Nails Inc Perfect Nudes

Nails Inc Perfect Nudes - Draycott Avenue & Eaton Terrace

I happened upon these quite by chance in Boots last week - I'd no idea that they'd been released and I hadn't seen anybody else's swatches. But I love neutral shades and I was very intrigued by the packaging (lame I know) - they look like little bottles of foundation or maybe concealer.

There are four shades in the collection, but Nails Inc is pretty high end, and I have lots of neutral shades, so I was selective and chose just two. Had it been a cheaper brand I would have bought the full collection. I chose the darkest one (Draycott Avenue) and the warmer, less pinky shade of the paler ones (Eaton Terrace).

Here's Draycott Terrace - it's a fab colour and reminds me of chocolate milk, chocolate ice-cream and Ambrosia chocolate custard. Ambrosia chocolate custard is one of my ultra-running superfoods, easy to eat and very tasty... and after 40 miles or so when I really, really fancy something chocolately it's just perfect. So I'm looking at my nails now and wanting to eat them, lol!

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Nails Inc Perfect Nude - Draycott Avenue 

I wasn't as impressed with the application of this as I'd expected - it was a bit thick and at two coats, even with topcoat, it looked a bit rough and streaky. I added a third coat and then another coat of Seche Vite and finally the finish was good!

Nails Inc Perfect Nude - Draycott Avenue 

This is my second pick - Eaton Terrace. Three coats and Seche Vite; formula on this was much more workable and fluid but I wouldn't expect a colour this light to be opaque at two coats, so I went straight onto the third. 

Nails Inc Perfect Nude -  Eaton Terrace

I think these are good, classic shades, very wearable and totally work appropriate. Of course, I couldn't resist putting them together somehow..... so first of all a sponge gradient. The pigments are fine and the formula seems just about perfect for gradients - this gradient was very easy to produce.

Nails Inc Perfect Nudes - Draycott Avenue & Eaton Terrace

I loved the gradient, and I wore it like this for a couple of days. Then I felt the need to fiddle, and started adding dots. I should have left it just with dots of the darker shade near my nail tips, but I kept on, and I think I spoilt it with too much fussing. But all good fun!

Nails Inc Perfect Nudes - Draycott Avenue & Eaton Terrace

I purchased Nails Inc Draycott Avenue and Eaton Terrace from my local Boots.

Flash Nails Strawberry Fields Forever

Flash Nails Strawberry Fields Forever

I'm wearing another beautiful summer crelly from Flash Nails today!  This is called Strawberry Fields Forever; it's medium sized bright pink (strawberry pink of course), larger white and tiny purple glitters (all matte) in a pale, cool toned pink crelly base:

Flash Nails Strawberry Fields Forever

I layered this over Barry M Rose Hip, which is just about a perfect match for the base of Strawberry Fields Forever. Application was perfect, the formula is wonderfully smooth and fluid, and you always get just the right amount of glitter on the brush! This is two coats of Strawberry Fields Forever over two coats of Barry M Rose Hip, and just one coat of Seche Vite to finish with.

These first pictures were taken in full sun late this afternoon, and have a lovely warm pink glow to them:

These last couple of  pictures I took a bit later, when the sun had gone but the light was still strong

As with all the Flash Nails polishes I've tried so far, I love this. The formula is impeccable and the colour combination is delicious!

Flash Nails Strawberry Fields Forever was sent for review. It is available to buy at the Flash Nails Etsy Shop.

Guest Post over at the Crumpet!

This is the starting point for some nail art I did for my guest post at Debbie's blog...... pop over to The Crumpet to see what I did next!

Laqa & Co - Bobby Dazzler

Laqa&Co Bobby Dazzler

 Here is the next of my Laqa&Co reviews... this polish is called Bobby Dazzler and that's a perfect description; it really is a dazzling bright neon. Which makes it the devil to photograph, of course, lol! My camera wants to make it orange, and when I correct the colour of the polish, my skin is weirdly pink. So try to ignore the 'alien skin' in these pictures.

Laqa&Co is a super-bright coral neon - I'd call it an 'Electric Salmon' sort of colour! It is a true neon, and there's something about neon pigments that makes them sort of transparent-ish and dry to a rubbery-matte kind of finish. To make the colours really pop, neons work best over a white (or near white) base. I applied this over Barry M Coconut.

These pictures are two coats of Laqa&Co without topcoat; you can see the rubbery finish. The application was really smooth and easy - a great formula for a neon.

Laqa & Co Bobby Dazzler - no topcoat

One other thing I need to mention is the bottle, as I found the bottle a bit tricky on the last Laqa & Co polish I reviewed (Lacey). The bottle on Laqa & Co's single, regular polishes is slim and elegant, but not in the least bit difficult to manage.

Here is the polish with topcoat (Seche Vite). I love this - what a fantastic bright shade!

Laqa & Co Bobby Dazzler

I did have a little experiment with this polish before I did the full review - I did this cling film mani over my existing mani (Pretty Quirky Village Idiot) a couple of weeks ago when my package from Laqa & Co arrived. I applied a thick coat of Laqa&Co Bobby Dazzler, then immediately dabbed it off with a rolled up ball of cling film. Do this just one nail at a time, then apply topcoat. This is a very easy way to create a fab marbly effect! 

Cling film nail art with Laqa&Co Bobby Dazzler

Cling film nail art with Laqa&Co Bobby Dazzler

Laqa&Co Bobby Dazzler was sent to me for review - it is available to purchase at  Retail Beauty in the UK.

Nail of the Day! Barry M Gelly - Coconut

Barry M Gelly Nail Paint - Coconut

This was intended just as a base for something else - but I love it so much it became my NOTD and I think it's worth sharing in its own right. Every now and then there's a must-have polish released that should be in any collection, and I think this is one of them! I've no vested interest in saying this - Barry M don't send me their products to review, I bought this myself.

Although I love pastel shades, I don't actually like WHITE polish (other than for nail art of course) - I find it too stark. But I'm always fascinated by the near-white shades.... OPI My Vampire Is Buff, Zoya Jacqueline and American Aparrel Cotton are all firm favourites of mine and I'm adding this to the list! Barry M Coconut is a slightly warm (but not yellowish) just off white shade. This is two coats with Seche Vite quick dry topcoat. Application was fantastic for such a pale shade.

Coconut is one of the new Barry M Gelly shades this summer - I purchased this from Superdrug along with Olive and Almond on a three-for-two offer.

Flash Nails PENNY LANE

Flash Nails Penny Lane

Penny Lane is one of the newer summer shades from Nicola at Flash Nails. I love this - it's such an unusual combination of colours and I think it's very work appropriate!

Flash Nails Penny Lane

The polish is a caramel coloured crelly with purple, blue, green and copper glitter. I used two coats for this mani, with one coat of Barry M Matte Nail Paint in Caramel (which is a perfect match for the base) as undies and a thick coat of Seche Vite to smooth out and finish off.

The application is flawless as I've come to expect from Flash Nails polishes - this is definitely one of my favourite UK Indie Brands at the moment!

Flash Nails Penny Lane

Flash Nails Penny Lane was sent to me for review; it is available to purchase at the Flash Nails Etsy shop. Nicola also has a facebook page for the brand with latest news and swatches. Barry M Caramel was purchased by me and is widely available in Boots and Superdrug.