Category: Nail Product Swatches

This is MakeUp Academy’s nail polish in I want U from the Love Hearts collection. It’s currently on sale for £1.

To be honest for £1 you can’t fault it. It’s not particular chip resistant. However, it is a nice colour and very cheap. it goes on well and you can get away with just one coat, two makes it a nice solid colour.

Do I recommend this? For the price. Yes, I do.

Get it from here or from your local Superdrug.

Far Far Away

Illamasqua’s Perseid nail polish. It’s costs £14.50 from the Illamasqua website. You get 15ml of product.

Perseid is described as a galactic black glitter, glossy finish.

It’s a black glitter polish. In the bottle there is a myriad of colours including green and dark blue. The glitter is all aurora and it looks amazing.

Once I got it on my nails however I HATED it.
The shimmer you see in the bottle was gone. The application was chunky and a mess. One coat and I was left with a sheer mess on my nails and barely any glitter. A second coat didn’t help much so I resorted to dabbing it on to get good coverage. It looked just like dark blue nails with a bad uneven finish in anything other than fluorescent lights. Then you could see the glitter but there was no depth to the polish at all.

Being it is a glitter polish, it’s a nightmare to remove and so not worth it. I’ve tried it a couple of times and and can say I hate it. So I’m giving it away. The one I used here is up for grabs to someone in the UK.

Is it worth it? No. I didn’t like the application or then end result on my nails. Stay away from this

Here is a swatch of Illamasqua’s Limited Edition Mottle nail polish. Unfortunately it is no longer available from the Illamasqua website. However there is a dupe!

Illamasqua’s Optimist nail polish. It’s costs £14.50 from the Illamasqua website. You get 15ml of product.

Optimist is described as a warm yellow, rubber finish.

It’s definitely a warm yellow, in fact it’s almost orange. It’s the colour of a corn fed free range egg yolk. The finish is not quite matt could certainly be described as a rubber look.
It’s opaque in one good coat or two less well done ones. It is chip resistant so will last a couple of days. Due to the finish you can’t use a top coat otherwise it spoils the finish.
Unfortunately it did stain my nails when removing this. I was not very impressed.
The bottle brush is thin but it doesn’t leave marks when applying the polish to the nails. I’d like the brush to be a little thicker but it’s certainly not a bad brush.

Is it worth it? No because it stained my nails. It took a day or two for the colour to go.

 

Makeup Academy’s nail polish in Mud Pie costs £1 from MUA online or from your local Superdrug. You get 6.2ml of product for that price.

It’s simply described as brown. It is brown but I’d describe it as clay mud brown.

Please excuse the label on this bottle, the sticker has started to wear off. With the new design of the bottle this will not happen with your polish.
The new design also includes an improved brush. That’s great because the brush in this is simply awful. Given it’s a £1 polish I wasn’t expecting it to be prefect. While the old brush makes the application slightly sloppy. the new brush has no such issues.
It’s not very chip resistant, a top coat will help greatly. However this costs a pound. I’m not expecting high chip resistance. It’s lasted two days on me on occasions which is a great performance.
It has a lovely shine on it and doesn’t pick up on the flaws in my nail surface.

I really like this polish, if not the colour so much. I’m much more of a bright nail person. It’s a nice neutral nail polish if that’s what you’re looking for.

I’d certainly recommend this. It’s cheap and very good for the price.

Makeup Academy’s Fashionsta glitter nail polish in Mystical Dragon costs £5 (currently on sale at £1.50). You get 11 ml of product. This is an online only product.

As you can see this is a beautiful teal glitter. It can be used as a top coat or as an all over glitter polish. If you want to use it as a glitter polish you need to do five or six coats. However this dries quite quickly and you don’t need to wait too long between layers if you’re going for full on coverage.
It’s a glitter polish so it’s really really chip resistant but it’s also a nightmare to get off. That’s a feature of every glitter polish out there.
It doesn’t really need a top coat but you can add one for extra shine.

It’s cheap, simply gorgeous and chip resistant. Yes I love this polish.

 

MakeUp Academy’s Nail Constellation in Leo costs £3.00 online or in Superdrug.

This lovely nail caviar is part of the constellation set. Leo is full of lovely lilac and teal pearls.

It’s not hard to apply but doesn’t stay attached to the nail for very long. The colour on the pearls is only coated on the outside and will rub off throughout the day. The funnel helps with the application,

Application

• Get a bowl, a piece of paper and your nail polish.
• Use a base coat and paint all your nails either a complimentary or contrasting colour
  
• Once dry use a top coat that’s slightly old and thicker. Paint the nail, thickly with the top coat.
• Straight away pour the nail caviar over the wet nail.
• While it’s setting push the little balls at the end of the nail down, to create a smooth edge.
• Then press down the caviar on the nail gently to anchor them into place.
• If you’re doing your other nails, repeat the above process.
• To extend the longevity, paint a little top coat on the very end of your nails.

You can place a top coat on the top of the caviar. It will extend the longevity and prevent the colour rubbing off but it does ruin the look some what.

Despite the wear issues of nail caviar this is worth it for creating an evening or party look. The cost helps with that a lot as it’s very cheap. I do recommend this product.

Illamasqua’s Gamma nail polish. It’s costs £14.50 from the Illamasqua website. You get 15ml of product.

Gamma is described as a neon orange.

It certainly is that. This is the most brilliant orange polish I’ve ever seen in my life. It almost glows in natural light.
The bottle brush is thin but it doesn’t leave marks when applying the polish to the nails. I’d like the brush to be a little thicker but it’s certainly not a bad brush.
It’s opaque in one good coat or two less well done ones. It does have a high gloss shine. It is chip resistant so will last a couple of days.

Is it worth it? Yes. It’s a lovely hight shine and a brilliant colour.

 

llamasqua’s Creator nail polish. It costs £14.50 from the Illamasqua website.

Creator is described as a ‘Magical Black’.

It’s actually a black polish with small silver glitter in it. I love the glitter in this, it’s not over stated at all and looks like stars in the night sky. It translates nicely on to my nails from the bottle.
The brush in the bottle is a little thin for my liking, I prefer paddle brushes but that’s a minor thing.
It’s opaque in two coats and has a nice shine. It’s not a high shine but that can be fixed with a good top coat.
It’s not particularly chip resistant given the glitter content but will last a day for me. It will last a lot longer if you don’t work with coins.
It’s a pain to get off due to the glitter content but that’s to be expected with any glitter. You need a good polish remover for this one.

So is it worth it? Yes. The glitter is divine. It is a lovely polish and a great base for many designs.