Oh, dear..... sad face.....Illamasqua Raindrops

 

It's all very well. Looks quite nice. A very pretty polish. But application? Blimey.

3 coats. Then I just couldn't help myself. I had to apply another. 

4 coats! I can live with that but I had to be so careful.

Too little polish on the brush and I got fearful drag.

Too much polish and I had a puddle.

It's a jelly. I love jelly polishes usually and have never found them difficult to apply but this baby...? Whoa.

The photo makes it look a tad blue whereas it is a genuine grey.

Tricky. Coming to a verdict - tricky. I do love it but it is in my top 10 of silly buggers as regards behaviour. Maybe top 5.

Funnily enough this is one of the 'suggest a colour' polishes. I got in the top 50 in that competition. Or DID I? I've read a lot of bloggers who've had that particular email. D'you think it possible that Illamasqua flattered us in order to foster brand-loyalty/sales? I'd love to know how many of those emails went out! Allegedly. Just insert 'allegedly' in every sentence in this paragraph. *fingers crossed*

Jenni

Nails Inc Augustus Street - not so august

Well, I googled it and I can't say I was impressed. Looks a bit shabby to me. The street in Camden. Ya get wot am sayin', blood? OK, that's enough of me getting down with the kids.

(BLOG SALE WILL BE MONDAY AS REQUESTED.)

The polish ain't no better. Looks good in the bottle. Not so much on the nail. And it's suede-effect! Bah. I've put RapiDry over it and it still isn't glossy. So I tried Top Rock. I'm new to RapiDry and I'm guessing it isn't even meant to provide shine. Does anyone know? The Top Rock improves it a little.

AND worse yet it's one of a set of 4 I got cheapo from TK Maxx and they are ALL suede!

Never mind.

Jenni

beauty uk Gun Metal

A regulation shimmer/frost gunmetal but it has a tiny hint of glitz, I'd say. 2 coats are more than adequate. I have a Revlon like this - only not so good. Another impressive polish from beauty uk. Well done to them.

I'm very anti-colour these days. Couldn't bear the thought of another coral/green/yellow/blue. A little jaded.

Jenni

China Glaze Pelican Grey

Grey is fearfully dull but does make a rather flattering nail polish shade. I am now madly researching shimmery and frosty greys. This has my trusty FlorMar over it just to even it out and just enhance the shimmer a jot and tittle.

This conspired to be both thick and watery. Nonetheless I award it 'neuf points' on the Eurovision nail-scoring scale.

Even more remarkable was the price. £2.10 plus VAT from Sally's. One does have to pop in and check out the sale shelves and brave the inevitable "D'you need any help?" from the predatory assistants when one is in town.

Favourite greys?

Jenni

Mavala Berlin - hot from Smurf Central

The curse of blue nail polish. You can never get rid of it...

This was streaky after the 1st coat and I thought I'd be heading for a minimum of 3 but the 2nd was more than sufficient. Another excellent polish from Mavala.

Looks like me, Mavala and Leighton Denny are going to make a cosy threesome. Really want to support European brands. And UK polishes if possible. I checked and the LD are made here. This may account in part for their higher price in addition to their excellent quality but I'm happy to pay more to keep jobs in the UK. Don't want us to be seen just as a nation of bankers. Bankers. Is that the right word, I wonder? Hm.

Jenni

Mavala Khaki Vintage

Ordered this online and was disappointed when it arrived.

"Thin green shimmer, huh? Well, this'll take about 8 coats then. Oh, dear. Maybe I shan't bother then." WRONG. It's green and it's grey and it's soft and it's shimmery.

It's actually rather thick too and took only 2 coats which was plenty! Plus topcoat. Jumping Jehosophat, but this is one cool polish. I know Mavala works out pretty expensive when you consider the bottle holds only 5ml. But Mavala are really impressing me quality-wise. Their ridge-filler is excellent. And that's high praise from me. The woman with ridges deeper than the Grand Canyon.

I have 2 more to show you. Mavala doesn't get much love on UK blogs which is a shame.

Jenni
PS Comments promptly attended to...

Nails Inc Duke St - 24 Euros for a nail polish and a box and a bit of tat?!

OK, I didn't pay the price on the box. Far from it. But who pays that kind of money? Maybe nobody did which is why it's on sale for £6.95...Talk about ripping people off!

First the polish info. Lovely blue-grey creme. 2 coats. Nice enough. Excellent formula.

It's a leeeeeeettle bit less blue IRL.

Next the outrage. I bought a load of stuff. This polish however was in its own box. Hubris or what? Its own box?! The box clearly states 24 Euros. For 1 polish in a plastic tray and a 'phone charm' in a box. What's charming about it I simply don't know. You have to laugh at the audacity of a company that charges astronomical amounts for a handful of beans (Jack and the Beanstalk allusion). Of course I'm not really outraged - more astonished that some people (I pray it wasn't any of YOU) would dream of paying 24 Euros (£20.06) for such a thing.

See! I didn't lie. It says quite clearly 24 Euros.

I'm slightly ashamed I paid what I did, let alone twenty quid! But it was part of a bargain buy and the rest were cheap-as-chips so I'm not too guilt-ridden by it.

OK, what d'you reckon is a fair price for a Nails Inc polish with a *ahem* charm?

Jenni

BB Couture Opposites Attract

I don't have many greys. Actually this may be the only one.

Plenty of silvers I have. Greys not so much. But if you want a grey this is a good one. Ever so slightly textured. This is probably 2 coats. I have fiddled so comprehensively with my camera that I have c0cked it up completely. Ah, well.

A Nars tomorrow and a back-story (how I hate that expression) of how I obtained it.

Back to work tomorrow. Tra la la. Oh, well. I have a clean car, a full stomach, a loving OH, a new grandchild to look forward to, a cup of tea at my right elbow, a box of chocs downstairs. Everything has to be worked for! Toodle pip!

Jenni

Barielle Coalest Day of the Year + ELF Metal Madness

The ELF is better. Not so dark and has more sparkle.

 

2 coats of each. The Barielle is on the index finger.

 

Top marks to ELF. It's a little thinner and doesn't disguise my ridges quite as well so the better option would be 1 coat of each with the ELF on top. Sorted.

ELF are getting some funkier colours up and running. Ha! Paint. Paint runs...Oh, never mind.

Jenni

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm (holo)

I'm still anti-colour so today we have one of the best polishes I have.

You can sort-of see the holo on the ring finger. This is 3 coats. No TC.
Even if it cost more than a coupla quid it would be way worth it.

Look at the bottle!
I think this is a cross between dinosaur skin and fur.
People babble on about OPI My Private Jet but they can keep it. I don't know what gets better than this.
I want to stroke it. It's like velvet dinosaur skin-fur. It's like serenity and bliss in a bottle. It makes even my pudgy paws look vaguely half-decent. It's the song of the blackbird on a cool morning in May.


Now for the mundane.
In the UK it's available from Konad Nail Stamping Nail Art - Flashy Nails.
Every Diamond I have is a great polish.
Charm is one of only 2 polishes for which I have back-up.

It appears from my survey that most of you are dancer(s). Just saying.

The love of my life resurfaces on Thursday.
Test cricket. None of this 1-day malarkey. And 20-20 is beyond evil. The work of the devil.
England v Pakistan.
My cricket memories. Those days of yore.
My dream job would be cricket-commentator for the BBC. I kid you not.

Very cross as my googled image of Sir Geoffrey keeps disappearing. Bah, humbug.


This is one of my cricket heroes - Sir Geoffrey Boycott. Don't tell me he hasn't been ennobled because in my head he IS Sir Geoffrey. Why am I not doing a cricket-blog? Expect lots of cricket to have to skip beyond until the Test series is over but am I repentant? I am not.

Dream job?
Sporting hero?

Jenni

Ciate Sienna + animal testing (not suggesting that the 2 are linked btw)

Under normal circumstances I wouldn't buy a polish from a range named after slebs (overpaid and underworked airheads for the most part) but this was £3 from asos. So there go my principles. See them? Fast fading into the distance. They'll be back.

It's a good colour. Greyish. Mauve-ish. Purple-ish. Generally rather on the -ish edge of the spectrum.

Brownish.

With a bit of added -ish.
This is 2 coats after 24 hours of wear.
I like it.

Animal Testing.
I can't say much about this other than that I deplore it. Kind of a "duh" statement.....
I really had assumed it no longer goes on. But Green Fairy brought it up in a comment yesterday with reference to Rimmel. I have 3 dogs. I may love my nail varnish but I love animals far more and if the nails have to go naked then so be it. I plead guilty to ignorance of this issue. I will have to rectify this forthwith. So my question is this?

A Does it bother you that cosmetics companies still animal-test?
B Do you want me to do a load of research (thanks, google) and publish my results?
C Do you want to do your own googling with reference to your own stash?
D Please don't leave comments that support/argue the case for animal-testing for cosmetics because I've done the devil's advocate thing in my own little head and I can't find a single valid reason in favour of aforementioned testing. I'm not remotely sentimental about animals but if they need guinea-pigs for cosmetics then they can ask me. If I have to suffer in the cause of vanity then so be it. I don't see why a chimp, beagle or rat need suffer on my behalf.

Watching dear little baby birds from my window and feeling guilty about my cavalier disregard for the welfare of critters

Jenni

Bourjois 1 Seconde Greyish black or Blackish grey

This is my LH but the accent finger isn't subtle enough - dammit

The flash makes this look much lighter than it is
Lovely and creamy
2 coats but could have made do with 1

That's more like it. Shiny, happy nails. Much more colour-accurate.
Trouble is that one can see the ragged filing on 2 nails. FFS I have a Leighton Denny £10 file and I still make a pig's ear of it. How? Why? And why do I sometimes punctuate and fail to do so on other occasions? 43.

The accent has GOSH Rainbow

I love Bourjois polishes. I haven't had a single Bourjois polish I haven't really liked/admired/loved.
What do you think of Bourjois? Some say the colour range is a bit bland but what thinkest thou?

Jenni
Still too darned hot.

FingerPaints - Meet Me At The Met - grey - DotD

My 1st FP
Silver Diva chose this for me for our swap

2 coats. This is great! Grey CAN be boring. This one isn't.
It has hints of blue and olive in some lights. It has shimmer and stuff.
It glides on easily-peasily.
Finger Paints has made a strong start in my book. I have 2 more to try.

Under halogen.

This is a quality polish. Different looks in different lights.
Twinkle ain't goin' nowhere (index). And why should it?

DotD demonstrating depression and male solidarity.

Fellow on the left had been exiled to the bottom of the garden (not by me - I'm a softie) on account of having got filthy and having been hosed down and being wringing wet. Fellow on the right joined him in a protest against human harshness. All very sad and pitiful.

Now the tag.

5 facts.

Oh, and watch yer backs because I'm still thinking about whom else to tag. It may be YOU.

Rebekah tagged me. (For the love of nails...)

1. I didn't learn to swim until I was nearly 30 because I'm a scaredy-cat and hated water.

2. I didn't find out I was pregnant with Child 1 until 24 weeks. Call myself an educated woman. Ha!

3. During my Grade 3 piano exam the examiner groped my ample frontage. I got a Distinction. In one of the sections he gave me 21 out of 20!!!

4. I have sacralisation of the 5th lumbar vertebra (stiff lower back).

5. I don't have wisdom teeth.

I tag Bethanie if she reads this. 5 factoids, please.

And for "What's in your bag?" I tag Susie.

Jenni-fur

BB Couture - Impact Driver - Incognito

REPORT on my BB experiment w/out base and top coats

Removed the pink and green very reluctantly
After 2/3 days had tipwear
1 chip on a thumbnail but that was due to a slight peel beneath and was easily remedied

Verdict: you can afford to dispense with the base and top coats with BB Couture (as claimed), moreover BB doesn't always cooperate well with other products so it also safer not to take the risk and go commando

As a consequence I decided to forego the usual preparations again today (and it's easier for lazy slobs like me)

The blue is ID and the other one is Incognito

Both from the men's range

ID has 3 coats

Incognito 4 but could take more (don't moan - how long does it take to wipe a brush over a nail?)

Very easy to apply, very thin, very streaky unless you put more polish on the brush (not rocket-science, is it?)

They have a matte-ish (satin) quality and are the first polishes from the men's collection for me - but not *fiendish cackle* the last...

MORE details

This is my attempt to show the oil-slick mauve/violet/pink aspect of this grey (?) polish

Simply unique

I am harping on about Incognito and took many a pic to display what the naked eye can perceive but no luck...I mean, can you glimpse a special something in this pic (middle finger)? No?  Bah. Well, go google some better photos - and there are certainly better swatches out there. This particular colour was only released a couple of weeks ago so there aren't many examples of it but they are all sharper than mine!
Impact Driver is tremendous too. It has particles. Not glitter. Particles. BB is the only brand I know that makes these innovative finishes. There's no sun here but I know they have more to give and they are more colourful than they look here.

This has been very frustrating trying to capture these! Boo.

Got my Barielle quartet. NOT brilliantly packaged. Nor were they the first time I purchased from them. Why skimp on that?

Stuck in the house and waiting for the rain to cease before parading my dogs.
 Do you think muddy/dirty colours are OK or do you hanker after brights? Answers on a postcard, please.

Jenni

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

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

Attitudes by Star Nails - Clouded Slate and Peacock Feather

More UK polishes - fairly colour-accurate pix although my eyesight isn't the best

The grey on most fingers is Clouded Slate

The middle finger is Peacock

I began with my base coat

Then, because these are cremes and I have awful ridges, I added a coat of Edge London (a sort of seemingly-nothing glitter but absolutely smooth) and hoped it would mitigate the ridges

Then a coat of the grey and peacock

Aha! Smooth, no ridges and fully-pigmented in 1 coat

But I did 2 out of habit

I love these! I wanted cool colours today because they flatter my hands better

They turned out super-glossy and smooth

Nail Warehouse has 3 for the price of 2 for May/June and I have already got 6 on order

The usual price is less than £2.50 anyway and I think they're darned good

Btw I know I have no disclosure policy posted so I'll sort that out

Suffice it to say that I have never had a freebie in my life!

I never win a prize at a raffle, a tombola, a lottery, that's the way it is....Anyone else out there the same?

Bottle pic

Peacock Feather, Asteroid and Clouded Slate

The Asteroid I have used a couple of times and is on my RH - more pics of that tomorrow

A bientot

Jenni