No drama, just good stuff....Models Own Mystic Mauve

I spend too much time lusting after collections that are either too expensive or simply unavailable that I forget we have a great brand of our own here in the UK. I refer to Models Own.

Their foil polishes are simply magnificent and, thinking back, I have never had a bad Models Own. So there. Sorry, Models Own. I will try to appreciate you better.

Mystic Mauve. 2 coats. Foil. Would look better on younger (unridged) nails but I have what I have.
(That was easy...)

My left hand now sports short nails but I'm letting the nails on my right grow. They look OK.
Jenni

Dupe-time again....

 

 2true no. 46. 2 coats. I like it. It's better than Barry M Dusky Mauve (better as in "got more going for it complexity-wise").

And guess who didn't do a very thorough job of removing Bourjois Orange Creation? No prizes.

YET AGAIN the Bourjois So Laque chipped on me. That's 2 out of 3 of the latest range. Consider me displeased.

With dupes though - don't you have to issue them within a couple of months of the original? Is there any point otherwise? What d'you think? Is it not just a bit lame doing it half a year later?

Oo, and ta muchly for all the help with my bottle-problems.

Jenni

W7 Cosmic Mauve and Nubar Vaso

I bought my first W7 polishes and I can report they are excellent. This is the least interesting. The other 2 are truly A MAY ZZING. Ebay W7 if you too live in the regions of shopping darkness and can't find it locally. My branch of Debs is charging £7.50 for these. Do they ever sell any? I hope not because that is a quite cynical rip-off.

The Nubar is also fab. It's the least popular of the Venetian Glass collection and the only one I have.  I am now desperate for the others. Everyone says Vaso is marketed as a glass-fleck but it's just (just?) a foil and therefore a disappointment. Well, I think it's both. So there. And not disappointing at all. Get your Nubar at  http://www.nubar-nailz.co.uk/      Very good service and fair prices.

One of my next posts is going to be about the ethics of spending. Not about getting a bargain or value for money or buying on credit (although that IS an ethical issue). But addressing my personal prejudices on purchasing and why they exist. And you may share them.  Or you may not.

Most of you weren't economically active during the apartheid South Africa years but here's a question.

If South Africa were still governed by the white elite would you be happy to buy South African fruit? There are/were all sorts of views on this. What's yours?

And one more as a poser - if you were offered fantastic and cheap goods (Manolos? Cartier?) you had reason to believe were stolen during a violent raid would you go ahead or turn away?


Happy thinking
Jenni

Wet n Wild Sparked

I got this from Cheap Smells. I thought I was buying Starry Night. That's certainly what it said on the website and the invoice. I'm sure you can guess what that kind of polish 'should' look like. I actually got this fellow (do nail polishes have a gender?) and I'm not perturbed.

I love this kind of finish and thought at first glance it must be akin to my beloved Butter London Rosie Lee.

And there is indeed a resemblance but, even to my untutored eye, they could not in a month of dull and rainy Sundays be described as dupes.

Do you think you have a good eye for colour? Do your friends ask your advice for 'what goes with what'? Do you pick something thinking it will go well with an existing piece only to find that they clash disastrously? Or do you like clashes? Would you wear different shades of blue (for example) in coat, cardi, skirt, shirt, tights???

Jenni

Nox Twilight Wine & Dine

So I still had the Sugar Plum/Prism disaster on my nails but decided that Wine & Dine would be a sorta glittery topcoat that would even the whole mess out.

Wrong. Oh, and a big thanks to Deez Nailz for her comment on my last post. I am but a poor, humble follower and I will do a decent mani one day!

W & D turned out to be virtually opaque with 1 coat! But it was messy so I decided to go with that vibe and put some more Nox Sugar Plum over the top in a vaguely vampiric way. They do get awfully messy, those vampires. Such sloppy eaters.

And I don't dislike it. So here it is. Wine & Dine will be going to my daughter too as it's a foily thing similar to many I already possess. I really like it but I'm trying to be generous. So far I'm keeping Sugar Plum and have high hopes of Crush. Was looking for some Twilight-ish jewellery for her and I do have a silver Fair Trade bracelet I bought at a craft fair. What she really needs is cash rather than bits'n'pieces but I have to give her something a tad personal. So.....

Enough of my Christmas dilemmas.

Jenni

Barry M Dusky Mauve

Good heavens to Murgatroyd!
What a polish!
A Very easy to apply. Goes exactly where you put it. And if I were better at putting it places it would look pretty well perfect.
B It needs light to reveal its secret. In the dim October daylight it could be vaguely, anonymously brown. With flash it's like this...... (See below).

I was very surprised when I looked at my pix to see the shimmer. This is the semi-dupe of Chanel Paradoxal. Now, I've a Chanel watch but I won't part with the pennies for a Chanel polish (a matter of priorities) so this is as close as I'm getting to Paradoxal which, in any case, isn't that special.

I recommend this polish as I reckon it would suit everyone. And it's relatively cheap.

Save or splurge? What are you prepared to spend real money on and what are you happy to compromise on?

Jenni

Models Own Blue Moon + Dusty Mauve

Ingredients
See above
Boots expert  nail ridge filler
Misa Breakneck
Use of Mac iPhoto to edit major imperfections

Method
1 Apply ridge filler
2 Apply 1st coat of polish
3 Apply 2nd coat
4 Apply further coat (if necessary according to taste)
5 Wait 5 minutes before applying topcoat
6 Evaluate

Evaluation
Very pretty. Moon is a blue foil. Not unique but easy to apply and a typical foil
Mauve -  on the nail a soft grey but in the bottle more complex (see below)

Extension activity (sorry, I've lapsed into teacher-ese)
Very pretty but I messed up with a coupla dents'n'dings so the ol' Fairy Dust had to come to the rescue.

Voila. My most-used and rapidly thickening polish.
I am far too tight to buy a bottle of Seche Restore and I know not to thin it  (attempt to anyway) with remover so have you any budget tips for me, please?

Or I shall be very sad.......
I don't want my Fairy Dust to die! Help my Fairy Dust to live, I beg you!

Tatty bye
Jenni