Pinks and Pastels: My Favourite Spring Nail Varnishes

I was reluctant to post anything remotely Spring related whilst the weather was so hideous. It felt like I was tempting fate somewhat. But after a glorious weekend of sunshine in the English countryside, I think we can all agree that Spring has finally sprung! So I'm busting out the pastel hues and bright colours, and swapping out my berry polishes for light and breezy alternatives - bring it on, Summer. 

My first choice of colour this season is one that I've had knocking around for a while now, and it's Peach Melba by Barry M. A beautiful pastel tangerine, it's perfectly on trend this season, which is great as I've always loved those orangey tones. I particularly love the fact that this shade makes my hands look quite tanned which, I can assure you, they are not. Always nice to cheat a cheeky tan.

Next up is another Barry M shade, named Blueberry. A sky blue shade that screams sunny days and picnics in the park, I've been reaching for it a lot more than anticipated. Blues and purples aren't usually my cup of tea, but I've really surprised myself with this baby blue obsession. I guess it's good to keep myself on my toes - and this nail varnish for that matter - perfect with a pair of cute strappy  sandals! Barry M always delivers such a fail safe range of colours for an affordable manicure, so there's no doubt that my collection of polishes will continue to flourish now that I've discovered a love for a new colour family. 

Thirdly, a brand new laquer love - Plastic Fantastic by Ciate. This is my first Ciate polish; a gift in last months Glossybox. As I stated before, blues and purples aren't my thing, so I wasn't entirely sure whether I would like this bright berry hue, and I certainly wouldn't have ever picked it up if it wasn't gifted to me. The name is also a bit misleading, as I was bracing myself for some kind of sickly Barbie shade, but I tried it on anyway, YOLO and all that, and actually, I love it. It's darker than I expected, and I feel that it's the perfect transitional colour for seeing me into Spring. It still has the berry tones of Autumn, but it's light and sweet enough to be perfect for the season ahead.

Last but not least is Models Own Utopia. I borrowed this from a friend for my Grad Ball back in 2012 (gahh I'm old!) as it went perfectly with my dress, and I loved it that much that I bought my own bottle the following day. An understated lilac nude colour, it gives the nails a wonderfully feminine chic look, adding a real sense of sophistication, day or night. I included this in my Valentines post, (notice the cheeky recycled picture) and I do think that this is a neutral enough shade to be used all year round, but I am particularly drawn to it at the moment for reasons unknown. You know, for someone that doesn't like purply shades, I've not done too badly here, have I? 

So there you have it, my new collection of go to shades for the season ahead. Do you have any of these shades? What are your favourite colours for Spring? Let me know!

S.

P.s. Apologies for the week long hiatus. I had a rather hectic unplanned week, with no posts written or scheduled - won't be letting that happen again any time soon, I can assure you!  

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Obs'essie'd: My Favourite Autumn Nail Varnishes

Ahh it's that time of year again. The air is crisp, the leaves are falling and I'm once again curling my mitts around a delicious pumpkin spice latte. Autumn is one of my favourite seasons. I love when the days become shorter, everyone wraps up just that little bit warmer and the festive excitement in the air becomes that bit more palpable. One of the things I love most about the transition from summer time is the switch to those beautiful fall colours. The golds, the berries, the russets and the rusts make it the most warm and beautiful of the seasons, when the bright and fun colours start to disappear for another year,  making way for the darker, more vampy tones. And as I had such fun writing my Summer nail varnish post, I thought I would do the same for Autumn, sharing with you four of my favourite polishes, which I'm so excited to wear for the months to come. And it just so happens, they're all from Essie...

(Just a little side note, I've taken all of the pictures of my nails with my phone rather than my camera, as is true of my previous post. The picture quality isn't as great, but my camera seems to be butchering the colour in every photograph I take as of late. Naughty camera.)

Bordeaux

First on my list, and my absolute favourite, is the aptly named deep wine colour, Bordeaux. A sultry and sophisticated browny red, I think it's the perfect autumnal colour and everyone should own something like it. Hailed as a great dupe for Chanel's Rouge Noir, I think that this vampy colour looks particularly great on pale skin tones, creating such a stunning contrast. It's one I'll come back to year after year.

Bahama Mama

Not all that different from Bordeaux, this gorgeous plummy red looks delicious on the digits. I received this as a recent birthday gift as part of an Essie duo, and I have fallen head over heels for this beautiful shade. I love this warm, rich purple for vamping up an outfit, or bringing a bit of autumnal colour to your office wardrobe. I'm definitely going to get a lot of mileage out of this beaut over the coming months.

Chinchilly 

I feel like grey can often look rather harsh and cold, much like the Winter months to come, but this polish has a softness to it which lends itself wonderfully to the Autumn season. The second in my birthday duo, Chinchilly is a really muted yet beautiful grey colour and I feel like it's the perfect shade for adding a sense of subtle sophistication to a look. Although it has not long been a part of my collection, this understated babe has already pushed it's way up to one of the top spots on my Autumn favourites list. The friend that bought me the duo, one of my closest, was concerned that I'd hate the colours. Needless to say, she shouldn't have worried.

For The Twill Of It

An olive green in some lights, a steely purple in others, this petrol looking polish is such an interesting addition to Essie's Fall collection. Rather new to my polish stash, I originally wasn't going to buy this at all, but as Boots were in the middle of a 'buy one get on half price' offer, I decided that I had nothing to lose by picking it up. Evidently I had so much to gain. The duo-chrome colour is a hundred times more interesting on the nails than it is in the bottle. This shade offers something a little different for the Autumn than the usual berries and wines, and, in this case, I'm loving a little variation.  

So there you go. My four favourite shades for Fall. I've always loved Essie polishes. With the exception of a couple, I find them to be long lasting, chip resistant and very opaque. I didn't plan for them to be the stars of my fall line up, but it turns out they just do the best darn Autumn colours around! I absolutely cannot wait to wear these shades all season long. You can get all these shades from Boots for £7.99 each.

How excited are you for this Autumn? What are your favourite Autumn shades? Are you a fan of any of the Essie colours? Let me know!

S.

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Review: Fishwife by Butter London

I've said it a few times now, but Butter London is, without a shadow of a doubt, my favourite brand of nail varnish. I love the colour range, the consistency and opacity of their products, as well as the names and the sophisticated packaging. At around £12 a go, they're not what you would call an affordable brand, but I still have rather a few in my collection, despite my bleeding debt card. Here is most recent addition to my Butter London brood, and what was definitely my favourite shade for Summer - Fishwife.

Fishwife, which I actually quite like the name of, weird as it sounds, is a colour that I had been lusting over for quite some time prior to actually getting my hands on it. Sadly, being unavailable in England, I had to shelf it and get on with life. However, during my summer trip to Singapore, I saw it nestled happily in amongst the nail polish displays at Sephora, and ran to grab it so fast I think I might have scared the sales assistant a little. It is now safely back home in my collection, and, having now given it quite a lot of wear, I can tell you that it's a keeper.

The colour itself is the most beautiful holographic sea foam green, with a streak of gold to it, as well as a huge array of other shimmery particles, so that in some lights, it can look really fitting of it's name, and in others, more muted and warm. I'm writing this before I have taken any photographs, so I sincerely hope I can capture it well on camera, although I think I'm being a bit too optimistic. You'll just have to take my word for it. It's a beaut.

As for it's quality, it takes a few coats to really look fantastic, but I think, for the end result, it's so worth the effort! I mean, you could get away with one, but it just looks a little meek and by no means show stopping. I usually go for about 3 coats, which I think looks perfect. The consistency is that of the least streaky polish I have ever owned, and, I'm not entirely sure why but this stuff just does not chip! I don't use a top coat with it, as I feel it impairs the effect somewhat, and I'm curious as to whether this is why it lasts so long. Odd, considering the opposite should be the case.

I am head over heels for this shade, and it's definitely my favourite colour for the Spring/Summer months. Sadly, Autumn has arrived rather abruptly, so I doubt I will get much wear out of it now. So farewell Fishwife, we will meet again next Spring. I will miss you dearly, but until then, I'm excited to start rocking some autumnal berry tones and burgundy shades.

Are you a Butter London fan? What is your favourite Butter London shade? Do you own Fishwife? Let me know!

S.

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Mermaid Nails: Max Factor Max Colour Effects Mini Nail Polish

Tried to use the flash to see if you could see the (sea) green better. It hasn't worked, and the paint job looks worse for it. Never mind!

I love mermaids. Ariel, despite her frustratingly anti feminist tendencies, has always been my favourite Disney character. I love her red hair, and all of the glorious greeny blues and ocean hues of The Little Mermaid. As a child, I took my love for her quite literally and could often be found flapping around in swimming pools, with all the grace of a flailing salmon on a fishing deck, imagining my life as King Triton's youngest daughter. Throughout the years, I've managed to tone it down a little, but I do have red hair, and I still swoon over sea green clothes and turquoise jewellery. So when I saw my friend wearing this gorgeous sea green holographic nail varnish, I knew I had to have it. She told me that it was the Max Factor Max Colour Effects Mini Nail Polish in Dazzling Blue (she actually just said 'it's a Max Factor one' - I've embellished) and true to my crazed inner mermaid fanatic, I made a beeline for it as soon as I entered Boots the next day. A few weeks have passed since then, and I thought I'd write a review of this beautiful colour, now that I've gotten to know it a little better.

First of all, the colour! It's a holographic polish that claims to be blue, but there's definitely a lot of green in it too, and in certain lights, it has a muted gold hue. It's simply stunning, and very difficult to capture on camera I might add. You can only really see the blue in the pictures, which is a real shame. It's quite opaque too, one coat being satisfactory, but two coats giving it a wonderful shot of vibrancy. I've seen a couple of reviews claiming disappointment at the bad coverage and streaky finish of these polishes, but either they got one of the other, clearly more wishy washy colours, or they're wrong. Either way, I have no complaints about mine.

One niggle I do have is that it doesn't have very good lasting power, and it chips like a mofo. Granted, I do work in quite a hands on environment, so I'm forever chipping nails. Even the most hardy of varnishes look forlorn at the end of my shift, so maybe this would fare a little better in a less labour intensive workplace. But hey, you can't have it all, and I love the colour so much that I'm willing to overlook it.

Also, it'd be nice if Max Factor did these in bigger bottles. As the name suggests, these polishes are sold in teeny bottles and, although they're lovely for trying out new colours, I've tried it now, and I know I like it! I want more! 

Lastly, as a little side note, I have had my eye on Fishwife from Butter London for a while now, but alas, it isn't available in the UK. I think that this polish, although not really very similar, has the same kind of vibe to it, making it a fantastic alternative at a fraction of the price.They retail for £3.99 in Boots, the price reflecting the size, with a whopping 36 shades to choose from, if you're not a fan of this beauty (although if you aren't, what?!), you're bound to find something to suit your taste.

Do you have any lovely green polishes? Have you sampled the Max Factor Mini range? What did you think? Let me know!

S.

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