Autumn/Winter Nail Polishes: Copper & Bronze

This is part two of my autumn/winter nail polish recommendations, if you missed my first post on the best berry toned polishes check out the full post HERE!

Nails are a great way to express your fall fashion loves - they subtlety add life to an outfit, can draw a whole outfit of different colours together in one go and can add a pop of colour to the darker winter days. Bronzes and browns are a particular favourite because you can get so many different shades that can create entirely different looks - a particular trend is the metallic nail so I've included some metallics, some glittered and some more subtle toned too. Here are my top four favourite bronze toned nail polishes for Autumn 2012 (Note: To gauge the look, pictures of all of the varnishes on my nails can be found in the polish reviews)!

From left:

Essie Nail Polish in Penny Talk 

A reflective pinky copper polish  - a metallic colour with an interesting final look but at the high end of the nail polish market. Check out my full review of the polish HERE.

Accessorize Metallized Nail Polish in Copper

A bronze tone that definately lives up to its 'metalised' claim - the edges of the polish, although clean, seemed to dirty like the metal was rusting, creating a fascinating look. Check out my full review of the polish HERE.

Collection 2000 Lasting Colour Nail Polish in Fudge Brownie

A light, subtle, pinky brown tone - at only £3.99 and available across the high street, its well worth the price with great staying power. Check out my full review of the polish HERE.

Max Factor Max Effect Nail Polish in Red Bronze

A sparkly bronze with a deep red highlight. Needs a lot of coats to give a great look but its well worth the time! Check out my full review of the polish HERE.

What are your favourite bronze, copper and brown toned nail polishes for fall - let me know in the comments as I'd love to try them out!

Fall Wardrobe Staple: Berry Toned Nail Polishes

It's officially autumn - the chilly weather has set in full force this week and its time to pull out those winter warmers and snuggle in front of a roaring fire, instead of bask in the last of the sun. Autumn is my favourite time of year for fashion - layering, scarves, boots, coats and those fab berry shades which I love to rock all year around.

Nails are a great way to express your fall fashion loves - they subtlety add life to an outfit, can draw a whole outfit of different colours together in one go and can add a pop of colour to the darker winter days. So here are my top four favourite berry toned nail polishes for Autumn 2012!

From left:

Essie Nail Polish in Angora Cardi 

A deep, dusty plum tone - a subtle colour with great coverage but at the high end of the nail polish market. Check out my full review of the polish HERE.

Essie Nail Polish in Size Matters  

A bold deep red shade - leaves a shiny manicured effect finish but again at the high end of the nail polish market. Check out my full review of the polish HERE.

Barry M Nail Paint in Raspberry 

Different in every light but a plum, red and deep pink mixture. Only £2.99 with great staying power and finish. Check out my full review of the polish HERE.

Rimmel London Lasting Finish Nail Polish in Black Cherries

A very deep purple, almost black shade with hints of red in different lights. Very unique colour with glitter highlights. Check out my full review of the polish HERE.

What are your favourite berry toned nail polishes for fall - let me know in the comments as I'd love to try them out!

Today's Nails: Essie Nail Polish in Penny Talk

I'm so sorry its a bit blurry but I thought my photos were done and took the polish off before realising its blurry! Next time I wear the polish, I'll change the picture! SORRY!

Today I'm wearing Essie Nail Polish in Penny Talk. This is the third and final nail polish which I received for my 21st Birthday from my sister Emma and is just as fab as the other two (which can be read about HERE and HERE).

The shade is a pinky copper metallic type polish - its got a lot of sparkle in it and is very reflective on the nails. In some lights its a pink and more subtle and others its a very strong copper colour - that's something I love about a varnish that different lighting can give your nails a whole different look.

The polish itself gives an interesting look but the wear is very disappointing. I would recommend two coats and a top coat at least, because even then it seemed to chip like mad within only a few days which was not like any of my previous experiences with Essie products. I had to keep touching it up everyday after that which is super frustrating and such a time waster when you're busy!

Overall, I'd give this polish a 6/10.

Today's Nails: Essie Nail Polish in Angora Cardi

Today I'm wearing Essie's Nail Polish in Angora Cardi. This is the second of the nail varnishes my sister got me for my 21st Birthday and I was so excited to wear it.

The polish colour is described as "a creamy, deep, dusty rose" by Essie themselves, but I'm not sure I would describe it as that at all - I would suggest it to be a deep purpley/plum tone. The deep colour seems to suit my skin tone but I was disappointed that it chipped within about 3 to 4 days - I had only done one coat though, so I guess that's reasonable! 

As always, the Essie polishes are fabulous to apply (and difficult to take off because the colour just wants to stay on your nails and is so dark!) and leave a shiny opaque finish after only a coat - very impressive for such a dark colour.  I'm definately going to try adding a glitter layer on top of this colour before adding a topcoat  the next time I wear it because I think it'll really give an edge to this colour and a bit of glam too!

Overall, a really great shade of polish to have in your collection and one which I think is classic and will be worn again and again. Essie's polishes consistently impress me, I just wish I could buy more - 10/10.

Today's Nails: Essie Nail Polish in Mademoiselle

Today I'm wearing Essie Nail Polish in Mademoiselle. My fabulously stylish sister Emma gave me three of the Essie Nail Polishes for my 21st birthday as she knew how much I love them but that the price tag means I can't generally afford to treat myself to a bottle! This is the first of the three colours she brought me!

The colour is described as a classic grown up pink and I couldn't agree more. The colour was only as harsh/white in the first day or so of wear (when this picture was taken), after that it faded to a manageable pretty nude - the kind you would find in a french manicure set. Its very pretty, subtle and feminine and when applied with two coats and even finish, looks shiny and professional looking. Next time I wear it, I'm going to do a french manicure look to see how it works with that!

The nail polish itself stayed on for 10 days straight without a single chip - I don't know if that's because its a nudey pink and I didn't notice or if it is particularly wear-resistant but I was really impressed.

I'm always impressed with Essie nail varnishes - they're my favourite high end polish brand and I couldn't recommend them more as they're worth every penny of their 7.99 price tag - 10/10

Today's Nails: Max Factor Max Effect Nail Polish in Fantasy Fire

I have heard and read SO much about this nail varnish that I thought it was about time I tried some out for myself. I just happened to be in Boots and looking at the nail varnishes and there was one bottle of this shade left - it was a sign and so I made sure to buy it pretty quickly! Apologies for my picture - this nail varnish is so hard to photograph - although it doesn't look great on here, in person its a great look!

I already knew that to wear the colour by itself would be difficult as its so hard to get it to be fully opaque (some bloggers have reported 4 coats and still not opaque), so I made sure to use a basecoat. Therefore... today I'm wearing Max Factor Max Effect Nail Polish in Fantasy Fire with Essie's Bobbing For Baubles beneath.  I used one layer of Essie and one layer of Max Factor on top and it gave a really nice look. I'm sure I'll play around with adding other colours to be the base coat but I'm really happy with how this turned out - the blue sets off the holographic colour and the glitter gives it an extra dimension too.

As always with these polishes, the brush gives you a lot of polish with one quick dip in the bottle so be careful you don't load to much on and not be able to get rid of it. The holographic element gives you hints of gold, blue, purple, pink and more, its very exotic and looks great in different lights. Overall I'd give it a 7/10 - a great colour I just wish it was opaque in fewer coats - without a base coat this colour would be perfect but unfortunately, for me it seems like a necessity.

April Showers Outfit Guide

"Rain, Rain, Go Away, Come Again Another Day"...with the British weather being as bad as its been recently, I thought I'd do a fun wet weather outfit. I think its really hard to stay warm and dry, yet remain stylish in these kinds of conditions. Especially because the outfit needs to be great for outside and then easy to wear inside too!

As always, the little hearts show the items from the outfit which I would most love!

Outfit

Topshop Chiffon Side Tuck Blouse in Cream <3

RD Style Moto Jacket

J.Crew Pixie Pants in Black <3

Accessories

Keys Print Silk Scarf by Beta <3

Hunter Original Tall Wellies in Red

House of Harlow 1960 Key Cocktail Ring

Topshop Clip and Leather Slouch Bag

Essie Nail Polish in 'Poor Little Rich Girl'

Today's Nails: Essie 'Bangle Jangle'

Today's nail polish is Essie's Bangle Jangle. This is the final colour for me to test from the Essie 2011 Winter Collection which I got for Christmas.

The colour is a purple hue with pink undertones and the glossiness of the polish is quite incredible - it seems to catch the light constantly and is a very attention grabbing color (unlike the tone in the bottle). Two coats gave a solid opaque finish that was very smooth. This is the first day of having the colour on, so I would imagine (hope) that it will become more dull after a few days of wear.

I'm not sure if I would wear this casually day after day as its such a bold colour but would definately wear it for a night out - 7/10.

Today's Nails: Essie 'Cocktail Bling'

Today's nail polish is Essie's 'Cocktail Bling' which forms part of their Winter 2011 Collection, which I got for Christmas. Its a pale gray polish with a blue/purple hint and lovely strong shine. It was easy to apply with two coats for opaque, although it probably would have worked with one coat too.

I have heard so many great things about this colour from fellow fashion bloggers and vloggers but this is the first nail polish that I think really doesn't resemble the shade in the bottle. That could be because I have literally only just put it on my nails, but the colour is more of a purple on my nails, whereas in the bottle its more of a blue. It is a stunning colour but is unexpected.

Overall, it is definitely a chic and super stylish colour which is perfect to accompany winter/spring transitional outfits - 9/10.

Today's Nails: Essie 'Size Matters'

Today is my work Christmas party (I know its super late but I work in Hospitality and so Christmas Parties for paying guests have to be done first!), so I painted my nails as part of the outfit. I'm not usually a fan of red nail polishes but I needed a bright colour as opposition to my black and grey dress, so chose another of the Essie nail polishes from their Mini Winter Collection.

When I first put on the polish, I didn't like it at all but over the hours its turned into a nicer color I think. For some reason I found it really tough to get even color over my whole nail, even with multiple coats, but its shiny and bold and works with my outfit so I don't really mind. For this polish I would definitely recommend 3 coats as the colour comes out better the more you layer it up.

A fun red colour but difficult to put on - 7/10

Today's Nails: Essie 'Bobbing For Baubles'

Today I'm wearing 'Essie's Bobbing for Baubles' nail polish which I got as part of Essie's pack of Winter Collection colours. I was brought to the brand by Ingrid (or MissGlamorazzi) who regularly wears their laquers in her beauty videos and raves about them regularly, so thought it was about time I tried it out myself!

The colour itself is really interesting - in some light it looks like a crisp dark blue whilst in others it is more black Its great to have such a versatile dark colour in your nail polish selection as it works in many different situations. The polish would actually have worked fine with just one coat as it was immediately opaque, shiny and even across all of my fingers. I've been wearing it for five days now and it hasn't chipped once - YAY! The shine is fab too and really draws attention to your nails.

A great dark nail polish that is a real attention-stealer of a colour - 9/10!

Amy's Christmas Wishlist

Joie Elvis Washed Suede Booties
With only 5 days left until Christmas, I thought it was time to share my wishlist. I've picked the top five things that I would LOVE to see in my stocking this year. The majority of these items are pieces that I wish I could own but unfortunately don't have the money to afford - but one of the pieces is on my actual Christmas list and my fingers are crossed that I'll recieve it!

Essie Nail Polish

Soixante Neuf Three Stone Long Ring

Wildfox Couture Baggy Beach Jumper (Any of the many fun designs)

Current/Elliott The Ankle Skinny Jeans