I’m a big fan of OPI but I had never tried anything from their Nicole by OPI diffusion line. Originally designed for US drugstores, it’s now easily available on the UK high street with Superdrug carrying it. It is cheaper than the OPI range at £7.99. I was sent the above by Direct Cosmetics who have a selection of shades for just £1.99 each.
I’ve been using the Strengthener Plus* under my nail polish for about two weeks now and I am finding that my nails are peeling a lot less. They still not super strong but we’re getting there gradually. And the treatment itself doesn’t effect how long nail polish lasts which is a good thing, nothing worse than base or top coats which peels your polish.
This is the appropriately named ‘I Orchid You Not’* – nice to see OPI continue their punderful names to all their ranges. This is a darker take on the 2014 colour of the year, Radiant Orchid. I used two coats with applied really easily and dried well. One thing I would say is that it’s quite a bit darker than it looks in the bottle and I’m not too sure why.
The second colour I have is ‘I’m A Pool For Love’*. I tried really hard to take a decent photo of this and failed miserably so sorry about that. It is actually a dark, duochrome shimmer with purple base which flashes electric blue and bronze. It really reminds me of OPI’s ‘Ink’ but with an added golden bronze shimmer. I love this kind of ‘black but not black’ look so I love this.
Both polishes benefit from having the same kind of brush as the main OPI range – flattish, a slight fan and not too wide which is my favourite kind of brush. This makes application super easy and quick. I used three coats for each and they dried fairly quickly between coats and didn’t drag. Staying power was pretty standard for me – about three or four days before it was badly chipped.
Overall, I can’t see much difference between OPI and Nicole by OPI. The main OPI range has more shades but Nicole is definitely catching up so I will definitely be keeping my eye on this more affordable option.
Here’s a super summery colour for you! In all fairness, everyone need a good quality black nail polish in their stash. I’m fairly loyal to Nails Inc ‘Black Taxi’ but it’s a tad pricey so I’m always open to cheaper alternatives. Seventeen had a 3 for 2 offer on the other week so I decided to try out their new gel range. Gel nail colours are all the rage nowadays with everyone trying to recreate a salon finish at home. Seventeen have been pretty bold by writing “up to 8 days wear” on the lid so let’s see how it holds up.
Application is nice and easy. It has a small, flat brush with rounded off corners which you can’t go wrong with. It was opaque and smooth in two coats. I didn’t apply a topcoat as I don’t think you should need to with gel effect polishes but I did use Orly Rubberised Basecoat. The finish had a good shine as you can see above. The first day was great, no chips, but… it did chip on day two. Not too badly, but on a couple of nails and black looks bad with chips so I removed it at the end of the second day. So no, it won’t last 8 days. I have never found a polish that does, even with base and topcoat so I’m not fussed about this but it might put some off. However, at £3.99 a bottle, I think it is a good buy and there are loads of colours to choose from. I really like the look of the grey ‘Long Island’ also.
Hello gorgeous pastels! The Barry M Gelly range is probably my most favourite nail polish collection so I was most excited to see three new shades added. So much so that I wrote the release date in my diary. Yep, I’m that sad. The three shades in question are milky pastels, a notoriously difficult formula to master so I was interested to see how they’d perform.
This is ‘Sugar Apple’, a mint green which is actually brighter on the nails than I expected it to be. This is with three coats. I found it a lot harder to apply evenly than the brighter shades in the range but it looked ok by the third coat. I didn’t use a top coat, the high shine finish means this step isn’t necessary.
‘Rose Hip’ is my favourite of the bunch and is a delicate baby pink. Again, this was three coats but was much more even on application than the other two.
Lastly, ‘Huckleberry’, a lovely pale blue. I struggled with this one the most and had to apply four coats to ensure it was even. However, the colour is beautiful so worth it if you have the patience.
This is my complete collection. Top row, left to right: ‘Papaya’; ‘Prickly Pear’; ‘Dragonfruit’; ‘Guava’; ‘Greenberry’; ‘Blueberry’. Bottom row, left to right: ‘Key Lime’; ‘Mango’; ‘Lychee’; ‘Sugar Apple’; ‘Rose Hip’; ‘Huckleberry’.
A girl can never have too many nail polishes right? Well cosmetics companies certainly seem to think so as they keep bringing out more and more must haves. Here’s a mixture of new and old polishes that currently at the top of my wish list. Oh, have I mentioned that it’s my birthday this month?
The Maybelline Color Show Street Artist Top Coat in ‘Alley Attitude’ is the newest addition to my little nail polish collection. Seeing the name, I knew I definitely had to try this one. The base is clear with matte pale blue and black glitters suspended in it.
The glitters are a mixture of different sized hexagons and bars and are really dense in the bottle. The above is one coat with no fishing and minimal glitter placement required. This could be easily built up to near opacity in just 3 coats I’d think. The glitters lie nice and flat with no pesky ‘tacoing’.
I paired it with Barry M ‘Lychee’ and I really like this combination. ‘Alley Attitude’ would also look great over white and other pale colours such as pink or lilac.
Overall I’m really pleased with my bottle of ‘Alley Attitude’. I picked it up on a whim since it was in the Boots buy 1 get 1 half price offer when I was buying 
