China Glaze - Sprinkles

It's pink
But it's not just pink - It has a really weird finish that I can't name but I hope one of YOU can, please.

It's much more obvious in the bottle than on the nail but it's a fascinating and intriguing finish. What is it?

2 coats in sun

\\

In sun - could take a 3rd coat but doesn't need it outright - the sun rather washes it out so...

In shade this time

I assume this is a retired polish

It hasn't had a lot of love on the blogs for, if you google it, there are very few swatches

Goes on smooth as silk

Many bloggers are somewhat averse to pink as was I until recently

Is this because it has negative associations with conservatism/lack of enterprise or individuality?

I just thought of it as a colour identified with middle age but pinks are not entirely banished from my nailiverse

So..

2 questions

Do you wear pink on the nail?

What is your favourite pink?

What finish is CG Sprinkles?

Ta ta

Jenni

Butter London Scoundrel (purple/lilac/creme) AND Mavala Violet Diamond

Butter London - I have 3 and hanker after more - the quality of these is amazing
I got a pack of 3 for £15 from ebay and wouldn't hesitate to proclaim this a bargain

2 coats of Butter London Scoundrel

Gorgeous creamy goodness

I needed a cool colour with blue tones so chose this today

HOWEVER 2 nails are particularly badly ridged so, in the absence of ridge-filler, required extra camouflage - hence the Mavala

This looks slightly over-exposed but my fingers look OK for once so I'm keeping this pic! So sue me!

I have yet to see the Mavala under artificial light. Thus far it looks like yer average glitter but I got 6 for £6 plus postage so I'm not moaning.

Accurate colour pic.

PLUS I won something on Simone's giveaway! And I never win anything. I am so chuffed. Barry M glitter polishes.

Simone (GiveTheJewGirlToys) did a giveaway for 40 followers. I've reached that now so I had better put some thought into a celebratory 50 giveaway (if I ever get there). I thought British polishes if I had a US winner or winners and something else if you're British too.

Has anyone any good ideas for how to run a giveaway, please?

A demain

Jenni

Greens - Nubar Reclaim, Cutex Sweet Pea, Hot Looks Ninja, BB Couture Redwood Forest

I had some new greens and I wanted to try them/compare them.

Reclaim 2 coats - why don't I do a whole mani of this??? a lovely holo
Cutex Sweet Pea - 2 swift coats and a stray bit of sparkle - dirty creme
Collection 2000 Ninja - creme 3 coats, a bit streaky
BB Couture Redwood Forest - you have to see this IRL, jelly dark green with blue glass fleck, just get it, I am a huge fan of BB so I'll say that you should get everything they make! 2 coats - no need for more, perfect in 2

The pic washes out the Cutex a bit. I have never seen these swatched which is a very great shame. They do a dirty blue creme also (Huckleberry) which appears to be one of a range of 6 autumnal colours. They include Cider and Eggplant. I don't have those but I mean to acquire more. Cutex used to make lots of shades in days gone by. Perhaps they were merged or taken over by some other corporate giant. Who's to know?

The moral of this posting is: on the whole you get what you pay for. There are caveats to this and I'm sure we could all think of exceptions.

Happy days

Jenni

TOPSHOP - free UK delivery until Friday 14th May

They do clothes. They do nails. They do what it says in the title. I have ordered 4 polishes. 

http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TopCategoriesDisplay?storeId=12556&catalogId=19551

What would YOU (or indeed are you) getting?

Jenni

Orly Not So Dusty Rose and GOSH Rainbow

All the US bloggers are showing Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. Yes?
Are we to be out-flakied? No.


This started with an orphan polish of mine. More about orphans some other time.
My first Orly - Not So Dusty Rose. 
I mucked about my layering with the Revlon so that had to go.
Bring on the untried Orly.
2 coats. Creme. Great. But I made a dent on the thumb-nail so I had to do something.
When in doubt, go GOSH.

I love the bottle pic of this because it does look fierce!

You pass over a bunch of GOSH and Rainbow looks like it might be a standard glitter topcoat. 

I love the way it can reveal green. gold, copper, blue .......blah de blah...

I tried to show its red properties in my pix but didn't succeed.

Believe me though, it flashes red over the Orly and I haven't seen that side of it before.

This shows the Orly. Trouble is my teeny hands can't get anywhere near round a bottle of polish. I enhanced the colour on this but I'm not sure that I should have. It is maybe looking too warm.

This is love. It's very cool and flatters my gnarled and ancient hands.

I'm not saying I'd spurn Hidden Treasure. I'd like to see a comparison. Can anyone out there do that, please? Rainbow v Hidden Treasure?

Jenni

Revlon Passion Punch (an oldie)

Not old to me though. From one of my fave discount etailers. Cosmetic Kingdom maybe. Or Blush?

Apparently this exists also in a shimmer version.
This is not that version.
Look a bit old-ladyish but I quite like the slightly dull tone of it. The pic looks a shade brighter than IRL.

Just a bog-standard creme. 2 coats. No issues.

Inevitably I will have to titivate this.
May go back to purple and green tomorrow or try one of the combinations suggested in comments yesterday.

I nearly forgot a giveaway!
www.givethejewgirltoys.blogspot.com

***MINI-GIVEAWAY!***

All followers of this blog are welcome to enter! There'll be 4 prizes, each consisting of 3 Barry M Nail Paints. Click here for more details :) ENDS ON THURSDAY MAY 13TH!

I am really trying to be supportive of British products and British bloggers. This is Simone!

Back to MY nonsense...

Does purple really go with anything? Maybe I should try a purple patch.
Purple and orange?
Purple and yellow?
What's the least likely purple-partner, do YOU think?

Jenni

The Edge Costa Rica and Barry M Navy

I have decided that brown and blue are good together. Like this....

Shiny, huh? Yes, there's top coat. I would say these are even shinier IRL. The brown with gold/bronze glitter is great in the sun. Both go on easily. 2 coats for the Navy and 3 for the brown.

And a bottle pic - not of the Barry M though because I couldn't get a good pic PLUS it looks nowhere near as good in bottle as on the nail anyway PLUS you all know what Barry M looks like PLUS you could find a pic in another blog or nailgal

I enhanced this so it looks a shade lighter than IRL but it is sunny here so it's fairly close to authenticity


The RH is doing something other (comme toujours) and will be shown tomorrow.


Jenni
I think good partners are:
pink and green
purple and green
pink and orange
blue and brown
red and grey
yellow and blue


What do you think?

3 giveaways! The photos I copied have disappeared so this is all text..Sorry...

First up
http://www.donotrefreeze.com/2010/05/smart-nails-giveaway.html 
From the lovely Leanne - click and look at an innovation in nailart
SmART Nails Giveaway!
Can't Konad? Try this! I want to.

Next giveaway, please. From Polishtopia.

http://polishtopia.blogspot.com/

Any 5 of a range Nails Inc polishes. Oh, yes. 5!!!!
POLISHTOPIA

And also the gloriously named Frazzle and Aniploish
Frazzle and Aniploish

http://thekarend.blogspot.com/2010/05/first-contest.html 

You've seen it all over the shop. You could have one too. Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure

See you soon

Jenni

Barry M Mushroom and other taupes

Mushroom is new

I couldn't get any colour-accurate pix today

This looks too dark even after fiddling with exposure/saturation/blah de blah

2 coats of gorgeous chocolatey goodness (base and top coat too)

On nice nails this would be tremendous

I obviously have similar shades to the Mushroom but this is not a dupe of any of the following:

Miss Sporty 204, SH Pure Putty (I love this one), The Edge Prague (untried but looks greyer than Barry M), Barry M Mushroom (slightly warmer) and Nails Inc Mink (mink is lighter and pinker than Barry M but close-ish)

Barry M again, Avon Root Beer Float (has slight silver glass fleck), Bourjois Beige Glamour (quite pinky), Eyeko Posh (a tad darker and greyer than Mushroom) and a lousy pic of CG Channelesque which has that mauve cast to it

These all apply very easily. Well, the ones I've tried! I never thought I'd have time for this kind of shade but it is easy to wear, flattering and can take some zhoosshing up if you feel so inclined

The last 2 pix are far too dark and I couldn't fix them to save my life. Sorry.

Will be working on publicising some giveaways tomorrow

Do Not Refreeze

Polishtopia

Frazzle and Aniploish

Ta ta!

Jenni

Barbara Daly Kiwi, Eyeko Purple, Barry M Mushroom

3 new polishes - 2 of which are shown in this pic

Mushroom is new
Eyeko Purple released a few months ago?
Kiwi is from Tesco

We did grafitti art at work yesterday and I thought neon green and electric purple worked well together
The Barbara Daly is a mini, easy to work with, very shiny, doesn't dry matte, there was a virtually empty display so it looks like the shades have been popular and I'll be back to see if they have restocked and what the colours actually are!!

The Eyeko came in a set with Nude and Vintage and some others - I am hugely impressed with Eyeko
This particular shade hasn't had good reviews but I found it very easy to apply, opaque in 2 coats - another criticism is drying-time and I can't yet comment on that

I like them all and think they work very well together
My RH is purely mushroom....

Barry M has a 30% discount going on for M Club members (you only have to register for it, simples!)

I'm going to give a nod to Polishtopia and Leanne of Do Not Refreeze tomorrow or Monday because of their great giveaways...

X
Jenni