H&M Lemon Tree

Hi Guys,

It's an earlier than usual post from me today, I'm going shopping later on so I'll be very busy! My boyfriend's laptop is broken so we're taking it to the Apple store, and I might have a look for a couple of new nail polishes...

I have some pretty amazing nail mail waiting for me when I get home that includes OPI Pirouette My Whistle and some Dollish Polish so I'm on the hunt for some jelly polishes so I can do some jelly sandwiches! I already have one in mind using Cult Nails Enticing, but other than that the only other jelly polish I own is Oh My GOSH Pink Red so I really need more. So if you know of any UK based brands that are easy to get hold of then please let me know. I know if I tried hard enough I could get the Nfu Oh Jelly Syrups, but they're so expensive!

Anyway, seeing as the sun isn't coming out today, I have a sunny polish to show you! I bought this last week from H&M because I really wanted another yellow. The only yellow I owned before this was NYC Colors Lexington Yellow, but I've ordered Cult Nails Feel Me Up as well. This polish was to tide me over until I get home to my Cult Nails Package!

The shade is called Lemon Tree and it's a very orange leaning yellow creme. The colour of this is similar to the photos but darker. It was totally impossible to capture on camera. This yellow really leans orange. The colour of it is similar to Sunny Delight but still darker. I really recommend you go to H&M and buy this just to see the colour!!!

The photos below show four coats with Cult Nails Wicked Fast as topcoat.

Natural light

Shade

Bright Sumlight

I love this polish. I put it on yesterday morning and it hasn't chipped so far. It's such a nice colour, the kind of colour that clashes in a nice way with a lot of colours, especially the indigo dress I wore yesterday.

If you would like to buy this shade, you can find it at H&M for £2.99!

Models Own Black Magic and Matt Black

Hi Everyone, 

Hope you've all had a lovely day. I've just got back from having dinner at a country pub we always go to, it's been warmer again today so it's been nice to wear no leggings again! I wore a long sleeved skater dress with a cardigan and flip flops. Even though it was the evening it was nice, and that's the kind of weather I love.

I have two polishes to show you today. I bought these a little while ago and swatched them as soon as I got them. I made an order on the Models Own site for a few polishes and included Black Magic in the order. I have quite a few black polishes because I have a lot of special effect topcoats to go over them, and I really get through them, and I was down to only one bottle of Gold By Giles Black. My Rimmel Black Out was finished and I was starting to get panicky. 

Then I got my order and they had put Matt Black in by mistake! I had never owned a matte polish because I wasn't sure I liked the effect so I emailed them letting them know of the mistake. They emailed me back within half an hour saying sorry and telling me to keep the Matt Black. My replacement Black Magic arrived the next morning, I was so impressed! 

Black Magic is a glossy black polish that is highly pigmented. It went on very easily in two coats and dried very quickly with a super glossy effect. I didn't use topcoat for the photos below but if I was wearing this for longer then I would.

Natural light

Sunlight

I thought I should include a photo of the Matt Black polish as well. The formula of this was pretty good, it went on with two coats. I found I struggled with the matte finish because it dried quickly so I sometimes found that with my application method, it looked uneven and I could almost see brushstrokes. Also, the matte finish wasn't as matte looking as I thought, it looked more like rubber. 

The photo below shows two coats with no topcoat in natural light.

All in all, I'm pleased with both polishes. Black Magic is super glossy with a good formula, and Matt Black looks nice if you apply it carefully. I think I'll probably use the matte finish one for layering because I'm not sure I'll get enough wear out of it otherwise!

Both polishes are available on the Models Own site and in selected Boots stores where it retails for £5.

Nails Inc Oakley Street

Hi guys,

Not so much of a nice day today, the clouds were back in full force which isn't good. I thought summer had arrived but I think I must have got it wrong! I was back in leggings, a dress and my Kurt Geiger boots (my staple every day outfit) but the cold weather gave me the perfect opportunity to wear my new Hollister sweatshirt. It's just a navy blue sweatshirt but it's so comfy!

Today I have another Nails Inc post for you. This polish is called Oakley Street and it's a camel/beige creme. Normally if I'm wearing something neutral on my nails it's because I've been wearing something particularly dark or bright and I need a change, but this time it was because I was desperate to try out camel. 

It took me a long time to try out any neutral nail polishes because I don't really like how they look against my skin tone. I'm half Palestinian so I have a very olive toned skin. For olive, read yellowy... It's a really awkward colour that's not white and not tanned so I find it hard to get the perfect nude shade... Unfortunately I don't think this is it...

Here are some photos. The formula of this was great, it went on smoothly and was perfectly opaque in two coats. I didn't use topcoat.

Natural light

Flash

Looking back at these photos now I don't dislike this as much as when it was on my nails! However I don't think it complements my skin tone AT ALL. I'm not sure what kind of skin tine this would suit, but it's definitely not yellowy skin!

This shade doesn't seem to be available on the Nails Inc site, but I got this as part of a set of seven from TKMaxx for £24.99.

2true Shade 3

Hi Everyone!

I'm feeling so happy today! The weather has been so nice and we've had a nice day out. My boyfriend had a day off work so we went to a Roman fort site nearby. Don't get me wrong, I'm really not a history nerd, I just love the field and the view is amazing. I used to spend a lot of time there as a child so to take my own child there as an adult was really strange! We had a lovely day in the sun so I've really enjoyed myself! 

Another good thing that has happened is that I managed to retrieve my photos! If you've read my blog over the past two days you'll know that my photos for the last few weeks all vanished from my SD card... I downloaded a free program called TestDisk that let me do an unlimited scan and retrieve. The program isn't for people who want anything fancy, it has no graphical user interface, so it's just white words on a black background (in Terminal for Mac users such as myself) but it worked perfectly, and so I have everything back!

Anyway, enough of that an onto the polish. Today I have one of the 2true polishes I showed you last night in my haul post. This is from a set of three (I assume it's three, that's all I could find) limited edition shades from the 2true Crystal Nail Polish collection. 

Shade 3 (very imaginative, I know) is a teal glitter polish. This was really easy to apply and went on easily in two coats. When I wear this again I'll probably use three coats.

The photos below show two coats with topcoat. I used Seche Vite and even that seemed to soak in! I think in future two coats of Seche Vite would be better. 

Natural light

Sunlight

Flash

I really like this polish but I don't love it. In the shop I thought it had a slight duochrome to the shimmer but it didn't show up in real life! 

You can buy this at Superdrug for £1.99 (7ml bottle). They also do a 3 for 2 on this brand too, I picked up all three LE shades for £2.98! I'll have the other two shades from this collection coming up over the next week or so!

Haul time & NOTD

Hi guys,

I'm still having problems with my camera today... I've downloaded some data recovery programs so hopefully I'll be able to get my photos back...

This means I haven't got a polish to show you, but I do have a little haul post! I bought some Nails Inc last week from TKMaxx, if you haven't been into your local store lately, have a look, they've got a ton of Barielle, Nails Inc, Color Club and Barielle in there at the moment! 

This week I bought a few 2true limited edition shades and a couple of polishes from H&M too. So here you go! I'm so sorry for the photo quality, the photo was taken with my boyfriend's iPhone. My camera is currently plugged into the laptop scanning for lost photos!

Haul

I've swatched a couple of the Nails Inc polishes already and posted them but I still have a lot to do as you can see! I also can't wait to wear the yellow polish. I've been looking for a mustardy yellow colour for a while and Lemon Tree from H&M was perfect! And it was only £2.99! 

The 2true polishes I bought were so cheap, I think I got three for £4.00 or something and I'm really pleased with them. I'll be swatching them soon if my camera ever decides to like me!

I bought the matte topcoat because I've wanted to get one for a while. I keep seeing really cool looking nail art designs online combining matte and glossy polishes and I've wanted to try it out. I thought tonight would be a good time and so I used Nails Inc Park Walk which is a very bright pink. I painted it on all my nails (it was almost opaque at one coat - perfect at two) then added the matte topcoat. Once I was happy with it, I used NYC Colors In a New York Minute Grand Central Station (a clear topcoat) to paint on curved stripes on my chosen accent nail - my ring finger. I was so pleased with this! 

Here's a photo, this was taken on Instagram with my iPad, so the colour is a bit off!

Nail Art

I'm really hopeful that tomorrow I'll have a pretty polish to show you with proper photos, so fingers crossed that my camera works properly again as of then!

On a side note, I'm up to 26 followers now, so only four away from my giveaway!

I'm so sorry, technology literally hates me!

Hi guys,

I don't have a post for you today. I took some photos for a post today, it was another Nails Inc, and then I plugged my camera into my laptop and the photos were gone. I don't just mean the photos I took for the blog, but all of the photos I've taken over the last three weeks including lots of very cute photos of my son! I'm so annoyed, I use the same camera every day but somehow it all went wrong tonight! 

I'm trying to take steps to find my lost photos, but they're nowhere to be found, they've been replaced by an alias file with no original source.

Don't get me wrong, I love my MacBook Air, but I get frustrated to no end when these stupid Mac things happen. 

I would like to think I could give up my Mac and go back to Windows, but as much as I loved the reliability of my old laptop and how it always found my external hard drive and never lost my photos, no matter how hard I tried, it was painfully slow from the day I got it. 

I should think I'll have a post for tomorrow, even if it means taking the photos, putting them on my boyfriend's computer and then sending them to myself.

I'm so annoyed. If it wasn't bad enough that the internet is on and off every five minutes, now this has happened! 

On the plus side, I did order two Ozotic polishes today in Leah Ann's birthday sale at Llarowe. If you go to Llarowe and buy something, you can use the discount code "llarowespringchicken" to get 49% off one item. I bought one Ozotic Mish Mash with the discount and then another full price, I can't wait to get them!

Nails Inc Lowndes Square

Hi Everyone,

I've had a lovely day today, I took Caleb to the beach to cheer him up because he's been ill over the last few days. It was so sunny, I love this time of year because you really appreciate every single moment of sun. 

Today I have another Nails Inc polish to show you. This is from the same set that Albert Place came in and it's a dusty purple creme.

I can't explain how much I loved the application on this! It was really similar to Albert Place in that it was almost opaque in one coat. The photos below show two coats with Seche Vite on top.

Natural light

Shade

Sunlight

As I said yesterday, I got this in a set of three from TKMaxx for £10.99 but you can get it here on the Nails Inc site for £11.

Nails Inc Albert Place

Hi Guys,

My internet has been on the blink recently so I'm doing this post as quickly as I can!

Today I have a Nails Inc polish to show you. I bought this last week in a set from TKMaxx for £10.99. I got three shades in there for that price so there was no way I was leaving it! I also got a set of 7 polishes for £24.99, the shades from which I'll have coming up soon-ish! 

Albert Place is a sky blue creme with such an excellent formula! The only Nails Inc polish I had tried before these was the Gossip Girl flakie duo, and the formula on that creme was horrific so I had sworn off the brand, but I know so many people who use and love them that I thought it deserved a second chance! I'm so glad I did because I've tried a few of these and so far they've all been mostly opaque with just one coat with a second coat to even it out totally.

The photos below show two coats of Albert Place with one coat of Seche Vite. I wore this yesterday to a BBQ and my boyfriend's four year old niece commented that she liked it, so it's obviously very pretty!

Natural light

Shade

Flash

Yesterday when I was shopping I picked up a matte top coat. I've been after one for ages and this one was £1.99 from H&M! I thought I'd try it out with Albert Place and I really liked the outcome! Here it is:

Matte

This colour is so nice now we're having a bit of sun, because it's really not far away from a sky blue, it really gets me in the mood for the nice weather!

You can buy this shade from Nails Inc here for £11, but seeing as I got three polishes for the same price in TKMaxx for the same price, I'd suggest you look at your local store first!

China Glaze Sea Spray

Hi everyone,

Hope you're having a nice day, the sun is out again today here so I'm hoping to get outside in a bit! I'm posting earlier today because I have a bit of time, also I've noticed that I get around double the hits when I post earlier in the day, so I'm hoping more people get the chance to enjoy my blog if I make some more effort and post at a reasonable hour!

Anyway, today I have one of my favourite polishes to show you. It's by China Glaze and it's called Sea Spray. This came out in the Spring 2011 Anchors Away collection but I only got it about a month ago. It's a very greyed out pale blue creme with a stunning soft shimmer to it. I don't own anything even remotely similar to this! It's just beautiful! 

The China Glazes that I've used so far (with the exception of For Audrey) have had a brilliant formula and this was no different. It went on very smoothly and only took two coats to reach opacity. The dry time was good as well considering I didn't use any topcoat.

The photos below show two coats of Sea Spray.

Natural light

Flash

I know I'm slightly late to the party with this shade, but I absolutely love it. It is so muted and subtle, which I love in a creme. The only complaint I have is that it doesn't pull as blue on me as I would like! It looks more of a greeny grey! But the shimmer looks so pretty and the colour is just perfect!

Speciallita HITS Hera

Hi guys,

I've had another day of shopping today, which you'll know already if you follow me on Instagram or Twitter (@truly_polished). When I went yesterday I saw a cobalt blue maxi skirt and today I went back and got it as well as a few tshirts. Since I started my blog I've mainly been buying nail polish, but now the weather is getting nicer, I'm getting inspired to buy my summer wardrobe. This summer I plan to be more adventurous with my style choices. I've always been interested in fashion, but I've stuck to plainer things that I think suit me, instead of trying anything new. I literally wear black leggings EVERY DAY and my version of mixing it up is wearing tights and a dress!

So this summer I'm going to try new things with my clothes and this cobalt blue maxi dress is me dipping my toes in! I've also changed my hair from a side parting which I've had for the last ten years to a middle parting! It might not sound like much but it's a big deal to me! 

Anyway, today I have the last of my newer HITS holos to show you. I only have the holo topcoat left after this (Hefesto) and I'm slowly but surely getting photos together for that!

This is Hera, a teal holographic polish. This was so gorgeous in person but I couldn't capture its true beauty in the photos. I have no complaints about the formula of this, it went on smoothly, in two coats and covered perfectly. I didn't use topcoat for the photos below. Hera was SO much more holographic in rel life, but for some reason my camera didn't pick it up. 

Sunlight

For more photos and a topcoat comparison, click "Read More"

A England Ascalon

Afternoon Everybody!

Here's an uncharacteristically early in the day post from me! My boyfriend is at work, my son is asleep, so I thought I might as well do something productive instead of just watching TV! Then I might treat myself to some chips and a bit of shopping later on! 

Today I have A England Ascalon to show you. I bought this online when I was at my Dad's because they had a 30% off deal in honour of Tristam's (Adina's cat's) birthday. I bought Princess Sabra (Tristam Eyes), which you can see here and Ascalon.

Ascalon is a grey polish with a scattered holographic effect and a duochrome which goes from lavender to a VERY subtle green, which looks grey most of the time.

The application of this was really good, it was almost a one coater but I ended up using two coats. I used Cult Nails Wicked Fast as a topcoat which made the drying time really fast. 

These swatches were taken this morning (Monday) and I actually put this on, on Saturday morning. It is still immaculate after so many days, but I think I'm going to have to change it later on because I get bored so easily! 

Here are some photos, as I mentioned before, this is two coats with topcoat.

Natural light

Flash

Purple duochrome with flash

Green shift in the natural light

My camera didn't like this polish at all. The purple in the polish is so obvious in real life but it was almost impossible to get it to show up on the camera! I managed to get it to show on one of the flash pictures as you can see, but it's even more obvious in real life! 

You can buy this from Llarowe but I bought it direct from A England here. It retails for £9 and they offer free internation delivery, which is always a bonus!

I love A England and their Jubilicious Collection has a couple of polishes I want so I'm VERY TEMPTED!

Models Own Blue Moon

Hi guys!

Just a quick post from me tonight because I really haven't been feeling well today... I've got a banging headache and I'm so tired! But I have a pretty polish to show you anyway.

This is one of my most recent Models Own purchases and it's called Blue Moon. It's a glass flecky kind of foil, the same as Champagne, which I posted ages and ages ago, you can see the post here.

I had seen this polish so many times before I actually bought it, it's a really striking ice blue and it's the kind of colour I love but put off buying because I think it looks a bit too futuristic. I feel the same about non holographic silvers. I needed to pick another polish anyway to get my money off (I did a buy five, save £7 deal) and I decided to go with it and I'm so pleased I did!

It's worth saying that this polish went on really sheer at first but built up really nicely because the formula was good. I used three coats for the photos below with no topcoat.

Sunlight

Natural light

This was so reflective, it was almost mirror-like, and it was so sparkly in the sun, as you can see from the photo above! Sorry the natural light photo is so bad, my camera was just refusing to focus on the glass fleck particles!

I really like this polish, on the nail it looks dark enough not to look like something from the future! I love these polishes from Models Own. I want to have every one that they do eventually, but right now only have this, Champagne, Gold Rush and Mystic Mauve (both of which will be on here one day!) The formula is great on them and they really make a nice change from cremes when I want something different.

If you'd like to buy this, it's really widely available in Boots or on the Models Own site where it retails for £5.

KOH Colours! Metallic Green! - Pic Heavy...

Hi guys,

I've had a more chilled out day today, I just went to the beach and watched TV at home. My friend is coming over in a bit to catch up, we haven't seen each other in a while so we're going to get food and watch more TV!

I've got one more of my Dutch nail polishes to show you today. My Dad bought this for me when I went to visit him and I love it so much! 

This polish is by KOH Colours! (their exclamation mark, not mine) and the shade is called Metallic Green! (again, not my exclamation mark...) I'm not sure why this is called metallic because it's holographic, but who am I to argue with these companies? 

I can't stress enough how awful this polish is to apply. The worst formula I've ever used... EVER! Even with Nubar Ridge Filler as a base coat (I use this for all my holos) it was so patchy. Even if I let this dry completely between coats, the polish still moved when I applied the next coat. This took four coats to apply and then I put on a fifth just to make sure it was even! 

When this was still wet, it looked like clay and not remotely holographic, but when it dried... WOW, this was bright! Blindingly holographic and hands down the best I've ever used. It's like a mint green version of GOSH Holographic which is one of my top polishes to own, but one I'll probably never have!

The photos you can see below show five coats of Metallic Green! with no top coat.

Sunlight

For more pretty photos, click "Read More"

Barry M Copper

Hi guys,

I'm so tired today! We left the house to go shopping at 10am and didn't get back until 7.30pm! I got a couple of sleeveless skater dresses in the sale at Topshop and a skirt from there too which will look PERFECT with the wedges I got yesterday!

Anyway, I have another Barry M polish to show you today. This one is called Copper and it's a glass fleck polish with copper and gold particles. I love glass fleck polishes, there aren't enough of them around! I saw this on Instagram and knew I had to have it, so I bought it and put it on when I was tired of wearing Deborah Lippmann Lady Sings the Blues. 

The application on this wasn't as good as I expected... It was really sheer and took three coats to reach full opacity. I planned on wearing this for a few days so I added a coat of Seche Vite.

Natural light

Shade

Sun

This looked so pretty in the sun because you could really tell the difference between the two particle colours. It was just what I needed after the chunky glitter and navy blue of Lady Sings the Blues.

I got this at my local Superdrug for £2.99 but as always, you can get it in selected Boots and Superdrug stores as well as online.

Barry M Blue Moon

Hey,

What a busy day I've had! I went to breakfast, then straight to the Sealife Centre for a few hours, then shopping, then home! Stressful but fun! My Dad bought me these wedges from River Island which I fell in love with yesterday, and I can't WAIT for the weather to be nice enough to wear them! They'll look great with bright nail polish on my toes! I also bought myself an aztec-y print sleeveless shirt dress and some socks that say "I need sunshine in my life" because that's EXACTLY how I feel right now! 

Today I have one of my new-ish Barry Ms to show you. I mentioned before that I had a love affair with Barry M a few years ago that ended with no explanation, but it's come back in full force recently. I picked up a few polishes a few weeks ago on a whim and couldn't be more pleased with them!

This polish is called Blue Moon. This is a generic blue polish name, like Blue My Mind or Blue Me Away... There are so many polishes called Blue Moon, in fact I have another one coming up in the next few days! 

This is a very pale pastel blue jelly. I thought this would be a creme but when I put the first coat on and saw exactly how sheer it was I knew I was headed for squishiness! There is some very clear blue shimmer in the bottle but sadly it didn't really translate well on the nail, or in the photos!  

This polish did take four coats to cover properly (and I still had visible nail line) and it took a while to dry (Seche Vite would sort that out) but the end result was well worth it! This looks so squishy and I think it would be PERFECT for a jelly sandwich! I have it in mind for an upcoming post that should be ready when I eventually get home, I'm not sure how long I'll be away for yet!

The photos below show four coats and no topcoat.

Natural light

See the rest of the photos after the jump!

Speciallita HITS Phenomena Air Glow

Hi Everyone!

I'm so sorry I didn't get the chance to do a post last night! We decided to come up to my home town at really short notice yesterday, then spent the day running errands and packing. It's a three and a half hour drive and didn't get up to the house until almost midnight! So I didn't have any time to do it... I'm going to make up for it with tonight's post though!

I have another HITS Phenomena to show you, it is called Air Glow and it's a multichrome glitter that shifts from pink to orange to yellow. This didn't look great in the bottle but I thought I'd try it, and I was actually really surprised when I saw it on the nail. The colour shift is gorgeous!

The photos below show two thick coats of Air Glow over Models Own Black Magic. The application on this was really good, it covered a lot better than Afterglow, which you can see here. 

Pink

Orange 

Yellow

This polish is so pretty! I've still got two polishes to swatch from this collection but I'm really impressed so far, which I knew I would be! HITS always make amazing polishes. Amazing multichromes and holos which are far better than anything else I've seen from any other brand! 

I bought this here directly from Speciallita for R$5.50 but you can also get it from Llarowe for $10. Personally I don't want to pay $10 for something that I know only really costs the equivalent of about $2.00........! Now, please don't get me wrong, I love Llarowe, they are brilliant, but I like to keep my money if I can to spend on more polish!