November 2013 Magazine Freebies

Hi Guys,

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. 

Mine was busy, I finally redesigned Truly Polished - as you may be able to tell! I'm really proud of how it turned out... I've had this kind of design in mind for months and although it was stressful trying to get it all done, I'm glad I finally took the plunge because it's just what I imagined! 

I also had a friend over for dinner Sunday night which was nice. We made home made burgers with sweet potato chips and I made an apple pie for dessert. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to enjoy it too much because my son came down with a bad cold on Sunday afternoon. Monday he had pretty much lost his voice, yesterday we went into the city to do some shopping and he was a bit better but slept until nearly midday today. I kept him off preschool today, and that explains why I haven't posted this week!

Tonight's post is a little break from my Rainbow Connection haul. For a change I've been a good little blogger and swatched a haul instead of saying I'll do it and then letting bottle after bottle drift away to the point where I have no idea what I bought! The only problem is I have so many swatches to post, I could be posting the haul for the next two weeks! Who am I to complain though? At least I'm keeping up with posts, and the polishes are so pretty!

Recently I went on a no-buy, and apart from the indies I've stuck to it (apart from one Barry M but that's it I swear) but enough was enough, I needed a fix! All of a sudden it came to me - magazines. This month there have been some decent freebies, so this is what I picked up.

Both magazines

The other ORLY polishes

The other Nails Inc choices 

Country Club Khaki is a beige-nude. I love nudes like this, I find them much more flattering on my skin tone than pinky nudes. Out of the ORLY choices, Naughty would have probably been my first choice, but this is a close second and I really love it. This was pretty much opaque in one coat but I used two for good measure.

Country Club Khaki

New York Noir is a plain black creme. Out of the four choices this was my top pick. They had the red and gold in my local ASDA but I think you can't go wrong with a black creme, I have so many but I always go back to them! The formula on this was pretty good. A little bit thinner than my favourite black, Cult Nails Nevermore, but when I got used to it, it was perfect. The photos below show just one coat. Yes, it's that good!

New York Noir

All in all I'm pleased with these two freebies. I rarely get magazines if they're giving away nail polish because I usually find that the colours aren't what I would normally pick, or I realise I have enough and don't need more. Here I knew I had similar colours but you can't go wrong with black and nude, to me it's the most chic combination you can get!

Have you picked up either of these freebies? Any other good ones I should know about?

Nails Inc Park Walk

Hi Everybody,

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! We took my son and my six year old brother to a petting zoo on Saturday and then I spent yesterday chilling out in front of the TV and eating! It's nice to have a chill out day every so often! Before we know it, we'll be home again so we really need to enjoy our little bit of time away...

I can't believe I'm leaving tomorrow night! I've had such a lovely time over here so I'm sad to be going already. It's a shame we could only stay for a week but we haven't got much time before my boyfriend goes away for work again! 

Tonight I have a Nails Inc Polish for you. I swatched this months ago but never posted it, so I thought now would be as good a time as any!

Park Walk is a cerise creme with a high gloss finish. I love buying bright pink nail polish, I always buy them and then say I should wear them more often, and I really should! I love this colour and looking back at these swatches now I'm thinking maybe I should put it on now! 

The formula on this was perfection! It was nearly a one coater for me, but I used two coats. The photos below are without topcoat:

Natural light

Flash - this is a very red toned pink

I hate having to take flash photos! Now the weather is getting worse I'm probably going to have to do it a lot! Unfortunately my house is a shoebox (as I mentioned the other day) so I really don't have any room for a light box! I can't wait until I do, it'll be nice to take photos that aren't affected by the English weather! 

I bought this polish in a set of 7 in TKMaxx for £24.99. If you like Nails Inc, TKMaxx is the place to go, they have a ton of different sets and they're a lot cheaper that the retail price!

Giveaway Update, Nails Inc Reeves Mews and BLOG IDEAS?

Hi everyone,

I hope you're enjoying your weekend so far. I'm so sorry I didn't post last night! My boyfriend took me to the spa for the afternoon and we didn't get back until late.

It was so lovely! I had a back massage, but they had to cut it short because they mixed up their appointments. I was all ready to complain but then they offered us a complimentary couple's treatment that was a mud wrap and steam so I was really pleased. It was the perfect way to spend our last day and night together, because today he's gone away for six weeks to work. This means I'm playing full time single Mummy to my little angel (I wish!) I'll still be posting every day because I post in the evenings, so I'll have lots of pretty things to show you!

Anyway, today I have a Nails Inc to show you. This is called Reeves Mews and it's a gorgeous creme that's half way between teal and turquoise, which are two of my favourite colours (fun fact of the day... my full first name is Arabic for turquoise!).

The formula of this is what I've come to expect from Nails Inc, I used two coats for the photos below. Reeves Mews is actually slightly brighter in real life. My camera wouldn't focus on it properly so sorry that the photos are slightly blurry!

Natural light

Flash

Also, I'm looking to do more features on this blog, as well as more nail art designs. I'm really open to ideas, so if you have something you'd like to see on here, then drop me an email at trulypolishedblog@gmail.com

I also have a quick giveaway update. The draw was supposed to be at 12pm GMT tomorrow but I'm having to move it to later because I have a dentist appointment!

The giveaway draw is now tomorrow JUNE 10TH AT 5PM GMT

Nails Inc Marble Arch

Hi everyone,

Hope you're all enjoying your four day weekend (if you're in the UK!)... I'm about to go and feed the ducks with my son, boyfriend and his parents, which should be lovely. It was so rainy today but it's cleared, so I'm just hoping the weather holds out! 

Today is day two of my Nails Inc marathon! This is called Marble Arch and it's a half berryish, half dusty pink creme. I had a really hard time photographing this, my camera could only pick up the berry element, when really the colour of this was a lot more subdued. I messed about with my white balance and contrast and so the photos are a lot more colour accurate now!

The formula of this polish wasn't as nice as the others that I've used so far, it was a bit gloopy and stringy at times. I think I'll get some thinner for this for next time I want to wear it. 

The photos below show two (thick) coats with no topcoat. This was so shiny without any topcoat!

Natural light - so shiny!

Flash

I love this colour so much, it's feminine without being girly and colourful without being too bright! The nail polish sets I bought have really made me a fan of Nails Inc after I was boycotting them! I'm so glad I'm wearing this brand again! 

This shade isn't available on the Nails Inc site anymore but definitely check your local TKMaxx for the £24.99 set of seven polishes that I bought, it's a real bargain!

Nails Inc Wellington Square

Hi guys, 

I've had the day from hell today so I'm writing this post with very tired eyes! We got a film out to watch tonight but then decided we couldn't be bothered to cook so we went for dinner instead. We went to our local carvery and it was really nice.

Today I've got a Nails Inc polish to show you. I had a swatching session of all my untried Nails Inc polishes today, so I'll have the rest coming up over the next week, it'll be a Nails Inc marathon! 

This shade is called Wellington Square and it's a peach creme. The formula on this was good, if a little draggy. I used three coats for the photos below. I didn't use topcoat, this dried really glossy, as I've found with all of the Nails Inc polishes that I've tried.

Natural light

Flash

I had a bad feeling when I saw this in the pack I bought, but I liked the other two colours in the set so I bought it anyway. This looks like a darker version of Essie Van D'Go, which I hated and sent back to ASOS after I tried it, so I'm not keen on it. It doesn't look nice against my skin, looks a bit too much like prawn cocktail sauce on my skin tone. My olive skin doesn't do me any favours with colours like this. I think on a paler skin tone this would look so pretty!

You can buy this shade here at Nails Inc but I bought it as part of a three polish set from TKMaxx which cost me £11.99!

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.

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!