Chanel Garconne Le Vernis Nail Polish Review & Swatch

I have a very short post for you all today, but one that I have been looking forward to sharing with you since I posted my little review of Chanel Organdi. My manicure of the week in Garonne is one of the latest additions to the Chanel nail polish line, and is a lovely colour and unlike any other in my collection.

Garconne is a grey colour with warm undertones.  The coverage is lovely and rich and applies very easily and gives a lovely smooth streak free coverage.

To achieve this particular finish I applied two coats of the Garconne nail polish and a top coat of Out The Door Fast Drying Top Coat.

You can purchase the Chanel Le Vernis nail colour for £18.00 from Chanel counters nationwide.

Talk to you all soon x

 

Chanel Organdi Le Vernis Longwear Nail Colour Review & Swatch

I have fallen head over heels in love with my latest Chanel nail polish.  Organdi belongs to the Longwear nail colour range that promise to deliver a longer lasting colour.  I was instantly drawn to this colour as it is simplicity at its best yet delightfully different and pretty.  A beautiful cashmere dusky pink with a subtle brown undertone. The colour is shimmer free and makes my nails look so clean and elegant.  Some nude colours can be relatively hard to pull off, but this shade would suit a range of skin tones.

I applied two coats of Organdi and used the Chanel Le Gel Longwear top coat to achieve a glossy finish, and a review of the top coat will follow shortly once I have tested the longevity of the product.

You can purchase this nail colour from Chanel counters nationwide priced at £18.00.

Organdi is officially my new favourite nail colour. This colour is going to take some beating –   I absolutely love it!

Talk to you all soon x

 

My Manicure Of The Week | Ciaté London Olivia Palermo Hutch Nail Colour

Just a short blog post for today. On Sunday I shared with you all the Ciaté London Olivia Palermo Fashion Edit collection and promised to share with you all a look at the full manicure as and when I used the different polishes.  I decided I would choose a red for this week which is a change from my usual trusted nudes. I won’t go into too much detail,  as you can read my earlier blog post here.

To achieve this look I applied a base coat to protect my nails.  This is really  important especially when using a darker colour.  I then applied two coats of Hutch and topped it off with a top coat. Olivia created this as her go-to red.  I think it may become mine too!

I am quite enjoying flaunting my red nails this week.  Its nice to have a change, and we all  know a change is as good as a rest!

Do let me know your thoughts on this colour.  I would love to hear from you!

Talk to you all soon x

Nails Inc Nailkale Illuminator Bright Street | Review

Following on from my post yesterday where I shared with you all my thoughts on the Margaret Dabbs Crystal Nail File, I thought I would stick with a similar theme and share with you all how to further enhance your natural nails.

The Nails Inc Nailkale collection has long been something I have been keen to try out. It is the first superfood nail care range made with kale extract for stronger, smoother and healthier nails. I was given this lovely gift set for Christmas which includes a mini Nailkale Superfood Base Coat, Bright Street Illuminator and St John’s Wood Gardens Nail Polish. I will do a review of each of these in the coming weeks but for todays post I am concentrating on the Bright Street Illuminator.

The Bright Street Illuminator features iridescent pearls to brighten the pink of the nail bed and make the appearance of the tips whiter.  This creates the illusion of healthy nails and is perfect for those who want to look well groomed, and lets face it, who doesn’t want that!

I applied one coat of the Bright Street Illuminator to my nails and it dried very quickly. I could immediately see the results and it lasted for a good 4 days chip free. It made my nails feel very strong and much more resilient against splitting and breaking.  This is thanks to the patented regenerating complex (a Aldehyde, Zinc and Calcium blend) that boosts the production of keratin for harder healthier nails.

I feel my nails have benefited from taking a break from a regular nail polish, however because the Illuminator gives a glossy polished look I feel I get all the benefits of a top coat with a treatment rolled into one.  I will definitely include this in my routine from now on and try to to ensure I use the Nailkale Illuminator every few weeks.

You can purchase a 14ml bottle of the Nails Inc Bright Street Illuminator for £14.00 from various outlets including Feelunique.com, John Lewis and Sephora to name but a few! You can also get the set that I have for £19.00. Perfect for trying each of them out before investing in a larger bottle!

Have you tried the Nails Inc Nailkale collection? Do you love it too? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Talk to you all soon x

Pretty Honest Beauty Blog January Product Of The Month | Margaret Dabbs Crystal Nail File | Review

I am a little behind with awarding the January Pretty Honest Beauty Blog Product Of The Month, but there is no mistaking who wins! My product of the month is the Margaret Dabbs Crystal Nail File. I have not looked back since using the foot file from her range and still, all these months later, love it and derive all the benefits as much as I did from initial use.

After much research I discovered Margaret Dabbs also have an exciting collection of products for the hands. I thought I would try out the crystal nail file, and I am absolutely delighted I did!

The file is slim, relatively lightweight and very effective. I use this file on both my hands and feet ensuring I only file in one direction.  I find that this file gives a smoother and finer finish to my nails and makes shaping them incredibly easy. I have filed my way through many nail files in my time and this one is by far the best. I do not feel this file puts any pressure on my nails when filing them, as minimal pressure is required in order for this to work.

You can purchase the Margaret Dabbs Crystal Nail File for £12.00.  This file will last for some time and for an item that gives such salon quality results is an absolute bargain!

You can purchase the Margaret Dabbs Crystal Nail File from various outlets including Feelunique.com and Margaret Dabbs online.

Margaret Dabbs is fast becoming one of my most trusted brands, and I can’t wait to try out more from her range.

Have you tried the Margaret Dabbs Crystal Nail File? Do you have a favourite product from her range that you can recommend? I would love to hear from you!

Talk to you all soon x

Smith & Cult Doe My Dear Nail Polish | Review and Swatch

Hello readers! Today I wanted to share with you my manicure of choice for the week.  Chanel Frenzy has long been my all time favourite grey / beige / lilac shade so when I saw this offering from cult brand Smith & Cult in my local Space NK branch, I could not help but add it to my ‘wish-list!’

Smith & Cult was designed by the founder of 90’s brand Hard Candy.  I spent many a day as a teen swooning over Hard Candy nail polishes with the little plastic ring in a similar hue attached to the bottle.  The price has gone up a little since the Hard Candy days, but when a company get the formula and colour spot on like Smith & Cult seem to have done, that £19 seems money well spent.

Imagine my excitement when my lovely Mum bought me two colours and a top coat for Christmas.  Today’s post is dedicated to ‘Doe My Dear’ described as an opaque dove grey.

The nail colour applied very smoothly and was easy to get a tidy neat finish. This particular manicure was two coats of the polish.

I have finished the manicure with the Smith & Cult top coat named ‘Above It All’.  First impression was, whilst lovely, was perhaps an unnecessary purchase from the collection- but I stand corrected! This top coat gives an extremely glossy ‘plumped up’ look with extreme clarity and shine.

I can’t wait to try my other shade and report back to you all.  I am really excited about this brand and can’t wait to explore more of the collection in the coming months.

Smith & Cult are 5 free (formulated without nasties), offer a lovely range of colours and have graced the pages of Vogue.  What more could a beauty addict want!

Talk to you all soon x

 

Chanel Precision Nourishing and Rejuvenating Hand Cream | Review

Hello everyone! I hope you had a lovely Christmas and Santa left you all lots of beautiful makeup and beauty goodies under the tree! I can’t wait to work my way through all of my beauty gifts and review them over the coming months!

I have had my eyes on this lovely hand cream from Chanel for quite some time.  Every time I walk past the Chanel makeup counter I have a sneaky little test of it. It leaves my hands wonderfully soft with a distinctive scent of delicate lotus and hibiscus flower that lasts for some time.  I was delighted to unwrap this hand cream yesterday and have it ‘on tap’ throughout Christmas Day!

Chanel Precision Body Excellence Nourishing and Rejuvenating Hand Cream is priced at £41.00 for a 75ml tube. It is a little pricey for a hand cream but if it works and I like it then this is totally justifiable. After all, our hands work hard throughout the day so it is important to look after them.

This hand cream belongs to the Chanel Precision collection.  It contains Purple Bengle PFA extract that is exclusive to Chanel. This extract offers firming properties and is the perfect ingredient for beauty products.  It prevents dark spots (age spots) on our hands and conditions the cuticles.

This hand cream can be used at any time of the day on clean hands.  Massage a small amount into each cuticle, nail, finger and the palms.  The cream is rapidly absorbed.  Personally, I don’t like the feeling of a ‘coating’ over my hands and this hand cream, thankfully, does not leave me feeling like this.

I am making it my New Year’s resolution to take extra care to look after my hands.  The texture and appearance of our hands give away our true age so I am investing today to (hopefully!) see the benefits in 30 years time!

Hope you enjoyed my review of the Chanel Hand Cream.  Have you tried this? I would love to hear from you!

Talk to you all soon x

 

Chanel Le Vernis Nail Polish 491 Rose Confidentiel Review and Swatch

 

For todays post I wanted to share with you what is now one of my favourite nail colours of recent times.  Oh yes readers, this is up there with my Nails Inc Victoria Beckham Bamboo!

Rose Confidentiel 491 is a classic rose pink colour that looks just as elegant on the nails as it does in the bottle. It is not too bold, or too nude and is the perfect colour for everyday wear.  It is very flattering and adds a lovely warmth to my skin.

Application was a dream.  It glides onto the shape of my nail effortlessly.  The image above is two layers of Rose Confidentiel.  I think two coats is needed to give a nice opaque finish.  I used Chanel Extreme Shine Topcoat to finish this manicure.  I will do a different review on this product in the future as I want to try it out again before I share it with you all.  I think you can see though that the overall finish looks great.

I had two people ask what nail polish I was wearing, so if you are after a colour that is effortlessly classic and just, well… pretty then I recommend Chanel Rose Confidentiel as a ‘must-have’ and definitely one to try!

Chanel Rose Confidentiel is available nationwide and priced at £18.00 for 13ml.

Have you tried Rose Confidentiel? Do you love this colour as much as I do? I would love to hear from you!

Talk to you all soon x

Leighton Denny Supermodel Nail Polish | Review and Swatch

I first fell in love with Leighton Denny after watching him on QVC a few years ago. He was so passionate about all things nail related and his products really reflected that.  I have built up a sizeable collection over time but one colour really stands out from the crowd. Supermodel. The name says it all really. The creme de la creme (well that is actually another colour in his collection!) of nail colours. A beautiful mink colour that looks stunning on every skin type. This is Leighton’s best selling nail colour, and I can totally see why.

The formula is so easy to apply, gliding onto my nails effortlessly.  The particular manicure pictured is two coats.

It is a long lasting, high performance nail colour and is still chip free after 6 days of wear.

You can purchase Leighton Denny Supermodel from various online outlets and also for those readers from the UK you may be lucky enough to find your local Marks and Spencer’s stocking it on the beauty shelves. It is priced at £11.00 for 12mls.

Hope you enjoyed my manicure of choice for this week. I would love to hear from you if you are also a fan of Leighton Denny and can recommend any colours for me to try.

Talk to you all soon x

Pretty Honest Beauty Blog Product Of The Month | Nail Apothecary Gel Shine Top Coat

You may have guessed by now as it is pretty clear to see, I am utterly addicted to all things beauty! I therefore wanted to make a new monthly blog post where I award those products that have been worth every penny.  So, what has won my heart this month?

The winner is! …….

Nail Apothecary Gel Effect Top Coat!

The beauty aisles are full of gel effect top coats at the moment.  It seems that every brand going has one for sale.  Not of course that I am complaining – I absolutely love the effect of a high gloss shine!

Boots had a buy one get one half price offer recently so I decided to take advantage and try this brand out.  I am so glad I did, I can honestly say that this top coat is amazing! I posted my manicure of the week yesterday You can catch up here, and this was the top coat I used.

This top coat is described as using special new nail polish acrylic materials to act as a plumping effect on the base of the nails. This means when applying a standard nail colour,  the nail polish looks visibly lifted and creates a gel like look on the nail.

I did wait for my nail polish to dry before applying the top coat.  It went on thickly but was not difficult to apply.  It was fast drying, and when you have got used to using Seche Vite this is a must!  The finished result is a high shine, long lasting manicure that lasts well over a week.  And, perhaps most impressive I did not get any shrinkage of nail colour that I usually get when using a fast drying top coat.

I am so impressed with this product, and would recommend you try it out if you get the chance.

Nail Apothecary Gel Shine Top Coat is priced at £6.95 and is available from Boots.

Talk to you all soon x