Birthday Swatches (Revlon, Sleek, Models Own)

My 22nd birthday was on the 21st of July and I received 4 beautiful nail polishes including 2 Revlon Parfumerie Scented nail polishes, 1 Models Own Hypergel and a Sleek nail polish. All of them are completely new to me so I was very excited to try them out.

First up is Lavender Soap, part of the Revlon Parfumerie line. I have been wanting to try some of these polishes since I lived in Australia, but they were $20 each, which was a little bit pricey for me...

Lavender Soap is a very pale pearly lavender shade, I'm usually not a huge fan of pearl finishes, but this was surprised me! It looks very elegant and so shiny and just like a pearl haha. In direct sunlight you can see the lines of the brush strokes, but in the shade it looks glowing.

The formula is a little sheer and liquidy so it was a tricky to work with. I applied three careful coats for full opacity.

The smell is really nice and fresh and soapy!

The second Revlon Parfumerie polish is Lime Basil. This is a gorgeous medium jade green - I had a hard time describing this colour. It isn't too bright so it's a great colour for everyday wear. I think it'll also be great for nail art.

I used three coat for full opacity, although you could get away with 2 careful coats. The only thing I have to say application wise is that you have to be careful not to brush over the same place twice as it'll pull the nail polish and create a bald spot.

I was expecting a lime or a basil kind of smell, but I found this also smelled very soapy... It's still a nice, fresh smell, but I'm not sure whether it's supposed to smell of lime/basil or whether all the nail polishes have the same smell and the names just refer to the colour?

The third nail polish is Blue Glint by Models Own. It's one of their new Hypergel finishes, meaning it's glossy and long wearing like a gel polish, without the UV lights! I really like these kind of gel polishes and they seem to be getting very popular amongst other brands too.

The formula is a little thicker than other polishes, but it's also very very opaque. I used two coats for the swatch. It dries super glossy and looks incredibly! I wasn't sure whether the polish had dried already haha

It's a really bright cyan blue and great for the summer.

The final nail polish is Sleek nail polish in Waikiki 008. I have never tried anything from Sleek before but have seen their nail polishes and have been very curious about them.

This is another gel finish, similar to the Models Own Hypergel, where you don't need a UV light. The bottles are really cute, similar to the Butter London polishes, but these have a twist top, not a pull top.

I used three thin coats for the swatch, but I think you could easily get away with two thicker coats. It started off slightly streaky but the third coat finished it off beautifully. I loved the formula, although it was a bit streaky, it was super easy to apply. It has a thick flat brush so that made application easy too.

I am in love with the colour and it's perfect for the spring and summer. I think it really matches my skin tone. I literally have nothing bad to say about this nail polish!

Models Own Scented Polishes

The two UK brands that I missed most while being in Australia were Barry M and Models Own, needless to say, when I arrived back in the UK those are the first nail polishes I purchased. I fell in love with the Models Own scented polishes about a year ago. I bought Blueberry Muffin and Apple Pie from the Models Own Bottle Shop in Westfield last year and have been using both of them like crazy. I'd say Blueberry Muffin is in the top 10 nail polishes I've used the most.

Since being back I added Strawberry Tart, Grape Juice, Peach Melba and Coconut Cream to my collection. I literally cannot pick a favourite from the collection. Don't they all just look so beautiful together? This is probably my ideal collection, something full of pastels is my ultimate weakness.

I'll start off with my very much loved Blueberry Tart. This is a very light grey toned baby blue. The very apparent grey tone in this polish makes it unique amongst other baby blues.

The polish is a little thick which made it a bit tricky to work with in the beginning. Once you get the hang of it it's pretty good. It's a streaky polish so you do need three coats to even everything out. It's definitely worth it though, the colour is beautiful. And the smell..... It smells super sweet, but it isn't annoying. I usually just forget about it until I move my hair out of my face and get a whiff of it. Amazing. Even with a top coat, you can still smell the sweetness of the polish.

The second nail polish is Apple Pie. Who could not buy a nail polish that smells like Apples!? Again it's a very sweet but crispy apple scent. The colour is a gorgeous mint green, it's more green than blue which I prefer in a mint polish. The formula was similar to Blueberry Tart but not quite as thick. It was easier to apply but was still a bit streaky. I applied three coats for the swatch.

The third colour is Strawberry Tart. This colour really surprised me. I'm a huge fan of pale pinks but this is very different from any other pale pink and I was surprised at how pretty it looked! It's a much more peach toned pink and is a lot more wearable. The formula was a good consistency and I needed three coats to even out the streakiness. It smells like super sweet strawberries. Amazing.

The fourth colour is Grape Juice. I'm not the biggest fan of grape scents or sweets, but the colour is this is beautiful. Purples are my most loved colours. Again it's very different from other pastel purples as this has much more of a warm tone.

The application on this was the easiest. It's the least streaky and I could definitely get away with just 2 coats. I used three for the swatch so all the swatches are identical.

The next two colours are brand new and I think they've come out for summer. This first one is called Peach Melba and it's a gorgeous pale orange. Again it smells super sweet! The application is similar to the others where it's a bit streaky and needed three coats. The formula is a little thinner which makes it easier to apply.

The final colour is Coconut Cream. I am just so obsessed with these creamy whites! I can't get enough of them!! This is such an amazing off white shade, it's much more wearable than a plain white. The application was the same as the others, it needed three coats as it was pretty streaky. The end result for all of them is beautiful though. This polish smells of very sweet coconuts, I love it!!

There is one more yellow scented polish that smells of bananas but I don't own that colour.

I love all of these colours, they're so beautiful and surprisingly unique for being a pastel collection. All of them apart from Grape Juice needed three coats as they are pretty streaky, but it's definitely worth it.

Nail Art Challenge June - Fav Movie

Throughout this month I have been participating in two nail art challenges on Instagram, click here to see my other challenges.  The theme for #nailartjun for the 6th of June was fav movie. I don't really have a favourite movie so I decided to do something a little different. This is inspired by Packapunchnails on Instagram and it's a rainbow coloured film roll.

I started off with an off white base by Models Own called Coconut Cream. This is one of the two new scented polishes they have brought out for spring/summer. I will have swatches of the scented line coming soon. This is a beautiful colour and easy application. I did use three coats, but with careful application you can definitely get away with two coats. The polish smells of coconuts... surprise there! And even though I'm not the biggest fan of coconut smelling fragrances this is actually really nice and sweet smelling.

I then put tape on the tops and bottoms of my nails and used a sponge to create a gradient. From left to right I used: Models Own Shades, Models Own Beach Bag, Models Own Bikini, Models Own Flip Flop and Nails Inc Kensington Park Road. I recently bought the Polish for Tans collection by Models Own so that will be up on my blog soon too.

I then used my Barry M nail art pen to draw the lines for the film. It is all free hand so it isn't perfect, but Im still really happy with it! The nail art pen is incredibly easy to use since it has a sharpie/marker tip. You have a lot of control and it's super opaque so you don't need to draw over things a few times.