Tag Archives: blue

Nails of the week – teal/purple duochrome

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Petrol in water - Andrea Fulerton - Dani DutraPetrol in the water. Weird name, eh? Well, it is, but I can guarantee there is nothing weird about this nail colour.

After being very impressed with the durability of the Andrea Fulerton Trio nail varnish I wore a few weeks back (it didn’t chip, it survived the potato peeler and after seven days, it still looked so beautiful I felt bad to be removing it!), I decided to go crazy and bought three (!!!) other combinations.

I am, or course, wearing the aptly named Petrol in Water, and I cannot even describe how pretty it looks – three people, in one evening asked me what it was. It consists of a double ended polish with a dark metallic brown shade and an iridescent top coat.

I am truly in love – it will be very hard for any polish to beat this colour. The pictures don’t really do it any justice; with flash, the colour comes out as a dirty green-ish blue, but as the nails catch natural and  indoors light, they come alive and really remind me of that one drop of petrol in the water that triggers a multitude of shades…

This teal/purple duochrome with subtle green undertones looks stunning,  and depending on the light, it will be anything from peacock green/teal/indigo blue to purple. It has the most amazing colours, and it is very sparkly, without having glitter on it, so no rough texture.

Petrol in water by Andrea Fulerton - Dani Dutra

Now, I wasn’t that keen on the application, as this was a similar experience to that with my other trio, Rainfall – still find the double ended brush a bit clunky, not wide enough, the darker colour is a bit thin, so coverage is not great and the drying time was a bit too long. Normally, this would put me off right away, but for this shade it was well worth it!

I really cannot wait to try the other two, but I think it will be very hard for a polish to top this one… Beautiful!

Another weekend and another nail varnish binge – I acquired another three… now have them, together with another good half a dozen, lined up for the next weeks. I really must organise myself, as I am going away for a month over Christmas, will have to take the fabulous shades to be applied while on holidays!

Nails of the week – blue holographic glitter

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When I made the trip to Nails Inc to get the magnetic nail polish I wore last week, something else caught my attention: the Electric Lane holographic glitter topcoat.

Lately, I have been obsessing over glitter, but I must confess that I am usually not one for glittery nails (or shoes for that matter, and I am now eating my words, as explained on this post). Another late obsession of mine has been holographic nail polish, and I was crushed when I realised I missed Gosh’s limited edition one, which cost a bargainous £5, and is now going on Ebay for £20+!!! Add “limited edition” to a glittery holo nail polish and it comes to no surprise I succumbed to this £12 topcoat.

Because it is a topcoat, it obviously requires a nail varnish to be applied under, and I chose the lovely deep blue “Blue my mind”, from Collection 2000, which I wore for the first time a few weeks back, as I thought it would look very pretty, just like a starry night. And I wasn’t too wrong – while calling it a starry night might be a bit of a stretch, it does look lovely on cobalt blue.

I found it very easy to apply, the consistency is good and the coverage is impressive for a clear glitter polish, I just used one coat (with a second added as a touch up, 5 days after first application). My only issue is with the texture once dry: the main reason I haven’t been a huge wearer of glitter nail varnish is the “rough”, bumpy-ish finish. At least this one, being medium to fine grain, doesn’t look bumpy at all, but it feels slightly rough. To minimise that,  I applied an extra clear topcoat, so my nails feel smoother to the touch. Worth noting that this observation does not apply to this varnish in particular, every glitter polish I ever tried made me slightly uncomfortable in that department – some more than others.

The holographic element is quite good, it looks like a little explosion of colours, with some depth to it,  specially when it catches the light. However, under intense direct light it can look plain grey glitter. The pictures do not make justice to this fabulous polish at all, it was quite hard to photograph it, so I took a slightly out of focus picture which captures the multi-coloured light reflection I noticed many times when moving my hands around.

Overall, I am very happy with it, got a few compliments on the colour and I am looking forward to trying it with other colours underneath – black and white are suggested, but I think it would look good with bright pink, dark grey or green.

I have been going nail varnish crazy, so have *lots* of new ones to try on, which will keep me going for a few weeks – watch this space!

Nails of the week

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Cobalt blue nails

Blue!!! Yes, this week I painted my nails blue, finally – and I am absolutely loving it!

Wearing green last week opened up a whole new world of colour for my talons. I had so far resisted the colder shades, sticking faithfully to reds or pinks – warmer hues in general – but this really changed my manicure life. I know, a bit dramatic, but I do feel there are so many more colours to be discovered – plus, I’ve had really bad flu for a few days now, and this really cheered me up!

Following the my experience with the super inexpensive Collection 2000 green Bongo Beats, with its reasonable durability (it lasted seven days, with a couple re-touches), and great colour and price, I decided to give the brand another go: I chose the aptly named Blue my mind, from their Lasting Colour line (which promises colour up to 10 days – I will probably never know, as I usually change after seven, but I am hoping to have impeccable nails for the week!).

This is a deep metallic cobalt blue with amazing shine, that looks even more stunning in daylight. It costs £2.99 a bottle – a bargain, especially if it lasts as long as it promises! Delightful!

I am very excited to think about what colour is coming next!!!

Autumn/Winter 11-12 nails

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Illamasqua nail colours

A couple weeks ago, I bought a few nail colours from Miss Sporty – a classic red, an iridescent purple,  a hot pink to replace and oldie and… I floated towards my very first new season nail colour, a  dark mettalic gray. I am very sure I will be wearing it soon and  it will feature on the “nails of the week” – have applied it, just to try it on, and it looks fab!

Chanel nail colour

I haven’t really seen that much in terms of nail colour tendencies so far on the web, apart from a mention on Vogue, but by digging a bit I think my bet is on a multitude of ash tones, especially graphite, charcoal and matte greys. Midnight and cobalt blue, pearlised deep mocha, greige and metallic/iridescent green also seem to be popping up. I would also count on deeper reds –  berry, burgundy and even maroon.

Dior nail coloursChanel‘s Black Pearl, Blue Satin, Graphite and Particuliere, as well as  Dior‘s Underground, New Label and Perfecto and Illamasqua‘s Bacterium, Viridian, Propaganda and Phallic(!)  really fit the bill (all pictured on the right). I will be  definitely looking for more affordable options to test!

I have to confess I am a little bit sad that the super brights are getting a rest for the colder months and although it does make sense, I remain a big fan of glowing nail colour – I shall miss the flaboyance of summer in that sense. I do prefer warm colour on my talons – but I suppose red will always be there to comfort me!