2true Pro - Metallica, Salon Shine & 3D Candy

2true Cosmetics and Make-up have recently launched their new range of nail polish, 2true Pro which has 3 parts to it - Edgy (which are a set of 4 caviar beads), Classic (a set of 5 cremes/ crellies) and Metallica (5 metallic polishes).

Today I'm reviewing a little bit of each collection. First up, the metallics. Although I'm not a massive fan of metallic polishes, the good thing about these is that they are completely opaque in one coat. I couldn't imagine having to apply two or more coats of a metallic polish.

Aphrodite - a medium rose pink - 1 coat

Arete - a light lime green - 1 coat

Athena and Noir beads - a dusty blue and black beads - 1 coat

If you read my blog, you will know that I was never into the caviar/ bead/ sprinkles (whatever you want to call them) craze. It was just one of those trends that I didn't get and didn't appeal to me, plus I even had some trouble applying them. They aren't durable and would annoy me every time one fell. I know you can put a top coat over them but I think that makes them look lumpier and they end up falling off anyway! Great look for a nail photo shoot though!

Next up is a polish from the "Classic" collection - Mila. I have to say that this is my favourite of the bunch! I love this shade of orange as all my other oranges have too much red in them. This one actually looks quite coral'ish in person. It applies beautifully in 2 smooth coats.

2true polishes are available now exclusively at Superdrug stores nationwide. They cost £4 each and the beads cost £3.

*The product(s) featured  in this post was sent to me for review.

Clinique - A Different Nail Enamel for Sensitive Skins - Swatches & Review

Until very recently I wasn't aware that Clinique were bringing out a range of nail polishes! They did have nail polish in the past but I don't remember it ever being anything to shout home about.
Indeed the fragrance free brand has launched a new line of twelve core colours and nine limited edition Summer 2013 shades (see UK website for more details).

This nail enamel claims to be "different" as per the name and why is that you ask? Well, according to Clinique it was specifically formulated to minimise skin and eye sensitivity. They are also 5-free, but I thought established 5-free polishes were already kinder to skin? Check out Lipglossiping blog for more information on the formula and what the Clinique PR team had to say about it.

Today I'll be showing you 6 different shades. A mixture of some core line shades as well as some limited edition ones. You'll notice I have also filed down my nails quite a bit, it's much easier to swatch with shorter nails. All swatches are two coats although I would recommend three coats for the jellies.

Happy is my favourite from the bunch. A hot coral creme with pinkish-red undertones which is quite hard to capture on camera.

70o and Sunny (LE) is a bright sunflower yellow creme. Most yellows are streaky and this one is no exception. However, the formula was quite good to work with and therefore quite easy to minimise streakiness.

Black Honey is deep blackened cherry red jelly which is perfect for fall. The fact it's a jelly means that it doesn't apply so dark on the nail that it looks completely black as some of these polishes often do.

Hot Date (LE). An interesting purple jelly. With only two coats, you can see the magenta undertones in there that for some reason my camera picked up. It's slightly darker and more true to bottle colour in person.

Party Red is a classic fire engine red creme. As with the other cremes in this collection, opacity was great.

Juiced Up (LE) is an orangey coral jelly. Not as bright as Happy but still a must have for summer if you don't feel like wearing an in-your-face neon.

The bottle shape isn't my favourite (they remind me of Nails Inc bottles only thinner), but the embossed chrome metal caps are quite sleek and do keep with the Clinique image. The whole bottle is very clean (no writing whatsoever) with only a small sticker at the bottom showing the polish name. For a list of ingredients, you must refer to to outer paper packaging the bottles come in.

Although I was impressed with the formula on these, including the jellies; each 9ml bottle comes with a price tag of £12 which I know is a lot more than what a lot of people would pay for polish, myself included. People with sensitive skin prone to allergies and irritation should give this polish a go and see how it compares to their regular polish.

These are now available online at www.clinique.co.uk and at Clinique counters from 31st May 2013.

*The product featured  in this post was sent to me for review.

Erre Due - Neon Fluo 01 & Blair

Today I have another Erre Due polish to show you. It's a neon so I'm trying to wear them the most I can before summer is officially over but to be honest, I am over them a little. I have already shown you a couple of their neons here which I was generally happy with and this vivid orange with red undertones doesn't disappoint either.

It looked quite watery as soon as I opened the bottle but it's opaque and even in two coats. So far I've been really impressed with Erre Due's latest collections.

I'm planning to wear this mani for at least a couple of days (planning being the key word) so I layered 1 coat of Essence Blair over it. I was going for a jelly sandwich but didn't want to mute out the "neonness".

About the company:

Erre Due are part of Aromca Cosmetics and were one of the brands first launched under the group is 1984. Erre Due products are available in Greece and Cyprus.. They have an extensive range of make up and nail polish, you can check out their colour charts here. Their Facebook page features up to date information on their latest products.

*Part of these products were sent to me for review by the company.

An Almost Rainbow of Butterflies

Today's mani which I did about a week ago, started out as an experiment. I had never stamped with more than one colour before and I wanted to find out how easy or difficult it is because I like the final results so much. It turns out, it's quite simple and not very messy as long as you work fast (if you are using regular polish).

The 3 colours I used are very cheap polishes (I don't like to waste my good polish on stamping) and I think it came out really well. The colours are vivid and show enough for my liking. I got quite a few compliments on this mani. A few people asked me if I was wearing stickers or press-ons, so I guess that's a compliment. At one point I just said yes after I tried to explain to the first girl that it's all polish and stamped with 3 different colours. She looked confused and sceptical!

Erre Due - Neons & Pastel

Today I will be sharing with you three polishes by a brand called Erre Due. I first came across Erre Due whilst holidaying in Greece last Christmas and grabbed a bottle of their Blue Jeans Blue Black polish which is very similar to Barry M Denim. Since this brand isn't available in the UK, I haven't come across it since then, until I was contacted by their Events Manager to review some of their new polishes.

Now onto some of the swatches. First up is No184 (unfortunately no polish names). This is a neon orange which I had to photograph in the shade to capture the true colour. The formula is quite opaque and creamy for a neon. It covers well in 2 coats and I had no problem with brush marks on this one. What more could I ask of a neon?

This is 3 coats of No186, a get-your-sunglasses-out neon green! The formula on this one was totally different from the other neon. It was extremely streaky, didn't even itself out and I gave up after 3 coats. It's one of those I'll definitely be layering over white.

This is 2 coats of No94. I believe this one is from their fast drying range, thus the "1" on the bottle! The formula was good for a pastel. It's smooth, not chalky at all and opaque in two coats. I'm not sure about the drying time as I had been swatching neons up until then so this one obviously seemed to dry much slower than the neons.

They were very sweet and sent me the loveliest box wrapped in a white leather string bow. They even threw in a leaflet of their latest nail trends: Ombre, Gradient, Newspaper Nails and Water Marble.

About the company:

Erre Due are part of Aromca Cosmetics and were one of the brands first launched under the group is 1984. I'm not sure if the Erre Due products are available in other European countries as I've never seen their products anywhere other than Greece. They have an extensive range of make up and nail polish, you can check out their colour charts here. They seem to have updated their collections and even changed the design of their bottles slightly but their website still has pictures of their old bottles. Their Facebook page seems to be much more up to date and features their latest products.

*These products were sent to me for review by the company.

Salt n Peppa over Mango Sorbet

I was really excited when some pretties from Lush Lacquer arrived in the post. I had seen swatches of Salt n Peppa all over the blogasphere and Instagram and always thought it was such an interesting and cool polish.

The first Lush Lacquer I tried is the famous Salt n Peppa. A mix of black and white hex, square and bar glitter in a clear base with some iridescent glitter mixed in to add to the fun. If you love glitter, you'd love this! They weren't skimping on the glitter either, it's so packed with it that one coat is all you need. No fishing or placement required and the formula isn't too thick and goopy like some other densely packed glitters I've tried!

This is one coat of Salt n Peppa over a franken I've recently concocted from some old leftover polishes. I think I'll call it Mango Sorbet because the pastel orangy shade reminds me of just that!

Two Long Lost Manis

I was clearing out my external drive yesterday and came across a whole bunch of manis which for some reason I never posted. I was wondering where some of those had gotten to?! There were seriously at least ten different manis in there so here are a couple.

First up is a bright and fun mani I did using Essence Wake Up! and sponged NYX Carnival onto the top half of the nail. My nails were so ridiculously long here that I remember a few people asking me if they were fake.

I really love this glitter. It's a dupe for Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday, Milani Gems, Wet N' Wild Party of Five Glitters, OPI Rainbow Connection, NOPI Rainbow in The S-Kylie and all those other hex multi-coloured glitters, so we have quite a few options there. It only cost $2.25 from Beauty Joint.

Secondly is a glitter v-gap mani I did using Impala Lover sent to me by Bia! This is such a gorgeous foil type pink packed with gold and silver shimmer. This is just one coat so I thought it covered quite well. I used loose pieces of holographic hex glitter to fill the nude v-gaps.

Citrus Stripes

Today, I've put my scotch tape roll to good use again and have some "nudies" and some diagonal citrusy stripes for you.
Very rarely will you see a glimpse of my natural nails! Too much polish all the time means they are usually very stained and I don't often bother to scrub the staining away when I'm just going to be using more polish that stains the next day! However, I've been trying some very light and soft colours lately so I grabbed some lemon juice and baking soda and got scrubbing and buffing.

The base colour is in fact no colour at all, it's just base coat and for the stripes I used Barry M Lemon Ice Cream and Essence Wake Up, sent to me by the lovely Nihrida.

Surfin' For Boys - China Glaze Summer Neons 2012

I received two polishes from China Glaze's Neons Collection 2012 in the post a couple of days ago - Surfin' For Boys and Love's a Beach. We've had such great weather for a last few days that I couldn't wait to try these out.

As soon as I slapped this on, it was like "Whoa!!!". In the bottle, Surfin' For Boys looks like a coral with hints of red and orange, with ultra fine magenta shimmer. On my nails however, it's the brightest most neon orange I have ever seen! This is probably because I'm wearing "undies" as I don't like to wear neons on their own.

Let me tell you! It was a PITA trying to photograph this polish! All pictures showed a different colour and none of them true to real life colour. The closest to real life colour is the first picture which I had to change the setting of my camera for and darken the whole image to be able to capture! I think neons look better in the dark anyway, that's why they always look awesome with a tan!

I don't have anything else this bright, looking at it too long even hurts my eyes and I'm sure people will be able to see 10 little dots coming a mile away! This baby is going on my toes tonight for sure :)

If I tried to take a pic under my usual craft lamp, my camera would completely spaz out:

Here is a pic in the shade:

And in direct sunlight:

Hunger Games Capitol Colors - Riveting

Kicking off my China Glaze The Hunger Games Capitol Colors week is Riveting, my favourite of the bunch! When I first saw a promo shot for this collection and of course had only seen bottle shots, I thought this polish was rather "meh", but the more swatches I came across, the more I fell in love with it! In fact, it wasn't until I saw it mattifed on Sam's blog that I thought, I need this polish in my life right now!!!

Riveting (which represents District 3 technology/ electronics) is such a bright orange jelly packed with gold shimmer flecks. It's like a flakie polish but the pieces are much smaller. What surprised me with this one is that it's super pigmented and perfectly opaque in two coats! The formula is a dream to work with, so smooth and easy to control.

In real life it's that much brighter and mesmerising, I immediately thought of glowing embers (which I love staring at when I'm sitting in front of the fireplace).

Here is Riveting mattified:

And here is Riveting in all it's original glory:

Side by side shiny and matte:

The Crackling Girl On Fire!

All this week, running up to Friday when the much awaited Hunger Games movie is released, I will be posting a HG inspired mani and my China Glaze Capitol Colors which I got in the mail last week!

I actually did this mani a couple of weeks ago, my nails are much longer now! I was toying with the idea of doing a water marble with red, orange and yellow but I really suck and those and, well... I'm really lazy!!! So I went for the much quicker and easier option!

Cinna would totally approve of Katniss wearing crackle right? Especially matte c'mon!!! Lol!

Wintry Terracotta

It seems that terracotta colour I put on yesterday was a hit after all, 2 of my friends commented on it today and they were actually positive comments!

I was racking my brain trying to think of what to add to this mani. I was going to stamp with a sort of abstract bundle monster stamp but that quickly went horribly wrong. Good thing I did my right hand first!
After all that, I just added some navy blue french tips and a double line of gold striping tape to compliment the blue. I quite like how this unusual mix of colours turned out, it looks like a "wintry" mani.

One of my friends also posted something on her facebook page today which I thought was very funny. I think you would have probably read it before, it's been making the rounds on FB and Twitter:

"There's a rumor going around that says boys are stronger then girls! Oh! Please, can you carry a 7 lb baby in your stomach for 9 months? Can you cook, clean and talk on the phone @ the same time? Can you burn your forehead with a curling iron and not complain? Can you walk all day in 5" heels? Can you cry all night then wake up the next morning like everything is okay? Remember guys, women are only helpless until their nail polish dries :)"

Looks Great On You - H&M

This was one of my first ever H&M Nail polishes. I bought it back in June but never got around to wearing it. It's one of those strange colours most people would probably consider fugly, a muted orange, sort of rusty colour! My friend who was with me at the time said it looked like the terracotta tiles in her garden. I suppose that's one way to look at it, but that is why it caught my eye, it's unusual! As is the name - "Looks Great on You!"

I was impressed with the formula. I love it when formulas are opaque, I'm not into sheer much unless I specifically pick a sheer polish.

I don't mind the shape of the bottle but I don't like the square lid, it makes application slightly more difficult because you have to hold it in a certain way.

The not so scary Halloween mani

I didn't do any Halloween nail art this year. I'm not very good at themed manis and even worse at freehand. I suppose I could have used some BM plates but I rather admire what other bloggers have been creating. I have seen some amazing Halloween manis floating around this year :)

So, trying to at least keep with Halloween'ish colours, here is a not-so-scary scotch tape mani in orange and black. You can tell by the title, I had no idea what to call this one!

The burnt orange polish used is Metallic Mango by Milani. Orange is one of my least favourite colours, I'm not even sure why I bought this one, I think it was really cheap on Ebay! It's a shame I won't use it much because it's orange as the formula is amazing! The consistency is perfect and so manageable I didn't even have to do any clean up. Perfect is 2 even coats!