Konad M9 - Nails Inc Jermyn Street

I showed you the freebie Nails Inc polishes from Glamour Mag, a while back.

I have a very quick and simple konad using Jermyn Street, a classic grey toned beige creme.

I used the buckle design from Konad plate M9 and stamped over each nail using konad black.

Very easy to do, a I think it looks classy and understated, perfect for the colour base.

Konad M78 - Nails Inc Hamstead Heath

After swatching the Nails Inc freebies on Monday, review here,  I decided to konad a couple of them, one I will post now......

First up is Hampstead Heath, that lovely rich, slightly raspberry toned red.

I used Konad plate M78 and stamped the design in Konad white.  Very quick and easy, as most Konads are.  Looks kinda cute, if a little busy. I usually go for something a tad more simple, but its fun to go mad once in a while ;)

This really reminds me of a bandana, it has that same colouring and design feel LOL

Free Nails Inc polish with Glamour Mag!

HI Girls!

Glamour magazine in the UK is giving away a free Nails Inc polish in their December issue.  They are worth £11 each but you can get them for the cover price of the mag, only £2. Bargain!

This seems to be an offer they run once a year and this time there is a choice of four really nice colours.  There is nearly always a hot pink and a bright red in each giveaway, but this year the hot pink is gone and the red is a more wearable deeper tone.  I have to say, all four colours are really pretty and worth hunting down.  Luckily my Hubby went shopping on Saturday and brought me home all four!  He is very good and always keeps an eye out for freebie offers on mags for me, he even made sure he got all four, bless him!

Okay, here are some swatches......

Warwick Avenue- a sheer sugar pink, probably more suited for French Mani's. 

I used three thick coats to get this opaque, so it can be done, just not as opaque as some Nails Incs.

 Jermyn Street-a creme finish polish in a mushroomy taupe shade.  

Very nice colour for Autumn/Winter, two coats used here.

Hampstead Heath-a rich deeper toned red creme. 

Very opaque, only one coat used here.  

Has a more raspberry tone to it. Very pretty, flattering red.

Savile Row-is a rich purple creme.  One coat used here, but two would have been better.

It photographed more burgundy but it has a definite aubergine tone in real life. Very pretty.

I really liked all of these colours, so it is worth hunting them down.  The mag only came out Thursday last week, so there should still be plenty around, but find them quick as these are always popular giveaways!

Fauxnad BM20 - Nails Inc Candy/Zoya Harlow

I was intrigued to see how easy it would be to konad with a matte finish polish.  I knew it must be possible, providing you were fast, as they dry so quickly.  So I tried it out over a swatch I was doing at the time, Nails Inc Candy, reviewed here.

I used a design with thick lines, this would allow me maximum time to stamp without it drying too fast for me.  The candy stripe design on Bundle Monster plate BM20 seemed to fit the bill.  So I used Zoya's Harlow as its tones worked well with the base colour. 

 
Success!  You can use mattes if you work quick.  It gives a great finish too, a shiny base with a textured matte finish, very pretty.  I used a TC over it though, as I wanted to bring out the sparkle in Harlow that can be seen when shiny.

The thumb was a challenge as the BM full nail designs are too small for my thumbs, so creative use of the plate was needed, angling off the nail edge worked well enough for me.

Looks like I will be buying more mattes for stamping now :o)

Nails Inc - Candy (In Style Mag freebie)

I got this polish a few weeks back.  It was part of a giveaway promotion with In Style magazine.

Pretty good application, a little chalky on the first coat, but not overly so, most pastels tend to be this way anyway.  Second coat was great.  Quite a thick polish this one.

A very delicate colour, somewhere in between pink and lilac..

Nails Inc Mini Haul - Ice Cream Collection and In Style Candy

I went shopping at the weekend, trying to get new drugstore polishes, but when I saw them I realised I had colours really close to them already, so walked away, the choice just wasn't that great. Though I did get a few of the new Barry M ones, I do like Barry M stuff  :o), but everything else was just a tad boring.  I did pick up some of the older Urban Decay polishes from eBay, and they are great, will swatch those as soon as they arrive.

I find it hard to buy polishes in person now.  I much prefer buying online.  I can check swatches and see if I have any dupes already, see what people say about the application etc.  In the shops I can't do this, and most high street polishes look like dupes or are too easy to dupe, do you find this?.......anyway, I digress, on with the post...

You know, I only ever buy Nails Inc when I can get them free with a magazine or promotion, or when they sell them in a Gift set, so I get value for money.  They are lovely polishes, but I cannot ever see myself paying £10.50 for one single polish when I can get Zoya, OPI, Nubar or China Glaze instead. Not sure why.......I just don't see them as high end polishes I guess.

Anyway, I got this one, the Ice Cream Collection.  It is a set of four spring/summer polish colours, pretty typical to what you can see around at the moment.  But I am a sucker for a gift pack and with ribbon too, plus the £20 price tag was okay, making them only £5 each, much better pricing :o)

I also got the In Style Candy a few weeks back, which came free with In Style magazine.

Maple Street - a sugary pink creme, not the usual pink but more blush, there is a slight coral tone to this one.
Spring Mews - this is a light mint green creme, incredibly close to Barry M Mint Green which is really only a shade or two lighter, so if you have that one, you don't really need this, though I do prefer the Nails Inc one as its more opaque.
Strawberry Hill - a rich, deep pink, verging on hot pink,but slightly more dusky/muted.
Devonshire Row - a deep royal purple creme, again verging on dusky/muted

InStyle Candy - a  lilac creme, leaning towards pink

Application on all of these was very good.  They are nice opaque cremes with great coverage, almost one coaters, just needed a second to tidy it up.  I was actually pretty impressed with the quality, very nice.  Not one of these were chalky at all.

Nice set if you don't already have colours like this, but chances are you will have some very close......as for the Candy one, a little bit more different to any in my current collection, but I have seen ones like this around this season.
;o)

Polish Comparisons - Greys

This post will be a first in a series where I compare colour groups in my collection. I always find it interesting to compare polishes to similar shades. I hate buying dupes unless I intend to, so seeing how polishes compare can really help decide on the best shade for you or if you have one close to it already.

A few posts ago I swatched Orly's Mirror Mirror, I decided it would be a good idea to show my other greys as well. I have five greys in total, as I wanted a light, mid and dark range of greys.

I have included, what I call a 'Wildcard' polish. Wildcards are polishes that will fit into more than one colour group. A good example of a Wildcard polish is China Glaze's For Audrey, this could belong to both mint and pastel blue colour groups, as it contains hints of both shades.

Today's Wildcard is Orly's Pixie Dust, as it is a grey, but also leans towards lilac, so this will also appear in the lilac group for comparison purposes. It looks very blue/lilac in the bottle, but on the nail it shows more grey.

Orly Pixie Dust, Orly Mirror Mirror, China Glaze Recycle,

Barry M Grey and Nails Inc Elgin Avenue

All, except Pixie Dust, are cremes and most are opaque in two coats, the Barry M and Nails Inc applied the nicest and most opaque, with Orly and China Glaze second in ease of application.

Orly Pixie Dust is a grey with a hint of lilac to it. It is filled the glass type glitter giving it a lovely sparkle when the light hits and it just lifts it and creates a nice change to the usual grey cremes. Two coats is okay and shows the sparkle most, three would be give a more solid finish.

Orly Mirror Mirror is a very soft, pale grey. Very classy and a great shade for a subtle grey look.

China Glaze Recycle is the iconic grey, everyone knows this one. It is a fab colour. A mid grey with a hint of taupe to it, warms it up a bit and stops it looking too stark.

Barry M Grey is a good solid utility type grey, a deeper mid toned, darker than Recycle. A great cheap polish with fab application.

Nails Inc Elgin Avenue is a fabulous deep, rich charcoal grey. A great classy alternative to black for a much softer look.


As you can see all are completely different in their shade and cover range of shades well.

Hope this has helped anyone considering buying new greys!!

Nails Inc Haul - Bargain Set!

Hi Girls

I saw this offer pack while shopping in Debenhams, they have a lovely Nails Inc counter in my local store. I don't usually buy Nails Inc as I think £10.50 is a bit on the steep side for their polishes. For that price I would rather buy China Glaze or OPI. I only had four Nails Inc polishes, all of which I got as part of a free giveaway on the cover of Glamour magazine, so they only cost me the £2 cover costs, otherwise I don't bother with them.

However, I was very happy to see this set offered in my local store.


It contains seven 'catwalk inspired nail polishes' I suspect these are discontinued colours as they don't appear on the site, or they have been created for this set. So normally these would have retailed at £10.50, making them RRP £73.50. I got the set for the bargain price of £20 making each polish approx £2.87 each!!!! Now that I don't mind, and the green was calling my name so I bought the set.

Top Row:
Mercer Street - a salmon toned red creme
St. James's Square - a warm beige creme
Great Windmill Street - a dusky soft pink creme

Bottom Row:
Elgin Avenue - a rich charcoal grey creme
Chandos Place - a vibrant navy shimmer
Portman Close - a vibrant fushia pink creme
Berkley Street - a fab milky green creme, mid way between mint and grass

I am very happy with all the shades, they are very wearable and I think a real bargain!

Konad M66, S6 - Nails Inc Victoria and Albert

Another Konad catch-up. This one I did for New Years Eve.

I used Nails Inc in Victoria and Albert for the base, it is a stunning rich deep red, very classic and the polish itself applied really nicely. However I hate the bottle design. They may look stylish but those wide, fat lids do not make for a comfortable application, it always feels like its about to jump out my hand, instead of feeling secure in my fingers. Ah well, the finish at least is incredibly glossy even without a top coat. I used only two coats for this.

For the design I used plate M66 in konad black for the bamboo and plate S6 and China Glaze 2030 for the asian symbol on the ring and thumb nails only.




I really liked this one and the bamboo design is now a firm favourite as it just looks so clean and crisp. Wish I could say the same for the Nails Inc polish. I adored the colour, this is the type of red I love, however the wear was terrible, it had quite big chips in less than 24 hours! I ended up having to remove it the next day, and usually my mani's last 3-5 days, not good. Shame as it is such a great colour.
Do any of you have issues with Nails Inc polishes or am I just unlucky with this one?