My Nail Polish collection!

For this month's 2014 Blogger Challenge post, we have to write about something to do with nails and as I wrote a review of my favourite polish yesterday (well done Jess...very clever planning there...), I've decided to show you the rest of my collection!

Apart from lipsticks, nail polishes are my weakness and I own too many in my mum's eyes. As far as I'm concerned, they're all gorgeous and wearable colours that I will use over and over again when the occasion arises and they're all as necessary as each other!

From the top pink going clockwise: The Girls are Out, Naughty Nautical, Bahama Mama, Chinchilly,
Orange, It's Obvious, Tea and Crumpets, Mademoiselle, Ballet Slippers, To Buy or Not to Buy,
Mojito Madness, Muchi Muchi, Tart Deco, Turquoise et Caicos, Aruba Blue.

My most collected brand of  polish is Essie, of which I own 14. I got 6 from Fragrance Direct for Christmas at £1.99 each and the rest have been bought at Boots over the last year or so. The 3 for 2 offer they have has saved me a pretty penny in that time! The colour range available is gorgeous and I always get so confused when trying to cut down the colours I want to buy to three because I love nearly all of them! The quality of these polishes is second to none and they're easily my favourite in all areas. The consistency is amazing, colours great, application brilliant and it always looks professional as the colours are strong as opaque. Add a base/top coat and you have a long lasting set of gorgeous nails! 

The rest of my collection!
See below pictures for names.

Left to right: Prickly Pear, Blue Moon, Mint Green, Berry Ice Cream, Pomegranate.

I also have 5 Barry M colours, 2 of which are part of the Gelly range. Even though a lot of people swear by these, I don't like them as much. They have a really good colour range and the polishes are pretty, but I find that they chip really easily and the Gelly colours aren't actually that shiny once dry. I don't dislike them and if I looked I would still probably find a pretty colour and want to buy it, but compared to Essie, they just don't hold up to the same standard. 

Left to right: Double Decker Red, Tangy Tangerine, Diamond Dust,
Block Your Green, Marshmallow Heaven.

I also own 5 Rimmel polishes - 4 from the I heart lasting finish range and 1 from the precious stones range. I've only used one of these and I really liked it. Again, they chipped quite easily but I have a feeling that as I haven't used base or top coats with any but Essie, I'll need to test this theory again sometime soon and then see how they last! I've also used the precious stones polish as an accent nail and I thought it was really good! 

Left to right: Cosmic Crush, Black Cherry, Red Robin, Topaz.

As they are only £1.99 each, I bought 4 Natural Collection polishes which, for their price, aren't too bad! There is a limited range of colours but the two I have are pretty and chip in the same amount of time as the Barry M or Rimmel even though they are about double the price of the Natural Collection polishes!

Left: Miami.
Right: Peacock.

I also own two 17 polishes but I don't remember the last time I wore either of them! I really love the green colour, I actually accidentally bought it for a second time once because I didn't remember owning it! Luckily Boots gave me my money back!

Left to right: Vivid Violet, Pink Grapefruit, Elixir, Tangy.

In a box on my set of drawers, I found 4 No7 polishes, all of which apart from the orange one I don't remember buying as they're quite old! I think the burgundy shade was a present from someone but again, I'm not really sure.

Marilyn.

My only Jessica nail polish was a present from my parents for Christmas a few years back (as a joke because of the name I think!) and I only opened it a few months ago! It's really high quality and would have lasted longer with a base/top coat but the colour is gorgeous and it applied nicely - I definitely want to find more colours! It also has such a pretty name!

No name.

I bought this NYC polish years and years ago for a party and I haven't used it for about 4 years...I should probably throw this one out! I think I ended up just using it as a polish to do polka dots with when I was in year 9 or so as it was difficult to remove so I didn't coat my whole nail in it. I remember that it was also quite gloopy when I used it so it really should head to the bin...

Big Apple Red.

I got this free with Glamour magazine a while back and I love it. It's a Nails Inc/Kate Spade collab and you all know my obsession with Kate Spade so I had to pick one up! I'm quite sad that I didn't also get the silver one too because it was really pretty and they're also really good quality! Very shiny and bright! I might have to see if all Nails Inc polishes are the same!

All in One

Since I bought it a little while back, this All in One base/top coat has been my holy grail. It goes on smoothly and thinly, dries in an instant and produces the most amazing shine when used as a top coat. It also doubles up as a nail strengthener so it's pretty good! Last time I used it, I managed to peel my nail polish off instead of having to use nail polish remover which is also great because the chemicals in the remover didn't get to undo all of the good work the base had done! My current nails have been going almost a week with this on and they still haven't chipped so I think it speaks for itself!

I have no idea how many of these are actually still being sold because as I've said, some are quite old and I don't even remember where I got them from!
Hope you guys enjoyed this, it made me realise how many polishes I have!
Jess xx

Challenge post four.
Challenge post three. (with links to two and one!)

My Recent Make-Up buys

I don't have a lot of time to write out loads of reviews so I thought that I would do one mini review of each product and a swatch if I can (it's obviously quit difficult to do 2 nail polishes at once!) in one longer post!

Over the last couple of months, I've bought a fair bit of make up due to freebies in magazines, sales or just an impulse buy! 

My most recent pieces! 
From left clockwise: Body Collection maxi lipstick in Vixen, Rimmel Apocalips lip laquer in Nova,
Nails Inc/Kate Spade nail polish in Big Apple Red, Essie nail polish in Bahama Mama, Miners Matte Factor lip paint in Deep Read, Technic whipped foundation mousse in Natural, Benefit Coralista lip gloss, Soap and Glory Sexy Mother Pucker gloss stick in Raplumzel and Eyeko Skinny Mini liquid eyeliner in Black.

Body Collection maxi lipstick - Vixen

I bought this during my half term holiday in Norfolk at a Department store. I found some clearance bins and decided to have a rummage to see what I could find and picked up this! I'd never heard of the brand before but it was only £2 or something so it was worth the risk! It smells really plastic-y and I'm still not 100% sure on the colour, I think it's the wrong shade of red for me but who knows, I might grow to love it eventually! It isn't drying on the lips though and seems to last a decent amount of time.

Rimmel Apocalips lip laquer - Nova

I was so happy to find this in the same bargain bin for only £2.99 as opposed to the usual £6.49! The colour is quite nice but tends to cling to the dry patches on my lips which is annoying, I love the applicator though!

It's brighter in person!

Nails Inc/Kate Spade nail polish - Big Apple Red

This was a freebie with last month's issue of Glamour magazine and it's a gorgeous bright, festive red! I wore it a few weeks ago and it was so nice! The applicator isn't as nice as Essie's but it did the job with minimal skin painting! It lasted quite a long time before chipping which is always nice and I'm really happy I got this colour, it's completely perfect for this time of the year! I just wish I could go back and buy the silver one too, they would look so good together! Sadly they were only available with the magazine so too late now. I don't have a swatch because I didn't think to take a picture while I was wearing it (oops)!

Essie - Bahama Mama

I bought this specifically as a more muted colour to wear at my interview at Reading on wednesday and I'm completely in love! Essie never fail to disappoint! It's such a gorgeous plum colour that goes with everything - it's also great for this time of year as it adds a bit of colour but isn't too bright - almost like a neutral!

Miners Matte Factor lip paint - Deep Red

Another Norfolk buy, only £3.99 and usually only available online so I got really excited when I found this! This has been my go to lip product for the last few weeks or so! I absolutely love it and it reminds me of the Collection lip creams a lot - they even have the gorgeous vanilla cream scent! It goes on really smoothly and lasts for a good few hours! I love the colour too, it's darker than in the picture but is such a wearable colour! My favourite red lip product by quite a way I think! It will be great for this festive season, it matches my Crew fair isle jumper really well!

It's more red - this makes it look quite pink!

Technic whipped foundation mousse - Natural

I bought this in Norfolk for £3.99 as a stand in for my Max Factor whipped creme foundation sample that I was using (finally bought the full version and it's incredible!) and it was good for the price! Now I have my proper foundation, I don't know how much use it will get as it's more drying and clings to my dry patches more but it was good as a filler and matched my skin tone really well!

The colour of my face and hand differ quite a bit so while it looks orange here, it's actually the right colour for my face! (This swatch isn't blended in, it's easier to see the colour like this.)

Benefit lip gloss - Coralista
I got this as a freebie in the last issue of Elle magazine which was rather exciting, getting mini versions of more expensive brand products is always a good, it gives you the chance to see if the full price is worth it or not! Personally, I would never pay £14.50 for a lip gloss anyway but I don't really like this product as much as I thought I would. It is such a pretty colour and has a really lovely smell but the colour just disappeared when it was put on my lips. It makes my lips feel quite soft and it's not sticky but it's also quite drying and I catch myself rubbing my lips together more often than I would like. I'm not a huge fan of lip glosses anyway and this one hasn't changed my mind very much - give me a lipstick any day! It's a nice freebie but if I had the chance, I wouldn't buy it because it's vastly overpriced for something with the same quality I would expect from something half or a third of the price. This is definitely a case of paying for the name rather than the quality.

Soap and Glory Sexy Mother Pucker gloss stick - Raplumzel 

Now for the other side of the lip gloss spectrum. After picking up a gloss stick in Nudist with the Girl O Whirl gift set a few weeks back, I've been hooked on these crayon shaped beauties. I knew I had to buy more colours so I opted for Raplumzel, a deep plum colour. (It was also probably also influenced by the fact that there were only 4 left across the range and it was the only one not tampered with, but luckily that was the colour I wanted the most!) I LOVE this product. It goes on so smoothly, it's pretty much just colouring in your lips which is so satisfying! I love how it's in stick form because it makes application so much simpler and not feel like an actual lip gloss. The colour is great and it's so softening and moisturising, it also lasts quite a long time for a 'gloss', if you can call it that! This is definitely worth the money at £8.00 from Boots but probably the most I'll pay for a lip gloss. 

The colour is brighter and darker in person! 

 Eyeko Skinny Mini liquid eyeliner - Black

I am horrendous at doing liquid eyeliner so I always opt for pen versions as they are easier to use! I love this one from Eyeko as the pen is really thin so if you have a really steady hand and quite a bit of time to make sure it's perfect, you can do a subtle thin line that looks amazing! I wear this quite a bit and it doesn't budge throughout the day which is quite impressive because my eyes tend to water a lot in the cold weather. I got this as a freebie from Glamour magazine 2 issues ago and I will definitely be buying it again - a full sized version is £10 and comes in black, brown, purple and blue!

I apologise for the bad line as I find it quite difficult to do sometimes! The mascara I'm wearing is BadGal Lash from Benefit, a firm favourite of mine!

This post was significantly longer than I expected it to be but it was so much easier creating one post with little reviews as opposed to lots of smaller posts trying to come up with a decent length post about a product that I haven't got a lot to say about! I think if I recommended any of the products, they would be the Essie nail polish, Miners lip paint, Soap and glory gloss stick and eyeko eyeliner.

Let me know if you prefer this or individual posts! 

Jess xx