Challenge: Day 22 - Inspired By A Song

Hi ladies! How is everyone today? I had a pretty interesting terrifying start to the day on my way to work this morning when I was literally inches away from being squished by a huge lorry who didn't bother to look or slow down going on to the roundabout which I was currently going around, luckily my boyfriends dad is a morning person and has super human reflexes. So we had a near miss with death, but none of us were hurt or injured, which is amazing. Anyway, back to today's mani, which is Inspired By A Song. I chose to honour this song which is probably one of my favourite songs from my childhood/early teenage years. Starting from my Index finger, I used; GOSH - Hot Coral as a base, then with striping tape I sectioned off thin lines and painted over with Wet N Wild - Black Creme. For my middle finger I used a base of OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls and stamped over using MASH Nails stamping polish in Black* and BM-322, My ring finger I used a base of Wet N Wild - Black Creme then in acrylic paint using a small nail art brush I added in the words 'Rocksteady' and 'No Doubt' and finally for my pinkie, I painted on a base of OPI - Animal-Istic and using the same acrylic paint and nail art brush painted 'Hey Baby'.

Snapshots from the video I got my inspiration from.

So there you have my mani for Inspired by a Song, how many of you will have this in your head now? It's literally been in my head since I painted this mani, I love Gwen Stefani and I LOVE No Doubt, ever since I first heard 'Don't Speak' and I was actually pretttty young (4/5 years old) when that was first released! Remember, those of you wanting to add the inlinkz to your own posts, click here to be taken to the google doc with everything you'll need for the next 30 days!

Untrieds Used;

GOSH - Hot Coral

OPI - Animal-Istic

Products in the post marked with (*) have been sent to me by the company or their PR for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure page.

Swatch: GOSH - Silky Mint

Hi ladies! I have a swatch post for you today that has been sitting in my 'to post' folder for the longest time now, so I think it's about time I let it have it's moment in the spotlight, don't you? Silky Mint is a medium toned, Mint Green creme. Released in the Fall 2010 collection, it's definitely a lot more suited to Spring than to Fall, in my opinion anyway. As with most GOSH polishes I have used, Silky Mint went on without any issues and was opaque in 2 coats. I used 3 coats for the photos below without a top coat.

Label Shot

Indoors, Natural Light

Natural Light

Direct Sunlight

I believe Silky Mint has been discontinued, but you can find it on eBay for below UK retail price. What are your thoughts on Silky Mint? Do you agree that it's more suited to Spring than Fall?

Nail Art: Lovely Jub-ilee

Hi ladies! As some of you may be aware, this weekend in the UK will be filled with celebrations as the Queen celebrates 60 years on the throne, otherwise known as the Diamond Jubilee. In order to commemorate such an event, a group of bloggers and I have come together again (as we did in the Holo-day post) for an 'All Things British' collaboration. The theme for the post was to ONLY use UK brands to either create some Nail Art or just general one colour nails. Now since last time I sort of flaked out on the amazing Nail Art that could have been done with my holos, I decided to go all out this time around! Being British, this was an easy post for me to do since I have access to every UK brand there is, not to mention I felt a little Patriotic doing so too. So without further ado, let's have a look at my little creation shall we?

These took me forever and a day to complete, which surprised me, as I usually give up or get bored after a while. The outcome isn't quite what I wanted it to be, mainly because I had made the white diagonal lines a little too thin to add a red line through the middle, but hey! I still think it looks good! I even patted myself on the back after finishing them! LAME. I can do a little tutorial post on this if some of you would like to see how I achieved this semi-decent mani. Just let me know in the comments and I will see what I can do!

 The polishes I used for this mani were;

GOSH: Lambada (Red) - Yes, I later realised that GOSH is actually a Danish brand, but it was too late to change it now. But you can get them in UK drugstores, so that counts, right?!

Models Own: Snow White (White)

BarryM: Cobalt Blue (Blue)

If you're in the UK, what are you doing this weekend to celebrate the Jubilee? I'm going to a street party Saturday and also having a family BBQ on Monday! If you're not in the UK, what are your plans for this weekend? I'd love to hear them! In the meantime, remember to check out the other ladies Jubilee nails!

Swatch: GOSH - Sweet Rose

Hi ladies! I have a GOSH swatch for you today in the form of Sweet Rose. Sweet Rose was actually released with their Autumn line either last year, or the year before and is a gorgeous dusty rose Pink creme. The application was good, it applied well and didn't streak or flood the cuticles. Although this was released as part of their Autumn line, I think it's a perfect colour for Spring! The photos below are 3 coats of Sweet Rose without a Top Coat.

Label Shot

Indoors, Natural Light

Direct Sunlight

I do believe this was a limited edition shade, but they can still be found floating around eBay for a reasonable price. GOSH Cosmetics are available to buy in the UK from Superdrug stores for around £5 each. What are your thoughts on Sweet Rose? For a person who isn't a huge fan of Pinks, I really liked this colour!

Swatch: GOSH - Rainbow

Hi ladies! I'm back again with another lusted after polish from GOSH; Rainbow. Like Holographic, Rainbow was discontinued a while back and is getting harder and harder to find at a reasonable price but being the bargain hunter I am, I was able to find it for £6! Which is only £1 more than GOSH retail price in the UK. Rainbow is a gorgeous flakie which shifts from Orange to Copper to Yellow & Green - if you could capture the beauty of Autumn/Fall in a nail polish, this would definitely be it! In the bottle there seems to even be a Blueish shift, but I didn't really see that on the nail. The photos below are one coat of Rainbow swatched over Essie - Licorice, as you can see even with just one coat the amount of flakes are unreal!

Slightly Blurry Label Shot

Natural Light

Indoor, Natural Light

And of course, like multiple other polishes, I had to see what it was like matted! So here it is with one coat of ELF; Matte Finisher.

Natural Light

Direct Sunlight

Did I mention already that this is ONE COAT?! I can safely say, that this is the most 'flaky' flakie polish I own. How would you like the chance to own one of your own? Well, I have a spare bottle waiting for my 1000 follower giveaway (which I am only 4 followers away from!!) so be sure to stick around for that. In the meantime, have you entered in my 700 Follower Giveaway yet? One lucky winner will win the 3 new Summer shades of the Beetlejuice Collection from Models Own!

Swatch: GOSH - Holographic

Hi ladies! It's been a while since I did a swatch post and what better way to kick things back off with than the elusive Holographic! I was lucky enough to score this from eBay for a pretty good price, mostly being that it was completely covered with polish that had leaked out, but armed with a cotton pad and some acetone, the problem was quickly 'wiped away' so to speak. There are rumours that GOSH will be re-releasing Holographic this summer, but going by previous re-releases of holographic nail polishes, I thought I'd better snag the 'original' formula whilst I can - just in case it has been changed. 

In the bottle, Holographic looks like an average 'sparkly silver' (when not in direct sunlight) and even looks like an average silver when it's first painted onto the nail, but as soon as it starts to dry...the magic happens. I did have a little bit of trouble with the application; I found that if I went over the same bit with the brush it would create a little bald spot, but patience helped deal with that. The photos below are 3 coats of Holographic with no base or top coat, there was a special base coat released with Holographic, but I don't have that!

Label Shot

Indoors, Natural Light

Indoors, Natural Light

Direct Sunlight

Direct Sunlight

Direct Sunlight

So there you have it! My two cents on GOSH - Holographic. As you can see, even when indoors, the holographic shows up on the nail needless to say I was pretty impressed when I saw that but what really took my breath away is how it just sparkles in the sun! I'm completely in LOVE with this polish, as I always knew I would be, and I'm SO glad I was able to find it cheap!

Swatch: GOSH - Flamingo

Hi ladies! I have a super quick post today to show you another one of my GOSH polishes in the shade Flamingo. Flamingo is a bright pink jelly polish which is opaque in 2 coats. I picked this polish up in the 3 for 2 on GOSH products about a month or two ago.

Bottle shot

Label shot

Natural Lighting

Direct Sunlight

Direct Sunlight (more colour accurate)

GOSH polishes are available for £5 each at Superdrug, they are still currently 3 for 2 too! This colour is going to be one of my Summer faves that's for sure! What are your favourite GOSH polishes? Have you tried the brand yet?

Swatch: GOSH - Metallic Blue

Hi ladies! I have another swatch post for you today in the form of GOSH - Metallic Blue. This is another GOSH polish I found in the clearance bin in my local Superdrug for £2! I'd heard it was good for stamping with, which I am yet to try, but I thought the colour itself was beautiful too. Metallic Blue is well, blue. In natural lighting it shows undertones of silver, but when in direct sunlight, the blue is a lot more prominent. It dries to a foil finish and is almost reflective which I think adds to the overall beauty of the polish! Unfortunately, I think this polish is discontinued, but if you have a Superdrug local to you, I suggest going to take a look in the clearance (if they have one) and see if you can find more gems like this! The only downside to clearance polishes are the HUGE stickers they attach to them, absolute nightmare to get off I tell you!

Natural Light

Direct Sunlight

It's fair to say I'm a pretty big fan of GOSH and their formula, they're really pigmented and dry in a reasonable amount of time, there's nothing I hate more than polishes that need a lot of coats and also take ages to dry! But doesn't everyone?

Swatch: GOSH - Golden Dragon

Hi ladies, I have another GOSH polish for you today. If you're in the UK you may have noticed GOSH clearance bins popping up in your local Superdrug filled with old seasoned make-up and nail polish. If you have yet to browse through one, I suggest you do so as I have heard people have found the elusive Holographic and Rainbow polishes in them! I am yet to be so lucky, but I have managed to find Golden Dragon, which I believe is discontinued and some other awesome finds for just £2 each! Please excuse the state of the bottle, there was a HUGE sticker over the label which has left a lot of residue *sadface*

Golden Dragon is a blue-toned green base packed with golden shimmer. I must admit, I was a little disappointed with how this looks on the nail, the polish when in the bottle looks amazing; almost like it's laced with gold. The application was okay, the polish was a little bit gloopy, but I imagine that is due to the way it was stored and it's age, as all the bottles are generally just thrown in the clearance bin. The swatch is 2 coats, please excuse my sorry excuse of a clean up! I'm currently waiting for my cuticle nippers to get rid of all the little skin stumps that my polish loves to cling to.

Swatch: GOSH - Wild Lilac

First of all, I want to apologise for being such a terrible blogger! I haven't posted a swatch for you guys in what seems like forever. The main reason for this is because my boyfriends dad has been off work, so I feel a bit of a tool prancing around in the garden trying to take photos of my hands! I hope you can forgive me!

It was such a beautiful day today that I decided I would set myself a swatch challenge. So I piled about 10 polishes into a little basket, along with polish remover, cotton pads and cutips, sat at the table on my patio and told myself I wasn't allowed to move until they had all been swatched...which I did! *yay*

So today I have for you the last of my GOSH polishes that needed to be swatched; Wild Lilac. Wild Lilac is a gorgeous blue-toned lilac creme which applies beautifully in 2 coats. I do find GOSH polishes to be a little thick at times, but even then they're not impossible to use!

I originally bought this polish for a swap I was doing last year, but the person I was swapping with pulled out at the last minute, so instead of selling it, I decided to keep it for myself!

What are your thoughts on Wild Lilac? I'm definitely going to be wearing this a little bit more during the Spring season, I just can't believe this was the first time I've ever used it! *slaps wrist*

GOSH - Ocean & BarryM - Croc Effects

First of all, excuse the lighting, I took these less than an hour ago whilst my boyfriend banned me from using the net whilst he played his game...So I thought it would be a good time to get some swatching done.
I have another GOSH polish for you today in the form of Ocean. When I saw this in the shop I couldn't help myself but buy it, it's absolutely stunning.
Ocean is a mermaid green/blue/turquoise metallic shimmer polish, it can look 100% metallic indoors, but outdoors you can really see the shimmer sparkling away.
I thought this would be a great base colour to try with my new BarryM Croc Effects polish, and boy was I right.

Beautiful, isn't it. I was feeling a bit impatient when I did the Croc Effects, you're supposed to wait 3 minutes before the design starts to appear, but I couldn't wait that long. So a quick blast with the hairdryer soon sorted that little problem out, which is probably why it's so broken around the edges of my nails but I think it looks good anyway. I used 2 coats of Ocean and when the polish was touch-dry, I added a thin layer of Croc Effects over the top.

Has anyone else tried the new BarryM Croc Effects polish yet? What are your thoughts on it? Like or Loathe, let me know!

GOSH - Peachy

If you follow me on Twitter, you'll be aware that I planned to have a load of different swatches for you today. However, due to the 'lovely' British weather, as soon as I took my camera out to get some shots, the sun decided to hide and not come back out....great. So unfortunately I haven't been able to get any updated swatches.
I do however, have some that I took a while ago that I am yet to use. Here we have GOSH - Peachy, now I bought this polish online at Superdrug only seeing the bottle, I thought it would be a gorgeous peach colour, as suggested by it's name, but in reality it's a bright orange creme polish. I tried to capture it as best as I could, but even in this photo it still looks more peach than what it's really like...maybe that's why the name? Who knows. As like most GOSH polishes I own, the formula is amazing and can be a one, maybe two coater.

GOSH - Lambada

Just a short post but today I have for you Lambada by GOSH. I absolutely LOVE this colour. It's the most perfect colour for this time of year. A beautiful, in your face, bright red creme polish. Applies perfectly and opaque in 2 coats. For some reason, the camera didn't want to pick up its true colour, making it look a bit more of an orange/red, but I assure you it's simply beautiful.

Love it.

GOSH - Gasoline

Today's swatch I have for you is GOSH - Gasoline. I've seen this floating around the blogging community for quite a while and I always thought it looked amazing in the pictures. I instantly started to lust over it, but always held back on buying it. For some reason, I always seemed to be put off by the price, £5. They looked tiny on pictures and I couldn't justify spending that amount on a little bottle of polish, however, since splurging on Models Own polishes at £5 a piece I thought I'd take the plunge. Not to mention these were 3 for 2 in Superdrug - definitely worth the spend.
For some reason, in the bottle it looks like it's almost matte, which isn't the case when applied to the nails. This seems to be one of the hardest polishes to capture it's true colour, neither of the swatches below are able to capture it's life like colour. The photo below is 3 coats & you can still see my nail line.

As it's the end of November and I live in the UK, sunshine doesn't exist. The only 'natural' light we get outside is Grey overcast, urgh. But anyway, on to the colour....Gasoline is a jelly based shimmer, I say shimmer as the flecks inside aren't grit enough to be a glitter, in my opinion anyway. The base colour is a dark magenta with a blueish/purple shimmer, which I think gives it that lighter looking effect. On closer inspection I've also found it to have tiny flecks of holographic glitter. The application is a bit hit and miss, as it can be gloopy at times and the first coat does apply sheer too but overall I do like this colour, maybe not as much as I'd have liked to though.

Application: 7/10

Pigmentation: 6/10

Coats: 4/5