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.

My Guest Post Over at: Polish Chest

Check out my guest post for the wonderful Danny over at the Polish Chest.

I used one of my favourite summer polishes - Essie Tart Deco and created a white and gold chevron on the accent fingers.

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:

NOTD: Apricot Punch Summer Flowers

Today I wanted to show you a summery mani I did using Apricot Punch from Rimmel London's I Love Fruities Lasting Finish Collection. The polishes in this collection smell great and the fragrance surprisingly lasts a long time on the nails. I couldn't stop smelling my nails!!

Apricot Punch is a subtle coral creme, very similar to a salmon coloured polish I have. I like the consistency of this polish and in my opinion, it is slightly better than their 60 seconds range. Opacity is good with 2 coats and I had no problems with streaks. The only downside is the 8ml bottle, I wish they came in slightly larger bottles of 14ml.

I then stamped with BM224 and Konad white stamping polish and added some french tips of a complementary colour - Nails Inc Coral.
I add some sort of tips to a lot of my manis. I first saw this on Erika's blog, started doing it and now I have to tip almost everything!!! Her manis are amazing and inspire me a lot.