The Nail File

You might have seen Scandal polishes before – they’re the supercute bottles with the corset lid (including boobies for extra grip). I have no idea where you buy them from, but they’re a Korean brand and I have seen them in various little shops around Chinatown and whatnot.

I picked my Scandal polishes up a few months back at the Sydney International Spa and Beauty Expo – they had a huge stand with walls and walls of colours, all with the black, silver or gold corset tops. The range is huge – cremes, metallic, glitter, and decorative (with floating chunks like stars and hearts). I was drawn to Bling Orange because it’s a creamy melon colour – not quite coral, not quite sherbet. Definitely not orange though, and certainly not blingy, so the name is perhaps a little off the mark.

Two coats gave great coverage and the polish looked nice, but it was the weirdest thing – the polish literally rubbed off. No chipping or cracking (although it takes a while to really dry, as evidenced by the ding in my middle finger, below) , but it rubbed away all around the edges. I painted in the afternoon and by the next morning it was like someone had taken the eraser from the end of my pencil and just rubbed the colour out. Very weird.

Scandal – Bling Orange

Price: I paid $2 at the Spa and Beauty Expo but they retail for around $6
From: You’ll have to go exploring!
Three free? Based on the label on the bottle, I think it is, but I can’t be certain

This polish purchased by The Nail File for review – for more details, please see our disclosure policy

There’s something about spring that makes me happy – the sun is shining, the weather is warm, daylight savings has started (sorry, Queensland) and everyone is getting about in bright, bold colours.

To celebrate summer only being 13 days away (counting? moi?) I have been rocking a rainbow manicure. Yellow, orange, coral, pink, purple…four of them are creme and one is slightly shimmery (the orange), but it doesn’t look out of place.

From left to right:

Models Prefer – Love To Shop – $5.99 – Priceline

Essie – Bachelorette Bash – $18.95 – Myer (Note: I bought this in the states for $8 and it’s part of the Essie line at Walmart so I have no idea if it’s available here or not)

Maybelline Mini Colorama – Urban Coral – $5.95 – Priceline

Maybelline Mini Colorama – Urban Orange - $5.95 – Priceline

Maybelline Mini Colorama  - Urban Lemon - $5.95 – Priceline

Cute, no? Nail art without the nail art.

The Models Prefer and Maybelline polishes were offered to The Nail File for editorial consideration in accordance with our disclosure policy

I can’t keep up! Les Jeans de Chanel was only just released and we’re already looking towards the next trio to hit counters, which, incidentally, is a total trend reversal to the three blues that just waltzed into our lives. Luckily these three aren’t anything outrageous or radical, like Illusions d’Ombre, they’re simple and chic pastel creams.

Slated for a January 2012 release, the three polishes are:

April: glossy fuchsia

May: pastel pink

June: tangerine cream

Image via stylebistro.com

These three polishes were seen on the runway at their S/S 2012 Ready to Wear show at Paris Fashion Week, along with a mother of pearl polish. Word from Chanel is that the pearly white won’t be going into production. Possibly a good thing, as I use to own a Chanel pearl polish and the formula was terrible – streaky and chippy.

While I think this trio is beautiful and incredibly wearable, doing colours that are easily duped makes it that much harder to justify the huge price tag for Chanel polish. I have said before that their formula is quite hit and miss, so would you be prepared to pony up $39 for a polish, when you know you can get a similar shade in a formula you know will go the distance? How do you feel about Chanel polish?

Essie. Essie Essie Essie. Why do you torture your antipodean fans with tantalising images of your new collections, when we won’t get them for another 6 months? It’s torture!

The newest collection from Essie, Carry On, is out now for (American) Fall 2011. The inspiration is handbags, and all the glorious hues of those beautiful accessories we cart around every day.

Do you have a favourite? I’m looking forward to Very Structured and Glamour Purse. They will be $18.95 each and available at Myer.

Images courtesy of Essie

Those clever clogs over at Glitter Gal have produced a capsule collection of 6 polishes for Wanted Shoes. There’s a red, pink, purple, baby pink, taupe-y pink and orange – pretty much every colour you need to have a solid nail polish library (although maybe throw in a black or navy blue for good measure).

They’re $15.95 for 15ml and available in all Wanted stores and on the Wanted website. I haven’t tried these polishes personally, but the  formula for Glitter Gal polishes is excellent. Definitely worth picking one of these babies up to match your new shoes.

The bright polishes just keep on coming. Gamma from the Illamasqua Toxic Nature collection is a bright orange. Painfully bright. Fluorescent. Vivid. Retina-searing.

Taken in natural light

That said, it’s a beautiful colour, and a lot easier to wear than a highlighter yellow or acidic green. Two coats gives total coverage, and it is packed with pigment for lots of colour and shine.
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Aye Caramba!¡!

Come July 25th, Kit Cosmetics will be releasing the most fabulous collection they have done in quite some time – Viva La Color. Eye, lip and cheek colour palettes with Missoni-like print on the packaging, bold lippies, bright glosses, and new brushes with colourful handles. But the polish, oh the polish! Five full sized colours, and then a set of four minis. All limited edition, naturally.

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When I have used nail polish pens in the past I haven’t been impressed. I find them to be a bit clumsy, and the brushes aren’t always accurate. That said, I fell in love with the beautiful coral-orange of In The Nic Of Time from Nicole by OPI’s Nic’s Sticks range, and I had to have it (plus I was on holidays and in a spendy-spendy mood.)

Taken in natural light

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This weird jelly chunky polish was one of the many many polishes I brought home from my recent holiday. There is a store in Waikiki (Waikiki Mart, near Cold Stone on Kalakaua) that sells loads of nail polishes from all different brands – OPI, Essie, China Glaze, CND. While I didn’t go too nuts in there because I’m pretty apprehensive about buying big name brands from stores that look less than authorised (see: Nail Polish Grey Market post) there were loads of cheaper brands that had all sorts of cool colours (plenty of posts in the coming weeks!)

Taken in natural light

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There is a whole bunch of buzz amongst nail blogs at the moment about something called a candy manicure – a base colour, glitter and then OPI sorbet (jelly) polish on top. Of course I had to get in on the action and see what all the fuss was about.

Yummy!

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