of a crelly formula which I love. I think I prefer crelly's over cremes!

The first coat was really even and didn't have any streaks. I could see a very slight visible nail line so I did apply a second coat for the swatch.






That's it for the OPI Venice Collection! There are 4 more shades which I wasn't too bothered about and there are also 3 limited edition glitters that haven't been released yet.

I really love this collection, OPI rarely disappoints. The collection isn't very Autumn/Winter, but OPI has gone into a different direction. I know China Glaze and Color Club both have camping collection which have browns and other more Autumn-y colours, but it's nice to see a brand do something different for a change. I would use all of these colours, whereas the Nordic Collection from last year, I haven't touched since I swatched them!

What do you think of the Venice Collection? Will you be picking up any of the shades, or are you going to wait until spring 2016 to pick these up?
xx Elaine

Models Own Colour Chrome Collection Swatch & Review

Models Own contacted my on Instagram a little while ago telling me that they love my swatches and they wanted to send me a little gift. Obviously I was literally over the moon excited. They didn't tell me what they were going to send or anything, just that it was a little gift. I was patiently waiting and of course I wasn't home to receive the package so had to wait another day and pick it up from the post office!

They send me 5 of the Colour Chrome nail polishes. I did pick up a few of this collection when they first came out and everyone was going cray cray over them. 3 of the 5 were completely new to me, so I was very excited to try them out.

Before I get started I want to mention that I just started a brand new YouTube account!! This is something I've wanted to do for aaages and I feel like I'm finally ready for it. I have already uploaded quite a few videos just to get started, one of which is a LIVE SWATCH video of these polishes. I am literally so excited. Just a little heads up... I have a weird accent.... That's what happens when you're Dutch, learned to speak English in America, then moved to the UK and also spent a year in Australia.. lol!

Anyway here is the link for the live swatches, but keep reading because I'll have photos and a review here too.

First up is Chrome Cerise.

This is a bright pink chrome. I didn't even know chromes could be this bright!

I'm not sure how often I'd wear a bright pink like this, it's definitely beautiful and unique, I think I'd more likely use this for nail art. I've heard these polishes are fantastic at stamping!

The formula of nearly all of them are the same.

It's incredibly quick drying, and although usually that's a good thing, it makes application a little more tricky. Once you know how they work, you'll be fine, but for me it took a little while to get used to them.

You have to make sure not to apply the nail polish in the same area twice as the polish will drag and you'll be left with a hot mess. If you're quick and try and stick to the 3 stroke method, you'll be fine.

Check out the other colours after the jump!

Schools Out Trio by Danglefoot Polish Swatch & Review

I recently bought the Schools Out Trio from Danglefoot Polish. The 5ml trio costs only £10.50 and it comes with 3 nail polishes and some extra goodies.

Along with the set I also bought a 5ml bottle of Let's Talk Glitter and a cuticle oil in the scent Sweet Pea and Apple. Both of which I'll review at a later date.

First of all I LOVE the packaging on the Schools Out Trio. It came wrapped up in that pretty blue and white cloth and everything was wrapped up separately to make sure nothing was going to break. It had the three nail polishes, a star shaped soap, a little tiny sample size of a cuticle oil (I'm not sure which fragrance but it smells like something chocolatey I think?) some sweeties and a little business card.

For swatches & review keep reading! 

Pipe Dream Polish Watermarble

I bought the Pipe Dream Polish A Night In Vegas collection almost a year ago before the hype started and thank god I did! These polishes are absolutely stunning! And the hype is definitely worth it.

A Night In Vegas consists of 7 neons which are all beautiful individually, but their real appeal is that they're fantastic at water marbling.

I'm not very good at water marbling and really struggle to create designs, but these polishes literally make is so easy!

The collection is very difficult to get a hold of, and after a year of them being released they're still one of the most wanted indie nail polishes I know of.

I created this watermarble using 6 of the seven colours.

I started off with a white base, and applied Mess Free Mani my Nail Stencils around my cuticles.

As you can tell from the photo... I probably should have applied a little bit more!

I then dripped all the colours from the Pipe Dream Polish A Night In Vegas Collection into my water.

I use room temperate bottles water for best results.

I then swirled it around a bit. To be honest when It comes to water marbling, I don't really know what I'm doing! I definitely need a bit of practice..

I dipped my finger into the water, one at a time, used a toothpick to get rid of all the other polish and carefully pulled my finger out the water.

The polish dries matte and I loved the way it looked so I ended up applying a matte topcoat to finish it all off.

I recently bought a black light and I seriously cannot get enough of it. It's like I'm rediscovering my entire nail polish collection all over again!

The whole A Night In Vegas collection glows under a black light and it looks incredible. I don't know which way I prefer it!

Now I want to play some laser quest and test out my nails haha.

To reuse the mani I applied some straight line stencils from Nail Mail and painted my nails black.

I love the contrast of the bright neons and the black. It makes the neons pop even more!

This time I added a glossy top coat.

Pastel Neon Mermaid Scale Nail Art

I had a phase where I was only doing swatches, but I'm completely back into nail art now! My boss has recently allowed me to wear my nails to work so I actually have a reason to paint my nails again!

I created this pastel neon mermaid scale design and I'm obsessed with it! I used some of my favourite polishes for this: Shop Eight4 and Let It Glitter!

Although the design looks like a lot of work, it's super easy to create!

Products Used:

Barry M - Cotton

Shop Eight4 - Lasha Lavender

Shop Eighty4 - Powder Puff

Shop Eighty4 - Candy Mint

Nail Mail - Mermaid Scale Stencil

Nail Mail - Mess Free Mani

Let It Glitter! - Invincible

Primark Cosmetic Sponge

Hema - Quick Drying Top Coat

Keep reading to find out how I created this design

Mrs Cross' Nail Shop Neon Holographic

I mentioned earlier that I have been obsessed with anything holographic lately. Well.. my other obsession is neon... So when I saw Leanne, the creator of Mrs Cross' Nail Shop release a neon holographic collection I knew I had to buy some.

I bought two colour, this gorgeous pink and a blue which I'll review later.

This gorgeous hot neon pink is called Raa Raa Skirt and it's part of the Disco Pop Neons collection.

I used 3 coats for the swatch and you can still see a slight visible nail line. In the future I'll probably layer it over a similar shade of pink to get full opacity.

The formula is very easy to work with.

It's very smooth and non streaky.

The holo was quite difficult to capture, and it looks like silver glitter in the photos. In real life the holo effect is much more apparent and it looks amazing in the sun.

For more info about Mrs Cross' Nail Shop check out her Etsy page!

National Nude Day Swatches

Happy National Nude Day! I went on Instagram this morning and saw Barry M post it was National Nude Day. I'm a HUGE fan of nude nail polishes so I wanted to jump on the bandwagon and do a post about some of my favourite nudes. 

I have a very large amount of nude nail polishes, it's a bit of a problem. But in all honesty, it's my favourite colour to wear all year round. These are the four I grabbed from my collection, there are definitely all amazing, but I couldn't say which ones are my all time favourites. 

I'll start off with Toasted Almond from Let It Glitter. 

Let It Glitter! is a Dutch indie brand that I'm a little in love with. Toasted Almond is a very pale peachy pinky nude. It's the perfect shade for my skin tone. It looks really elegant and sophisticated and a great palate cleanser from all the neons I've been wearing. 

The application is super easy. I only used 2 coats for the swatch. The first coat is a little on the sheer side, but with careful application it's streak free. The second coat covers everything up. 

It dries super glossy and definitely no need for a topcoat. 

Next is a bit of a more expensive polish. This is Dior Lili. 

It's the only Dior polish I own and it's amazing. Dior retails for £18.50 which is definitely a little too pricy to own more than one! 

This is another stunning, elegant, sophisticated, chic nude. This is more beige-y than the previous one. 

Dior polishes come with a very wide brush, similar to the European Essie's, so application is incredibly easy. 

I used 2 coats for the swatch. Again it dries super glossy so no need for a topcoat. 

If you read my blog, you'll know Kester Black is a huge love of mine. Kester Black is an Australian indie brand. 

This is called Nude. And surprisingly it's a nude polish!

This is very similar to Dior Lili, but a shade lighter. 

The formula was a little sheer so I used 3 coats for the swatch. Again it dries super glossy so no need for a topcoat. 

Last up is OPI My Very First Knockwurst. 

OPI is another brand I love, and I think I own the most OPI's out of any other brand. 

Pinky nudes like this look best with my skin tone, but doesn't look as elegant as Toasted Almond or Lili. They're great if I want something that's hardly there and very subtle, but better than naked nails. 

This had a great formula. I used 2 coats for the swatch. I was quite careful as this could easily get a bit streaky. 

It dries glossy so I didn't apply a topcoat. 

These are some of my most reached for nude polishes. What are your favourite nude polishes? 

xx Elaine 

Polished By Leanne Swatch & Review

I've been following Polished By Leanne of Instagram for a while now and I decided it was time to try out some of her polishes.

When I ordered she has an offer if you spend over a certain amount you will get a freebie. I haven't swatched that one yet, so it'll show up in a later post sometime!

The three polishes I bought are Nice Ice Baby, Under The Sea and Sky High.

Polished by Leanne is a new UK Indie brand. Leanne sells a lot of gorgeous glitter combos and has just come out with a brand new holographic collection! If I hadn't just bought a whole bunch from Freckles Polish, I'd definitely buy them!

First up is Nice Ice Baby.

This is a super super super light pale blue. It's so light that it almost looks like a white! I love these types of off white shades and they're perfect for all year round.

It has a very smooth easy formula. It's not too thick or too thin. It has great coverage on the first coat, but it was a little streaky. It would be fully opaque if you used a thicker 2nd coat, but I do quite thin coats. I would recommend 2-3 coats for full opacity. It dries quick and glossy.

More swatches & review after the jump!

Mani Swap with @PolishIsTheNewBlack

About a week ago Rachel from @PolishIsTheNewBlack asked if anyone wanted to do a maniswap/bestie twin nails with her. I seriously love her account. She's a fellow UK nail girl who does incredible nail art. It was so difficult for me to choose which design to do, but I ended up choosing this floral design. It's something completely different from anything I've done before.

She decided to recreate my glittery mermaid scale mani (which I'll blog about in a later post... mu blog is a little behind!).

I love how hers turned out, and do you see those cute little seashell studs?!?

Luckily for me, Rachel had a tutorial of her mani on her page ;)

I started off with a pink base of OPI Pink Friday. I love this pink because it's a light pastel shade, but still very very bright.

I then added some green grassy bits. I found out that I don't have a proper grass green in my collection..... I guess I'll have to go shopping!

Instead I used China Grass Grass Is Lime Greener. It's hard to see in the photos since it's so light, but it was more visible in real life.

Following Rachel's tutorial I then added the flowers.

For this I used one of my top 10 nail polishes. This is Mecca Cosmetica Timandra. Mecca Cosmetica is an Australian brand that creates Artistry Nail Polishes, amongst many other beauty items. I miss that store!

Anyway, back to the design.. I drew the flowers and then I used OPI Pink Friday again to colour them in.

Next up is the blue-y bits. I first added some tiny dark blue dots using Mecca Cosmetica Cobalt, and then went over it with Kester Black Forget Me Not.

I finished it off with a red Mecca Cosmetica (I forgot the name) and added some dots in the middle of the flowers.

I'm obviously very technical with all my terms.

I gave it some time to completely dry and I added a glossy topcoat. I then added some star studs on my index and pinky fingers as I didn't have the same shape she used.

How cute are these nails though?!?

Check out @PolishIsTheNewBlack on instagram for more beautiful nail art!

Sunday Swatch Day (1)

I want to start something new on my blog and Instagram where, along with my swatches and nail art, I post weekly posts. On Sundays I want to do Sunday Swatch Day and on Friday I want to do Friday Favourites! This is inspired by someone I follow on Instagram and I completely forgot the name of! When I remember I'll post it!

Anyway so for Sunday Swatch Day I want to go through my collection and swatch nail polishes that I haven't used in a while. This way I'm making use of all my polishes and none of them are just standing there unused, and it always gives people a change to look at completely different polishes!

My very first Sunday Swatch Day and I'm already late posting... I did manage to post them on Instagram yesterday, but didn't have time to write the blog post. I decided to start off with Leighton Denny.

I love the brand Leighton Denny. It's quite an expensive brand, the nail polishes are £11 for a 12ml bottle. They are available online and in some M&S stores. The majority of mine are from TKMaxx. About 2 years ago, when I started my nail polish obsession, I always found these in TKMaxx, but I haven't seen them for a long time unfortunately.

All Leighton Denny polishes I've tried have an incredible formula. They're all very smooth, easy to apply and very minimal streaking. They dry to a super glossy finish and dry quick. I have never been disappointed with any of the colours.

First up is Shipwrecked.

This is one of my first ones and I still love it! It's such a gorgeous.. I don't really know how to describe the colour!

Online it's listed as an "acid green cream polish". It's kind of that in between a pale yellow and a pale green, yet still being very bright.

This came out a couple of years ago and it's actually on sale for only £6.60 at the moment!

I used 2 coats for the swatch. It applied incredibly smooth and easy. I didn't apply top coat. The photo doesn't even do justice as to how glossy it really is!

Next up is Blue Lagoon.

I believe this was part of the same set as Shipwrecked from TKMaxx. It was 3 polishes for £14.99.

This is the most perfect blue with a hint of turquoise. I love the description on Look Fantastic.com

"Think warm sandy beaches, crystal blue water and desert islands with this Leighton Denny Nail Colour in Blue Lagoon; this seasons must have shade, teal and turquoise are fused together to create this exotic blue shade. Yummy!" 

Isn't the perfect description?!

I used 2 easy coats for the swatch, no topcoat.

The third colour I swatched is my favourite pink of all time. This actually is my most used nail polish (other than white, top and base coat). It's down to the O in Leighton!

 This is the perfect shade of pink. It's a very sweet light pink, that's bright but not in your face.

Anyway this is called Babydoll.

Here is the description from BeautyExpert.com

"Baby Doll gives an effortless dreamy summer feel with high impact results."

Another perfect description!

Again I used 2 coats for the swatch and no topcoat. I was very careful with my application, making sure not to over work the polish. I would recommend 2-3 coats.

Next up is Viva La Diva, a super vibrant gorgeous red.

As you can tell from the bottle, this is not as creamy as the others. This has much more of a crelly formula. I still used 2 coats for the swatch but if you look closely you can see my visible nail line. It's only very subtle so you can really tell and it definitely doesn't bother me, but if you want it to be fully opaque I'd recommend 3 coats.

Again the formula was incredible. No issues and it dried super super glossy.

I think this might be the only polish I actually paid full price for!

This is Get Your Côte.

"This electrifying azure blue is sublime summer skies for your nails, giving you a cutting-edge catwalk look that wont go unnoticed. This bright and breezy blue is fun, wearable and traffic stoppingly stylish."

Yes I totally agree.

This is even more gorgeous in real life than in the photo. It's a really vibrant azure blue that pops off your nails.

I used 2 coats for the swatch, although it could be fully opaque in one thicker coat.

Last is Leading Lady.

i have a couple nudes from Leighton Denny. My favourite is Honey Trap, however I've used this one fewer times than Honey Trap, so decided to add this one instead.

This is a pinky nude.

" a future classic - an elegant, sophisticated nude that combines sumptuous dusky pink with a delicately chic hint of grey."

Pinky nudes suit my skin tone so beautifully and I can't get enough of them!

Again super easy application, 2 careful coats and no topcoat.

Leighton Denny is a bit more of a higher end nail polish brand. They retail for £11 for a 12ml bottle. It's also a bit of a lesser known brand compared to OPI, Orly, Essie and China Glaze. I'm not sure why it's not talked about because the formula on each and every one of these is perfect. Leighton Denny claim to be High Performance Nail Colour and they definitely are. Swatching them makes me want to buy more! They're such a reliable brand!