QUICK SWATCH: Essie Gel Couture // Jade To Measure

Another TK Maxx buy. I'm not the biggest Essie fan; I find the formula sub-par for how much it costs and I don't really like the bottles either but this shade caught my eye.

Jade To Measure // Metallic Emerald Duochrome (sapphire undertones)

Collection: Gel Couture Holiday

Release Date: 2017

Coats: 2

This is a really special polish; it's beautiful and the formula is just on point. It leaves slight brush strokes however for once, you can't actually tell because the strokes aren't darker than the polish. It's incredibly shiny and all the shimmery bits give it so much depth. When the light hits it, it feels like when the sunlight hits the sea.

This would be perfect for St Patrick's day.

SWATCHES: W7 // Stargazer & Blood Moon

Ah W7...it's been a while since I've purchased some of these OPI wannabe polishes, mainly because the last time I did I opened the bottle and felt my eyes melt; it contained formaldehyde.

Stargazer // Forest Green/Bronze Metallic Shift
Collection:??
Release Date:??
Coats: 1 with Black Base, 2 by itself

Now I don't have this polish with me (I'm still at my parents, our office doesn't seem to be re-opening any time soon...) but I have a Barry M shade also called Stargazer and they are exactly the same shade. I swear there is no difference. Only the ingredients in the Barry M one are less sketchy. These 2 do not smell great and the teeny tiny ingredients list is one of those multi-page peel ones. It took me a good 5 minutes to get the final layer which is where the actual polish stuff was (not just the colours used). These two are at least 3 free but I don't trust them.

This shade though is quite a green/brown earthy metallic duochrome. It's ok, it has some brush stokes and dries with a satin finish. The shift is more pronounce on a black base but it's not too bad by itself. The bronze tone is mainly dominant. I ended up adding some rose gold sparkles to the tips and it turned into quite a nice Christmas party look:

Blood Moon // Purple/Bronze Metallic Shift
Collection:??
Release Date:??
Coats: 1 with Black Base, 3 by itself

This is my favourite out of two; mainly because I do like a nice purple. This feels more like a November/December polish to me. On a black base it's mainly purple with the gold coming through at certain angles. I also like it on clear false nails as it has more of shimmery pink vibe and goes well with pink cremes. 

// Verdict

I think it's safe to say I will not be purchasing anymore W7 shades in the future. The brushes were clumpy with bristles bent out and the formulas are awful. I paid £1.99 each but that was from an outlet store; they cost the same as Barry M or H&M normally! An absolute rip-off. I was lured in by how pretty they look in the bottle. Overall they're somewhat pretty but the ingredients are very sketchy.

SWATCHES: Ciaté // Mango Martini, Holiday Blues & Strictly Legal

One of my favourite things about buying nail polish from TK Maxx is that they're, more often than not, really old shades. I was attracted to these beautiful Ciaté shades for the brightness and shimmer and then stayed for the £1.99 price tag. When I got home and researched them a little I was shocked to find out how old they are!

Mango Martini // orange jelly
Release Date: July 2013
Collection: Suncatcher Collection

This is a true jelly shade which means it applies with no streaks, even though it's sheer. That means you can either wear one coat for that transparent glass effect or build up the coats for a glossy mani. I'm wearing 3 coats in the swatch and even though it looks like quite a bright orange in the bottle, it's actually more muted on the nails and isn't "in your face". The shade reminds me of cocktails and lying on the beach; clearly it captured the "Suncatcher" theme. It's been a long time since Ciaté have released a polish collection though apart from random shades every now and then! When researching this collection I was shocked to find I now only need 2 more shades to complete it! I'm missing Afterglow (a glow-in-the-dark white) and Palm Trees (lime green).

You can find out more about the collection in a post here: http://nailcandy101.com/launches-ciate-suncatcher-collection/

Holiday Blues // blue jelly
Release Date: Spring 2012
Collection: ???

This isn't my favourite blue; it's a bit too dark. It also has a warm undertone and I have a feeling this will stain your nails real bad if left on for more than a couple of hours. It's also a streaky jelly and needs at least three coats. By the time the coats have built up the colour changes slightly to an ocean blue. This is definitely a holiday shade though.

Strictly Legal // metallic grape purple
Release Date: 2009?
Collection: Metallics

This is going so far back in Ciaté's history that I can barely find any info on it. The early days of blogging! I had never seen the old Ciaté logo, it looks so weird! Unfortunately this is not an original from 2009 as it has the new logo but it's still pretty old as it has the old thin brush as well. It does apply pretty well but it's getting a little thick. This is a great shade for Autumn and Winter and I can see it with some gold designs on top for Christmas parties. It's also ready in one coat...although that could just be because it's gotten a bit thick.

SWATCHES: Twinkled T // Desert Sunset Stamping Polish Bundle

Oh man, I have been lusting after this bundle for over a year and on Black Friday I finally took the plunge and ordered from Twinkled T when they had 30% off on their website. Shipping was $17 (ouch) however I somehow managed to evade import tax. The post angels must've been watching over me.

I love pastel shades and this collection is just a magnificent blend of pastel cremes and metallics. It really does remind me of the types of soft pinks and corals you see in those "desert bloom" photos on Pinterest.

Liquid Gold // Cool Gold Metallic

This is perhaps the most impressive gold stamping polish I've ever come across; it's exactly what I was after. All my gold stampers are that bright yellow gold with a warm tone. As a polish this is a stunning one coater that does leave some slight brush strokes but they're not that noticeable. 

As a stamping polish; it's even better. Fine details pick up beautifully and stick straight to the nail instead of lifting up. Sometimes it's a little too thick and pigmented and if the plate is loaded up too much it will pick up any extra left around the design. You only need to use a tiny amount; unlike most stamping polishes. 

Smokey // Dark Grey Creme

Another fantastic deep, one coat wonder. My brush was a little frayed which made application a little tricky but it doesn't affect stamping in the slightest. It handles small detail and fine lines easily and even works on top of black for a nice slight contrast. This shade would be perfect for marble looks as it's not too dark. I'll try smooshing with it!

Ghosted // Light Grey Creme

I really like this shade; it has a slight mauve tinge to it. I'd wear this on it own and it applies beautifully as well. This one misses some slight detail...but only slight. It looks great on top of darker shades

Coraline // Pastel Coral Creme

This is my favourite shade in the bundle and the one that caught my eye in the first place. I love pastel peach/coral shades and I'd say this is a perfect mix of the Nails Inc Kiss My Peach duo. This is definitely a stamping polish though as it doesn't apply as a normal polish all that great. I found the formula super thick and it left brush strokes. It also needs at least two coats (I'm wearing one in the swatch).

As a stamping polish though it really shines and that thickness in the formula provides a clean and opaque stamp. I'm really impressed.

Tickled // Soft Pink Creme

I didn't think I'd like this at first as it's quite bright in the bottle but it's actually a lovely soft pastel pink with a slight peach tint. It has the thinnest formula of them all but still stamps well on top of lighter colours though it does struggle with dark shades.

As a normal polish, it's a bit streaky for one coat, but two does the trick.

Dazed // Ice Pink Metallic

This is practically identical to Barry M Razzle Dazzle but stamps so much better. Whereas that is a chrome shade and doesn't stick to the nail well, this has lots of shimmer and performs the best with practically no missing spots.

// Verdict

Quite possibly the best stamping set I've ever bought. These perform so much better than the Born Pretty, Nicole Diary and MoYou London polishes. The MoYou polishes are so much more expensive as well and you get less. Even though I have to import these from LA, they're only $6 each and the postage is worth it. I'll definitely be buying more from them. I already have Vibin' and Liquid Vinyl; white and black stamping polishes and I seriously need all their shades. 

Twinkled T // Desert Sunset Stamping Polish Bundle

$32

SWATCHES: Primark Cosmic Chrome & Liquid Metal // Luna & Penny

I've been avoiding Primark polishes because a) they're all below £2 and b) it will do serious damage to my bank account. They have some beautiful shades but I know I'll just go insane and buy the entire shelf. Today is a good though because I managed to restrain myself and only buy these two new shades. But after seeing how these have performed I may just have to let my wallet take a hit because 

Luna // Rose Gold Glitter/Foil

Holy hell. This...THIS is the formula I want the H&M glitter/foil polishes to be. This is how you do a glitter foil. I am wearing just 1 coat! This stuff is insane! Plus it stamps, what even is this stuff and how is it only £1.50? They have this in gold, silver, blue and green but I'm a rose gold ho so this is my favourite. My only gripe is that it takes a while to dry and is hard to clean up but it's worth it. 

Penny // Orange Metallic/Foil

I have a couple of shades similar to this one in Artistic Revolution's "You're not glistening to me" and Orly "Valley of Fire". However, this one is set in a raspberry base and has a slight gold shift. In the bottle in kind of looks like it's on fire when the light hits it. If you got some fire vinyls, this would be perfect thanks to the gold shift. It doesn't stamp as well as Luna and also dries with some brush strokes if applied haphazardly but for the price I can't complain much.

// Verdict

Very impressed. And all Primark items are now cruelty free as well. I'm not wearing any top coat in these photos either; they're incredibly glossy and put some expensive brands to shame. Couldn't recommend them more.

SWATCHES: Avon Mark Nail Style Studio Cosmic Lights Collection

Alright, one second lemme just

For me Avon is perhaps my favourite polish brand. It currently takes up around 40% of my polish collection and it just keeps growing every month when my Avon lady brings a new brochure into work. This collection debuted in the August book and how on earth could I say no? Look at them:

The name is absolutely ridiculous; but then all Avon polishes are. Everything is Avon mark by avon nail studio mark Avon True Colour Mark nail enamel Avon....it reminds me of the cheaper Marc Jacobs line that (ironically) have his name plastered all over:

But anyway, names aside these shades are meant to represent 'oil slicks' or when oil mixes with water and crazy insane colour shifts start happening. You can already see it happening in the bottle and in these photos they legit look like bottled space:

Put these things in a museum now. With all of them I tried them first on some nail swatch sticks to find the best base, which shocker; turned out to be black. I was also a little shocked to find just how runny they all are and on their own they need around 3-4 coats to become opaque so they're almost a jelly polish; look at Avon getting in on the Nail trends.

All the swatches in this post were taken under two daylight toned light boxes.

I'll start with the best of the bunch; Cool Slick. This thing is certainly cool; so cool it's almost sub-zero; just like space! Oh turning it round! So anyway, this shade is a beautiful deep cool blue that shifts into purple and green. It's really hard to see that shift on the nails in photos but it's truly beautiful. I can't wait to do some space nails with this polish.

Next up is Oil Slick;a mermaid teal to purple shade. This one is no where near as mesmerising as Cool Slick but it's still a pretty shade and will work well with mermaid nails. I've just purchased the new Sailor layering plate from MoYou and think some layers on top of this would work well.

Now we have Warm Slick which I didn't love at first but now I've warmed up to it (ba dum tiss). It's a stunning burgandy/brown metallic shade with a deep gold shift; perfect for the autumn nights drawing in now. I really loved wearing this one and I think it's going to become a staple Christmas polish for me this year.

And then last is Magic Slick; a burgundy to purple shifter. I now vote we call duo-chromes shifters instead because it sounds cooler; also it reminds me of this cheesy Sci-Fi TV show from way back in the 90's called Sliders which unfortunately jumped the proverbial shark towards the end. Like that TV show though, this polish in the end was disappointing. It doesn't seem to shift at all and whereas it's a lovely shimmery and high-shine burgundy shade; it's just that. It has no shifting properties on the nail at all.

In all I highly recommend Cool Slick followed by Warm Slick but the other two are optional based on your tastes. But hats off to Avon for coming out with something new and hip. When searching for swatches of these online I actually came across some old Avon Cosmic polishes; PolishAholic did an entire post on them here. And I know for a fact I've been ordering Avon since 2010/2011 so I'm annoyed I don't own any of these or even remember seeing them; perhaps they weren't released in the UK? Either way, I'm glad I got my hands on this new selection and I may even purchase another bottle of Cool Slick because hot damn.

Avon Mark. Nail Studio Cosmic Lights

10ml Full Size || £6 each

Cool Slick (blue to pink, gold & green)

Magic Slick (burgundy to gold)

Oil Slick (emerald to blue and purple)

Warm Slick (red/brown to gold)