A little splurge - Chanel Blue Boy

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6/8 StrangeBeautifuls Volume 3

I never posted swatches of this volume! Here's 6 of 8. I did some

Sadly I don't remember coats. These are super rough swatches. Sorry!












(UNF this one UNF)

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I got a lovely parcel in the post...

...Thank you, Illamasqua! :)

Well, I've always said good things about their customer service. I once returned a lipstick because I accidentally ordered two of them in one of their 30% off sales. I sent them a cheeky email asking if I could return or preferably exchange it (even though 'being a doofus' isn't one of their grounds for return) thinking they'd maybe grudgingly refund me since it was by then out of sale period, and it's a bit naughty me asking for a product at 30% off when there's no sale on.

But to my surprise, they shipped a replacement colour out via courier at their expense. And sent me an email to ask me which colour I wanted most, and to let me know their stock levels, since I put a random bunch down on the return form. (I felt I was probably taking advantage enough already to start getting picky). They are a really, really nice company.

Which is why it made my day to find that they read Polish or Perish. Hayley, their marketing manager, got in touch to chat about nail polish and take some contact details. And a couple of weeks ago a lovely parcel turned up with two of their new polishes for review, plus a lipgloss in Belladonna. (I mentioned I was really interested in the glosses from the new collection, so I was really touched that they popped one in - it's lovely, by the way!). Yeah, I am a total fangirl.

So these are the two polishes, Kink and Vice:

I wanted to wait a little while before giving a review, because for me the most significant thing about the A/W polishes is their 'rubber' finish, rather than the shades. So I've had Vice on for the last week, and here it is. This colour is lovely, a kind of purplish wine/berry shade, but it's the finish that makes it stand out from other similar polishes. I'd describe it as kind of satin-y. It's not quite as matte as I was expecting, but not fully glossy, either.

I've tended to stay away from matte finish polishes because they chip on me something rotten, so I wore Vice for a full 8 days before writing this (the pictures are from day 3). I have tremendously limited patience so I managed to scracth the finish a little even before it was fully dry (I am spoilt by seche vite). However, that cock up aside, it wore really well. Looking at them a week later, there is one chip (my right middle), a couple of teeny nicks on my thumbs, and a little tip wear. And I've been intentionally bloody hard on my hards this week - I've been washing up, I did gardening, and I've relaid the tiles on my hall floor, all without gloves. My hands feel like catcher's mitts, but the polish still looks very respectable.

(The only odd thing is that black line on my ring finger - I think it's a shed bristle? I've never had one of their brushes shed on me before, so it took me a while to work out what it was!).

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Essie Winter 2011 - Part 2

I showed you the first half of Essie's winter collection, Cocktail Bling, here. I'm excited to show you the rest of the collection today! This is the first time in a looonnnggg time that I've purchased a whole collection - and wanted to keep it all! This will definitely be a workhorse collection for me, not just in winter, but in all seasons.

First up, School of Hard Rocks:

I'm not quite sure how to describe this colour - it's somewhere between a dusty teal and a slate green. Love it. Very wintery and definitely adds a pop of colour, but because of the amount of grey it manages to be a little more subdued and wearable. I think this one will be very popular!

Now, probably my favourite of the collection - Size Matters:

First of all, hilarious name. Love it. It may seem like a boring red, but it is much more than that. I have a hard time with reds. I really do. But this one is more berry than red. (My pics are deceiving on that front...but trust me, it is very berry in real life.) This colour reminds me of Rachel Zoe - on her show she is always wearing a red, burgundy, berry or plum concoction and it always looks great!

Since I loved this one so much, I had to take another pic with my purse...

And lastly, Bobbing for Baubles:

Completely on trend with blues for winter (thanks to the Jeans de Chanel - one of which I will show you very soon!), this has something a little different when compared with other navys in my collection - it's dusty! Yay! I love dirgy grey colours and this is the navy take on that. I think dark blue is one of the most elegant colours on the nails, so expect me to wear this a lot this year.

So that's Essie Winter 2011 - Cocktail Bling! Which ones will you be picking up?

kittytokaren

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Vamps for October: Illamasqua Phallic

10.30am. I walk into my living room with this on my fingers to twirl at my significant other (he gets nail varnish twirls rather than dress twirls. Bit of a raw deal for him, but that's just how I roll).

'That's nice. Beautiful colour.' he says. 'How's the paper going?'

'Well. Really well. Yeah, I've done loads. Obviously.'

'You've just spent an hour and a half painting your nails and messing about on facebook, haven't you?'

'Yes'.

'Have you done any at all? The deadline's today, right?'

'No. Yes. I'll be going now...'

Bloody worth it, though. This is three coats of very sexy blue polish. It's very deep, like a midnight jelly, but with tonnes of purply blue flaky sparkles that peek out in the sunlight. It's all twinkly! Sooo gorgeous. I love it. It's very very pigmented though and my fingers were smurf city when I did clean up! Slightly dreading trying to remove it, I might just leave it on until it falls off.

(I did get the paper finished in the end, by the way. Conference in Vienna, here I come.)

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