Leighton Denny - Message In A Bottle

Hi Everyone,

Well, if there was a message in this bottle, it's 'Buy Me NOW!'.

It shouted to me from the M+S Beauty Hall. I seem to be there a lot lately. Foolish, but wonderful!

Anyway, this polish is almost identical to my beloved Accessorize Colorado - shown here! The grey is slightly paler, and the shimmer more noticeable. The formula is also better too! Granted, it's a lot more expensive... but... I couldn't help it.

This applied beautifully! I used two coats, but three would have been perfect, as a slight bit of VNL shows up under the flash. It was fine in normal daylight... but an extra coat for good luck never hurt anyone!

In comparison the the Accessorize version, this seems that little bit more refined. Softer, and a little bit cleaner. I love it.

What do you think? Leighton Denny, or Accessorize? Or Nails Inc of course?

Let me know,

Love Charlotte x

Accessorize Utah

Hi Everyone,

Today I would like to show you a polish that I purchased back in June, alongside two of my favourite Accessorize polishes, Colorado and Soft Jade.

Top Tip: whenever you buy Accessorize polishes, buy more than one!

It's been in my 'Nail Files' for ages now, as you will tell by the swatches, but it was definitely one to save for Autumn... it's the colour of crispy golden leaves that have fallen from the trees, and has a golden pink shimmer, that reminded me of the sun coming up on a crisp September morning. How poetic of me! Despite the fact, that a dull, wet grey would have been more appropriate for Autumn so far. And who am I kidding, for Summer too...

Anyways, enough rambling from me, have some pretty pictures instead!

This required three coats in total, as the formula was 'OK'. Not amazing, and not terrible - and to be fair, not as good as some of my other Accessorize polishes. Don't let that put you off though - sometimes a little bit of hard work can really pay off - and this is a great example.

As you can see, when the light hits it, it brings out that gorgeous shimmer and really makes this quite a special polish. It's certainly not like anything else in my stash!

What do you think? Do you have any Accessorize favourites? I am feeling the need to buy some more, if truth be told!

Let me know!

Love Charlotte x

China Glaze Street Chic +

Hi Everyone,

You might remember that the last time I went to my local Sally's store, I indulged on some discounted polishes. Let's face it, it would be rude not to... I mean, who can resist??

One of my bargains was China Glaze's Street Chic, which you may remember from this post back in June. It's a gorgeous smokey brown, which is beautiful on it's own...

Or, with a little something extra! As you do, because, well... why not?!

 

I used two of my current favourite polishes to accentuate the gorgeousness of Street Chic - Accessorize Soft Jade, and Barry M's Gold Foil. I think that this is a great combination of colours! Jade and Gold together are stunning, but the brown just brings it closer to being a great transitional mani from Summer to Autumn!

I love how simple, but effective dotted manicures are. I used the pointed end of an orange stick for mine, but I have also used the end of an old kirby/hair grip before now! (Of course, you can pick up proper dotting tools relatively cheaply, but every time I go to order some, I spend the money on polish instead.) It does help to have a steady hand though...!

What do you think? Are you a fan of polka-dots? Let me know!

Love Charlotte x

Colour Lustings - Accessorize Soft Jade

Hi Everyone,

I am sharing one of my brain worms with you today! I've had this in my collection for a little while now, but not as long as I had been dreaming about it. Despite the fact that this polish has a rather nice price tag, it's hard-ish for me to get hold of as it means travelling to a city, for a larger Superdrug store. I so wish my local one would sort themselves out and stock the Accessorize make up range!

Anyway, rant over! I will now spam you and bombard you all with images of the precious.

Accessorize Soft Jade.

 

This is three coats of Soft Jade. It has a fairly nice formula, but a completely beautiful finish. It's just gorgeous! The colour is just  so mesmerising, I adore it! It is opulent and elegant, without being plain or boring.

OK, now you all want it too, right? Go get it! It's about £3 from larger Superdrug stores. Go now!!

Love Charlotte x

Nail Polish Archeology - Natural Collection Black Cherry

Hi Everyone!

I have been digging around in my stash of polish. I have a purpose. I have been telling myself that I should stop buying polish when I haven't worn some of my collection for years. As in, I can't even remember where they came from years. So, in the essence of trying to be good, here we are with a historic polish.

My first past polish pick is a Natural Collection polish named Black Cherry.

I am ashamed to admit that I really like this polish, and I can't believe its been sat there waiting for attention for so long. I am a bad person!

This is two coats of this beautiful shimmery red. It's a pink toned red, with lots of teensy gold shimmer packed in for good measure. It applied really nicely - a pleasure to put on in fact. My only niggle was that I hadn't picked this up a few months ago, as this isn't your typical Summer red - hence the addition of some glitter at the tips. I used Accessorize's Molten Copper for this!

I can't remember how long I have had this in my collection for. Certainly long before polish became my addiction and I started hoarding it, so at least a couple of years. I'm not even sure if this is still available to buy!

Either way, this was much nicer than expected, and I can't wait to root through the rest of my forgotten stash now!

Love Charlotte x

Accessorize Molten Copper

Hi Everyone!

I have to say, I wish these Accessorize polishes were more accessible. None of my local stores sell them, so I have to pick them up when I go into a city. Which is an absolute shame as for £3 - £4 a bottle, they have some amazing shades.

I also love their cute little bottles - they are so pretty I feel as though they have been designed to be on display, which is nice for those of us who have many many polishes.

Anyway, this is Molten Copper. I took these photo's a while back, intending to wait and post when the sunshine came back. I am far too impatient to wait that long. Anyway, for me, this is a perfect Summer glitter polish, as I feel it is complimentary to my skin tone as it is now, and I expect this would improve with a tan. You hear that sunshine? Get a move on!!

 

This might be called Molten Copper, but don't expect your nails to turn out like a shiny penny. This is a soft looking glitter, which I think has a hint of rose gold to it. Just enough pink in it to make it sweet and feminine, rather than overly brassy.

The polish itself is relatively thin, but easily pliable so you can move it around on the nail if you need to. These pictures show three coats - I could have done with one more, but I think next time, I will layer it over the Primark Bronze shown here just to give it a more complete coverage look.

Looking at these pictures, I am thinking that this is not just great for Summer, as this colour will transition nicely through to Autumn too. Multi-functional? Awesome!

Next time you get a chance, check out the Accessorize polish range!

Love Charlotte x

Accessorize Colorado - Covent Garden Ballet Dupe?

Hi Everyone,

Today's post is something of a victory for me. Well, kinda...

You see, my friend Beth - you know, my fairy glam-mother, has also become addicted to polish. Which is awesome! She now buys a LOT more polish, and has a tendency to buy more for me too! <3

Anyway, she text me one night, asking if I knew of any dupes for a Nails Inc polish, called Covent Garden Ballet. Oooh, I said. Haven't seen much of that one!

So off I googled for a swatch. It's a beautiful soft grey (I do love grey) with a pink shimmer running through it.  My heart sank as I realised I was falling in love lust with this polish. My heart sank further when I realised that this was only available as part of a set - the A-Listers Collection. I hate paying full price for one Nails Inc polish, so buying an extra three I don't want? Sacrilege!

I googled and I googled. I was very sad to report that I had not found a dupe. Very sad. As this particular polish was stuck in my brain now. STUCK!

Covent Garden Ballet

Let's fast forward to last Bank Holiday weekend, when Beth came to stay! Weeeeee!

A montage of words describing said weekend: Pimms, noms, shopping and lounging. Awesome.

On one of our various shopping trips, we stumbled into my local Debenhams store to peruse the beauty counters. It has had a bit of a face-lift, so everything was moved about. We finally found a Nails Inc counter and spent a few minutes checking out the range. There was a special little stand dedicated to the A-Listers Collection. So Beth grabbed the tester and gave it a swatch.

Very pretty. Looked like a good formula too, I'd say two coats for opacity. I cried a little inside.

Beth confessed, she had ordered the set on ASOS as they had it on offer with free delivery.

/Sigh.

We wandered around the shops, with me sighing and mumbling about how surely some other brands will bring something similar out soon. Or how I should just try experimenting with pale greys and sheer pink shimmers. You know, convincing myself NOT to order one too!

Into Superdrug we go, land of more bargainous beauty! We're about to go charging through the aisles, and I stop at the Accessorize stand. I quite like a few of their polishes, as you may remember if you read my blog regularly. The prices had changed slightly. The polishes were normally £4 each. Now a lot of them were just £2.95. (You can almost imagine me rubbing my hands together with glee, can't you?!) And, they had 3 for 2 on. There was definitely a squeal of approval.

There are a couple of colours I really like, but didn't buy as I already have similar shades. 3 for 2 cancelled out any sensible ideals I may have had, and Soft Jade went straight into the basket. As I was perusing, I spotted this. It looked familiar...

A soft grey - check. Pink shimmer - check.

I yelled for Beth, managed no further intelligent words and shoved one at her! Sorry Beth :)

We shared a look that said one thing. We found our Holy Grail. A dupe. A CHEAP dupe at £2.95. We both bought one.

Now for the important stuff. I hate to admit it, but the formula isn't particularly good on this one. It's ok, but the Nails Inc one looked better. My swatches showed three coats for opacity, with a top coat to finish and remove any streaks. The shimmer is there, but not as evident as the CGB. Despite all of this, I would still buy the Accessorize over the Nails Inc. I hate being forced to buy three polishes I don't want. I might have been convinced to fork out the £11 for one, but £25? Nah.

Take a look for yourself. And yes, I have some blurred photos - they caught the pink shimmer better!!

So what do you think? A worthy dupe, or will you be buying the Nails Inc version instead?

I think I'll be going back to Superdrug for a back-up!

Happy polishing,

Love Charlotte x

Accessorize Aztec

Hi everyone!

Today I'd like to share with you a polish from Accessorize. Personally, I think these polishes seem to get overlooked somewhat, which is a shame, as all of the ones I have tried have been lovely!

I seem to have gained a preference addiction for holographic, or duo/multichrome polishes - the ones that flip their colour as you move your hand about. I love how subtle they seem at first and then POW! My nails just changed colour! How d'ya like that?? And holographic? My nails? Out of this World.

Enough rambling from me, check out Aztec. Not sure where this name came from, but I can forgive that. I mean, wow...

The flip from purpley red to bronzey green is incredible.This was a quick four coats for full opacity and coverage. It's glossy and smooth. Whats not to like?

This is truly a fantastic polish. This cost me £4, from a larger Superdrug store. The little one near me doesn't stock the Accessorize collection, but this was definitely worth the trip!

What do you think? Do you like or wear duochrome polishes? And have you tried the Accessorize brand?

Let me know!

Charlotte x