INM Northern Lights Holographic Top Coat

There are eight sleeps to go before Christmas is here!  I can't believe how quickly this year has gone, and how ridiculously excited I am feeling for this years festivities!  I've been embracing all things Christmas this year; my decorations were up at the end of November, I've had my Christmas jumper out at least once a week at work since December, and I'm definitely pining for all things sparkly.  Enter the INM Northern Lights Gold and Silver Holographic Top Coat*.

I didn't expect it, but I have to say that I am honestly in love.  I might even go as far to say that this is all I will be wearing for the rest of the season.  The holographic aspect wasn't what I thought it would be like.  I was expecting it to be full on holographic like these, but I am actually kind of pleased that my expectations were wrong as I'll be getting so much more use from these now!

They need a good shake up, but I have been wearing three coats of this on top of Nails Inc Regent Street with a base coat of the OPI Nail Envy and it's so pretty.  I've had so many compliments when wearing the INM Top Coat - it's such a subtle sparkle that is added to the nails.  The particles of glitter are micro fine - you can't feel any grains once it has been applied, and compared to other glitter polishes I own, it's an absolute dream to remove.  

I will put it out there right now - you don't need to own both of these top coats.  Despite owning both the gold and the silver version, the difference once applied is very hard to spot.  I've applied the silver top coat on the bottom swatch, the gold one is the top swatch and both swatches are applied onto Regent Street.  Both have micro fine holographic glitter particles suspended in the high gloss top coat, which reflects purple, green, red and blue - the photos really don't do this justice, I just couldn't capture it right!  I have included a photo where I focussed my camera on the background, so you can see the out of focus reflections which are representative of the colours that shine.  The gold top coat has micro gold glitter, and the silver has micro silver glitter as you'd expect.  

If I'm inspecting really closely, I notice that the particles are slightly larger in size in the silver top coat than the golden one, but both are still micro glitters.  After three coats of each, the gold top coat appears to be slightly more dense with the glitter.  I can also see that there are more blue holographic particles in the silver than in the gold - but seriously, my nails were pressed against my eyeballs to really spot these minute differences.  I'd personally opt for the silver top coat; the silver particles make the top coat appear that little bit brighter!

The formula of this is really something.  The holographic particles are actually suspended in one of INM's best selling top coats, the Out the Door top coat.  It might just be my new favourite top coat, and I am probably going to purchase this after my current one has ran out.  It dries really quickly, dries super smooth and looks really glossy.  I don't know if anyone else gets this, but I always wake up with hair/bed sheet imprints on my nails in the morning, and with this I was seriously impressed because they were still completely smooth!

The INM top coats cost £9.35 each, which in all honesty, I do think is a bit expensive.  That said - the top coat formula itself is one of the best I've tried, and the fine glitter is like nothing I already own.  You can find them on Jica, and I've just spotted that they do a mini set of both the silver and gold holographic top coats as well as a small plain Out The Door top coat for just over £7!

Have you tried anything from INM?  What do you think of these top coats?
*Both the Silver and Gold INM Northern Lights Top Coats were sent to me for consideration.

Nails Inc 2013 Autumn Winter Collection

It's getting cold now; the knitwear has come out, my coats are out at least once a week, my boots are firmly on and I've got out my fat socks for in the house.  Alongside all of this, I've been shunning my pastel and coral polishes in favour of darker, richer shades.  Whilst browsing through my collection, I came across this unopened gift set from Nails Inc!

I actually won this on a Twitter giveaway last year, but for some reason or another never got round to using it, but I really love the shades!  Inside there are four full sized nail polishes which are; Old Bond Street, St Martins Lane, Oxford Street and Regent Street.  

From top of the swatches to the bottom; Regent Street is a dark wine shade with brown undertones to it.  I think it has that quality to it where in some lights you can really see the red tones within, but in other lights you can see the browns.  I really love this shade, and it is definitely one that matches this seasons trend of Oxblood!  St Martins Lane is the shade I have had most use from, and is a bold purple grape shade.  Oxford Street is a more unusual shade, and has a real toffee tone to it.  Old Bond Street is a gorgeous deep blue with almost a purple tone to it.    

The formula has been really easy to apply - two coats for a completely even finish, but you could probably get away with doing one on all except Old Bond Street!  I think it's just habit to do the second for me to be honest.  The finish is very glossy, and just looks so perfect for the new season.  I always feel more glammed up with a high gloss nail.  The wear time is pretty good too!  I managed four days before I got my first chip.

I'd definitely recommend picking this up whilst you still can.  It's currently on sale on Beauty Bay for a bargain of £15, which is just £3.75 per polish!  This years 2014 collection looks just as nice, but with lighter shades, in the new Nails Inc packaging and you only get three but with 14ml instead of 10ml a bottle.  (Still a shame to be a shade down, but I love the dusky pink!)

Which shade is your go to shade for Autumn/Winter?

Nails Inc Kensington Caviar Top and Base Coat

In one of my previous ASOS hauls, I managed to pick myself up a Nails Inc Kensington Caviar Top and Base Coat for less than the cost of one bottle!  It was a huge bargain and I was feeling pretty pleased with myself.

The Kensington Caviar Base Coat (left) was one that I had never tried before.  It is a pink base coat, which dries semi matte with a pink sheen...yep, a pink sheen.  It's such a shame, because the caviar extract in the base coat is both strengthening and nourishing, and I did notice some strengthening to my horrendously weak nails.  But the sheer pink can alter the shades of some of my lighter nail polishes, which I've been reaching for more now it's getting into the warmer months.  I don't think you could even get away with wearing just the base coat either, because the colouring applies quite unevenly and is obvious against the natural nail.

I'd tried the Kensington Caviar Top Coat (right) before, as I had a small sample in a Glossybox and really liked it.  I do still love the top coat, and it gives a really nice, high gloss finish and dries to touch dry quite quickly!  I have found that, like the base coat, if you apply this in too thick of a layer there is a pink tinge to lighter shades so thin coats are the way to go.  I feel like this works better without the base coat.  Since using the base coat alongside the top coat, my nail polish chips really easily in large chunks, or just peels up completely.  It's almost like the base coat is a bit like PVA glue, and it just peels up in one big sheet of nail polish which is actually damaging my weak nails and leaving them flakey and peeling.  Wearing the top coat without the matching base coat, I found that my nail polish lasted really well!

I think that next time, I'll just repurchase the top coat as a single, unless I can get the duo for cheaper than one like this time!  But I still don't think I can beat my Nail Envy...

Have you tried the Nails Inc Kensington Caviar set?

What I've Bought: ASOS

Since before Christmas, I have had an outrageous number of items in my saved basket on ASOS.  Let me put this out there - ASOS is a dangerous place.  It is too good, and has too much stuff on, but everything is too nice to leave behind so...I bought the majority of my basket, spent my birthday money and probably even a smidge more.

The only positive I can think to point out is that everything was on the sale, and I had a sneaky ASOS Insider discount code which I was allowed to use on sale items!  I've skimmed my basket down to show you my favourite bits of what I scouted from the sale!

1/2/3/4/5/6/7

1.  I have been meaning to switch up my wardrobe for a while now, I'm very much a leggings/jeans girl because that's all that I own.  One pair of good leggings, and one pair of good jeans.  I know...deprived.  So I bought this dress - it's the ASOS Smock Dress In Nepi and I bought mine in green.  It also came in coral and a gorgeous blue, but I have a lot of this bright blue in my wardrobe so fancied a change.  It's half price in the sale at £12.50.

2.  This dress is the Motel Elsa Skull Dress.  It's £35 down from £60, and I think is one of those patterns which are a bit deceptive.  I think it looks like a nice lacey/paisley patterning, but on closer look, it's actually little skulls with a bit of a Mexican sugar skull feel.  Really like this, and I will be wearing this on my next night out!

3.  The item that has been in my basket the longest, and is my absolute favourite buy is this Evil Twin Buzz Kill Babydoll dress.  I love the print on it, it looks like crazy storms with lightening.  I'm a bit unsure if the fit will suit my figure, but I'm giving it a good go! I really hope I can keep it!  It was the most expensive thing in my basket at £45, but it was down from £75.

4.  The Lavish Alice Sweatshirt in Floral Print is something I've been looking at for a while too.  I really love the bright blue rose print and think this would look nice with some leggings for the day, or even with my black jeans in the evening.  They also have matching trousers which I'd love to try, but I just don't think that a print on my bottom half would look very flattering on my pear shape.

5.  This is the Noisy May Harlequin Sweat.  I think that I like this, I'm a little unsure so it may be something that I send back.  But I need to see it in real life to decide if it's a real keeper.  I like that the print is in a t-shirt shape, and it's not something I've ever really seen before.

6.  You didn't think I'd not get a beauty buy in did you?  I got this Nails Inc Kensington Caviar Top and Base Coat Duo for less than £14 with my extra discount, what a bargain.  I've had a mini of the Kensington Caviar Top Coat before, so I'm pleased I managed to get a full size with the base coat for what is essentially free.  It says this has sold out now, but keep your eyes peeled as it might come back!

7.  My favourite of my ridiculous underwear top up was this ASOS Boudoir Floral set.  The bra was a bargain at £8 and the matching bottoms were £4.50.

Did you get anything in the sale?  What did I miss?

Edit: I had to send a few bits back!  Noo!  I was right about the fit for the Babydoll dress, and as much as I loved it, the shape of the dress just didn't flatter my figure at all!  I also had to send back the Smock dress for the same reason, but the colour when it arrived was a lot darker than it looked in the picture, which was disappointing.  The Motel dress was outrageously short, and by short, I mean it didn't even pull past my bum!  It could have passed for a long top - had to go back.  BUT.  I absolutely love everything else, even the Noisy May sweat which is gorgeous!