LUSH’s Weekly WANT

How cute are these nail polish Planner stickers from Etsy? With the new year just a few weeks away I’m determined to make the most of my time and get organised in the new year!  This will hopefully include more regular blogging too! Get yours here

High-street polishes

So I unexpectedly received a Love to Shop voucher and decided to spend it all on myself (this never happens these days since bubba came along!)

My first thought was obviously NAIL POLISH. However, looking through my wish list they’re all high end or indies.

So I’m asking you lovely people. What high-street polishes are you lusting over right now? Something wintery/Christmasy would be good.

LUSH’s Weekly WANT

Ciate The Daily Gift Set would make an ideal Christmas gift and won’t break the bank at just £12.99 from TKMaxx

LUSH’s Weekly WANT

Nails Inc’s new spray paint nail polishes. What do you think? Gimmick or the future of polishing?

LUSH’S Weekly WANT

Jessica Nails new collection looks perfect for Autumn. No doubt the formula will be perfect (as always)

LUSH’s Weekly WANT

Happy hump day everybody!  Today’s Weekly WANT is, shock horror, NOT a nail polish!  I love buying stationary this time of year and saw these polish-bottle shaped highlighters and fell in love

They’re from Paperchase and are a little steep at £7 for the set but they are adorable. What do you think?

LUSH’s Weekly WANT

Happy National Aviation Day!

In honour of this auspicious occasion today’s Weekly WANT is Femme Fatale’s ‘Up above the world you fly’ How stunning is this swatch by Fashion Polish*? It’s the polish I’ve been lusting after most this week. What’s yours?

*thank you for allowing me to use this image x

LUSH’s Weekly WANT

In honour of yesterday’s BarryM Ultimate polish award, today’s Weekly WANT is their Sunset polish range. I’ve yet to buy a single one. Where to start?  I want them all!

Ultimate nail polish…

So today BarryM announced that they’d won the Cosmo award for Ultimate Nail Polish as voted by their reader’s.

I have to admit I am a fan of BarryM. When I was first getting back into nails, and wanted to build up my stock colours to start my college course back in 2008, it was the brand I turned to for quality polish at a good price.

I won’t knock the Cosmo readers decision. BarryM is clearly a good ‘all rounder’. And big congratulations to all those hardworking people at BarryM.  However, I’m sure you all have your own favourite brands that you think deserve the title more.

So which is your ultimate polish brand and why?

MAC Liquid Pigment Pearlescent Topcoat

Hello polish-lovers,

So I got a MAC voucher for Christmas and finally got round to spending it. As soon as I got in there I headed straight to the polish section. The trouble I have is not knowing what polishes I already own, I’m conscious of trying not to duplicate too many colours (I won’t ever need to buy another red polish for the rest of my life!)

The great thing about these toppers is they help you refresh your existing collection and are definitely an original addition to my collection. MAC’s instructions say ‘Highlight and illuminate nail colour with three different sheer, pearlescent shades in pink, green or gold. Nail colour will look like it’s glowing from within.’ The two I picked up were Pink Pearl and Gold Pearl.

I have to start by saying I love the MAC polish bottles. Not too wide or awkward shaped. They fit in your hand whilst polishing and have a non-slip, rubber-feel lid. The difference in the two colours are very obvious when looking at the bottles but less so on the nail.

In order to show off the two polishes to their full potential I painted my nails in some natural cremes – pink, black, grey, white and taupe. (Please excuse the streakiness of the white. I had to bin it straight after as it had gotten so goopy! Can anyone recommend a good replacement?)

Pink Pearl

That ‘lit from within’ quality really shows itself in this polish, especially over a dark base colour. On lighter shades it has a pretty, ethereal look. Indoors it has a subtle fairy-dusting of shimmer but it really comes to life under direct sunlight; making it ideal for day-to-night office wear.

Gold Pearl

This topcoat adds a rich, warm feel to the base colour. Unlike the pink, the gold topcoat is much more pigmented which unfortunately makes it prone to streaking. Less is more with this one, so I’d advise not overlapping your strokes.

The gold paired perfectly with the taupe as it added shimmer without drowning out the base colour.

The white base was least effective as whether indoor or outdoors the pearl-effect was completely lost – especially when trying to photograph it! Both polishes would really only work as toppers as on naked nails they fall very flat.

Some people say ‘Why bother with toppers? Just get a polish in a shimmer effect’ however it’s a great way to change up your existing polishes, or add a touch of pizazz without having to redo your whole manicure.

In all honesty, these two polishes were very similar to one another so you probably wouldn’t need both. My favourite of the two is definitely the pink. It has plenty of sparkle in an easy to wear way. Especially as they retail at £10 per bottle; you could easily use up your polish-allowance very quickly in MAC.

If you don’t have a MAC shop close by, you can also order online here

Happy Polishing!