Wingdust Gilt-y Pleasures

Hi Everyone,

I hope you guys had a great weekend! I went up to Manchester to visit my brother. I've never been to Manchester before so it was nice to go up and see where my brother lives. I stayed at his house Friday and Saturday night and came home late last night, so it was a very busy few days. We did a little bit of Christmas preparation and went to the Sealife Centre yesterday and it was lovely.

Tonight I have another polish from my Rainbow Connection haul - I know, when will it end, I've still got so much to show you... I may have even bought more last week...

Tonight's beauty is from a fairly new to me brand called Wingdust and it is amazing. It is called Gilt-y Pleasures and t has gold and silver flakes in a clear base, with the addition of blue iridescent flakes and sort of little glass flecks. I had wanted a flake top coat for ages and couldn't decide whether I wanted silver and gold, this took the options out of the equation for me!

I am in love with this polish and it is very special to me now as it is what I was wearing when my fiance proposed to me. I'll always remember it for that, and it has now been immortalised as I took the pictures for my new blog header just after I did these swatches, so if you're wondering what I'm wearing in that cartoony picture, this is it!

The formula is perfect on this, the photos below show just one coat over Cult Nails Nevermore. As you can tell, the silver flakes are bigger in size than the gold ones. You can control them enough to split them into small parts while applying this, but I like it this way... My engagement ring is platinum and I so I prefer the gold to be more of an accent here with the silver matching more, just my preference though!

How pretty is this?!

Flash

Natural light

Sunlight

I am just in awe of how pretty this is. I've actually worn this three times in the 5 or so weeks that I've had it, which is a lot for me. Next on my list is pairing this with a pink... I'm half set on Essie Spaghetti Strap and actually have it on my dining table ready to paint on, buy I might go for something paler. Decisions, decisions...

This is in stock now on Rainbow Connection here, and it's currently on sale for £9.81 instead of the original price of £10.90. I'm not going to lie, I bought a backup bottle in my most recent Rainbow Connection order. This polish means too much to me to even consider running out!

Definitely check out the other polishes Wingdust have to offer. This and Steel Town Girl are my first things from them and I just love how delicate their polishes are. So pretty and the way they work with colours and finishes with the gold and silver flakes is beautiful!

What do you think of this polish? Do you have another gold or silver leaf topcoats? What are your favourites? I'd love to know!

Barry M Denim

Hello!

I am about to collapse from tiredness! I can't believe it's nearly 11 o'clock already! I only ate about half an hour ago! If you follow me on Instagram (@truly_polished)  you'll notice I've been posting more food pics recently than normal... Since my boyfriend has been away I've been doing some serious cooking. More time in the kitchen means less time sat on my own watching pointless TV! But it also means I decide at 9pm to start making pasta sauce! So I'm really tired now and ready for bed...

Anyway, tonight I have a polish that I bought ages ago and totally forgot about! It was one of the new Barry M polishes and I had to get it. It's called Denim and it's a perfect denim blue with shimmer. The formula was amazing, one coat was fully opaque, but I used two for the photos below. This dries with a satin look, the first photo shows no topcoat and the others show one coat of Seche Vite.

No topcoat

Topcoat - Natural light

Topcoat - Sunlight

I think this colour is perfect for the weather right now. Sometimes it wants to be summer, sometimes autumn, sometimes winter... I wake up in the morning not knowing what to put on, but with these nails, you'll always have a seasonally appropriate mani! 

I really have no complaints at all about this polish, it ticks all of the boxes: great formula, fast drying, flattering, and most of all... AFFORDABLE! I bought this for £2.99 at Boots. You can also get it at Superdrug, ASOS, Nail Polish Direct and all the other usual outlets for Barry M!

NYC Colors Ink Stain and Nail Pop Pearl Effect

Hi guys,

I can't believe it's the end of the week! I've been so busy so I'll be glad for the weekend to arrive... I'm a bit annoyed though because I don't get a lay in! I've got a plumber arriving at 9am (!!!!!!!!) to service the boiler. I'm not an early riser, not in the slightest. Everybody told me that would change once Caleb was born, and yes, we had nearly 9 months of getting up in the night and then up at half 7 in the morning, but now he sleeps until 10am every day, so I can still get up late every morning, which is amazing! 

I had planned something cooler for today's post, but I was so tired last night that I just wasn't up to it, so I thought I'd just try out and untried. 

Up until a couple of weeks ago, the only NYC Colors polish I owned was Lexington Yellow. And possibly a blue? I'm not 100% sure on the blue, I'll have to root through my stash. But when I was buying a black polish for Charlotte, the winner of my last giveaway, I picked up Ink Stain. It's a very dark shimmery blue. This is from their "Expert Last" range, rather than the "In a New York Minute" polishes that I usually go for. 

Formula wise this was brilliant, ideal for how I apply my polish. I polish in thick coats, and this was great in one, but I used two anyway just to make sure...

Then I thought I'd add something on top. I thought of stamping, but I was really short for time today before my son's baby music class, so I went for flakies instead. I chose Nail Pop Pearl Effect, which has dark blue flakies. It's pretty much the same as the Nails Inc Gossip Girl Serena Collection duo. I bought it from Superdrug a while ago and haven't really worn it, but I used it in my Happy Mothers' Day Franken a while ago.

Here are some pics, I'm wearing two coats of each polish with a coat of Seche Vite:

Natural light

Flash

Overall, I'm not crazy about this combo to be honest. I love both polishes on their own, but I think I should have used a teal holo flakie or a darker base. I'm so glad I got around to using Ink Stain though, it's really similar to one of my long time favourite polishes - Collection 2000's Electric Punk.

If you'd like to buy either of these polishes, NYC Ink Stain retails at £2.49, and Nail Pop Pearl Effect for £5, both are available at Superdrug.

Have a great weekend!

OPI Number One Nemesis

Hi guys,

We're at the end of the week already! This week has gone so quickly! I've had lots to do. I took my son to a baby music class today. He enjoyed some of it but lots of it involved sitting still and doing particular things, and that's not his favourite thing to do! It's a five week course so hopefully the more we go, the more he'll like it. He's going to his first party tomorrow too, his friend's first birthday, so that should be fun!

Today I have an OPI to show you. This is another bottle that I got from Liz, my polish buddy. It's from the Amazing Spiderman collection and it's called Number One Nemesis. 

The colour of this is hard to describe... It's a greyish, greenish colour with goldy glassy fleck like shimmer. It's so hard to explain, but it's amazing to look at and so reflective on the nail.

The photos below show two coats with no topcoat.

Natural light

Sulight

Macro

 Isn't this so gorgeous! I love it! I'll have more from this collection to show you soon!

Have a great weekend!

Jubilee Manicure!

Hi guys,

It's a bit of a late post from me tonight, I went out for a lovely meal with my boyfriend. His parents looked after our son and it was lovely to have a bit of time off. If you're from the UK you'll know today is the first day of a four day weekend, and if you're not British, you might have heard something about the Jubilee, or you might not! Today is the first day of the celebration of the Queen being on the throne for 60 years! We get a four day weekend this weekend, so everybody is in the party mood.

I'm not really a Royalist, but I'm all for celebrating, so I thought I'd plan a subtle nod to the Queen. I'm not great at nail art, so I couldn't do anything too elaborate. I settled on a Union Jack accent nail!

The polishes I used for this were: China Glaze Sea Spray (it's the closest thing to white I have with me!) and 2true shades 1 and 2 for the blue and red. I painted on one coat of Sea Spray, then did the red cross and diagonal lines, then put a little bit of blue in the corners. 

I'll have full reviews of the 2true shades probably next week. They're both highly pigmented shimmer polishes that have a glass fleck effect. They're so pretty and cover perfectly in two coats.

Here's the outcome of my manicure:

Natural light

Flash

Macro, look at that shimmer!

I was so pleased with how this turned out, despite my lack of nail art skills! Hope you like it too!

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!

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!

Models Own Zest-A-Peel

Hi everyone,

Just a quick post today because I'm about to watch a film. I haven't been feeling well the past couple of days so just chilling out and watching a film will be ideal!

I have a really nice polish to show you today. I bought this really cheap on ASOS and didn't realise it was from the Models Own S/S 2012 collection! I just wanted an orange polish!

This polish is called Zest-a-Peel and it's a yellow toned summery orange with a hint of shimmer. The formula on this was so sheer, so I used four coats in the photos below with no topcoat and I still had a bit of visible nail line.

Natural light

See the rest of my photos after the jump!

Cult Nails Manipulative

Hi everyone,

Today I have my second polish form the Divas and Drama Collection! Manipulative is the one I was most looking forward to, I love this type of minty blue/green. I think it looks nice on my skin tone even though I'm olive skinned, and this one even has an iridescent shimmer to it which makes it even more of a winner in my books!

I used three coats for these photos. I found the formula really draggy which was a bit annoying, but I just used a really thick final coat to even it out, which did the trick. I thought this polish would be perfect to try out the Wicked Fast top coat that I got with my order. I absolutely love it! I'll still use Seche Vite for nail art because I love how it doesn't drag the pattern, but for normal nail polish, this could be my favourite top coat! It dries so quickly and really gives the polish a plasticky finish which I love because I don't get any scratches or dents!

Now for some photos!

Indoors in the shade

I got a bit pic heavy with this one, see the rest of the photos after the jump!

Cult Nails Enticing

Hi guys,

Hope you've all had a great day! I really haven't been feeling well today so this post is a bit of a struggle, but worth it! 

The polish I have to show you today is my first offering from the Cult Nails Divas and Drama Collection. Enticing is a very sheer pink polish with a subtle shimmer. The formula on this was really good, it took four coats to get the coverage you can see in my photos and I still had a visible nail line, but that's what you get with such a sheer polish. 

The reason I reviewed this polish first is because I wasn't sure I'd like it but I actually LOVE it! It's so girly and the pale pink is really good for all occasions!

Now on to some photos! As I said before, all of these show 4 coats, I didn't use topcoat because just like all Cult Nails polishes, this dried super shiny!

Sunlight

Shade

Macro, look at that shimmer!

 I bought this polish during the pre-order period when I got the whole collection for $30 but now you can buy Enticing here for $10.

W.I.C. by Herome Bogota

Hey guys,

So... I ended up coming home today from visiting my boyfriend's family. We were meant to stay until Tuesday but we had to come home to change our holiday plans. We were supposed to be going away on Thursday for 10 days but might need to change it to go sooner because my boyfriend will probably get called away for work soon after, and we need to go on holiday!!!

Anyway, I have another  one of my Dutch polishes to show you today! This one is so gorgeous and one I can't wait to wear again! It's from World Inspired Colours (W.I.C.) by Herome and the shade is called Bogota. The polish is a greyed out lavender with a gold shimmer that looks like it could have a colour shift. You can't really see it through the base colour though so I'm not sure if I'm imagining it!

I'd love to say the formula on this was amazing, but it wasn't, it was so sheer. Despite this, it was okay to apply if I left a minute or so between coats. I used four coats (yes, four!) for the photos below. It looks like I'm wearing Seche Vite on top but I'm not! This polish is super glossy!!!

Shade

See the rest of the photos after the jump!

Nail mail, and beautiful swaps! Oh, and a little haul...

Hi guys,

Today is a super late post because I've been at the gym! I ended up going with one hand polished and one hand naked nails because I was going to swatch one of my new polishes to show you tonight but I really wanted it to be in the sunlight and I didn't have my camera with me when it was sunny because I was at the supermarket!

I got this nail mail on Thursday afternoon after an infamous attempted delivery slip arrived at my house on Wednesday, story of my life! I was just expecting the one parcel because I only got one slip but I had two packages secured onto a box with elastic bands! So almost everything I was waiting for! One online order and two of my three remaining swaps.

Here they are!

See individual pictures of each polish by group after the jump!

Models Own Blooming Pink

Hey everyone, 

Today I have one of the Models Own SS12 Kaleidescope collection to show you. I was in Boots the other day buying a few polishes and when I got to the till the cashier told me they were part of the 3 for 2 offer so I could get another free. I ran to the stand and quickly picked one in a rush because I knew I was holding up the queue. There were a few I wanted but this one was in my eye line. When I got home I realised it was actually one of the new shades!

Blooming Pink is a bright pink polish with a magenta shimmer. The pink is actually really red leaning so the colour is really summery! I'm not sold on the name... Blooming Pink suggests more of a light spring pink to me and this colour has summer written all over it!

The application for this was okay, nothing to rave about. I had to use three coats because two didn't give me as much pigmentation as I wanted but once it was on, I loved it! 

The photos below show three coats of Blooming Pink with one coat of Nº7 Stay Perfect Fast Dry top coat. 

Inside in the natural light

Click "Read More" to see the rest of my photos and a comparison to a couple of other polishes!

GOSH Sweet Peach 551

Hey everyone,

Today I have a GOSH polish to show you. I picked this up a couple of weeks ago at Superdrug when I was looking in the discontinued bin in the hopes of finding Holographic!!!

This polish is mustard yellow and has a shimmer to it with small pieces of iridescent glitter and is (very strangely) named Sweet Peach. There is nothing peachy about this polish at all!

Sweet Peach was very much on the thick side but it was still pretty easy to work with. The photos show two coats of Sweet Peach with one coat of Seche Vite. One thing worth mentioning is that this was very topcoat hungry. Even with SV it still had a gritty finish!

Here it is in the shade

Sunlight

Macro

All in all I'm pleased I got this polish because I've been after a mustard yellow for a while. However, I really don't think it looks nice against my skin. I don't think that'll stop me from wearing it again though, I think it'll look nice on my toes come summer (if we ever get some sun!)

Seeing as this was in the discontinued bin, I'm taking it that Sweet Peach has been discontinued! You could still check your local Superdrug though, I got this for £2.49!

Essie Tour de Finance

Hi everybody,

Just a quick post before I go out for dinner! I'm going to Chiquito's with my boyfriend, my brother and his fiancee then we're all going to watch Titanic in 3D! Not my first choice of film (I'm DYING to see The Hunger Games) but still...

I have an Essie polish to show you today that I got in one of my swaps. Tour de Finance is from the Spring 2012 Navigate Her collection.

This polish is a glowy bright pink and has a blue shimmer which is absolutely GORGEOUS! The application was amazing, it was opaque with the first coat but I added a second coat just to be sure.

The photos below show two coats with no topcoat. I really liked the glossiness on this but I think if I wanted to wear it for a few days, I'd definitely use a topcoat to make it last longer. 

Natural light - it even glowed indoors!

Sunlight

Here's a closer look

I love this polish! It could potentially be my favourite pink ever!!! I have a few bright pinks but I love the blue shimmer in this and that really sets it apart in my eyes!

Enjoy your evenings!

Goodbye NL, hello UK!

Hi guys,

Today is the day I leave the Netherlands! I can't believe I've been ill the whole time I've been here! Yesterday was a real turning point though so my Dad took me into town to do some shopping in Groningen. I LOVE Groningen, my Dad has been living here for 8/9 years now and I come over every year. The people are so friendly and I like the fact that people speak English... I'm not the kind of ignoramus that expects it when I go abroad, but it's always a major bonus for me. 

I promised you all some continental beauties and hopefully this doesn't disappoint! I had a couple of polishes in mind when I came over here that I saw online, in particular a polish that looked like a potential dupe for Chanel Peridot, but none of them were in stock! So I just picked a couple of things up in Douglas, a local drugstore. 

L-R Absolute Douglas - be balanced, WIC by Herome - Bogota,   KOH - Metallic Green and Glamorous Purple

Click "Read More" to see individual photos of each polish!