Nails Inc Grosvenor Gardens

I have already reviewed this here and here but it's so pretty it deserves another post I think.
It is Witwoooooo Rudey Nudey week at All Things Nails so I decided to paint my nails with Leighton Denny Starkers, you can't get much nuder than that. I love nudes, a good proportion of my collection are nudes, but I'm afraid this one just doesn't work for me. (I will add that this is only my opinion, I have seen Starkers look gorgeous on other people's nails, but not for me). My nudes need to be opaque to hide slightly yellow nails and uneven nail lines.
I'll be brave and post the picture anyway, so you can see why I had to cover this up.

Well, Grosvenor Gardens was just sitting there in the box begging to be tried again, so fighting the urge to remove Starkers and abandon it completely I decided to see if it could be saved with some pretty glitter.
This Nails Inc glitter is literally packed with a mix of pink, purple and silver large hexes, smaller pink and purple hexes, then smaller green & silver ones and and fine glitter, and I think a second coat would have given completely full coverage. These pics are with one coat, as I wanted to see if I could live with the slightly disguised visible nail line.
I just keep looking at my nails, they are so pretty and sparkly, and I am ignoring the fact that I can see the dreaded VNL! At arms length I can't see it anyway. I do love this glitter!

Nails Inc Grosvenor Gardens

 

 

 

 

Nails Inc Bloomsbury Way and Grosvenor Gardens

Well, yesterday I swatched the whole Nails Inc Garden Party Collection, and now I am wearing Bloomsbury Way with Grosvenor Gardens. The pink is probably my least favourite of the set, the other two I instantly loved but pale pink is a bit of a change for me.
However it painted on well and coverage was pretty good in two coats. I would probably have been tempted to do a 3rd coat if I was wearing this alone as you can see a visible nail line and this bothers me, particularly as my nail lengths are quite variable. It was very cold yesterday when I painted these so I don't think I got the very best finish, and I can see ridges in my nails that most shades disguise.
It is a very pretty soft pink and in warmer weather I think I would wear it again, although its likely to be used as base for a glitter, graffiti or some other special effect.

 Now for the fun bit. I decided to try a gradient : I do actually prefer a gradient from the bottom of the nail but since there was a VNL to be disguised I did a tip gradient instead. This is a densely packed glitter, a mix of pink, purple and silver large hexes, smaller pink and purple hexes, then smaller green & silver ones and and fine glitter and you get a lot of glitter on the brush, so I found this a bit tricky, but this is the end result.

I'm afraid the ridges still bothered me, so in the end I went for a full nail of glitter and now I have super sparkly nails and the pink is a very pretty backdrop to this gorgeous glitter. I took quite a few shots to try and capture it - I hope you can begin to see how pretty it is

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nails Inc Garden Party Collection

Almost an impulse buy for me last week, I had seen a couple of preview pics and decided if the show looked good I would go for this.
This is a stunning summer collection, made up of 3 pale, pastel and quite neutral shades and  a stunning chunky glitter.
Pembridge Crescent is a pale, grey lilac cream, Holland Park Gardens a pale sage and Bloomsbury Way a pretty pale pink, pink but not too sugary pink.
I don't own many pinks so no comparisons there but I have swatched the 3 creams with 2 other colours that came to mind as I was looking at this collection, Leighton Denny Leading Lilac and OPI Thanks a Windmillion. These are two of my favourite colours for those odd occasions when I do move away from darks and nudes, but when I get new colours I like to know where they fit in with existing varnishes.
As you can see, Pembridge Crescent is a little paler and much greyer than Leading Lilac, Holland Park Gardens is in my opinion a very silimar shade to Thanks a Windmillion but much paler.

 

The 3 cream shades are beautiful. They all applied well in two coats, with good coverage.

And now for the stunning glitter Grosvenor Gardens, a mix of pink, purple and silver large hexes, smaller pink and purple hexes, then smaller green & silver ones and and fine glitter. I blew my pic up really big to try and identify the colours and sizes and have probably missed some.

Pretty stunning eh!! Here are some more shots, I did a bit of a gradient first and then went for a full coat. Well, these are on wait-list at QVC at the moment, and I can say for certain, they won't be getting mine back! All we need now is the summer!!