On the 11th Day of Christmas...

...this blogger gave to thee...

...eleven lovely lacquers...

...ten bugs and beasties...

...nine feathered sculptures...

...eight bits of telly...

...seven shoes to choose from...

...six party dresses...

...five gold rings!..

...four fancy fish...

...three granulations...

...two bits of wood...

...and a calendar made of tea.

So my obsessive collecting of nail polish reached a head this year, when I realised that every time I had a bad day, I reached for the supermarket nail polish stand as a cheer giving treat. At least it's better than comfort eating or biting my nails the way I used too.

But for the 11th day of Christmas, I thought I should pay homage to my obsession and give you eleven of my favourite nail polishes. Now I will give a wee disclaimer, I had intended not to do swatches, the colours, never, ever come off  right when you take photos, I don't have the prettiest of nails, plus I also took a huge chunk out of one of them, (past the quick) with a knife while cooking before Christmas, so they look pretty gnarly. But today the post looked pretty shoddy, so have spent the day trying to pick and pic the colours I wanted...so apologies for how pathetic and badly applied they are!

  

Now, here is my list of loveliness..

  Maybelline Colorshow in Lavender Lies

Turns out, this is the perfect colour to begin with. Lavender Lies, it's the colour - in my opinion - of a purple Smartie. Almost chalky but still with a good shine if you don't bother with topcoat. But the reason it's perfect to begin with, is it almost exactly matches this years Pantone Colour of the Year, 18-3224 - Radiant Orchid.

Now my opinion the creme colours are better than the metallics in this range, but Maybelline Colorshow are among my favourite drug store brands. They're cheap at £3 a pop, they have excellent pigmentation, this one only needs 2 coats and the brushes are really reliably good in both size and quality. They're a wider brush, but not chunky and that'a s a very good thing. As is the fact that they are 3-Free!

 Barbara Daly @ Tesco in Once Upon A Time

 I love a good, bright pink crème nail polish. For years I hated pink, avoiding it at all cost and my pet hate is still Barbie pinks, baby pinks and pinks with blue shimmers, but a good bright magenta, that's just about perfect. Pink is gorgeous in the right shade and Barbara Daly from Tesco is perfect bar one thing. They discontinued Flamingo for Once Upon a Time and while they're basically the same, I still prefer my original - now slightly claggy - bottle of Flamingo which sits on my shelf. They have a standard brush, they're only little and this shade takes three coats as it's quite sheer and as far as I know Barbara Daly polishes are at least 1-Free.

 Nails Inc in Piccadilly Circus

 Ahh, my first love when it comes to Nails Inc. I can't really afford £11 a pop for nail polish, but Glamour and Instyle magazines have them as a free gift now and then, and I will spend £11 on four magazines to get four polishes. Piccadilly Circus was the first of their polishes which found its way into my pathetically manicured hands and cemented my love of them (and possibly my addiction to nail polish full stop). It is a deep, dark pink, which while it dries darker than the bottle, is glossy and basically the colour I had my bedroom for a decade. Plus, it takes two coats, but even one has sufficed before. Nails Inc, I adore you despite your price!

 Maxfactor Max Effect Mini Nail Polish in Fantasy Fire

 So pretty I bought it twice (well, actually, I bought one, my lovely dad bought me the second bottle as a present - my pater has excellent taste!) This polish is a beautiful she purple with golden, almost orange sparkle...my favourite eye shadow, discontinued over a decade ago, was called Trifle and was purple with orange glitter, it sound wrong but it works. And it works with this polish too. As I said it's very sheer, and quite a watery polish and you can wear it alone, but you would been lots of layers. Put it over a plain purple polish and it takes two too get a nice even layer of sparkle to admire in the sunshine.

 Rimmel London Space Dust Collection in 005 Total Eclipse

 I only bought this at the start of November, I saw it and it reminded me of my favourite eye shadow and I bought it without realising it was textured. I am not a fan of textured nail varnish, I don't even particularly like the feeling of very glittery polishes on my nails - they feel like sandpaper - so avoid them like the plague, but this one is actually lovely! If you like textured/glitter polishes I have a sneaky second recommendation, which is Barry M Textured Polish in Countess, I've been wearing it since New Years Eve and love the colour. Countess, is an odd colour, a mixture of burgundy/purple and gold glitter, which is dark, but has enough twinkle to make it wearable. Downside again is the texture, it feels like I have emery boards on my nails, which isn't my cup of tea, but I have gotten used to it. It also chips, but because of the texture patches well and dries quickly. They're both tricky to remove, but easier than expected for a glitter, though I am covered in fine sparkles now. 

 Gosh Nail Lacquer in 627 Denim Delight

 Gosh, while not new to me for most other make-up is new to me when it comes to nail varnish, and this is maybe not my favourite, I have a holographic one I don't wear but bring out to gawp at occasionally, however, Denim Delight is my most worn, I wear it to work, where it looks grey enough to be smart but blue enough to be unusual. I wear blue polish a lot as you will notice, and it still gets odd looks occasionally, but also gets nice comments too. 

 Orly Mini Mani in Hairband

 This for me is a Nails Inc dupe. Glamour Glitter is a top coat, it's a clear polish with two very fine sizes of silver gold glitter suspended in it, which was from a magazine a couple of years ago. It's perfect, but not available. And as I've said above, I don't wear a lot of glitter because of the texture, gut this is one I use a lot. But you can't get it, and I made up the rules, so here's a couple of dupes. If you like gold gold, go for Orly in Hairband, which I plumped for Hairband today over a black base as it has two sizes of the glitter particles. If you're more fond of the silver side, Barbara Daly in Wizardry. 

 Nails Inc in Queen Victoria Street

 My gran bought me this for Christmas, otherwise I wasn't going to have a second Nails Inc on my list, but it's a really bright crème jade green, which will probably become a favourite this year. It's the same as Piccadilly Circus, standard brush, good coverage etc, but most of the Nails Inc I've tried have been of a high quality. It also looks like last years Pantone Colour of the Year, 17-5641 Emerald.

 

Revlon Nail Enamel in Posh

 Posh is a bright British racing or snooker table green (which both photos fail to show, my is especially unreliable) and while I have lots of aquas and I have no bottles I would consider green green, bar this one. On my last post about nail varnish, where I showed a portion of my hoard, a follower mentioned she'd been buying a lot of greens, which of course spurred me on to find my own. This is a great shade, standard brush, two coat coverage and a big bottle, but stains a bit when you remove it, so you need to take care not to smear it over your skin because it takes a while to get off.

 Rimmel London Professional Finish in 420 Aqua Cool

 I wear this colour more than any other.

 Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in Greenberry

Another of my favourite inexpensive brands at £3 a pop and also 3-Free. I used to actually hate Barry M polishes, don’t get me wrong, the colours have always been fab, but the application, at least the few I tried, were streaky, thin and slow drying. Not so slow now, the Gelly polishes are particularly good and have incredible shine. I've got a good few of these colours, and Greenberry is very me. Aquas and pale blues are my safety colours.

Ok, so bonus time, mostly because it's my secret weapon and oh my god is it worth the money. My secret weapon for my nails is Sally Hasens Insta Dri, which is the best top coat I've every used for three reasons,

1. I got it for a steal while the supermarket was selling them off, if only I'd bought more than one!

2. It's got an incredibly glossy finish, which makes me rub my nails on my clothes like one would an apple, just to see how shiny I can get them and

3. The most important factor in this being a secret weapon. It is a quick dry top coat which sets your nails in a few seconds. Which means (unless your nails are really thickly applied and you don't give it any time to dry before applying the topper) no more smudging, no more looking insane trying to pick things up without messing them up and no more bed sheet imprints!

Is that just me? I tend to do my nails in the evening before bed, if they're not set, I get fabric imprints in my nails and there's only so much extra top coat that can help!

So that's it, the 11th day, I reek of nail varnish remover, under my nails are all different colours and I've only made one little felt bird today. 

Now for a cuppa.

Link | Maybelline Color Show in Lavender Lies
Link | Barbara Daly in Once Upon a Time

Link | Nails Inc in Picadilly Circus

Link | Maxfactor Maxeffect in Fantasy Fire

Link | Rimmel London Space Dust in 005 Total Eclipse

Link | Gosh in 627 Denim Delight
Link | Orly in Hairband

Link | Nails Inc in Queen Victoria Street

Link | Revlon Nail Enamel in Posh

Link | Rimmel Pro in Aqua Cool

Link | Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in Greenberry

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! Part twelve tomorrow...
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Listening: Royals- Lorde