Essence Thermo Nail Polish 05 The Ice Is Melting

I posted about another similar shade by Essence called Serendipity a week ago and this is again another greyish colour. As it turns out, I love this one more than Serendipity and its quickly become one of my favourite nail polishes ever. As the name thermo suggests, it's not just a regular nail polish, but one at which the colour changes with temperature, or at least it should. 

The Ice is Melting is a medium, taupe grey. Nothing much more to say about it here, other than it's a typical modern minky shade that's like a new twist on the nude trend and it's a weird colour to wear on the nails, but is somehow just works so well. I like that it doesn't have much violet tones in it, since my skin tone tends to emphasize that hue.

The formula is very thin and sheer, so at least three coats are needed for full opacity, but it applies evenly without looking too thick like Serendipity, which is not the easiest gel formula to work with. It's supposed to change colour to a more purple shade depending on the temperature, but I tried it with cold and hot water, and surprise, surprise it doesn't work, but I don't care. I found it works for some people, check this German blog Cidooos Life for a picture of the change. The brush is thin, which I actually appreciate, since my nails are quite narrow, but it's not such a speedy application as at Essence's The Gel nail polishes.

I got mine in Müller for 1.49 €.

Have a great day!

Essence The Gel Nail Polish 37 Serendipity

Serendipity has been on my wishlist for the longest time, but I always either just forgot to pick it up or intentionally avoided it because I don't want to spend money on a nail polish that I may not wear often, even though it's cheap. I don't have many similar shades, since I mostly stick to mints, reds and nudes, but I loving these modern greyish type of colours lately.

Serendipity is a mix of a pastel violet and grey. On me the violet tones are prevailing, which is expected considering my skin tone always emphasizes anything purple. It's a lovely colour that has both a autumnal and spring vibe, and it looks very modern, as well as polished on the nails.

The formula is a gel one, but very thick and more difficult to control that others I've tried (including shades from this line). It needs two coats for an even finish. It's opaque with one, but not even, so it needs fixing. I can't apply this without making a proper mess, but I just clean it up later. The wide brush doesn't help either as it's already a bit too big for my nails. The finish is typically nicely glossy as at other gel formulas. 

I got mine in Müller for 1.69 €.

Misslyn Nail Polish 610 Night Club

Years ago, I had this beautiful navy blue nail polish with blue frost from Essence called Deep Blue Sea, which was my favourite shade at the time. It was one of the rare nail polishes that I managed to almost use up, but of course it thickened and became pretty much useless before I had a chance to empty the bottle. Essence being, well Essence, discounted it before I could repurchase it, so I've been looking for a cheap, easily accessible dupe since and now I found it. 

Night Club is a navy blue with light blue frost. It's like an off-black, since the base itself is very dark, but the blue reflection makes it more interesting. I love this colour, I have for years and you would think it's not the most unique shade in the world, but every nail polish I got as a replacement for Deep Blue Sea was missing something, either it was too light or there wasn't enough frost.

Frosty nail polishes are pretty much the easiest to make, just think when was the last time you got a frosty nail polish with a rubbish formula and this one is ok. At first it seemed a bit on the dry site, but I've worn it a few times since and it performed like a regular, good nail polish. It lasts the same as every nail polish on me, which is a long time, so it's fine.

It was 4.99 € in Műller.

Have a great day!

Revlon Nail Polish Bewitching

I've actually been eyeing this shade, so I'm happy I got it in February's Beauty Box. It looks like a mix of red and purple, but on the nails it's unfortunately a lot more red. It's basically a typical burgundy shade and a very similar (if not the same) shade as Revlon's Parfumerie nail polish in Bordeaux. 

Formula is quite thick for a red and it wasn't the easiest to apply nicely, but I managed it. The brush is thin, just like at Parfumerie line. I like the brush and dislike it at the same time. The application is much more precise and I don't make a mess on my cuticles, but it takes twice as long to apply the nail polish. The bottle hasn't changed one bit, since I got my first Revlon nail polish in 1997, I guess we can call it retro now, so it's cool again. I lasted well on my nails just as all other nail polishes.

Have a great day!

Models Own Chrome and Hypergel Nail Polishes

Some new shades where released in Models Own Hypergel and Chrome line. I got four, two from each. I have one old shade from the Hypergel line, the stunning pastel violet-taupe Midsummer Mauve, and now I got Cashmere Rose and Robin Red. From Chrome Collection I got Chrome Grey and Chrome Copper.

HyperGel Red Robin and Cashmere Rose 

I have a soft spot for gel nail polishes. They all perform so well including the pastels. Hypergel are the thickest such nail polishes I tried, but it's again a fully opaque formula and it evens itself out on the nails plus it has a high shine. The brush is wide, but a nice shape. These are fantastic for ombre manicures with a sponge.

Hypergel Cashmere Rose

Cashmere Rose is a cute pastel warm pink shade. It needs two coats for a nice even finish.

Hypergel Red Robin

Robin Red is an interesting warm red with a retro feel as if it's a bit desaturated, almost like you put an picture ageing filter on red. It's supposed to imitate the colour of the robin bird. It needs one to two coats for full opacity.

Chrome Grey and Chrome Copper

I first heard about the Chrome line from Taya, who reviewed shades Cerise and Silver, and most recently also Turquoise. She's more into nail polishes, so I suggest you read her review too. Chrome line imitates metals, which translates into a metallic-frosty finish. Models Own suggests you wear them without a top coat and base coat for best effect. You should also smooth the surface of the nails with a nail file, only then apply 2-3 layers of nail polish. These are very pigmented and I find that one coat works best for me because it has that frosty effect with ridges and two coats make it uneven as well as too thick, unless you're used to work fast and you make sure you have enough product on the brush (on my pictures it's mostly just one coat). But one coat chips fast. The wide brush allows you to work fast. The nails polish dries fast as it's usual for such nail polishes. These are excellent for stamping, even I gave it a shot with my poor Essence kit and it worked well.

Chrome Grey

Chrome Grey is a silver-grey shade, a gunmetal colour. I love the look of this one, it looks killer on the nails.

Chrome Copper

Chrome Copper is more of a rosey copper than the bottle indicates as well as lighter. I would even call it rose gold, though they actually have another shade called that. It's one coat one the nails except on the ring ringer.

These are all from Click2Chic where all cost 5.95 € a piece. International readers can get them on Asos.

Have a great day!

OPI Nail Lacquer Starlight Collection Fall 2015 Give Me Space

I has been close to eight years since I last got an OPI. I usually buy much cheaper nail polishes, but I stumbled upon Michelle's (All Lacquered Up) post about the best nail polishes in 2015 and when I saw this one, my eyes widened. Since forever I wanted a night sky inspired nail polish in the style of Essie's Starry Night, but they aren't easy to come by, so when such a gorgeous shade comes by, even I make an exception and splurge, though I was lucky enough to get this one as a belated Christmas gift.

Give Me Space is a deep blue with a mix of fine holographic and blue shimmer. The effect is just stunning and my pictures don't do it justice. It applies more sheer for the first coat, but the second gives it that depth an it's fully opaque. It applies nicely and evenly, but it can feel a bit dry at times, so I prefer to work with thick coats.

The brush is medium width, so it fits my nails well, but I always manage to paint the cuticles since my nails are so narrow.

I got it as a gift for the holidays, that's why it's from Müller where it costs 12.99 €, but you know you can get it much cheaper online and to be fair, the bottle is huge (15 ml). This is definitely one of my favourite nail polish discoveries in a really long time.

Have a great day!

Deborah Smalto Gel Effect

I've had these nail polishes for quite a while now. I got them to review for another website where you may have already seen my swatches (post is in Slovene) and I didn't plan on posting them here as well, but it can't hurt if I do, after all these have a pretty damn good formula. There first one in the row, 01 Pink Fusion, is the one I got myself about a year ago and it's one of my favourite nail polishes ever. I already have a review for it, but I'll repost the swatches here as well. The other four new colours I have, which were released this year, are 49 Peonia Pink, 52 Starlette Violet, 54 Amaranto and 58 Delhi Curry. I'll admit these are not the colours I would have chosen for myself, maybe just Amaranto, but the rest aren't really me, however that not what's important at this review. A few more colours were added, but I haven't seen them in person yet. 

I wrote about the formula in my review of 01 Pink Pulse, but it's a gel formula, so super smooth, fully opaque and very shiny. These are excellent quality nail polishes and there is a reason why I rave so much about shade 01 (it's also the most "borrowed" nail polish in my collection by other people). 

01 Pink Fusion

01 Pink Fusion is one of the original colours and one of my favourite ever shades. It's a nude with a rose-violet-taupe tone and I just love it on my nails. It's close to my skin tone, but those cool hues keep it from looking like mannequin fingers. It's a perfect nude on a skin tone that is around NC20-25 (Catrice Velvet Finish Foundation 010 Light Velvet). In terms of application, I think this one is the smoothest in the bunch.

49 Peonia Pink

49 Peonia Pink is a pastel Barbie/bubble gum pink with a cool undertone. Formula isn't as good as at the rest, it's less smooth, but considering it's a pastel, it's still nice. Two coats are needed for an even finish, on some nails even three.

52 Starlette Violet

52 Starlette Violet is a Milka chocolate violet. It really is the same shade as the Milka wrapper, so if you ever wanted such a shade, look no further. The formula is very smooth and pigmented, but it still needs two coats for an even finish.

54 Amaranto

54 Amaranto is a muted red-vine colour with a retro feel. It's another very pigmented and smooth nail polish, so if you're used to thick coats like me, one is enough, two if you need to fix anything, but despite that I always like to apply two, so it lasts longer. 

 58 Delhi Curry

58 Delhi Curry is an olive green shade that needs two coats for an even finish. It's probably my least favourite colour in my entire collection, but my preferences don't matter, I'm just showing you the shade. 

These cost 5.75 € on Click2Chic and I think they are a couple of cents more expensive in DM's. I don't know if you can get these online with international shipping.

Have a great day!