Kiko 530

Last month I went to Westfield in Stratford and bought a whole bunch of polishes, including this BEAUTIFUL Kiko nail polish 530. Kiko isn't a brand I'm too familiar with, but I do know they have a lot of nail polishes and are very cheap. That's the only thing that's important right?!

Anyway while browsing through the tiny shop, this nail polish caught my eye and I couldn't resist. I had to get it. I believe it was only £2.90. I swatched it on a nail art wheel as soon as I got home and haven't really touched it since.... It's just been standing on top of my nail polish drawer (alex from ikea) looking pretty.

Be prepared... there are a lot of photos!

Sunlight 

Kiko nail polishes don't have names, just numbers and this is number 530. It's a blue jelly polish packed with flakie shimmery golden glitters. The photos make it look more blue but in real life it's much more green, like the bottom right photo in the set of photos above.

Sunlight

I've taken a billion different photos, in the sun, blurry, in the shade, different hand positions, macro, not macro etc. I couldn't stop.

Look at those sparkles!!

Sunlight

From different angles the polish looks different. In the shade the golden specks come out more and in the sun it goes radiates. The photo to the right shows how blue it can look.

shade

The formula was amazing. even though it's a jelly base, it's very opaque and I only needed two coats. There isn't any fishing either, its so packed full of flakie glitters you don't need to worry about that!











The photo to the left is taken in the shade with a macro lens, you can really see the golden flakie glitters. and that they reflect green.

Sunlight

Blurring the photos really show the sparkle. It's incredible!

Sunlight 

I could continue taking photos forever, it's just so beautiful! And the best thing is, is that I used my peel off base coat so I didn't have to worry about taking it off before work!

Sunlight

Last one.. I promise.

What do you think of this colour? Have you tried any Kiko polishes before?

xx Elaine

Sally Hansen Triple Shine Sparks Fly

Sparks Fly is part of the new-ish Triple Shine range. I've never been a big fan of sally hansen, but this range has come out with some beautiful glitters. I, again, have never really liked chunky glitter polishes but I'm actually starting to like them more and more.

I saw this beautiful nail polish in the store a while ago and bought it immediately. It looks like this gorgeous blue/silver chunky glitter in a clear base. Well… I was wrong. It's a silver chunky glitter in a very very sheer blue base. I painted my nails with a white base so the blue chunky glitter would really pop, my whole nail was covered in a blue jelly! So much for white nails, which are a pain to get streak free!!

After the initial shock of it all, I continued the application. The swatch looks really nice. It's a gorgeous light blue with larger silver hexagon bits of glitter and teeny tiny silver ones.

I'm not really too sure about the polish. It looked great in the bottle, and I do think it looks good in the swatch, but it's not what I expected at all! I'm looking for a chunky glitter that can be layered over any colour, whereas this is pretty limited to blues and whites (which turn blue anyway!). It also can't be used on it's own as the blue jelly is so sheer you'll never get it fully opaque and looking good.

Finally I wasn't a huge fan of the packaging and application of it. The bottles look nice, but you're not getting much. This bottle has 10ml, and the OPI next to it has 15ml. The cap of the Sally Hansen is similar to a Butter London cap, where you pull it off and then see a twist top.

The brush is a very thick brush. I'm a big fan of brushes like that since it's makes application super easy. It nicely spread along my nail. However the brush holder is just as thick as the opening of the nail polish bottle, which makes it pretty difficult to slide polish off the brush.

I also didn't have any problem with the glitter density, no was no glitter placement whatsoever. I just dragged the brush along my nail and tons of the small glitter came onto it. I didn't get as much of the larger glitters, but I did have a few on each nail. The jelly itself was a little more difficult. The first coat ended up being a bit uneven and streaky - which was enhanced because of the white base - so I ended up with two coats of it. A total of 1 base coat, 2 white coats and 2 glitter coats. Not an excessive amount of nail polish, but after waiting a full 30 minutes, the polish still wasn't completely dry and I could easily make dents in it. As a triple shine formula I assumed you didn't need another top coat over it….

Anyway, overall it's OK. It looks really pretty, but isn't versatile. I unfortunately don't like it enough to keep it so it'll go in my unwanted pile. I'm not sure whether that's just gonna get thrown out or whether I'll have a giveaway.