Lizzie French No.93 Green Grass.

This nail polish review is looking at a vintage nail polish, something I found in my cupboard that I am pretty sure you can’t buy any more   Lizzie French no. 93 Green Grass (On closer inspection the brand of this nail polish in Elizabeth French LTD, the name on the front of the bottle is Lizzie French). This fun green colour is reminiscent of the 90’s with its bright and vibrant shades. Despite its age the polish still applies well and hardens in the appropriate manner.  The polish lasts a while too, staying put on your nails without damage for three to four days.  Although this polish is no longer available if you have some in your cupboard be sure to dig it out as it is a great day to day polish. I give this polish 4 out of 5.

 

No7 Stay perfect Damson dream

The No7 Stay perfect Damson dream is a perfect rich and warm colour which catches the light and radiates amazingly.  Not only does the colour shimmer wonderfully but it also has festive tones of mulled wine.  Price wise the No7 Stay perfect range is £6 a bottle (those of you familiar with the range will be aware that the bottles have gone up in price by 50p) which is, I think slightly on the expensive side, however boots frequently give out £3 off No7 vouchers which makes this Nail Polish much better value for money.  The nail polish also wears quite well and does actually wear away instead of chip. A pretty and hard-wearing Nail Polish, just a little on the expensive side, I give it 3/5

 

Models Own – Raspberry Crush.

I got this nail polish free with More Magazine, which I think we all will agree, is a great deal! The colour is beautiful, it’s a perfect rich fuchsia colour which looks full and bold completely covering your nails in one sleek coat. The colour looks amazing, it has a silky sheen which lightly shines as the light hits it. As for the wear expectancy the Nail Polish lasts three to four days before it chips and has to be removed. A lovely little polish, perfect for day to day wear, I give the Models Own Raspberry Crush 4 out of 5 stars.

 

 

George No20. Lavender

Such a beautiful colour! If you are a fan of purple Nail polish George No20. Lavender is definitely the one for you. This purple is both bold and dazzling and doesn’t fail to gain attention. The colour you get on your nails is just as vivid as what you see in the bottle. Providing a solid colour in just one coat the No20. Lavender perfectly covers nails and dries within seconds. This is also a strong nail polish which is hard wearing and does not suffer dramatic chips. At £1.75 a bottle this Nail Polish is fantastic value. I highly recommend this nail polish and give it 5 out of 5 stars.

 

George No27. Dusky pink and Barbara Daley Goodbye yellow.

After finding the Barbara Daly Goodbye Yellow amongst some of my Nana’s nail polishes I decided to give it a go as a base coat. It promises to make stained and discoloured nails white again by using a unique whitening agent. I have to say I did notice a difference in my nails after the first use. Not only did this polish work as a great base coat but my nails appeared to be whiter and stronger. I noticed less flaking on my nails and they felt more rigid. I would definitely recommend this nail polish! This nail polish in Tesco and after checking on their website I found that it is priced at £6. This is a very good price for such an effective product!

My main colour this week has been George No 17. Dusky pink. This is a beautiful dark pink colour that has an excellent shimmer to it. The colour is subtle yet eye catching and provides a great day to day wear. one problem with this nail polish is the coverage. Despite applying two coats the polish still appears very thin and you are able to see your nails underneath. As a result of this it also wears down very quickly meaning that wear is a greater problem to this polish than chipping.

The Goodbye Yellow Polish is a fantastic buy and I give it 5 out of 5 stars. The George No27 Dusky pink, is a great colour but not the best in the range in terms of quality, I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

 

Collection 2000 Lasting Colour. No. 25 Buried treasure.

The Collection 2000 Lasting Colour, No. 25 Buried Treasure promises an up to 10 day wear and with a gorgeous metallic colour I was expecting great things. The colour is beautiful it has a perfect metallic shine that catches the light and sparkles. The colour you see in the bottle is slightly duller than what you can expect to see on your nails. In the bottle the colour appears to be a creamy metallic shade but once on your nails it appears to be more of a solid gold.

The quality of the nail polish is not as great as I had hoped. Instead of lasting 10 days the nail polish had to be removed after 5 days as it had become badly chipped. Which brings me onto the Nail Polishes next promise, chip resistant. This it is not, the nail polish chips quite badly and in very big patches. However the nail polish does dry quickly and it does also have a very glossy finish.

All in all the colour of this nail polish is beautiful, but don’t expect it to last as long as it promises.

 

Christmas Robin Tea Cosy.

I made this for a Knit a Tea Cosy competition. I knew it wasn’t good enough to win as I made it quickly, but that was because I really wanted to take part, as even if you didn’t win your tea cosy would be auctioned off to raise money for a Teenage Cancer Charity.

I made the medium size Tea Cosy from Jean Greenhowe’s Christmas Special as I particularly liked the little robin on top of. I made his with various colours of yarn that I found in my stash, hence why the main piece is far more vibrant than you may usually expect. The main piece itself is super simple to make and is achieved with basic garter stitch. The Jean Greenhowe pattern for holly is just perfect! So easy to do, yet so effective, a great addition to any Christmas knit. The Robin is an adorable creation and is also a great addition to the simple Christmas Knit. One thing I will say is be very careful when changing between the main of the Tea Cosy and the decorations. The needle sizes change and unless you return to the beginning of the page where the robin is you might miss it. This Christmas Knit is a piece of cake but will provide a great addition to the Christmas dinner table.

You can check out the Tea Cosy on Ravelry http://ravel.me/dodgeknittingcat/aoohp

 

Nana’s knitted Santa Claus.

The knitted Santa is something of a right of passage in our family. My Nana ensured that every grandchild had their own Santa and she would even be asked to make them for other people’s children, but there was one special person who did not have their own Santa. That person was my Mum. My Nana had begun to make a Santa for my Mum but as she became ill it became difficult for her to knit and when she tragically passed away Santa was left unfinished. Being the only knitter in the family I Inherited all of my Nana’s knitting things and amongst them were the bits and pieces to make a Santa. I decided to make him up and see what still needed doing. I knitted Santa a hat, a skirt, a beard and did the eyes and all of the making up. My Nana knitted the rest. So this is one final knitting project between me and my Nana as an early Christmas gift for my Mum.

The Jean Greenhowe pattern is the most perfect Christmas pattern there is. Part of the Christmas Special pattern book the Santa pattern is something timeless that children and adults can enjoy for generations. The pattern is so simple as well it makes it accessible to all knitting abilities. Every aspect is clearly explained and simple to follow. The stitches aren’t overly complicated either and Santa is easy to make up. A fantastic pattern and a must for the festive season!

You can see Santa on my Ravelry page http://ravel.me/dodgeknittingcat/zxhdm

 

Models Own Hayley’s comet (Beetlejuice)

This week I tried the latest edition to the Models Own Beetlejuice collection, Hayley’s comet.

 

I used my usual George top and base coat along with the Models Own polish. The Nail polish is quite thin and needs at least three coats to get a good coverage, however the colour is simply perfection. A picture does not do it justice. As the light reflects off your nails you can see beautiful shades of red, burnt orange, chocolate brown, blue and greens. With every glance this polish is different and shimmers wonderfully. For some reason after I painted my nails the polish all bubbled up as it dried and I was left with these weird little bubbly flecks.  Hayley’s Comet lasted four days before chipping and having to be removed, so I think for such a luxurious polish it had a good run.

I love this colour, just wish it lasted longer. I give this polish 4 out of 5 stars.

 

Models own Dancing Queen and No7 Cruising.

This week I have something slightly different to my normal George Nail Polish and I have branched out to the realms of No7 and Models own. For this look I still used the George base and top coats.

I don’t usually buy No 7 nail polishes as I think they are too expensive for what they are, however every so often Boots give you a voucher for so much money off No7 and naturally I flock to the nail polish in order to spend it. This time I picked up Cruising, a rather fetching teal colour. Once applied to the nails it has a beautiful rich colour and only requires one coat to get a good coverage. I chose this colour as I felt that, being slightly darker than the Models own, it would make the glitter stand out well. It did provide a great background for the glitter but the bottle promises that it will stay perfect and that it unfortunately did not. I found that this nail polish chipped easily and only lasted a few days maximum.

The Models Own Dancing Queen is part of the Mirrorball collection. A truly beautiful colour and I knew this was a nail polish I wanted in my collection! The glitter provides the kind of coverage you would expect from a normal top brand glitter polish and the dazzling shades of green catch the light perfectly. Mixed with silver and gold glitter this polish takes on a whole different dimension. This is however one small snag with the Dancing Queen, the glitter is quite sharp and catches very easy. Even with a top coat on the glitter still sticks out at awkward angles and scratches against things very easily. As a result of this the glitter quite easily rips off your nails completely ruining your look. The glitter that doesn’t come off is next to impossible to remove and is practically cemented to your fingers.

Fantastic look and two very beautiful nail polishes but the glitter is just too scratchy, as a result I give this look 3 out of 5 stars.