OPI Chic From Ears To Tail Swatch - Couture De Minnie Collection

Hey Pinkies

Today I wanted to share with you one of my failed purchases, I thought that the OPI Chic From Ears To Tail was going to be a pretty close match to my adored Dior Tutu, well it wasn't. BUT never mind, it is still a pretty colour that I will wear...eventually :oP

OPI is fast become a favourite, yes I am a polish snob, I can't help it, it's the way I am and how I like my nails to be dressed. I can't be dealing with all the slopping all over the place brush and runny formulas, it literally drives me insane. OPI have great brushes which make application nice and easy, no mess needed. Their formula is coming up close to Jessica's but not quite there for me as Jessica offers us girls something we just can't live with out, yes ladies, flexibility...no no no you get those dirty thoughts out your head, we're talking about nail polish here!!!

Back to the colour, OPI Chic From Ears To Tail  is a gorgeous amped up baby pink. Why is it amped? Well...it has these beautiful glass like shimmer particles in it, not enough to make it a shimmer or a glitter, but it gives is softness and depth. A big pink shimmer dashed lake you could wade into. 

Does it leave shimmer streaks? No it does not, it's not a shimmer in that respect, you wouldn't even see it consciously on the nail unless you looked really close. 

Here you are the beautiful OPI Chic From Ears To Tail.

Isn't it pretty!? This would make a lovely exaggerated french manicure, or a great base for white stamping.

This was a two coat polish which was nice for a pale pink, but that is also why it is the baby pink colour it is, it has more coverage with it.

OPI Chic From Ears To Tail no direct sunlight...

OPI Chic From Ears To Tail without bottle...on second thought I will definitely wear this again, it's very flattering.

In the above photo you just ever such a slight glimpse at those tiny glistening particles.

OPI will last two weeks for me, but if you are active and do a lot with your hands then you should get a really good 4/5 days out of it.

Chic From Ears To Tail is easily removed with no pigment left behind. Over all a beautiful colour with two coat cover and a colour I pleased to own.

Love Lola xx

China Glaze Neon & On & On Swatch - Sunsational Collection

Good Evening All :o)

A friend and I did a joint, over the top purchase on NailPolishDirect and so here come the fist post of a long line of swatches from the haul. I wont say everything we brought as to be honest I can't actually remember and plus it can be a surprise! 

The first colour I want to show you, and between us we actually have two from the China Glaze Sunsation Collection, is China Glaze Neon & On & On. I can't even begin to express my disappointment, the appalling formula and to boot a rubbish brush to try and paint it on with, effecting in a poorly varnished nail, there is nothing I hate more!! China Glaze Neon & On & On does not self level, it doesn't cover the nail in two coats, even in three it was streaky. All in all if it was mine I would have 'lobbed' it out the window.

Apart from the formula, which is utter cat urine, it was so watery it ran down the nail and now looks like I have a misshapen nail, (I do because I read too much) but I didn't need that drip forming making it obvious. Yes it was probably my fault for applying too thickly but I just couldn't get the coverage how I wanted it. The brush was just as bad, you may as well use a tooth pick, the colour was actually pretty cool though...in the end. I had given it a mega coat of Seche Vite Top Coat to try and even out the bumps and lumps, and true to form it did that, and actually made me warm to it a little more. I really really would not recommend this polish without a topcoat.

Here you are China Glaze Neon & On & On with Top Coat. (Natural sunlight)

On the up side also, is the fact that its really easy to remove, if you make a mistake it doesn't take much to correct it, although it is very easy then to take away too much.

China Glaze Neon & On & On, natural light.

China Glaze Neon & On & On, natural light with flash. I would say this a true representation of the China Glaze Neon & On & On in direct sunlight, pretty isn't it?! I thought so too, then I suddenly get flash back of application and start frothing at the mouth, I then get an urge to rant and rave to a stranger. Nahh not really...but I do get annoyed ha ha ha!!!

One more for you...China Glaze Neon & On & On

Over all, I would say only to buy the polish if you REALLY want the colour, if you are undecided on the colour I wouldn't waste the money, I won't be using this colour any time again soon.

Just a little trivia out there, I was once told by a rep that neon nail varnish is impossible to get in gloss finish, due to the neon pigment used they dry matte. So...never buy a neon and expect it to be glossy, they all need a top coat if you want the gloss finish...

Removal was really easy, but longevity wasn't great, without a decent top coat you may get 2 days if you are lucky.

I'm so sorry to all those that love the Sunsational Collection and sorry if I offend you in this post, I'm just not a fan, Jessica neons beat these hands down. I will swatch my Jessica Pink Explosion shortly and you can see for yourself.

Love Lola xx

Kardashian / Khroma Cherry Blossom Honey Swatch

Good Evening Pinkies

As some of you may know The Kardashian's have brought out a make-up and varnish range called Khroma, which they also refer to as Kardashian.

I have managed to get a hold of the Khroma Cherry Blossom Honey colour and I really wanted to share this with because I was pleasantly surprised.

Kardashian varnish is free of toluene, formaldehyde, camphor, and DBP which is a plus. It has a great self levelling formula which had pretty good coverage. Being a celeb brand I really did think it would be pretty poor quality, I am happy to say that I have been proven totally wrong.

Khroma Cherry Blossom Honey

Kardashian/Khroma Cherry Blossom Honey was opaque in 2 coats, it had a flat brush which was maybe slightly on the stiff side so you may get a few bristle marks. As I said above it is a self levelling formula, so that turned out not to be an issue. Although I do think this as a sign of a cheap brush, I'm really not bothered as long as my finish is how I want it! Plus it went on really nicely with not too much to clean up after.

Khroma Cherry Blossom Honey Natural Light

Over all I'm rather impressed with the Kardashian polish, and yeah I may even buy some more!

I have had 6 non-chip days while wearing this varnish which is great. I would recommend this to anyone, even those first time painters because the brush is a great shape and size.

What are your thoughts?

Love Lola xx

Essie Cute As A Button Swatch

Good Evening Everyone! :o)

Another miserable day outside, but I want to keep it all sunshine on my nails and what better colour than Essie Cute As A Button. Essie Cute as a Button is your total summer colour, it's right on trend and looks almost orange/pink neon in some lights. When I look at it I like it, when I see it out the corner of my eye I love it, it's eye catching and happy.

This Essie was from Superdrug, kindly donated for a swatch on LolaNailedIt, (Thank you my special friend), so it had a flat brush. It made application a little easier but it was only a little step above a Dior Brush, and a step below an OPI brush.

Essie Cute as a Button is a orange pink coral creme, it does take a few coats, either 4 thin coats or 3 thicker coats.

I would say it is maybe a little more orange than this photo, but this is pretty close! 

Essie Cute as a Button in natural light.

One thing I am really pleased about is gone is the time that corals were only seen on a more mature lady. Corals are now worn by all ages in clothing and nails, and so it should be, just because your Nan wears it, what is to say that you can't, your Nan actually has very good taste if she is! Power to the corals...and the Nannas that wear it!!!

Essie Cute as a Button in shade with flash.

I do like this colour but I wont buy it myself, I have a lot of corals already like this, it's nothing new to the coral world and slightly annoying that it takes so many coats. I'm very thankful that I have been able to swatch the colour, and I think I would like to see if any of my Nubar corals match it as they have better coverage.

I have one Nubar coral that I am in love with so I will swatch that for you shortly.

I hope you all have a lovely evening.

Love Lola xx

Nicole OPI Do Good Feel Good Swatch

Good Evening Everyone

I hope you all managed to get some sun over the weekend, and maybe a bit of a tan! :o)

I wanted to show you a colour that at first I wasn't keen on swatching purely because I didn't think it would rival Dior Tutu 155. Did it rival? Well...no, not really, but it was very lovely and a colour I will definitely wear again.

Nicole OPI Do Good Feel Good is a light pale pink, it's a three coater if you want it opaque, which of course I do. I don't act well with semi opaque colours, they annoy me because I don't want to see my nail underneath. If I change one day, and I do eventually fall in love with a sheer colour I will definitely let you know. But...honestly...you're not missing much!

As you can see in the bottle it doesn't look "all that", but look at the next photo!

Nicole OPI Do Good Feel Good

Three coats later, this is what happened. Isn't it lovely!?

(Nicole OPI Do Good Feel Good - no flash natural light)

I know!? Who would have thought!

Now, compared to OPI the formula feels different with not such great coverage, and I find after trying a few Nicole polishes that they all seem to be the same.

(Nicole OPI Do Good Feel Good, no flash natural light.)

I also wanted to show you the photo in indoor lighting with no flash as it is still very pretty.

I like this colour, but I wouldn't buy another, I will use it again, but not enough to warrant another bottle.

This colour is available from Superdrug at £7.99 and is in the 3 for 2 at the moment, bargain!

This colour is low on pigment so wont stain when removed and it removed really lovely, no messy sticky fingers trying to get this off. It would look fabulous on a bride or the little black dress with maybe a stripe of bold colour, gorgeous! Nicole OPI Do Good Feel Good isn't everyone's taste, but I would say it would suit all skin tones. 

So, what do you think?

Love Lola xx

OPI If You Moust You Moust Swatch

Good evening everyone

I have a very lovely friend that brought some OPI and kindly donated the first use of them to me for the blog, thank you special friend :o)

This swatch is of the OPI polish If You Moust You Moust from the Minnie Mouse Collection, a very girly lovely pink creme which I would liken to candy floss. I had to give this polish two very good coats before it became opaque, although finally I have found a brush that I like more than any other, so that is a really good thumbs up to OPI. Whoop!

The formula wasnt runny so that was a good start and the brush allowed for fantastic precise application. I can understand why OPI is a favourite out there, I just wish they would be on SALE a little more to give all us polish junkies a chance to give it a go without braking the bank. £11 isn't much when you look at what you get, but you add on postage and the monthly allowance for polish purchase and £11 looks a lot.

OPI please can you think of doing a three for two like Essie in boots!? Thank you kindly...

Back to If You Moust You Moust. I was just about to say "I don't really get the name" and then I got it hahaha oops! I like it, it's cute as is the colour.

If You Moust You Moust natural light and flash

I have tried to capture If You Moust You Moust in different lighting as I do because often when you are outside it is a completely different shade of pink.

If You Moust You Moust - no flash

If You Moust You Moust - Indoor lighting with flash 

I really like If You Moust You Moust, for my first OPI swatch it is perfect and one I am tempted to never give back mwahahahaha.

Removal of this colour was absolutely fine, no heavy pigmentation so no staining and you would get a week out of this polish no problem, it's quite hardy like Jessica. 

These photos are taken with a Seche Vite top coat as I have serious ridges going on underneath my varnish so these are visible without a top coat. I don't agree with "buffing" the nail in the sense of smoothing off that top layer. However if it is a rubber buffer or like in my training a good old leather one, then fine there will be nothing but goodness coming from that stimulation to the nail bed, but this will not make your nail ridge free. Just use a ridge filler, problem solved and no damage to the plate is done.

After that little rant, I hope you enjoyed the swatches, let me know what you think!

Love Lola xx

Dior Gloss Spring Ball 343 Swatch

Good evening all :o)

Although the weather is miserable today it doesn't mean that our digits need to be also! 

When I bought Dior Gloss Diablotine, which I swatched not too long ago, I also brought Dior Gloss Spring Ball. Dior Spring Ball is an absolutely gorgeous light pink coral colour. A perfect summer addition to every nail collection. 

Welcome to Dior Addict Gloss Spring Ball Vernis!

I find it a real shame that the silver lid is not apart of the brush, but this is how it looks without the Dior lid.

This is the brush that many love from Dior

I'm not the biggest fan of Dior polish, the brush isn't suited to the shape of my nails and I find the formula, especially in the Gloss Collection, is difficult to apply due it's gloopy consistency. But...one thing you cannot deny that it is worth all the hassle, just look at this colour, its enough to melt any 'I hate coral' hearts!

This colour has a slight glitz to it, which you can see below, it's like it has tiny glass particles, but it is actually a tiny silver glitter. I think this tiny glitter is what makes this polish on the gloopy side.

Dior Gloss Spring Ball in natural light with flash.

The Dior Addict Gloss Collection contains four colours Spring Ball, Diablotine, Delice and Princess. All of which are available at the moment, but Dior do have a habit of discontinuing colours before you get a chance to discover them.

All these photos have been taken with a top coat of my trusted Seche Vite, which I think is needed as it can be a little matte due to the glitter.

Dior Gloss Spring Ball with and without flash.

I hope you agree that this colour is worth the hassle as it will take a little bit to remove because of the small glitter particles, so I would recommend wrapping them in varnish remover soaked cotton pads for a few moments. This will help stop the cotton pads being torn apart while removing the polish.

Would I buy this polish again? No probably not but I'm glad I have at least one bottle of it.

What do you think?

Love Lola xx

SpaRitual Calm & Clear with Graduated Glitter - Pic Heavy

Good evening everyone :o)

By now you may have gathered that I am a SpaRitual fan, and so I thought I would get out one of my favourites, SpaRitual Calm & Clear from the 'Meditate Spring Collection'. The Meditate Collection is fused with bamboo silk which, according to university studies, claims to absorb water and oil preventing liquid penetrating the nail causing them to become brittle and thin. Like I said, you all should be wearing rubber gloves while washing up, this really does help prevent peeling, snapping and splitting.

Before I start going on like I'm your mum lets get back to the colour!

SpaRitual Calm & Clear is a really delicate, beautiful dusty pink, I would go as far as to call it a jelly type polish with a natural shine finish. It is a perfect base for a bit of a different french mani or for your glitter layering like I have done below. Calm & Clear took three coats to become opaque, but it had a quick drying time so it didn't seem too much of a hindrance  You may find that some of the SpaRitual varnish's are a little like that, but you get such a fantastic finish it's worth it.

SpaRitual Calm & Clear with no top coat and no flash, see that natural shine?

I have used three colours, the base obviously is Calm & Clear, the gold type glitter/polish is SpaRitual Cassiterite from the Metal Collection is the first graduated glitter. I actually really loved the look of the Cassiterite over the Calm & Clear as it gave it an antique look, so it would be 100% perfect on its own if you don't like too much glitter.

I then used SpaRitual Survivor which is a special edition pink glitter which was brought out to support breast cancer, it comes with a really cute awareness charm.

This photo shows it a little more pink than in real life, but you can see the glitter graduation really well in this photo, please excuse the little paper cut on my ring finger :o/ oops!

A couple more photos showing the glitter graduation.

I have also included a couple of photos of Calm & Clear and the bottle of the glitters so you can get the full impact of these beauties.

These are the colours used, left to right you have Cassiterite, Calm & Clear and Survivor. 

SpaRitual Cassiterite, this is what I used as the base glitter, isn't it beautiful?

Cassiterite looks very gold here but placed over the pink it gets a slight tarnished silver type colour, hence the antique look, which I will try next time with another colour.

SpaRitual Survivor, this is the glitter used over the top of Cassiterite, there are two sizes of glitter in this polish, a small pink shimmery glitz and a larger round pink glitter

I hope you love this look as much as I do, it's delicate but different and something that would be perfect in a bridal collection.

The great thing about using these glitters together means that there is less chunky glitter to remove which half's your removal time. I will definitely do this graduation again, and I think it would work with many colours as a base, so I'm very please with my end result.

A quick overview of how to achieve this look...

1, Three coats of Calm & Clear

2, Starting at the tip, pull the Cassiterite up towards the middle of the nail using very little varnish on your brush.

3, Starting again at the tip pull a small amount of Survivor up towards the middle of the nail.

et voila!

I hope you enjoyed this review, please do give graduated glitter a go, you get better the more you do it.

Love Lola xx

Jacava Candy Floss with Triangle Tip Nail Art

Hey guys,

I'm a great believer that before you take your old varnish off, that you should try play about with it a little. Although I did this for the concert, I do tend to have a go at something new before I change my colours.

I'm wearing Jacava Candy Floss swatched the other day, and on the tip I have used my beloved Twilight Black Tie. Twilight Black Tie has great coverage and could easily be a one coater if you a little on the short for time side. I have also used a China Glaze glitter but sadly this one is long passed but I can't help but love it and use it, there are loads of glitters out there just like it, I'm on a mission to find an exact match!

Jacava Candy Floss & Twilight Black Tie

 I painted my nails as normal, but waited until the next day to start.

I started by cutting a triangle out of matte sellotape, I use matte because the paint doesn't run off or smudge onto the nail from it. I then placed this on the tip of the nails, using the Twilight Black Tie I painted it over the tip of the Jacava Candy Floss. It only took one coat and worked first time.

My best tip would be to use a clean piece for every nail, that way you prevent smudging and get a clean line every time.

With the glitter I painted it straight onto the nail with out the sellotape as glitter is easily controlled. 

I peel the sellotape off straight away to prevent any pulling on the tip colour, it is easily corrected if you make a mistake as your previous polish is already dry and hardened.

Jacava Candy Floss & Twilight Black Tie

I love this look, it was easy quick and has now lasted over a week. I used Seche Vite Top Coat, I did two layers of this, one with the Jacava on its own then another coat once the Black Tie was on top. They look almost gel like which is, in my opinion, a nice look. I'm not a natural look nail girl, I quite like the gel look, but without all the gel obviously.

I hope you like it, let me know what you think :)

Love Lola xx

Jacava Candy Floss Varnish Swatch

Hi there,

I'm sorry it's been a few days since my last post, but I had a trip away to see Beyonce LIVE and the O2, and have only just got back!! Beyonce was incredible and really very humble, nothing lacked on that stage, she has amazing stage presence and the atmosphere was great.

Anyway...less about Queen B, and more about nails!

This week, as I was going away I wanted something a little different and special. I recently brought into the brand Jacava, it states to be 8 free, which includes; Formaldehyde, Camphor, DBP, Toluene, Animal Ingredients, Collophane, Parabens, Phthalates. 

I was awaiting the right feeling and opportunity, and obviously the correct blackness of clothing...haha, just kidding! I think I do have to get out of the black now though, spring is here!

I chose two colours from their current range, Candy Floss and Cappuccino Cream. I wanted to show you the Candy Floss first as it's a little more summery, but the Cappuccino is my favourite.

The varnish has fantastic cover, I was pleasantly surprised and loved that, had I not been a perfectionist, I could have gotten away with one coat. Obviously, I had to do two, and here is the result.

Jacava Candy Floss with Natural Light, the sun came out especially for this one.

 Candy Floss is not as it states, it is more pink than it looks in the photos but is a deeper candy pink, nothing floss about it. I would say it is a muted bright pink, but has depth. The elongated handle makes this polish super easy to hold and use, I think I personally paint a lot easier with a longer handle. What I didn't like is that the top look a little cheap compared to the elegant bottle, but anyway, it's a lid, who cares as long as it feels nice. 

The brush is firm and slightly longer than I am used to, but as it is slim it did a great job getting down into the nooks and crannies of my nails. I will show you one day but my nails are half moon shape and it can be difficult to get down the sides without getting it on my skin with certain brushes, not naming any names...DIOR!!

Jacava Candy Floss.

Over all I really liked Jacava as a polish, although the finished polish is a little on the soft side and wear a little quickly.

I still have this on, at the moment it has nail art on which I will show you shortly, but this does mean that it has 2 layers of top coat. It's hasn't chipped at all in 6 days and I'm still loving it! It removed from around my nail very easily so I have no worries about taking this off.

Would I buy it again, hell yeah, I'd quite like the entire collection to be honest, but I will post up Cappuccino Cream very soon for you all. So what do you think? Yay or Nay?

Jacava Candy Floss...Nailed It!

Love Lola xx

Dior Cherie Bow Tutu 155 Varnish/Vernis Swatch

Well here comes swatch number one, obviously it had to be something special, and so this is what I chose. Dior's Cherie Bow Collection had a colour that screamed spring to me, and lets face it spring needs some help this year. I wouldn't usually buy light pink, but against my skin tone it looked a good match, and I have been told to brighten up my nail wardrobe, it does look a bit dark I have to confess.

The bottle as always screams elegant  but I can't say the same for the formulation of this colour, it was anything but. I felt clumsy applying this colour, its slightly on the runny side so coverage was blotchy. I would say that me having very curved nails didn't help, if you have a flatter nail you will apply this a lot easier than I did. 

I got away with some nails having 3 coats, the others needed 4. Not great, but I think you will agree the end colour is almost worth the effort. You end up with this gorgeous off baby pink colour, it's not in your face but it will get noticed, trust me!

Dior Tutu taken with natural light and flash, this is when I look at it, really look at it, and see a very striking and easy wearing colour. I'm olive skinned and this is perfect, it has a warmth to it that will suit all skin tones.

Dior Tutu taken in artificial light without flash.

Taken in artificial light with flash.

This image I feel gives the best representation of colour, a beautiful slightly lighter than baby pink colour.

It's a stunning colour that will go with everything and would look super elegant in an office or function easily, it isn't 'little girl' in the slightest. But...it took on average 4 coats and it was on the runny side so tending not to coat evenly, was a little sloppy. I brought this from one of my favourite sites www.feelunique.com mainly because of free delivery without a minimum spend, and they hold the whole range of colour in Dior Vernis, its bad enough that this varnish is £18 without paying postage, so that is a plus for me. Dior varnish generally will last me a week and still look very presentable, but it all depends if you look after your varnished nails.

Would I buy the colour again (I have a habit of buying two of the colours I like)? No, probably not. That doesn't go to say that all Dior Varnish is like this, but this one certainly is hard work.

Would I return it if I could? No, I wouldn't, I really like this colour and I think its a beautiful addition to my collection of colour and my little Dior collection which I will share with you shortly.

Dior Tutu Vernis 155...Nailed It!

Love Lola xx