Mavala Sparkling Red

Dontcha just love it when companies go to such trouble to name their polishes?
Hm...

Supposedly red holo glitter. This is over Glitter Gal Light as a Feather and Color Club mini Silver Glitter. Not sure if it looks as if I have a disease/fungal infection/shingles/bubonic plague. Hey, I was too lazy to do a fresh mani so what do I expect?

The Mavala is quite gritty and does need one layer of topcoat. Not two. One.

Jenni

Leighton Denny Provocative

OMG, a perfect jelly red in 2 coats. So shiny. A beautiful blue-red shade. Mwah! How much do I now love LD polishes. They are truly fabulous. I am now on a mission to hunt them down at semi-bargain prices. Wish me luck.

I had to fiddle in iPhoto with temperature and tint because this was showing way too yellow-orange. Consequently my skin looks positively purple. Matters not.

Nothing more to say.

Jenni

2true Fast Dry Shade 5 - I shall call it RED PAINT

For it is indeed shiny, red paint. 2 coats of it. I love this brand with an exceeding great love.

I felt quite sophisticated wearing this - even the other hand was conventional. A vampy brown-red. Most unusual for me. And not entirely comfortable with that.

• How often do you wear red, if at all? 
• Do you like a plain creme red?
• Do you prefer red with a twist?
• What's your favourite and least favourite red?

Jenni

Barry M 01 Scarlet Red Lip Lacquer Crayon

In a rush when I applied it (hence the patchiness at the centre) so..

• Barry M therefore not expensive
• Flows on easily
• Thick 'point' and not scratchy
• Feels soft but not too squidgy (ever so slightly squidgy but I'm highly squidgy-averse)
• Bags of pigmentation
• Easily available even in the retail black hole that is my town
• I like the colour, I REALLY like the colour
• There are only 5 from which to choose - bummer - and no plummy or purple ones - double bummer

What's with that pathetic "Ballet Pink" one, huh? Too girlie. 01 is on the right. I have seen swatches of 02 Cherry Red and that's a stunner also.

I fancy the middle one too - Mandarin. 

Give me a good reason NOT to buy at least one of these. Go on, I dare you. A couple of bloggers say these lip lacquers are too glittery for their taste and there is a slightly sparkly quality to this one but I am definitely not put off.

Jenni

Illamasqua Ruthless + red cremes

Got this with a lipstick for a good price on asos.

Btw this is emphatically not a Valentine's mani. I acknowledge Christmas and Easter and that's about it. Hallmark and all the other card companies can take a running jump. If you can only be loving/thoughtful/considerate one day of the year (after a great deal of hinting etc) then you're not the woman for me! Not that I'm looking anyway.

This photo is taken on day 3. Three coats. Excellent quality.

A red creme is a red creme. I don't have many because what's the point of THAT then? These are the ones I DO have. I'm quite impressed that I don't have many similar polishes in my collection. I do try not to duplicate things.

Nails Inc The Hurlingham (untried) - veering orange?
Cover Girl Candy Apple - my first! really good
Illamasqua Brigitte - lovely jelly finish
Illamasqua Ruthless - see above (bit on the blue side?)
CG Phat Santa - also good, the darkest

It's hard to formulate a poor quality red creme. It's one shade that seems to be fairly foolproof.
Tbh the Nails Inc and the CG were in sets and I wouldn't have bought them separately. I wanted the others in the set.
The CG was in a set too with a sparkle topcoat. For me the CG was fine as my solitary red creme. But I'm getting a bit of an Illamasqua obsession so I will buy stuff I find on sale whether I need it or not. Foolish woman!

Why do we do stupid things whilst knowing full well that we should not?

Examples

• continue to buy nail polish we neither need nor can afford
• persist with partners whom we no longer love nor respect (could be just me and it was a few years ago)
• eat foods that we know will make us fatter and less healthy
• drink to excess when we know we are very likely to have a sore head or do something desperately embarrassing
• the list goes on...

People are odd.

Jenni

BB Couture Tuxedo Night

Vampy. Seem to be very vampy-prone at the mo.

Reminds me of fruits and seeds. Not raspberry exactly because raspberry juice would be paler but...well, raspberry-esque.

This is actually 2 coats of the BB over 2 coats of a Zoya which I shan't even bother to name (Divincia or some such) because it is pathetic. The BB however is a BB and is a class act (despite my ham-fistedness).

One of the BB Couture men's range. Do you know any men who wear nail polish? I think I do but I'm not saying any more because even he (though he's quite 'out there' in many ways) just kinda plays with it and then removes it. Is it just rockers? I'm sure many men have very nice nails and hands and would look good in polish. Would you freak if a fella close to you wore polish?

Jenni

Nubar Prize

This is meant to be holo. Not on my nails it isn't. But I love it regardless.

3 coats, I think. It isn't as red as I had expected either. But this went on beautifully. I do love Nubar. Even after the contretemps with Petunia Sparkle!

I don't have product loyalty to anything really. I have a million perfumes. I buy supermarket own-brand. I like experimenting. I am unerringly faithful to my OH and that's about it.

What about you? Is it Heinz for beans? Nivea for the face? M&S for knickers? What are your 'until hell freezes over' items?

Freaky friends...completely random. This really ought to be a caption competition.Please have a go because anyone can improve on my lame effort.

Fat cat: Just leave me alone! I told you before. You know I don't go out with birds that are taller than me!



Jenni

Max Factor Hyperfull Voluptuous

Nothing new under the sun. Charlotte of  http://www.lipglossiping.com/ LIPGLOSSIPING did a coupla posts on this and it's a blog staple.

The old 'red lipstick' debate. Do you or don't you? I do. Doesn't matter if my hair is black (now), purple (last month), blonde (summer) or red. Why do women say it makes them feel clownish? You just have to have a bit of attitude (a - i -yude) to go with it.

This was a market stall item. £1.99? Too tomato to look good with my teeth. I like these matte lippies as I hate splodge and you can always put a spot of gloss in the middle to 'lift' it.But it looks fine if I don't smile. Yellow teeth allegedly need blue-reds to detract from the hideousness.

I can't do pale lips now I'm ageing and fading. I'd just be invisible. Women of my age often claim to be invisible because they perhaps don't attract so much male attention but I've never cared for that so I'm very happy to be free to be increasingly eccentric. That great poem about wearing purple when you get older and spitting. Purple yes. Spitting? Obviously not. Actually most of this has applied to me for years........

Warning

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter. I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells And run my stick along the public railings And make up for the sobriety of my youth. I shall go out in my slippers in the rain And pick flowers in other people's gardens And learn to spit. You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat And eat three pounds of sausages at a go Or only bread and pickle for a week And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes. But now we must have clothes that keep us dry And pay our rent and not swear in the street And set a good example for the children. We must have friends to dinner and read the papers. But maybe I ought to practice a little now? So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple. Jenny Joseph

Jenni

Illamasqua Brigitte

This is 3 coats. Of jelly, liquid flow-y scrumptiousness.
Half-price in their sale.
It's a little more pink than in the pic.And a lot less orange-y. Still not got the camera settings right.

If you google Brigitte then you're likely to discover it's a German women's magazine.
But to me it's the actress who once looked like this. Brigitte Bardot (born 1934 so a bit younger than my mother).

And now looks like this.

We're all supposedly obsessed with weight gain and ageing.

My views are:
WEIGHT I'm too fat from a medical point of view but not as fat as lots of people I see in the supermarket (my personal litmus test!) so I'm relaxed about it.
AGE Never had it so good as now. I'm 55 and I like it! Apparently 30s and 40s are the time women are least happy. Work pressures. Relationship problems. All that stuff. I'm over that.

Where do you stand on weight and age? Woman's Hour (BBC Radio 4) has spent 2 days on women and weight and I just want to shout at them to shut up. Are we not more than our lb and oz? Ffs. I know that's a bit odd/hypocritical coming from a woman who spends hours on fashion blogs but all that whining gets so tedious. RANT OVER.

Jenni 

BB Couture Bullfighter

Squishy, jelly red.
The ridges on the ring finger nail are just SOOOOO bad.
Sorry.

3 coats.
This is one amazing polish. It sorts of gloops on in a way one can almost feel and HEAR. It's beautifully thin and controllable but it has the consistency of double cream or something. I just painted and painted because it was so satisfying. I've since added Napa Valley Red to it and that's special too.

Loving this. (I did have a huge chip on the middle finger after 2 days though which I do not believe was my fault. Hm. No matter.)

Jenni

BB Couture Santa's Sak + China Glaze Phat Santa

Enormously exasperated and very vexed that my photos don't show how jolly cherry-juicy these reds are. The Phat Santa is darker IRL. Glossy and gummy.

The first pic is today because I played with layering more Sak (!!!) over Santa. The bottom pic is mostly just 2 coats and is from yesterday. I'm pretty sure this is 2 or 3 days of wear.

Joyful polishes. Optimistic. Cheering. Just want to suck my fingers. Yummy.

The dreaded Christmas-craziness has begun to infect the school.

"I've already got my tree up, Miss."

'Is that so? Well, Christmas isn't coming to MY house for a long time yet and would you kindly consider actually doing a bit of work, you idle child!!!"  

I don't quite say that to them - not QUITE - but why do kids (er, they're actually 16-18) have to down tools this early? Grrr.  I want to work. When they take it easy they just make mischief. Teacher's nightmare is Christmas....

But the food is good. Lovely Bakewell sponge today. And leek and bacon quiche. Not in that order.

Jenni

Missguided MissUnderstood

This is really a blood-red. Yummy! Darker than it appears below therefore.

I do like the Missguided polishes.
There's always a BUT though, is there not?

In this instance it's the brush. More stray hairs than a porcupine's posterior. What a mess it made. I had to do clean-up and I never do clean-up any more. Crossness incarnate. Or would have been if I let myself get stressed about such trivial matters.

Which set me to thinking.
Why do we have a brush for every bottle of polish? WHY? It's madness. Why not buy one brush that suits us and clean it after each use?
Bottles would be easier to store without big handles. Cheaper to manufacture/package/transport.
Why the crazy nail-polish-brush waste of resources?

What do you think? Have your own personal polish-brush. Polishes to come without brush as standard.

Jenni

Barielle Elle's Spell - a day's wear

What a rubbish day! I usually love my work (teacher) but today was bl00dy awful. Plus my mobile does not appear to be making or receiving calls plus plus plus.....On the good side daughter 2 rang to say she is OK after I read on her facebook that she had had lots of pills from the doctor! Kids, eh?

Oh, yes. Nail polish. I really like this one. End of.

AND I hate Children in Need and Comic Relief and all that forced jollity alternating with dreary violins. You have to be in the UK to know what I'm on about. And I wish I could exchange places if you're somewhere else.

Not that I'm curmudgeonly or anything. Much.

Are you ranting and raving or rested and relaxed?
Jenni

China Glaze Red Stallion

Ooeeee!
I forgot how much I like red polish.

Feels like Christmas on my nails with Rampage on my LH (and how much better it looks with topcoat, may I add) and this on my RH.

I haven't used China Glaze for ages and had forgotten what good quality they are. Cor, I love this one. It's a bit too orange-red to be flattering but it is a hottie! 2 coats + TC.

Tesco has now mentioned the C-word in its advertising. I am emphatically not impressed.

At which date is it first permissible to utter the C-word? I'd say early November at the VERY EARLIEST!

Jenni

Skin Food Raspberry Jam with a hint of a glint of gold

It doesn't have a name really. This is from my swap with Green Fairy of Polished Serenity.

Really thick in a highly-pigmented way. 2 coats. No topcoat as yet. I love the paper labels on this Skin Food line. Feels like a jelly but that may just be because it really has a jammy quality that I love.

An attempt to show the "raspberry pips". Kinda works. Sorry for the hard skin on the ring finger. Retouching isn't working very well today.

Hope it lasts. I am going to pack cotton wool, remover, base and top coats and hope to buy some new polish when I get there.

And now for one of the most hideous ads I have seen.

I can say no more than that....

I have a feeling though that this may appeal to a couple of you because it is rather kitsch and there are some who specialise in suchlike. So this is dedicated to anyone who likes it!

Jen

Scarlet Woman + Bourjois Effet Faux Ongles Rouge Modele + Cover Girl Candy Apple

24 hours after application. Daylight.

The Bourjois is on 3 of the visible digits. 2 coats + B + T.
"False-nail-effect" doesn't sound that appealing to me (which is what this polish claims) but it plays a blinder, does this. All it means is that it smooths out my deep-as-the-Marianas-trench ridges. And THAT is no mean feat. I have another colour (beige) and I'm getting 2 more while they're cheap at asos. 2 for £5 odd and no P&P. The colours are not exciting but Bourjois say they are going to widen the range. I know from the beige one that this polish lasts and lasts. I'm delighted with this.

Inside with flash. From which you can tell I have a chip on the index finger (the Cover Girl) and that the Bourjois has the barest hint of shimmer.

Why don't we wear more red? Is it SOOOOO boring and beneath our notice? I am loving this on my nails. Partly the colour and partly the fabulous coverage properties.

False nails? Acrylics, glue-ons? Don't know why I'm snobby about them as my hair is as far from natural as you can get (think straw). Perhaps it's because I knew someone who got a terrible fungal infection from wearing false nails. It was really gross. It's more common with fake nails than natural, isn't it? I also don't like the regularity of fake nails. Mine are atrocious and I can't shape them for toffee but they look sort-of honest. Which again is ridiculous because my hair is entirely UNauthentic. Prejudice is an odd thing. Totally irrational.

Anyway, I am now on a massive red-binge. I have about 5 reds out of over 300 so it won't last long.

Revlon ad from the Seventies (that's a guess). I think Fire and Ice is a nice idea for a range. I wonder if this model was air-brushed? She has a great figure. Probably genuine but one becomes so cynical.

Any red ideas for me? Mainstream or funky?
Jenni

Swap with Fern of Polished Serenity - who doesn't love a good swap???

All the way from Singapore!
From the lovely Fern who runs Polished Serenity

Skin Food
Ah, problem. They don't have names so...
Creamy Green
Sparkly Red
Foily Amethyst

Line-up from a different angle - I just love the manila labels! And polish specifically for pedicures! Hurrah.

This one is still in the plastic and I like scrumpling the bag so that stays on.
Sparkly Magenta

2 Rainbow and a Canmake. No names.
Er, candyfloss pink, blue-tinged pink, sparkles in pink.

And...

Shampoo + conditioner sachets. Useful as I had my hair cut today and it could do with a good conditioning.
A blackcurrant sweet sachet which I thought at first was a (poor eyesight) BLACK CARROT sweet.
Mmmm,  *eats all 5 little sweets in one go* quite powerful.
A serum which Fern (Fern, you ARE lovely) has written instructions for use on in English because it's in "Singaporean". I am so ignorant that I don't know what language it is - Malay? Better go a-googling.

I must start adding sweets/candies to swaps. I forgot how much people like them.

What's the weirdest sweet you've ever had? Personally I detest liquorice and can't understand why anyone likes it. But black carrot actually rather appealed to me.

And have you ever done a swap?

I'm about to do my RH nails with one of these polishes. The first person to post a comment guessing correctly will receive an email from me asking their address and ultimately a parcel of polishes based on their preferences for tried/untried (obviously there's less choice if you opt for untried only) and colours and finishes. But wait for me to ask you. Any country but postage can be expensive so a UK resident might just get a bigger haul. But surface mail (ship) is fairly cheap so that might work.

So just guess which of the swap polishes above I am about to paint on my nails. Or just tell me about sweets if you don't want any polishes. For a teacher I can be very poor at exposition so I hope that's clear.

Jennifer

A most extraordinary thing...

....happened to me today and this is the result. See below.

Long story starts now...
Old iron packed up a while ago. OH got a new iron. Turned out new iron was far too heavy for my poor ickle paws and the handle was too thick and I strained that area between thumb and index finger. Ouch. Went to John Lewis for new iron. Not made in China obviously. OK, found iron for person with small paws - me. You have to have a quick look round John Lewis while you're there. Obviously! Up a floor. Disgorge from escalator right onto the Yves St Laurent counter. Not exactly onto it but you know what I mean.

Now THIS is where it gets crazy!

OH says (I kid you not): Oh, thats' nice. Do you like that? (Meaning the polish you see above).

I take a closer look and say nonchalantly: Yes. (And bravely saunter on).

Well, do you want it?

(Casually as if couldn't really be bothered). Yes, that would be very nice.


OH deplores my nail habit as a rule. Freaky. OH bought polish for me.

It is a jelly. I knew it would be. It cost £16.50. Worth every bleedin' penny.
2 coats + top coat. The 2nd pic makes it look more tomato-red but it IS a genuine blue-red. Even the 1st pic is not really accurate.

YSL Copyright Red.
A proper polish where the top comes off and leaves you with a manoeuvrable black handle. No clean-up needed.

No WAY do these pix give it enough respect. I am a very grateful wife!

What does your partner-person make of your habits/addictions/eccentricities?

A very happy hand-waving, hand-admiring, smugly-grinning
Jen -fer

A cautionary tale - no, 2 cautionary tales!

1 Easy. Use basecoat before you apply Jessica Aqua Tint or you will get smurf-paws like this... Ta da!

See those cuticles! I have had pumice stone all over these fingers. I was 50 kinds of fool not to use basecoat under a blue. (This looks slightly washed-out in the sun. My cuticles are much worse IRL.)
This is part of universal nail-lore. Blues stain. Yellows streak.

What's on my nails today?

This is cautionary tale 2 btw.

CT 2
I check ebay for OPI bargains. The one on the left was sold as an unnamed OPI. Caveat emptor. Look at the pic, buy it if you like it. Fine. Nowt exciting but..fine.

The one on the right was described as Overexposed in South Beach. The pic wasn't great. Hey, it was described....(Yeah, I did that bit). Now that's a polish I wanted. £5.99. Ting! Thank you.

It duly arrives. I tear open the parcel to be confronted by....all I know is this. It ain't OE in SB. I negotiated a partial refund from the seller because I couldn't be @rsed to go through the faff of returning it. It's a pink foil of no particular distinction whatever. It's functional for days when I just can't decide. They said that the labels had been mixed up. It came with a label saying: Not So Berry Daring. It isn't that particular baby either! I don't mind them guessing at an attribution if they make it clear that there is a degree of doubt. I got a fair deal for an average polish so it's OK. It was meant to be love but it's just the nice lady I talk to at the supermarket - pleasant but not earth-shattering.

The accent nail?

It has to be slightly blurry to pick up the fleck in the jelly. It's over the lighter unnamed OPI. It is???

Who said BB Couture Napa Valley Red? All of you? Good.

My daughter's dog is moulting like a moulty-thing and I am getting white dog hairs all over my nails. I must be inhaling its hair because it's everywhere and on everything.

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