From the Vault

I have bit of a different post for you today. I have a lot of photos I haven't posted of manicures I did late last/earlier this year before I became more serious with my nail blogging. I'm actually cringeing a little at the thought of posting these because they're so amateurish. I know my manicures aren't as good as many other nail bloggers', but they're a helluva lot better than they were even just six months ago. (I'm really recommending this to you, aren't I?!) But I'm going to show these anyway, because if nothing else it shows how much I've improved! There are some swatches and some attempts at nail art. I stress the word 'attempt'.

Nails Inc Black Taxi with OPI Rainbow Connection on the ring finger. A weird combination. Also, a bizarre hand position. It reminds me of that moment in Toy Story when Buzz Lightyear asks the little alien toys who's in charge: "The claaaaw."

Illamasqua Kink. It's one of those rubber-finish polishes. Terrible photo, but I really like the polish. Also, my index fingernail appears to be freakily long in comparison to the others here.

OPI Warm & Fozzie. Love this polish. Barry M Copper, a new release, is supposedly very similar to this if anyone is looking for a cheaper alternative.

Nails Inc Old Bond Street. It's a dark grey with a pink/purple shimmer. It's completely gorgeous and I should really re-swatch it so you can see it better.

Essie Lady Like. It's hard to tell from the photo, but it's a greyish pink. It's very work-appropriate. I actually wore it to the interview for my internship a few months ago.

Essie Lady Like with Essie As Gold As It Gets. A random combination I tried out. Subtle, but I like it.

OPI Alpine Snow with Nubar Opulent Pearl. I wanted to see what Opulent Pearl, a flakie top coat, looked like over a white polish. Not much, apparently. I also seem to have decided that painting half my skin would be a good look.

Nails Inc Jermyn Street. I think this was the first nude polish I ever bought, and it's still my favourite. Its formula is unbeatable.

OPI Fly with OPI Save Me. Not a very original combination, but they go well together.

China Glaze For Audrey with Nubar White Polka Dots. LOBSTER HANDS!!! I used a Big Ruby nail tattoo on the ring finger.

a-england Galahad and a-england Tristam. I remember I was so chuffed with this manicure, but my Seche Vite was getting to the gloopy stage when I put it on and the whole thing just bubbled like a witches' cauldron! I was devastated.

Nails Inc Seven Dials with Barry M Silver Foil. I quite like this manicure, but it's a terrible photo. Although the foil looks gold, I actually used a silver polish but the green underneath changed its colour!

So there you have it, my crappy swatches out there for all the world to see. Am I the only one who cringes when looking at early photos of one's manicures? Does anyone else feel they've come a long way since they started nail blogging - whether a few months or a few years ago?

Models Own Beetlejuice Spring/Summer 2012 - Summary

In the previous three posts I've reviewed the new colours from the Models Own Beetlejuice Collection Spring/Summer 2012. I thought it might be helpful to put all three together in one post, so here they are again (this time with minimal commentary).

Copper Pot

A copper/bronze duochrome. Three coats. Not my cup of tea.

Tropical Sun

A pink/peach duochrome. Three coats. Me likey.

Indian Ocean

A blue/pink duochrome. Extremely sheer; this is five coats. My favourite of the three by far!

To be honest, I'm a bit underwhelmed by the new collection overall. The promo pictures looked incredible, but I should have known they wouldn't be reliable - we've been burned before. They're nice colours, just not quite as cool as the promo pics made them look. I don't think much of Copper Pot, especially as a duochrome, but I like Island Sun and I really like Indian Ocean. The formula is much improved on last autumn's collection, and for a fiver they're pretty good value for money. I'm not going to tell you to run to the shops and buy them immediately...more to go there at a leisurely stroll if you like the look of any of them.

Models Own Beetlejuice S/S 2012: Copper Pot

Last week I showed you some quick swatches of the new Models Own Beetlejuice Collection for Spring/Summer 2012 on a nail wheel. Well, for the next three days I will be showing you proper swatches of them on my nails, starting with Copper Pot!

Copper Pot is the least duochrome of the three polishes, shifting from a copper colour (duh) to bronze/yellowy gold. The PR release calls it "a deep olive tan". I prefer the formula on this to what some of last autumn's Beetlejuice polishes had - it didn't pooling at my cuticles, but it did bubble a little (despite waiting a good five minutes between each coat. Boo). I used three coats for my photos, which gave it full opacity.

See what I mean? It looks glow-y rather than duochrome-y. I don't actually like it very much. I'm just not a huge fan of polishes with a yellow or orange tone to them. Meh.