A Few Favourite Pink Nail Colours

In a recent Spring Shades post, I mentioned how much I've been enjoying pastel colours for nails lately and talked about a few shades in particular that I've been sporting on nails over the past month or so. There's another colour I've loving lately as well though, pink, so I thought I'd do a little post on some favourites/shades that have made an appearance recently. 

Butter London's Primrose Hill Picnic, Rose Insolent and Lolly Pop look quite similar in the nail wheel swatches, but they're all different. Primrose Hill Picnic is a bright, opaque fuchsia creme. Chanel Rose Insolent is a medium, rosy pink. And Lolly Pop is similar to Rose insolent, but is brighter and has a touch of red in it. They're all quite bright, summery pinks, but as soon as the sun makes an appearance, these sorts of colours are the first I reach for.

The softer pinks I've been liking a lot are Butter London's Teddy Girl, which is a milky, opaque pale pink and OPI's Bubble Bath, which is more of a nude with tiny hint of pink. Bubble Bath has actually been a favourite for a while. It's the shade I reach for when I don't fancy colour on my nails, but want them to look clean and fresh. Essie's Vanity Fairest is another favourite, soft pink, too.

All of the swatches above are with two coats of colour apart from Bubble Bath and Teddy Girl. Bubble Bath is quite sheer after two coats, so I normally add a third, and I find application with Teddy Girl to be a bit uneven, so it takes three coats of colour to get a completely even, streak free finish. The three brighter shades all apply perfectly.

So, those are a few of the pink nail colours that I've been reaching for a lot lately. When having a bit of hunt through the collection, I was quite surprised at how many fuchsias and bright rose shades I've actually managed to collect over the past few years and don't think I'll be adding to the stash for a little while. I do have my eye on Chanel's Rose Confidentiel, though which looks like a pretty, medium rose pink with a jelly-like finish - a really lovely colour! 

Are you a fan of pink polish? Any favourite shades?

Leighton Denny Swatches: The Reds

Like the Leighton Denny Neutrals and Vamps, which I posted about here, my collection of reds from the brand is fairly small. I do love red nail colours, but tend to wear them more on toes than I do on fingers. The four I do own are all gorgeously glossy, shimmer free shades, which like the other colours I’ve already talked about/swatched, apply and wear incredibly well.

L- R Leighton Denny Provocative, Viva La Diva, Feel the Burn & Rampant Rose

Leighton Denny: Provocative, Viva La Diva, Feel the Burn & Rampant Rose

Provocative: A glamorous, bright, classic red, which applies perfectly and dries to an amazingly shiny finish.

 Viva La Diva: A super glossy, vibrant orange-y red. A perfect, summer-y manicure or pedicure colour.

Feel The Burn: A warm, earthy, terracotta shade. I actually wore this one a lot during the colder months, but the colour also works as a summer shade, too, and looks great against slightly tanned/darker skin.

Rampant Rose: A rich, creamy, berry-ish/red shade, which is very similar to Chanel’s April.

All shades are available from the official Leighton Denny site: leightondenny.com, helenmarks.co.uk and lookfantastic, where worldwide postage is free! The bottles are £11.00 each and contain 12mls of product.

A Week In Nails. Leighton Denny & Chanel

Leighton Denny Stormy Weather, Chanel Graphite & Leighton Denny Steel Appeal & Little Minx

Well, kind of. These are a few of the shades I've been sporting on my nails over the last few weeks. I've mainly been reaching for brighter, summery nail colours, but I've still been making the most of the darker and shimmery shades in my collection, too. 

 Leighton Denny Stormy Weather

Leighton Denny Stormy Weather

Leighton Denny's, Stormy Weather is a pretty, warm purple shade, shot through with lots of tiny, silver shimmer.  It applies well and is opaque in two coats.

Leighton Denny Stormy Weather (Two coats)

Leighton Denny Little Minx

Leighton Denny Little Minx

Little Minx is a metallic bronze/beige shade, which almost looks like liquid metal in the bottle. The shade normally applies perfectly, but for some reason, I just couldn't get it to paint evenly when I applied it this time. So, after taking the photo below, I went over the colour with a coat of Chanel's Graphite, which actually turned out quite well.

Leighton Denny Little Minx (Two coats)

Chanel Graphite paired with Little Minx

Chanel Graphite

I haven't reached for this shade for quite a while, but after using it to fix the streaky and slightly uneven application of Little Minx, I think I'll be reaching for the shimmery colour more often. I have a few other shades in the stash, which I think Graphite would work really well with, so I'll definitely be playing with this one some more. I may even attempt a bit of nail art!

Chanel Graphite over Leighton Denny's Little Minx

   Leighton Denny Steel Appeal

Leighton Denny Steel Appeal

A dark, glossy grey with silver shimmer. The base is very dark, but the silver sparkles lighten it slightly and turn it into something more interesting and unique. Steel Appeal applies perfectly, is opaque in two coats, and dries to a lovely, shiny finish.

Leighton Denny Steel Appeal (Two coats)

All of the swatches above are without top coat, and all of the photos were taken with flash.

The Leighton Denny colours above are available from the LD site, and cost £11.00 for a 12ml bottle.

I hope everyone's having a lovely weekend!

Leighton Denny Swatches: The Neutrals & Vamps

Well, just the one Vampy shade, actually. I don't own many neutrals or dark/vampy shades from the Leighton Denny range, because I already had quite a few in my collection before I discovered the brand. I love the colours I do own, though, and wore the two darker shades a lot over the Winter months. I also reach for the two lighter colours, Supermodel and Little Minx on a regular basis, too. They're both great, 'go with everything' shades.

I wont ramble on too much about the formula and how well these wear, as I already did that in my last post, which you can see here. I'll just say that all of these, like the purples, apply brilliantly and last well, too. 

Leighton Denny: Supermodel, Little Minx, Steel Appeal & Vamp

L-R Leighton Denny Supermodel, Little Minx, Steel Appeal & Vamp

Supermodel: One of Leighton Denny's best selling shades. An elegant creamy, mink/milk chocolate colour which applies perfectly.

Little Minx: A pretty, metallic bronze/beige shade. This one applies well, but requires three coats for completely opaque colour.

Steel Appeal: A dark grey, shot through with tiny silver shimmer. Again, this one applies nicely, but I find it needs three, thin coats for a completely opaque colour.

Vamp: A deep, dark, glossy red, which is very similar to Chanel's Rouge Noir.

L-R Leighton Denny Supermodel, Little Minx, Steel Appeal & Vamp

All shades are available from the official Leighton Denny site: leightondenny.com, helenmarks.co.uk and lookfantastic, where worldwide postage is free! The bottles are £11.00 each and contain 12mls of product.

Chanel Nail Colour: 533 April

Almost every time Chanel release a new collection of nail colours, I spend a good couple of weeks lusting over pretty swatches of the shades and reading reviews, before usually deciding that I don’t actually need any of them. This is normally fine, but more recently, I’ve found myself regretting my decision not to buy, and really kick myself when I end up paying more than I should for hard to find and limited edition shades, which are no longer available. As soon as I laid eyes on the Chanel Spring collection though, I immediately decided that two of the three shades would be mine.

Chanel Nail Colours: April & June

April is a richly pigmented, creamy berry/wine shade, which applies beautifully. It goes on smoothly and evenly, with absolutely no streaking, and dries to a gorgeously glossy finish.

Chanel April (2 coats)

I was almost sure that I had nothing like April in my collection before I ordered, but realised after swatching it that Leighton Denny’s Rampant Rose is really quite similar. Rampant Rose has a touch more red in it than April, and is a tad darker, but the two shades are very much alike.

Chanel April & Leighton Denny rampant Rose

Left: Chanel April & Right: Leighton Denny Rampant Rose

I had planned to swatch June in the same post as April, but unfortunately, the pretty apricot shade really doesn’t work with my pasty, winter skin tone, so I’ll be stashing this one away until the weather warms up.

Chanel April & June

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with both of my purchases. June was the shade which appealed to me the most out of the two, but April is definitely the winner for me.

Did you pick up any of the shades from the Chanel Spring collection?

Leighton Denny Swatches: The Purples

Last year I nabbed myself not one, not two, but three, lovely Leighton Denny nail colours as part of a magazine freebie deal. Before then, I’d not actually tried anything from the range, but I quickly fell in love with the brilliant formula and fabulous range of shades on offer, and since last year, I’ve added quite a few colours to my collection.

There’s something about Leighton Denny’s sleek and simple packaging design which really appeals to me, and I find a lot of the shades on offer to be quite unique. The formula and brush design are both excellent and make precise application an easy task, and I find the gorgeously glossy shades really wear well, too.

Leighton Denny: No Comment, Stormy Weather, Rebel & Crushed Grape

I frequently check blogs and forums for photos/colour swatches of shades before I buy them, but I sometimes find it difficult to locate Leighton Denny pictures or posts, so I thought it might be a good idea to have a bit of a swatchathon, and go through some of the colours I currently have in my stash. I thought I’d kick it off with a shade I seem to be slightly obsessed with at the moment, purple.

L-R: Whatever, Crushed Grape, Stormy Weather, Rebel & No Comment

Whatever: A shimmer free, creamy mauve shade, which is slightly streaky after the first coat, but the pretty colour evens out well with a second.

Crushed Grape: is a soft, creamy burgundy and applies perfectly.

Stormy Weather: A beautiful purple shot through with tiny, delicate silver shimmer. 

Rebel: A really rich, dramatic purple shot through with tiny micro shimmers. Looks quite sheer after the first coat, but is rich and opaque with a second.

No Comment: A really deep iridescent plummy shade shot through with tiny red sparkles. Again, application is slightly uneven with a first coat, but the colour evens out nicely with a second.

L-R: Whatever, Crushed Grape, Stormy Weather, Rebel & No Comment

I'd planned to swatch these on my own nails, and did manage to do three before my cuticles gave up on me, so I opted for a nail wheel instead. I can't get enough of these at the moment. Sitting down and painting a wheel of plastic nails is so relaxing! 

All shades are available from the official Leighton Denny site: Leightondenny.com, helenmarks.co.uk and also from lookfantastic, where postage is free. They're £11.00 for 12mls of product.

Have you tried Leighton Denny nail colours? Do you have any favourite shades?
Or any other favourite purples from other brands?