Today's nails: Eyeko Vampira Polish

Today being Halloween, Eyeko's Vampira Polish seemed the perfect choice for my nails. And folks, this one is a stunner - a black jelly base with ruby coloured shimmer that for me is the perfect vampy colour - dark and sexy and glowing from within:

Because these are not my normal nails-plus-bottle swatch shots (I took them in the car this afternoon while waiting for a bunch of teenage girl zombies - true story), here's a bottle shot from the Eyeko site:

The Eyeko bottles are cute, and a huge improvement over their old bottles which were lovely but had stumpy little caps which were so difficult to work with. The only complaint I have about the bottles is that the brush wands are longer than your standard brush wand, making them just a little more difficult to control during application. The formula on Vampira however was a dream to apply, flowing on to the nail nicely. The first coat was super sheer, but by two coats it was pretty much opaque. I ended up doing three coats simply because when I held my hand up to the light I could still see a little visible nail line.

Like many jelly-based glitters the finish on Vampira, although gorgeously glossy, is a bit bumpy looking. This is easily solved with a good top coat though.

All in all I absolutely love this colour. I know there are many others out there of this ilk, notably China Glaze Lubu Heels which I also have, but have yet to wear. I think I'll be trying it soon though!

And finally, a picture of my front door decorated for Halloween. I made the spider web with dental floss - a minty-fresh spider web!

Today's nails: Eyeko Coral polish

Now I'm not a big fan of coral polishes. They're often just a little on the 'nana' side for me. Eyeko's Coral Polish isn't bad though, not bad at all:

I don't love it, but I do like it. 15 Year Old Daughter loves it! Coral is very vibrant, and at the redder end of the coral spectrum. Two coats, the only problem I had was that the formula was very runny - so much so that I had to wipe the brush down carefully or it would drip off the brush onto the couch. And my arm. And the carpet. And the dog.

All in all, I think if you're a lover of coral polishes this would be one you'd want to have in your collection.

Today's nails: Eyeko Rain Polish

Rain is perfectly named - this gorgeous grey/blue with a very subtle shimmer is so reminiscent of drizzly skies. In a good way!:

The photo's not the best sorry - I got an awesome new camera for my birthday (yes, today I'm one year away from being 40), and I'm still playing with it.

Without having seen a side-by-side comparison Rain looks very similar to Essie's Sag Harbour, albeit with considerably better application. This was two coats, and although the formula was a wee bit on the thick side and it didn't completely settle to a smooth finish a top coat of Seche Vite smoothed it out beautifully. Absolutely love it.

Today's nail: ASOS Paint by Ciate in Alexa

I finally received my Eyeko ASOS Exclusive Vintage polish.  I ordered it from ASOS and then Eyeko did a promotion where they were giving it away with other orders on their site which was just typically bad timing on my part! Of course there was no way I was going to order just one polish now was there? I mean this is me we're talking about here, who'd ever expect me to be that restrained - I may have included a couple of others in the order. ASOS won't ship nail polish outside of the UK so I had it sent to The Eccentric English Boyfriend's mother and she included it with our Christmas parcel:

At back is an ASOS Paint by Ciate gift set in Sienna and Alexa, and at front is Eyeko Vintage Polish, Nails Inc Portland Place and Nails Inc Duke Street.

And here is ASOS Paint by Ciate Alexa:

Love it! A gorgeous dark navy blue that could almost be a one-coater - I used two though. Really lovely formula that I think I would describe as jelly - it's so dark and pigmented that it's hard to tell. And that colour - well I love navy blues and this one is stunning. Similar to but not quite as dark as Eyeko Vamp Polish, it retains its blue hue in all but the lowest of lights rather than appearing black as some very dark blues can do. This colour has knocked Eyeko Vamp down a couple of notches in my favourites list because of its ease of application and also its gorgeous glossy finish.

Treats from Eyeko

If you've been wanting to get your mitts on the ASOS exclusive Eyeko Vintage polish now's your chance. From now until midnight Monday 23 November if you buy three products from Eyeko you get the Vintage polish for free - just enter the code VINTAGE in the special comments box at checkout.



Of course I'd already ordered mine from ASOS - along with a few other ASOS exclusive polishes but if you haven't got yours yet then what are you waiting for?

Also, check out these cute double ended eyeliner pencils:



What gorgeous bright colours. Eyeko say:

Chunky pencils loaded with colour and shimmer and shine to create a multitude of fabulous eye looks!

Super Star
Make your peepers pop with Plum liner ultra flattering to all eye colours. Accentuate your natural high lights! Blue eyes appear aquamarine, green eyes sparkle like emeralds and brown eyes glitter like gold! Take it up a notch with Electric Purple for a fashion forward look that's super!

Rock Star
For fierce eyes smudge Black Glitter all around the eye and blend with Silver for a smoky-in-a-second look. Try Silver eyeliner in the inner corners and winged out Black Glitter for a futuristic fashionista vibe.

Pop Star
Electric Blue teamed with dazzling teal for a punky, funky look. Try blue on the upper lid and teal on the bottom for a touch of 80’s stylin! Colour Teal over the whole lid and use Electric Blue as eyeliner - so many looks in 1 pencil!

£5.00 from Eyeko.

More Eyeko polishes

Eyeko have completed their new collection of five polishes with the release of two new shades - Nude and Purple:

Of course I've already received my set of the first three polishes (Cosmic, Indigo and Lilac) so now I'm going to have to place another order for these two! For today only Eyeko are selling the full set of five polishes for £10.00, which works out to £2.00 per bottle. The bottles are normally £3.00 so that's a nice wee saving.

You may recall me saying that Eyeko would be releasing six new polishes in 2009. Well I wasn't wrong, but the sixth polish (called Vintage) is an ASOS exclusive:


So what do you think of these latest Eyeko polishes my pretties? I'm not sold on Nude, but Purple and Vintage look pretty good, and in the interests of having the complete set I'll probably buy Nude anyway!

The Eyeko special is here, or you can buy the polishes separately here. The ASOS exclusive polish is available here.

Today's haul(s): Eyeko polishes and Grace's polish sale haul

Two parcels of goodness today. First, my Eyeko polishes have arrived:


Don't you love the postcard that Eyeko includes with each order? Anyway left to right: Cosmic Polish (for space age nails), Indigo Polish and Lilac Polish (for lovely nails). Indigo looks like it could be a dupe for a few other blue shimmers out there so I'm interested to see what it goes on like. Cosmic is packed with tiny multi-coloured glitter - sparkly! Lilac is a lovely pale purple.

Eyeko have not only paid attention to users' comments about the difficulties of working with their (admittedly adorable) old bottle design, they've also taken note of the number of people who have received polishes which have leaked in transit (it's happened to me twice), and this time they were packaged a lot better for their international flight. So kudos Eyeko. And the new bottles are gorgeous!

Next up, a whole lot of polishes I ordered from Grace at The Kitchen, The Closet and the Laboratory's second polish purge sale.

Pretty sparkly NYX Girls 228, and my first ever Nfu-Ohs, 119 and 53. Best. Bottles. Ever! Obviously I've seen Nfu-Oh on blogs, but seeing the bottles in real life they are just too gorgeous.

BB Couture Poison Ivy, China Glaze Meteor Shower (wow wow wow), China Glaze Orange Marmalade and an O.P.I. which the label has come off of and Grace couldn't remember the name of. Anybody?

Milani Flashy Orange (I read a comment on someone's blog the other day about how truly 80's the Milani bottles are and I totally agree), Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Burgundy Orchid, Maybelline Express Finish Matte Ruby, CM Midnight Impostor.

Lippmann Collection (another first for me) Dark Side of the Moon.

Phew - that's a lotta polishes!

New Eyeko polishes

Eyeko have been teasing us for a while with the promise of six new nail polishes, and today I checked their site to find these little pretties:



Left to right: Cosmic Polish (Eyeko say: this night time hue is loaded with multi-coloured iridescent glitters like fireworks in a black November sky. An ultra, flattering nail look for those who favour the dark side.), Indigo Polish (keep nails short and blunt to nail this shimmery, midnight blue for a touch of cool gothic glamour à la Sophie Dahl.); Lilac Polish (dip your toe into the pastel trend. Just one coat of this gorgeous pale mauve creates that opaque sugared almond look Lily Allen craves.)

Eyeko have obviously listened to the comments about the difficulty of working with their old bottles - these new bottles look much easier to handle. Their packaging is still cute though is it not?

Just for this weekend the three polishes are available as a set for just £6.00 on the Eyeko website (the offer expires 26 October). You know I've already ordered mine!

Now we just have to wait for the other three they've been promising. Watch this space.

Swatches: Eyeko polishes

Here at long, long last are the swatches of the Eyeko polishes I received a couple of weeks back. The purchase of these three polishes means that I now have all six of their current polishes. Not for long though, their new range is coming out in September, and I gather when it does the current ones will be discontinued.

First up, my general thoughts about all the polishes. With the exception of Disco Polish, the formula on all six polishes is a little troublesome - prone to dragging and streaking and general glugginess. All the polishes have beautiful rich pigmentation, but in the case of the two light coloured polishes four coats were required simply to deal with the streaking, and they all needed a top coat to even out their finish. However once the top coat is on they all have a beautiful depth of colour.

I love that Eyeko thought outside the box with their packaging, the squat 10ml bottles with their metal lids remind me of something you'd find in an olden days chemist, and their labels are adorable. I've mentioned before however that the lid is a little stubby and wide for comfortable application, and the other downside to the bottles is the wide mouth, which makes wiping down the brush before application more difficult. Being a complete klutz I also worry that if I knocked a bottle over the wide mouth would mean an awful lot of polish would spill. It's bound to happen, I'm forever knocking my polish bottles over.

So on to the specific colours. Here is Pretty Polish:




Not my best application, I apologise, this must have been just after I had to cut all my nails back. Pretty Polish won over this non-pink lover. It's a beautiful, soft powder pink - delicate and girly.

Next, Punk Polish:




Wowser! Super-duper, make-you-blink, bright pink. Not my sort of colour I have to say, 13 Year Old Daughter is a big fan though!

Finally, Saucy Red Polish:




We all know I'm hard to please when it comes to reds, and I love this one. It's a retro pin-up girl red, the type worn by bad girls that mothers don't want their sons dating.

So there you go. For all my criticisms of the formula/bottles I LOVE Eyeko polishes. Whatever difficulties I may have in application pale when I see the polishes on. They're well pigmented, and they really hit the nail on the head with their colours - spanning the range from girly to vampy. I am so looking forward to the release of the new polishes in September (you KNOW I'll be getting them all!).

Here are the links for my reviews of the other three polishes in their current range: Disco Polish and Pastel Polish here, Vamp Polish (my all time favourite polish EVER) here.

Hauls, hauls and more hauls

It's been a busy few days for our courier dude, what with all the pretties that keep turning up on my doorstep.

First some Creative polishes bought from TradeMe (in three separate lots):



Look at that rainbow of colours, so pretty. Left to righ: Make a Wish, Kumquat Dahlia (best name ever, even if it doesn't make any sense), Porcelain Doll, Replenish, Rejoice, Aqua Jet, Blue Nirvana and Blue Blood.

Next some polishes from Transdesign:



Left to right: China Glaze LOL, China Glaze Kaleidoscope Him Out, Orly Tiki Time minis (Teeny Bikini, Calypso Breeze, Sol Cabana, Mint Mojito), China Glaze Lubu Heels and Entity Blue.

And finally, a parcel from Eyeko, which yet again had problems with a leaky polish bottle but I didn't lose too much of the polish this time thank goodness:



At back: Saucy Red Polish (for naughty nails), Punk Polish (for neon nails, and the leaky one!) and Pretty Polish (for neat nails). Middle: Minty Fat Balm, Strawberry Fat Balm and Raspberry Fat Balm. Front: Touch Up & Go Concealer and Touch Up & Go Highlighter.

I am such a fan of Eyeko's stuff, the products are adorable and reasonably priced AND international delivery is FREE! So I can totally justify ordering stuff now instead of waiting till we go to England next year. I was so impressed with the Strawberry Fat Balm I bought last time that I ordered another tube (along with the other two colours) for 13 Year Old Daughter. Like me she now carries it around with her everywhere. The Raspberry Fat Balm is a little darker than I was expecting, but I read in one of Eyeko's recent Tweets that they've just changed it and the colour is now a little more subtle (pic here). Which of course means that I'll have to order that too, but that's fine because they also Tweeted that they have a new range of polishes coming out soon in Cosmic, Vintage, Lilac, Coral, Purple and Nude, so obviously I'll be ordering those anyway!

Today's nails: a couple of reds and some biro ink

Today I decided to give the two reds remaining in my untried pile a try. First up Color Club Queen of Speed:




Despite being a jelly, Queen of Speed is very thickly pigmented. This was two coats, although there is the faintest visible nail line showing so I could have gone to three. Application was excellent and it has a beautiful smooth glossy finish. Tomato reds lean too much towards the orange for my liking, but if you're a red lover this will probably appeal and it does have a lovely depth to it. I can see me wearing this occasionally, but only occasionally. Oh and just to make a fool of me after my comment about jellies taking ages to dry, this one dried quickly!

Next Creative Nail Designs Red Baroness:




My pretties, this is the elusive Holy Grail of nail polish - the One Coater. Aside from a bit of visible brush strokage application on this is damn near perfect. Shame I don't like it. Again, if you're a red lover then you're probably going to like this one, it has a lovely gold shimmer through it and it's very attractive, it's just not me.

And finally the one I've really been looking forward to, Eyeko Vamp Polish:





Can you just give me a minute here?

*swoon*

Oh. My. God. I love this colour. Love it. This is dark, dark biro ink blue bordering on black. You can just see the blue in the top picture. In many lights Vamp Polish is almost black but it has a gorgeous depth of colour that lifts it and the elusive blue cast in some lights makes it deliciously intriguing to wear. Two coats, and the shine that you see in the photos isn't down to the polish, which applies super streaky. A coat of Seche Vite fixed it beautifully, as you can see, but I would say you couldn't wear this polish without a top coat. But who cares, this may have just become my favourite colour of all time. So now I'm super bummed about it leaking in transit. When we go to England next year (did I mention blah blah, yadda yadda England etc) I think I may stock up on a bottle (or three) of this.

Eyeko polish swatches

You know I just can't leave a polish on for more than one day without getting bored. Desperate to change my colour I decided it would be fun to put Eyeko Disco Polish over Fast Woman. Well it turns out Disco Polish actually isn't so great for layering. Have a look and you'll see what I mean:




Now when I say it's not good for layering, I don't mean it in a bad way. Disco Polish is so chock-full of fine silver glitter that after just one coat most of Fast Woman had disappeared. With two coats it would be completely opaque, no small feat for a glitter polish with a clear base! It was like having a little old disco ball on my finger tips, and I loved it! I don't do clubbing (never have) but this polish makes me want to - it screams out to be seen under flashing lights!

By this stage I was itching to try another polish, so I managed to squeeze just enough from my nail polish remover to take that off and try out Eyeko Pastel Polish.




A quick word about the Eyeko polish bottles. They are gorgeous are they not? These guys know how to do super-cute packaging. But, the lid is a little difficult to work with, just a wee bit too small and stubby it feels like it could easily slip out of your fingers.

Anyhoo, on to the polish itself. Pretty! So very, very pretty. A gorgeous pale pale baby's breath blue with the faintest hint of a pink shimmer through it, I love it. Application-wise there was a LOT of streaking, this is four coats and in the end I had to hope that a top coat of Seche Vite would even out the finish, which it did. It's also one of those polishes that becomes tacky very quickly, making correction difficult. However, Pastel Polish is oh so very pretty, I can forgive its problem child tendencies.

Eyeko haul

I told you it wouldn't be long until I had new polishes to try. After I blogged about the cute stuff at Eyeko the other day I couldn't help myself, I had to buy something. See what I put myself through in order to bring you pretties? (Actually, realistically it's what I put the Eccentric English Boyfriend through, since it's his money I'm spending!)



Left to right we have Strawberry Fat Balm, Disco Polish (for nightime nails), Vamp Polish (for naughty nails), Pastel Polish (for nice nails) and Magic Liquid Eyeliner. I do love their packaging, and the product names! Oh and also a packet of Pineapple Lumps, not from Eyeko obviously, just what I happened to be eating at the time (mmmmm, Pineapple Lumps).

You can probably see that the Vamp Polish leaked a bit in transit - the plastic shrink wrap had somehow moved so that it wasn't encasing the cap which came loose. I lost about a quarter of Vamp, luckily it leaked mostly over itself (most of which came off when I removed the shrink wrap) and a little bit over the Magic Eyeliner. I got quite a lot on my hands though, so inadvertantly I have a swatch of Vamp for you!



Oooh, blue/black goodness - it looks like I got biro ink on my hands. Can't wait to see what it looks like on my nails! Application will be interesting with those funny little caps. Swatches to come, I've run out of nail polish remover so Fast Woman is going to have to stay on my nails for a bit longer (and Vamp on my fingers!).

Fat Balm is a lip balm which can also be used on cheeks. Available in a couple of other scents/colours, I chose Strawberry because it looked like a nice neutral that would work with my complexion. As you can see in the picture it has a lovely shimmer through it too.



Here's a swatch, it really is a very pretty, sheer colour:



And here it is on my lips.



Pretty, me likey. It has a lovely, moisturising feel to it which I'm liking. The smell of strawberry is very faint, and wears off quickly which is not a bad thing.

Magic Liquid Eyeliner is a clear liquid with a brush applicator which you swipe through your powder eyeshadows in order to use them as an eyeliner. I've seen a few products like this around and I was very interested to try it.



Luckily 13 Year Old Daughter's makeup case was conveniently nearby, so I grabbed her eyeshadow compact to give it a try.




13 Year Old Daughter very kindly showed me how to use her photo editing software to put the numbers on the pictures. (Oh God, I've become one of THOSE parents who has to ask their children for I.T. advice!)

I'm quite impressed with the Magic Liquid Eyeliner, it really does do exactly what it says. Swatch number four had a little bleeding at the edges, I think I had too much liquid on the brush. With a bit of experimentation this could be quite a handy product.