Revlon meets OPI

I love a bargain. That's kind of the point in this blog, right? So when I was in Poundland and I saw a Revlon nail polish, I knew I would be buying it. It was Emerald City, the first matte nail polish I've ever bought. I've had my eye on them for a while, so it was perfect.

This was a rush job, so it's only one coat, and it's an iPhone photo, but you get the idea. I LOVE the colour. I'm a sucker for green polish, and this one perfectly matches an eyeliner I have AND a cardigan I got for Christmas. Win win. But, the texture of the polish is horrible. It's like having really fine sandpaper on your nails. I didn't know what to do about a top coat. Matte top coat seemed unnecessary - what's the point in buying a matte nail polish if you're going to put a matte top coat on anyway? And other than that, I've only got a really shiny one, which would mean it wasn't matte any more. Oh, the dilemma. In the end, I just left it because I couldn't cope with the stress.

On to more bargains. Before Christmas, I ordered Rainbow Connection for my friend in Australia. The Ebay shop I bought it from argued with me over sending it to an alternative address (even though it was through Paypal), and in the end they refunded me, and I bought it from another shop.

The day after using the Revlon polish, I went back to work after a long break due to Christmas and being off sick with pneumonia. There was a package waiting for me. Confused, I opened it, and found a bottle of Rainbow Connection from the original people I bought it from. Yay for free nail polish!

So, not wanting to join the exclusive club of people who have spent hours applying and removing this beautiful glitter, I thought I would just add a relatively thick coat over the green I already had on.

Again, iPhone photo. I'm a slacker, sorry. BUT, I really love it, and now I want to apply Rainbow Connection over every single polish I own to see what it looks like. I have yet to take it off though, so that might change my mind.

Manicure Monday: Princess Nails - 17 Lilac Storm and OPI Teenage Dream

It's my first ever proper post, and I'm cheating already. I know I said I wasn't really going to feature the more expensive nail polish brands, but I was given an OPI mini as a gift, so it still falls into my under £10 category.

This manicure is the exact opposite of what I normally wear. Baby pink is really not my thing. Normally, I wear darker colours, though more and more brights and pastels have been sneaking into my collection.

I bought Lilac Storm from 17 when Boots had a special offer on. Despite the name, and how it looks in the bottle under some lights, it is definitely very pink. It looked like it had a really nice shimmer in the bottle, so I thought I'd give it a try. It sat in amongst my other pinks for quite some time, and I had intended to use it for a water marble manicure. But then I looked at Teenage Dream, and thought they would go perfectly together.

The formula of Lilac Storm is awful. It's very sheer, and after three coats it was somewhat streaky. If I wasn't planning to add Teenage Dream on top, I probably would have given up on it, and used something else instead. But, I persevered, and once I added a coat of Teenage Dream, the streaks were unnoticeable.

By the time I was finished, I felt like a 90s prom dress. Baby pink is definitely not my thing, but I have to admit, even I don't hate it. Who can resist sparkles?