Rimmel Lycra Wear 10 : Hypnotise

Spring is here!

Okay, maybe not. But I saw snowdrops on the way home today and even though it's still super chilly, it's been really bright and sunny the last few days. So I'm feeling kinda cheerful and ready to come out of hibernation after the long and depressing winter - time to start blogging again!

The polish I have for you today is Rimmel Lycra Wear 10, in Hypnotise. Please excuse the nubbin-nails, I decided to try one last time to have squoval nails, filed them into shape, and then immediately broke one (cleaning my teeth, of all things. HOW DO YOU BREAK A NAIL CLEANING YOUR TEETH??). Anyway. Once I had finished wailing and gnashing my (newly clean) teeth, I filed my nails down past the break, and this was the result.

Of course I then immediately broke another one. It's time to accept that I can't have squovals and that's that: the corners just keep breaking on me. Back to even shorter nubs (sob) for a while and ovals from now on!

Anyway, back to the polish. It's a really nice dark plum creme. It doesn't have the gorgeous wide brush that I adore so much in newer Rimmel polishes, but the brush it does have is pretty decent anyway. It has all the potential to be a great vampy colour (perfect for nubbins - why is it that when I have short nails, I always have the urge to wear dark colours?)

Sadly, it also suffers from horrible tipwear. I kid you not, I had really obvious wear and some small chips after only a few hours, and that was with three coats plus a base coat of Nail Envy. I will admit that I do tend to get more tipwear when my nails are short, but unless I've been especially rough on my nails with housework or typing, I do at least expect my polish to last a bit better than that. Especially if I've gone to all the effort of three coats. At one point I touched up the tips and then added a fourth coat, to see if I could get a bit more life out of it. As you can see from these pictures, taken one hour after the fourth coat, the tipwear is already coming back. GAH!

What I liked about this polish:
The colour. I got two compliments on it within an hour of getting to work.
Application. I didn't have to do any clean-up. It was also opaque in two coats.

What I didn't like:
The wear. Although the colour is pretty, it's nowhere near special enough for me to get over how easily the tip wear appeared. Probably it'd have lasted better if I'd used top coat, but then I'd have had 5 layers of laquer on my nails, and quite frankly my life is too short to sit around waiting for that much paint to dry.

Overall verdict:
I'm normally the first to say how great Rimmel polishes are, especially their 10 day/lycra/pro type polishes. But this one, while pretty, is just too disappointing for me. I probably won't be wearing it on my fingers again although I may keep it for my toes (why do toes always seem to chip much slower than fingers?)

2 True Crystal Nail Polish : Shade 2 Vampish Red

Let me introduce you to a rare gem in my collection: 2True Crystal Nail Polish in Shade 2, 'Vampish Red'.

Do you remember when I reviewed 2True's gorgeous limited edition turquoise and purple Crystal polishes, HERE and HERE? Both times, I was blown away; they had awesome formulas, applied beautifully, dried smooth and sparkly, and looked and wore like they cost one heck of a lot more than the £1.99 (3 for £5) I paid for them. Vampish Red, an almost metallic looking, vivid cherry red (it looks a little more pink toned in real life than in these pictures) is every bit as great as they were; it went on a treat, dried nicely, and with only two layers plus one of top coat, it's survived two days of housework, showers, bleaching my hair without gloves on and washing the dog, and there isn't even any tipwear yet.

I absolutely love this polish and I currently have it on both my fingers AND my toes. It looks great with my sandals (not that I can wear them outside the house since it's peeing down with rain and so cold I've had to turn the heating back on, but still). It has this lovely inner glow, too - I love when a polish does that, don't you? Although this range was supposed to be limited edition, the last time I was in Superdrug they still had all four shades. I'd definitely recommend you snap this one up pronto while it's still around!

Rimmel Lycra Pro : Night Flight

Can you believe we're already 11 days into the new year? It seems like only yesterday we were celebrating, now I'm back at work and it already feels like I never had a break at all. Boo, Hiss!

(excuse the cuticles - they don't like cold weather, no matter how much I coddle them with cuticle creams and such)

In an effort to cheer myself up after that 'back to work' feeling, I decided it was time for a dark, vampy manicure as it's been a while since the last time and dark nails always seem particularly appropriate when it's dark and wintery outside! Out came my bottle of Rimmel Lycra Pro in Night Flight.

Night Flight is a dark, dark, blackened aubergine creme. In most lights it looks black, but with a purple undertone that is more obvious in real life than in these photographs... it can't quite decide if it wants to be aubergine or indigo; in the bottle it looks more 'blurple' than on the nail, where the blue inky tinge is less obvious and it becomes more of an aubergine. I tried with two different cameras to capture the purple glow that this polish has, and the only shots that came close were these ones here.

A big pro for this polish is that, since it's a Lycra Pro, it has the lovely wide curved brush that Rimmel uses for its Pro range. It also comes with a good, pigmented, reasonably fast drying formula that goes on evenly and is opaque in two coats. The finish is glossy (so much so that in most of these pictures, it looks like there are marks in the polish, but it's actually reflections of other things in the room!).

Wear was really good, although since it's a dark polish the tipwear etc is much more obvious than it would be with something lighter. I used two coats and no topoat, and did a lot of typing as well as some hardcore manual work dismantling a machine at work, and after three days I had some tipwear and only the vaguest hint of a chip on my index finger (one of those that you only really notice in a close up photograph but in real life it's not obvious).

Overall rating for this polish would have to be an 8 out of 10. It goes on beautifully, dries well, lasts a decent amount of time and it's a gorgeous colour. The only con is the slightly increased tipwear compared to other Lycra Pro's (it won't meet the 10 day lasting period claimed by this range) but this is a common problem with dark colours anyway so not that surprising.

Nails Inc : Saville Row

A nice vampy colour for you today: Saville Row, from Nails Inc.

Saville Row is a deep plum creme that in the bottle has a lovely purplish berry tone; it reminds me of black cherries and loganberries and since I looove that kind of colour, I was quite excited to see it on my nails. Unfortunately it loses most of that colour once it's dry and becomes more of a standard dark burgundy, although still a nice dark vampy shade and especially good for this time of year.

Application was nice and easy, the formula is creamy and pigmented enough to be opaque in two coats, and drying time wasn't bad, either. Wear, however, wasn't the best I've seen: even though I used a base coat and top coat, I had chipping within the day and quite noticeable tip wear, which was a little disappointing for the price Nails Inc charge : £11, though I got this bottle as a give away from a magazine - I don't know whether they used a different formula for their give away polishes but part of me hopes so... if I was to spend £11 on a polish I'd want it to last a bit longer!

Overall I do like this polish and would wear it again (though with an extra coat of topcoat to try and resist the chipping a bit longer), though if I found a similar colour with a longer lasting formula I'd probably switch to that instead.

Essie : Bordeaux

An unseasonal vampy mani for today: Essie Bordeaux. I'll apologise in advance, it's going to be picture heavy - I'm a little bit in love with this colour, I'm afraid ;)

Bordeaux is a lush, deep berry-wine coloured jelly with a lovely formula that goes on smooth and dries super glossy. In full sunshine, like in this bottle shot here, you can really see the berry tones.

In shade, it darkens to a vampy red wine hue that makes your mouth water; anyone else fancy a nice glass of red now? Just me?

Even though it's a jelly, it's opaque in two coats (as in these pictures, where you see two coats plus a layer of Orly Sec'n'Dry), though if you add a third coat you'll get a less reddish colour that's closer to the dark wine it shows up as in the bottle.

Wear is good, and although I used quick dry top coat this time (the whole thing was done in ten minutes), I've used this colour before without any top coat and the drying time was just fine.

One little piece of celebrity trivia: Rihanna named this polish as her favourite in a Vanity Fair article this January, and no surprise, since it's the kind of shade she's often seen wearing. In honour of this accolade, here's a swatch against my bottle of Rihanna's new perfume, Reb'l Fleur.

I think the vampy wine looks good with the vampy stilletto shaped bottle!