First Experiences With Illamasqua's Nail Polishes.. & Something Shiny.

I was in London recently and my mum promised me a treat, so naturally I stopped by the Illamasqua counter, and picked up these two;

Force and Elope, both are £13
They look a little light in the bottles here, but I have individual swatches.
This is Elope;

I saw this and was drawn to it like a fly (psst, see my previous post about greens.. haha) and the girl swatched it for me and it looked awesome, so I said yes. Unfortunately, on me, it came off sort of weird. With like a rubbery finish? You can sort of see it in the picture. I hope that it was just something I did when I applied it, so I applied it about a week later and I didn't have any of the same problems, which pleases me because it's a reallyyy beautiful colour. I used a top-coat and everything but just dunno! I also worried it was very similar to a cheapo Collection 2000 colour, so I swatched them both side by side on my thumb so you can see;

On the left is Ninja by Collection 2000 (£1.79) and on the right is Elope by Illamasqua.
They look identical in the bottles, but to a green-freak like me, they're different enough to warrant having both, because it's a deeper green. Ninja suddenly looks far too pastel-y when next to it.
The next one is Force, from Illamasqua's latest Body Electrics collection;

This is just immense. It's an absolutely gorgeous colour. A very true, pretty, light royal blue. I highly highly highly recommend this one, and I don't have anything like it in my collection, and it goes on in one coat, pretty much.
The formula's are absolutely great, especially for Force, I just wish I didn't have that one-time weird plasticy finish on Elope. Elope goes on excellently, even if it did take a fewww coats, but it's great. I love these, but I wish the price wasn't quite so steep, but you do pay for an excellent product and eternally classy packaging.

Price: 3/5

Packaging: 5/5

Colour: 5/5

Formula: 4/5

Overall: 4/5

Would I buy this product again?

Absolutely definitely. There's a range of colours I have my beady little eyes on.

Now onto the something shiny.. I definitely bought one of these babies a few weeks ago..

Before you start telling me about all the things that could potentially maybe go wrong with it.. just don't. Don't be so pathetic, I've had enough of that and it's just pisses me off.

Just thought I'd share because I can't resist something shinyy!

Nails - Part II, Summer Spending - Part I!

This is following on from my last post about nails, and is the first of four "haul" (slash review/information!) posts that I have coming up for you!
I've been trying out Sally Hansen's Natural Nail Growth Activator over the past two months, and have noticed a considerable improvement! I love it because it dries to an unnoticeable natural finish, which means its absolutely perfect for when I forget to take my polish off before work (we're not allowed nail varnish, unfortunately!), especially for £6. When the bottle runs out, I'm probably going to try the Miracle Nail Growth. That coupled with I've finally managed to kick the nervous habit of biting my nails, and been trying to drink more milk (I have bad teeth and nails, so, every little helps!). They're getting there, they're just not in the best of condition (Which is the next step, I bought Nails Inc's A&E base coat which my friend recommended to me.
But, I'm digressing. I always want to be one of these people that has their "signature" nail colour. I have my signature scent, but I'm still struggling to find the perfect colour. So I've been scouring nail blogs, and drugstores for a good shade. And I mean scouring - I think I'm going to have order offline, because I'm definitely lusting after a deep, glossy, dark green.



GOSH Nail Lacquer - £4.39 from Superdrug.
542 Chocaholic, 573 Golden Brown, 551 Sweet Peach, 571 Wild LilacI am in love with Wild Lilac. Think OPI's Done Out In Deco, but less washed out and half the price! I tested this out the second I got it home, one coat without a base coat, and it lasted amazingly. A lovely, glossy finish, and was surprisingly durable.
Sweet Peach is a colour I loved... in the bottle. A pretty mustard yellow with a pinkish duochrome, with glitter in it, too. It came out a little chunky, and stained my nails a bit, as well as taking a while to dry, I found (but I am terminally impatient). Chocaholic is a pretty colour, but a little plain, and comes out with hints of red and purple, instead of the true chocolate brown the bottle promised.
Golden Brown is a colour both me and my mum loved. I've just taken it off my toes after wearing it for.. probably three weeks, give or take. It's very shimmery but very pretty, and from swatches I've seen, a decent enough dupe for MAC's Mercenary (half the money!).



China Glaze - £? (forgot! about a fiver) from Sally's.
Strawberry FieldsFirst off, 'scuse the shoddy job I did of painting them. I think I was in a rush to do this. Actually, thinking about it, I may have done this whilst we stopped in Pizza Hut for lunch, haha. I was looking to see if Sally's sold any Duo glue the other day, and found a rack of China Glaze polishes, much to my happiness! My immediate reaction was to pick up five I just had to have (before remember I'd dropped £30 in MAC, already that day!). I limited myself to just one, amazingly (but I know where I'll be heading with my next paycheck..!), and this is the one I picked. I'm not really one for pinks, but this colour has a lovely gold shimmer to it. In some lights, it pulls a little red, but the bottle is an accurate colour. And you get a big bottle for your money, I think a few ml's more than the GOSH, which is only a little cheaper. I love the consistency, easier to apply, a good brush, and dries well, to boot.



OPI £9.99 (roughly)
You Don't Know Jacques!I'm actually wearing it on my thumbnail, here, but because of how my hand is tilted, the bottle is a more accurate swatch. I have a grey, by Barry M, and I always thought this was a pretty grey. It's not. It's more of a mushroomy brown grey, a taupe, if you like that word (which I don't!) - either way, I am in love. In some lights, it looks dark brown, in daylight, it shows it's true colour, which.. is just lovely. If you can get this online, do. I wouldn't by it from Sally's, because you will have to pay £10! Some websites (which I'll list at the end) sell it for $4 USD! Which is insane, so shop around.



Rimmel 50 Seconds Nail Polish - £3.22 from Boots
819 Green With EnvyNow all my friends have this polish, I think. And whenever I see it on them I think wow, and always ask them what it is. This is it. My friend was wearing when we went out the other day (and I'm very jealous of her nails) and in the sun it seemed to glow. Don't let the name fool you - I would never call this a green. It's a predominantly blue turquoise. It takes a while to dry, and showed brush-strokes on me, but its worth the awkward nature.

A word before I let you get back to your lives! I've learnt my lesson with paying a lot for nail polishes.. I shelled out for Chanel's 471 Blue Satin, and do regret it, cause I've found much prettier shades for a fraction of the price! Such as Barry M's 292. I only get OPI's because I get a discount on some of them, but I highly recommend searching the high-street (and the internet!) for dupe's. As much as I would kill for a bottle of Gold Fiction or even NARS Zulu (which looks gorgeous), I don't know if I could justify them.
But that's just my two cents! I'm off to bed cause I have to work in the morning!