Riva Fever!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, Chanel Le Vernis Riva. This beautiful baby blue is part of the up-coming Cote D'Azure Cruise Collection. Get your names on the waiting list, it's limited edition and will launch on 1 December - just in time for my Christmas stocking!

Pics courtesy of the incredibly awesome lacquerized.

Feelin' blue

Party people, you are going to love me. I've discovered an amazingly pigmented, easy-to-apply, glossy A/W nail polish for a fiver - Rimmel Lycra Pro in Blue Vogue.

I actually borrowed this from a colleague this afternoon as many late nights in the office meant I hardly had time to wash my hair this week, nevermind paint my nails, and tonight I'm off for cocktails - Soho, you will never see me without a manicure.

This is 2 coats, and I could have left it at one! The first glided on neatly with not a streak in sight, thanks to an incredibly creamy formula that isn't sticky or gloopy like some thicker varnishes (Nails Inc, I'm talking to you). And check out that shine, without a topcoat! It's a little bluer than this photo, and has a hint of sparkle which is pretty invisible to the naked eye but must serve to enhance that awesome gleam.

Another boon of this brand is their new brush - it's wider and flat than your usual brush, and curved at the sides to fit around the nail bed. Seriously, this is an innovation in polish.

This line is marketed as offering a 'professional finish', and I have to agree that this is the neatest, glossiest, most even coverage I've ever achieved by myself.

If I wasn't in the middle of yet another spending embargo until payday, I would be straight to Boots to stock up on every colour of this miracle find, OPI Lincoln Park After Dark, you are no longer my favourite navy blue!

Hair envy...

 Pic courtesy of Studded Hearts

Since I went into the hairdresser to lose my split ends, and left without half the weight thanks to some incredibly over-zealous use of thinning scissors, I have major hair envy for anyone with more than a bob. Drew is currently ticking even more boxes with her perfect beachy waves, incredible volume and fabulous ombre highlights... swoon.

[[Apologies to anyone waiting to see which boots I bought last week - I promised an outfit post, then my camera batteries died and I haven't got round to buying new ones... but it's coming. Bet you can't wait! (Note to self - never promise a post, it will inevitably not happen.)]]

Not quite spot on

With a gloomy Saturday afternoon to fill, a friend and I decided to give the leopard nail trend a whirl, and I learned a few lessons along the way!

Nails Inc Satin base (two coats)// Essie Splash of Grenadine spots// Pilot fineline permanent marker highlights// Seche Vite topcoat.

• This took me an hour and a half. I'm sure the more you do it the quicker you get, but attempt number one took me forever
• Using a permanent fineliner wasn't the great idea I thought it would be. It didn't like writing on the Nails Inc polish, so I had to do a coat of Seche Vite on top of the spots, then the fineliner highlights, then another coat of Seche Vite to seal... but...
• It turns out, Seche Vite shrinks the polish slightly as it dries, so after 24 hours the polish started coming off an entire nail at a time. I have whole nail-shaped sheets of leopard polish to prove it! 

So, lessons learned - buy a black nail pen (or use the black liquid eyeliner trick) and never use two coats of Seche Vite! 

Despite the fact that two hours of painting my nails didn't even last two days, I really loved the effect and would do it again, without repeating my rookie mistakes!

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Let me share a secret - I don't wash my hair every day. I made a discovery that changed my life. Batiste Dry Shampoo.

Now, I know this won't be a revellation to many of you - it's not as if this brand hasn't been around for a while. And they've recently expanded the range to add new scents and colour-specific sprays, so plenty of people must be enjoying their product, but I'd just like to add my two-penneth.

My mane has its pros and cons - it's naturally very shiny (I don't even use conditioner, as it just makes it limp) but shiny hair is often oily hair, and for that reason I was tied to the hairdryer. Until I discovered this.

I was dubious at first - how can a spray just magic away the grease? But it does, and it lasts all day long. You just spray it on the roots, brush it out, and your hair really is fuller, more volumised and looks really clean!

I started with Tropical after sniffing them all in Boots (I regularly get told off for this). Now, Batiste are a little vague when it comes to the actual smells, but this is definitely coconut and I often get compliments on it.

Next I tried Blush - this is a girly, flowery, perfumey scent. Not my fave, but perfectly lovely.

Original is pretty dull. It kind of just smells... cold? But it's great if you already wear a strong scent and don't want anything to interfere with it.

Then things got exciting! Boho, Diva and coloured sprays - I've nearly tried them all!

Boho smells orangey, while Diva smells a little bit like impulse, or a deoderant. But brunette is chocolately and lovely and avoids those pesky white patches you get if you don't brush it out properly.

The other benefit of Batiste is you can use it to add volume to clean hair when doing plaits, pleats, messy buns or up-dos. If you haven't tried it already, it's about £3. The only drawback is the cans don't last that long - I go through about one every two weeks, but then I use it every other day.

P.S - never buy the Tony and Guy dry shampoo. It hardly cleans your hair, lasts about two hours and costs almost £7! The only plus point is it smells like Gucci Rush.

Do you guys use any other dry shampoos?

Resort yourself out

Sorry is supposed to be the hardest word, but I'll use it with wild abandon here to apologies for yet another nail post. I just couldn't resist testing these babies as soon as they arrived. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, the Essie Resort Collection 2010.

From left to right: Lapis of Luxury, Splash of Grenadine, Playa Del Platinum and Turquoise & Caicos.

Now, one gripe I have with these is they don't come in a set of minis, so this haul (which came from America through the fabulous Major Sam Dexter - thanks Sam!) set me back a cool £24 ($32 to be precise). But you can't put a price on my excitement at ripping off their bubble wrap.

So last night I settled down with wine and Mary Queen of Shops to play with them, and I was more than happy with the quality after three coats.

Coat one was pretty insipid. Coat two was slightly streaky (though that could be my poor polish performance) but three was a wonderfully vivid coating that, despite what the hundred pictures I took in different lighting conditions might suggest, is actually the same as how it looks in the bottle, for all four - pretty rare I tell you! And these are basically my four favourite colours in the world for clothing, interiors, everything... all though not, at first, my nails. 

The blue is that beautiful shade you see in hydrangeas...

 

This was certainly my favourite, so I've been sporting that today and have had a couple of compliments.

This weekend will be the turn of Splash of Grenadine. It's a rare punchy-purply-blush-pink (if you can imagine that) - not too girly. I often find paler pink polishes a little eighties, but this is gorgeous and refreshingly different.

The Playa Del Platinum was probably the least exciting, but then I suppose that's the point of a nude. It's somewhere in between stone, cream and nude, and would be an excellent bridal shade this season.

And Tuquoise and Caicos is a great, more grown up alternative to my Nails Inc Satin, It's more turquoise than mint - I'd love to do a comparison between all the turquoisy minty greens on the market (I'd also like to get my hands on Isadora Vintage Mint - anyone know where stocks it?)

So, in summation, these polishes will pretty much set you up for summer. So what's my reservation? At first I was a little underwhelmed, because I'm so used to incredibly bright strong nails - strange because everywhere else I love exactly these colours. But on reflection, they are all beautiful shades that definitely have a place in my repertoire. They will certainly suit those who want to try colour, but aren't quite ready for ridiculously bright nails (or whose work environment doesn't approve of them) and they go with almost everything in my wardrobe.

Incidentally, I tried them all in matte too, but really struggled to take a picture of my right hand without a tripod. Here's my best effort for reference - I'm keeping it small!

Does he brush up?

Why, when I already have all these brushes, do I want this so much?

Gah!

Lip service

So, I'm obsessed with red lipstick - especially during the day - on other people, but the problem is I don't own a red lippy.

You see, the last time I sported this bold look was about three years ago at my uni final fling, where I got so drunk I lost the brand new Mac lippy I'd bought especially for the occasion (Russian Red, I think) and could never bring myself to fork out again, until now.

This is that fateful night... (Hi Callum!)



So now I think I'm going to go for the same again, or Ruby Woo. I want a matt, bold, opaque red, but one that's not too brassy, al la les Olsens. Wish me luck!

Quick dry or die

Today is hectic. Between my own work, my colleague-who-is-on-holiday's work, and nipping off slightly early to watch Shooting Stars being filmed at the BBC (I know!!!), I'm up against it, so just time to tell you about my new best friend... let me spin you a yarn...

There was once a time when my nails were forever smudged. It became a joke that no matter how long I left them to dry I would at some point, somehow, forget I'd applied three coats and load the washing machine, fall over, run my hands through my hair or need a pee and destroy that perfect shiny glaze.

Until I met Seche Vite. This fast-drying top coat is outstanding. After your final coat -- even before it's slightly dry -- pop a slick of this live-saver on and your nails are rock hard in about a minute. It's saved my life! (OK, not my life, but my manicures certainly).

I picked mine up at enchantedbeautyspot on ebay - a bargain basement for polish addicts, thanks for the tip-off lollipop26!

Sparkle motion

Thursday 20 June was an exciting day for the UK high street - H&M Fashion for Aids line and Kate Moss's biggest collection yet both hit the shelves, to much elbowing and catfighting on Oxford Street, I can tell you.

Managed to picked up a couple of beauties on a whistlestop tour after work - more about them over the weekend - but one particular find has made this beautiful day even more sunny.

It must have been the return of summer that made me want to take something about my outfit to the next level today... but after over-experimenting with neon clothing in my uni days, I decided to limit my crazy brights to the fingers... so embarked on a glittery journey.

Now, let me preface this by saying I thought my glitter nail days were over long ago (except perhaps at Christmas), until the little gem above caught my eye in ToShoOxo lat night - Barry M nail polish in number 228 - oh the possibilities to add a subtle shimmer to any shade!

With nails already slicked in Nails Inc Satin (my personal fave of the turquoise family), I added a quick layer of this sparkly beauty and the little fellas were transformed from a basic look to something with another dimension. The silver sparkle makes the polish seem shimmery metallic, rather than like something from Claire's Accessories, and instantly more expensive!

It's the closest to Minx I've had at home.

Another bonus of this perfect polish is it sweeps on smooth, rather than scratchy or raised like some glittery polishes, which means less chance of chipping... everyone's a winner!

(Sadly this effect didn't quite translate in the images above - first shot is a before, second is the after - obv.)