Orange Nail Varnish Collection and Swatches

Orange is one of my all time favourite colours. It always perks me up to have a pop of orange in my look and nail varnishes are ideal for this. I think orange is one of the most lively and positive colours there is and I find myself picking up cosmetics in this shade far more often than I'm willing to admit! As I was packing away some of my things for my upcoming move (nothing dramatic, just going back to Grandma's before University so we can help each other out) I started idly scanning my polishes and a few really stuck out to me. So here are my five favourite orange nail varnishes!

From Thumb to Pinky: Models Own Fluro Orange, Nails Inc Porchester Place, Essie Fear or Desire, Rimmel Tangy Tangerine, W7 Pastel 16

Fluro Orange is ridiculously bright, no camera on earth could capture it's insane beauty. I didn't keep this bizarre (but kinda cool right? No? Just me then...) mani on for long but it's definitely the one that I couldn't keep my eyes off. If you're after some seriously attention grabbing talons I can't recommend this enough. It has a semi-matte finish but you could easily add a glossy top coat for a little more finesse. Porchester Place and Fear or Desire are fairly similar but Porchester Place has a touch more pink and is a little more muted. Both perfect for holiday toes! Tangy Tangerine is a classic apricot and was my boyfriends favourite of the lot for some reason. When I first asked his opinion he replied that they were all the same (my jaw nearly hit the floor at his blindness) but when pressed he claimed that Rimmel's offering was "more subtle and pretty."  I have to agree, it's a great transitional shade for Spring/Summer and won't offend your poor blind boyfriend. W7 is such a pain in the bum to effectively track down but I do so love them! I got a ten pack of pastels from TK Maxx and this is one of my favourites. Very delicate and cool and gorgeous with a tan.

I really hoped you like this! I have a real soft spot for colour-themed collections and adore seeing them on blogs so I couldn't resist! I think I may go for pink lip products next time. What do you think?

Which is your favourite shade? Any others that I have to try?

Lauren

NOTD: Essie, Bikini So Teeny

I've actually had this little gem knocking about in my collection since December when I picked it up in a spur of the moment TK Maxx haul and have only now tried it. This is my first ever Essie polish and I have some mixed feelings...

Essie polishes come in rectangular bottles, contain 15ml of product and retail at £7.99 each. This shade is from the Summer 2012 collection and was enormously popular at the time. I'll admit, I'd been lusting after it for an absolute age. I'm a huge fan of pastels and pale blues are a particular favourite of mine so it was only a matter of time (and TK Maxx sales) until it was with me. Bikini So Teeny is a beautiful cornflower blue which can read almost sky blue in artificial light. The pale shimmer running through it makes for a really multi-faceted colour and I constantly find myself looking at my nails when I'm wearing it.

I really like the packaging of Essie polishes, they're very distinctive and the raised logo on the glass gives them a slightly higher end feel. The biggest disappointment for me was how sheer this shade is. I ended up having to apply four coats which is absolutely ridiculous. I could still see the faint outline of the white tips after that. The drying time was fair but nothing to get excited about. BUT, the wear time is outstanding! It's been a week now and there isn't a single chip. I applied it without a base coat or top coat and it's still just as perfect as when it was first applied. For that reason alone I can understand why Essie is so raved about. However, I'm usually the sort of person that changes my nail varnish every two or three days so longevity isn't so much of a selling point for me personally so I wouldn't pay full price for them. Luckily there are a few great bargains around and you can usually find select colours on Fragrance Direct for £1.99 each.

Final Verdict: Takes several coats to reach opacity but lasts forever when it's on. Beautiful colour.

Do you have a favourite Essie shade? How often do you like to change your nail colour?

Lauren

Nail Varnish Haul: Nails Inc and Essie

TK Maxx is bargain heaven. I have only today fully embraced this amazing fact and spent an eye-watering £40 on nail varnish. BUT. It's Nails Inc and Essie, and it was worth £149. So I can't feel too guilty. I'm trying to but I can't. Here's my lovely little haul of 14 fantastic varnishes:

Fear or Desire, Bikini So Teeny, Navigate Her and bizarrely, Fear or Desire again. To be honest I don't think I'll ever get through one large bottle of neon orange, let alone two, so I'm considering selling this or if I hit a fun milestone soon, popping it in a giveaway. (Maybe an orange themed giveaway to celebrate the colour of 2012? Let me know if you like the sound of that!) This little collection set me back £9.99 which is amazing considering you can expect to pay £7.99 for a single bottle. Bikini So Teeny is the stand out for me here, a beautiful pale cornflower with a light shimmer. Hello Spring!

Great Putney Street, Putney Bridge, Kensington, Sheralton Place, Bridle Lane, Hampstead Gardens, Westminster, Holland Park Avenue, Porchester Place, Fenchurch Street. Phew! Seriously, wow, what an amazing collection! When I first saw this I wasn't too sure on Hampstead Gardens (rich mustard, bottom left) or Fenchurch Street (caramel/terracotta bottom right) but the more I look at them the more I love them. I cannot get over how much I saved here. I bought this lovely lot for £29.99 and of course, with each bottle coming in at a hefty £11 each, saved over £80. Part of me is hoping I can part with a couple of these to sell them on and justify the spend to my long suffering boyfriend, but I'm not sure it's gonna happen! My favourite here is probably Kensington, a dark dark teal/green shade. (How very 2013.) With the fabulous neutral Holland Park Avenue as a close second.

Overall I'm absolutely ecstatic with this purchase, but not ecstatic with the tumble weeds rolling through my bank account. Particularly when I should be buying Christmas presents. Oops. Roll on payday!

What do you think of my most recent haul? Which is your favourite colour?

Lauren

P.S. Sorry there was no eye challenge today. I have a bit of a cold and my eyes don't look great. It'll be up either tomorrow or you'll get a double feature on Tuesday. Sorry!