My Favourite Spring Polishes!

The weathers changed (at last) and the days are starting to get longer here in the UK and we have started to see our first glimpses of sun! which has started to make me think about all the fun spring polishes I want to wear over the coming days!

As you can tell from the swatches, I much prefer creme finish polishes for spring, no glitter or shimmer necessary! so lets jump in!

Frist up is First Mate by China Glaze, CG isn't a brand I normally gravitate towards. I have the classics e.g.. Ruby Pumps and For Audrey but most releases from this brand I can skip, the formula doesn't tend to wear as well as OPI or Essie for me, so I would rather invest in those. First Mate was released with the Anchors Away Collection in Spring 2011 and I instantly fell in love with this royal blue verging on navy. Its the perfect mix of the two, and my favourite formula, add  in a nautical theme and Im there!

Borrowed and Blue screams Spring/Summer to me! I wore this polish the whole time I was in Rome back in 2011 and it looks fantastic with a tan! this is the ultimate soft powder blue.

Kiko 339 (Cornflower) is a great alternative to Essie Lapis of Luxury, although I wouldn't be without it in my collection! Cornflower is a little bit more of a true blue than LoL. But its great to have a back up colour. Kiko have so many "dupes" for Essie, if you have a chance to try this brand I highly recommend them, who doesn't love a cheaper alternative?

Shifting to lilacs now, here I have chosen Rumples Wiggin' from the OPI Shrek Forever After Collection, Kiko 330 (Lilac) and Planks a Lot from Pirates of The Carribbean. Lilac has alwayes been one of my favourite colours to wear on my nails, its girly without being pink. I can see myself wearing lots of these types of shades this year. I'm even thinking I may need to do a lilac ombre manicure... watch this space.

From the lilacs we shift into the pinks, not being a pink girly it takes a lot to make me like a pink polish, this is no7 Stay perfect LE shade in Sugar which was released a couple of years ago I believe. This makes me think of seaside rock and the colour reminds me of Essie French Affair, if I can get hold of that polish I will let you know how they compare

For a bright pink I have chosen Barry M GNP 8 Grapefruit. A HOT pink, I picked this one for the high shine finish. I am in LOVE with these Gelly polishes!!

Next is a coral/peachy/orange colour, I think this is the colour I am thinking of when I say I'm looking for a coral polish, I have gone wrong so many times looking for a true coral (like Shoot out at the OK Coral) This is Tarte Deco, but a good alternative is Kiko  358 (peach Rose). I am thinking Van d'go maybe better suited to me ... I will keep you posted :)

I only have two yellows in my collection, and Barry M is defiantly my fav of the two, Lemon Ice Cream is yellow enough to POP but not too yellow to look like pee. Perfect!?

and finally, my favourite colour group - Turquoise and greens!

Kiko 345, a minty green, this fills the void where Essie Mint Candy Apple should be. That will probalby be my net purchase.

Another Kiko polish now (wow I really love Kiko huh)? 389 is the truest turquoise polish I own. I have seen so many blogs compare this to Barry M Mint Green or Essie Turquoise and Caikos, and in turn China Glaze for Audrey to Barry M MG and TaC to Mermaids Tears so heres a comparison swatch, as you can see they are all totally different, which means I can warrant owning them all! hehe!

Lastly we have a newby to my collection, Barry M GNP Greenberry, need I say anymore? love, Love, LOVE!

Which are your favourite polishes for Spring?






What are you most looking forward to for Spring?

Valentines Manicures: Splatter

Today's theme is splatter! and I immediately thought of Brookes tutorial....

I know I wanted more hearts, and intended on another tape manicure like yesterdays, but didn't think about how tricky it would be, so I opted to paint the hearts over the splatter design. The scotch tape still came in handy though ... as you will see this gets incredibly messy!

The colours I'm using are Kiko 330 Lilac, 339 Cornflower, 389 Mint Milk, Barry M 307 Lemon Ice cream, and No7 Sugar.

Valentine Nail Art Challenge
Host: datyorkLOVES

1.

datyorkLOVES (HOST)

2.

makeroomforcupcake

(Submissions close in 4d 18h 44m)

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Mani Refresh : The Living Daylights

Yesterdays manicure was still going strong, no chips! bravo Kiko. So instead of changing my colour I decided to do a little refresh, using a polish I bought before Christmas.

OPI The Living Daylights is from the 2012 Skyfall collection celebrating 50 years of James Bond films. It is a beautiful concoction of large hexagonal glitter pieces in silver, copper and teal. Completely unique and a great polish for paring with so many colours for autumn/winter.

NOTD: Kiko

This is Kiko nail lacquer in number 303 Beige Chrome,  how boring is that name? luckily the colour is much more interesting.

Dubbed a dupe for Chanel's Quartz (swatch) this beautiful chrome finish polish is a super sparkling, champagne colour, akin to OPI's Designer... de Better! but without the beautiful copper flecks.

On first glance I was disappointed with this polish, in the bottle the two are vary similar, and so Beige Chrome was banished into my nail polish drawers, until now. On further inspection of the two colours, BC is a darker, pinker, champagne colour with silver glitter, where DdB is a lighter champagne with copper flecks. Theres room in my stash for both bottles after all!

Have you tried Kiko polishes? which is your favourite colour?

xoxo

#OrangeOctober Flocking Orange

#OrangeOctober Day 30.

Welcome back for the penultimate #OrangeOctober blog post.

Flocking is the latest craze to come to nails since the caviar manicure, but how easy is it for an at home manicure?

I ordered my flocking powder from ebay and a couple of days later it arrived through my door. I can't say I was excited at the prospect of having furry nails, for some reason I imagined it would feel uncomfortable, like matte nails, but 100 times worse. I wasn't fond of the idea of mess or the removal process either. But me experience wasn't as bad as I had anticipated.

Here's what yo need for an at home flocked manicure...






Base coat,

Regular polish in a matching colour to your flocking powder,
Quick drying top coat,
Flocking powder,
A sieve,
Hoover to clean up ;)

Apply base coat, two coats of your base colour, I'm using a Kiko polish that I have somehow managed to leave out of #OrangeOctober *shock horror* This is Kiko

Apply your top coat, I am using Seche Vite, but any top coat will do the trick :)

Working quickly sieve your flocking powder onto your nails.

Gently press down on each nail to ensure the flocking has adhered to the nail.


Your all done!

Overall I actually like the effect, I couldn't wear it all day, or on a day to day basis, but it isn't uncomfortable at all on the nails.

It kinda reminds me of this guy...

#OrangeOctober Kiko 235 Pearly Orange

Day 5 #OrangeOctober

Kiko Pearly Orange is just that - a gorgeous luminescent orange with a golden vein that morphs in colour depending on what light it is in.



Application is smooth, this is 3 coats, could have got away with just 2 really, but I aways apply 3 for good luck. I am really starting to like Kiko polishes, a trip to Westfields may be in order ;)



This polish is going to be great nearer to Halloween, I have so many nail art ideas. Why isn't it Halloween yet?

Have you tried any Kiko polishes before?


Don't forget you can share your #OrangeOctober photos on Facebook and Twitter :)

xoxo