Gold Quilted Amethyst With Jacava Marrakesh Nights

Today I have a British polish brand to show you - Jacava. I like that new brands enter the nail polish market every now and again. They always have something new to offer and it keeps the big boys on their toes.

What I really liked about this polish was the opacity (opaque in one coat) and the bottle shape (oval with a long gold cap). It looks very luxurious but not great if you store your polishes in a helmer.

The formula, although amazingly opaque, was quite thick but nothing a little thinner couldn't solve. The brush is a little too thin for my liking (I'm a fan of the OPI type brushes) but apparently the brush just touches the base of the bottle so you can reach the very last drop. That's actually great as I hate throwing away bottles that still have enough polish for about 2 manis in there.
Jacava is designed in London and made in the UK, its free of Formaldehyde, DBP, Camphor and Toluene.

I choose Marrakesh Nights which on the Jacava website is described as "The most sumptuous amethyst satin nail polish, laced with the finest crushed gold and diamond coloured powders." That just about the describes the colour accurately. The "coloured powders" don't actually show on camera but it still makes for a pretty autumn/winter colour.

I think this colour goes really well with gold so I stamped the accent nail with a criss-cross pattern (Cheeky CH11) and added some lose gold glitter. I really like this pattern, it looks quilted, so will probably try it as a whole mani although it would take me forever to place the glitters :(

Here is a swatch of Marrakesh Nights on it's own:

Thanks for reading and commenting :)

*The product(s) in this post was provided for review purposes

Make A Spectacle With Your Nails

Hi everyone! Hope you guys had a lovely Christmas! I had a wonderful time with friends and family, a bunch of amazing presents and yummy food. Let's see what the new year will bring!

Today I have a darker colour with a bit of added sparkle to show you. It's actually an old mani lost in one of my folders. Miss Sporty 'New Black', a dark grey creme with a rainbow of micro shimmer which unfortunately cannot be captured on camera. Topped with China Glaze 'Make A Spectacle' from the Halloween 2012 Wicked Collection.

Make A Spectacle is an iridescent glitter with large hex pieces as well as smaller pieces swimming around in a shimmery base. I did a few layering experiments on a nail wheel and it looks awesome over over any polish. I was surprised I only needed one coat to achieve this much glitter load on the nail. It really transforms a plain colour and it's my favourite from the collection.

Misa Indescribable & Reverse Silver Glitter Gradient

Christmas is almost upon us and although I haven't particularly worn any Christmas manis this year, I have been wearing plenty of glitters, greens, reds and colours that generally remind me of the holiday season.

For the last couple of days I have been wearing a mani that reminds me of ice/ snow, although it hasn't even snowed in London as of yet!

This is 3 coats of Misa Indescribable. It's an off white with hints of pink and sometimes even has a grey tinge too, depending on lighting. I'm really loving soft colours like this at the moment but this polish was somewhat of a pain to apply. It's very streaky and doesn't even out. Drying time was tedious too, I had to redo two nails because I kept nicking them expecting them to have dried to the touch.

I then added a reverse gradient of silver glitter with New York Summer Las Vegas. It wasn't exactly what I had in mind but the whole look does remind me somewhat of snow and glittery white garland.

It's not even that cold in the UK at the moment but I still can't leave the house with my trusty gloves. I love fingerless gloves. My husband thinks they are ridiculous but they show my mani whilst keeping the rest of my hand warm! Win-win! Lol!

Thanks for reading :)

Hunt Me If You Can...Stud

When I removed my nail polish today, ready for another mani, I really felt like wearing something edgy and dark. Luckily enough I had recently received some studs from the Born Pretty Store which were perfect for what I had in mind.

I used Essence Hunt Me If You Can from the Vampire's Love Collection and matted it with Essie Matte About You. I was really hoping the silver flecks in it would show up a lot more when matte but they didn't. I really like this polish, it's a chic black (all the more so because of the silver flecks) and I can see myself wearing it often. I added square silver and round gold studs to the accent nail, both these are from the Born Pretty Store and cost around $5 depending on what shape and size you want.

This mani made a perfect pairing with today's outfit of black leather skirt and biker boots. I also received these spike metal chain earrings in the post which I think completed the whole edgy look:

On a different note, have any of you tried travel nail polish remover pads? I had never used them before because I always thought they wouldn't actually remove the polish in it's entirety but a friend of mine swears by them. I wouldn't use them regularly because they aren't great for removing glitter polish or to clean up of course, but they are certainly a good choice to take with you on holiday. Compact and lightweight. These strawberry ones from Born Pretty Store smell divine.

If you want to purchase any of these or other items from the Born Pretty Store, you can use code VA7J61 for 10% discount.

  
*The product(s) in this post was provided for review purposes

Flakie Flamenco

Earlier this week I was going through my untrieds stash and noticed that I hadn't even swatched this beauty. This is one coat of Hits Speciallita Flamenco from the Mundo De Dancas collection, over a coat of red creme.

Flamenco is a bright red jelly base packed with gold, green and orange flakies. It reminds me of Nfu Oh 59 and Barielle Elle's Spell but brighter. I love flake polishes and don't think I could ever get tired of companies bringing out new flakies. I really enjoyed wearing this colour, it goes well with my skin tone and is also season appropriate. Thank you so much Bia for sending me this :)

Also, why do you think red manicures get the most compliments? I could be wearing the most intricate design and awesome polish on my nails and it doesn't get as many compliments as a basic red manicure!

Thanks for reading :)

Nude Polka Dots & Bows

So I posted this mani a few days ago on Instagram and although it's extremely simple and easy to do, I received quite a lot of positive feedback.

The base colour is Color Club Best Dressed List, a warm caramel toned nude. I've been wearing quite a lot of nude polish lately. I just love how elegant it looks. I stamped using Born Pretty plate m59 and white polish. If you would like to buy any Born Pretty products, you can use discount code VA7J61 for 10% off.

Sorry about my upside down watermark in that last picture. Just noticed I rotated it after watermarking! Lol!

Thanks for readings :)

I'm Still Here...With a Bunch of Swatches!

Hi guys! Yep, so I'm checking in to let you know I'm still around. Sorry I've been MIA lately and haven't been updating my blog often. Sometimes life just happens, I've been extremely busy lately and probably won't be able to post as often as I'd like to.

Although I haven't had a lot of time or patience for nail art, I have been painting my nails regularly (can't stand the sight of my naked nails, lol!) and I've been posting all those pictures on Instagram. My IG name is '@nailstories', if you have an account you can follow me there too :)

Here are some of the polishes I've been wearing for the past few weeks. Apologies about the quality of the pictures, I don't use Photoshop or crop pictures before posting on Instagram.

Butter London - The Black Knight

Jade Holographic - Rosa (sent to me by Bia)

Nails Inc - Baker Street & Essence Prince Charming

OPI - It's My Year

Tip Top Nails - Fairy Dust & Nubar Violet Sparkle

Homemade gold leaf top coat (sent to me by @bedizzle)

The Hungry Asian - Strawberry (sent to me by @nic_tchelly)

Essie - Brooch The Subject

Essie - Splash of Grenadine & OPI Crown Me Already

Color Club - Glitter Wonderland

Thanks for visiting
xxx