AEngland - Jane Eyre

Hello ladies!  Today I have another AEngland polish to share with you - one that I picked up in the last AEngland bundle sale (3 polished for £18!).  This is Jane Eyre from the Gothic collection, a blackened russet shimmer.

AEngland Jane Eyre - artificial light

Pictured here is two easy coats over NE base and beneath Essie Good to Go.  As with all AEngland polishes application, formula and wear time were all flawless.



AEngland Jane Eyre - artificial light

 All of the Gothic beauties collection are black based polishes with a coloured shimmer that peeks through. In these pictures you can see the russet/red shimmer really clearly, but this is the only place that you will see it.  On the nail, in virtually all lighting conditions, this polish just looks plain black.  It was quite a disappointment in that respect.

This is the second shade from the Gothic collection that I own, and I really only got this because it happened to be in a bundle with two others that I wanted.  I personally wouldn't recommend the Gothic collection unless you really like black polish and don't mind that the shimmer is only peeked very rarely.

Connie You Saucy Minx! - Colors by Llarowe

Hello ladies! Tonight I have another beauty from Colors by Llarowe to share with you - the intriguingly titled "Connie You Saucy Minx!"...I have no idea what meaning there might be behind that name, if it's a pop culture reference then it's lost on me...What I do know is that this is utterly fabulous!

Connie You Saucy Minx - Colors by Llarowe - artificial light

Connie..is an indigo jelly base with a rich mixture of magenta and gold shimmer particles.  The pink shimmer really comes through strongly on this, and against the indigo background its absolutely stunning.  I have a hunch that this shade might come out pretty close to Cirque's "Coronation" which I had a major lemming for (but sadly not the budget to match).  It does also remind me of Max Factor Fantasy Fire, although with FF it took about 8 coats to approach this level of opacity and it wasn't this pretty.

Connie You Saucy Minx - Colors by Llarowe - artificial light

I'm wearing a generous two coats here, and you can see from this swatch that the jelly base does leave it a little translucent around the tips, but no VNL.  I used my usual NE base, and topped it off with Essie Good to Go.  Formula and application were both excellent on this, and like all the CbL polishes I tried the wear time was a heroic 7 days before it chipped.  The finish is also naturally nice and glossy, but I used the Essie topcoat to extend the wear time.

Connie You Saucy Minx - Colors by Llarowe - artificial light

I'm so in love with this polish, it's one of the prettiest purples I own (and that's saying something because I have a LOT of purple in my stash).  This is all kinds of gorgeous, I highly recommend it :)

Under the halogen bulbs in my kitchen this shade is crazy gorgeous!

This polish is gorgeous in every light, but especially under artificial lighting conditions.  For some reason the bulbs in my kitchen really bring this polish to life...just look at that glow! Phwoar!

Connie You Saucy Minx - Colors by Llarowe - artificial light

I picked up my bottle of Connie...from Rainbow Connection for £8.80.

Billy Jean - Colors by Llarowe

Hello lovelies :)  For UK based nailista's I have some good news - Colors by Llarowe are finally available this side of the pond.  Rainbow Connection are now stocking CbL and I jumped at the chance to order three gorgeous polishes, the first of which is the lovely Billy Jean from the "Tribute to MJ" collection...

Billy Jean is a scrumptious claret red shimmer, with gold flecks that give this polish that 'fire from within' effect.  This shade is perfect for Autumn/Fall.  I'm a sucker for a good red, and this is a very good red indeed.

Billy Jean is apparently not his lover...and his tailor is not his friend...no wonder his voice was so high

Application was a bit tricksy with this polish, I found it to be quite streaky on the first coat and it took a generous second coat to even it out and achieve full opacity.  This is two good coats, atop NE base and beneath Essie Good to Go.  I love the magenta flare from this polish that you can see here, its a complex little red and a very flattering shade.

I was impressed by the quality and finish from the CbL polishes I bought and one factor deserves special mention - the wear time is redonkulous! I got a full 7 days out of all three polishes, with only the teensiest amount of tipwear on my pointer and middle finger of my writing hand.  These were some of the hardest wearing polishes I've ever tried. 

This is a lovely polish, and even though I have a ton of red shimmers I'm really glad I got this one too.  A girl can never have too many reds...I picked up my bottle for £8.80 from Rainbow Connection (link in the Suppliers page).  If you think this is good, just wait until you see the other two!

Mrs Mia Wallace - LE "Pulp Fiction" polish from Urban Decay

"Trying to forget something as intriguing as this would be an exercise in futility."

Hello ladies! After a long hiatus I have a very special polish to share with you today - "Mrs Mia Wallace" by Urban Decay.  This Limited Edition polish was part of their collection celebrating the 20th anniversary of Tarantino's legendary "Pulp Fiction" (20 years! Bloody hell that makes me feel old!).  Not only was this an iconic movie, but it was a pivotal moment in the history of nail polish...the blackened vampy red (Chanel Rouge Noir, or Vamp as it was called at that time) worn by Uma Thurman's character Mrs Mia Wallace sparked a trend that continues to this day and earned Chanel over $1m in its first year of sale.  In 2000 it was still in the top 5 biggest selling nail polishes of all time. You can read more about the Chanel "Vamp" trilogy of polishes here and on Wikipedia. 



Mrs Mia Wallace - LE Urban Decay

It's been a long time since I was this excited by a single polish.  I first saw it on the lovely Ommorphia's blog and went straight to the shops the very next morning to grab a bottle.  I was lucky - I got the last bottle (and in the sale too! *swoon*).  Pictured here I'm wearing two coats with Essie 'Good to Go' on top.



Mrs Mia Wallace...and the sad sad stained cuticles (sorry)

I'm a big fan of the movie, and I'm old enough to remember when it came out (although I wasn't old enough to legally see it I hasten to add).  Back then I was unaware of the impact that this film had on the nail polish trends of the time, but now realise I inadvertently jumped on that bandwagon too...Reading about Rouge Noir brought back my memories of the very first nail polish that I can remember falling in love with.  It was a shade called "Cruella" (by the Body Shop?). It was a dark burgundy/oxblood crelly that looked to me like congealed blood on my fingernails.  I adored it, and spent a lot of my teenage years wearing that shade.  My mum hated it with a passion, so of course that made me love it all the more.  I now realise that it was a Rouge Noir knock-off.  Enough reminiscing...onto the polish of the day!

"Mrs Mia Wallace" (MMW) is an intriguing shade, and interestingly bears little resemblance to Rouge Noir.  It is a blood red shimmer with ultrafine gold and bronze particles that give it an stunningly intense fire and depth that you can see here.  The gold is quite apparent in the bottle, but not at all on the nail (and in this case I think that's a good thing).  The shimmer serves to give a warm tone to the cold leaning red, and gives it that 'lit from within' finish.  Interestingly, in indirect light/shade this polish looks more to me like an oxblood crelly, which is what Rouge Noir is, and then the light hits it and you get the amazing glow.  UD have packed a lot of complexity into this one little bottle.

I'm also completely in love the packaging too...the cap comes with the little Day of the Dead skull icon that Urban Decay have on all their polishes and the box is a delight - inside the box on a blood red background is printed an excerpt from Samuel L Jackson's famous speech from the movie...The whole thing just screams cool and has obviously been made with a lot of love.  Hats off to UD for a triumph of marketing!  I would have bought this shade just for the polish, but these extra touches make this feel really special.

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides....

But...and there's always a but isn't there?  I must admit that I found the formula to be pretty crappy on this polish.  On some nails it flowed as smooth as butter, but on others I had a strange lumpy effect with the first coat that was tricky to even out.  There were also little bubbles at the 'set down' point near the cuticle that I couldn't get rid of.  But by far the biggest problem was how much of a stainer this is! My cuticles look like I've been doing some axe-murdering in-between coats.  Even with pure acetone and my nifty cleanup brush, and even going over them twice, I just couldn't remove all the staining.  In future I will have to me much more careful with the application to minimise the amount of cleanup needed, because even though it was a b*tch to apply this is a shade I can tell I'll be wearing often.

This is my first Urban Decay polish.  I know that this is meant to be a very trendy brand, but honestly this is what I think of when I hear the name...

I'm absolutely delighted with my bottle of MMW, but unless they make something equally awesome I don't think that I'll be rushing back for more UD shades.  MMW has been a trip down memory lane, has reminded me of my first love, and despite the tricky formula is a stonking hot red shade to boot...really what more can a girl ask for?  If you fancy a bottle of your very own you'd best act fast, this LE won't be around for much longer.

I picked up my bottle for £9 (RRP £10) from my local Debenhams UD beauty counter.

China Glaze "Let's Groove"

Hello Ladies!  A quick post today to show you a luscious purple polish from China Glaze....feast your eyes upon "Let's Groove" from the 2009 "Retro Diva" collection:

China Glaze "Let's Groove" - artificial light

Phwoar! his polish is all kinds of awesome!  My crazy lemming love for all purple polishes is well documented and this one is a fantastic addition to the stash.  With an almost neon blurple base, this is a royal purple shimmer packed with pink and purple flecks.  It has that 'inner fire' that the best shimmers have and a lovely shine.  It was love at first brush stroke....

China Glaze "Let's Groove" - artificial light

I'm wearing my usual two coats between NE base and HK girl topcoat.  Application was perfect, no complaints about wear time either.  Just look at that amazing shimmer...

Phwoar!

I picked up this beauty from Nail Polish Direct (link on suppliers page) for a bargainous £4.30 with free P&P.  I highly recommend it if you're a lover of purples (and really, what sensible nailista isn't?)

Revlon Parfumerie - Autumn Spice

Hello Ladies! This week's nail news - The Revlon 'Parfumerie' collection of scented nail polishes is now available in the UK!  They were released at the end of last month, and are available in Boots and at larger Revlon counters.  Today's post is the one I've been most excited to get - Autumn Spice.  Pictured here I'm wearing two coats atop NE base, and with two coats of HK girl top coat.

Revlon Autumn Spice - artificial light

Autumn Spice is a toasty warm brown foil finish packed with gold and russet toned flecks and a hint of pink.  It's an interesting shade all on its own, so the fact that it's also scented just adds to the fun.  I was really intrigued by the idea of scented polish, these have been around before, and its definitely a gimmick that won't last, but I do love a good nail polish gimmick...

So what's with the smell thing? In the bottle, there is no evidence of any smell other than the usual nail polish smell.  On the nail, when it dries, this polish smelled exactly like a Starbucks Gingerbread Latte.  A sweet, yummy, spicy smell that suits the colour perfectly and made me fancy a coffee the whole damn day.  It smelled just as strongly underneath two layers of topcoat (I used two because the foil finish meant I didn't get quite the gloss I liked with just one coat).  The strength of the smell was about at the level of a scented hand cream - I could smell it faintly all the time, and strongly whenever my hands were near my face.  After a few hours that got annoying.  BUT within 24 hours the smell was very faint, and unrecognisable.  It had a vaguely floral, plasticine smell that wasn't spicy at all.

Revlon Autumn Spice - artificial light

So, the smell is a bit annoying, and doesn't last long at all.  I also had massive tip-wear and small chips within 24 hours, so I think that the wear time and smell time are probably comparable.  The biggest problem I had with this polish was on removal.  The gritty foil took a bit of scrubbing to remove, but the polish stained my nails a gross nicotine brown when I removed it.  It took a lot of scrubbing with a nail brush to sort that one out.

The bottles look cute, and Revlon have gone for a vintage feel that I really like, but the brush is very annoying.  That bulb shaped top isn't easy to grip, but the brush head itself is really thin which makes application fiddly.  The formula was fine, a bit dry like all foils tend to be, but nice and opaque in two coats.  I loved the colour when it was on, it's perfect for Autumn.  Even though the smell element to this polish is a bit of a gimmick the shade is interesting enough all on its own to be worth a look.



Revlon Autumn Spice - artificial light

The polishes retail for £6.49, and Boots has them on 3 for 2 at the moment.  Given that you can get OPI online for that kind of money I'm not overly impressed.  This is a really pretty shade, but the brush was a pain, the smell was a bit annoying (and short lived) and it was icky on removal.  So overall I'm not very impressed.  I have another two of these (Wintergreen and Bordeaux) so I'll reserve judgement until I've tried those too.

Have you tried these? What did you think?

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! 

Bargain Chanel Taboo Dupe - No.7 Galaxy

Hello Ladies! I have some very exciting news to share with you today....I have tested both and found that the new No.7 Gel-Finish polish "Galaxy" is, in my opinion, a 100% identical dupe for Limited Edition Chanel Taboo (Taboo review).

With the current Boots No.7 voucher scheme, that means you can pick up this shade for £4, compared with the spendy Chanel pricetag of £18.  Sounds too good to be true?  Well here's the pics so you can see for yourself...Click the pics to embiggen....



Chanel Taboo dupe test with No.7 Galaxy - artificial light

In this swatch I'm wearing two coats of each polish, over NE basecoat.  There is NO topcoat in these pics, so you can see the glossy finish of the 'Gel-look shine' on the No.7 and the natural high shine of the Chanel.  Can you see a difference? I couldn't!  I turned my hands every which way, and looked at the polish in a range of lighting and I honestly couldn't tell these apart.

Chanel Taboo dupe test with No.7 Galaxy - artificial light

Both polishes are a deep eggplant/aubergine base with blue and magenta shimmer particles peeking through.  In most lighting conditions this comes across as a dark blackened aubergine, the shimmer only pops in direct sunlight or under halogen lighting (why do all my polishes look so much prettier in my kitchen? I'm going with the halogen bulbs as the reason).

left: "Galaxy" by No.7, right: "Taboo" by Chanel

If you read my review of Taboo you'll know that this polish was one of the biggest disappointments to me in 2013.  I just didn't feel that for the £18 price tag it packed a lot of punch.  I also found the formula quite gloopy and difficult to work with and the wear-time dissapointing.  The No.7 dupe on the other hand is a fraction of the price (£7 full price, current voucher offer gives you £3 off) and the formula was really nice.  The gloss of the gel finish was surprisingly good too.  For this price point the No.7 is a fantastic bargain!



"Galaxy" by No.7

Here is the No.7 polish on its own, two coats, this time with SV on top too.  I really enjoyed this polish to wear, and I'm impressed with the level of quality from No.7 on this one - I got better wear out of this polish too in comparison to the Chanel.  For a bargain 'drugstore' brand this is a solid offering.  For the £4 I paid for this polish I'm very happy.  I feel I was duped by the Chanel in more ways than one.  It is still a mystery to me why so many bloggers listed Taboo as one of their favourites of 2013, unless their point was to boast that they'd bought a big spendy LE polish. 

So there you have it ladies - one more reason to get down to your local Boots and take advantage of the £3 off voucher/Buy one get one 1/2 price offer while it lasts - it finishes a the start of February!

Tongue & Chic - China Glaze Autumn Nights collection

Hello ladies! Today I have my final polish from the China Glaze Autumn Nights Fall 2013 Collection - 'Tongue and Chic.  I was already very impressed with its collection-mate 'Don't Make Me Wine' and 'Red-Y and Willing', and this teal beauty is just as gorgeous as those.  Like DMMW and R&W this is a metallic shimmer with great depth of colour and shine.

Tongue and Chic by China Glaze - artificial light

This is a couple of coats, with NE base and SV to top it off.   This isn't a colour I have much of in my stash and this polish makes me think I should remedy that.  Formula and wear time were both great, it's a big win all round. 

The Autumn Nights collection was one of my favourite collections of 2013.  It might not be the most original range of colours but the finish on the metallic is lush.  I'd highly recommend them.  I picked mine up from Radiant-Babe's Amazon store for a bargainous £4.99 (store links are on the Suppliers page).

OPI 'Germanicure' with Girly Bits 'Shift Happens'

Following my recent dupe test of Girly Bits Shift Happens and Max Factor Fantasy Fire (spoiler: I think they are dupes) I promised to show you the mani I did that used the Girly Bits polish....

For this mani I used my usual two coats of OPI Germanicure, and a single coat of Shift Happens on top (with the usual NE base and SV topcoat).  Germanicure is a stunning polish to start with, and like its collection-mate 'Every Month is Oktoberfest' it looks amazing layered (FYI you can find my comparison post of Germanicure, EMIO and Chanel Malice here which also includes pics of EMIO layered with Max Factor Fantasy Fire).

OPI Germanicure and Girly Bits Shift Happens - artificial light

For me the 'Germany' Fall 2012 collection from OPI was the best OPI effort since the now legendary Russian collection of 2007.  Germanicure and EMIO were the stars of the show for me, and I think these pictures show why.  This combination with the Girly Bits topper polish is like autumn in a bottle.  The natural glowing brown-toned shimmer of the Germanicure is given that added va-va-voom by the GB topper which adds russet, gold and green elements to the shimmer.  Like falling autumn leaves on your finger tips.

OPI Germanicure and Girly Bits Shift Happens - artificial light - lovely peeks of green shimmer!

The colour shift of the topper is just gorgeous, and I've tried to capture a wee bit of the range here, from bronzed russet to peeks of green.  Really this is one that has to be seen to be believed, and for me its one of those manis that I just couldn't stop staring at.



OPI Germanicure and Girly Bits Shift Happens - artificial light - warm cinnamon-y russet tones

I'll definitely be rocking this combo again! It's so pretty I won't even wait till autumn to do it either...

I picked up my bottle of Shift Happens from Rainbow Connection UK, and Germanicure from my local John Lewis (although I recommend the marvellously cheap OPI supplier Nail Polish Direct).  See my suppliers page for the links.

Don't Make Me Wine - China Glaze Autumn Nights

Today I have another totally lush polish from the recent China Glaze Autumn Nights (Fall) collection - "Don't Make Me Wine" (DMMW).  Shown here is two coats of colour with the usual NE undies and Seche topcoat.

China Glaze Don't Make Me Wine - Natural Light

DMMW is an intense magenta glass flecked shimmer, with a blackened edge to it that's utterly gorgeous.  There's really nothing more to say than that - it's like raspberry velvet for your fingers. You definitely need this.

China Glaze Don't Make Me Wine - Artificial Light

 My camera handled this a lot better than its collection-mate Red-Y and Willing, which was likewise a total win.  A little later I'll have my final buy from this collection - Tongue and Chic.  Not to give any spoilers away but it's also fab.  CG have made an awesome fall collection this year, definitely my favourite of all the brands.  I also picked up a couple of the Halloween collection that will follow soon, and are also totally rocking. I've not looked closely at their Christmas collection yet, but I'd expect it to be pretty sweet given what they've been pulling out the bag this year.

I picked this polish up at a Sally Salon for £6.95, and I reckon it will become a firm favourite in my collection (by which I mean I might possibly wear it as often as three times a year....so many polishes, so little time!)

China Glaze Autumn Nights - Red-Y and Willing

Today I have an incredible polish to share with you, which my terrible pictures do absolutely no justice.  For some reason my camera really failed to take a true colour picture of this shade.  This is from the China Glaze Autumn Nights collection 2013 - Red-Y and Willing.

China Glaze Red-Y and Willing - Artificial Light

Red-Y and Willing is an absolutely gorgeous deep blackened red metallic shimmer, with such a lush depth of colour that I was constantly distracted by my fingers the whole time I wore it.  For some reason in my pictures it has come out much pinker than it looked to me IRL.  The picture at the top of this post is the truest to colour, although there is much more 'inner fire' to the polish than this picture would suggest.  This is exactly my kind of colour, which means that I have a whole host of similar shades so this will definitely feature in a comparison post at some point!

China Glaze Red-Y and Willing - Artificial Light

The formula on this was fantastic - super opaque and not at all streaky as something this metallic can tend to be.  Pictured here are two coats plus Seche.  Apologies for the poor swatches, this was on about day 4 of the mani so you can at least see that wearability is excellent on this one.  It's also winter in Scotland so sadly most of my swatches from now on are going to be by artificial light only!

I can't recommend this highly enough.  If you want a gorgeous metallic red shimmer that's perfect for the Christmas season then look no further.  I picked mine up for £6.95 at a Sally Salon Supplies store, but I can also recommend Radiant-Babe Beauty as a good online UK supplier of discounted CG polishes (typically £5.95).  I would recommend though that you use her Amazon UK store, for some reason she sells the same polishes on Amazon for £1 less than her online shop,  and if you buy 3 polishes you get free postage.

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with any of the online retailers or shops that I mention in my posts.  My comments are based purely on my own shopping experiences.

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.

Comparison: Chanel Taboo & Nails Inc Regent's Palace



Today I have a new comparison to show you - Chanel Taboo vs. Nails Inc Regent's Palace.  I'll start by giving away the ending - these are not dupes.  However, it's worth taking a closer look, the comparison isn't as crazy as you might first think.

Readers of this blog will know that I have never been so excited, or so disappointed by a polish than I was with Chanel Taboo (my Taboo review and swatches).  I won't repeat my review here but the main reason for my disappointment was the vast difference between the in-bottle and on-nail impact of this polish.  In the bottle it looks like instant galaxy nails - it's utterly packed with phenomenal looking colour, sparkly bits and what-not.  On the nail, it looks for the most time, like a dull dark black/purple.  The 'pop' in the bottle is only seen in flash, and direct sunlight, and even then only when you're really looking at it.  The formula is also pretty pants, quite gloopy.

So I wondered - supposing you don't want to spend £18 or can't get a hold of this limited edition.  What else could you get that would look as good or better?  Step up to the plate Nails Inc Regent's Palace....



Chanel Taboo (index, ring) vs. Nails Inc Regent's Palace (middle, pinkie)
Natural Light

In close up here you can see some evidence of the sparkly bits in Taboo, and you can also see it's in a much darker base than RP which has a fairly indigo base to it.  Both polishes have a lovely shimmer, but the brighter toned base of RP means that this shimmer is much more evident on-nail in a variety of lighting conditions.  Pictured here is two coats each of colour atop a Nail Envy base.  There's no top coat here.

Chanel Taboo (index, ring) vs. Nails Inc Regent's Palace (middle, pinkie)
Flash

When you look at these under flash, you can see more of the bottle-beauty of Taboo coming out and the tonal difference in the bases is more pronounced.  I don't often take swatch pics with flash on because a) it makes me look like a scary albino lady and b) 99% of the time you're not going to be looking at your polish by flashlight so it's not really a fair test of how pretty it will look (I wouldn't have had such a lemming for Taboo if I had seen it in more natural lighting pics I think).
Taboo does have more sparkle than RP for sure, although bear in mind that this sparkle is not actually visible by eye a lot of the time.  So to add some extra zing to the RP I then popped on a thin coat of Max Factor Fantasy Fire (possibly the best layering polish of all time, there is nothing that this won't make more fabulous.  It's like the mani equivalent of bacon).
 


Chanel Taboo (index, ring) vs. Nails Inc Regent's Palace with Max Factor Fantasy Fire (middle, pinkie)
Natural Light 

Wowza! Regent's Palace on its own is a fabulous metallic purple shade (see my purple metallics comparison post here) but layered with Fantasy Fire it's stunning.  Again, not a dupe for Taboo, but certainly punching far above its weight in terms of price comparison and on-nail 'pop factor'.
Finally with flash, it's the return of the albino:



Chanel Taboo (index, ring) vs. Nails Inc Regent's Palace with Max Factor Fantasy Fire (middle, pinkie)
Flash

In terms of on-nail impact, sparkle, and purple-ness (I know that's not a word, but it should be) for me Regent's Palace plus Fantasy Fire is a clear winner.  In terms of price it's also a no-brainer: the Chanel will cost you £18 but it's Limited Edition so if you miss out in store I've seen this changing hands for £30-£50 which is just insane.  I got the Nail's Inc in a set of 3 from TK Maxx (bargain polish heaven) for £9.99 which by my maths makes this £3.33, but full price would cost you £11.  Fantasy Fire is £3.99 in Boots/Superdrug for a mini bottle.

So for my mani that's £7.32 vs £18, or full price it would be £14.99 vs £18.  At full price the argument is less compelling, but Regent's Palace is one of the few Nails Inc polishes that I would be happy to pay full price for.  Even on it's own, without the Fantasy Fire topper, I feel that Regent's Palace is a better all-rounder than the Chanel.  Blasphemy I know, but there you have it.
 

Finding the perfect purple...

Every nail polish addict has a favourite drug...I'm far too greedy to settle for just one, but I do have a particular weakness for metallic purple polishes.  It doesn't matter how many I've already got, it doesn't matter if I know the shiny one I've just seen in the shop/online is an almost exact dupe of something I've already got three of...I.Just.Can't.Help.Myself.  I know, it's a sickness.

I've collected here some of my favourites for comparison, just in case unlike me you don't like to own many incarnations of the same purple :) 

Right, onto the nitty gritty....



Looking for the perfect purple?

These four are some of the lushest purples that money can buy. From left to right we have: Avalon (A-England, review here), Rebel (Leighton Denny), Sexy Divide (Essie), Regent's Palace (Nails Inc).

Of these, the most similar are Sexy Divide and Regent's Palace. Both are deep dark rich shades with a red edge - Regent's palace is packing some burgundy shimmer that's hard to make out here but I'll be comparing this to Chanel Taboo in a future post and its more obvious there.  Avalon and Rebel are cooler toned purples.  For me, Avalon has the most 'pop!' and is a much more in-your-face purple whereas the darker shades have a richer texture that reminds me of plush velvet....but maybe that's just me.



brands (L:R) - A-England, Leighton Denny, Essie, Nails Inc

I love Rebel, it's such an amazing colour, but it has the weakest formula of the bunch.  It's quite thin, needs three coats to get this level of opacity, and looks streaky and awful on the first coat.  It does even out perfectly though.  In terms of brushes and other such nail geek concerns I'd say they're all about equal.  In terms of quality the A-England and Essie offerings are the best.  Wear time on all four is pretty good with perhaps the Nails Inc being marginally less hard-wearing than the others (I find that generally with NI polishes).  Apart from Rebel (which is 3), all polishes are two coats of colour with Nail Envy undies and SV on top.  I made an arse of 'Rebel', squidging it near the tip, turns out its a tricky business operating a camera with semi-wet nails.  Avalon also appears to have tip wear, but that's because I swatched after wearing Avalon for 4 days for my last review.



Purple Comparison - Artificial Light

I paid £11 (full price, John Lewis) for Rebel, £6 for Avalon (gem of the month, RRP £9, A-England website), £3.33 for Sexy Divide (TK Maxx bargain - 3 for £9.99!!! RRP £8, Boots) and finally £3.33 for Regent's Palace (again, TK Maxx marvel, RRP £11 from John Lewis).  At these prices I'd say buy them all! But if you were paying full price, and you could only get one....then I'd say Essie 'Sexy Divide' is the best purple for your money, with Avalon a close second.  There's no way I'd pay full price for the Nails Inc.

Coming soon....Regent's Palace vs. Chanel Taboo (not as crazy as you might think!)

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