Mavala holla...

For years now I have been scouring the shops for the perfect peach tea nail varnish. Every time I thought I'd found it it turned out to be too safe, too muted, too pearlescent or just too plain pensioner. I came across this jackpot of a colour, Mavala's 'Sweet', in London's free women's mag Stylist, and when I read about it Elle a few weeks later I took it as a sign and started to hunt it down.

Mavala isn't a brand I'm massively familiar with, its only really stocked in John Lewis over here and they didn't have the right shade. I found a great store on eBay - Revival Beauty, and it came to a pretty respectable £6 including postage (the RRP for this brand is £3.95).



To cut a long story short, its BRILLIANT. The shade is exactly what I was looking for, it goes on perfectly and last time I had it on it lasted for eight (eight!!) days without a chip. You can even get away with just the one coat. Apart from the slight hassle of getting hold of it I would heartily recommend it. The bottles are on the small side but when do you ever use a whole bottle anyway?! Its the perfect summer polish.



(Apologies for my blurry nail photography - basically its the exact shade it appears in the bottle.)

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!

Take matte

During a fleeting visit to Superdrug to grab some painkillers, I was momentarily distracted by the kaleidoscopic Barry M counter.

A friend had mentioned Barry M's Cyan, and once I saw it, I couldn't resist. It helped that she lives a few doors down from me, and we can effectively share a nail polish collection, so in my mind I was doing a public service by picking up this little beauty. (£2.99)

I hope you ladies (and gentlemen) are sitting down because what I'm about to tell you could knock you off your feet... this is only two coats! This polish is a flippin' gem. Regular readers will know I'm a three-coat addict, but there was absolutely no need with this creamy, opaque beauty. And the colour is great. (Coated with Seche Vite here for extra gloss)

Then I took things to another level. I picked up Topshop's Matte with my other items last Wednesday, and although I was pretty dubious as to whether I'd take to matte nails, on a vibrant colour like this I'm sold.

Don't get me wrong, I'll always love that shiny manicured look. But for the crazier colours in my repertoire this gives a more casual edge I'm a real fan of. Would rather like to try it with some of Barry's ice cream colours, and definitely with Topshop's Gypsy Night, just to see what it does to glitter polishes. Either way, it's a fun product for a fiver, worked well here on top of my topcoat, letting you change it up on a whim, and dried in seconds with no brushstroaks. Go forth and mattify!

All that glitters

I couldn't resist this. I know others have blogged about it, and you're probably bored of hearing of it, but it's just such a fabulous concept. Topshop Make up's Gypsy Night Nail Polish.

Now it's obviously not the most summery polish, but it's like having a little slice of outer space on each nail.

Multi-coloured glitter mixed with gold flecks in a stormy black base? Yes please! This is going to be my go-to colour come colder months.

I would have liked a slightly thicker consistency - there's no way you could get away with less than two coats; I did three here and even considered four. But the polish is much more magical than these pictures suggest. (Note to self, work on photography skills!)

Now some say size matters, but when it comes to polish I must disagree. These aren't big bottles - about half the size of OPI, but I've never personally used up more than half a nail polish anyway, so I don't see this as a downside. Especially as nail polish is, now more than ever, a trend-driven purchase rather than an investment.

The brush is also worthy of comment. It's a nice size, matching the small bottle. Am I the only one who finds OPI's large brushes, and the amount of polish they pick up, a little unweidly? I may be on my own here, as they are a professional favourite so can't be hard for experts to use, but with my amateur painting skills I prefer a more accurate tool.

Either way, I'm looking forward to Topshop restocking the bright blue colour. They're out of stock at the moment and I'm pretty happy with this for £5.

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!