Revlon Essence

Revlon Essence is a dusky blue-green from the Top Speed range.

Two coats, although it was very nearly a single-coater. I love greyed-out dusky colours, and this one is gorgeous.

China Glaze High Roller

This polish came from a friend who was clearing out her collection. The label appears to have been completely rubbed off at some stage (you can just see a couple of specks on the bottle where it was).

High Roller is from the 2004 Monte Carlo collection. A sheer-ish jelly, I applied three coats but looking at it later I probably should have gone for four as there was still a noticeable nail line.

I'm not usually a fan of red polishes, but this one is pretty awesome; a vibrant orange red so bright as to be almost neon. Love it.

Rimmel Ava-A-Bit of Jade

I love Rimmel polishes. They have a lovely range of colours at a good mid-range price, and their brushes are the very best in my opinion; flat, not too wide, and with a curved tip that fits perfectly around the cuticles. Because I have very small nails (being a very small person) many of the flat brushes are too wide for my nails and if their tips are cut straight across it can be very difficult to get a nice curve around the cuticle. The Rimmel brush is the perfect size, I can almost cover my pinky nail in one stroke.

Ava-A-Bit of Jade has a dreadful, clumsy name, but it is a gorgeous colour.

Dark teal cream formula, two coats to full coverage. Love it.

Fair warning though, this one stains when you remove it. My nails after removal looked like I had murdered a leprechaun*.

* No leprechauns were harmed in the removal of this polish.

ünt SYO55

ünt is a brand I had never previously heard of, until my daughter bought me a bottle of their peel-off base coat for Christmas, which came with a free bottle of polish. (Side note: peel-off base coat is the best thing ever for under glitter polishes, and is worthy of a post of its own. Which I'm sure will happen at some stage.)

Yes, I'm aware of the smoodge on my middle finger, sometimes I forget that even my trusty quick-dry Seche Vite top coat isn't instantaneous, and it's best to wait more than two or three minutes before trying to use my nails as tools!

I would call this a blackened-teal shimmer, and a close inspection of the formula reveals that it is actually a black jelly base so tightly packed with blue and green shimmer particles that the jelly base is essentially invisible. A real stunner of a colour, especially in daylight, with a shift to navy blue when viewed from the side. Love it (although it's a bit of a shame they didn't bother to give it a name, SYO55 doesn't really roll off the tongue.)

O.P.I. O Suzi Mio

O Suzi Mio is from the O.P.I Venice collection (Fall/Winter 2015). The entire collection was on sale at my local pharmacy, and it took considerable restraint to only buy one bottle.

Having said that, I'm not discounting the possibility of going back and buying another colour. There was a mint green I had my eye on too ...

I wasn't a huge fan of the formula on this one, it was quite runny and sheer (which is how I'm going to excuse my slightly crap application), and took three coats to opaque. This red-leaning deep purple is a beautiful colour though.

I have no idea what this polish is, but I do know it's black

Eccentric English Boyfriend picked this polish up for me in China, back when he was travelling there a lot. There is not a jot of English on the bottle so I have no idea of brand or colour name, but I do know that it is a fantastic true black. Many black polishes have brown undertones that muddy their colour somewhat, but this is as black as a black thing on a black night.

Fantastic formula which would have been one coat if I applied it thicker; for me it was two. The formula was let down somewhat by the brush, which is flat and cut straight across - the bristles weren't flexible enough to bend around the curves so it was difficult to get a nice even line along the sides.

Milani Hi-Res

From Milani's 3D Holographic range, Hi-Res is a subtle scattered holo in a lavender base. This was a typically thin holo formula, easy to apply, three coats for opaque coverage.

LA Girl unnamed blue

This polish came in an LA Girl nail art set. It was a bit of an impulse buy, and I ended up giving away the other three colours in the set, but kept this one. It doesn't have a name, but Mr 17 suggested it be called Steven. This is why his career as a Nail Polish Namer will probably never take off.

Steven didn't seem all that promising in the bottle but on the nail is a stunner of a sky blue. Somewhat streaky formula on the first coat, but excellent coverage by the second. Steven is a keeper.

Depend 171

Depend never fail to deliver, the formula of the polishes in these teeny bottles is always excellent in my experience. 171 is a lovely admiral blue, almost a one coater but I did two just to be sure.

Love & Beauty Purple Multi

I'm not 100% sure that this polish is actually named "Purple Multi", but that's what it says on the sticker and I can't find a name anywhere else on the bottle, so that'll do. I picked this up for $0.99 in a bargain bin at Forever 21 when we were in San Francisco three years ago.

This colour is way more sheer than I would normally tolerate, but it really is so very very pretty. I mean just look at those gorgeous holo glitter pieces. This was (if I remember right, it was a few days ago) four coats and there is very definite visible nail line, but the formula was too thick and difficult to work with for me to want to try for any more. However, despite the difficult formula and the sheerness, this one is pretty enough to be a keeper.

Maybelline Dark Plum

Exactly what it says on the bottle - Dark Plum. Really lovely plum colour, leaning towards purple. I confess I can't remember how many coats this was, as it was several days ago, but I want to say it was probably three. Good application anyway.

Barry M Magnetic Neptune Sea

Magnetic nail polishes are a really cute idea, but they never really live up to their promise in my experience. It may be just me, but I find that the designs are crisp and clear immediately after applying the magnet, but not long after the magnetised particles start to drift back in with the rest of the formula and the design becomes blurry. Which is exactly what we've got here. The unmagnetised polish is a gorgeous silver blue, and when magnetised it becomes a blue shimmer background with a silver design. But then the silver particles start to migrate their way back into the blue and the design loses its clarity. Maybe it's just me, maybe some magnetic polishes are better than others, I don't know. If you've got any hints I'd love to hear them.

This was two coats, the first applied as normal, then after the second coat I held that nail to the magnet. For ages. Ages and ages. And then applied my top coat of Seche Vite. The design, which is a starburst, looked awesome immediately after doing this, but of course by the time I took the photos in daylight the next day it was just kind of ... fuzzy. So, not a huge success, but I think it's a keeper just because the unmagnetised colour is lovely.

Diamond Cosmetics Drift Away

Diamond Cosmetics do great purples, I have many in my stash. Drift Away is a gorgeous dusky mauve. Lovely workable formula, although very thin so it took four coats.

Barry M Blueberry

 I wish I’d bought more of this Gelly range when I was in England, the colours are amazing. Blueberry is a lovely bold light blue. Two coats, if memory serves.

Diamond Cosmetics Oh, Tiff!

How many Tiffany blue nail polishes are too many? I’ll let you know when I get there.

A beautiful example of a Tiffany blue. A little more green than the photo shows, packed with a very delicate blue shimmer which gives it a lovely depth. Two coats, somewhat tricky formula to work with, as is always the case with colours of this type, but the payoff is worth it.

Revlon Wind Fall

Absolutely beautiful teal (which leans more green than the photo shows) packed with blue micro glitter. Two coats.

Ulta3 Midnight

Dark dark purple jelly, so dark that in everything but the brightest direct light it looks black. Kind of meh, really, I wanted to be able to see the colour. Two or three coats (this was a few days ago and I forget).

Marks & Spencer Electric Purple

Bright dark purple jelly, two coats but it’s obvious from the photo I should have used three, very thin jelly formula. My Seche Vite top coat needed thinning, hence the obvious tip shrinkage.

Bloom Cyndi

Gorgeous bright citrus orange. Two coats, slightly thick formula that was a bit tricky to work with, but totally worth it.

Milani Spellbinding

Black jelly base packed with red glitter. Three coats and amazing application thanks to a lovely formula and a really nice brush.

Posted on April 16, 2016 with 1 note