NOTD: Expect the Unexpected

Hi Everyone,

It feels weird being back on Truly Polished, recently I've pretty much forgotten that I even have a blog! I've decided there will be no more reasons behind me not blogging, either I do it or I don't do it... At this point I'm just counting getting dressed in the mornings as a win! I'm 24 weeks pregnant today and getting round two of horrendous tiredness, plus my son is ill today so I've had the worst sleep, he came into bed with me at 4am and was so boiling hot hanging around my neck for cuddles that I didn't sleep well at all!

I was surprised, then, that when I woke up, I was itching to some nail art... When we got up this morning, my son was desperate to go to preschool, and seeing as his temperature didn't feel too high then and he seemed happy, I took him in and came home brimming with ideas!

A few weeks ago we found out we are expecting another boy, so I knew I wanted to incorporate blue into the theme, and I knew I didn't have the energy for anything but striping tape, so I set about raiding my stash and here's how it turned out...

Natural light

Flash

The polishes I used were:

Sally Hansen - Lavender Cloud, a very pale off-white purple

Models Own - Blueberry Muffin, a pale blue creme

Models Own - Champagne, a champagne gold foil

Models Own - Southern Lights, a blue toned holographic full coverage glitter in a slightly tinted purple base.

I used striping tape for all of the sections, and finished it with a coat of HK Girl top coat.

I'm really pleased with how this came out, it was very simple to do and was a great first foray back into nail art. The only thing I'd add would be a blue triangle on my middle finger nail just to balance the colours a bit better, I love he subtle difference between the blue and off-white so I'd have like to see more of that.

What do you guys think?

Barry M Chameleon Nail Paint Lilac

Hi everybody!

I can't believe the weekend is over already! I saw my cousin on Saturday and then went for some lunch with my Mum on Sunday. I went into Boots thinking I would buy some nail polish and actually ended up not buying any! I bought foundation, eyeliner, eyeshadow and yet another lip pen, but no polish! I felt very proud of myself, because I am supposed to be on a no-buy!!!

Anyway, today I have a Barry M Chameleon polish to show you. These came out a month or so ago and I bought two out of the three shades. The Chameleon collection is unique(ish) in that you paint the polish onto your nails and it is one colour, and then when you apply topcoat, the polish changes colour. I believe Nº7 had something like this a few years back, but at the moment this is the only polish of this kind that is readily available in the UK.

Lilac is light purple foil that changes to a dark purple metallic colour after you put on topcoat. It's really strange because the dark purple has a totally different finish. It's hard to explain, but it looks like you have a blob of dark purple jelly on your nail!

Okay, enough of the strange explanation and onto the photos! Both were taken in sunlight and show two coats of Lilac. This is pretty much a one coater, but I put an extra on just in case!

First up is the polish when it is first applied:

And here it is with clear over the top. I used a dotting tool for the dots and then just the brush from the clear polish for the waves. I believe the clear I used was by NYC Colors.

I really like this idea. It's a good way to put your own stamp on a manicure without having to go to too much effort. Originally I wasn't going to buy this colour, but I saw it on a blog and fell in love with it, I think I like it more than the other one I have, which I'll be showing you soon!

This polish retails for £3.99 and is very widely available. You can buy it online at ASOS, Barry M, Boots and Superdrug, or in store at selected Boots and Superdug.

See you tomorrow! I'm working on a post that's a little bit different. I told you I was working on including some different features and things, so I'm doing it little by little. You never know, though, I might just chicken out! 

You'll have to just come back and check it out!

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.

Douglas Absolute Nails be balanced

Hey everybody,

FINALLY I've got one of my polishes from my trip to the Netherlands to show you. It seems like ages since I got back from there but I've just had too much irresistible nail mail to swatch so I haven't had any time to swatch these! 

Today was a really bad day for taking photos because the weather has been so awful! Really miserable and rainy, typical English weather!

This polish is called be balanced. I can't even explain how much I hate non-capialisation with things like this! It's like nails inc, whether they like it or not I call them Nails Inc and I won't stop!

Be Balanced is a green foil (or chrome effect as Douglas call it) polish. The application on this was actually really good, the formula was great and it covered my nail easily with two coats. However, once the polish was on the nail it went downhill from there. It had a bit of frostiness to the foil which made the brushstrokes really visible. I waited for it to dry completely before taking the photos but unfortunately they were still there! 

The photos below show two coats with no topcoat.

Shade

The closest thing to sunlight I could get!

Flash - look at those brushtrokes!

I was really looking forward to this polish, but I don't think I like it... I was expecting it to be like a green version of my beloved Models Own Champagne, but this just doesn't look good on, so I think it'll be reserved for stamping!

I got it in Douglas for €4.95.

Models Own Champagne

Good afternoon everybody!

Today's post is a bit unfortunate! I wore this polish yesterday and swatched it then, when it was dull and slightly rainy, and now it's so sunny! Normally I swatch my polishes a few hours before I post, but I did two in one day yesterday because I had too much time on my hands!

Anyway, this polish looks lovely no matter what the weather is like! It's from Models Own, which are probably my favourite nail polish brand. Their polishes all retail at £5 and they usually have a buy 3 save £3, buy 5 save £7 deal, so it's always worth buying a few! 

The shade is called Champagne, and it's a foil effect polish. The colour is really hard to explain, it's a silvery gold/goldy silver! It matches with everything. I'm one of those people who can't wear a bag with silver bits on if I have gold bits on my shoes, no matter how small, so I really love this in-between shade!

The formula in this is my favourite kind, fluid, not thick, and really heavily pigmented. I've worn this polish 10+ times and because I know the formula inside out, this is easily a one coater for me!

In the photos below I'm wearing one coat of Champagne with a coat of Seche Vite.

The bottle

Inside in the natural light

Outside in the "sunlight"

This polish is so pretty! It can be found in Boots, online at ASOS.com, or on the Model's Own website here where it retails for £5.