Happy 4th July! - USA Themed Nail Art

Just a quick post to say Happy 4th July all you Americans out there! No time for nail art today as I'm packing boxes but here are some nails I did last year with OPI Cajun Shrimp and an Essie Mesmerize and crystal thumb accent.

4th July Nail Art

Have a lovely time celebrating and I'll be back to update soon.

Les Roses Ultimes de Chanel Collection, Swatches and Review

A post from my archive and another few polishes ticked off for my Chanel challenge today. Les Roses Ultimes de Chanel was released outside of the main seasonal collections and included four new polishes - Tentation, Distraction, Frisson and Attraction. When I visited the Chanel Pop-Up shop at Covent Garden (see my post here) I picked up three of the four polishes, swatches and review after the jump.



Chanel Le Vernis Tentation, Distraction and Frisson



Chanel Ēclats du Soir - Holiday 2013 Collection

Chanel have released details of their Holiday 2013 Collection and it's good news for those of you who like their festive season suitably golden and dramatic. The Ēclats du Soir collection focuses on evening makeup and is based on the idea of Chanel's classic Rouge Noir reimagined with stunning golden highlights. I've always loved Rouge Noir in nail polish and lipstick form so the idea of a Holiday collection based around that iconic colour was always going to appeal. There are lots of beautiful products in this collection including a new Eyeshadow Quad in Harmonie du Soir - £43.00, Illusion D’Ombre in Apparence - £23.00 and three new lipglosses in Allégorie, Mystery and Intrigue for £21.00.

Two products in particular from this collection have particularly caught my eye.....

Chanel Le Vernis in Malice - Image provided by Chanel


Chanel Le Vernis in Malice is the only polish in the collection and is described both as a "red with a black sheen" or a "burning black hue with a flamboyant heart of red glitter". Which ever description you prefer it's a beautiful twist on the classic Rouge Noir polish and looks like one of those lovely deep metallics that are perfect for Christmas. I do already have OPI Germanicure which is a similar style of polish and I'm hoping this will lean more towards the black than the brown tone of Germanicure so I don't double up. Malice will be on sale for £18:00.


Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in L'Impatiente - Image provided by Chanel

I don't normally feature lipsticks but this was too good to ignore. Again I already have the Rouge Noir lipstick which is pure gothic deep, dark red so I'm hoping this is a slightly more velvety twist on that one. L'Impatiente is meant to be coordinated with Malice and I think it's a good pairing. The deep metallic nail with a matt lip should look much more chic than a straight match of colour and finish and hopefully be more wearable. L'Impatiente will go on sale for £25:00.
The whole collection goes on sale on 9 November nationwide. 

OPI James Bond Collection

OPI updated their Facebook page on Thursday with some details of their Holiday 2012 collection which is a James Bond inspired collection.


OPI James Bond Collection - Picture from OPI Facebook page

 Colours left to right are: The Spy Who Loved Me, Casino Royale, You Only Live Twice, Die Another Day, Skyfall, GoldenEye, The World Is Not Enough, Moonraker, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Living Daylights, Live And Let Die, Tomorrow Never Dies


Apparently the collection will be available from 1st October in both the US and the UK. I love the idea of a James Bond collection because it makes for great polish names, although why no Goldfinger?? Possibly OPI are avoiding confusion with that one because as James Bond himself says -

 "Auric Goldfinger. Sounds like a French nail varnish"*

*geeky face

This will be the third year OPI have done a movie collaboration as their holiday collection (after Burlesque - 2010 and Muppets - 2011) and it's worth noting they've also done summer collections like Pirates of the Caribbean that were tie ins. I guess it must generate interest from both nail polish and film lover perspectives (of which I am both) but I'm not sure I'd normally buy a polish just because of a film tie in. I am susceptible to having a lemming for a shade when I've actually seen it worn on screen (take a bow Why Don't you love me video, Beyonce and Chanel's Nouvelle Vague!).

Colour wise I'm a bit undecided on these, they are very James Bond friendly - lots of gunmetal grey, red and the unavoidable gold - which is also kind of holiday/Christmas appropriate. Nothing hugely inspiring here though at first glance but I'm always hopeful swatches will show up something more unique. Currently it just feels very much like a rejigged OPI Switzerland collection. I love the fact the Living Daylights is a glitter but if it's another Rainbow Collection dupe I won't be bothering. Tomorrow Never Dies is the standout for me but again doesn't look terribly unique. Funnily enough I think in this case it is the names that will get me buying. I can just see myself wailing along to "Nobody does it better"** whilst painting my nails with "The Spy who Loved Me". So what do you think? Will you be swept away by James Bond this Christmas?

**Second best Bond theme ever, after We have all the time in the World - FACT

UPDATE !

OPI have added an update to their Facebook page with an additional shade "The Man with the Golden Gun" an 18-karat gold leaf top coat that will also be included in the collection in celebration of James Bond’s Golden Anniversary. 

OPI The Man with the Golden Gun - Photo from OPI's Facebook page 

Apparently this is the first time OPI has released this kind of polish. I think it looks great and provided it's cheaper than the Rococo Gold Leaf polish which retails at the princely sum of £35 (Space NK stock it) I may well pick it up. If it's the same or more then I might be frankening my own version with art supplies! No details of the base colour are given but if they are keeping with the James Bond Collection I'm assuming, based on the top photo, that it's Casino Royale maybe at a push Skyfall. I think it'll look great over the non glitter shades in this collection and it's both Christmas and James Bond friendly so I think this is probably a smart move by OPI. Plus it's a special effect polish that is NOT A SHATTER!! Well played OPI, well played....

Chanel April, May and June



Chanel April, May and June



Whilst I was writing my post on the Chanel Fall 2012 couture nails (you can find it here - Link)I was looking at the images wondering if my new camera had slightly washed out the colour of the Chanel nail polish in May that I used for the top layer. It may just be the way my screen was displaying but I'd taken these images for my Tumblr laliqueheart so I thought I do a follow up post here as a comparison.

The April, May and June Le Vernis nail polishes were released as part of Chanel's Harmonie De Printemps collection for Spring 2012. All three are standard creme two coaters, there's no hint of the classic Chanel nail polish shimmer here a la Paradoxal, Mimosa etc. April is a dusty berry red, May a medium bubblegum pink and June a soft apricot. Although this is a Spring collection (I bought these back at the end of January) what these shades really remind me of is beautiful summer garden roses like the picture below, which I guess just about fits with the months they're named after!

Rachel Rose - taken with Instagram

As soon as I had them I did some quick swatches to get an idea of what all three were like. As Chanel nail polishes have a nice small brush I used the same technique for my Confetti Nails tutorial so I could get the best idea of how all three colours came out.



Chanel April, May and June Confetti Nails

They are genuinely lovely colours and the formula is pretty good although my bottle of May has thickened ever so slightly, not really sure why. You can still pick these up in some stores if you've got a real passion for one of them. My favourite is April which was quite unexpected as I thought it would be quite boring but it's lovely on the nail. June is the one I thought I'd love the most and whilst it's really nice it's a little sheerer than April so that pips it for me. May is a good standard bubblegum pink but it is in no way unique so go for it if you want a classic Chanel pink but otherwise it's the most standard colour from the collection I would have said. Now if only I could convince Chanel to release an October nail polish.... 

Models Own Hedonist with Ibiza Mix and Disco Heaven



Models Own Hedonist with Ibiza Mix and Disco Heaven



Hedonist (the base colour) is a bright neon red with a hint of coral, it looks like it leans more towards the coral here but trust me it’s very definitely at the red end of the spectrum. It’s a true neon so it dries matte but obviously the glitter top coats meant that was lost, although I did add a coat of Essie Matte about You to try and show the colours of the glitter off better. Coverage is pretty good, this was two coats and I didn’t really have any issues with streaks but it has the typical neon application which can be a bit thick in places.

Ibiza Mix is the large multi coloured glitter you can see, it’s a blend of small turquoise, pink, copper and gold glitter and larger hexagonal glitter in the same colours with a bit of extra teal-green thrown in for good luck. Application on this was fine as a one coat top layer as shown here but you may need to move some of the glitter around to get the effect you want.
Disco Heaven is a fine gold glitter with a scattering of opalescent blue glitter. It’s actually really pretty and gives good scattered coverage on the nail with one coat.

Dupes? - I don’t have anything for these (which was why I felt ok splashing out!) but I’m pretty sure Hedonist has a match out there. There are some posts out there querying whether Ibiza Mix is a dupe for OPI Rainbow Connection. I have both and to my mind it’s really not. The effect in terms of sizes and shapes of glitter is very similar but the colour bases are different, I promise you. Rainbow Connection is the colourful, silver based sister with bright green, orange, yellow and cerise versus Ibiza Mix which is the pastel, gold based sister with the more subtle tones. I also think Ibiza Mix may have a very, very slight grey toned base but it makes zero difference on the nail. If I had to pick I think Ibiza Mix wins for me.

The only thing I have that’s even in the same ball park as Disco Heaven is the limited edition Chanel Illusion D’Or. The Chanel is much, much subtler (and prettier in my opinion) but DH is a possible substitute if you have a lemming that just won’t go away. I’ll do some side by side comparisons to show the differences when I get a chance.

All of these are part of the Models Own Hed Kandi collection that’s available now on their website and in stores now.

Disclosure: I bought this polish myself and have no involvement with the brand

Quick note on this post. My point and shoot camera had finally given up the ghost so had to take this with an Iphone hence the dodgy focus and slight lighting issues. I originally posted this review on my tumblr - http://www.theboxesunderthebed.tumblr.com/