Nail's Inc. Top Coats Snowflake; 'Whitechapel' and 'Kensington Church Street'

'Whitechapel'

It's New Years Eve! And whilst all I've seen on Instagram for the last few days is #nyenails (btw follow me on Instagram for more designs @hellotnails *shameless plug*) I want to bring you back to just a week ago when we were all decking the halls and dreaming of a Winter Wonderland, yes Christmas!
These two polishes were crucial to some of my most popular and admired Christmas Manicures and I will not let the end of the Christmas season deter me from using them as I think they can be used all year round! I am of course talking about the two polishes 'Snowflake', one with gold flecks in it ('Whitechapel') and one with pure white snowflakes ('Kensington Church Street).

This is 'Whitechapel' on Nails Inc's 'Chelsea Green'

I used these on all sorts of colours this year, such as Essie's Mint Candy Apple, plain white polish, dark reds and lighter reds and many more. I used them just to make a funky fourth finger design or on all the fingers. Or my favourite thing to do this year was have it either on the top of the nail as a messy french tip or in a half moon at the bottom of the nail, either all the nails with just top or bottom, or alternating between the two.
They are really easy to apply, just the usual with glitter polishes, get a load on the end of the brush and dapple it on the nail to get even glitter coverage. Or just apply as a normal polish but do a few extra coats to really make it shine.
As with most glitter polishes it is the removing that is the difficult part, and I will often have to just pick the glitter off after removing most of it with polish remover.

'Kensington Church Street'

But overall I love these two polishes as they add so much fun to a manicure and make it look as though you have just dipped your hands in snow and it has stuck on to the nail!

Here are my ratings for 'Whitechapel' and 'Kensington Church Street':


Chipping: 4.5
Shine: 5
Colour: 1
Classic-ness: 3.5
Overall: 4.5

Love,
Tash
x

Nails.Inc's 'Winter Wonderland' Special Effect Topcoats

The Christmas Holidays have arrived! But despite it being the most wonderful time of the year, I have been very busy with school and University Interviews up until the 17th December. However, now I have a lovely ten days of rest, relaxation, pressies and good food and will return to school in January ready for the beginning of the exam term and hopefully up to date with all my nail polish reviews.

Whilst in Leeds for an interview, I discovered that one of the biggest pulls to Leeds is the almost unimaginable amount of shops all crammed into such a small space. Of course it was impossible for me to walk past the Nails. Inc counter without having a look, and as a early christmas present my mum bought me these 5 special effect top coats, 3 of which in the 'Winter Wonderland' box and the other two the 'Snowflake' collection.


Nails Inc have merged with Alexa Chung for this season's polishes and one of the big 'things' this Christmas for them is cool shiny topcoats to put on top of normal polishes. Instead of reviewing each of them individually, I will review the box of three then the two snowflakes separately.

In the box of three was a brown and gold glitter, white glitter with lovely holographic shine, and red glitter. They go well on almost any polish, but the brown goes especially well on dark purple or dark red polishes, the red goes well on , well, red. And the white suits white polishes, duck egg blue polishes or anything with a lighter hue to it.
I especially like to use them just at the top of the nail or just at the bottom, as if the glitter has melted down the nail. This means you get a nice shine effect but it isn't too overwhelming. As with most glitter polishes they can be awkward to get on the nail as you have to make sure there is glitter on the brush and that it is going in the right place and can potentially take a while to perfect the 'imperfect' look.
I love these top coats as they add so much fun to your mani, and make it undeniably Christmassy, I think they, along with any of the new Alexa polishes, would make a great Christmas present. Hint Hint to any family members reading this stuck with what to get me ;).

Here are my ratings for the Nails.Inc 'Winter Wonderland' top coats;

Chipping: 3.5
Shine: 5
Colour: (doesn't really apply here) 1
Classic-ness: Makes for a classic Christmas Mani so 4
Overall; 4.75!

Love,
Tash
x

Despicable Me Minion Design!

Not a review, but this is a super easy design for a minion from the film Despicable Me! I love the minions and having them on my nails was great fun- hope you can enjoy it too!

1. Paint whole nail yellow
2. Paint black stripe 2/3rds up the nail
3. Use black nail art pen, or dotting tool to put little bits of hair above goggles
4. Use dotting tool to put silver dot in middle of black strip, or two depending on number of eyes
5. Use dotting tool to put smaller white dot on top of this
6. Use nail are pen to put smaller black dot on top of this
7. finish with top coat and voila! Your own little minions!

Toothpick can be used in place of the nail are tools, American Apparel 'Sunshine State' used for yellow polish.

Happy Painting!

Love,
Tash
x

Rococo Polish 'Smitten' Review

When it's a rococo polish review I think we know by now it's because my mum has treated me to a manicure at the lovely Margaret Dabbs salon. When I was in there the last time, one of the lovely nail ladies confidently told a customer that "getting your nails done is not a luxury, it is a necessity!" with a nod of agreement from all surrounding I sunk into my chair knowing that this must be what heaven is like.
Having been very busy with school after summer I haven't had a chance to post very much, but with a few free days due to being ill and off school there will be a tsunami of posts of all my summer polishes that have been waiting to be reviewed.




I am smitten (sorry!) with this lovely duck egg blue colour which is quite similiar to Essie's 'Mint Candy Apple', but if it's even possible, the pigment is even stronger and it has more of a blue hue rather than the green that Essie's polish has. Especially noticeable when it catches the light and a gorgeous blue colour explodes from your hand, so summery it makes you want to burst into song with a summer classic.
To complement the blue the nail technician used Rococo's gold leaf polish on my fourth finger to contrast the blue.
Rococo polishes are very thick, and I struggle to use them without making a mess. But with a steady hand you can make a great manicure that lasts a long time. With the manicure only needing about 1 1/2 coats. Due to the thickness it is not one for those in a rush as you really need about 4-5 hours to let it dry properly, time which I could happily have spent sitting in the salon with Sam Smith in the background, but soon I had to come back to reality and leave the salon- but I think we all know, I will be back.


Here are my ratings for 'Smitten' by Rococo Nail Apparel:
Chipping-3.75
Shine- 4.5
Richness of colour-4.5
Classic-ness-3.5

Overall- 4.75!!

Love,
The London Nail Blogger

'Daisy' design from WAH nails ft. Rimmel London 'Black Cab'; Natural Collection's 'Tips'; American Apparel's 'Sunshine State'

I came across this tutorial a few days before going back to school, and the WAH girls made it look so easy on the video I had to have a go. Much to my surprise it was actually easy and greatly impressed my friends at school! I love this design as it looks as though you have; A. spent AT LEAST four hours on your nails; B. you have used nail stickers; C. you can wow people when you tell them that 'no, they are not stickers!'


Here are my photos of the design. You can have it either with or without the yellow dots, the dots make it more summery and fun but the pure white flowers have a more sophisticated touch for an evening look. 





I used Rimmel London's 'Black Cab' for the black, which had become extremely gloopy and in need of a reboot but it just about did the job. I used the Natural Collection 'tips' polish for the white and American Apparel's 'Sunshine State' for the yellow. I have invested in nail art tools- for about £5- for the dots. But the same effect could easily be made with the end of a toothpick for a cheaper price.                                 
Since this isn't really a review I cannot give ratings, but I hope you too embark on this easy design! Since WAH have removed the tutorial video from youtube I can't post it, but here are the steps to do the design:

1. Paint nails with base coat and black polish
2. Put white polish on end of dotting tool and place five small dots in a small circle 
3. Repeat white dots across nail 
4. Put black polish on end of dotting tool and put a dot in the middle of the white dots and spread a little of the black polish into the centre of each of the white dot to create the petal effect.
5. For the more sophisticated evening look in the second picture stop here!
6. But, for the full daisy look, put yellow polish on the dotting tool and place a small dot in the middle of each of the flowers. 
7. Complete by placing a clear top coat on for extra shine 
8. Enjoy some major nail envy from your friends!!

Happy Painting!

Love, 
Tash 
 x

'Mint Candy Apple'

Essie 'Mint Candy Apple' Review- America Collection 2

This polish has been on my wish list for an extremely long time, and it wasn't until I travelled across the Atlantic that I organised myself to actually buy it. I was in CVS and couldn't help myself from the beautiful green/duck egg blue colour and I snapped it up for $8!
As it is almost my last day in the big US o' A I'm trying to get all my American polishes reviewed before I get back on English soil, so this is the second of my 'America collection' . This polish is fetted over by bloggers and nail artists everywhere so why all the hype?

Well firstly, the colour is a beautiful mix between green and blue which interchange depending on the angle you view it from and the light you are in. If you are going for a pastel nail look which is extremely popular at the moment then you can use it for this by putting a matte top coat on, but it can also serve as a shiny and glam polish if you put on a top coat. So it is an extremely versatile polish.
 For this mani I used Essie's 'good to go' top coat, which I didn't really love as it gets gloopy very quickly. Just to diverge to top coats and away from the polish, I find basic topcoats are the best. I use the Topshop 'base and top' for mine and this works perfectly well despite not having a flashy nail brand to it, the base coat is more important as it is this that can make or break a manicure and for this I use OPI.

But, back to the real star 'Mint Candy Apple'. It was extremely thick, which some people struggle with to apply as it can all gather in certain places of the nail and I am one of those people but (I will write about how to avoid this and put the link below) once you get past this hurdle it is a gorgeous polish and I would rather it be thick and glossy and have to apply less coats than having gaps in the polish (since some Essies are known for this issue of having to do about a million coats).
I only wore it for about two days and it didn't budge, but I cannot really fairly judge the chipping.

It is a very summery colour and though it may not be the flashiest it is great for everyday wear and I am so glad I finally managed to buy it, even if it did mean going across 'the pond' for two weeks!

Here are my ratings for 'Mint Candy Apple':

Chipping- 3
Shine- (works both with and without but with) 4
Richness of colour- (for a pastel colour) 3.5
Classic-ness- (doesn't really apply here) 3

Overall- 4
Love,
Tash
x

Links:
Review of first 'America Collection': http://hellotnails.blogspot.com/2014/07/essie-tart-deco-polish-review.html

Tart Deco pictures

Essie Tart Deco' polish review- America Collection 1

After breaking up from school for my last ever "school holidays", since I am going into my final year of school and next summer I will be getting ready for university! This terrifies and excites me, mostly terrifies. However, summer holidays didn't keep me from school for long as on the day after I broke up I hopped on a plane to Boston to spend two weeks at Brown University doing a summer school. After a few days of being distracted by people swooning over my English accent I realised my pre-holiday manicure was starting to chip (review will be up soon) and having not brought any polish with me I ventured to CVS to see what the nail polish selection was. To my delight it was stacked full of nail polish, but I was drawn to the Essie section as it harbours many colours that have been on my wish list for a while now for example; 'Mint Candy Apple', 'Limo-scene' and of course 'Tart Deco'. 

I would consider myself a nail polish aficionado however even I struggle to tell the difference between the 15 different coral colours Essie has produced,  it was the interesting name and slightly pink tinge to the colour that attracted me to this polish so I bought it. Another great aspect of buying Essie's in America is the price, which is much less than in England so I got myself a little haul, reviews of which will come soon. 
As soon as I got back to my dorm, instead of doing my reading homework I started painting my nails. This colour is one of those that despite being impressive in the bottle is even more beautiful once on the nails and it was extremely thick and easy to apply. 
There is some discrepancy in the brushes of Essie polishes as some of them are square and wide and others are round and more thin. Both are good to apply, but due to the thickness I was glad for the rounded brush as it carries less polish at a time. 
1 and 1/2 coats and topcoat later I flapped my hands around a bit and was ready to do activities that didn't use my hands, this dries quite slowly so isn't one to use in a rush but still a beautiful colour making the hands look tanned and a long lasting polish despite the bashing it received from fans, pens and showers. 

Here are my ratings for Essie's Tart Deco:
Chipping-3.75
Shine-4.5
Richness of colour- 3.75
Classic-ness- (debate-able but) 3.5

Overall- 4.5 

Love,
Tash 
x

Barry M 'Blueberry', polish review

All of my friends know that I love nail polish so it was no surprise that on my birthday back in April Polish was my most recieved present. Despite April being a great time for flowers growing and 'April showers' it is also the most intense part of the school year as it is the run up to exams which began in May.

Due to the slight inconvience of having to revise all day everyday I haven't had a chance to use my new polishes, but bring on July! Since I have a lot more free time I can finally try out all the polishes I recieved! 

This one came from my great friend Danah who shares my passion for polish and certainly agrees that 'the first rule of polish addiction is- there is no such thing as polish addiction!' She gave me four lovely Barry M polishes but this one is definitely my favourite! 

The blue is not the average duck egg or navy but rather a nice mix between the two. It also dries slightly matte, so you can choose to emphasise this with a matte top coat or just a normal top coat to make it shine. It was really easy to apply and only needed one coat but two gave it the thickness I like- however one coat is good for a quick mani. 

The other great thing about this polish is that it dries extremely quickly so you can get on with your day without not being able to touch anything for 2 hours as it is touch dry within about 10 mins.

This is a great colour for the summer and for someone with blue eyes it works as an extra accesory! 

Here are my ratings for 'Blueberry': 

Chipping: 3

Shine: 4 ( depending on top coat) 

Richness of colour: 3.5

Classic ness: 2

Overall: 3.95

Love, 
Tash 
x

OPI 'Dinner Al Frisco' review

After my exams, my parents felt I needed a break from the heat and stress of the city so whisked me away to Florence for a weekend of art and relaxation. Having returned with a healthy dose of standelisme and a bit of sunburn I am much more relaxed and have decompressed after my exams.
Whilst in Florence I spotted this colour and with the bright blue and slight metallic touch I fell in love and had to have it. The name was very accurate as I wore it whilst we were dining 'Al Fresco' (outside).
I used an OPI basecoat and Topshop top coat, the ombre design on my fourth finger was done using the OPI christmas sand collection which i reviewed previously, go check it out!

I love OPI products and usually my designs come from many nail polish lines but it just so happened that all these ones were OPI. The polish was relatively easy to apply although I struggled to keep the precision near my cuticles. It needed about 2 1/2 coats to make it nice and thick and the top coat emphasised the metallic nature, but it could go without the topcoat and still have the shine if you were in a rush. Despite the success of the colour, it chips very easily and even a day or two after applying the colour at the top of the nail will have many holes in it which is unusual and annoying since OPI is usually so good at avoiding this, and my basecoat is usually really good at beating these chips which mean you have to touch it up quite often.
I love this colour and as we are moving towards summer it is even better as it makes your hands appear tanned which is an important aspect of any summer polish especially for an english rose like me whose skin is either alabaster or lobster-esque. It also brightens up summery outfits or bikinis.

Here are my ratings for OPI'S 'Dinner Al Frisco':
Chipping: 1.75
Shine-4
Richness of colour-4.5
Classic-ness- 3
Overall-4

The colour and shine really are the redeeming features of this polish, but it is this that makes it so beautiful.

Love,
Tash 
x

Instagram and Pinterest

I realise I am late to the party on these social media sites! However, I have finally begun a Pinterest and Instagram account so you can see the designs I am doing before I review them. I am also more active on these sites as I can post more quickly and can do it when busy. 

Instagram- hellotnails 

Pinterest- helloTnails 

Love,

The London Nail Blogger

Nars Orgasm polish Review

I have been released from the prison of exams and revision!!! So can finally post again and spend my time doing my nails instead of attempting to revise. Since my birthday was during revision time I had some time off revising to go out with my family and received presents, one of which was this nail polish. I recieved many polishes for my birthday so have lots of reviewing to catch up on! Now, after that virtual coffee and catch up on to the reviewing. Firstly I would like to address the name of the polish, although I think the name is slightly tasteless I adore the 'Orgasm' colours and have the blush and illuminating cream in Super Orgasm. My mum gives in and buys it despite the name because the golden pink colour is so beautiful! 

This polish is a shiny pink with gold and silver flecks in it which catch the light and make your hand shine, in the design you can see I only used it on my fourth finger to brighten up the pink colour. It is a lovely colour and I only used 1 1/2 coats to do this. 

However,one  big issue with this polish is that it doesn't stand alone. You have to use it on top of another polish to make it really shine and be nice and thick. So unless you prefer slightly see through polishes where you can see through to  the nail beneath I would avoid using it on its own.  Instead, use it on top of a pink or purple and it will be gorgeous, the bright pink I used it on top of is Eve Snow's Material Girl, despite the cheesy name I love this polish! Having it underneath the Nars was great as it emphasised the pink and let the shine do its thing. 

It lasted really well, and kept me cheery during the desultory days in the lead up towards my exams while reminding me that a summer of nails was on the way! 

Overall I really like this polish as although it wasnt exactly what I was expecting I still love the colour and will still be reaching for the Orgasm collection when in the shops. 

Here are my ratings for Nars- Orgasm polish: 

Chipping- 4

Shine-4

Richness of colour-2

Classic-ness-2

Overall-3.5

Love, 

Tash
x

Review of Chanel Nail Colour 677 Rouge Rubis

After having an eclectic few weeks full of ;revision, many different colours and some false nails, I gave my nails a rest for a few weeks. Now they have recovered and are back to their usual strong selves. While on a break from my (very fun) half term revision, I thought I would go for a classic colour that I hadn't reviewed yet! 

Yes, hold your renditions of Lady in Red, it's Red. The staple, underside of a certain shoe, the dress that catches everyone's attention and the only colour of lipstick on Marilyn Monroe's dressing table. Of course the only way to do Red properly is Chanel so I sneaked into my sister's room and nabbed this lovely bright red colour. The small brush meant it was really easy to apply and looked very neat round the cuticles hence the zoomed in photos. After one coat it could have been ready to go, so good for when you are in a rush but the second coat gave it that almost gel nail-like effect. After putting on my top coat (Nails inc. Caviar topcoat) I was ready to go. I didn't do any funky fourth nail designs as I felt the red could stand on its own- and it could.

 There is something about red nails that changes your whole persona and when looking down at your nails you get a whole burst of confidence and coolness, it has to be my favourite staple colour. 

The shine has remained after two days, and they haven't chipped yet. The base coat I used is OPI's natural nail base coat, which helps when avoiding chipping. 

Sometimes I'm a bit sceptical about big designers like Chanel doing nail polish however,this one was surprisingly good and helps bring a little bit of 1950s glamour into your everyday life.

Here are my ratings for Chanel 677 Rouge Rubis

: 

Chipping- 3.75

Shine- 4

Richness of colour- 4

Classic-ness- 5!!

Overall- 4.5

Love,

Tash
x

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OPI Nail Polish Lacquer- 'Its frosty outside' and 'Kiss me at midnight' featuring liquid sand review

Over the Christmas Holidays I spent a lot of time with my family and with a break from all my work I had a chance to spend some quality time with my nails! Many of my presents included nail polish or nail art items and this meant that almost every other day I was doing a new design. 
My (very trendy) Aunt Hilary gave me this OPI set of three nail polishes and I was so pleased that I was immediately concocting what designs I could create with them. For this design I used the blue and silver coloured nail polishes and decided to do a sort of Christmassy ombre pattern.

Since England hadn't experienced any snowy weather I thought I would bring the snow to my nails. The polish was very thick and easy to apply, I did two coats of blue then layered the silver on top almost like a french manicure that had melted onto the rest of the nail. The polish was textured due to the liquid sand in the lacquer and the glitter caught the light very nicely.
I only had to do a 2 coats of blue and 1 coat of silver, with a top coat on I got my camera out and started snapping! 
It stayed on very well and as with any glittery polish like this even after a few days it was hard to remove. So if you are looking for something hardy to last the whole winter through I would definitely recommend this polish. The sets come in many colours both Christmassy and not, and with fun titles based on Mariah Carey songs what's not to love!  
Here are my ratings for OPI liquid sand:
Chipping:4.5
Shine: (so glittery!!) 5
Richness of colour:3
Classic-ness: 3
Overall: 4.5 
Love, 
Tash 
x