Autumnal Nail Faves - Five of The Best

For as long as I've been a beauty lover, I've been a huge polish fan too - maybe longer. While I don't dabble as much in the nail art end of things quite as much as I used to - blame ALL of the work I'm lucky enough to be doing - I still love to paint my talons on the daily. Yes, Summer colours are where my heart lie but there's just something about Autumnal shades that make that seasonal shift a little easier. Wouldn't you agree?

Essie Take It Outside

Essie's Take It Outside from their Fall '14 collection is easily the stand out nude of the year for me. Almost cast like in the bottle, this shade comes to life with purple and pink undertones once the light catches it. The unassuming shade is flattering on all skin tones and has been flattering mine on the regular these past weeks. 

Catrice Metalfusion

Catrice have never not impressed me when it comes to polishes. I can't count the amount of times I've sent pals and readers in the direction of their stands for high quality, cheap as chips polishes to suit all occasions. Metallure is the Autumn/Winter collection (more on that later) and Metalfusion here is the stand out lacquer for me. Opaque in one coat, stunning in two, this pewter foil wears like a polish 5 times it's €2.99 price. 

Essie Partner in Crime with China Glaze BOO-Gie Down

Talk about unassuming, Essie's Partner in Crime had to be the one from the collection that had me least enthused. I mean, it's brown. Straight up, no frills about it, brown. It's only when you paint it on that something magical happens - you realise that actually, you quite like brown. It's a stunning autumnal colour and with the aid of China Glaze's BOO-gie Down from their Halloween '13 collex, you get this gorgeous mani. It's one of my most liked Insta nail pics - who can argue with that?

Bourjois Violine Hypnotique

When it comes to autumn, nothing says seasonal nails quite like a rich burgundy metallic. Think Chanel's Rouge Noir but with a subtle microshimmer that lights up in sunlight. That and lasts a hella lot longer too. Bourjois' Violine Hypnotique has been a standing fave of mine since its introduction and is genuinely one that I look forward to wearing as the weather gets colder. It's also been known to make an appearance on my tootsies all year 'round. 

Nails Inc Porchester Square

The spendiest of the bunch and my second favourite nude, Nails Inc Porchester Square is a doozy. A dream to apply (Nails Inc know their brush shizz) this wears better than any nude I own. Though it's a beaut on its own, I can never help myself but add a little su'him 'su'him. The glitter here is an antique gold from a Claire's Accessories stack that probably cost a fiver for 10. BARG.AIN. That's the thing about autumnal nails, glitter is back in the game - choose your favourite base and go to town with complementing or contrasting colours. The world really is your glittery lobster. 


I could go on and on and Arist-on about favourite polishes but I'll leave my Autumn picks there... for now...

Tell us, what do you like to wear this time of year? If you have NOTD posts, sure the more's the better, pop you link in the comments below and we'll all take a squizz!

First Look: China Glaze Colour Match App for iPhones, iPods & iPads

We all know I'm a little bit nuts about nails and occasionally, just occasionally one brand will bring something to the table that blows my socks off. That's just what happened last night when I discovered the brand new China Glaze App. Now apps that let you, with the aid of CGI 'try on' polish colours are nothing new but this offering is something a whole lot slicker altogether. 

Using cutting edge technology, China Glaze have developed what I think will be the biggest interest point for nail nuts and nail polish occasional fanciers alike, the 'Match a Colour' Feature.  

This feature allows you to take a picture with your phone and will instantly give you 8 choices of polish that best match that colour. Think of all the time saved when trying to find a polish to match an outfit for a special occasion. Think of the relief of no longer having to think of the name of a colour so you can google its closest corresponding shade. 

I've just given you a little demo here from my phone to show you how it works. Neat, huh? 

The China Glaze App is free on all Apple devices from the iTunes store, you can try its basic functions here, but it is hoped that it'll be rolled out to Android within the next two months. 

What do we think? Am I getting excited over nowt? I can't hear you over the sound of my camera, nails the exact colour of Mr Whippy's pastel van here I come! 

China Glaze Prismatic Collection - Magpie Nirvana!

You'll remember last week I showed you the gorgeous Ray-Diant from the China Glaze Prismatic Collection, well, as promised, today I have a look at the entire collection for all of your magpie wants. Each polish is a densely packed holographic glitter with ultra fine to small glitter particles that can be used in a single coat, built up for bling or used as a base for an even bigger glitzier glitter, I did with Rainbow Connections and Ray-Diant.

There are six polishes in this collection and they differ slightly with regard to the jelly suspension and colour of micro glitter so each have a distinctive coloured finish. Let's have a look at the swatches first, then each polish close up.

Nice, eh? Now let's have a closer inspection of the individual polishes..

Polarized from Prismatic 

Polarized is the most silver of the lot with multi coloured micro glitters. 

Prism from Prismatic

Prism has all of the elements of Polarized but with more blue/purple microglitters so shines purple in the light. 

Optical Illusion from Prismatic

Optical Illusion is a blue/green offering with some purple duochrome glitters. 

Full Spectrum from Prismatic

Full Spectrum, while very like Prism, finishes to a pinker hue than the others. Very pretty. 

Liquid Crystal from Prismatic

Liquid Crystal is probably the most duo chrome of the collection. Although it's packed full of multi coloured glitters the final effect is a purple/blue hybrid, depending on how the light hits it. 

Ray-Diant from Prismatic

Ray-Diant has a greenish hue but changes in front of your eyes, depending on the angle and the light. It was my first from the collection and is probably still my favourite.

As with all glitters, I'd advise you use a base coat as when removing them, they have a tendency to scratch the nail bed. A top coat is also a must to even out the many, many glitter particles and prevent snags. Please don't allow removal to put you off these stunning polishes, I've yet to meet a glitter that's any match for Cutex Moisture Guard and a sheet of Plenty.

The Prismatic collection is available now from Beauty Emporium for €7.50 per polish. What say ye?

China Glaze - Ray-Diant - Prismatic Collection

Ray-Diant from the China Glaze Prismatic collection is probably one of the densest glitter polishes I've ever had the pleasure to use. One of six stunning multichrome glitters, it's my first purchase of the lot and I've fallen for it so quickly that I've just pressed purchase on the other five but couldn't wait for their delivery to show you this one.

With pewter and silver micro glitter, pink, green, silver, blue, yellow and red circular glitters, this is the only polish that's ever taken the sting out of me missing out on OPIs Mad as a Hatter from the Alice in Wonderland collection (it haunts my dreams).

Ray-Diant: China Glaze Prismatic

There is no picture that will truly convey to you the sparkle & shine of this polish, I spent a good hour taking pictures and WTFing as I couldn't quite capture its beauty. As for formulation, Ray-Diant is set in a thick jelly so thin coats are need for application but even with one coat, the nail is covered and taking eyes of of heads with ease. Always be sure to use a top coat with a polish like this, the multiple glitters will leave a rough finish but one coat of Seche Vite or similar smoothes that right out and allows every speck to sparkle.

On its own its subtle enough to get away with an office manicure, absolutely it's an ideal pedicure polish but me, being the ridonkulous magpie that I am, couldn't help but try on a coat of my other favourite glitter, Rainbow Connections from the OPI Muppets collection. Wanna see what that looks like?

Rainbow Connections over Ray-Diant. Magpie Nirvana! 

Priced at a hugely reasonable €7.50 for the quality of polish involved, I can't recommend Ray-Diant enough. As I've said I've ordered the rest of the collection and will be sure to let you see just how gorgeous I know they will be once they arrive. 

What think ye? Bling enough?

China Glaze Winner!

And the winner is...... Wendy Thompson-Lee (Wendy Smailes)


Yay, Wendy! Send on your details via PM or email and I'll get these beauties out to you!


As for the rest of you beautiful folk, steady yourselves, next CherrySue's Christmas Giveaway is about to go live....

China Glaze Giveaway - It's an Easy One!

Here we are, as promised, my first festive Giveaway. I can no longer deny Christmas hurtling towards us, it being December and all. The rummaging of advent calendars is deafening & that's just my two!

To celebrate all things jolly I have a full set of China Glaze Santa's Little Helpers to give away, perfect for Holiday Paws. 

Comp closed, Folks. Thanks!

Entry is simple as this is only the first of several Christmassy plans and is open to all followers GFC, Networked Blogs and Facebook but you must be a follower somewhere. 

Either a) Leave a comment below to let me know you're interested or b) Like my Facebook page & share the picture. That's all there is to it!

Of course you can do both if you're so inclined for two shots at these lovelies. Competition will close next Friday the 9th to make way for a new one. Grinch? Moi?