Orphans! Not REAL orphans....

These are the polishes of which I have but a single representative as yet.
No NOTD because I am conducting my BB Couture "how well do they wear" experiment.

This is Lancome Piha Black. I had this for ages before deciding to look up Piha. It's a volcanic beach in NZ as I recall. So that explains THAT.
 From amazon and I didn't pay anywhere near the usual Lancome price.
It's black (doh) and glass fleck. Opaque. 1 coat is just about enough and the glass fleck doesn't show up on my nails. It looks good in the bottle though, yeah?
Would I get more Lancome? Yes, but only at cut price/

Skin Food from Korea. Saw this brand on a blog. Had to have it for the bottle!!!
How cute is that? No, seriously, how CUTE?
Ebay. The polish was a bit over a squid and the postage was maybe £2.50??
It's a milky peach and well-pigmented. Very good value IMHO. Bostin' value (to use the local patois).
Took a while to come from Korea but items from the US can take decades so ...
They have now discontinued these! What is it with nail polish companies - they have a good product and they ditch it.

Precision Rebel Red In You (I don't name them now, do I)
Quite expensive - £6ish. Quality polish though. Big bottle. From VenusNailAndBeautySupplies.
A Lubu-Heels-alike. Better actually. I had Lubu and it was watery. The Precision is deffo superior. Would I get more Precision? Yes. And pay full whack.

The Ruby & Millie has a number. Untried.
99p from ebay.
It looks like fun but I'm not in the mood yet. My fear is that it's going to need a few coats. I may be wrong but it's sending me those messages.
Why is Ruby & Millie so damned expensive? It isn't even stocked in my lowly Boots. RM is never blogged about. It's £9.50 or summat! SO - I need your thoughts on this brand, please.

Marks and Spencer Lilac. £2.50. Went on just like all my other lilac cremes so a bl00dy good buy at that price. Would I buy more Marks & Sparks? Yes. Absolutely.

Zoya Casey - ebay (and I think it may just have been one of my 99p bargains - I don't go a LOT higher than that - it was used but it's still majorly full)

Vampy shade. Wear this in the winter and it's black. As good as. I should really try it now. I've seen some swoon-swoon pix of this and I can't say it looks that good on me but I don't have the beautiful nails and hands and application skills some bloggers have so that's understandable.

Would I buy more Zoya? Yes, but not full-price. If you want a "black cherry" polish there are plenty out there. So I have a Zoya. I wanted one as I didn't have one but it isn't the cat's pyjamas.

2 questions for you

1 What orphans do you have?

2 What do you know about Ruby & Millie?

PS I do have more orphans but I need to save some for another day/time.

Jenni

PINK and GREEN should ALWAYS be seen - BB Couture

Love Drunk and Studio 54 - perfect partners - not just a quick night-club fumble - a potential long-term partnership based on equality and a common background...

See them together! The green is showing a little too light. A leee-ttle, leeeeeee-ttle bit. And you can mish-mash the brush and swish-swash it and spruce it up and slop it all around. Brilliant for cack-handed me.

Managed to take this under halogen lights and it does show the glitter better.

I had one colour on the LH and one on the RH but they feel so right together.

The pink is day 3 and the green is fresh on - 2 coats.

I'm continuing my experiment on the other hand.

What experiment? Neither base nor top coat. And the Studio 54 in these shots is freshly applied w/out BC and TC. 

I wanted to have a shot taken in full sun but I'm too impatient to wait.

Studio 54 is my official new BEST GREEN EVER!

Everything darker than this is going up for swap-city. There's no point in them. No point, I tell you!

Love Drunk is a candidate for TOP PINK. And I've 3 untried BBs at my left hand!

The photos are 7 sorts of sh!te compared to the real thing, I swear it.

Can Jenson or Lewis beat the Red Bulls??? 

Feminism, Fools and BB Couture...

BB Couture Studio 54

2 coats.

Fools? What fool is this? The fool may be I. Wherefore?

No base and no top coats on this. BB reckon this is a 4 in 1 product and you don't need the afore-mentioned. I don't know about you but I don't think it's possible to get any decent wear without BC and TC. I am about to put BB to the test.  So, will I turn out to be a fool, duped by a sales claim? We'll see. I'll TC it later as I do like me a bit of gloss and it dries a tad matte but (d'you know it's growing on me as I type) I might just persevere with it ungarnished/unvarnished.

Nonetheless, whatever the outcome I shall still love BB Couture. The brush is beyond brilliant. I had no clean-up to do with this.

Looks a little dark as this kind of green is wont to do in different condition. Still a valid pic though.

BB Couture? As this is the 3rd consecutive BB I have sported perhaps I should declare a BB week? I can always change my mind...And it gives me the opportunity (again) to harp on about how fab they are and reiterate my devotion to Kim from Overall Beauty for her exceptional customer service.

Bringing me finally to feminism.


I started this because I wanted to feature polishes it was easy to purchase in the UK - better still British-made (ha!).

BB is from California. So, it should not (theoretically) be on my radar.
However, it IS easy to obtain - courtesy of Kim.

The feminist bit? Kim runs her own business and BB is a small mother-daughter operation. OPI et al are great products but I'd rather put my business Kim's way because she has the personal touch and I feel I might just be supporting women in work they love. The colours and formulae aren't the tired-old-lazy-old-what-everyone-else-is-doing-this-season and I just love them.

Do you know of any small-time manufacturers of anything? Women? British women even?

Happy days to all
Jenni

BB Couture - Love Drunk - pink - I LOVE this with a very great and passionate love...

So I got my 5 for the price of 4 from Kim at Overall Beauty plus a mineral eyeshadow and 2 nail wheels as my gifts! How much do I love Kim!

And I got them out (got them out? You know how it is - tore the box to pieces like a wild beast...) and was aghast. What have I done? Why did I buy that hideous pink? It will be awful!!!

But....

I know nothing, Mr Fawlty!

2 coats, slap it on, done.  Oo, I love foils! I might add a 3rd for the hell of it. In the sun you could beam messages into space with the light bouncing off this beauty. You could store enough energy to power a small town. Holy hotness!

Sorry about the smudge but I have to photoshop my ring finger (vilely gruesome wart) and it doesn't always work so well. 

Sort of taken in oncoming shade. Sun going behind a cloud. This makes it look pink. It IS pink. The 3rd pic (this) is the most representative. I googled this before I ordered it and it isn't a polish that's much blogged about. Not one of the iconic BB Coutures like...well, some others.

Phew *mops brow* this is one of those I'm-sorry-what-did-you-say-can-you-repeat-that-as-I-was-looking-at-my-nails polishes!

Leave a comment if you like and answer the questions up top to enter the giveaway. There's plenty of time left anyway. 

Plans for the weekend? Off to the jolly seaside?

Jenni

BB Couture - Dragon's Breath - jelly goodness - more giveaway news...

Rebecca of www.nailsnailsetc.blogspot.com  was raving about BB Couture yesterday and I wanted something easy-going on the right hand as I was expecting bother with Topshop Bees Knees so I selected Dragon's Breath from BB. (Bees Knees proved a lot more accommodating than expected so I was a happy bunny).

3 coats but 2 is fine. How do I love thee, Breath of the Dragon?

Just slop it on. 

Cue the praise for Kim at Overall Beauty. Honestly, you HAVE to buy some just so you can deal with Kim and experience great customer service.

Outdoors in sun.
This is one of those desert-island polishes. I don't have a Top 10 but this would have to be on it.

Now the RoW giveaway for Europe and beyond! Apologies for shoddy photo.

A lippie (Bourjois), some things you put on your nails (in little boxes), 3 of the Barry M ice-cream collection - berry, pale blue and a pale pink. They are all cremes and they'll be off-trend by the time you get them and Barry M has boring product names but it is a brand that isn't readily available everywhere and is identifiably British so....

Anyway the giveaway T&Cs will be posted later today. And the British giveaway won't be as stingy as just 3 polishes, I promise!

Later, later...
Jenni

Topshop - Bees Knees - yellow creme + the promised GIVEAWAY

3 coats but I was dreading this and it wasn't the streaky little b@stard of a yellow that I was expecting!

I did need 3 coats but I'm used to that and I do feel I got a good (for me) result.
These Topshop polishes get high marks from me. 3 out of 3 so far.

Outside pic. I've been doing this for a couple of months now and I've only just realised I get a more accurate photo in natural light! I had a love affair with a Mary Quant yellow in the Seventies or Sixties (can't properly remember) and I am trying to recapture that joy.

Bear with me before I get to my giveaway news, please.

Just another pic of Miner Denim Shorts because I remembered to get a natural light shot before I removed it and I do think it's sweet.

This is because I was attempting to show the pinky-red traits of this polish but I still failed. Both these pix are after 2 days of wear btw.

My giveaway. 

Misa Pour Me Something Tall & Strong

Runway Diva

Dirty, Sexy. Money   (er, what's with the commas, Misa???)

There'll be some nailart-y gubbins too. Or stuff I just shove in.

You can't enter yet because I haven't firmed up the entry conditions. All I know is this is UK only. BUT I am waiting for some more bits'n'bobs to arrive for the RoW (rest of the world). So I'll wait until I can open the giveaway to everyone.

I chose these because I love Misa and they're not easy to find in the UK. Not in the shops anyway.

I'm thinking of asking entrants to be followers and to make a comment and maybe answer some questions. That's OK, isn't it?

BUT what do YOU think makes fair/unfair giveaway terms and conditions? Extra entries for blogging? I really just want to say thank-you to the peeps who bear with me and not encourage followers who just sign up for the giveaway and then bugger off. I do try to comment on lot of blogs and not just pop up for the freebies but I know there are lurkers who just .....lurk. 

Oh, and have your giveaways ever gone to people who took the goodies never to be seen again? How do you feel about that?

And, speaking of giveaways, here's my gloriously glittery gift from Simone at GiveTheJewGirlToys!

Tum te tum

Jenni

Lambs would not forgive, nor worms forget....

Miners - Denim Shorts - duochrome mother-of-pearl

A bundle of 3 Miners polishes arrived on Saturday

2 coats of a very pretty polish. Miners has a new summer collection of pearlised shades. Google 'em. A typical pale duochrome IMO. Very like a particular favourite of mine - Revlon Street Wear Raw.

See below.

I love Street Wear. They are discontinued (but of course!) and only available on ebay. I keep my eyes open for them since they produced some tremendous polishes. I have Burnt which is a superb shimmery olive. These are certainly not dupes in the bottle but the effect on the nail is similar. I really don't need the Miners (not because it is a poor product per se) and hope to find it a good home. In short, a very wearable polish which I would describe as mother-of-pearl. Application easy. Lovely in direct sun.

\

The Miners are available from the website. Here's a promo pic.

Yes, I know, I know, it's blurry.

So I'll give the Miners 65%.

For reference purposes China Glaze For Audrey gets 90% whilst OPI I'm Not Really A Waitress got 60%. I can justify those ratings some other time.

Keep watching as I'm announcing my 1st GIVEAWAY later on today or tomorrow.

A bientot

Jenni

Boots No 7 Speed Dry - Cherry Tang - cherry jelly

OMG!!!
The No7 shelf in my local Boots requires me to crouch down (not easy) and angle my neck oddly and for such a "boring" brand I don't ever bother.

But today I'd run out of ideas so I deigned to give Boots the once-over and OMG (again) I am thrilled! Surprised and thrilled and...surprised...

Btw these pix have taken on too orange a tone, it is more cherry-red than it appears here in such bright sun

Jelly for a kick-off. I love a jelly finish. With glass fleck. Silver glass fleck.

3 for 2. Count me in.

Flowed on like the proverbial dairy product.

This is 3 coats but I was happy with 2. There is a wonderful glow through the tip when I hold my nails up to the fierce sunshine.

It's a new shade. If they are all like this then I'd be buying shares! Naturally I got another 2.

I just can't stop with the pix...

I have a few BB Couture. They cost $9 and the Boots are £6 odd at the normal price so I would say they are price-comparable. The quality of this polish is wonderful. I was positively drooling.

I love this effect. I know most of you appear to hate VNL though so I am guessing you'd want to build this up to complete opacity. I actually like a degree of translucence sometimes.


2 questions for you

1 Boots No 7

• No, thanks
• Yes, I have a couple

2 VNL

• Can't stand it
• Not a big issue

Sunny days

Jenni

Topshop - Cloud - Is it blue or is it grey?

Just one pic today
I applied this yesterday
2 coats only - that is highly significant (see below)

It looks grey in the bottle - I was disappointed because I thought the bottles with flecky caps rather than spotty tops were glittery or otherwise enhanced in some way

Experience has now taught me that cremes just reveal the ridged flaws in my nails to a horrific degree

BUT this is fabulous

2 coats and, if you were careful, you could probably just use one

This is my 2nd Topshop and it is lovely, I am so looking forward to the 3rd and 4th although Bees Knees is yellow so my anticipation is tinged with dread...

Another BUT!

Is it blue or is it grey? I keep looking at it. A pic taken with flash was grey but IRL it's blue. Or is it? My perception of blues is skewed so what do you think?

• Blue ?
• Grey ?  

Another sunny day in Paradise here in rural Worcestershire...

Jenni

Topshop - Poison Ivy

My little gang of 4 arrived yesterday - very prettily packaged

First up
Poison Ivy - described on the website as a blackened green
£5 each and I ordered online when postage was free so watch out for that if you, like me, have no Topshop in the vicinity

2 coats but the pigmentation is exceptional - you could get away with a single coat

A stubby little brush - much like my good self - which I found very controllable

Obviously this shows the blackened aspect rather well
In the glorious weather we are currently experiencing this can't be mistaken for black

I think darker colours shouldn't be reserved for the summer/winter as they often have shimmer or glitter which shows to better effect at other times of the year

The others I chose are Cloud, Carry On Camping, Bees Knees. Cloud is on my RH and that too has great opacity and will appear tomorrow.

MY LUCID BUBBLE

LUCIDITY ACHIEVED THROUGH NAIL POLISH

Giveaway news above - not for long though! Check out Lucid Bubble. She is also offering exchanges and sounds like an all-round nice person!

What are you wearing on your nails this very day? Please leave a comment.

Jenni

Essie - a bunch of cream cremes - soft/feminine

More for £3.50 per bottle
Just goes to show you can't judge a polish by its container...
Oh, and this is after a hard day's wear at work btw

Little: Body Language (greyish)
Ring: Pound Cake
Middle: T-Bills Putty
Index: Be Right Bag

Still streaky after 2/3 coats but the surprise was Be Right Bag which I only added as an afterthought.
It is a beautiful polish. 2 coats opacity with a pinky/blue iridescence

BRB is the one on the left (confusingly for which I apologise) and you can see what appears to be a reflection on the bottle but that's the shimmer

I felt unusually sophisticated wearing these. I am (other than in my dreams) a slobby, dumpy, short creature who walks like a duck (I was told this about 40 years ago by some boys on the bus and I have to concede they were probably right, unkind but accurate). So sophistication and I are generally strangers!

AND I GOT MY GIVEAWAY FROM SIMONE OF GIVETHEJEWGIRLTOYS!!!
THANK YOU, SIMONE!

At which point my camera battery died......So more news of that tomorrow.
My first giveaway and, given my luck, probably my last!
But curiously I am poised at 50 followers. I have polishes ready for a giveaway but I have to reach 51. This is because I was mucking about and managed to add myself as a follower of my own blog.

Be honest - am I really only the person to do it? It was accidental and I have confessed. I am 2% of my own readership.

So the giveaway will involve comments and maybe completing a questionnaire. You know the kind of thing - what is your fave purple polish - nothing heavy!

Hot here.
Jenni

Essie, Lily Pond,Steppin Out, Gladioli, Luscious Lips, pink, creme, shimmer

I see Essies for £3.50 at http://www.nailsbymail.co.uk/ and I must have them.
They are all tiddly pinks and pales but nonetheless I must have them.

This is more colour accurate if I judge by skin colour. The other pix are somewhat under-cooked.

L to R

Luscious Lips, Gladioli, Steppin Out, Lily Pond

Pond was OK with 2 coats - the others you could build and build

I expected this and I didn't mind a bit as they are so pretty in their bottles and I am just gravitating towards "safe" shades and away from my usual greens and purples. 

The pick?

Lily Pond for coverage and impact (pinkpact) and Gladioli because it has the most delightful golden shimmer (just visible in the pic)

I like them together. They make a pink gradient mani. The combination is intriguing and the only way I can wear such conservative shades. Obviously they'll lend themselves to glitter topcoats in the days to come.

Bottles in the wrong order. I didn't reverse them for the pic. I am an idiot, non?
Pond, Steppin, Gladioli, Lips

They do flatter my hands and the bottles look lovely clustered together. This also means that Essie Ruby Slippers is no longer an orphan.

There are 4 more to come, best characterised as nudes.

Until the next time...
Jenni

Giveaways...Katrina and My Creative Outlet

Katrina's nail blog
katrinas-favorites-giveaway.html
Katrina is including some Icing - a brand of which I have not a single polish - as well as China Glaze!


And
50 Followers Giveaway!!! by My Creative Outlet
This includes a Borghese (another one I'd like)



And a pic because you can't have a post without a pic. It's the LAW!

This is Elvis the American Kestrel. A pic from my hols in Canada last year. He's so sweet and really tiny. Hardly bigger than a blackbird.

Ciao

Jenni

Misa Dance Fever - silver glitter

   For less than £3 a bottle. I think I'll do a Misa feature because I have some absolute crackers!

2 coats. Gritty? Not a gritty bit of it. Absolutely smooth. Taken in dim light or it might blind you!

Where from, I hear you ask? The Nail Warehouse and Venus Nail & Beauty Supplies Ltd > Home Page - that's where. I love these companies. Venus also does a lot of China Glaze for under £4!!

You can ladle it on with a shovel if you like. It's very forgiving and doesn't make a mess. Suits every kind of garb.

Polish (that's polish not Polish btw) people of Britain, get yourselves some Misa. Peeps from Poland currently resident in the UK are also invited to purchase (in case there are allegations of xenophobia..)

Happy days

Jenni

Misa Dirty Sexy Money - plus commas...

OK, I have wanted this FOREVER.
And what happens when you finally get a much-lemmed polish? That's right. It generally falls a little short of expectations.

I love Misa. I love Misa so much I would write sonnets and paeons of praise (if I were a poet but I am not and moreover I know it...)

This is the most flattering green polish I possess. 2 coats. Went on better than one could dream of. I am going to include Misas in my giveaway. I MAY include DSM if I can bear to part with it (a new bottle btw, not this one). But I will be offering Pour Me Something Tall and Strong and Runway Diva for sure. 

I ordered 2 DSMs. I got this and the other is an ASAP arrival. At the moment I haven't hit 51 followers so the polishes go in cold storage. It has to be 51 for a good reason, believe me!

Ah, bliss!

Jenni

Another pig's ear - Butter London Minger and Bourjois Rose Virtuel

Minger
It is mingin' - i.e. it doesn't suit me
Lovely quality polish though for the right person and I am offering an exchange (see right)

Dear Lord, what does it look like? I didn't change the middle finger from yesterday because I'm like that...
2 coats here, pre-cleanup because I wasn't sure if I'd keep it on
It's a creme

On the RH something more successful but unexciting

Bourjois Rose Virtuel - holo
2 coats, easy as you like
I am a huge fan of Bourjois

The Max Factor Blue Energy from yesterday pleased me and remained flawless but I had meant to apply Minger yesterday but had forgotten to remove the large cap before applying base coat and was thus scuppered

There's always another day in the world of nails....
Oh, and is anyone up for exchanges?

Jenni

Nightmare! Max Factor Blue Energy and Bourjois 1 Seconde 11

Honest to God. Today hasn't been a great day and this has put the icing on the bl00dy banana cake (I hate bananas)

I don't really bother about VNL but the Bourjois (3 coats) needed a topping of Mavala Gold Diamond to make it a bit less bland
The Max Factor (from a cheap etailer like the Bourjois) went on very nicely in 2 coats
But I'm trying not to leave such big gaps round the cuticle so I inevitably made a s0dding mess
The Bourjois goes on so easily. It has the fan-shaped brush that looks very odd but is perfect for my nails as my hands are somewhat small. Kiddie-paws.

Why blue and orange?

They are complementary colours on the colour wheel and should therefore make each other "sing".

IRL this looks a lot better - yes, I know, I WOULD say that...

So it does work and I have achieved my end to a certain extent.

To cheer me up, because even my camera wasn't cooperating and insisted on providing unnecessary amounts of flash, I now insert a pic of CG Sprinkles with GOSH Rainbow. Even this isn't true-to-life as it shows the pink rather cooler than as perceived by my (admittedly failing) eyes...

I hope there'll be something new in the post tomorrow that simply screams at me to be tried. Not very hopeful however as there is always a dearth of post on Monday. Does anyone else find this to be the case?

What is your favourite blue? Shall I do a poll? Or a quiz? Do you want a giveaway? Anyone?

A decidedly grumpy

Jennifer