The Nail File

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

It’s always interesting when I dig through my (very large) box of polishes that I need to swatch, and find two that look almost identical in every way except for the label. That’s what happened when I dug out Sally Hansen’s Commander in Chic and Illamasqua’s Stagnate.

Get educated!

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Mecca Cosmetica always seem to nail it (oh snap!) with their seasonal collections. Their newest trio for Autumn, Fashion to the Fore, is no exception. Three beautiful cremes that are sophisticated and unassuming. Tres magnifique.

Taken in natural light

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Everyone loves a touch of luxury, and LUXE from Face of Australia certainly fits the bill. This limited edition set of eight polishes is super cute – it’s not themed for winter or summer or rock chic or star signs. Just eight cool colours in a beautiful formula.

Note: all pics taken in natural light

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Considering that I have been banging on about gold, baby blue and purple being the colours for summer, it was really refreshing to have the Essie summer collection land on my desk with not a drop of any of these colours in sight. Instead, Essie are treating us to varying shades of orange and coral (a summer failsafe), a twist on our old favourite taupe, nude, pink and a green that will blow your mind.

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The M.A.C Tartan Tale holiday 2010 collection hit counters last week and, as with most M.A.C collections, there are two polishes: Style Clan and Sly As A Fox.

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One of the biggest pieces of nail news coming out of NYFW this week is the collaboration of Jason Wu and CND.

Doing a limited edition line (aren’t they always), Wu has collaborated on four new colours and a new effect top coat (an extension of CND’s already popular Colour & Effects line). The collection hits US salons and CND’s online store in May 2011 and will be sold globally. There are 16,500 sets being produced.

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If ever you needed a reason to buy a  magazine, this is it. The October issue of Harper’s BAZAAR Australia (featuring Gisele on the cover) comes with a free Butter LONDON nail polish. Butter LONDON is not only a gorgeous brand, but retails for more than twice the price of the mag this month ($9.95), so you’re getting a huge bargain.

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Luxury brand Oroton are dipping their (well manicured) toe into the varnish pool by releasing 6 gorgeous colours online and in store.

The 6 colours are: Flamingo (vivid pink), Vibrant Orange (very citrus-y), Natural (sheer baby pink), Purple Passion (a very light lilac), Midnight (black) and Smog (taupe-y mushroom – pictured). The packaging is a sleek rectangular bottle with a silver lid and the signature O emblazoned on the front. Bottles are priced at $25 each.

The colours in this collection reflect Oroton’s spring/summer palette and their next release (exciting!) will match the colours of the AW11 range.

Smog is a very similar shade to one of the new season Chanel polishes – stay tuned for news on that.

After the gorgeous Ms Critique asked me last week to recommend the best grey nail polish, I thought this was a great chance to do a roundup of my favourites for you.

Taken in artificial light

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