C'est La Vie aka That's Life

Well I haven't posted for almost a month, as you might have noticed. This was due to a few things:

1) Getting stuck in England for another week due to the ash cloud
2) Wondering 'What's the point'?
3) The boyfriend's parents visiting and then getting stranded in Paris due to the ash cloud...

Main Street in my home town

I'll start with point 2 first as that's the trickier subject. Why do I blog? I blog because I love nail polish and because I want to make friends that enjoy that too. Recently I've become more disillusioned. Stuck in the mindset of, well why post if no one's going to read it? That's not what I want to be, so I'm posting when and how I want to post, and especially if certain *cough* elitist nailblog networks don't think I'm good enough then, eh, your loss. Many thanks to Pete <3 for pointing this out to me.

So after the rant, onwards and upwards!

My new home town.
(What I'd like to to think of as an 'arty' shot taken on a rainy day in a moving car)

My last post - that was supposed to automatically update while I was away, but didn't - was about my trip home to visit the family and of course... purchase nail polish!

UK Polishes... Where to begin?

Before I left I pre-ordered 8 Nubars from Beauty Shed during their 20% off offer and more NFU Oh's than I care to count from Affiniti. I do actually regret some of those ones after having looked at them, but I guess that's what you get for shopping online.Then of course there was the polish I bought (and attempted to buy!) while over there, with a few extra days of course to visit the places I missed the first time.

Today's pics are of the Nubar haul because they're all so unique and totally unlike anything else I own. Nubar have a special place in my heart for having great quality but being a total bitch to get hold of in both bottled and customer service! (including not answering multiple emails about international distributors - if you're reading this Nubar my email address is to the right!).

Petunia Sparkles, Night Sparkles, Iris Dust, Earth, Indigo Ocean, Reclaim & Conserve - Peacock feathers managed to escape from the picture.

Sadly no nail pictures at the moment as I managed to snap every single nail I had grown while back home in freak accidents ranging from peeling an apple to an altercation with the bathroom door.

Nubar Reclaim

The first of three that I chose from the 'Going Green' collection. It's a very pale grass green, almost pastel coloured holo. I must admit I picked this one for the uniqueness factor, I'm not a massive fan of greens, especially ones like this that don't veer towards the turquoise/blue but I'm very glad I got it as the photos on the Nubar site just didn't do it justice at all.

Nubar Night Sparkle

I'm really not a massive glitter fan. Sure, it looks pretty when it's on but it chips like crazy and is a total pain in the butt to get off again. So when the Sparkles collection I was a bit on the fence. I loved some of the colours (and was gutted that Beauty Shed didn't have Sky Sparkle, Violet Sparkle or Star Sparkle in when I was shopping) and after reading Scrangie's great review decided to take the plunge. And... it turns out that I should've gone with my first instinct.

Night sparkle is a dark blue glitter suspended in a dark blue base. It looks very nice in the bottle, and on your nails when in the light with the sun out, but if indooors at the office it looks dull and uninteresting.

My favourite thing about the sparkles collection polishes compared to OPI's Absolutely Alice is that Nubar really took time to think about the amount of layers it would take to make the polish opaque, and true to their word Night Sparkle was opaque in 2 coats (and even with 2 coats of diamont to get rid of the lumpy texture its still less than the 5 odd layers Alice took to cover my nails! ;))

Nubar Petunia Sparkle

The lighter, pinker sister to Night Sparkle, Petunia is a magenta glitter in a clear base.

Nubar Peacock Feathers

When mentioning to one of the other nailbloggers that I was going home and looking for Nubar as I only had a few I'd snagged off ebay before she said "You have to get Peacock Feathers." That's it, no explanation, no justification just 'you must get it'. So I trusted her and I'm so glad I did!

Peacock Feathers is a duo... no wait, multi-chrome nail polish. Just picking up the bottle here I can see the purpleish base colour with gold, amber, blue and green shimmers in there. Although I apologise because the picture above just does not do it justice. It is an amazing polish but it is ridiculously hard to photograph!

Nubar Iris Dust

Inspired by the multi colouredness of Peacock Feathers I decided to step out on my own and pick another duo-chrome. Iris Dust is an amber coloured polish with strong pink and green shimmers coming through depending on the light. I'm really psyched about being able to swatch this one!

Nubar Indigo Ocean

This is the Nubar that I have most looking forward to owning. I saw a picture of Indigo ocean on The Nailphile (although it was mislabled as Indigo Illusion) and totally fitted in with my hunt for the perfect blue. The colour itself is a medium blue, almost cobalt with a shimmery formula that adds a little je ne sais quoi!

Nubar Earth

Today's final polish review is Earth, again from the 'Going Green' collection. Although Earth and Conserve look a lot like dupes when in the bottle, when painted the two are very different. Earth is a darker forest green shimmer with hints of blue and turquoises added.

Whereas Conserve is a medium, erring towards dark emerald green.

Nubar Conserve

Overall I'm really happy with these purchases. The Nubar formula on all of the polishes, execept for the Sparkles is excellent - longlasting, anti-chip (well ok so nothing's perfect!) with a slick of diamont you're good to go! It's a bit sad that they cost £8 each + shipping, but even then I intend to purchase some more once they get international shipping sorted!

Til next time,
Happy Polishing!