Accessorize Nail Polishes - A/W and Metallic Collection Review

Greetings, all!

Today I have 2 Accessorize polishes under review - I remember when Accessorize first launched their cosmetic range and was SO pleasantly surprised when the quality turned out to be top notch. My Coral Crush Lipstick is still one of my favourite make-up items over 1 year after buying.

Accessorize have recently launched 19 new shades of Nail Polish, including a metallic range - woweee!

I decided to give you some Nail Art to perv over, rather than just do a standard, plain review - I'm just THAT kind to you! I started with a base of 2 coats of the Accessorize Winter Berry - a gorgeous warm-toned plum colour. It's the perfect wintery shade, in my opinion, and looks loooovely on the nails.

Now, if you follow the blog regularly, you'll know I don't really care for metallic finishes - they are not my fave - but they are PERFECT for stamping. This is especially the case for Accessorize Aquamarine, as it is a perfect one-coater and designed that way. I stamped the leafy image from Bundle Monster Image Plate BM210 and added a coat of Seche Vite to reveal the glitteryness.

used the flash so you can see the lovely glitteryness of Aquamarine!

Both polishes have a great consistency, with Winter Berry being especially glossy and easy to apply. They are brilliantly pigmented so these little babies will be great value for money. A definite YES in my book, I can see myself using Winter Berry constantly for a chic, winter look and Aquamarine for stamping. Excellenté.

You can snaffle yourself some Accessorize polishes from SuperDrug! 

Let me know what you think! Have you tried any of the new Accessorize polishes?

I think it's time that this guy made another appearance. Don't knock it, it is completely and utterly necessary.

xxx


These polishes were kindly provided by Accessorize for review. opinions are 100% honest and in no way influenced! :)

Color Club - Get A Clue: Stamped & Mattified

After swatching and wearing all those prismatic nail polishes I was in the mood for something different. The base colour I used for this mani is Color Club - Get A Clue, a beautiful light pink creme. My camera makes pinks like these look more blue-toned than they actually are, this is a true pink. I needed three coats for a smooth and even surface. I added some subtle stamping with bundle monster plate BM-201 and Millennium from China Glaze. To make my nails look (and feel) even softer I applied a layer of matte top coat from Essence. I love mattified metallic stamping!

Thanks for watching! :)

Precious, Precious, Silver and Gold

Today I'm showing you the silver and gold polish from Speciallità's Hits No Olimpo collection. The silver one's called Artemis. Artemis has a metallic finish and is filled with fine prismatic particles. The prismatic effect is amazing! I'm probably saying that about all the Hits No Olimpo polishes. ;)

The gold one's called Hermes. This one also has a metallic finish and a gorgeous prismatic effect. I wish the sun wasn't so shy today so I could show you how awesome the prismatic effect of these really is. Maybe another time! I rarely wear silver or gold nail polish, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked these two on me. It looks like Artemis and Hermes totally won me over.

edit: Ahh, this looks more like it. Look at those sparklies! Thank you, sun. ^_^

The formula was good, two easy coats for both, no top coat. 

Thanks for watching!

*The product(s) in this post was/were sent to me for reviewing purposes.

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Green, White & Red

Recently I posted this red, white & blue mani with arches on the tips. I loved it so much I wanted to recreate it with different colours. Holly-Day was still looking good, so I kept this beautiful green as the base colour. With a random white and Poinsettia from China Glaze I added the arches on the tip of my ring finger nail. For the dots I used China Glaze - 2030. Last time I made these arches on all nails, but I lacked in time, so I did just some accent nails. It looks rather Christmassy don't you think? :)

Thanks for watching!

Red, White & Blue

Recently I made this Holland themed cake for a befriended couple. I bought the Delft blue kissing couple (non-edible) a while ago and now I finally had the chance to use it on a cake. I thought it would be nice to use the colours of the Dutch flag: red, white and blue. These colours look so great together! So I also used them on my nails; China Glaze - Poinsettia (a new fav!) as the base colour, a random white and Chuck from Essence for the arches on the tips. I also placed some silver dots with China Glaze - Millennium. A layer of top coat and done!

I hope you enjoyed this new episode of Match the Nails to the Cake. :) Below you can see a collage with all the cakes I shared with you until now; a colourful whole, isn't it? I really like sharing this other passion here and hope you don't mind looking at more cakes (ánd matching nails) in the future!

Thanks for watching and have a good weekend!

Sing: Hey, Dirty-Lilah!

Last time I showed you a bold stamping combination, but I like them subtle too! For this look I applied two coats of Catrice - Sing: Hey, Dirty Lilah!, a greyed out lilac with a subtle silver shimmer (subtle as in it barely shows up on the nail). An interesting shade, like it can't decide if it's lilac or grey. The formula was on the thick side, I had some trouble getting an even result; luckily a layer of top coat helped to even out the streaks. After a day of wear I added the paisley-like pattern from Konad plate M64. I used Konad's Princess Special Polish in Light Gray as the stamping polish. I'm not impressed by the quality of Light Gray, some stamped parts look a little patchy, bummer! To finish it off I dotted silver dots over the stamped dots with Millennium from China Glaze and applied a layer of top coat. And do I like the end result..? Oh yes! ♥

Thanks for watching!

Boots 17 Magnetized Polish

I'm not a fan of this metallic nail polish trend. I just don't like the finish of metallic polishes, it feels a bit childish and cheap to me - this  Boots 17 magnetized polish, however, is one aspect of this trend that I can fully get on board with, I LOVE IT. Maybe I'm just a sucker for novelty (I love my Del Sol colour changers for example), but I really love how the effect looks! It's like crazy robot fingers, they look so 3D! Like the recent crackle trend, this technique is maximum nail art effect, with minimum effort.

Magnetized polish works by formulating the lacquer with iron particles, and by holding a magnet with a pattern polarized into it over the nail, the iron particles become attracted to the patterned magnet, and the design appears in the polish. It's pretty innovative and scientific! Don't let anyone tell you the beauty industry is dumb haha!

17 are not the first company to bring these out, LCN, Fashionista and Essence both have a magnetized polish range, and in the UK, Nails Inc have bought some out too. Nails Inc magnetic polish retails for £13.00, however, and my 17 version cost me £4.99 and they literally look exactly the same. (I also bought the blue one, and 17 are giving away a free gift with 2 products bought - WINNER. Any way to justify my addiction).

Here is the finished look. Definitely took me a bit of practice, but I nailed it after a couple of tries! (Pun intended, haha):

The polish comes with the patterned magnet slotted on top of the polish handle, and it just lifts off:

This is what the polish looks like when un-magnetized (this is an option, don't forget! You can still just use it as a gunmetal, metallic polish! 2 for the price of 1!). It's a shimmery, gunmetal silver that is actually very pretty, and bang on trend. I took this photo with flash so you can see how sparkly it is, as well as how amazingly 3-dimensional the magnetized nails look:

The magnet has to be held over the polish while it's wet, and the best way to get the most pronounced effect, that I found, was to apply a thick layer and immediately place the magnet over the top as quickly as possible. The wetter the polish, the more defined the effect will be. The magnet has a little lip on one side, so you can rest it on your finger while you magnetize. It takes 5 seconds, maximum, to create the pattern :

And voila!:

I also bought the blue one, but I couldn't get it to work as well. I need to keep experimenting I think! I'm not sure these polishes are in every single boots, the advantage of living in Nottingham (where Boots originates from) is that they usually stock absolutely everything. You can, however, buy them online very easily. I really want to try out some different magnet patterns, I know LCN did a starburst one - now THAT would look awesome. Has anyone tried these magnetic polishes from 17? How do they compare to Nails Inc or Fashionista? I absolutely love them, and am so glad I bought 2 different colours!

On a side note, the voting for Cosmopolitan's Blog Awards is now closed, thank you to every single one of you who both nominated and voted for me, I really appreciate it! I'm up against some incredible, incredible blogs with thousands of subscribers, so don't get too excited haha. It is a great achievement for me just to be nominated, and never imagined this little blog would come so far. (This is starting to sound like an acceptance speech!) The reveal party is next week, cross your fiercely manicured fingers for me!


xxxxx

Dangerous Duochrome

When I was applying Metallic Green from peripera for the first time I knew it would be great for stamping. I like how metallic stamping looks over a creme nail polish, so I applied two coats of P2 - Dangerous and I used the feathery/leafy design from plate BM-210. Great base colour, check; beautiful stamping design, check; awesome duochrome stamping, check! I am bedazzled... ♥

Thanks for watching!

Rimmel: Rags To Riches

Good Morning,

Yay happy Friday! *-* I found the last one at Walgreen's Rimmel London Lasting Finish Pro Rags to Riches a metallic mossy green with silver shimmer it's a new shade for this fall.  It's really pretty.  No problems with the application.  I love the flat wide brush only needed two coats but I used three.  Seems like lots of olive-y greens are out for this fall.  Will you be collecting them?

I'm a bridesmaid in a friends wedding tomorrow.  I'll be wearing something silver on my nails.  Can't wait to show you ladies.  Have a great weekend! 

Until next time please have a great nail polish day. (✿◠‿◠)

Catrice - Enter The Undergrowth + Konad M66

After swatching and wearing a lot of neons last week I wanted something totally different on my nails. So I applied one of the nail polishes from the Catrice Papagena collection, a muted green creme called Enter The Undergrowth. Beautiful colour. Reminds me very much of Sew Psyched from Essie, but without the silver shimmer. I can't have enough of these dusty greens! The formula of Enter The Undergrowth was great, two coats will give you an even and opaque result. After two days (hence the tip wear) I decided to add some extra growth (lol) with the bamboo design from Konad plate m66. I used China Glaze - 2030 as the stamping polish. I can't believe I haven't used this bamboo design for so long, I love it! And I also love this subtle konadicure, what about you? :)

Thanks for watching!

a england - King Arthur

Today I'm showing you a royal polish from the brand a england: King Arthur, a steel grey shade with a metallic finish. King Arthur is not just a grey polish, it has a very pretty fine shimmer in it, which sparkles pink and green in sunlight! The shimmer was hard to capture on camera, but if you enlarge the picture on the right you can see some coloured sparkles on the nail. I'm a big fan of grey nail polish and this one is definitely a new gem in my collection. King Arthur reminded me of Awaken from China Glaze, but side to side the latter one turned out to be more cool toned and it doesn't contain coloured shimmer.

The formula of King Arthur was good. I applied two thin coats, no topcoat. 

Thanks for watching! :)

*The product(s) in this post was/were sent to me for reviewing purposes.

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Striped Chuck

Last week I showed you guys a way to get crisp lines on the nail: with striping tape! Yesterday I wanted to try out another design, because it's fun ánd easy to do. I applied one layer of Millennium from China Glaze on my ring finger nails, placed a couple of pieces of striping tape on top and applied one coat of Essence - Chuck (have I mentioned how amazing that polish is? ♥) on all nails. Then I removed the striping tape from the ring finger nails and applied a topcoat. I really like how it came out, but hey.. in my book you can't go wrong with a blue/silver combination. :)

Thanks for watching!

Essence - Got A Secret & BM-215

I was very excited when my new Bundle Monster plates arrived last week, I couldn't wait to try them out! I even shortened my nails to make the full nail images fit. It turned out they're not short enough, the images still don't fit and I had to do some double stamping. I really wish the full nail images were a tad bigger, 'cause I often fail at double stamping (and I want to keep this nail length :) ). But I think the result isn't too bad this time!

The base colour I used is Got A Secret from Essence, a light grey creme (two coats), I stamped it with China Glaze - Awaken and the fan image from plate BM-215. 

Thanks for watching!

Zoya - Phoebe + first time tape!

New collections from Zoya always get me very excited, for this summer the brand came out with three (!) new collections (Sunshine, Summertime & Mod Matte). Right now I'm wearing a polish from the Mod Matte collection, Phoebe. This is how Zoya describes this nail polish: 

Bright azure with fine electric blue and violet shimmer with a velvety matte finish. The matte finish amplifies the bright color; this is a matte that positively glows.

I have a hard time finding the violet shimmer, but other than that: perfect description.  Phoebe reminds me of the sea - oh, I mean the Caribbean Sea, the sea around here has an awful colour. It's a very pretty polish, matte polishes can look dull, but not Phoebe, I love the velvety finish. The first picture shows how it looks shiny and matte (ring fingernail).

The formula wasn't that great, thick, gloopy and not very pigmented. So you have to be careful (to avoid streaks) and fast (it dries very quickly because it's a matte) at the same time when you're applying Phoebe. I got the most even result with thicker layers, I used three coats I believe.

As you can see I also had some fun with tape. :) I used two China Glaze polishes, Kiwi Cool-Ada and Millennium. These colours are awesome together, but I think it looks better without the silver stripes, they cover to much of that gorgeous neon green. But it was fun to do and I like the neat result you get with tape! What do you think?

Thanks for watching!

Celeb City with Pro 10

Good Morning,

I have an exciting combo to show you!  SH Xtreme Wear Celeb City is a gorgeous metallic silver foil that glistens with shimmer. I used 2 coats.  I'm sure it would sparkled even more if taken out in the sun.  I'm sorry my pictures are dark I'm using a different camera haven't figured out the setting/lighting yet. 

                         Celeb City

Then I applied one coat of 10 Professional Nail Lacquer 415 Pinky Promise (Can still be purchased at CVS) it gave it a whole new look a light grey with sparkles of gold.  Where did the gold come from?? Pinky Promise is a sheer pink.   I can't wait to see what it looks like out in the sun. Lots of pictures I hope you don't mind.

You really can see the gold in this picture

It goes to show you don't always have to layer with shimmers or glitters to achieve a different look.  Experimenting with colors is fun.  Could this be a new meaning for frankening without mixing in a bottle? 

So what do you think?  Would you give this look a try?

Until next time please have a great nail polish day. (✿◠‿◠)

For Your Thoughts.

Hey everyone! Guess whose birthday it is today? I'll give a hint... he'd be 201 years old today. He sported a lovely beard. He was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. ;) Ok, if you haven't figured it out yet, its Abe Lincoln!! :-P In honor of our 16th President's birthday, I decided to do penny nails, since he's on both sides!! :-P It didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, because I quickly discovered it is very hard to paint the detail of a penny on a fingernail with a nail art brush. :-P it'd have to be like a single bristled art brush! lol



I used Milani Sassy Brassy, which to me looks more like copper, as a base, with a mixture of Zoya Raven, Zoya Angelina and Nubar Milk Chocolate Creme for the linework, and Zoya Raven for the black background, topped with Essie Matte About You. Penny art was topped off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat to really make 'em shine. ;)

Now, how about your 2¢?