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

Essie Bond With Whomever Swatch

Good evening all :o)

I wanted to show you one other colour from the Essie Spring Collection 2013, Essie Bond With Whomever. I actually brought this with the thinking that it was a pink shade, I know, silly me I didn't check a swatch to make sure. What came down was a soft pink lavender creme colour.

Would I have got Bond With Whomever knowing it was lavender? No, I don't think I would have, but I don't have a lavender in my collection, so I guess that it is still a good buy as it fills a space.

If you buy Bond With Whomever from Boots you will get a flat brush that will ease application, but unfortunately this was another internet purchase, so no flat brush. The colour although light did have very good coverage and bellow is a photo with two coats of colour and a Seche Vite top coat.

As you can see it looks amazing but maybe not quite right for my skin tone?

Essie Bond With Whomever, natural light with flash

Essie Bond With Whomever, natural light no flash.

Essie Bond With Whomever, indoor lighting no flash.

Bond With Whomever applied really lovely and removed with no staining or residue  if you like lilacs or lavender colours this is gorgeous!

Essie should give you a week worth of last if you look after it, of not, honestly, it would give you 2-3 days of wear.

What do you think? :o)

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

Essie Avenue Maintain Swatch

Hey everyone

On my doorstep today arrived a very exciting colour by Essie, this will be my first Essie purchase, I know I know, what a disgrace! Anyway...I chose two colours, Essie Avenue Maintain and Essie Bonding With Whoever from the Essie Madison Ave-hue Spring 2013 Collection. 

Essie Avenue Maintain is described as Parisian Blue, in my opinion it is a beautifully warm blue creme, and yes it does scream chic. This would be a really lovely colour to wear with pinks or orange, and if you are lucky enough to have blue eyes it will bring them out beautifully if you flash them around your face :o)

Essie has recently changed their brushes to a flat brush, I was not lucky enough to receive one of the newer versions from feelunique, but I'm not overly fussed, I liked the colour either way.

This colour would be perfect for a slightly lazy painter that is happy with one coat. It has such great pigmentation and coverage that one coat was enough, but me being me, I had to have two coats before I was happy. As always the below imagery has Essie Avenue Maintain with a top coat, the varnish doesnt have an incredible shine but more to the point, if you have slight ridges they will be seen through this polish.

Essie Avenue Maintain from the Essie Madison Ave-hue Spring 2013 Collection

I also wanted to show you Avenue Maintain with no flash, in life it is more vivid than this colour but I think it shows the colour is very wearable no matter what the lighting.

The formula to this polish is odd, it is quite runny which really confuses me as it has such good coverage, but hey, it's doing the job so I'll get over it.

As it is so pigmented clean up can take a little doing, although that could be me slapping it on and around the nail like I'm bathing in it, so my apologies I was quite tired doing this swatch :o/ lesson learnt! Damn you Avenue Maintain for being so tempting when I'm tired!!!

A couple more images from different lighting, all stunning...

I really love this image, it's almost as if the colour is superimposed on it's that pretty!

I hope you like the colour as much as I do, I would to turn the blue haters round with this colour as its a nice safe first blue. I'm glad I have this added to my collection, would I buy it again? Maybe not as you couldn't wear this as much as your old faithful pink, but it has ultimately won my heart.

Until tomorrow pinkies :o)

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

Jessica 747 Sophia True Blue Swatch

Good evening again all

I have to start off today by saying how thrilled I am that I had my first follower today, thank you http://www.chrissyai.com/ for being my first follower! :o)

I know I did a Jessica swatch yesterday, but I had been leant Jessica Sophia True Blue from the 'Jessica It's a Girl Thing' collection by a special little friend who didn't care about my long nails taking up her varnish. Jessica Sophia True Blue is such an amazing colour I don't really know where to begin. 

I have olive skin which tends to not suit greys, yellows and blues unless they have a warmth to them, and although this doesn't seem to have a warmth to it, it has something very special in it that makes it look like you could swim in the colour. As soon as I started applying this colour I fell for it, so much so it is on my WANT IT list. 

Jessica Sophia True Blue has a very slight shimmer in it, and when I say slight I really mean it. You can't see it initially, but when you turn the colour to the light, there it is, all glitzing away at you! Because of this, it gives the blue a depth to it that a blue of similar colour wouldn't have, I can't recommend this colour enough to those of you who doubt the colour blue on nails.

Jessica Sophia True Blue with flash, you can just see the hint of a shimmer, but in no way is this a difficult formula to paint with because it wont leave and uneven streaks.

I know some have said the formula is thick, but I didn't find it was thick or difficult to apply. It was also really easy to remove if you got a little on a cuticle, that is always a bonus as most shimmery colours leave a shimmery mess behind. The entire Jessica It's a Girl Thing Collection has the same shimmer so all with have that special depth.

Jessica Sophia True Blue in good flash and light.

This image gives a good representation of colour although in the shade it looks a little darker but just as beautiful.

You can see the shimmer well in this and the above photo, but if you look at the pinkie and ring finger in the below photo this is how it looks most of the time, you wouldn't know it had a shimmer.  

I have had this on for two whole days, not one chip and only a very little wear patch on the tip of my index finger where I am typing all day long. Other than that the colour is easy to remove lasts just as long as any other Jessica polish and was opaque after two coats which at the moment seems to be a rarity. You will find that Jessica colours wont need many coats, they seem to have better coverage, but you do pay for that extra quality as well as it being nice to your nails.

You can get this on a few sites, a few are listed below...

Feelunique £8.50

Beauty flash shop £8.75

Salonskincare £9.75

What do you think, should I get it to add to my ever growing collection?

Love Lola xx

Jessica Iridescent Eye Swatch

Good evening everyone :o)

Although the colour that I am swatching today has been out for quite a while, little less than a year, I just can't resist blogging Jessica Iridescent Eye, it is from the Peacock Queen Collection. Every time I open my nail case Iridescent Eye sings to me, my eyes goes straight to it and I long to wear it. Now to get that reaction over a nail colour is unhealthy, I imagine it has a technical name for my problem haha, but as you will see from the below photos it's so worth the obsession. 

Jessica Iridescent Eye came out in 2012, with a huge reaction of it being a dupe of Chanel Peridot. Do I agree!? Absolutely, of course it is a dupe, why wouldn't a company jump on that fashion band wagon when Chanel have created a colour so loved and so beautiful. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with that, Chanel isn't a long lasting polish anyway. I would rather Jessica 100% any day over a designer label, and everything in fashion is copied, that's part of it all.

Back to Iridescent Eye, this colour is a major duo chrome with larger particles in it compared to others similar. Initially it has a copper flash to it, but as your nail curves down at the side you see the beautiful green and blue. When ever I wear this I get really lovely compliments, people describing it like being flashed at as the colour flips. Now lets see the photos.

Jessica Iridescent Eye with flash, you can see the chrome particles really well in this photo, but this doesn't bother me in the slightest. This is very much how it looks in real life, a great representation.

Jessica Iridescent Eye without flash, this is where you see the smoother look to the polish, but when the light catches it, it is identical to the above photo. I have to apologise for my thumb nail, it had a little split in it (my own silly fault for letting them get too long) and had to file it out.

Another great colour show of Iridescent Eye, here you can really see that green tone down the sides.

Iridescent Eye without the flash 

I really wanted to try and catch the green and blue in Iridescent Eye but this is the best I could do without getting mad at my camera.

Jessica polish is 3 Free and is packed full of goodness for your nails, so used along with one of their treatments your on the right path. Jessica varnish is, for me, a fabulous, unbeatable varnish. It lasts me over two weeks with care taken and is perfect for nails that are weak or bend easily. One of the reasons this varnish is so great is that it has a patented flexi formula, so it will bend with your nail, not crack and peel, and this is how my nails used to be. After using several Jessica treatments and polish I now have the nails you see today, a big thank you to Jessica you lovely, magic woman you!!

This colour is easy to remove but when painting it may be a little harder to get it all even due to the shimmer, but practice makes perfect and it's all worth the effort. I have worn this colour roughly 4-5 times, the only advice I can give is that re-tip/paint your nail tip with your top coat every other or 3rd day, this way it will stop wear. If you want to make it really last on your 3-4 day give the nails a complete fresh top coat, it will look brand new again and make it last even longer.

Iridescent Eye is available from a couple of websites, but I got this from Feelunique.com for £8.30, the shipping was free. They have all three colours from the Peacock Queen Collection which are all gorgeous.

What do you think, is it something you would wear?

Love Lola xx

Nail Art From The Garden Centre!?

Hey Ladies!

Yes, you read it correctly, I found nail art at my local garden centre the other day. I had to tell you about it because I think I stood there looking at it a bit like "Really!? In a garden centre?" Yes Lolly Lola nail art in the TOY section, how strange! Maybe your other question is "What were you doing in the toy section?", I was just looking, you never know what you will find in funny places and this is proof, so don't knock it haha!

So...it may be a little on the lame side, I haven't actually tried any of it yet so I have no idea, but I'm so easily influenced that I just had to pick it up. They were all really cheap so if it turns out they aren't great then it's fine, no love lost.

Let's get down to what I picked up, I had to limit myself as I would have come home with a bag full, and I can always go back.

I came out with...

2x Packets of Striping Tape, 10 various colours

1x Pack of foam type nail decorations (Cat, Bird, Ladybird & Butterfly) - my fav!

1x Pack of little gems (Hearts, Stars, Flowers & Circles)

1x 8 Pack of Nail Art Brushes, which to be fair didn't look too bad, and it came with a dotting tool, which I don't have, I have been using a hair pin, so that will be fun.

I'm thinking before I take off my Positive Vibe I may try something from one of these out, what do you think? And...if anyone has any idea what I would use the fan brush for I am totally open to suggestions as I'm tempted to use it to tickle my feet, I'm that lost with it! 

Have you ever found odd nail goodies in strange places?

Love Lola xx

SpaRitual Positive Vibe Polish Swatch - Pic Heavy

A little while ago I swatched SpaRitual Positive Vibe along with the SpaRitual Emerald City, both of which absolutely striking colours. I wanted to show you the full effect of the SpaRitual Positive Vibe, so have decided to dedicate a post all to the one colour as I think this is a servilely underestimated colour.

Positive Vibe is from the Reflect Collection, it is what I would call, a Mustard Yellow. It's classy and in my opinion, would go with everything. Its a flexible colour easy to mix and match if you wanted to do a single feature nail. I love Jessica's Iridescent Eye as my feature nail on Positive Vibe, it is a stunning duo chrome with a copper tone. I'll swatch it for you shortly but it has been out a while now, but continued to win my heart.

If you haven't read about SpaRitual before, it has a rubberised patented handle which makes it so easy to use. It comes in a really lovely almost ornate, heavy glass bottle, nice to hold although maybe a little too round to hold and paint if you don't place your bottles down.

I also wanted to show you a photo of the brush as it is slightly shorter than some brushes but makes application easier!

SpaRitual Positive Vibe with flash indoors, it really is mustard isn't it!?

SpaRitual Positive Vibe without flash indoors. This is a very realistic view on what it looks like indoors.

A few more images of the varnish, I tried to catch it in as many light variants as possible, but I think you can tell I love this colour!

  This really is a beautiful colour in the sun and without any today this is the closest I could get!

SpaRitual polishes always go one really well for me, and even if I do accidentally heavily apply the first coat I never have a problem with the finish. It has a natural shine but as always I really can't recommend a top coat enough. I use Seche Vite but if you didn't want to use something as potent as Seche Vite any top coat is a bonus.

SpaRitual polish removes very easily, this polish in particular I think could be heavily pigmented so if not used with a base coat could end up with staining. Unfortunately mine are constantly stained due to my constant polish obsession! 

If you look after this polish on your nails you could get a really good week out of it. I can get two out of it easy with my top coat application later in the week. As always if you look after it and wrap the polish over the tip of the nail and under the free edge your guaranteed to have it a few days longer.

So what do you think, is it something you would wear?

SpaRitual Positive Vibe is available from the below websites...

www.sparitual.co.uk

www.feelunique.com

Love Lola xx