Nail Polish: Battle of the Greens

For some unknown reason I have quite a selection of green polishes! Green isn't even a favourite colour of mine, so this was quite a surprise even though I sit and look at my polishes most days when choosing what to paint on my nails.

 ELF - Teal Blue, Kleancolor - Metallic Green, MUA - Green, Maxfactor - Graffiti,  Yes Love - 408, 17 - Peacock, Rimmel - Camouflage  Nails Inc - Electric Teal, Miss Sporty - Rain Drops, Barry M - Racing Green, Sleek - Poison Ivy, Models Own - Emerald Black, W7 - Metallic Neptune, NYX - Robotic, OPI - Unripened

Thinning down the 15 polishes wasn't as difficult as I imagined as Yes Love - 408 and 17 - Peacock Green are dupes. Models Own - Emerald Green and W7 - Metallic Neptune are dupes and NYX - Robotic and OPI - Unripened are dupes also.

Making the final four were ELF - Teal Blue, Max Factor - Graffiti, Miss Sporty - Rain Drops and W7 - Metallic Neptune. Teal Blue is a really sturdy teal cremé which holds its own in a world of glitters and shimmers which vie for attention.

Another battle round and making the final two were Max Factor - Graffiti which is a beautiful glass flecked mid green and W7 - Metallic Neptune, which is a black green duochrome, similar to a common black ground beetles back.

The winner is the blackened green, how could a blackened shade not win! W7 - Metallic Neptune in all it's duochrome amazingness. What is there not to like!

  

Nail Polish: Battle of the Pinks

For someone who isn't a fan of pink I sure seem to have a lot of them!

ELF - Gum Pink, ELF - Fluorescent Pink, ELF - Hot Pink,  Barry M - Buzz, ELF - Punk Purple, Kleancolor - Metallic Pink, ELF -  Mod Mauve, ELF - Fuschia, ELF - Purple Pleaser, Kleancolor - Metallic Fuschia, Max Factor - Plum, ELF - Rosy Raisin, Sally Hansen - Royal Romance

First round was easy, whittling down to three polishes. Hot pink is vibrant and out there, Mod Mauve is understated and bland but works as a good base polish.

And the winner is... Max Factor's Plum. While the other two are great base polishes, Plum you can wear alone. Gorgeous cream polish.

Nail Polish: Battle of the Blues

Battle of the blues, so many blues to choose from!

Barry M - Blueberry Ice Cream, Collection 2000 - Electric Dreams, Essence - Let's Get Lost, MUA - Smurf Blue, Barry M - Chameleon Blue, Stargazer - Blue Chrome, Miss Sporty - Pop Fiction, Models Own - True Blue, Barry M - Retro Blue, Barry M - Blue Plum Gelly, Max Factor - Odyssey  Kleancolor - Metallic Blue, Sleek - Oxford, Sinful Colors - Hot Spot, OPI - Road House Blues, Eyeko - Cosmic, No.7 - Betty Blues, ELF - Navy, MUA - Navy

Cutting down all of those polishes to just four wasn't too difficult, Barry M - Blueberry Ice Cream is such a nice cream base polish perfect for nail art. Miss Sporty - Pop Fiction is quite a unique periwinkle blue, shame it smells really weird.

Making the final two are Barry M and OPI. The Blue Plum is just so rich of a colour and covers in just one coat.

And the winner is... Road House Blues! It's just more of a colder navy compared to the Barry M. Something very wearable, plenty of polish in there (15ml) and the brush makes application so easy.

Stamping Sunday: Birthday Plate

Cute kitty paws

Base Polish: Max Factor - Intense Plum
Stamping Polish: George Molton - Metal Party Animal
Stamping Plate: B18

Stamping on Sundays: Leafy

Last leaves of Summer 2012, and that is the challenge for today.

 Base Polish: ELF - Copper
Stamping Polish: Max Factor - Graffiti
Stamping Plate: Bundle Monster 321

Nails: Fantasy Mauve

Barry M - Dusky Mauve
Max Factor - Fantasy Fire

Swatch: Max Factor - Graffiti

Finish: Shimmer, mainly green but some blue flecks
Opacity: 3 coats were used above, I would layer this polish
Lasting Power: Average

4.5ml - £3.99

Nails: Taped Wiggles

After wearing Max Factor's Meteorite for three days I was bored of it so tried another taped nail art. 

Base Polish: Max Factor - Meteorite
Top Polish: ELF - Black

Swatch: Max Factor - Meteorite 41

Finish: Shimmer
Opacity: This was two coats
Lasting Power: Quite good, 3 days without tip wear
Price: £3.99
Bottle Size: 4.5ml

Nails: Arr!

Swatch: Max Factor - Fantasy Fire

This is Max Factor's Fantasy Fire, allegedly a dupe for Clarins 230 more commonly known as 'Unicorn Pee'

Clarins no longer sells the 230 but in the bottle (12ml) it looks like a duochrome which shifts from a red copper to a blue / green / purple. The Max Factor (4.5ml) also look like that in the bottle, quite multi faceted. 

With Fantasy Fire the effect on the nail is less so, which is a little disappointing. In photos I have seen of the Clarins this is also the case. I think that the two are really compatible and seeing as 230 is discontinued Fantasy Fire is a perfect dupe.

Lasting Power: Average

Opacity: Very sheer, 4 coats. A layering polish

Brush Type: Little bottle comes with a little brush

Fantasy Fire is a very much hyped up, the polish itself is quite sheer and ideal for layering. In the bottle it looks purple to a red, green, and blue tone. However on the nail it is less impressive as it doesn't translate across well. Depending on what polish you layer this with would alter the colour shift in the overall duochrome look polish.

£3.99 - 4.5ml