Essie - Swing Velvet

I picked up Swing Velvet at Professional Beauty London 2015 (if you didn't see my haul, you can check it out here.) it wasn't a shade that I had ever seen before, or ever read a review on or seen on any blogs. I was instantly curious and it was so pretty I had to buy it. Usually I'm I don't like red nails on myself, I love them on others but this one just took my eye at the Essie stand. I would say it's a metallic plum red. In dull light it looks like a wine colour and in daylight it's just a gorgeous bright metallic red. It really does look like velvet! Unfortunately my camera doesn't pick up the metallic tone, but it's really beautiful. Swing Velvet is a shade that could be worn all year round but I can really imagine wearing this on a night out, it's so striking and just looks really posh! It applies like a dream due to the metallic, and is opaque in two coats but you could paint three just to be safe. I am so glad I found this polish, I can't wait to wear it.

Essie - Aruba Blue

Aruba Blue is the first polish I am reviewing from my Professional Beauty London 2015 haul (If you didn't see the haul post you can find it here.) I really wanted to review this first as it was my favourite polish that I bought that day and I have already worn it for two weeks in a row! I would say Aruba Blue is a frosty sapphire blue with shimmers throughout, it's so beautiful to look at and really unique I don't own a blue shade like this one. It did take three coats to be completely opaque and give the effect I wanted but it's really lovely to apply I always find shimmery polishes really silky. Quite a few people mentioned that my nails looked nice or asking what the colour was on my nails, which doesn't happen all the time. The finish is slightly metallic, it looks amazing in natural light especially if the sun is shining. Aruba Blue is really bold, beautiful and eye-catching I am so glad I saw it at the show because I hadn't seen it before, it was a surprise buy I wasn't expecting to see anything like it. It will definitely be getting a lot more wear this year.

Do you like Aruba Blue? What are your favourite Essie shades?

Professional Beauty London 2015 Haul

I am a beauty show-aholic. I go to Olympia Beauty in October every year, and this year was my first time at Professional Beauty London. The difference between both shows is huge, to be honest I do prefer Olympia, but it was a great experience at PBL. I love being a nail technician, and these shows are just a little perk of being a professional as all of the products are discounted and I love seeing all of the newest nail polish collections, trends and equipment. So today I have a haul for you, as I bought quite a few polishes!

First up, I bought half of the China Glaze Road Trip 2015 Collection. There are 12 polishes in total, at the China Glaze stand they were selling packs of 6, so I picked the lighter colours as I think they suit my style better although the other 6 shades were lovely too. We use China Glaze in the salon I work in, but I hadn't purchased any for personal use before, these are my first ones so I can't wait to try them out, perfect for Spring. Boho Blues is a peri-winkle creme blue, Pinking Out The Window is a coralish pink creme, I Brake For Colour is a bright coral creme, Wanderlust is a pale lavender with a golden shimmer, Dashboard Dreamer is a light blue with pink and orange shimmer, and Pack Lightly is a peach shade with a golden shimmer. They are all beautiful shades that I can see myself using over and over again.

As always it was a must to go to the Essie stand. Essie are my favourite nail polish brand, and they weren't showing at Olympia last year so they were one of the main reasons I travelled to PBL this year. I picked 6 shades, and I am in love with them all! There were a couple that I wanted that I couldn't get my hands on, but I got a couple of colours I hadn't seen before, including Swing Velvet which is a deep luxurious shimmery red. Pink Diamond caught my eye especially for summer, it's a frosty baby pink pearl shade. I have been wanted a new true baby blue polish for a while so when I saw Borrowed & Blue I put it in my basket straight away. Topless & Barefoot which is a rosy beige neutral in colour, not one of those nudes that washes you out, it had a lovely tone. Tea & Crumpets is a shimmery pinky/peachy neutral I don't have anything like this in my collection I think I would look lovely over Topless & Barefoot. Lastly from Essie (My favourite buy!) Aruba Blue. I saw this shade an just fell in love it's absolutely stunning. It's a frosty shimmery sapphire blue.

I only bought one polish from the OPI stand, to be honest I was pretty disappointed with the stand itself. It was tiny, the selection of polishes was really small and I queued for 20 minutes to get into the stand, wheres at Olympia the stand is huge and there are tons of polishes. Anyway, I still managed to get an amazing shade, from the new Hawaii collection by OPI and seriously my pictures do not do this polish justice, it is absolutely beautiful. It's called This Color's Making Waves. It's a bright turquoise/electric blue duo chrome with gold and pink flecks of shimmer. It looks just like the sun reflecting off of the sea. 

Did you go to Professional Beauty London this year? If so what did you think of it / what did you buy?

Essie - Beach Bum Blu

In around September last year, Beach Bum Blu found it's way into my nail polish collection. It was just at the end of the summer, so I was a little bit disappointed that I discovered it so late in the year as I wanted to wear it, but for the autumn time it just wouldn't have matched my outfits or accessories. However, now it's edging towards spring time and the darker colours are slowly being stored away, I can justify bringing Beach Bum Blu out to play! This polish is absolutely stunning, my photographs don't do it justice at all. It's a bright silver pearlescent blue and it does just remind me of a tropical blue ocean. As the formulation is very sheer, my swatches are three coats on the nail wheel but after three coats it was completely opaque. I have to also add what an absolute dream this polish was to apply, it glides on the nail with ease. I am definitely going to start wearing Beach Bum Blu really soon, I just know I won't be able to stop looking at my nails!

What do you think of Beach Bum Blu? What are your favourite Spring / Summer Essie shades?

Essie - Island Hopping

I picked up Island Hopping from Olympia Beauty in 2013, Essie had a stand that year and I bought a ton of polishes but this one really took my eye. There are a couple of things I didn't know about the polish before I bought it which makes it slightly more interesting! Island Hopping is from an Essie collection that was in collaboration with the Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas which has always been my dream holiday destination! Another shade in the collection I should have guessed is well loved - Bahama Mama. The formula is a dream to work with, a really smooth creme. Two coats and it's opaque, since my birthday I have had acrylic extensions on my nails, for many reasons. The main on being that I can't seem to get gel polish to stay on my nails (looking perfect) for a long enough time and I had to redo them every other week, due to my work being a nail tech and the fact that my nails have never been very thick, long or strong. The extensions I have are sculpted acrylic only - no glued on tips and they look incredibly natural. Anyway, back to the polish! I had my nails infilled this week and have been wearing Island Hopping on my nails, so many people have complimented me on the colour. In these pictures it comes across as a dusty dark pink, but in some lights it looks more of a light purple mauve. I think this shade could be passed as an Autumn or Spring shade, it's understated but still really lovely to look at. I can see myself wearing this shade a lot more this year, it's a little rediscovery for me. What do you think of Island Hopping?