Palate cleanser of the week - Purple for B-Eat eating disorder awareness Smitten Polish Siren's Song

Hello!

A bit of a different post for this week's palate cleanser. Still an unadulterated swatch, but this time it's polish with a purpose! This week has been eating disorders week, and Beat is a UK charity providing helplines, online support and a network of UK-wide self-help groups to help adults and young people in the UK beat their eating disorders. My weight has always been something I've struggled with, and I can only think that if I'd had some help and support, somewhere to turn to when I was a teen I might not be in the place I am now. Anyway, purple is Beat's ribbon colour, and so a purple mani was born! Smitten Polish Siren's Song was a lovely gift from another blogger friend and although I painted my mum's nails with it once I've never worn it. It's a pretty purple/blue duochrome and I was perfectly happy to wear it alone!

I  love purple anyway, and this is a good-un! What's your favourite purple?

Hx

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Palate Cleanser of the Week - Cult Nails Spontaneous

Hi!

It's been a while since I did a PCotW but I finally joined the Cult and thought that this beauty deserved a post all of it's own! And when you see tomorrow's post you'll understand why I needed something like this on my nails. Let's just say it's bright! Anyway, onto the task in hand. Cult Nails Spontaneous is a muted purple cream with brighter purple microglitter, and it's purdy. This is such a me colour, I could wear it all day every day. I have to say I was a little disappointed with the formula - thin and draggy on the first coat, and it dried a little bumpy. I ended up with three coats and plenty of topcoat here. The microglitter just catches the light and makes it glow.

There are quite a few Cult Nails polishes I have my eye on, but they're quite hard to get hold of here without a hefty shipping cost and customs fee, so to make it worthwhile you have to make a bigger order. I just can't afford that (unless my children want to live on air pie and windy pudding...) so I'll just keep adding to the wishlist!

Have you joined the Cult? Which would you recommend?

Hx

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Palate Cleanser of the Week - Sally Hansen Kinetic Copper

Hello!

Much like I still love me a crackle polish, I still really love the magnetic nail trend. Despite running this little mini series I do find myself itching to jazz up a manicure rather than leaving it plain, and magnetic polish fits the bill when I can't be bothered to get the stamping gear out, or my inspiration is lacking. This polish is just too pretty, copper shimmer that looks like tigers eye when the magnetic affect is applied (and it's one of the best ones I've used - I had no trouble with application at all.) Here is two coats, with no topcoat and I wore it without issues for two days.

I'm not sure the Sally Hansen magnetics ever came to the UK, but I picked this up at good old Poundland, and they had a few colours available. Quick!

Hx

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Palate Cleanser of the Week - Models Own Emerald Black

Hello!

This week's palate cleanser is this beauty from Models Own. Emerald Black is part of their Beetlejuice collection of duochromes, which they add to every now and again. At first glance, it looks like just a pearly black, but under the right light it shifts green with a tinge of blue. In sun, the green really glows and makes it really special. Shown here is two easy coats, plus Jacava London topcoat.

Pretty :) The one thing I find with Models Own polishes is that they have that smell. The slight headache inducing, definitely not big 3 free kinda smell, but if you can overlook that they have a huge range and are always on top of the trends. I really like Emerald Black and think it would be a great base for some stamping ;)

Hx

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Palate Cleanser of the Week - Rimmel Space Dust Total Eclipse

Hello!

Today's Palate Cleanser of the Week is another textured offering, this time from Rimmel. Their Space Dust polishes are glitter polishes with a textured finish and come in 5 shades. Total Eclipse has a black base with green flecks that shift to purple in the bottle, but sadly not on the nail. Still, it's very pretty with or without topcoat, and I think it would be fab as the base for galaxy nail art (which I suck big hairy balls at, so maybe I should try it again...) The swatch below shows two coats of Total Eclipse with topcoat only on the index finger.

I'm sorry my pictures aren't great, I really struggle when there's no natural light but I promise I'm working on it!

Hx

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Palate cleanser of the week - Beauty UK Grit Effects Fabric

Morning!

I hope you're not all as stressed as me right now! There's something about this time of year that sends my blood pressure soaring! Anyway, what better excuse for a soft, pretty polish to chill me out and calm my nerves. It was either that or a bottle of vodka... Beauty UK Fabric is from their Grit Effects textured range, and while the rest of the range are matte, this pretty soft pale pink has irridescent pink and blue shimmer running through it, making it just that little bit more special. I thought it was going to be terribly sheer, but I used just two coats for these swatches.

Fuzzy shimmer - yum!

This is a great polish, easy to wear, fairly neutral but just with a hint of something special. The only thing I found was that after a days wear it looked a little bit grubby. I guess the pale colour and the texture worked against it that way. But I rectified that by festive-ing it up with some stamping, which you can see over on my Instagram!

I hope you're not too stressed! I'm off on a sticky-tape hunt, wish me luck!

Hx

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Palate Cleanser of the Week! Estee Lauder Nouveau Riche

Hi!

I've come up with this new little mini-series in a bid to improve my swatching and photography skills. I realise that my swatches, and indeed photos, are not always up to scratch and I want to change that. Now, to me a palate cleanser may not just be a plain old polish - but a special polish (be it creme, shimmer, foil, duochrome...) on it's own, no nail art, no stamping, no accent nails. And I couldn't think of a better polish to start with.

This is the only Estee Lauder polish I own, because they are rather pricey; this one was a gift. But it is a stunner. Bronze, with a foil finish, and almost, almost duochrome in the right light. This was three coats, an there is still a little VNL, but not so much that it bothers me. Application is smooth and easy and dry time is good. I used a base of Duri Rejuvacote and a top coat of Poshe.

Pretty? Not something I reach for a lot, but I like it none the less. So, this is my starting point. I hope my swatches get better and better from here! Any tips gratefully received!

Hx

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