NOTD: Dolce & Gabbana Shocking

This is was one of my recent purchases when I had a mad 20 minutes dash around Selfridges last week.

Its a beautiful fuchsia pink that I only had to look at, to know that I needed to have it. To me it says fun times, I can see myself strutting on the Copacabana with this on or even partying at a Mardi gras and this colour will be right at home.

But seeing as I'm not at any of those places, but it is Notting Hill carnival weekend, I thought it would be apt to put it on, and dance around to the steel band in my head, as I won't be stepping foot anywhere near the W11 postcode area.

Ahem, on to the polish!

As usual it comes in the beautiful rectangular bottle, with the gold embossed top which you have to take of to reveal the screw cap wand. Personally I'm not a fan of this screw cap, I don't feel I have something I can grab on to and I feel like I'll be spilling polish all over the place using it. I'm a traditional girl and I like big fat caps like OPI or China Glaze that I can grip. But I find just by concentrating and balancing a bit more, I can apply the polish with no problem.

Dolce & Gabbana say the polish gives full and rich coverage, but I think its a little too thick for my liking, but its not streaky and gives good coverage on the first coat. The second coat seals the deal and you have full, glossy coverage over the entire nail.

Overall, its a pretty colour and feels very luxe. So I will wear it again despite the mentioned downsides. I love colours that pop against my skin, so I'll be keeping 'Shocking' close by, even in winter when I just want a flash of colour to perk up my day.

This image is slightly darker and is a truer representation of the polish. In daylight, the colour appears an even deeper, richer pink, with a touch more red. 

You like?

NOTD: Model's Own Red n Black

Five minutes hanging around in front of Boots Oxford Circus, led to today's NOTD.  I got bored while waiting for a friend, so decided to entertain myself at the Model's Own counter.

This shade intrigued me just for the name. I was stood there going, is it red? or is it black? I concluded that it wasn't black, but just a deep deep blackened red. Anyway, I had to hurry up and make the purchase as the security guard was giving me funny looks because I was mouthing off to myself in my one woman nail polish debate.

So here it is!

Outdoor shot with flash

Outdoor shot without flash

Indoors with flash

I love the colour! Gets me ready for autumn/winter and with the way the weather is going, I am more than ready. The first coat was a little streaky, but if you load the brush a little bit more than usual, you get good coverage on the first coat. The polish is gel like, which I like. I hate when polish is really thin on the nail. Having said that, I had three layers of OPI Nail Envy underneath! It's quick drying and you're good to go with the usual two coats, followed by top coat.

So, I've concluded that Red n Black is a red with a lot of black in it. I'd say its a really burnt aubergine colour. Its very similar to one of my other favourites Leighton Denny's Vamp with a tiny touch more black.

NOTD: Oranges 'n' Diamonds

This image came around much earlier in the summer, larking around in the garden with my friend Ann.

I did the nails and make up and just wanted to create something that would stand out against the forest green of my back garden. I also took the picture and got some new respect for photographers that day....its not always easy to transform what's in your head to what you get when you press the shutter.

(click on the image to enlarge)

The bottom smile line was created by applying lots of Swarovski crystal tightly packed together and the nail polish is OPI's A Good Mandarin is Hard to find.

This was a totally fun day, so hope you like!