Topcoat

Nails

Etos Glitter Nails and Glitter Topcoat

February 25, 2014

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter you will know I’ve just got back from a trip to Holland to see my lovely other half, and almost all of these trips involve me popping into Etos (sort of the Dutch Boots) to pick up a couple of their own brand nail polishes. This time I went for a shimmery pair of silvers, one Glitter Nails Polish and one Glitter topcoat.

Unfortunately neither of them are named or even numbered (one of my absolute pet peeves – please can’t all brands give their cosmetics cutesy names!) but both have gorgeous finishes to make up for it!

The Glitter Nails polish is a deep metallic silver with multi-holo micro glitters and a sort of sandy texture similar to the O.P.I Liquid Sand. It took two coats to get full coverage but dried reasonably quickly.

The Glitter Topcoat is a much more delicate polish with white and silver micro glitters in a clear varnish. You can hardly see it at all on the pic below but it has a gorgeous ethereal shimmer worn alone if you fancy more of a subtle glitter polish.

I tried the Glitter Topcoat out over a few other colours, and absolutely loved the variety of looks you can get with it. (L-R Leighton Denny – Meet me in Monaco, Ciate – Plastic Fantastic, MUA – Pistachio Ice Cream, Revlon – Black Star, Revlon – Emerald)

Unfortunately these aren’t available in the UK , but if you find yourself in The Netherlands you can pick them up for around from € 2.49 from Etos

Totally hellbent for little treats to cheer up long distance boyfriend blues!

– Gem

Nails

Jess Glitter Nail Varnish – Rock Chick, Ibiza, Tiger Lily, Celebration & Alfresco

February 23, 2014

I’m a sucker for a bargain and can never resist poking my head in Poundland to see what manner of lovely things I can purchase for only one hundred shiny pennies. I often pick up Revlon and Sally Hansen polishes for a fraction of the RRP, but skip past the lesser known or own brands. I’ve never heard of Jess before, but the Poundland website tells me they are a new and exclusive range which would explain why I’ve not seen them anywhere else!

I wasn’t much interested in the display at all until the twinkling of the row of glitter polishes caught my eye! Cheaper glitter polishes tend to be lacking in pigment and are usually quite sparse but these look absolutely packed! I took my chances and picked up five colours (L-R) Rock Chick, Ibiza, Tiger Lily, Celebration and Alfresco

The swatches above are a single coat, and for a £1 varnish I don’t think you can ask for better than that! Tiger Lily is definitely packed with the most glitter, but as far as topcoats go, they all delivered a substantial finish. They all applied easily and dried reasonably quickly too. I really can’t find complaint with these at all.

After two coats they really came into their own!

But if you’ve the patience for three coats you get something completely spectacular from a £1 varnish.

I will definitely be seeking out more of the glitter Jess range, and could probably be tempted to try some of the other finishes too.

Totally hellbent for bargain with a bang!

– Gem

Nails

NYC Rock Muse Collection and Swatches

November 13, 2013

One of my favourite nail brands + glitter + rock music influences names = win.

There are four colours in the NYC Rock Muse collection and I managed to grab them all across two different trips to Superdrug. I’ll admit it was the polish names, subtle (and not so subtle!) nods to some rock greats that made me need these, but I’m actually a big fan of glitter polishes anyway so I’m sure they would have ended up in my possession one way or another!

Rock Muse is a smoky black with silver micro and hexagonal glitter. You could likely get away with wearing this alone, but it really comes into it’s own over a black base.

Gold Maiden is a clear polish with gold micro glitter and silver hexagonal glitter. I like the look of this in the bottle, but think the silver clashes a little over a gold base.

Red Hot is a clear polish with silver micro glitter and silver hexagonal glitter. This looks gorgeous over a bright red, though at the moment I’m wearing it over a deeper richer red and it looks just as lovely.

Green Day is a smoky black with silver micro glitter and green hexagonal glitter. I wasn’t impressed with this one on it’s own but I think it’s the most beautiful of the set over a black. The silver glitter seems to have a slight bluey/green hue under lights that looks fantastic!

All four dried reasonably quickly, and do built up enough to wear alone with enough coats. I like that they don’t feel too rough for glitter polishes (though I’d advise adding a clear topcoat if you really hate the scratchy glitter feeling). They will definitely be getting some wear over the festive period and beyond!

Rock muse 01 is available for £1.99 from the Superdrug website and the others are available in store.

Totally hellbent for tarting up with topcoats!

– Gem