Damson Dream by No. 7

Hello ladies!  Before the Boots No.7 voucher scheme ends this Sunday I have one more No. 7 polish to share with you...This beauty is 'Damson Dream'



Damson Dream by No. 7 - artificial lighting

This is my usual two coats with NE base and SV topcoat.  I absolutely LOVE this shade, it's lush.  It's a plummy red metallic shade with a lot of oomph! I'm a sucker for a good shimmer polish and this one has that 'lit from within' effect going in spades.

Quality wise I really can't fault No. 7 polishes (apart from the awful Betty Blues which stained like crazy).  The formula is smooth and consistent, weartime is excellent, and the brushes are good too (always an important consideration for me!).  Top marks all round for this one No. 7!

These polishes are on offer until the 2nd of February (details below).  To help you choose you can check out my reviews of Galaxy (Chanel Taboo dupe!!!), In The Stars and Betty Blues.  I haven't got swatch pics for it yet but I also highly recommend Salsa - it has the same finish as Damson Dream but it's a fabulous shade of red.

The Offer: These polishes RRP for just £6 for the 'Stay Perfect' regular range, and £7 for the Gel-look Shine polishes.  Until this Sunday any Boots purchase will get you a £3 off voucher to spend on No. 7 make-up, plus No. 7 are also doing 'buy one get 2nd half price' deal.  You can combine both offers to bag yourself two half price polishes. Sweet! 

Hellhound by Crowstoes

Hello ladies! Today's mani is from the "Better Late than Never" collection by Crowstoes (so named because it was a Fall collection that came out closer to winter!).  It seems quite apt since that's also my approach to blogging my manis....Check out my review of its collection-mate Indian Summer here.

This is the gorgeous 'Hellhound' which is described by its indie brand maker as 'Berry to Orange to Gold glass fleck colour shift in a burgundy base'.  That description is accurate, but doesn't really translate the magical effect of this polish when you see it in person.  It's a multichrome glass fleck polish with a finish like a foil, I don't think I've seen that trick from any other polish brand.  It certainly makes this a very unique looking polish.  I have no idea what its relation to hellhounds is - are hellhounds berry and orange and gold coloured? They sound cute!

Hellhound by Crowstoes - artificial light

I'm wearing two coats with NE base and SV topper, although that opacity of this polish is ridiculous so that second coat was only to fix my mistakes, you could do it in one if you have a steadier hand than me.  The polish on its own dries to quite a matte finish, so it takes a nice layer of topcoat to really bring all that sparkle to life.

Hellhound by Crowstoes - artificial light - bottle shots

I'm a big fan of this shade, it's really pretty.  The colour shift on-nail isn't quite as dramatic as in the bottle, most of the time it appears a pretty berry-purple shade, but there's those flashes of gold that come through when the light hits it just right that makes this a  really interesting shade.

Hellhound by Crowstoes - so pretty!

I picked up my bottle from the lovely Rainbow Connection UK for £10.25 (see store link in Suppliers page). The shop has been closed for a wee while, but is reopening tonight with a sale! My aim for a January no-buy is not looking good....

Bitches Brew

Today's NOTD is "Bitches Brew" by Deborah Lippmann, an awesome dupe of the now HTF Chanel Malice.  I love the name of this, it might not be Ocalways in a Halloween kind of mood (just ask the zombie in my garden....he's plastic but that's not the point).  I already own Malice, but for £5 this seemed like a great backup (as part of a 3 for £15 TK Maxx win)


Deborah Lippmann "Bitches Brew" - Sunlight

Shown here I'm wearing Nail Envy base, two coats of colour, and topped of with a single coat of Seche.   This was my first experience of Deborah Lippmann polish, and bearing in mind the RRP of £15 I'm not hugely impressed.  The shade is awesome, but I found the formula a bit on the streaky side.  I'm also not a fan of the brush, the shape of the bottle (which I think is pretty cool actually) means that the brush is really short.  It's also very narrow, with tight bristles, so although it applies the polish smoothly I find it really hard to cover the whole nail in just 3 swipes (which might have added to the streaky impression).  Wear time hasn't been the best either, I had visible tip wear after just a day.  No chips as yet (day 4) but definitely not anywhere near as hardwearing as the Chanel, or even a number of brands with cheaper price points like OPI or Leighton Denny.

For £5, and as a really credible Chanel dupe, this polish is a big win.  But if your only option was to pay the RRP, then it's not such a good deal.

Update: I just removed this and it stains like crazy! It looks like I've done a murder! Sheesh.

Chanel Taboo

Today's NOTD is the highly anticipated Limited Edition polish from Chanel - "Taboo".  This was released in the UK on 28.06.13 and I headed straight to my local Chanel counter to grab a bottle! I've been eagerly waiting for this to come out since I saw the promo swatches in February.


Chanel Taboo - Artificial Light

This is now only my second Chanel polish. At £18 a bottle it's a significant investment for me, but from the swatches this looked like it had been designed specifically for me.  I am crazy for purple and red shimmer polishes, so Taboo which is a combination of both, is pretty much my ideal combination.  Described as the secret lovechild of "Vendetta" and "Malice" this is a purple based polish with purple, royal blue and burgundy shimmer particles.  In the bottle there also appears to be larger silvery particles, that look like the 'scatter chrome' particles you find in the Ozotic 900 series.

Chanel Taboo - bottle shots

These bottle shots show the predominant shades in this complex polish - purple and burgundy.  Sadly, and it pains me to say this, I'm a bit dissapointed in this polish.  That incredible fire and complexity of colour seen in the bottle doesn't translate to the nail.  On the nail this appears a rich blackened purple, but there is very little spark from all that shimmer.  I suspect this polish will be a lot more impressive in sunlight, but I live in Scotland and sunshine is a rare event so I couldn't swatch this in full sun.

Chanel Taboo - Natural Light

The formula is very thick, this is definately a one-coater, although I'm wearing two here (plus Nail Envy base and Seche Vite topcoat) because I made a poor attempt of the first coat and left a few thin patches that I needed to even out.   It also smells very strongly, I don't know what chemicals they've used in this shade but they must be powerful.  Perhaps they needed it to suspend all that shimmer.

All in all I'm not sure that I'd recommend paying £18 for this polish.  It is lovely, but it's one of those dissapointing polishes that looks so much prettier in the bottle that on the nail.  Unless you can walk around in permanently sunny conditions, or with a camera flash pinging off you nails, then you won't see a lot of evidence of all that lovely shimmer. 

Perhaps I'm just sad because I waited so so long for this to finally get its UK release.  The previous Ltd Edition shade "Malice" is one of my favourite polishes ever, probably in my top 3, but I don't think its sister shade Taboo will make the top 10....

Postscript:

The next day the sun obliged me by popping out for a few minutes so I took a picture of Taboo in the sun.  You can see here that there is a but more evidence of those shimmer particles, but still nowhere near the sparkle power of Malice.  You can also see the significant tip wear - this was after just one day (although admittedly I did do my cleaning in this...but I do wear marigolds!)

Chanel Taboo - Direct Sunlight