Monday Manicure #5: Nails Inc Leather

Bit of a late one this week. I'd planned to have this post up early-evening, however, a quick nip to the corner shop ended in me being detained for 2 pints at the pub I work in (you know how these things go) and we don't do Tuesday Manicures on this blog. It's a Monday thing! 

The polish I'm featuring today is actually one I have featured before on this blog, although not in any great detail as I only got my mitts on one of my own yesterday. 

It's 

Nails Inc Leather Effect: Shoreditch Lane

Nails Inc describe this shade as 'Mulberry Leather Effect', in comparison to the other shades in the range which are your regular black and tan leather shades. I had it applied to my nails back in December when I attended Nails Inc's Spring/Summer '13 press event and it was instant infatuation. At the time, however it was not available as an individual polish. In fact they didn't release this shade at all until this month. The other shades in the range (Soho Mews and Noho) have, up until now, only been available as part of the 'Skulls and Leather' gift set with the awesome little skulls decals, but are also now available as individual polishes. 

(iPhone image from the event, showing all 3 shades)

I'm crushing on this polish big style! It's just so chic! If you weren't a fan of the Nails Inc Concrete Effect polishes, but still fancy trying something a bit different, then I urge you to give these a go. The texture is much more subtle and they have much more of a shine to them. The photo above is 2 coats of Shoreditch Lane with NO topcoat. Topcoat kills the texture and I find the polish is shiny enough without anyway. It's a lot easier to apply than the Concrete polish as well. It goes on glossy and the leather effect appears as it dries. 

This is my original leather mani, which was applied by one of the lovely ladies at the event in December, featuring those amazing skull decals I mentioned earlier. I managed to salvage them as well, so I may well be rocking this look again in the near future! 

I definitely prefer the Leather Effect to the Concrete. Not that I dislike the Concrete, it's just that I find this polish to be longer wearing and easier to apply. I'm now thinking that I may also need Soho Mews (Tan Leather) in my life!!

I picked this polish up for £12 from House of Fraser on Oxford Street but you can get it from any Nails Inc Concession/Counter as well as Nails Inc stores and on nailsinc.com. It's worth every penny so feel free to treat yourself! 

What nail trends will you be following this season?? Are you a texture kinda gal or do you prefer your polish to be more BLING?? Do you go for brights or neutrals when the weather gets warmer??

Product Showdown: Textured Nail Polish

I haven't done a good ol' product showdown in quite a while. However, with the recent popularity of the Nails Inc Concrete effect polishes, spawned a host of drugstore brand dupes sooooo of course my curiosity got the better of me and i just had to investigate just to see if they really could live up to a heavyweight brand such as Nails Inc. 

So here are the contenders.....

Barry M Textured Nail Paint in 'Kingsland Road' RRP £3.99

Vs

Nails Inc Concrete in 'London Wall' RRP £12

First Impressions

On the surface of it all i'd lean immediately towards Nails Inc. This has mainly to do with the fact that i have a MAJOR soft spot for the brand and have great respect for their consistent dedication to developing innovative and new products and i always seem to love EVERYTHING they bring out. It also has to do with the fact that i find the range of shades they have more appropriate to the nature of the product. Personally, i prefer a 'concrete' effect polish to be more of a stone tone (although Nails Inc did also bring out a bright blue, red and lime green in the range) rather than the uber-pale pastel shades Barry M have come up with (although with the new season creeping in i do see where they're coming from with that). I also think it stinks that Barry M have named the polishes with a blatant reference to Nails Inc's street/place name themes. Yeah, i'm fiercely loyal to Nails Inc, you get that. 

I'm going to go through each polish in turn and give my pros and cons in an attempt to crown one product the winner. Starting with....

Barry M 'Kingsland Road'

Pros

- Price: At £3.99 it is easily affordable and that means you could pick up several different colours for the same price as a single Nails Inc polish. 

- Long Lasting: Two coats of this polish on me lasted a whole week without any top coat (you don't use topcoat with textured polishes). It did come away a bit at the very tips but there was no major chipping. 

- Finish: It's more matte than the Nails Inc version (the concrete polish has a slight shine underneath the gritty particles) and i rather like it for that!

Cons

- Drying time: It took AGES (hence the slight nick on my middle fingernail). I put this down to the polish being quite wishy washy and thin. 

- Colour: Although the colours Barry M have brought out would be bang on for the Spring/Summer season, but just don't seem appropriate for the texture of the polish. The colour also didn't go fully opaque and seemed to fade over time.

- Texture: The gritty particles in the polish are much less apparent in the Barry M polish than the Nails Inc. I don't know whether they are smaller or just not as abundant in the polish but it took 2 coats to see any significant texture appearing.

Nails Inc 'London Wall'

Pros

- Texture: I find i get the same amount of texture from a single coat of this polish that i'd get with two coats of the Barry M version. It also seems more pronounced in the polish. This also means you save on polish, justifying the high pricetag a little more as you use less product per application. The photo below is just one coat compared to the Barry M photo which is two.

- Colours: Nails Inc brought out more murky stone tones in their range (London Wall and Barbican being my two favourites) and i find they suit the texture much better than the pretty pastels from Barry M, although this may just be my preference.

- Application: The polish is much sturdier than the Barry M version and dries faster with better opacity

Cons

- Price: At £12 you could buy 3 of the Barry M polishes and still have change from the price of this one. I do, however, believe that Nails Inc are worth the price but i know that not all (including myself) can afford to spend this much on a polish on a regular basis and may only purchase as an occasional treat. The Barry M versions are much more accessible.

- Application: I know i listed this as a Pro as well but i just thought i should point out that if you DO attempt two coats of this polish it often ends up looking uneven and thick in places and this affects the visibility of the texture. I also find that this polish chips quite quickly with multiple coats.

The Verdict??

In all honestly.... I think the evidence for both polishes is compelling and there isn't really much in it. I think there is a strong case in favour of each of these polishes. I suppose the major factor in this is price and personal preference, although i think i would still prefer the Nails Inc polishes even if it meant i could only have one or two instead of three or four. The kicker for me is the shades and the finish. I think Barry M would have done better to include more neutral, earthy tones in their selection rather than just pastels. I would suggest, however, that if you aren't the biggest fan of the Nails Inc Concrete, you should still consider Barry M as it gives a more subtle textured finish. I would actually REALLY like Barry M to do a range of matte Nail Paint (minus the texture) in these kinds of colours. Now THAT i would buy! As it is i don't think i'll be buying any more of the current textured shades. I'm much preferring their Gelly polishes. 

My Winner: Nails Inc Concrete 
(with Barry M as a very worthy opponent)

Do you love textured nail polishes?? Do you go for quality or quantity when it comes to nail polish?? Are you willing to pay the extra??

Texture and Embellishments for S/S'13 at Nails Inc

Good afternoon beauties!

A couple of weeks ago i was lucky enough to be invited along to see what heavyweight nail brand Nails Inc have in store for us in the new year. I've left it a little while before writing this post as i wanted to wear a few of the beautiful polishes i took home that night and include a few of the shades in order to showcase them properly. 

Polishes (l-r): Devonshire Row, Sloane Square, The Thames, Stonehenge, Richmond Terrace

On the night we got to ogle all the new releases for the next year and got to pick 5 polishes to take home and play with from a VERY tempting table along with their bestselling Caviar Topcoat as an extra treat. Check out London Lipgloss and Lily Melrose diving in (i'm not stalking them by the way, i only noticed after that it was them in the photo haha). There were also some lovely Nails Inc girlies working VERY hard to give us all stunning new manicures. 

For my own manicure on the night, i gravitated immediately towards the new Leather-Effect polishes which Nails Inc are releasing as gift sets (including swarovski crystals and skull decals) this month in time for Xmas priced at £19. The individual polishes will then be available from March 2013 priced at £12 each. 

The shade i chose for my own nails was Shoreditch Lane (Mulberry Leather Effect). They even stuck on a couple of little skullies for a good measure! 

I'm so surprised at how long this manicure lasted for! Even the skulls lasted a whole week at work and i actually had to physically remove them in the end, when the polish finally DID start to chip. But it was perfect for the best part of a week. That was with basecoat, 2 coats of the leather polish and nail glue to adhere the skulls. I will be buying this polish when it comes out. I absolutely love it!

Texture was a big theme throughout the evening. Here are some examples....

Uber pretty Feather Effect polishes (released March 2013), also available in a loose dust form to be used with other colour polishes. They almost look like sweets! 

These Concrete Effect polishes were released this month and this is definitely my favourite of all the polishes i took home with me. The shade is Stonehenge, but there are 3 other colours available including Marble Arch (a brilliant red), London Wall (a beigy nude shade that i am kicking myself for not picking up as well) and Monument (a flourescent lime shade). Again, 2 coats of this polish lasts a long time and it dries super quick!! 

One that i didn't get to road test was the Denim Effect polish which will be released in June 2013. I got a little confused when i walked in and saw all the jeans, but once i clapped eyes on the polish i got the idea. 

As we're in December now, i couldn't resist throwing in a bit of glitter for this post. As one of the polishes i picked up was Sloane Square, i decided to try it out last week.....

So my first hint of festive sparkle comes on top of the, not so festive, The Thames which is murky grey in the bottle, but leans slightly green once on the nails. I actually love the shade and i'm not surprised its one of their top sellers. Sloane Square brightens it up a treat though and the colour of the glitters compliments it perfectly! This mani also lasted a week! I'm on the same train i was on last week as i was when i did this manicure and i'm only just feeling the need to repaint. So impressed with the longevity of these polishes!! 

I could go on and on and on about everything i saw that night, but i'll let you discover the rest as 2013 unfolds. Needless to say it involves sparkles, crystals and some serious COLOUR!! You really can't fault Nails Inc for product innovation. They always come up with something spectacular! 

Are you a fan of texture on your nails?? What do you think of Nails Inc's latest innovations??