No Lack Of Lacquer

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[nolackoflacquer]

Hits Speciallità Samba

This is my first Hits polish, so naturally I picked one with flakies! Samba is a green jelly base with tons of colour-shifting flakies, from green to blue (though as is so often the case, it's more apparent in the bottle than on the nail). The flakies clumped a little bit and I had to move them around with the brush on a few nails to ensure good coverage. Dry time was on the slow side and there's a little bit of a chemical smell to the polish, but it's so pretty that it's worth it.

With hindsight, I should have layered this nail varnish. Not just because the jelly base is still a little on the sheer side after three coats, but also because Hits bottles are only 6ml, and three coats on ten nails left quite a sizeable dent in the contents of the bottle.

[nolackoflacquer]

BB Couture Black Widow

This is my first BB Couture nail varnish and I really like it. I bought it initially because Marvel didn't capitalise nearly enough on Black Widow in their Avengers merchandise, and I can pretend this is for Natasha. However, it's just really great on its own! The base is a deep, deep red-purple, and while it isn't quite a jelly, I still needed to use three coats so there wouldn't be any visible nail line. It's also packed with silver, red, and (I think) pink glitter to add some wonderful depth. One coat of top coat does the job to take away any bumpiness from the glitter.

[nolackoflacquer]

No7 Winter Tale Emily de Molly A Black and White Love Affair

Hooray for grey! Winter Tale is a lovely blue-toned grey cream with perfect application in only two coats. There isn't much I can say about it, to be honest. It wore very well, better than I usually get from No7 polishes, though I don't know if it was reformulated when they changed the bottles recently. I topped it off with a coat of A Black and White Love Affair from Australian indie brand Emily de Molly (available via Llarowe if you're outside Australia - I got my order in on etsy before she stopped international shipping). It has a clear base with black and white hex glitter in various sizes, black and white bar glitter, and black and white square glitter. I had to rearrange some of the glitter with the brush to get a nice even distribution, but if you don't mind it being a little more scattered and uneven, you could just leave it as it comes.

[nolackoflacquer]

17 Copper

I felt a little bit misled by Copper to begin with, but luckily, things worked out. In the bottle, I was convinced this was going to be a duochrome. There was definitely a green tinge to it, but now I think my bottle just needed a little bit more mixing, because there's no duochrome apparent at all on my nails (the green you can see in some photos is the reflection of the grass in our back garden). It also appears more pinkish in person than it does in the photos, which only pick up the copper tones of the polish. The formula was thinner than Potion and Navy Glint, so it was far easier to apply and work with on the nail. I only needed two coats. In the end, despite my disappointment that it wasn't a duochrome, I discovered that I'm really quite a fan of this polish.

[nolackoflacquer]

17 Navy Glint

Navy Glint isn't quite a navy but it comes close. The base is closer to a mid-blue, but the more coats you use the darker it gets. Like Potion, the formula is a little thick and dries quickly enough that taking your time may result in bald spots. Unlike Potion, the base is dark enough that a second coat covered them all completely. It's packed with blue and silver shimmer which look amazing even in the shade, and completely come to life in the sun. This is probably my favourite of Boots' new colours for autumn and winter. It didn't stain the nail at all, either, which is always a bonus for a blue polish.

[nolackoflacquer]

17 Potion

I don't have it on hand to compare them directly, but I'm confident that Potion is a dupe of Chanel Peridot, or close enough to it to make little difference. If you're in the UK and you've somehow missed out on that trend, it might be time for a visit for Boots. It's a green and gold metallic duochrome and I was pretty impressed with the lack of visible brushstrokes. The formula is a little on the thick side and can bubble if you're not careful when applying it or don't wait long enough between coats. Because this is a quick-dry varnish, you have to be quick when applying it or you might get some pulling at the cuticle. I did and ended up having to use three coats to make sure the bald spots were all completely covered.

[nolackoflacquer]

OPI Deutsch You Want Me Baby?

Most of the notes I took on this varnish are just gushing about how beautiful it is, and really, it is. I'm a total sucker for a good metallic orange and Deutsch might just be the best one around. The pigmentation is so rich, with such depth that it seems as if it's lit from within. I had minimal issues with brushstrokes despite the metallic finish, and the polish flowed off the brush so easily that it almost applied itself. Depending on how thickly you apply coats, you'll need either two or three. I used three and I absolutely love it. The shade is just so autumnal and gorgeous; it's perfect for the season and I highly recommend picking up a bottle.

[nolackoflacquer]

I just found your blog, and I already love it :) xxx

Thank you! That's so kind of you to say. :D xx

[nolackoflacquer]

China Glaze Immortal

This is my favourite of the three colours, mainly because I love grey nail varnishes above almost all others (as if you didn't know that already). I wish it had been sunny when I swatched it, because these photos really don't do the shimmer in this amazing polish justice. The shimmer is primarily blue and pink, but I can also see green and purple in there under some lights. The base is a mid-grey that leans slightly green. I've seen some people describe it as a jelly, but I don't agree there; it doesn't have that squishy look jellies do.

I did find the formula a little difficult to work with. It's one of those where a huge blob of varnish will hide on the brush and then drip onto your nail when you least expect it, so be wary of that when you're applying it. It's also sheerer than Cast A Spell and Bizarre Blurple, needing three coats for me to be happy with the opacity.

[nolackoflacquer]

China Glaze Bizarre Blurple

I think Bizarre Blurple has the best formula of the three polishes I've tried from this collection. It's thin but not too runny, and very easy to control. It goes exactly where you want it to on the nail and needs only two coats to be fully opaque. It is, as the name suggests, a blend of blue and purple, and it also contains a nice amount of shimmer. I found it looks a little bit more purple in real life than it does here in the photos, but really which colour you see it depends wholly on the light you're viewing it by. It's a little bit brushstrokey, but not as bad as you see from some metallics and only visible up close.

I suspect this colour is going to be a dupe of OPI's Tomorrow Never Dies from the Bond collection, judging by how they both look in the bottle. Once I've swatched Tomorrow, I'll report back.

[nolackoflacquer]

China Glaze Cast A Spell

I suddenly realised how many Halloween polishes I've bought this year, and though I've now run out of time to swatch/post them all before the holiday itself, I'll at least get some of the CG collection done! This is the first of the three polishes I bought.

Cast A Spell is a very dark green/black base with tons of olivey-gold shimmer. I wouldn't quite describe it as a glass fleck but it's definitely reminiscent. The formula is a little on the thick side, which can make application slightly tricky, but it also means this is very, very close to being a one-coater. I used two for these swatches because it added a little more depth to the glitter. You can definitely just get away with one, however, if you're careful. It's also fantastically glossy even without a top coat, and the glass fleck-like nature means it's very smooth despite how shimmery it is.

[nolackoflacquer]

OPI Berlin There Done That

Oh, OPI, I missed your puns. I really like Berlin There; it's in one of the colour families that I'm just generally fond of and is, I suspect, a cousin of Essie's Chinchilly, though that leans a little more grey. The formula was about what I expect from OPI polishes, so no surprises there. My only complaint is something that I've noticed a lot in more recent OPI creams, which is that they often don't hide the flaws on your nails, no matter how many coats you use. I needed three coats for full opacity and it dried slightly darker than the bottle shade.

[nolackoflacquer]

Cult Nails Hypnotize Me & Charlatan

This was a bit of an experiment to see what kind of results I'd get from playing with one of the new Cult Nails topcoats. I used two coats of Hypnotise Me, a glittery blue-green jelly, two of Charlatan, a pink-purple duochrome topcoat, and another two of Hypnotize Me on top. It left me with an amazing shimmery colour shifter on my nails. Depending on the lighting, any of the four colours I've mentioned could show up at any time. The combination is very sheer (even with six coats) but absolutely stunning. I only regret that it's been so rainy here that I didn't get a chance to see it in the sun!

[nolackoflacquer]

No7 Cruising

First off: my apologies for the broken nail. I managed to go through a period where I was breaking nails (literally) left and right and this was the hand that looked better at this point. Onto the post!

Cruising is a lovely turquoise that caught my eye immediately on the shelf. I really like the formula here; it's on the thicker side but it flows very well, and is entirely self-levelling. I used three coats for a perfect, glossy finish. I didn't get a lot of tipwear with it, either. You do have to be careful when you're removing this one, however, as while it didn't stain my nails, it didstain my fingers a bit.

Boots have recently redesigned their entire No7 range, which means a new cap and a new brush for the nail varnishes. As far as I can tell, the bottle is identical to the old design - it still holds 10ml, but now it costs £5.50 instead of £7. The new cap is more flared at the top which makes it harder to align nicely with the bottle when you're closing it but doesn't make that much of a difference to the application. The new brush is a little shorter, a little wider, and with rounded bristles instead of straight cut. I did find it a bit difficult to work with, though I think with time I'll get used to it.

[nolackoflacquer]

Received the nail polish in the mail yesterday. Thanks so much! :)

Yay! You're welcome! :)

[nolackoflacquer]

Rimmel London Pro Night Flight

I think this may be the first time I've worn a Rimmel Pro polish! This is a lovely blackened purple that gets darker with every coat. Be very careful with this one - it's terribly streaky. I initially wore two coats, which showed the purple colour far better than the swatches above, but when I went outside to swatch the next day, it became clear pretty quickly that you could still see plenty of streaks on the nail. I added a third coat which cleared that up but only made the polish darker. It's very difficult at three coats to see that it's actually a purple. I don't think I'd get ten days' wear out of it (though admittedly, the bottle only promises "up to ten days"), as the tipwear started turning up on day two. I suspect it wouldn't have been as obvious with a lighter polish.

[nolackoflacquer]

a-england Holy Grail

Gold is one of those colours I rarely wear, but I'll always make an exception for an a-england polish. Holy Grail does make my fingers look a very odd colour in certain lights, and unfortunately these photos, but it's still a nice enough shade! It reminds me of the bright, shimmery yellow you often see gold pictured as in cartoons. The formula was a little sheerer than I've come to expect from a-england and you need three to four coats for full opacity. It also dries slower than I anticipated, so make sure you leave plenty of time between coats or you'll risk denting. Otherwise, this is another great varnish from a fantastic brand.

Holy Grail has become limited edition and now costs £5 (with free worldwide delivery) while stocks last! When the last of the old Holy Grail has sold out, it'll be replaced with an entirely new shade, so if you like this one, pick up a bottle while you still can!