Picture Polish Aurora

Hi Everyone,

I write to you all from my ice chamber! We ran out of oil and have been without heating and hot water since Wednesday! My fan heater is working on overdrive and we have an oil delivery due today so I should be toasty and warm this evening!

Today I have my first of the Picture Polish Limited Editions to show you! I bought this when it first came out and finally swatched it this week!

Aurora is a green - teal - blue - purple multichrome glitter polish. I hadn't originally planned on buying this, but the feeling took hold of me and I couldn't help myself and I'm so glad I did! I love how you don't have to move your fingers to see the colour shift, in my opinion this looks even better on than it does in the bottle, but I'll let you guys be the judge of that...

The photos below show one coat of Aurora over one coat of black (Cult Nails Nevermore) with a HK Girl Top Coat on top. On the brush this looks like dirty dishwater, so I was shocked to see such depth of colour, shimmer and glitter in just one coat.

This post is a little bit pic-heavy so click "Read More" to see the other pictures! 

Dollish Polish Expecto Patronum

Hi Everybody,

I can't believe it's Thursday already! Tomorrow I'm driving up to Manchester to stay with my brother until Sunday which is exciting. I've never been there before, and on Sunday I'm meeting one of my uni housemates who lives near there as well, so all in all it should be a good weekend!

Tonight's post is a special indie brand that I love, Dollish Polish!

Dollish Polish will always have a special place in my heart. I bought my first ever indies from there and I keep going back! I hadn't bought anything from Dolly in a while, purely because I was getting sick of Royal Mail ripping me off for handling fees when I paid my import tax, so I was thrilled to find out that Rainbow Connection were bringing them in!

Expecto Patronum is something I've had my eye on for a long time but it was one of the quickest things to sell out at every restock on the Dollish Polish site so I never got it... Until now!

It is a white sheer base with aqua blue small and larger hex glitters. It's so delicate on and just great! One thing it has in it as well that I didn't know about until I applied it is iridescent green flakes and a little bit of shimmer, but that doesn't translate in the photos unfortunately.

The photo below shows two coats with topcoat. Coverage is fantastic on this for something that seems so sheer on the first coat. You could layer this over white but I like it better on its own, the sheerness makes it look all squishy and cloud-like...  

Sorry there is only one photo, my camera seemed to struggle to focus on the glitter through the base, but one photo is all it needs!

Isn't this gorgeous! The crelly base is perfect and the glitter is so pretty. I didn't want to take this off after I swatched it and this is the next thing I'll be wearing...

If you would like to buy this, it's currently available on the Dollish Polish store in mini version here, or you could wait for the restock of the full size on Rainbow Connection here.

If Dollish Polish is new to you, I strongly suggest you check out what they have to offer! Rainbow Connection still have a few of their polishes available if you check their website.

Polished by KPT Color Therapy

Hi Everybody,

I can't believe tomorrow is Friday already! My son had another good day at preschool today so I was really happy about that. However, with the good comes the bad... Today was the presale for the McBusted tickets... I was online by 9:06 after pretty much sprinting home from my son's preschool, and I had tickets in my basket. Next thing I know, I typed my card number in and they were gone! Then I got another pair and stupidly gave them up to try and get better ones! What an idiot! I'll be online at 9am sharp tomorrow to try again. I will cry if I don't get tickets, I can't even think about it right now!

Tonight's post is another offering from Polished by KPT, although it isn't the one I had in mind originally... All of my swatches for these posts were accidentally deleted by yours truly, and I wasn't happy with the original swatches of what I was going to post anyway. I quickly re-edited these pictures so I thought I'd just re-swatch the other polish tomorrow.

Color Therapy is something I've wanted for a while. I love neon glitter and this was not a disappointment. The formula was great, glitter payoff was fantastic and this is so pretty! It contains iridescent blue glitter as well which is an added bonus.

These photos show one coat of Color Therapy over Cult Nails Nevermore.

Natural Light

Flash

Isn't this gorgeous! It's seriously making me feel like I need all the neon glitters! I need to see this over white as well, or a pale pink, or pale blue... Or anything! 

This was £9 from Rainbow Connection and is sold out right now, but keep your eye out on their site for future restocks!

Rainbow Connection Haul

Hey Guys,

The time has finally come, I'm back to nail posts! I felt like I was in a bit of a blogging funk, and my no-buy was taking away from my love of nail polish... I'm an addict, I need more to keep me alive! Anyway, I've been home nearly a week and I've had a very productive 6 days, full of housework, cooking, crafts with my son and nails! I feel like I've made a transformation into the kind of person who gets things done! As well as this I've been starting my Christmas preparations (I know it's early but my boyfriend fiance has told me to get on with it while he's away) and working with a company on a feature which should be coming up over the next fortnight, and I've taken pictures for my new blog design that I've been rabbiting on about for months!

Like I said, I've been a busy bee!

This week I am dedicating Truly Polished to a company that I am in love with. Rainbow Connection is a newish indie stockist based in the UK - yes you really can hear the Hallelujahs - it's that amazing! I know that all this praise is probably over the top, and I'd like to make sure I state that they have had no involvement in this post, I just love them...

Anyway... Shortly after my no-buy was announced, Rainbow Connection came into my life. Obviously indies don't count on no-buys (didn't you hear? Those are definitely 100% the official rules...) so I couldn't help but pre-order some bits, and order some in-stock items over the course of about two weeks. The pre-orders took a while to come in and then I was a bit here there and everywhere with our trip to Iceland, then my fiance going away for work, then coming home from my Mum's, that I never got to do a haul post! So here it is...

Polished by KPT Plumeria - Hot Like Wasabi - Kelvin Bleu - Color Therapy

 I've wanted some Polished by KPT polishes for ages, but the shipping from America is costly so I got as many as I could in the presale. The print of the labels unfortunately came off when I grabbed the bottles with wet hands!

Wingdust Gilty Pleasures - Sleepless Summer Nights - Steel Town Girl

Note: There was a mix up with my order where I received Sleepless Summer Nights instead of Steel Town Girls. Rainbow Connection sent me a replacement Steel Town Girl the same day and let me keep Sleepless Summer Nights - great customer service!

CrowsToes Chess, you dog! - Dollish Polish Expecto Patronum - Liquid Sky Lacquer Sugared Berries

I'll be posting swatches of these this week and next, I have 4 polishes swatched already and I'm hoping to get the rest done while my son is at preschool Wednesday and Thursday this week, as well as painting my nails in the evening and taking pictures during the day - old school, how I used to do it when I posted every day!

Have you bought anything from Rainbow Connection? Make sure you check out their site here!

Dollish Polish Nightmare Before Christmas Halloween 2012 Collection

Hi Guys,

I'm back! I've been at my Mum's for the last week and haven't stopped so I haven't been able to post anything! My boyfriend just got home last night after about 7 weeks away, so I have some help with our son and here is the result...

Before I go on, yes you did read the title right, this is the 2012 Halloween collection from Dollish Polish. I bought these polishes this time last year and didn't post them for some reason. Just as I was digging them out in time to think of what to wear for Halloween this year, I saw an update from Dolly saying she was restocking these as a limited edition item. I thought I would post swatches in case anyone wanted to see them before the restock!

Here they are... Please note that I forgot to bring my bottle of Vampire's Coven, but that is beautiful and well worth buying!

Something's Up With Jack is a clear base with purple large and small hexes, as well as white large hexes, small squares and bar glitter, and black hexes, squares and bars. The formula was pretty good on this, the photo below shows two coats over Models Own Utopia as well as a macro bottle shot.

We're Simply Meant to be has yellow, burgundy and blue hexes, with large black squares and holographic microglitter. I love the combination of colours in this, it's so unique and I don't have anything else like it. This is two coats over NYC Colors Raindrops.

What's this? What's this? contains orange, purple and green larger hexes, small black hexes, purple squares, white large hexes and bar glitter, as well as holographic microglitter. This screams Halloween and is the most Halloween-y of the polishes I bought from this collection. This photo shows two coats of Models Own Concrete Mixer as well as a macro shot.

Spectral Pup... Where do I begin? This was really the standout of the collection. I had to try to add this to my cart about 1000 times before finally it was released from someone's cart! This and Vampire's Coven were the two that sold out the quickest in this collection and I'm so glad I got them both, but particularly this. Spectral Pup contains large white hex and square glitter, as well as smaller versions of both, and has orange medium and small hexes. It also contains iridescent glitter and has a clear base, even though it looks quite cloudy. The reason for this is that it GLOWS IN THE DARK! It's so amazing, and I love it. I know lots of indie brands have released glow in the dark polishes but this is the first and only one I've ever owned.

The swatches below show one coat (amazing glitter pay of from a slightly thicker than usual base) over Sinful Colors Rich In Heart, which is a near black polish with dark red shimmer - similar to OPI's Every Month is Oktoberfest. My favourite way to wear this is over a pale sheer pink, specifically Cult Nails Enticing, to match the look in the bottle. But I was going for an autumnal combo.

So the details of the restock are as follows:

The Dollish Polish website.

11am EST tomorrow 6th October 2013 which is 4pm here in the UK - great timing for us Brits! 

The collection will be available until the 19th of October so if you order it you'll have it in time for Halloween!

Are you going to be picking up anything?

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips in Blue Ice

Hi Guys!

Well, after a good week has come a complete wipeout! This week has been totally hectic and stressful and my son has had some pretty bad days behaviour-wise. But it's Friday so hopefully I'll have a good weekend! 

Anyway, tonight I have some nail wraps to show you. I bought these about a year ago because I'd never tried nail wraps before, but I only got round to trying them out about a month ago.

The Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips are made of real polish but the idea is you don't have to faff about waiting for them to dry. I was definitely attracted to this idea because I've ruined many a manicure by painting my nails when my son is napping thinking I have plenty of drying time and then all of a sudden he wakes up crying and I have to run up and get him, spoiling my nails in the process! 

These strips where easy-ish to apply. It took me a while to figure out what side was what and how to stick them on, but I was flying once I'd worked it out! It took me probably five minutes to do all of my nails.

This is how it all looked:

As you can see by the second picture, I did struggle to find the perfect fit for my nails. Also, I added topcoat to these wraps to try and prolong the wear. This was mainly because when you apply the wrap you have to file off the extra length and I felt like it would chip too quickly. However, as the topcoat dried, the nail wraps curled up at the edges! It looked really bad... And then a couple of nails chipped a few hours later!!! I was not happy, so I took it all off, and it was a pain to remove, just like a normal glitter.

All in all, I wasn't pleased with these to be honest, and it pains me to say that because I love the idea of nail wraps! However, I would probably give these anther go and skip the topcoat just in case that was the thing that killed it.

I bought these from Fragrance Direct for £1.99. They retail at places like Boots for £7.99 but I definitely don't think they're worth that. You only get one application in the packet... So if you think you can buy a decent glitter nail polish for about a fiver and get about 30 manicures at least out of it, the price per wear of these nail wraps isn't the greatest.

Have you tried these nail wraps or any others? What did you think?

Cult Nails I Got Distracted

Hi Guys,

I know what you're thinking... It's the last post of the month, where are the Five Favourites? Well, that should be today's post really, but seeing as my posts have been few and far between recently, I'm feeling like I want to post about nails! My Five Favourites March Edition will be up on on Monday or Tuesday. As will an Easter manicure. Honestly, Easter has crept up on me this year and I have bought far too many polishes, so I wanted to wear a few of them before doing an Easter mani!

That brings me on to tonight's post! I originally planned to post the Barry M Textured yellow tonight, but the swatches from my light box weren't great so I need to re-swatch it before posting. So in it's place is an something I bought recently! I'm currently wearing it so I wanted to share...

It's no secret that I love Cult Nails. Toxic Seaweed from them was my first post here on Truly Polished and they'll always have a special place in my heart! Their customer service is great and I really admire their mode of operation. Maria and John stay in contact with their customers all the time on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and I think that's great. Not to mention they make the best glowy shimmer polishes ever!

Tonight I don't have a glowy shimmer though, I have a deep blackened jelly base packed with green and holo glitters. This is I Got Distracted from Coco's Untamed Collection. I bought this along with a couple of other polishes recently.

The formula here was a breeze, nearly a one coater but I used two for the photos below. This is with three coats of topcoat, it was a bit of a topcoat eater, but all glitters are so I don't mind!

Natural light

Flash macro to show the holo glitter

Isn't this beautiful, I haven't worn such an amazing, unique polish in a long time. I'm so glad I bought this!

I didn't really want to post this to be honest tonight and this is for one reason and one reason only... It's sold out... However, I think it will be back because on the website it isn't listed as Limited Edition. Keep your eyes peeled HERE for when it comes back. It retails for $12. 

Be careful though if you're ordering here and you live in the UK, Royal Mail will get you, idiots... They charged me the tax, which I don't mind, but they charged me £8 handling fee, outrageous! I hate Royal Mail, not only have they destroyed a parcel I sent to a friend in America, but they charge stupid fees!

NOTD Models Own Aciied and Jack Frost

Hi guys,

I had planned on posting this last night, but my boyfriend and I went to help his auntie and uncle set up their new laptop, and then they took us out for dinner to say thanks. By the time we got back it was late and we had to get our son into bed. Then we decided to paint the walls by the staircase and the landing ceiling... That lasted until half past one in the morning. Safe to say I wasn't going to be writing a post then!

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit more laid back today, the sun is out, I bought some more fish for the tank, we organised the fitting of the carpet to go up the stairs, so we need to do the second coat of paint before then, but all in all, I'm doing well! 

So this afternoon I have one of my favourite NOTDs to show you. I've worn this quite a few times, the combo makes me feel happy! At first I wanted something crazy and so I threw these two polishes together and I think it really works! If I was going to make a nail polish myself I'd love to recreate this combination in one bottle! 

The layering combo I'm talking about is Models Own Aciiied and Jack Frost. One is a bright chartreuse creme and one is a delicate iridescent purple/blue duochrome glitter with a turquoise flash. It shouldn't work, but it does somehow...

The photos below show two coats of Aciiied with one thin coat of Jack Frost. Ages ago I was preparing swatches of the Wonderland collection but stupidly I still haven't finished. Jack Frost could be in my Top 5 Models Own polishes of all time!

I took these photos in my lightbox, so some of the glossiness has been taken away, these are not matte polishes.

Beautiful!

Love the blue against the chartreuse!

Both polishes retail for £5 here, however I bought Aciiied as part of the 50% off sale a while ago. I got Jack Frost in a set when I bought the whole collection so I saved a bit of money there too.

So... What's the verdict? What do you think of this combination of colours? Pretty, ugly, or ugly-pretty?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hi Guys,

Long time no see? I know, I'm a terrible blogger! This week we have been doing lots of boring things around the house, but we're getting somewhere. My son's room is nearly finished. His blinds are cut to size and put up, his normal ceiling light has been taken down and there is a sun in it's place, and his room is coming together exactly how I wanted it to! I also organised my Helmer on Tuesday... There will be a post on that either tomorrow or next week, time depending...

Anyway, today is Valentine's Day, not that you would know it in my house! Let's just say we aren't all pink hearts and love songs here!

Nevertheless, this is Valentine's Day and I wanted to mark it with a pretty pink manicure. This is the first manicure that I have photographed in my new lightbox. I got it on Monday, and while I was playing with it I knocked over one of the lamps and the bulbs went. So I bought new bulbs and replaced both, so I hope you like the new photos!

Here's the mani:

Let me just say, it felt really good to do a little bit of nail art, even if it was just a little bit!

The polishes I used were: 

17 Simply Pink - three coats (pale pink)

Revlon Sparkling - one coat (glitter)

Orly Miss Conduct - two coats (cranberry scattered holo)

I freehanded the heart as best as I could with the brush from the bottle, and then at the left hand side I used my opposite thumb nail to create the line. Then I filled the gap with Simply Pink with a striping brush.

I love how this looks, it's the first thing like this I've done in absolutely ages!

What do you think of the lightbox photos? I'm really happy with them, the bulbs give off the perfect level of light. The only thing I must say is that I didn't use a matte top coat. This was glossy (I used the Models Own topcoat) but the diffused light takes the glossiness away. I don't mind how it looks, but it's worth a mention!

If you want to know more about my lightbox and lamps, then check back next week because I'll hopefully have a post up about it!

Happy Valentine's Day. Whether you're single, in a relationship, or "it's complicated" I hope you're having a great day!

H&M New Moon & Barry M Watermelon

Hello!

I hope you all remember who I am!

This is my attempt to get back into the swing regular blogging! I've been all over the place recently with the move, but now I've come down to my Mum's house for a couple of weeks so I've been uprooted again! I had a great routine in November, but after that, everything kind of went downhill so I'm hoping that I can get that back again! First step is a lightbox, I want a proper set up for my nail photos. And the next step is an organised stash. I'll feel much better when I have my polishes organised in my Helmer (which I put together the other night) and I can see what I have and haven't posted...

Anyway, tonight's post is a kind of followup to this post. I wanted to layer New Moon over something else so you could see the flakies better so I chose Barry M Watermelon. The photos below show one coat of New Moon over Watermelon. These pictures were taken a while ago when there was a bit of sun!

Natural light

Sunlight

Here you can see how translucent the flakies are

Macro from the bottle

Isn't this pretty. I'm dying to see this over black, so I'll make sure I do it as a NOTD post for that. 

This polish retails o £1.50 at H&M, what a bargain! 

You can buy Barry M Watermelon for £3.99 from all of the usual outlets.

I have some pretty polishes to show you soon, but they're at home so it'll have to wait a couple of weeks. In the meantime I have other posts planned! I'm really hoping to get back to three posts a week minimum, or four if I can manage! 

Right, that's all from me this evening, I didn't have a great night's sleep last night, then I woke up with a banging headache... Then I had to pack up everything and drive 260 miles! I'm exhausted! 

See you soon!

My Christmas and New Year in Pictures!

Hi Guys,

Happy New Year! I can't believe this is 2013! We all survived the end of the world and we've made it this far! This is the year I will be turning 23, my son will turn two, and my boyfriend will be hitting the big 3-0! 

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and that you're all feeling positive for the year ahead!

As far as New Years Resolutions go, I haven't gone mental... I would like to start making more movements towards my own polish line, and I also want to get fitter. I used to go to the gym but I didn't have a driving licence so getting there was a nightmare. Now I have a car, I don't have a babysitter! We got a treadmill for the house so I can start running, I would like to lose that last bit of baby weight, that's all! I don't like to make proper resolutions because I can never keep them, but I think mine are realistic! 

I thought that as I have been away for so long relaxing with my family, I should share some of my Instagram photos with you all. I have misplaced my camera wire, so can't charge my camera or take my photos off right now (typical) so Instagram photos are a good option! I have a horrible feeling my boyfriend has taken my cable with him offshore... I'll have to buy new one because he's gone for a month at least!

Onto the photos... Please ignore the horrendous carpet and curtains. We've only lived here a couple of weeks and the focus has been on hosting Christmas, unpacking as many boxes as humanly possible and building furniture! We want to lay down solid wood flooring and we're trying to sort out getting our one pair of huge, beautiful damask curtains turned into three pairs of smaller curtains...

Don't forget, you can follow me on Instagram, my username is @truly_polished

Click "Read More" to see the rest of this post, it's extremely long!

Dollish Polish Girls Rule, Boys Drule!

Hi Everybody,

I hope you're all okay! My life has been a nightmare the last 2 days, we've just been packing, packing, packing! My boyfriend got home on Monday and we started packing the house up on Tuesday. It was his birthday yesterday but poor him, he had to spend the whole day getting ready for the move! We're doing a big trip up to the house with a 7.5 ton lorry on Sunday. I'm excited to see the house again, I haven't seen it in a couple of months so I've nearly forgotten what it's like. Not to mention it'll be nice to be in a house that isn't full of boxes, until the new house has all the boxes in it at least!

I'm so excited to have an indie polish to show you! It feels like ages since I bought any. In fact it hasn't, but I just didnt get around to swatching the Dollish Polish Halloween Collection before Halloween... And a month and a half later it might be cruel to show of some things that are impossible to get hold of, so I think I'll save them for some NOTD posts later on, maybe in January when I'm missing Christmas and missing some sparkle!

The same thing sort of applies with the polish I have to show you... Girls Rule, Boys Drule consists of matte pink and purple hex glitter suspended in a clear base. It was super limited edition, with only 300 bottles made. In order to buy it you had to submit your interest in an online form and then Dolly picked out 300 names and sent Paypal invoices. You had to pay within 24 hours or someone else would get picked out. It probably took me 24 seconds to pay my invoice...

The photos below show two coats of Girls Rule, Boys Drule over Essie Bikini So Teeny. I used two coats of NYC Colors Turbo Dry Top Coat on top of this and it was perfectly smooth.

Before I post the swatches, can I just give a little bit of a shout out to the new Dollish bottles, I love them!

Ok, swatches now! Sorry there is only one picture of the polish on my nails. The weather has been so dull. I can't wait to get a lightbox!

The weather was terrible, this is flash photo taken outside
to give the illusion of sunlight!

Macro of the bottle

I think this is so beautiful, I want to layer it over more colours. I'll definitely post photos when I do! It's pretty similar-ish (not a dupe) to Ninja Polish Girly Floam so you could maybe get that if you're gutted you can't get this one. But Ninja Polish stuff is hard to get hold of, I'm dying for Floam so it's best to subscribe to stock emails.

Before I go, I just want to say a thank you to Dolly for bringing out such gorgeous nail polishes. I've been a loyal customer for a while since the old Esty days and I'm still pleasantly surprised by her collections! She has a lot of vision and will probably remain my favourite indie creator for a while. I love the indie nail polish revolution and I've loved being part of it as a customer. I really hope I can be a part of it as a creator one day!