Nails Inc November - Brighton

Hot pink shimmer

Brighton is a slightly muted hot pink shimmer.  This is from the Colour & Care range which has vitamins A&E added - in case you needed that!

This one is definitely on the sheer side, swatches are 3 coats and I still have some VNL.

I think this shade is from 2009.

I have a few similar Nails Inc shades in my (extensive) collection so I did a quick comparison swatch.

Comparison l-r Brighton, Sloane Street, Montrose Place, Brighton

Sloane Street is a cooler pink, with a stronger shimmer and Montrose Place is also a cooler, deeper pink with a stronger, sparklier shimmer and only took 2 coats.

Nails Inc - Royal Court

Bright blue creme  

Royal Court is a vintage Nails Inc bright blue creme from early 2009, maybe 2008.

Coverage and application were great, swatches are 2 coats with no top coat.

I also did a couple of comparison shots with a more recent bright blue, All Saints Road

l-r  Royal Court, All Saints Road, Royal Court, All Saints Road.

They're pretty dupey but not quite there.  All Saints Road is a little lighter and dustier than Royal Court.  But All Saints Road is much easier to get hold of on ebay.

And in case you were wondering, neither is a dupe for Nails Inc's most famous bright blue, Baker Street, which is much more intense and cobalt leaning.

Nails Inc November - Paddington Street

Deep red creme/crelly  

Paddington Street is a dark red creme with, like a lot of these kinds of red, slight jelly tendencies.

Swatch shown is 2 coats with no top coat.  Amazing application, the kind of cremes that nails inc excel at.

It's not as dark as that Nails Inc stalwart, Victoria.

Blimey, Looks like I haven't shared Victoria with you all yet which is a mistake as it's definitely a classic.

Whilst not as dark or as brown toned as Victoria it does looks to be pretty similar to Winchester from the Mad Men collection.

So here's a comparison  between  Winchester and Paddington Street.  Paddington Street is on my index and ring fingers, Winchester on middle and pinky.

Winchester is a tiny smidge lighter but there's very little in it.  I'm calling it a near enough dupe.  Winchester is also more opaque, nearly a one-coat-wonder.

Leighton Denny - The Heiress

Lilac/periwinkle mid purple creme

So, even if the weather here in the UK isn't playing ball, I'm going to pretend it is Spring and show you a lovely spring purple, Leighton Denny's The Heiress

Swatch shown is 2 coats with no top coat.  Formula was wonderful as it always is for Leighton Denny.

Love this colour, it's definitely my favourite shade of purple and after looking at it a while it started to look slightly familiar....

So I dug out one of my all time favourite Nails Inc shades, St John's Wood for a comparison

The comparison is St John's Wood on index and little finger, Heiress on middle and ring.  If we're being picky they're not total dupes, SJW is a tad darker/more intenses  but we're really splitting hairs - they're as good as dupes.

Although both retail for around the same amount Nails Inc is much easier to pick up cheaply on ebay....  I'd say formula is comparable, both awesome cremes.  As for longevity, I've never done a comparison - something to add to the todo list!

Nails Inc - Ibiza Orange

Jellyish Orange Creme

More orange goodness before the weather turns here in the UK.  We've had hot sunny weather for the past week or so but today it looks like it'll be warm but less sunny before cooling down for our long weekend  (we have 2 bank holidays next week to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee). Typical, huh?!

Swatch is 2 coats no top coat and there's slight vnl from the jellyness

I thought this one looked similar to another nails inc that a lot of the UK gals might have, Nails Inc Candy Orange which was a giveaway with InStyle magazine a couple of years ago so I did a quick comparison.

l-r Ibiza Orange, Candy Orange, Ibiza Orange, Candy Orange

Candy Orange is softer, slightly more coral toned and a shade more opaque.  Ibiza Orange is brighter, more vibrant, a slightly stronger orange.

But they're pretty similar aren't they, I'd say if you've got Candy Orange then you probably don't need Ibiza Orange.  Except if you're a Nails Inc obsessive like myself!

Essence Natventurista - Mother Earth is Watching You

Cool brown with silver shimmer

More random Essences from one of my many trips to Germany last year.  I don't know much about this collection other than there's obviously some kind of nature/eco theme to it.

Mother Earth is Watching You is a cool brown with lots of silvery shimmer

Swatch show is 2 coats with no top coat


Initially I thought might be similar to one of my faves Zoya Pasha but as you can see from the comparison shot Pasha is darker, browner a little warmer and more of a pearl than Mother Earth is Watching You

Comparison L-R MEIWY, MEIWY, Pasha, MEIWY.

A nice polish, neutral with a bit of extra interest although slightly brushstrokey as you can see.  I like the overprinting on the bottle cap.

Ciaté - Sharp Tailoring

Warm grey with secret shimmer 

A blast from the past this one, I've shown a fair few of my Ciaté Paint Pots collection before but this one got missed for some reason

So here is Sharp Tailoring

Sharp Tailoring is a warm grey with a white gold secret shimmer.


It's an unusual colour/shimmer combination,  at first I thought it might be similar to Zoya Harley but as you can see from the comparison...

...Sharp Tailoring is much warmer and the shimmer is less pronounced.

Swatch shown is 2 coats, with no topcoat.

Application, brush and formula were all good.

I'm a fan of grey polish anyhow but this is a clever twist on regular grey, being warmer, with perhaps even a nod to the 'greige' trend of old (that was probably current when this was released) and an unusual secret shimmer.

Overall, a complete win for me, what you you gals think?

Boots 17 - Fury and a Peridot comparison

Warm gold/green duochrome

**Heavy pic spam alert**


Fury is from the latest Boots 17 collection which I think is the Autumn collection.

Let's acknowledge the elephant in the room - it's not a Chanel Peridot dupe although they are kissing cousins!

So, onto the many swatch pics - hey it's a duochrome, 3 or 4 is the minimum, right?

 
Fury is a slightly copper toned gold with green duochrome.  It is really gorgeous and even looks good with my skintone which I was a bit worried about.  The gold is a rich warm gold and the green is warm too, I'd probably say olive toned.  Overall I love it, it's stunning.

Swatch is 2 coats, it's a little brush-stroky but I'm gonna forgive it.

At the time I was slightly obsessed with all the Peridot pics but it seemed to be sold out everywhere and I don't have a close relationship with my local Chanel counter so I unless I stumped up the fearsome delivery charge and ordered it from the Harrods site, I had mostly resigned myself to not getting my sticky mitts on it!

But then, on *another* trip to Germany, I'm killing time in the airport and yay, they have it in stock and it's cheaper than the internet (about £14) and no delivery charge, so I succumbed.  And spent a week in a hotel room twisting the bottle and admiring the gorgeousness.

So long story, here's the comparison...

Here's the comparison, in sunlight and indirect light.  Peridot is index and ring finger, Fury is on middle and little fingers.

As you can see they're not dupes but are similar.  Peridot is much cooler toned, both the gold and the green.  And Peridot is much greener.

And if you want to see an amazing Peridot franken made from this polish then check out this Fab Fingertips post

Nails Inc - Vine Street

Deep vampy red creme





Vine Street is a dark reddish purple creme. Very opaque - this is two coats and application was good and it's super glossy.



This is one that I thought was similar to another Nails Inc that I'm sure most of you UK gals have in your collection, Victoria.

And in a bottle comparison they do look pretty similar, but on the nail they're very different.



l-r Vine Street, Victoria, Vine Street, Victoria.  (2 coats of each).

Victoria is much lighter and more jellyish and more reddish/brown.

Catrice- Purposely Purple

Next up is Purposely Purple, again from the Expect the Unexpected LE Collection

 
It's a mid purple creme, not massively unique but nice all the same.
This is 2 coats, no top coat. Again the formula was great and super opaque.


I thought this could be pretty dupey so I did a quick & dirty comparison with Ciate Talent Scout and Nails Inc Duchess Street.


l-r Talent Scout, Duchess Street, Purposely Purple, Purposely Purple

IRL Talent Scout is close but slightly lighter & pinker, Duchess Street is darker.

Barry M - Indigo

After the disappointment of the Lil Blings I thought I'd share a recent polish that exceeded my expectations.

A few weeks ago I shared Barry M Mushroom which I'd been seeking after seeing mentions in blogland. As Barry M was 2 for £5 it seemed rude not to get two, I was looking for Dusky Mauve, the Chanel Paradoxal dupe but no luck so I picked up Indigo instead.





Indigo is a stunning blurple creme- this is 2 coats, no topcoat. I tweaked the first photo to make it more colour accurate - all others pics are as is and not colour accurate, all polishes are more purple and less blue.

As soon as I applied it I thought it might be similar to several others in my collection, namely Collection 2000 Parma Violets, Nails Inc Belgrave Place, Models Own Blu Gem and Bourjois Bleu Violet so I thought I'd do some quick comparisons.


l-r Bourjois Bleu Violet, Collecion 2000 Parma Violet, BarryM Indigo, BarryM Indigo

Although it doesn't look like it in the picture Bleu Violet looked a total dupe IRL whereas Parma Violets was slightly darker and more purple


l-r Models Own Blu Gem, Nails Inc Belgrave Place, BarryM Indigo, BarryM Indigo

As you can see these weren't as similar as I thought, Blu Gem is lighter and Belgrave Place is lighter still and has more of a dusky tone. And Blu Gem is not as shiny as the others.

All of these are 2 coats with no top coat.

I swatched Indigo right after Mushroom and loved it so much I reapplied it as a full mani after the comparison shots and wore it on my recent 4-day business trip to Germany. I wasn't expecting too much from a £2.50 polish and took remover and other polish with me expecting to have to replace it, but it held up amazingly well.



This pic is after 4½ days - unfortunately as I'd already swatched the colour I didn't make note of the base or topcoat but IIRC it was a nails inc basecoat and either nails inc or seche vite or Diamont as top coat!!

I love this polish, IRL it's much more intense that the pics show and the wear was amazing for me with any polish let alone a cheapie!

Anyone else had amazing wear from cheap polish?