31 Day Challenge: Day 9- Rainbow Nails

Sorry for the late publication of this post, but as the saying goes, better late than never! Let's hop right into today's challenge:-

 

How cute is this?!?!

 

 

I just love the silver glitter 'raindrops!'



Under artificial light.

 

I had great fun doing this mani, even if I was shattered from doing a busy 6am-3pm shift at work! I just kinda made the design up as I went along, and it was one of the instances where my gut instinct came up trumps!

 

Here's what I used:-

 

BASE: Chanel Le Vernis in Coco Blue

RAINDROPS: No7 Glitter Top Coat in Silver

RAINBOW AND CLOUDS: Rio Nail Art Pens

GLITTER SUN: Models Own in Hed Kandi Disco Heaven

 

The Model's Own polish was untried- I had to crack the cellophane off another polish! Tomorrow's challenge is Gradient Nails. I've never attempted these before so it should be rather interesting!!





Les Jeans de Chanel: Swatches, Review and Comparisons

This is a collection that I have been looking forward to for ages! Les Jeans de Chanel is trio of varnishes in varying shades of blue to reflect different washes of denim. Check them out:-

Thumb and Index finger:- Coco Blue

Middle and Pinky finger:- Blue Boy

Ring finger:- Blue Rebel



I absolutely loved the manicure I did with the Jeans trio- hence the amount of pictures! I think that all three shades work really well together. My absolute favorite varnish out of the three is Coco Blue- check out the subtle silvery shimmer in the bottle and on my nail. The application on these varnishes was good. The formula was not too thick or too runny, and the brush was standard- long and thin bristles. I will say try not to rush with these varnishes, otherwise you will end up with air bubbles. I also used a good basecoat under these varnishes- they WILL stain your nails otherwise! I also used my topcoat to give these the glossy shine you see in the pictures- they tend to dull quite quickly otherwise.

When I removed this manicure, I had the intention to redo my whole hand in just Coco Blue. It was just as I was reaching for it when I realised that I had some other veeery similar varnishes in my collection. Check this out:-

Index finger:- No7 Minty Fresh

Middle finger:- Revlon Blue Lagoon

Ring finger:- Chanel Coco Blue

Pinky finger:- Maybelline Ceramic Blue

As you can see, the closest shade to the Chanel Coco Blue is the No7 Minty Fresh varnish. However, Minty Fresh is a block colour whith no shimmer or glitter particles. Revlon's Blue Lagoon has very fine silver glitter in it, not too unlike the shimmer in Coco Blue, but Blue Lagoon's shade is a lot lighter than Coco Blue. Maybelline's Ceramic Blue is an absolutely beautiful shade (with perfect application, I might add), but it learns toward being a very soft lavender shade. It has a very subtle blue shimmer to it that is obvious in the bottle, but very difficult to see on the nail. So, even there are no exact dupes for Coco Blue, there are cheaper alternatives that are just as pretty.

I took this next picture under the artificial light in my kitchen because you can see the shimmer in the nail varnishes better:-

So what do you think? Will you be buying any of the Jeans de Chanel collection? Or having seen the comparisons of Coco Blue next to cheaper alternatives will you be choosing them instead? I'd love to read your thoughts!



Baby Pinks Comparison

I have recently been thinking of a few nail art designs that I could do for Easter Sunday, and wanted to incorporate a baby pink into the design. Now, I have quite a few candy/baby/sherbet pinks, and I just wanted to do a few quick comparisons.

I started with the incredibly beautiful Curtain Street by Nails Inc- a baby pink with a matte finish.

Depending on your personal taste, you may either like this polish or find it too sickeningly sweet and cutsie. For me, I think the matte finish just gave the polish a certain edge. Of course, one of the best things about mattes is that they don't require topcoat. However, I of course wanted to test how versatile this polish is, and therefore painted a glossy topcoat on two of my nails.

Like it with the topcoat?! I do! Looking at the two glossy fingernails, do they remind you of a certain recent OPI nail varnish that I reviewed here. Yep that's right, doesn't it look uncannily like OPI's Pink Friday? I just had to crack out my bottle of Pink Friday to compare.

L-R

Index: Nails Inc Curtain Street with glossy topcoat

Middle: Chanel May

Ring: OPI Pink Friday

PinkyNails Inc Curtain Street (remained matte)

 I thought I would throw the Chanel varnish into the mix, because in my memory I remembered it as a soft baby pink. But its not. Its more of dusky rose colour that is even deeper looking in reality. Still pretty, but this is a warm shade, whereas the other two polishes are cool. No prizes for guessing the the Chanel varnish suits my skin tone a lot better, and doesn't make my fingers look like little lobsters!

So what do you think peeps? Can you recommend me any soft pretty pinks ready for my easter nail art session? Feel free to leave a comment!