Artsy Wednesday: Inspired by a brand - Louis Vuitton Nailart

Hi everyone,

This weeks Artsy Wednesday is a bit of a cheat for me.  I've had these pictures since before I joined Artsy Wednesday, and when I saw this theme I kept them back as they were so perfect for it. 

So although I've had them a while, I'm still excited to show them to you, because when I did them, I absolutely loved them!  I came across the advert in my photos, if I remember rightly, when I bought Glamour Magazine for the free Nails Inc polish that came with it (yes, I'm cheap haha).  As soon as I saw the advertisement, I knew I had to have the design on my nails as I liked it so much.

Originally I attempted to freehand the design, but that was a total disaster, so I turned to my stamping plates, and amazingly I didn't have one that was right.  So I went to Amazon, and found a Gals set that had a plate in that looked like it might do the job.  I got the Princess set (link) which cost £7.99 inc shipping for 25 plates - BARGAIN!  The quality is really good too.  I know it seems a bit much to go to these measures for a single design, but I really, really, wanted to do it.

Here's what I came up with:

I used OPI Alpine Snow for the base, and then stamped over it using Color Club Almost Famous.  I tried a few yellows, but this was the best match.  I meant to do my ring finger beige to match the background ladies, but forgot - doh!

Here's another pic, a bit closer up:

As you can see, even with stamping, my checks are a tad wonky, but hey, you get the idea, right?  I went over it with a topcoat of Seche Vite to smooth it all out.

One last pic of my nails.  I took so many, and have had to weed lots out.  I like this one as the checks on my nails are almost exactly the same size as the ones on the handbag, which makes me happy.  I'm a bit strange like that:

And here's the advert that got the whole thing started:

Now, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to afford ANYTHING in that advert haha, but at least I can have a bit of LV style on my nails!  What do you think?

Don't forget to check (pun alert!) out what all the other super-talented Artsy Wednesday girls have come up with:

Catrine at Unnaked Nails (link)
Michelle at Labmuffin (link)
Alanna at Pretty Purple Polish (link)

Maria at Maria's Nail Polish Blog (link)

Melanie at Nail and Polish (link)
Jessica at Beauty Gnome (link)
Emily at An Accent Nail (link)
Ameerah at Valiantly Varnished (link)

Until next time...

MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~
@catfink1664

Pretty Jelly Lovey Dovey Swatch and Review

Hi All,

Today I bring you more holo!  I've been on a bit of a holo mission since the sun came out, as you may have noticed, with varying success.  So far my only real let down has been the Layla Retro Pink (link to post) which left a gap in my collection for a pretty pink holo.

It's no secret that I love Pretty Jelly polishes, the formula and coverage are so good, what's not to love?  So I went on the hunt to see if they do a pale pink holo, and happily they do.  Now usually this is the point where I'd need to find me a lovely mule to get my polish over (hi Wes! *waves*), but now I don't have to inconvenience them any more, as Pretty Jelly polishes are now available from Mei Mei Signatures who ship to the UK.  If you want to try indie polishes, but haven't been able to get hold of them, have a look (here), she has so many.  Happy days!

So without further ado, let me show you this little beauty:

I knowwwwww, right?  Sooo pretty! A scattered holo rather than a linear effect, but on this shade I think that's just right.  Some light pinks can make my skintone look awful, but this one has enough blue/purple in the holo shimmer to offset that. 

Here's how it looks in the shade:

The shimmer in it keeps it light and stops it from being too cutesy, somehow it's a grown-up shade, and I think it would be a brilliant bridal colour.  Feminine without being over the top.  It's actually the only polish I've worn to work that's caused a stir, lots of people have said they like it.  For a pale colour you wouldn't think it would attract attention, but this one certainly seems to.

Here's a close up of that glorious holo in the bottle:

Rainbows, yayyyy

And here's the business end, the brush:

The formula was Pretty Jellys usual buttery loveliness, no problems with application.  The brush was not too soft, not too stiff.  It reminds me alot of A-Englands formula, so if you've used those, you would know pretty much what to expect.  The first coat was pretty sheer (layering possibilities?), but the second coat covered up all VNL.  I did three though, as I wanted to cover up the very pronounced ridges on my nails, to show this off to its best.  As it dries really fast, it wasn't a chore.  I just used normal base coat, and no top coat, as it's shiny enough not to need it.  All Pretty Jelly polishes are three-free, and cruelty free, so no worries there.

But, I can't leave you with that boring (but necessary) photo.  The bluebells are finally out in our garden, and they're so lovely I had to share.  Mother Nature really knows her stuff.  Apparently our bluebells are Spanish ones rather than English ones, but they're still mega pretty:

Normally at this juncture, I'd throw in some nailart for good measure.  BUT I just couldn't bring myself to paint over this, I've been wearing it all week and I'm still not bored of it, which is pretty amazing for me.  It's definitely my new polish BFF.

You can buy Lovey Dovey (when it's back in stock) from Mei Mei using this (link)

I bought two Pretty Jelly polishes, and paid using Paypal, and in total I paid £22.65 including shipping.  A bit more than high street polishes, but, that much better than high street polishes, and not as expensive as couture polishes.  So price-wise, I think it sits nicely in that gap.  I ordered it on the 29th of May, and it came on the 6th of June, which considering it came all the way from Singapore, is pretty damn awesome!

I have tried so much not to get too gushy about this polish, but I don't think I succeeded too well.  If you're in the market for a light pink scattered holo - look no further!

Until next time...

MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~
@catfink1664

Perfect Formula Pink Gel Coat 60 Day Review

Hi there again everyone, I hope your weekend is going well?

Today I bring you the culmination of two months of trialling The Perfect Formula Pink Gel Coat nail strengthener.  I kept a diary as I went along, and as with all things like this, I started off really keen and wrote in it all the time, then as time went on it wore off, and by the end I hardly wrote in it at all haha.

This review came about because the kit was for sale on QVC on a Today's Special Value deal, and I went online looking for blog reviews (the only place I go for reviews now), and they were all after one week or so of use.  My main problem with nail strengtheners is that they make my nails go brittle after a month or so of use, so short term reviews were not what I needed.  I have had this problem with Nail Envy, Diamond Strength, Maximum Growth, and others.  One minute I would have nice long nails, and the next minute, ping! nail missing.

Therefore, I decided to buy it anyway and write my own review, so here I am.  Apologies in advance that quite a few of these pictures are iPhone pictures, therefore a bit blurry, but they show what they need to so I decided to go with them anyway.

This is the kit that I got:

It contains two 18ml pink gel coats, one 18ml clear gel coat, and one of each in travel 5ml sizes.

Here's the front of the box:

As you can see, it sounds great, strong and long nails?  Lovely!  Now, silly me, I didn't take a picture of my nails before I started, because I did have peeling and splits, but I couldn't get it to show, I wish I'd taken the picture now, but too late for regrets!  I will just type out the diary as I wrote it.  Here goes...

Perfect Formula Diary

First application: thinner and faster drying than i was expecting from past reviews, is just like normal base coat

 

Tues 9th April Day 1 - nails do feel less bendy
Quite a bit whiter almost blue looking (surprising!)
Ring finger with split feels a bit more sturdy
Doesnt fill ridges

 

Day 2
No apparent chipping or yellowing
Ring finger split starting to give way - superglued
Hairline crack appeared in middle finger
Did another coat to smooth over spilled superglue

 

Day 3
Nails more natural colour with 2nd coat
Ring finger split glue holding
Middle finger crack no worse
Also ridges more covered but not gone
Painted nails, didnt like colour, took it off, PF removes fine with polish remover
Applied 1 coat again

 

Day 4 Friday 12th April
Nails back to being super-white/blue looking
Glued ring finger split holding
Middle finger crack feels like its about to give way
No new peeling/splits
After work bashed middle finger on door, nail broke along crack
Filed it down, will file rest down to match, hopefully get down past ring finger split

Days 5&6
Weekend so polish on & off all weekend - all nails filed down to match - left with one coat of PF on
Good because nails have no peels or cracks so will see if any new ones form

 

Tues 16th
Looking REALLY closely can see some tip wear. Bluey/whiteness has toned down (yellowed?)
No peels or splits
Painted nails; didnt like it, took it off
Put on 2 coats of PF after, wrapped tips this time

 

Weds 17th
Back to bluey white nails
Theyre feeling quite hard, hope they dont go brittle (a'la nail envy)

 

Thur 18th
Bashed right hand middle nail on door hard, peeled a bit but actually held up better than normal. Filed/buffed resulting jaggy edge
Some chipping is slightly evident but have to look really close

 

Mon 22nd April
Had polish on all weekend, removed on sunday night, loreal turquoise (sunflower nails) no staining, but not sure if this colour stains. Dont usually have much probs with staining anyway though. No peeling still, quite impressed, nails not feeling brittle yet either
Caught right hand middle on door (again!) this time no breakage

 

Weds 24th April
Feeling a few jaggy edges (maybe mild peeling) right index & left middle. Applied thick coat to all nails
Just noticed, left index, big peel starting!

 

Thurs 25th
No further peeling, have put a thick coat on left index peel so it doesnt catch on anything, that nail is now slightly pinker than the rest, ha!
Right hand index showing a small split right at the end

 

Weds 1st May
Filed left index down due to peeling, right little/ pinkie showing translucent/weakness on outside edge. Right index small peel. Had nails painted & removed yesterday, bare overnight, fresh coat of PF this morning. Yesterday a miniscule chip appeared in right middle finger nail. But so far in use no breaking and no brittleness which i would have had by now with nail envy or maximum growth

 

Thurs 2nd May (day 24)
Nails that are a bit peely now:
L&R index, left little finger
Rest ok
No brittleness

Nails a bit dehydrated.  Oiled all over after taking this pic, including under free edges:



Saturday 4th May
Star wars day lol. Filed down left middle, ring & little (pinky). No damage but they were starting to outgrow damaged index & look untidy

 

Wednesday 8th May
Quite significant peeling on both index fingers. Nails not brittle though. Filed and buffed to minimise appearance of peeling

 

Thursday 9th May (day 31)
Both middle finger corners looking a bit peely, but on the whole nails feeling strong & still not brittle

 

Sunday 19th May
Both index & right middle show some peeling. Nails are starting to feel a bit hard & look dehydrated

 

Saturday 25th May
Just over half the bottle gone, starting to get 'strings' of polish because of the gloopiness, have put some thinner in it. Left middle finger nail broke on the corner while removing polish, where it had had a peel, so filed down past it

 

Saturday 8th June

So here we are at today:

Yes, I know I called my review the 60 day review, and it's day 61, but what the heck.  I do still have a little bit of slight peeling on my index fingers, but they take alot of bashing from typing all day so it's hardly suprising. 

 

An interesting thing happened the other day though, and solved the question I had on how a pink gel coat could have a blue-y tinge to it.  I was washing my cup out in the works kitchens the other day, and there's an ultraviolet fly killer in there, and what should I notice?

It glows!  How cool is that?  That must be the brightening effect in action.  It wasn't easy taking a picture of my nails without anyone seeing me do it haha.

 

So to recap, I didnt have any splitting at all, and after almost two months I am two thirds down the bottle having applied on average a new coat every other day.  It is alot gloopier now than when i started, but still useable. Am not sure you'd get right to the bottom used up without thinning it though.

Not a miracle product as i still did get some peeling, but overall impressed as my nails didn't go overly brittle as they have a tendency to do with strengtheners.  If I had to give it a score, it would be 7/10.

 

Here's a pic of the brush:

You can kind of tell the gloopiness from the bead of polish hanging onto the brush, but am almost out of thinner so until I get some more it will have to stay gloopy!

 

I would recommend this if (like me) you have problems with other hardeners making your nails brittle, as I haven't experienced that with Perfect Formula.  You can buy the kit I got from QVC UK (link) for £30.10 plus £3.95 shipping.

 

I couldn't see on the Perfect Formula website whether the brand is cruelty free, so I've emailed them and will update this post when I find out.  *EDIT: Perfect Formula have replied to me, and ALL their products are cruelty free - so happy days :-)*

 

The formula does contain formaldehyde (as most strengtheners do), but that doesn't bother me really, although I know it's a concern for some people so I thought I'd mention it.

 

And there we have it!  I hope it's been helpful.  What's your favourite strengthener?

 

Until next time...

 

MASPOOASE x x x

~Wendy~

@catfink1664

Holographic Floral Nailart Inc. Artsy Wednesday - Vintage

Hi there Guys and Girls, I hope you're having a great Sunday.

I've had a pretty good weekend, I bought Zoo, a book by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge, which was about all the animals in the world going bonkers, unfortunately I found I couldn't put it down, and I finished it this morning, so I will have to by another book now!  Also I bought some art stuff, which I'm pretty excited to play with.  I need another couple of days in the weekend to fit everything in.

This morning I woke up, and the sun was beating through the curtains, and I looked at my poor bare nails, and thought HOLO, because that's what us naileys do.  If you're one too, you'll obviously know this.

And also, as you can see from the post title, I couldn't do this weeks Artsy Wednesday, as it clashed with my blogiversary post (link) so while I was lying there in bed, I was thinking up with something that ticked both boxes.  Hopefully this manicure does that, I think it does anyway:

I see now that my cleanup wasn't brilliant, how come I never notice in real life, only when I come to resize my photos?  The base polish for this manicure is Jessica's Hologram Chic in Disco Diva.  I did a full review of it (here) but if you don't want to click about, here's what it looks like by itself:

This was two coats, over the basecoat polish that came with it in the Hologram Chic kit, and application was lovely, no bare patches or streaking.  The holo is much stronger in real life, but as with all holos, it's a bit camera shy.

I think the vintage look shows a bit better in the shade, it reminds me a bit of seventies wallpaper:

I used Nails Inc's Chelsea, which looks black in the the bottle, but as you can see it's really a dark plum, to stamp over the silver base, using Bundle Monster plate BM-224, and then used quite a few of my Pretty Jelly holos and A-England Holy Grail (the old version) to fill in the centres of the flowers using my trusty purple dotter.

Here they all are:

Left to right, top to bottom:
Layla Hologram Effect in Retro Pink - full review (here)
Nails Inc Chelsea - see how black it looks in the bottle?
Bundle Monster plate BM-224
A-England Holy Grail - swatches and review (here)
Jessica Hologram Chic - full review (here)
Pretty Jelly Glamorous Thief
Pretty Jelly Grape Escape - review (here)
Pretty Jelly Bullet Rouge, one of my favourites - review (here)
Pretty Jelly Fairy Ring - review (here)

And, I'll leave you with one last sunshiny pic, happily I've got my cuticles back to the point where I don't need to mess about with them in my editing program, which makes the photo part of blogging MUCH faster, thank goodness.  Sally Hansen's Healthy Cuticles Now certainly seems to work.  I should do a post about it.  How many times do I say this?

Don't forget to check out what the other girls in the Artsy Wednesday goup came up with for their vintage nails

Catrine at Unnaked Nails (link)
Michelle at Labmuffin (link)
Alanna at Pretty Purple Polish (link)

Maria at Maria's Nail Polish Blog (link)

Melanie at Nail and Polish (link)
Jessica at Beauty Gnome (link)
Emily at An Accent Nail (link)
Ameerah at Valiantly Varnished (link)

They're all great designs, and I hope I can keep up with them all and their creativity!

So, what do you think, do you think of holos as soon as the sun comes out like I do?

Until next time...

MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~
@catfink1664

1st Blogiversary! My Top Ten Nail Art Creations

Well I never, a year has passed already!  It doesn't seem like five minutes since I started. 

I have no idea why I started my blog on a seemingly random Tuesday, but you can see my first ever post (here)

My milestones seem to be coming around together.  I recently had a giveaway to celebrate my 100 followers, and did a 'what's on my bedside table' for my 100th post (link) so have been racking my brains thinking up a good post to do for the first birthday of my lil space on the internet.

Initially I thought I might do a "what I have learned during my first year of blogging" post, but decided that wouldn't be a good idea.  Number one, because they can come across as a bit 'know it all', which I most certainly don't (I can't even remember how I put Google Analytics on, which is a shame because I want to take it off, I don't use it and it's messing up my Bloglovin.  Can't figure it out, oh well...),  and number two, because actually, I haven't really learned that much, technically.  I came into this blogging malarkey without having any real knowledge of blogs, and because Blogger is so easy to get started with, I've just carried on doing the basics, and am not really bothered with all the extra bells & whistles.  So it wouldn't be a very long (or interesting) post.

So then I thought I might do a "My Favourite Blogs" post.  I might still do this one, but it didn't seem very celebratory so I'll save it for another day, probably when I'm not feeling the vibe to write about my nails.  Those days do happen from time to time.

Aaaand quite a few other, not so good, ideas.  Eventually I decided a nice way to do it would be to do a round up my favourites out of the nail art I've produced in the last year.  I'll also probably list a few of my favourite posts too, as there are some I'm quite proud of.  As you know I'm a blogger who doesn't know when to stop talking, or adding to posts, so I've limited myself to creating a top ten.  It took me a couple of hours to go through them all and whittle them down, but as I was doing it I realised, I actually REALLY like my blog! 

It's only when I look back now I see that I've created a nice little journal of my life, and yes I know it's not properly 'themed' like alot of blogs, I ramble off onto music posts, and current affairs, and general 'how I feel' posts, as well as the nails and beauty, but I like it like that.  If I feel I've got something important enough to say, I say it, whether it's what I'm supposed to be talking about or not.  My blog, my rules.  It's the only place where I am queen, and I plan to keep it that way. :-)

So then, let's get on with it.  I'm not going to put them in any order because I like them all.  I'm putting this one first, as it will be what shows on everyones feed, nice little trick there haha:
I called this 'Pastel Cloud Nail Art' and you can see the full post (here) which includes a review of the Marks & Spencer Limited Collection polishes.  It was based on another one of my posts which includes a photo tutorial for this look (here)

So let's pull another picture out of the magic nail art bag:

This was one of the first nailart posts I did, and it included a tutorial (link)

So from one of the oldest, to one of the newest.  I nearly didn't put this one in as it was so recent, but then I like it so much I decided to go with it anyway:

You can find the link to the full post (here) it was created using striping tape, Pretty Jelly Grape Escape, and Estee Lauder Pure Colour in Smashed.  I think the colour combo works excellently, I was so pleased with it.

So from a simple one, to quite a complicated one:

I also did a tutorial for this, which you can see by following this (link) and it wasn't as hard as you might think.

Well now, I haven't shown any Konad stamping yet!  Let's put that right:

It was only going through my blog that I remembered about this.  I'd completely forgotten about it, and I absolutely loved it when I did it.  The link to the full post is (here) but the base colour is Jessica Hologram Chic, which is a fab silver holographic polish.  I don't know what the weird hand pose is about haha, the clawwwww.  I like the length and shape of my nails in this pic though.

So from stamped to hand drawn.  If I had to pick a favourite, this one would be it, done for Halloween:

For once, my nail art worked out exactly as I planned it.  This doesn't happen that much, let me tell you.  Link to full post (here)

Another hand drawn design now, this was a bit of fun for Easter:

The background to this pic was an Easter egg box.  That egg is long gone now haha.  Link to the full post (here)

And we may as well stay on the holiday theme.  Here's one I did at Christmas, during a '12 Days of Christmas' challenge. This was the one I liked the most out of all 12:

The link to the full post is (here) and it too includes a tutorial.  I didn't realise I'd done so many tutorials, but there you go, I must have, because there they are.

And back to Pretty Jelly Grape Escape now, one of two polishes that feature twice on the list.  This time with stamping, and a bonus hair on the end of my thumbnail.  Yeah, totally meant to put that there *cough*:

I was so glad Essies Borrowed and Blue stamped so well, because I really didn't like the formula much to paint my nails with.  Full post (here) which includes lots of pictures of the pretty holo.  Photographically that's my favourite post in my blog (so far).

And last, but not least, we have another design from an early post:

Out of all the designs in this post, this one probably took me the longest to do, but I think they came out OK.  This is the other polish that features twice on the list as the base is Hologram Chic again.

And there we have my favourites!  There were others, but I had to be brutal and stick with ten.

There are a couple of posts where I must have been having particularly eloquent days too, (this one) about Anne Franks Diary, and (this one) where I wrote about getting unfollowed on Twitter, are my favourites.

So, if you've just joined me, and you haven't scrolled back, this is what you've missed!  And if you've been with me from the beginning (you know who you are), thanks so SO much for sticking with me and supporting me through the last 12 months, you've been superstars x x x

Until next time...

MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~
@catfink1664

Layla Hologram Effect Retro Pink review and swatches

Hi there everyone,

I hope you're enjoying your Bank Holiday Monday.  I was going to go shopping, but it's pouring with rain, so I thought I'd go with plan B.  It was lovely and sunny yesterday, so I thought I'd make the most of it with my most favourite things in the whole world - HOLOS!

I already own the Layla Hologram Effect polish in Flash Black, and I like it, so I thought I'd try a few more colours.  I had a look around and eventually decided on two, Retro Pink and Coffee Love.  After much deliberation (about two minutes haha), I decided to wear Retro Pink yesterday.  Here's how it came out:

I knowwwwww!  Heavenly pink holo goodness!

BUT (and there's always a but), don't be fooled by the pretty looks, this polish is a real horror story. 

I've painted my nails probably thousands of times, and I like to think I'm pretty good at it, but this polish made me feel like a gorilla wearing oven gloves.  If you don't get a perfectly even coat in three brilliantly executed and very swift passes, you end up with a lumpy bumpy, hole-y hot mess.

Plus it's pretty sheer too.  If you could manage not to get any holes, you could probably get away with 3 coats, but I guarantee you won't manage that.  It does dry VERY fast though.

As you can see on my ring finger, it does shrink a bit too, and after one day of wear it's pretty chipped.  Oh, and top coat kills the holo too.

Here it is in the shade:

You can see on my middle finger, it's so super holo, it's even showing some in the shade, that's pretty good.

But I can't make that the picture you remember of this polish, so lets have some more happy finger rainbows:

It's actually even more hologram-y in real life, but as anyone who's tried to take a picture of a holo knows, it's frustratingly hard to show the real life magic.

The brush actually wasn't that bad, wide, flat and quite stiff:

So, while you won't be able to stop looking at your nails in the sun, at the same time as admiring the beautiful rainbows, you'll also be wishing there weren't bare patches that won't, just won't, cover up.

Therefore, although it is mega-holo, and I should love it, I don't, and I'm sure there's better out there.  I bought it from Amazon (link) and I paid £5.29 with free shipping, which would have been a bargain if the formula had been right.  I couldn't find out if they are cruelty free, as it doesn't say on their website, but I have emailed them to ask, and will update when they reply.

A real 'Beauty and the Beast' polish.  Do you know of any better light pink holos I could get?

Until next time...

MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~
@catfink1664

Nails Inc Candy Shop Collection swatches and review

Hi All,

A Bank Holiday again hoorah!  What with two bank holiday weekends and a weeks annual leave, the month of May has been very kind to me.  I wish every month could be like this.  And here I am, sitting in the garden blogging, living the dream haha.  I almost didn't bring my laptop outside because I thought dodgy geezers might walk past, see I've got a laptop, and come back in the night to take it.  Then I realised, who am I kidding, they're probably all standing outside the pubs by now, smoking, with no tops on.  And that's just the girls haha

So anyway, I digress as usual.  If you've been following me on Twitter for more than a couple of weeks, you'll know I was in Torquay on holiday not long ago.  I'm wondering whether I should do a post on it, but I never read other peoples holiday posts, so I probably shouldn't.  So, while I was on holiday, I took a day trip to Plymouth.  I didn't like Plymouth much, but it does have a TK Maxx and surprisingly I "accidentally" wandered in and "just happened" to make my way over to the polishes.

What I saw made me happy:

I'd almost bought this at full price on the Nails Inc website, but had decided not to, and I'm glad I waited!  As you can see from the price sticker (over one of the polishes as usual), this collection has been priced, as the Nails Inc collections in there usually are, at £14.99.  As Nails Inc's can go for £11 each, £14.99 for 4 is a good deal!  So I snapped it up.  I was super excited too.  Other half said to me "If I'd known you'd get this excited over some polishes, I'd have bought you some of those instead of taking you on holiday", ha!

So this weekend is the first real chance I've had to swatch them properly, so here I am sharing them with you.  The first one I tried was the one I was most excited about in the shop, Wimbledon, in the shade:

And here it is in the sun, (with a hair that I didn't notice in real life, how does that even happen?):

Now I don't often say this about Nails Inc cremes, but I was a bit disappointed with the formula.  It was pretty watery, and it bubbled a bit too.  It felt.... over thinned.  Maybe as it gets a bit older it may improve.  I wonder if they've tried to make it extra fast drying, and this is the formula they came up with.  It did dry really fast, but when you need more coats, it's hardly worth it.  I had to do 3 coats to get a non-patchy finish, and I was surprised by that, not in a good way.  But still, it is a pretty green-yellow-green colour, and unique in my stash, so I have a feeling that I'll still be reaching for it again, despite its shortcomings.

Then when I was taking Wimbledon off, I managed to break off the corner of the nail on my middle finger, which had been peeling, and had to file my nails down a bit.  That's ok though, they were getting a bit deformed looking anyway, they always curl over on the edges when they get too long.

The next I tried was Oxford, a pretty baby blue.  Here it is in the shade:

This had a similar formulation to Wimbledon, but perhaps a tad more forgiving, as I only needed two coats.  I do like it, but I already own some very similar Nails Inc light blues, so even though I quite like it I'm not blown away.   Here it is in the sun.  As you can see, it dries darker on the nail than it shows in the bottle:

The next one I tried was the final pastel in the set.  Cambridge, which is a delicate lilac.  Oh, just writing this I clicked, Oxford and Cambridge, doh!
Here it is in the shade:

Maybe a little bit too much shade there haha.  Here it is in the sun:

It was the same, slightly disappointing over thinned formula.  Three coats required to eliminate patchiness. 

Now don't get me wrong, it's not an awful formula, it's just that I know that Nails Inc can do cremes better than ANYONE when they choose to, so I always expect great things from them.  Most of my one coater cremes are Nails Inc.  If this had been my first ever Nails Inc purchase, I'd have been wondering what all the fuss was about.  Oh well.

The final polish in the set, doesn't really fit with the theme at all, it's not a pastel, and now I've noticed the name thing, it doesn't seem to match with that either.  I give you Richmond:

Again, it would seem I've slightly misjudged actually how shady it was in that corner, so here's the sunshine version:

Although I'm not the biggest fan of shimmers, this peach with blush colour shimmer would probably be a pretty nice combo if the peach polish wasn't so sheer.  This is 4 coats, and still you see the evil VNL.

In order to make up for that, I'll review a different peach instead, which COULD have fitted nicely into this collection.  It's called You're a Peach, and it came free with Instyle Magazine.  I love freebies, me:

That's more like it!  Two coats for peachy loveliness. 

And just to prove this was a better one for the set, I used the other pastels from the collection for a dotticure over it:

It's a little bit bumpy, could probably do with another coat of Seche, but you get the idea, right?  Somehow it reminds me of pyjama bottoms.

And there we have it, one collection swatched and reviewed, so what do you think?  What's your favourite brand in terms of formula, are there any others that do great cremes?

Until next time...

MASPOOASE x x x
~Wendy~
@catfink1664