NOTD - 'Aphrodite's Pink Nightie' (OPI)

Hi there!

Just a fly-by update of a polish I've owned for a while, loved for a while and only just got around to reviewing.  Oopsie!

I'd heard wonderful things about OPI from various people, and so when I stumbled across a bottle of pink varnish, delightfully titled 'Aphrodite's Pink Nightie', in a charity shop of all places, I had to pick it up and have a go.  And at the ridiculous bargain price of £1, how could I not??

As you can see from the bottle, it's a lovely, floral pink.  I used a topcoat of Beauty UK's 'Holographic Silver' glitter just for an extra bit of jazz.

Colour 9/10 :  This only doesn't get top marks because it isn't a shade I'd usually go for.  That said it really is a gorgeous pink, though a little lighter than it appears in the bottle.  It's quickly becoming my go-to nail polish for work (minus the glitter), and events where I want something more exciting than a clear polish, but still conservative and pretty.

Application - 8/10  : I find you need about 2-3 coats of this to get it completely opaque.  This was 2 coats with a bit extra on the index finger.  It's a little bit streaky but not overly so, and I find the majority of streakiness is on the first coat anyway.

Value for Money - 6/10 : I have to admit that, being the skinflint that I so often am, I could never justify paying full price (£10+) for an OPI polish, no matter how amazing it was.  Finding this one for pittance was a stroke of luck and I think until I come into better wages, I'll have to hope my run of luck continues!

Chipping/Smudging etc - 9/10 : I find that with a good topcoat, I can get a good 4 days wear out of this polish with only minor chips.  For reference, I've included photos below after 4 days of wear. 

As you can see from those photos, there is only minimal chipping, which I was really impressed by.  I have to add though that I wonder if it's because the glitter topcoat is particularly hardy.  With a normal clear topcoat (usually No7's Stay Perfect), I find I can get 3 days easily out of this polish. 

Overall, this is a great polish which, in my opinion, would do very well as THE pink in your collection.  It is so beautifully wearable and versatile and whilst the bottle lasts, I can't see myself buying another pink. 

GOSH - Ocean (540)

Second post of the day and with the second of my lovelies comes one of my favourites by GOSH - "Ocean". 

This polish genuinely cheers me up everytime I wear it.  It's a beautiful, slightly chromey aqua and really stands out on my pale skin.  I remember the first time I wore it, I couldn't stop staring at it. 

As always, here's my personal scoreboard for this polish.

Colour - 9/10 - Gorgeous, beautiful....love it so much!  This is pretty much my top score for any colour, unless it does something that surprises me, like Laval's Red Glitter did.

Longevity - 7/10 - On its own, without any base or topcoat, it does chip after about 2 days wear - less, if you're using your hands a lot for typing etc. 

Application - 8/10 - First coat is quite sheer, but after 2 coats, it's pretty much opaque.  Goes on really smoothly, and has nice, silky texture to it once dried.

Price 8/10 - For £4.99, it's not cheap as chips, but for the unusual colour and overall quality, I'd say it's well worth the money.  Also worth pointing out, I've used this polish a LOT over the past couple of years and I still have about half the bottle left.

Laval - "Red Glitter" Nail Polish

Wow, it's been a while!

I want to update with a couple of new polishes - well, new here that is.  I've had the first of these lovelies in my collection for ages and I've been meaning to show it off here.

It's by a company called Laval, which admittedly until I bought this polish, I had never heard of before.  It was cheap and cheerful (£1.50 from a bargain bin if I remember correctly) and so I figured it was worth a spin. 

From the bottle, I was expecting your run-of-the-mill red glitter.  What I wasn't expecting was it to actually be pigmented, and to be so gorgeous! 

Thus I like to call this my "Jessica Rabbit" polish, and I hope the photos will give you some idea as to why! Unfortunately, the photos don't quite do the gloss and sparkle of this polish justice, but I hope they'll give you the general idea.

The following photo is just to show off what the bottle looks like, and the impression of the polish inside.

And the next photo I hope gives you some idea of just how highly pigmented this polish is.  This was after only two coats, and there's no top coat involved here - all the gloss is from the original polish - how fab is that?!

So, to conclude....

Colour -  10/10 - Laval's "Red Glitter" gets top marks here, partly because of my surprise at its vivid pigmentation, when I was expecting just your average glitter polish. 

Longevity - 6/10 - Admittedly, it does chip rather easily.  I've worn it for 2 days without much chipping.  That said, I've never worn it with a topcoat, so that would help its lifespan.

Application - 8/10 - Pretty easy!  It needed two coats to achieve 85% opacity, I'd say, but for complete opaque red, glittery goodness, you could  have 3 without it being thick or gungy on your nails.

Price 9/10 -  For £1 out of a bargain bin, I'd say you can't really go wrong here!  I'm only marking it one mark down because I'm unsure where you can purchase Laval's polishes on the high street.  If anyone knows, feel free to comment with any information!  I'd imagine Ebay may have a couple.  I've certainly not seen them in retail stores, so it's probably worth keeping an eye out on market stalls or discount stores.

No7 - Night Silver

Recently, I got hold of some of those lovely £5 off vouchers that Boots do for their No.7 range - yay!  Of course, being an avid lover of their nail polishes, that's where they ended up being spent.  Also, really £2 for one of their top quality polishes is frankly an absolute steal.  Love it!

This time around, I picked something a little different from my usual bright colours, and went for a deep grey colour, with a little shimmer in it to pump up the glamour.

Application : 10/10

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I will rave about the ease of application with these polishes.  I rarely ever need more than one coat, and the polish dries diamond hard.  It chips eventually, but I've had at least a week of wear out of them, and with the amount of typing I do which is murder to most of my polishes, I'm always continually amazed by the staying power of the No.7 range.    This one is no exception to that rule!

Colour : 7/10

I like it.  It's subtle and very elegant.  Usually, as I say, I prefer vibrant polishes, but this is perfect if I want something pretty but maybe a little more toned down from the vivid pinks and purples.  There's something timeless about greys and with the shimmer addition, I'm happy to welcome this into my ever growing collection.

(I would to take this moment to say that the glitter in these pictures isn't from the polish - it's a separate iridescent glitter polish from Beauty UK.)

Price  8/10

As I say, I got this one with the £5 off voucher so for me £2 is a definite awesomeness.  The original retail price is £7 and whilst that is possible tipping my budget in general for nail polishes, the saying "you get what you pay for" definitely applies here!  I would rather spend £7 on one of these top quality polishes, than £3/4 on a disappointing gloopy polish.  

Yup.  The No.7 love continues! :)

Accessorize Illusion - Pink Spice

A friend of mine recommended this range by Accessorize and initially, I was very intrigued.  Of all of them, Pink Spice was the one that appealed to me the most, primarily because it was so unlike anything I had in my collection.  I had also heard that it was a pretty spot on dupe for MAC's "Bad Fairy" and generally MAC prices are a little out of my budget range, more's the pity.

Anyway....


Application  7/10

The application itself was really nice and smooth.  Unlike some polishes which can be quite gloopy and end up in a really thick layer, despite needing 2-3 coats to be fully opaque, this polish was really smooth and totally rock hard once it was dry (within about 5 minutes or so).

Colour  10/10

Where, oh WHERE do I start??  The best way I can describe it is a duo-tone pink-orange with a metallic sheen.  Both colours are equally vibrant in their own way under different lights and combined, they're just beautiful!  I have had lots of compliments on this polish and overall, I was very impressed.

Price  :8/10

Retailing at £4 in the UK, this polish is, in my opinion a pretty good bargain!  I can see it lasting a long time as you don't need much of it.

Finally, as far as confirming or denying the rumour that this is a dupe for MAC's "Bad Fairy". I can't personally say either way as I don't own both polishes.  However, from the various images I've seen, I'd say it looks pretty damn close to me!

Stay Perfect "Salsa" - No7

Wow it's been a while.  Sorry guys.  After that first post I lost interest in blogging for...hm, months. Lately though, I've been getting that spark of motivation back, and want to show you all an old favourite of mine. 

"Salsa"  in the Stay Perfect range from No.7 is one of my all time favourite varnishes.  It is such a beautiful deep red with a gorgeous gloss.  This is two coats, though the second coat was just a touch up of the richness of the colour.  You can get a full coverage with just one coat - that's how awesome this varnish is!  I've got a single clear topcoat here just to jooosh up the glossiness some. 

 

I took this photo two days after application, and although you can see a few tiiiny chips on the very edges of the nails, considering how much typing I do and general daily chores etc, it holds up like an absolute dream.  I honestly cannot recommend this varnish enough!!! 

GOSH - Holographic

My, my...I don't make life easy for myself, picking this varnish to be my first blog entry ever!

Why, you ask?  All shall be revealed shortly, I promise...

Before I set up Little Pierrot, I lurked around the blogs of other makeup artists on here, and one in particular I came across was Nikki's Nails - a blog I love for her writing style, good humour and in depth reviews of nail varnishes, plus the gorgeous photos she takes of the products she reviews.   Amongst these was Gosh "Holographic" - one that caught my eye immediately for two reasons.  The first of these was due to the brand name, which I've been familiar with for a little over a year or so due to their beautiful lip glosses and dusts.  The second was due to the photos which, when I saw them, my jaw kinda dropped with the epicness.

Naturally, this varnish was soon top of my "To Buy and Try" (TBT) list.

Unfortunately, after a little research into "Holographic", I found out to my dismay that the product had been discontinued and allegedly you could only find it for sale on Ebay for stupid amounts of money - we're talking between £12-16 for a pot of £4.99 nail polish! That's over 100% markup!!  So I resigned myself to waiting until one came on the market for less than those prices...and I figured I'd be waiting a while.  Until I went into Superdrug the other day, just on the offchance that they might have some left in stock...not actually expecting anything.

Not only did they have it in stock.  But it was marked down half price at £2.49!   I grabbed it, bought it and walked home feeling rather pleased with myself lol!

I finally got to try it out tonight and I this is what I found.

Application

This was quite possibly the 2nd most frustrating downside of the polish.  I've read in various blogs that it takes up to 3 coats to get a decent layer of colour across the nail.  Not only that, but Gosh recommend you buy their own "Special Formula" base coat for "Optimum Wear".

I didn't - which might possibly be the reason I had so much difficulty applying the varnish, but equally it may not, who knows.  I certainly don't feel the need to rush out and buy it though as after an initial clear base coat of my own, followed by 4 layers of the 'Holographic' and a final top coat, I had a decent coverage.  The problem I found with it was that you could apply one layer, let it dry, and then as you applied the next, some of the previous layer would just come off on the brush!  Frustrating to say the least - and as varnishes go, it's a bizarre concoction which I've never come across before.


Colour

Now, this is interesting.  I was initially disappointed when I inspected my nails after the topcoat had dried, because they looked nothing more than a faint dull silver.  Sure the holographic effect was there, but it was nowhere near as vibrant or colourful as I'd seen in other users' photos.

And then I went into the kitchen where the lighting was a lot better and......WOW!

What I will say here is that trying to capture the true look of this nail varnish on film is a PAIN IN THE BUM!  I tried taking photos on both my phone and my camera, but none of them really capture the detail of the nails.  I can vouch for the fact that the holographic effect IS, in the right light, THAT striking and bright.  It definitely is a "make a statement" varnish for sure.  What these photos don't capure though is that under the holographic effect,  there is also a slight grainy, glittery texture which is overall pretty smooth to the touch.  Whether that is a good or a bad thing, I'm not sure, but it certainly doesn't distract from the overall effect of the varnish. :)


Value for money

Now, I'm a pretty big fan of Gosh's varnishes.  The other ones I own I find you only need one or two coats max to get a decent coverage, and Gosh always seem pretty generous with the amount they give you in each £4.99 bottle.  Taking into consideration though the amount of coats you need with 'Holographic' to achieve the full effect, I can see that you might get through the bottle a lot quicker than you might want.  Then again, whilst I love stuff like this and think nothing of wearing such bold, vibrant makeup on a daily basis, I can very well see how other people might prefer to keep this varnish for a special occasion, party etc and thus it may balance out that whilst you need a lot of it in one go, the amount you use it may mean it still lasts you a long time.  Therefore, I would say that 'Holographic' is good value for money at or around the £4.99 retail price.


Longevity

Having only had the polish on for a couple of hours, I can't really comment on it's staying power right now.  However, I will come back to this in a couple of days and let you know then how hardy it is.

Thanks for reading and all the best!