Spring Nail Polishes

Now I don't stick to seasonal colours for my nails. For instance if I feel like wearing a light colour in the winter I will and if I feel like wearing a darker colour I will. Working in Monsoon we have stricter rules about nail colour and wear, we are for instance not supposed to have chipped nail polishes and we have to complimentary colours on both nails and toes to match our outfit. We are allowed to wear sandals and wedges in the summer do we do have to keep on top of the nail trends, the fun of working in a fashion shop eh?!

Now in no particular order ladies and gentleman, the nail polishes!


First is this lovely mint green colour by Barry M. These only cost £2.99 in Superdrug and almost always on 3 for 2, so what more of an excuse to do you need to go and try a couple of them! I got this last spring when it came out because I loved the colour and it was one of my go-to nail polishes for spring & summer and it's still one of my favourites this year! I've just started to wear it this last week for the first time this year and I am loving it. The polish itself is a lovely cream finish and is a more on the lighter end of mint green which is greater for you lighter skin tone guys like me but I think it'd look gorgeous on dark skin tones, so it'd make a great universal shade!

Now onto lasting power with all my nail polishes I use either my OPI top coat or my Rimmel 5-in-1 top coat and base coat. Now I am very hard on my nails in the manner that I use a touch-screen till at work so my index fingers are usually the first to show signs of chip, still on the hunt for a 'perfect' top coat, seche vite's topcoat is next on my list! I do find this nail polish lasts at least three days before chipping and that is three days of being banging on a screen and ripping open boxes, packages and wrapping, so it'll last much longer if your not as harsh on your nails as me!

Next is a shade I use on my toes more than my nails but come summer and the sunshine I wear it then. The shade itself is Sugar High by China Glaze. Not this is a great bright colour not to be mistaken for neon or highlighter pink. This is not neon it's simply a bright shade of pink! This again is a cream colour, don't know what it is with me and creams! But I think if this one was a shimmer or a glitter, I don't think I'd be keen on the colour as much. Now I don't know how much these retail for as I didn't personally buy this, I got this as part of a contest prize from Karen. I think China Glaze generally retails for around £12 but you can often find them cheaper at places like 8ty8 beauty and transdesign (note: I have never ordered from any of these sites so I'm unaware of any shipping or customs charges!)



I find when I apply these to my toes they last about 5/6 days with no top coat but I have been wearing boots and trainers a lot for running/workouts/gym and for work, so the staying power might change once I start wearing sandals and wedges.

This little beauty is actually an Accessorize metalized nail polish in the colour Gem. These little bottles only cost £4 which is a lot compared to brands like Barry M who only charge £2.99 for their polishes but I will admit and I am not ashamed to admit that I buy them from work cause I get them half price with staff discount, but honestly if I didn't work there I'd still purchase their 'effects' polishes just because I think they're worth it!


Now this is marketed on the bottle as being a one coat polish and I completely agree. In this swatch picture I have only applied one coat and you get a perfect opaque colour and they dry super fast compared to other polishes, faster than some of the marketed fast drying polishes! Perfect for those of you who don't have bags of time to do your nails.


The colour in the bottle is a gorgeous shimmery mash-up of pink and purple and on the nails the colour doesn't disappoint, you get exactly what you see in the bottle! Now for being one coat this last ages! I've worn it for a whole week without a top coat and only had a slight bit of chipping at the tips and I find it lasts even longer with a top coat. This a perfect nail polish for a day-to-night look because it instantly glams up any outfit and gives it that overall polished look without having a French manicure. Why not try something a little different and do a French manicure with a nice metallic colour like this on the tip?!

Keeping with the pink theme I seem to be on is this little polish from Barry M (I'm starting to see a trend here!). This is bright pink (279) which only costs £2.99 which is great little bargain buy or even just something to spend your pocket money or that spare bit of change on! Now this is not as bright as China Glaze's ' sugar high' and is just a lovely bright pink, perfect for those of you that are of paler skin tone like me (I swear you could mistake me for a milk bottle!) I must definitely be having a creme trend for nail polishes this spring bar the Accessorize one! Now this I love wearing it on its own or with my crackle polish over the top when I'm feeling that bit more adventurous. The colour itself is a blue toned pink which applies opaque in two coats and dries fairly fast compared to other polishes. Now this lasts me 4-5 days with slight chippage and that's 4 days of it being banged against the tills in work, being under water in the shower or when I wash my face morning and night and also from being in the swimming pool almost daily. So it staying power is quite impressive!

Next is this beautiful coral colour again by Barry M which is simply just called coral. Now I will say its a bit more red-orangey in person but it for some reason photographed differently! I blame it on the lack of flash on my iPod :) This like the other Barry M nail polishes lasts around 4-5 days. I will say thought that I haven't used this one a whole lot mainly because I've forgotten about it! But now the sun's coming out more I'm definitely starting to reach for it, to me it's just the perfect coral colour with it having needing only two thin coats to reach the opaqueness in the picture and it lasts for days.

Next I've been loving this concrete grey colour by collection 2000 called wham (number 27) and it is just a mid toned grey creme polish, these hot look nail polishes have probably been out roughly a year and I love them. I have a couple of colours from the line and you only need two coats to get the opaqueness in the picture! Price wise I don't actually think they cost a whole lot, roughly £1.99 or £2.99. I find its a great unique colour for spring if you want something a little different, I often add glitter or effects on top to change it up. The staying of these little bad boys is around 4-5 days depending on how heavy handed you are. Definitely worth a shot though!

Next is my perfect everyday no fuss colour, this by the brand 17 (you can buy it in boots) in the shade Forever. I think these little pots retail for around £1.99/£2.99 and it only takes two coats to get the desired look in the picture. This is a lovely pinky nude colour, perfect flesh tone colour! This'll be great for a range of people cause this doesn't actually wash me out, which is great. I often use this as an underneath colour for a French manicure and it worked out perfectly (I did a blog post on it). This polish is one of those shades that I'll always have in my collection as the colour doesn't clash with anything so I don't have to worry about repainting my nails!


Now with two coats and a topcoat, I found that it lasted at least a week before I started to get some chips, at that point I got bored and wanted to change my nail colour so it could of lasted longer because it was only slight wear and tear at the tips! Would definitely recommend for you all to have a nail polish this colour in you collection at all times and for pennies, this is probably one of the cheapest of the best!

This is probably one of the cheapest of the whole bunch, this is just a kind of all year favourite but I wanted to include it in this. This is by E.L.F and it's one of they're glitter polishes with the clear base whereas they have some that have actual colour nail polish bases. You can get these at E.L.F for £1.50 and that's ANY of their nail polishes for £1.50.


I use this one as a little added effect on my nails, I'll either put it on my ring finger of both hands or put it on the tips or just all over the nail (I've actually got an idea for an effect with this nail polish if it works!). I've actually found that the nails that I put it on they are often the last fingers to chip and they generally last about 5-7 days depending on what your like with your nails, I generally get 6 days out of it! For £1.50 it's always worth a try and if you don't like you haven't wasted a whole lot of money because some of the glitter polishes can be quite expensive (you could even possibly make your own! Possible future blog post there!)


So there's my favourite nail polishes this spring, I would love to get a nice yellow colour and a lilac and pastel pink (probably don't need that many pinks tho!)


What are your spring favourites?