Nail Polish Removers

You all know that I am a nail polish addict. So it stands to reason that I change my polish quite frequently. Here's the ones that I am currently using.

First up is the most recent one I’ve gotten. It is the Bourjois 1 Second remover. It is a pot with a nail polish soaked sponge in it that you basically stick your finger in and when you take it out the polish is gone. Is it as a straightforward as it claims to be? Yes. I find I have to twist my finger a couple of times for it to come out polish free but it does work very well, leaving your nail very clean. It works surprisingly well for slight glitters also. I‘ve tried it with chunky glitter and while it eventually works, it wouldn’t be my first choice. The glitter also rips the sponge slightly so when you take your finger out there’s bits of sponge all over it!

This remover also contains nourishing sweet almond oil. This makes it smells nice and coats your nails/fingers in a slight oil to help prevent them drying out.

I love this remover for when I’m in a rush. No need for multiple cotton pads or faffing about. Stick it in and away you go!

However, like most products there is a downside. For me, I find that despite the addition of the nourishing oil, the skin surrounding my nails has become incredibly dry. My cuticles became quite sore and I’ve being trying to mend them! This happened after solely using this remover for about a week (I got lazy and wasn’t bothered using remover with cotton pads!). I definitely just have to keep this remover for when I really am in a rush - dried and sore cuticles aren’t worth the convenience.  This probably won’t be an issue for most people unless you change your polish nearly daily like me.

Next up is the pricy one. Chanels Nail Colour Remover, at £13, it is quite frankly a ridiculous price for nail polish remover. I would much rather spend the money on Chanel polish than remover! It’s such a blah product to buy. However, I’d heard it mentioned that it was a good remover for polish that tends to stain. And it is. Polish comes off extremely easy with this and I also discovered that is very adept at removing glitter polish. A few swipes and it comes of nicely. This remover also smells amazing. It doesn’t smell like a normal remover at all. More like a gentle, sweet, smell.

The only downside is the price of it. And that it comes in a glass bottle so if you’re clumsy...well then.  As it is so expensive I only use this remover for deep staining polishes like dark blues and reds and for some glitters. It’s not something that I want to have to repurchase frequently but it is something I would pay money for again.

Finally comes my usual duo. I bought the Zoya Remove+ just for the pump bottle. I wanted a pump bottle and couldn’t find one anywhere. Of course a week after the bottle arrived I found one in a beauty supply store. Isn't that always the way. Anyway, the Zoya Remover was fine but nothing spectacular enough for me to go and repurchase. I just buy either a Sally Hansen or Cutex remover in Boots (I think it’s a Sally Hansen one in the Zoya bottle at the moment) and refill the bottles. I don’t have any preference for either of the types within those brands, I usually get something different each time.

I have tried the super cheap Boots/Tesco stuff before but I didn’t find it any good so I stick to the Sally Hansen and Cutex stuff. I also have a huge bottle of pure Acetone but I keep that for slight clean-up around the nails as I think it would be too harsh to use continuously on my nails/fingers.

Do you have preferences for nail polish removers or do you just use whatever’s handy?

Barbara Daly Panache

Panache is a polish I picked up in my pre-addiction days. It’s the only one I have from the Barbara Daly line. I remember buying it late at night in Tesco the week of St Patrick’s Day because I had no green polish in my collection (oh, the horror) and I wanted to have green nails going to college that week.

I chose Panache because it was subtler than a blinding bright green. A beautiful, deep and rich green with hints of black it’s a polish I’ve neglected a lot since then. Which is a shame because it is stunning on and so easy to wear.

OPI Coney Island Cotton Candy

Coney Island Cotton Candy was one of the trio of polishes that were my first OPI purchases. (Bought from Amazon because I was scared of eBay back then. Heh how I laugh at myself now!)

I bought it because it seemed like the perfect base for a French Manicure. I don’t like it so much on it’s own, I have numerous other neutrals I prefer, but I do like how it work with white tips. I rarely wear French manicures anymore, but it’s always a good staple combination to have. If anything, I‘ll use it on my mum!

The white I used was a no name one from a Kiss manicure set I got quite some time ago. It works well.

Nail-Venturous Floam

Ah Floam. The only Indie polish that I own. It is a blue, yellow and green combo that creates quite the interesting effect on the nails. I'm not quite sure what it's made of but it is particles of something.

I used 3 coats for these photos. It is quite thick which made it slightly difficult to work with. In future I would use a base colour so that I would not have to use as many coats.

It is pretty awesome!

Dior Riveria

Dior Rivera is a gorgeous red-orange crème. Rivera was part of the Summer 2012 collection. I love the formula of the Dior polishes and Rivera was no exception. They also have a great brush.

These photos are 2 coats but some people may prefer 3 coats.

Chanel Delight

Chanel Delight was the first polish I bought from their Summer 2012 collection. I initially thought it would be a rose-gold type shade but it is definitely more in the champagne family. 

It’s quite a thick polish, so 1 coat created decent opaqueness. I love the way it looks on the nail, all shimmering and sparkling, Definitely a good choice for summer!

OPI Nothin' Mousie 'Bout It

Nothin' Mousie 'Bout It was another polish released with the Vintage minnie mouse collection. This is it layered over yesterday's I'm All Ears.

It is a light shimmery pink with heart shaped pieces through out it. It's hard enough to get the hearts out but it's worth the effort because it looks really cute.

Unearthing My Make-Up: Shopping The Stash Vol.3

So what have I unearthed from the stash for this week? 

First up is the Too Faced Romantic Eye palette. I had high hopes for this when I got it and while I found it okay at the time, it wasn't that amazing that I reached for it over and over. I plan to get good use out of it this week!

Also for the eyes is a Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in R.S.V.P. This was actually one of my first foray into higher end make-up. 

For the cheeks I have a Bobbi Brown Shimmerbrick in Pink Quartz, which is a beautiful shimmery blush/highlighter/bronzer product. Again this was one of my very first make-up products and I used it so much when I first seriously ventured into make-up. I chose MAC Immortal Flower blush as well, even though I use it quite regularly already as I thought it might go nice with Pink Quartz.

I also want to use more of Benefit's Moon Beam this week, it's definitely been neglected of late.

For lips I intend to try and use MAC's Half n' Half lipstick, Revlon Gold Dust lipgloss and MAC's Strange Potion lipgloss.

OPI I'm All Ears

I'm All Ears was released with the Vintage Minnie Mouse collection earlier this year.

It is a beautiful shimmery, deep pink. This was three coats but it is still sheer at the nail line which surprised me as I did not expect it to be sheer.

Chanel Skyline

Skyline was the sole polish released with the Bleu Illusion collection this past summer. I think it was exclusive to Chanel boutiques as I had to get mine from the boutique in Brown Thomas, they didn’t stock it at the make-up counter.

Skyline in a lot of photos looked like a frosty, streaky, light blue polish. And yes, I still wanted it.

I am so glad I got it. Firstly the formula – for me anyway – is perfect. It has the frosty look without the brushstroke effect (which doesn’t bother me much at all anyway). The colour is the most beautiful cornflower type blue with hints of lavender tones throughout. Perfection.

These photos are two coaters.

If you can still get your hands on Skyline I highly recommend it!

Pink Eyeshadow

I was originally going to call this post 'Pink Eye' but then thought better of it!

While doing my first 'shop the stash' post, one of they items I included was a NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Oyster, a light pink colour. 

With that, I re-disovered my love for wearing pink eyeshadow in general. While it's a look that not everyone will like, I think it is bright, fun and pretty funky! I had no problems wearing this as a daytime look but you could certainly just wear it out at night. 

The main products used - NYX Oyster, MAC Yoghurt, Pink Freeze, Stars n Rockets and Fig.1.

To get this look I:

• Primed with UDPP in Eden
• I applied NYX Jumbo Pencil in Oyster all over lid
• I packed MAC Pink Freeze over Oyster
• I used  MAC Stars n' Rockets on the outer lid and crease
• MAC Fig.1 was blended into the lower lash line
• MAC Yoghurt was used beneath the brow bone
• A dab of Urban Decay's Junkshow (found in the 15 Anniversary palette) was used to deepen the crease
• Maybelline Gel Eyeliner was applied
• The mascara used was Maybelline Illegal Length

I wore this look a few times during the week, trying different comboinations. If you want a softer look, just do a wash of Pink Freeze all over the lid. Junkshow is quite a deep pink and definitely made this a stronger look.

OPI Russian Navy

OPI Russian Navy is glorious. A very deep, deep navy with slight purple undertones. Hard to detect the purple on the nail though. 

It was opaque in 2 coats.

China Glaze Riveting

This is China Glaze Riveting. Eh…wow! Such a great orange! A real autumn orange. It’s so vibrant and just breathtaking! It was part of the Hunger Games collection and the only one I got from the collection, the rest of the colours didn’t interest me but this one is amazing.

This was 2 coats but really 1 would have been sufficient!

Zoya Beach and Surf Collection Summer 2012

A double polish post today. I wanted to show these before we left summer too far behind!

Zoya’s Summer collection this year was the Beach and Surf collection. I was taken with a number of polishes from the collection but the ones I ended up getting were Arizona, Wednesday and Zuza.

Arizona is a mid-tone orange crème. I loved this in pictures but when I wore it I have to say I was a little bit disappointed with it. It just felt a little blah. I think I’m going to end up using it more in conjunction with other colours for example in a gradient manicure. Just not digging it as a solo colour.

Wednesday is a fantastic, dusty, duck-egg blue with green hints, crème polish. It reminds me a lot of Chanel’s Nouvelle Vague, just slightly darker. It was opaque in two coats.

The last polish I got was the one I knew I wanted straight away. It is Zuza. It’s like the foil-shimmer sister of Wednesday with just a tad more green.

It had decent coverage in just one coat but two coats created the intensity that this polish is destined for. Definitely my favourite of the bunch!

Did you get any of the polishes from that collection?

Revlon Grey Suede

One of my very first Revlon polishes; I bought it along with Minted in a Boots in London in Summer 2010. Oh what a trip that was. It was my first time in London and I went buck wild. I saved up all summer for that holiday and bought loads of clothes, shoes and make-up. It was my first proper venture into make-up and I had a well-researched list with me going into MAC in Harrods. I’ve certainly come on leaps and bounds with my make-up consumption since than, hah! That’s when it all started with nail polish addiction to follow that November!

Anyways, I digress with my nostalgia. Grey Suede is a darkened nude shade with the slightest hint of micro shimmer. This was 3 coats and it was a little bit streaky to apply

A lovely shade to have but I have so many amazing nudes/neutrals that I don’t quite think it’s my favourite.

Wet n Wild Party of 5

Wet n Wild Party of 5  is the supposed dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday, I believe.

It's a chunky multi-coloured glitter that is shown here layered over Rimmel's Black Pearl.

I only used one coat here as I liked the sparse, scattered effect over the black base. It is also super shiny looking and I didn't even use a topcoat!   

Rimmel Black Pearl

Rimmel's Black Pearl is a light black polish that has a charcoal shimmer to it.

It actually looks more like it does in the bottle on the nail in real life than my photos are showing.

Like most Rimmel polishes I've tried, it was easy to apply and opaque in two coats. A gorgeous polish to wear if you don't want a flat black and is also a good base for glitter polishes as you will see in tomorrow's post.  

Unearthing My Make-Up: Shopping The Stash Vol.2

I was delighted with how last week's Shop The Stash went. I used some of the products from last weeks post every time I did my make-up, it really is a great way to fall in love with your make-up products all over again.

Now onto this weeks products!

My eyeshadow base of choice is going to be Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin. It's a great base but I often pass it over in favour of the Original or Eden.  I also want to get some more use out of MAC Paintpot in Genuine Treasure. It can be a bit patchy and does require a little effort so that's why it is often forgotten about. Eyeshadow wise, I am solely going to use the Urban Decay Naked Palette. I have a wonderful neutral MAC palette which I tend to grab instead of this. Also when I lived in America last summer, this palette contained the only eyeshadows I had with me so after such continuous use I think I just automatically go for other shadows now for a change!  I have chosen to use my Urban Decay 24/7 Liner in Bourbon. A fabulous colour but I nearly always end up going for black. Definitely need to mix it up a bit!

Cheek wise I want to use MAC Creme Blush in Ladyblush. It was my first ever MAC blush but I've leaned towards powder blush as of late. I also want to use MAC Crew Powder, I haven't used it nearly enough.

On the lips is going to be Revlon Colourburst Lipgloss in Strawberry, it's definitely pigmented enough to wear alone. YSL Rouge Volupte in Lingerie Pink and NARS Turkish Delight Lipgloss.

And that's this weeks stash picks!

Chanel Nouvelle Vague

Chanel Nouvelle Vague was released in Summer 2010. It created nearly as much excitement in the nail polish world as Jade which had preceded it in 2009. Of course the release of the beautiful Nouvelle Vague came a mere few months before my nail polish addiction. 

Let me tell you, Chanel lemmings are dangerous lemmings. Nouvelle Vague goes for crazy prices on eBay - often over a €100! (Jade is even more extortionate, I've seen it sell for nearly €300!) Thankfully due to a nail polish friend, I sourced Nouvelle Vague for a very reasonable just slightly above retail price. 

This was 2 coats of polish.

Was Nouvelle Vague worth the effort? To me, yes. It is a stunning shade. A beautiful blend of blue and green. Gorgeous for the summer especially.

Do you have any Chanel lemmings? 

OPI Last Friday Night

I finally got to wear OPI's Last Friday Night properly! LFN was released as part of the Katy Perry collection in 2011. I layered it over yesterday’s polish, which was Chanel’s Coco Blue.

I think they are the perfect combination!