Polish round up – Brown and Gold

You may have noticed an increased effort on my part to stop spending recently. It’s going pretty well. The last cosmetics I bought were a little Sleek haul on the 27^th December. If I can get to the end of December without parting with any more pennies it’ll be a big achievement. Long story short I’m focusing on paying off some student debt. Anyhoo boring stuff over, as part of my ‘enjoy what you have’ project I wanted to go through and have a look at what nail polish I already have in an effort to dissuade myself from going out and buying any more similar colours. These are the browns and gold’s I’ve accumulated. First with flash and then without. 

From left to righ we have; Diamond Cosmetics Yukon Gold, Orly Rage, L’Oréal 395, Collection 2000 Foxy, Little Rose (got this in Thailand, no idea what it’s called), OPI Sand In My Suit, Barry M Dusky Mauve, China Glaze Ingrid, Barry M Chocolate Brown, Nails Inc Jermyn Street, Barry M Mushroom, Essie Mink Muffs. 

All of these are 2-3 coats with no top coat. The purple shimmer in Dusky Mauve isn’t as apparent here as it is in real life, trust me it is there really. Some of these colours are very similar too however none are exact dupes of each other. Oh and please excuse the cat fluff in the back ground. That rug was literally washed 24 hours before those pics were taken but madam decided it needed to be fluffy again.  I hope this is useful in comparing some of the more popular brownish shades out there. Any other colours you’d like to see a roundup of? 

*Sadly I bought all of these myself apart from Jermyn Street which was free in a magazine*

Heads up! Glamour Freebies

Just a quick note to say that the UK Glamour mag comes with a free Nails inc polish this month. They should normally cost £11 I think but Glamour is only £2. Bargain! I would have put a picture of the magazine up too but I seem to have abandoned it at an office somewhere in Scotland. Anyhoo I chose the lovely nude/ greige Jermyn Street. There are other shades available but they didn’t appeal x

*I bought this*

Nails Inc Porchester Square

This is a putty shade, more of a pale pinky grey than a pinky brown. I do not always have success with Nails Inc, I love the colours but find that the wide cylindrical brush lid can be a bit cumbersome - the brush seems a long way from the fingers I am controlling it with.

So saying I do like this shade.

This is 2 coats (after a base coat and before a top coat). I almost stopped at 1 coat which gave a rather flattering chiffon fleshy coat, maybe next time.

This is a shade that often sells out but is available at ASOS currently £11, and QVC do a duo but again it does sell out.

NOTD Nails Inc Pembroke Close

I’m already gravitating to dark vampy shades but this shade had to have one last hurrah before being shoved to the back of the drawer. I got this in a huge Nails Inc gift set that my Mum gave me for Christmas last year. I think she got it from TK MAXX for about £20.

The colour is a gorgeous medium purple, it’s not quite pastel but it’s not deep either. There is no shimmer which stops it being too girly. This is two coats. 

I’m not a huge fan of the Nails Inc formulas. Whilst they are ok to apply they do not wear well on my at all. They chip badly within 48 hours regardless of what top coat I wear x

Rescuing my dreadful nails

As a reminder, here are my unloved, unattended to nails, a consequence of not blogging.

 And here they are 3 days later

Quite an improvement, and I am hoping for more by the end of the week.

Here is what I used and what I will be using and have used in the past because these products have worked for me.

A decent nail file - glass or better still crystal.

This is by Leighton Denny (nooooo really?) and has changed my relationship with my nails, seriously. Before I would shy away from filing my nails, approaching the whole operation obliquely and aplogetically because I would make a right pig's ear of it, and that was just filing the nails of my left hand (I am right handed) forget filing the nails of my left hand. With this file, I can saw away backwards and forwards to my heart's content, sides to middle? forget it, this nail file really is the biz. Available in Boots I got mine from QVC

A decent nail treatment - there are loads, high end, low end, I have tried many. For years I used Nail Envy by OPI, I applied every day and had talons, strong but flexible, perfect and then it all went wrong and I can no longer use Nail Envy it just peels off my nails. I find that I have to used something on my nails, and a top coat just doesn't do it and often peels off.

This works well for me and I swear my nails grow daily. I apply 2 coats at the beginning of the week and then take it off at the end of the week, if I remember I might add another coat mid week. I first came across this on MUA when I was desperate for something. What I like about this product is that it does not flake off and acts as a decent base and top coat if I want to use colour when my nails are still a bit short. I get mine from Boots not the cheapest, but not extortionate either.

A decent cuticle oil - cuticles are like the frame around the picture, if they are in poor repair it doesn't matter how fab the colour, all the attention will be on the sorry state of the cuticles.

I do have many cuticle oils on the go, remembering to use them is the key. My latest squeeze is this pen by Nails Inc in the hope that its portability will enable me to use it on the go, though seeing as I only go to work where I am in a blue funk for the whole of the day, I am unsure as to how this will improve matters - it is rather pretty though. I got mine from QVC 1 for me, 1 for my sister as a Christmas present, oh yes!

A decent cuticle cream - yes cream, to be used last thing at night before bed because if I have forgotten to use all of the above.

I have used this for years, it also comes in a pot but these little tubes are perfect.

As can be seen it is really thick, but a little goes a long way. I am not a personal fan of cuticle removers, I find that they tend not to do anything other than stain my cuticles, and my nails are quite resistant to any prodding with an implement which is never a good idea in my book. This really does work. Not the easiest of products to track down the nail care club sell it but I have had some good deals from beverley beaute in the past.