Hello As I mentioned in my last post, I’m going to be changing the content of this blog quite a lot in the coming months. I thought I’d make my first foray into this new world with a book review! I haven’t written a book review since I was about sixteen, so please bear with me it is all a learning curve. Let me know any constructive feedback in the comments!

Recently I picked up The Reluctant Fundamentalist in Waterstones without having heard anything much of Mohsin Hamid before – I noticed it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2007 and have always enjoyed Man Booker Prize shortlisted and winning titles, so it seemed like a good place to start. 

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a postmodern novel set in Pakistan several years after 9/11. It is written in a monologue from the perspective of Changez; a young Pakistani man who tells the story of how he set out for America in pursuit of a high class education, and landed a respectable job in the valuation industry in New York following his graduation. Changez recounts how he entertained a love interest with a young American woman, and for a short while everything seemed to be working out perfectly for him. As with all good stories, tragedy struck when 9/11 shook the American soil, and fear struck the hearts of the American citizens. Changez describes what it was like to be a non-political Pakistani man in post-9/11 America, and how the event changed the course of his life. The story illustrates the psychological challenges faced by the young protagonist both in the account of his dalliance with American life, and in the present day as he continues his life and political work in Pakistan.

The tale takes place in a small Lahore cafe, and Changez’s account is interspersed with references to the present moment… “But observe! A flower seller approaches. I will summon him to our table.” I felt that this style reinforced the monologue nature of the storytelling – it brought a more familiar feel to the idea of absorbing a story from one side only. I did find that the monologue style made it quite difficult to connect emotionally with the characters (which is usually what makes a book come alive, for me). There were exceptions, such as when Changez was describing his various interactions, but the whole book had a very one-sided feel. Faithfully postmodern, the reader relies on the narrator’s perspective throughout, and it is up to the reader to determine the meaning of the story… as always this is a testy balance between benefit and drawback but the ambiguity of the conclusions drawn definitely adds something to the reading experience for me.

Personally I found it hard to gain any kind of momentum in reading this book – it wasn’t a page-turner of any kind for me, probably due to my lack of emotional connection to the characters. It was nevertheless a thoughtful read, and I would certainly recommend it as an ‘opening’ to political fiction if you are that way inclined.

I would give The Radical Fundamentalist a rating of 3/5 – it was politically stimulating but I wouldn’t say I actually *enjoyed* reading it per se… but I would certainly recommend reading it if only to give insight to a non-Western perspective on 9/11. I do think that the novel was skilfully written, hence why I am giving it 3 out of 5 rather than 2 – if you get on well with a monologue style you will most likely get a lot out of the book.

Have you read this book? If so, what were your thoughts – did you enjoy the monologue style? What were your most and least favourite aspects of the story? Let me know what you think in the comments!

<script async src=”https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-7132437627497728″
crossorigin=”anonymous”></script>

The post The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid – Book Review appeared first on Imagination In Colour.

In the time I was away, I really wasn’t sure what to do with my blog. My two most appealing options were to leave it be as a resource but not to come back to it again, or to sell my site (the traffic alone makes it somewhat valuable). But for the last couple of weeks I’ve been coming round to the idea that I could just do a total content change, and see how it goes. I’ve missed having a regular creative outlet so that is what shall happen :). I have no idea what this is going to do to my SEO LOL, so I guess it’s a bit of an experiment too.

I’ve been the writer behind this blog since January 2011, and up until now (March 2016) this was exclusively a nail polish review blog, which is why if you go back through my archives that is all you will probably find! However as I grow older and my life has moved on to pastures new, I feel a craving for something more substantial than the monopoly of the beauty industry, which I frequent a lot but it certainly isn’t my only, or even one of my more significant hobbies.Throughout 2015 I felt disillusioned with the materialism and superficial nature of the beauty industry but couldn’t bring myself to just chuck the towel in, until life came along and made my decision for me. In a funny kind of way, everything seems to have happened exactly as it was meant to. Besides, with a whole world of information, ideas and technology, not to mention nature and history out there, one has to ask – why limit yourself?

I’m not totally sure what exact direction my blog is going to go in, so I’m going to call it a journey, with no destination… for now! I’m thinking more life-y things are going to feature such as books/book reviews, thinky posts, arts and crafts, music… we’ll see :).

In the meantime I’ve revamped a little – including my obnoxiously colourful header… I guess the clue’s in the name, time my blog actually lived up to it! Let me know what you think I think some things need tweaking such as my black background but I need to have a think about that one. I’m glad to be back folks!

The post Imagination In Colour Reborn! appeared first on Imagination In Colour.

Jacava London have kindly sent me three of the new Woodlanders Collection nail polishes to try out and review I always love Jacava polishes as they have a consistently great formula, so I was excited to try these new cremes. The collection is Autumn/Winter themed, and all of the colours are very appropriate for the season. I was asked to choose a few I’d like to try so I picked the following three.

This may sound strange but my favourite thing about Jacava is the shape of the bottle – it reminds me of a smooth pebble (it’s the little things that please me the most!).

If you read my last post you’ll know I’ve reshaped my nails, but I took these swatch photos pre-reshape so hope you don’t mind!

Shawfield Street

This is a lovely dark sage green creme. Weirdly it comes across much more blue on the nail than it does in the bottle, but I actually really like the colour it ends up as, more than the bottle colour as it’s a little warmer and more flattering.

Application: This is almost totally opaque at 1 coat, but I added a second to make the finish a little more plump. It has a lovely even formula and dries nice and quickly too. The finish is a tiny bit dull, but easily fixed with topcoat.

Justice Walk

This is my favourite of the three – it’s a beautiful blend of grey and blue and appears differently in different lights. It’s totally unique to my collection… I think I’ll be wearing this all winter!

Application: This one is largely opaque at 1 coat but the tiniest bit streaky so I think stick with 2 coats. The formula is otherwise really nice and dries quickly, but again to a slightly dull finish. Topcoat needed!

Lavender Court

This is a dark muted purple creme. Not particularly unique but well suited for autumn

Application: This one needs 2 coats for full opacity as it’s ever so slightly streaky – nothing major though. The formula is still nice, and dries quickly, again the finish is slightly dull though so add topcoat.

Overall

The formula of these is really nice, and is consistent across all three. The colours are very autumnal which I love (autumn colours are my favourite!!), and they all last well – I’ve been wearing them since I received them and they all wear very well yay!

In case you haven’t heard of them before, Jacava London nail polishes are 9-Free. This means it is free from: Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde Resin/Tosylamide, Toluene, Camphor, Parabens, Dibutyl-Pthalate,  Xylene, Ethyl Tosylamide, Lead and Pthalates and Animal Ingredients. It is also cruelty free. Umm I realise there are more than 9 items in that list but they sell it as 9-free lol so that’s what I’m going with

These nail polishes retail for £15.50 each, from the Jacava London website. You can find the Woodlanders Collection here. I can appreciate that for most people this is a very steep price point, however Jacava are sold as a high-end, luxury nail brand. The positive aspect of this is that the formula is very good and lasts really well, which I think is crucial when a product is high-end.

Let me know what you think of these colours! Which one is your favourite?

The post Jacava London Woodlanders Collection Swatches & Review appeared first on Imagination In Colour.

Save the Rhino are a UK conservation charity who are dedicated to the protection of all 5 rhino species in the world. Rhino poaching as at an all time high with a devastating 95% reduction in live rhinos since the beginning of the 20th century. In the world today there are just 29,000 rhinos left living in the wild, each of which are highly threatened by the poaching trade. In South Africa alone, one rhino is killed every 8 hours, and if poaching continues at its current rate there will be no rhinos left in the wild in just 11 years time. Save the Rhino hope that the #NailIt4Rhinos campaign will help raise awareness of the threat of poaching, but also (on a happier note) to raise donations for the charity.

Oh also, I’ve reshaped my nails! let me know what you think!

Why nails, you ask? Rhinos are hunted for their horns, which are falsely believed in some cultures to hold medicinal properties and for other cultures it is a highly valued status symbol. In fact, rhino horn is just made of keratin, which is the exact same protein material that make up human nails. But sadly, the high valuation of this material in criminal gangs puts not only the rhinos lives at risk, but also the lives of the rangers who’s job it is to protect them, and those of the local communities living in and around the rhinos’ natural habitat.

Save the Rhino teamed up with Barry M to help spread the word – there was a little nail art kit sent to bloggers but unfortunately mine never arrived so I’ve used my Barry M Nail Art Pens as a little tribute to them

My little rhino don’t you think he’s cute!

I’ve put together a little step by step for how to create this nail art look – it’s super easy, I did it in less than 10 minutes which made it all the better!

Start with your colour of choice – I’m using Color Club Angel Kiss (Halo Hue). As I mentioned, I used the Barry M Nail Art Pens in Black and White, but you can use any pen (or brush) for this look.

1. Using the black nail art pen, draw the outline of the rhino’s head in the bottom left quarter of your nail. This should include an ear, a little horn and a big horn.
2. Draw the hashtag symbol. Just bcoz. Fill in the rhino’s head in black (I still used the pen for this), leaving the big horn section out with still just the outline.
3. Taking the white nail art pen, fill in the big horn, and draw a little oval for the rhino’s eye. When this is dry, draw a little dot inside the white oval using the black nail art pen.
4. On the other nails, draw the letters of your choice. I did intentionally put the N and the O on my little finger – to say ‘no’ to rhino poaching (it’s the little things! Definitely didn’t run out of room…!).

Finish with topcoat (if you like) and you’re done!

If you’d like to join in and show solidarity for the rhinos, upload your rhino nails and just use the #NailIt4Rhinos hashtag on all your social media accounts be sure to check www.savetherhino.org to learn more and to see if your nail art has been featured on the website! Find their Facebook page here and their Twitter @savetherhino.

If you’re in the UK you can donate £3 to help save rhinos by texting NAIL15 £3 to 70070. Or you can make a donation online at www.savetherhino.org/donate. Be sure to tag 5 friends to challenge them too – don’t worry, there’s no obligation to donate and you don’t need anything specific to join in!

What does the money go to? 

Save the Rhino conservation currently supports 17 long-term field programmes across Africa and Asia. The charity funds anti-poaching work; environmental education, rhino translocations, community conservation; veterinary treatment, captive breeding and campaigns that tackle the demand for rhino horn in consumer countries. They also facilitate the exchange of technical support and information between rhino conservation stakeholders and ensure that local communities in key rhino areas benefit from employment, capacity building, education and outreach. 

Hope you enjoyed this post – it was fun to come up with some nail art and I even tried something new with the template step-by-step! If you’ve been reading for a long time you will probably have picked up that I care a lot about animal welfare, so this was a no-brainer for me when I was asked to join in – these beautiful creatures deserve all the help they can get and Save the Rhino genuinely seem to be a great charity. You can see my nails for last year’s campaign here!

If you decide to join in, please tag me on social media (@emma.greenwood on Instagram or @imaginationnclr on Twitter) or leave a link in the comments so I can see your lovely posts!

The post #NailIt4Rhinos Nail Art – Save the Rhino appeared first on Imagination In Colour.

At the end of August (yup… sorry Essence!) I was kindly sent a goody bag of Essence products to create a nail art look with, as an entry to the Essence Summer Nail Art Blogger Challenge. I think this may be a farewell wave to the summer… as it’s now midway through September and increasingly rainy and cold in England!

Anyway, here’s the look I came up with

Here’s what they sent me to use for the challenge:

I’m actually a big fan of the stickers, especially the little feathers! They’re very cute And they lie nice and flat to the nail. The only thing I found was that because they are very thin, they do fold over on themselves and get stuck together quite easily, but this is easily fixed by using a pair of tweezers. I used my fingertips, hence the problems I had! These are £1.30 for a pack of around 50 stickers (I think! They are hard to count lol).

The dotting tool also worked well, although I tend to like one end to be a little on the thicker side than these ones, so that I can alternate between larger and small dots This one is £1.99.

I have to say I wasn’t wowed by the nail file particularly (I may have been ruined by the Leighton Denny Crystal File… I am so in love with that thing and everything else pales in comparison!). The grit wears away pretty quickly and I couldn’t smell any of the scent it’s supposed to have! But it retails for only £1.00 so I would say you get what you pay for.

08 Like Love Birds Nail Candies 6 in 1 Beautifying Nail Polish

The name of this is a bit of a mouthful! The colour is a very soft baby pink with delicate silvery shimmer. It’s quite sheer but builds to almost opaque in 3 coats. You may need a fourth or fifth coat for total opacity though – the slight sheerness doesn’t bother me personally for this colour. You can use it for a french manicure quite effectively too. It dries quickly to a lovely shine. I wasn’t wearing topcoat in this swatch.

The 6 in 1 claim is that it has the following benefits: hardening, protecting, ridge filling, fast drying, fruit scent and high gloss finish. I can’t comment on the hardening and protecting, but I would say it fulfils the other four claims.

This is £1.80 (I think… I can’t find it online!).

03 Glitz & Glam Glitter Jewels Effect

This is a clear-based polish, filled with a green/gold/blue shifting shimmer and pink metallic hexagonal glitter in two sizes. This is one I’ve picked up and put down many times in Wilkos funnily enough, as I thought I wouldn’t get much wear from it. But I actually really like it! The photo shows 3 coats… I don’t think it’s one that ever gets fully opaque but it works really well as a topper. I wore it over a very dark grey the other day which brought out the green/blue shift really well – I loved it! It’s super reflective. Dries slightly dull though so a topcoat is needed. This is £2.00.

27 Don’t Be Shy! The Gel

This is a slightly insipid chartreuse creme… one for the ladies who love ugly colours I feel! For me it’s just too yellow for me to like it, lol. It does however have a fantastic formula – it was virtually opaque at one coat, dries quick to a lovely plump and glossy finish, and I would say it does resemble a gel. So I think I will be going back for more cremes from the Essence “The Gel” line! (Perhaps just not a colour like this one!). This is £1.60.

For all the nails I used Like Love Birds as the base. For my index nail I dabbed Glitz & Glam on the tip in a gradient fashion, and added the white flower sticker. On my middle nail, I dotted Glitz & Glam on using the dotting tool, and added the stickers. On my ring finger, I dotted on Don’t Be Shy around two thirds of my nail, and then above that Glitz & Glam, then filled the empty space with stickers. On my pinkie finger I striped on Don’t Be Shy and Glitz & Glam on the outer half of my nail, and added stickers to the empty space and overlapping slightly. All finished with OPI topcoat to make it all even.

All of the Essence products in this post are available at Wilko – instore or online.

What do you think of these Essence products? I hope I did them justice in the nail art… I found the colours slightly challenging to put together effectively but I think it worked out okay For me these are all great value products with good quality (with the possible exception of the nail file) and I’d definitely recommend them… Essence always surprise me by being great quality despite the very low price point!

The post Essence Summer Nail Art Blogger Challenge appeared first on Imagination In Colour.

A little while ago I was kindly sent the BruzZ nail brush to try out. It’s billed as ‘the most hygienic nail brush in the world’ as it’s made of antibacterial bristles, which are removable and dishwasher safe, so they can be cleaned thoroughly to within an inch of their lives!

As with a normal nail brush, you start off by squeezing some soap into the centre, with a little warm water, and get scrubbing. The BruzZ is specially designed to minimise spray from the brush (which is handy, since somehow nail brush spray ALWAYS stains the mirror!). It’s also vanilla scented.

As you can see the bristles are aligned in 3 angles to ensure your cuticle, nail plate and the underneath of your free edge are all cleaned at once. Start with your four fingers, and then move onto your thumb nail. You can use whatever angle you need to clean it fully. It also doubles up as a finger cleaner.

The bristles are easy to remove to be cleaned, and they also fold out into three sections so you can ensure none of the parts are missed during cleaning.

My thoughts

I haven’t really used a nail brush frequently for a long time, mainly because they always used to dry out and scrub at my cuticles. But I actually really like this nail brush as the bristles are gentle but firm, without scratching away at the skin. It cleans your nails very effectively and (for me, anyway!) feels very therapeutic, hehe!

I have to say that I’m not a fan of the vanilla scent – it’s very similar to car air fresheners which I personally find quite an overwhelming scent, so it wouldn’t be my choice.

I do however like the fact that it’s easily cleaned, and it seems a very sturdy product so it won’t break easily.

In terms of the ‘reduces spray’ claim – I’ve noticed it does still spray soapy suds, but nothing like a standard nail brush does, so I would say it does technically reduce spray.

Would I buy this? Yes, actually genuinely would! If you know me personally, you will know that I’m a hygiene freak, so now I’ve been using this pretty much daily! It’s very therapeutic also, lol

The BruzZ Nail Brush retails for £9.99, which appears quite pricey when compared to a standard nail brush that you can get for about 20p, but given that it’s a strong, sturdy product that seems like it will last a long time, and seems much better for your skin, nails and cuticles, I think that’s fairly reasonable.

You can buy the BruzZ on their website here, but it’s also in Boots and Nail Polish Direct – you can see a full list of stockists here.

There are three colours available – white, pink and blue. You can also buy a family pack for £24.95 (although personally I don’t think I would require more than one in a family, but you never know!). Each BruzZ is available with either soft or firm bristles. There’s no indication on my box which bristle type they are so unfortunately I can’t advise on those.

Let me know what you think of these in the comments!

The post BruzZ Nail Brush Review appeared first on Imagination In Colour.

The July 2015 NailBox is called the ‘Tropical Treats’ box, themed on all things summery and bright. I think this one is actually my favourite so far!!

Products included in July 2015 NailBox:

• OPI Kiss Me I’m Brazilian
• China Glaze White On White
• Barry M Need For Speed Speedy
• Elegant Touch Nail Apothecary Cuticle Eliminator
• MoYou London Tropical Plate 12
• MoYou London Rectangular Stamp & Scraper

OPI Kiss Me I’m Brazilian

This is a bright pink creme from the Summer 2014 Brazil collection. This is normally a ~hate~ colour for me, but for some reason, possibly to do with my bright colour cravings, I actually really like it! The finish reminds me a lot of a gel colour too, which could also be why I am enjoying it

Application: This has a gorgeous formula, and applies really nicely. It’s totally opaque in 2 coats, and dries quickly to a gorgeous high shine.

China Glaze White On White

This is a white creme that’s actually pretty flattering – I think it’s actually a pure white too which is unusual for it to be so flattering!

Application: My bottle was pretty thick, which made neat application tricky, so I added a handful of drops of Orly Nail Lacquer Thinner to it, which made it pretty good It was a little streaky, and it still took me three coats to get full, unstreaky coverage. It dries pretty quickly and to a nice shine so it’s otherwise good – cleanup was a little tricky though. I’ve known better white cremes! It does stamp really well though so I would happily get this for stamping alone.

Barry M Need For Speed Speedy

This is a gorgeous lilac creme nail polish, from the Barry M Speedy Summer 2015 collection. I’ve been wearing this one a lot, but since I already have it from the post I did on the full collection, I thought I’d do a mini giveaway of this polish for you all Check it out at the end of this post.

Application: This polish is a tiny bit thick, but pretty much opaque at 1 coat. I add a second usually for consistency. The application is really nice, and it dries quickly, to a lovely shine.

Elegant Touch Nail Apothecary Cuticle Eliminator

As I mentioned in my last NailBox post, I’ve not often taken much care of my cuticles in the past but lately I’ve been taking a bit more care of them. This is a cuticle remover product which nourishes and moisturises at the same time. I used it for a manicure and pedicure yesterday, and my cuticles have never felt softer! I’m really enjoying it.

MoYou London Tropical Plate 12

I was SUPER excited to see a MoYou plate in the NailBox! I am obsessed with stamping lately so this was a great addition for me. It’s definitely got a tropical theme, with the palm trees!

MoYou London Rectangular Stamp & Scraper

Another exciting addition for me was this little stamp and scraper set – as I said I’ve been obsessed with stamping so any addition to my stamping kit is a big win!

I’ve been using an eBay stamper which is pretty good, but then I tried out this one and I love it! It’s a ‘soft and sticky marshmallow’ stamper and it’s fab. It’s definitely very sticky but I didn’t need to ‘prime’ it (which means brushing it gently with a buffer which you do when the stamper won’t pick up the image). So yep it’s great!

The scraper I’m not as keen on – it’s a little stiff for my liking as I prefer to use an old credit card. But it’s cute with a little pug on it

Finally some tropical-themed nail art using all of these products. I sponged a gradient base with the three polishes from the box, and then stamped over it using the MoYou tropical plate 12, and MoYou Black Special Nail Polish and Barry M Kiwi Gelly

Price value

Is £15 worth it? Do you get that value and more from the box? 
I’ve shopped around a bit and the lowest prices I can find for each item (in actual e-shops excluding eBay) are as follows – linked:

• OPI Kiss Me I’m Brazilian – £7.95
• China Glaze White On White – £2.95
• Barry M Need For Speed Speedy – £3.99 (Boots & Superdrug)
• Elegant Touch Nail Apothecary Cuticle Eliminator – £7.95
• MoYou London Tropical Plate 12 – £4.99
• MoYou London Rectangular Stamp & Scraper – £5.99

I feel like I’m missing all the discount shops from this one! There’s not even many showing up on eBay the total value of this box is £33.82! Which given that the cost to buy the box is £15 I reckon that’s pretty amazing.

How it all works

Dispatch day is 21st of each month.

How much?

For a one-off subscription, nailbox charges £15. If you choose a 3 month plan, it’s £14.50 per box, 6 months = £14 per box, and 12 months = £13.50 per box. The plans are prepaid options. You can see the pricing here.

Delivery

Delivery is included in the cost of the box, and it’s sent by Royal Mail 48 Tracked Delivery (so in theory should take 2 days to get to you, from dispatch day on 21st of each month).

Additional info

All nailbox subscribers will be entitled to a 15% discount from nailpolish.co.uk by using a code at the checkout. Any other info is available through their FAQ page here.

Overall

I am pretty in love with this box! I really like how they have themed the box and it gets me feeling all summery I especially love the inclusion of the stamping plate and tools – they are fab quality and together they are worth a packet so they are great!

I feel like NailBox are going from strength to strength each month and each box seems to get better If you want to sign up to NailBox visit the site here Let me know what you think of this box in the comments! Unfortunately it’s too late for you to sign up for this box, but if you liked it, make sure you sign up for the August installment!

Check out the giveaway below it runs until next Sunday so just 1 week to go! Open to the UK only I’m afraid, due to UK posting regulations. I’m giving away a brand new (unused, ever!) bottle of Barry M Need For Speed Speedy Nail Paint.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The post NailBox July 2015 appeared first on Imagination In Colour.

I haven’t tried any of the SEVENTEEN Gel Colour polishes since last year so I’d forgotten how nice they actually are, so I was pleased to be able to try these again

White Lady

This is a gorgeous white creme. There’s something about it that is slightly off-white I think, which makes it really nice and flattering (even on my lobster hands!).

Application: I think this is genuinely the nicest white creme I’ve ever used – it’s not streaky, it applies perfectly and dries quickly to a lovely shine. It’s totally opaque in 2 coats.

Summer Sling

This is a bright lilac creme, slightly blue-leaning. I always love purple colours like this in the summer! So gorgeous.

Application: Again, lovely application – non-streaky, dries quickly to a lovely shine. Totally opaque in 2 coats.

Mint Cooler

I think this is my favourite – a gorgeous pale mint creme. This is pretty flattering, even on my pink-toned skin. It makes me think of cucumbers for some reason!

Application: Perfect application once again in 2 coats. It’s non-streaky and dries quickly, to a lovely shine. No issues at all!

Lemon Drop

This is an egg-yolk yellow creme. I quite like that this is different from the usual pale pastel yellows we see in spring and summer (which generally look terrible on me) – this one is slightly more flattering and quite unusual. I’m still not sure I’d wear it personally, but I think this is more likely to flatter more people.

Application: This is pretty much opaque in 2 coats (perhaps needs 3) – it can be a tiny bit streaky but it’s pretty much fine, given that it’s a yellow! I found this one to be a little thicker than the others, but nothing unmanageable.

Overall

These all have really nice application, and given the nice curved brush, it is super easy to keep it neat. I haven’t done a wear test to see if they will last 8 days so I will update this post as and when. I’m totally in love with the finish, it’s gorgeous! I wouldn’t say that these look like gel polishes per-say, but I still love how they look and would buy them all the same.

You can buy the SEVENTEEN Gel Colour Summer 2015 range from Boots for £3.99 each, which is the same price as the Barry M Gelly nail paints – which I personally feel these are on a par with, quality-wise. I definitely think you are getting great value for money as the formulas on all are really really good. And as always, Boots have plenty of deals on year-round so these are often on offer

My personal must-haves are White Lady and Mint Cooler – I will definitely be getting lots of wear from these this summer!! What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

The post SEVENTEEN Gel Colour Summer 2015 – Swatches & Review appeared first on Imagination In Colour.

Aaaanyway… about 2 months ago (where does the time go?!) Rimmel very kindly sent me a huge package of nail polish to review – I think the total was around 50 nail polishes which, as I’m sure you can imagine, was an amazing surprise. I’ve felt a little overwhelmed with how to get them all done though, hence the length of time it’s taken me to post this! I should probably stop waffling now though

This is the Rimmel London Rita Ora Colourfest collection – 2015 edition. If you remember last March, Rimmel brought out the first Rita Ora Collection which I blogged about at the time (check out the differences between my swatches then and now!), which was a really nice 12-strong collection with lots of staple colours. This one is the same, again with 12 colours, but a lot more spring/summery than last time These also have a festival-theme which you will notice from the names!

These are all 60-second nail polishes (although I don’t think it’s necessarily actually 60 seconds, they are pretty quick drying), and Rimmel claim these to be 3-in-1 (basecoat, colour and topcoat). Personally I think you should always use basecoat to prevent staining and drying of the nails, but these are glossy enough to skip the topcoat.

Don’t they all look pretty?! I love how the writing and dots of the flowers match the nail polish colour exactly – it’s the little things

Application

Since these all applied virtually the same I’ll save all the writing and say these all applied perfectly in 2 coats – no dragging, lovely smooth formula and all dried pretty quickly. They also all dry to a glossy finish (still improved with topcoat but good to go alone), all last a good 3 days at least with no chips and all are easy to remove. The brush is the traditional thick wide Rimmel brush which personally I’m not a big fan of, but it does get the job done just be careful not to load the brush up too much!

If there are any additional notes I’ll put them below the picture of each one.

558 Go Wild-Er-Ness

This is a gorgeous lilac creme. I’ve worn this one a LOT!

860 Bestival Blue

This one is a perfect baby blue creme. It got a lot of love when I posted it on Instagram!

878 Roll In The Grass

This is a pure mint green creme. This one I luuurve a lot too!

498 Rain Rain Go Away

This is a lovely taupe creme which I used in my ‘Tattoo Inspired Nail Art‘ a few weeks back!

408 Peachella

This is a warm peach creme. I love the name! By my normal requisites I wouldn’t like this colour on me but something about it is actually really flattering, despite my pink-toned skin.

413 Oragina

This is a slightly darker, more pink-toned peach creme than Peachella. This one is also flattering on me, surprisingly!

270 Sweet Retreat

This is the perfect baby pink creme. Not too pale and not too sickly. I kind of like it – which is pretty good going for me and baby pink!

322 Neon Fest

This is a bright pink creme. It’s not actually neon, but it is pretty bright and eye catching.

400 Tangerine Tent

This a bright orange creme-jelly (crelly) finish.VERY gorgeous but I’m afraid I just don’t like this colour for nails! It’s definitely the best pure orange I’ve tried in a long time, though.

450 Daisy Days

This is a soft buttery yellow creme. Gorgeous colour and great application for a yellow – unfortunately not really a great colour for pink-toned skin like mine!

880 Port-A-Loo-Blue

This is a turquoisey-teal green blue creme – impossible to photograph! I tried just about everything possible to get this to look accurate but nothing doing. It’s pretty much this colour in person though. Beware with this one as it does stain ferociously – DEFINITELY wear basecoat, preferably 2 coats and don’t soak it off.

300 Glaston-Berry

This is a lovely bright red creme. It’s not often a red will stand out to me but there’s something about this finish that I really like, so it’s a keeper for me!

Overall

I’m really impressed with the formula of these – it’s pretty great to get a full collection with more or less identical formulas and great finishes! I also really love the colour selection – more so than last year’s selection, but that may be because I’m really into brights and pastels at the moment! The only one that disappointed me slightly was Port-A-Loo-Blue because of the staining, but other than that I think they’re great.

If I had to choose four, they would be Go Wild-Er-Ness, Roll In The Grass, Rain Rain Go Away and Bestival Blue

These retail for £2.99 each which really can’t be faulted – I would totally go out and buy all twelve of these as they’re such good quality and really nice summery colours. I have been wearing them a LOT lately! They are available in Boots and Superdrug, as well as most supermarkets that sell Rimmel too.

What do you think of these? Which are your favourite colours? Let me know in the comments!

The post Rimmel London Rita Ora Colourfest 2015 Review & Swatches appeared first on Imagination In Colour.

So if you haven’t heard of it yet, nailbox is a monthly nail polish subscription that includes three or four nail colours, and one or two nail tools or treatments. It’s currently the only mainstream monthly nail polish subscription box in the UK, and so far they’ve been doing great with the selections included (in my books anyway!)

This box will be dispatched on 21st June, so you still have a little time to order but stocks are limited, apparently!

Products included in June 2015 nailbox:

• Nails Inc Colville Mews Gel Effect
• Tanya Burr by Eye Candy Mischief Managed
• Essie Roarrrrange
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
• Elegant Touch Professional Cuticle Nipper

All the nail polishes are full size.

Nails Inc Colville Mews Gel Effect

This is a loooooovely bone colour creme nail polish. It’s a long while since I’ve tried Nails Inc as they always strike me as expensive, so I haven’t tried the Gel Effect nail polishes before either. I’ve been wearing this since I received the box a few days ago, and it lasts really well! It does look like a soak-off gel polish too, as it’s ‘plump’ and very glossy. My only complaint is that I found it hard to angle my hand for this photo, lol :P. Oh and FYI, the rectangle lid pops off to leave a grippy cap underneath, so application with that is fine.

Application: Perfect perfect perfect! This is totally opaque in 2 coats and applies smoothly and evenly. Can you tell I’m really quite in love? It also dries quickly, and to a lovely high shine.

Tanya Burr by Eye Candy Mischief Managed

This is a pink-toned bright red… jelly? It’s not a true jelly because it’s not sheer enough, but it’s not a creme either, so I’m going for crelly (half way between the two!). This is the kind of red I love to wear with an all-black outfit for a bright pop of colour.

Application: The polish is opaque in 2 coats, and dries to a lovely glossy finish. It dries fairly quickly, and applies evenly. The square cap made neat application a tiny bit finicky, and the formula is a touch on the thin side so it’s easy to flood your cuticles. What I’m trying to say is, don’t apply it after a glass of wine!

Essie Roarrrrange

This is a dark (but bright) orange creme – it leans slightly red which makes it a little unusual, I actually quite like it, which is unusual for me as I don’t often wear orange nail polish. It definitely makes me feel summery!

Application: This applied really well – totally even and opaque in 2 coats. This one also dries fairly quickly and to a nice glossy finish.

Seche Vite Dry Fast Topcoat

This is a bit of a cult favourite topcoat, which I’ve actually been dying to try out for a loooong time! It really does dry your nails rock solid very quickly – I’d say inside 15 minutes you can go about your normal activities without worrying about dents even. Needless to say I’m impressed. It’s very glossy too, like VERY glossy.

On the downside – Seche Vite Topcoat is well known for shrinking your nail polish (where you start to see tipwear very quickly), so always wrap the tips of your nails with nail polish – this will aid longevity. It does also smell very strongly, and contains Toluene so if you have allergies or concerns I wouldn’t advise you use it. For the smell issue just apply near an open window or in a ventilated room and it shouldn’t be a problem. For me personally, I’m not concerned and will probably be re-purchasing it when I’ve run out of this bottle – I’m pretty impressed with it!

The nail art is using all 4 polishes from this nailbox I also used MoYou Doodles Plate 03.

Elegant Touch Professional Cuticle Nipper

I feel like Cuticle Nippers are either a love or throwaway item, depending on whether you are a fan of cuticle nipping yourself or if you don’t like doing it at all. I must admit, it’s not something I’ve ever really used before, and I’ve only had my cuticles did once during a professional manicure. Luckily my cuticles don’t tend to misbehave much so I’ve never really felt the need – so this is new to me.

The product itself feels really good quality – the little swivel thing in the right hand image spins around to create a sort of spring mechanism which makes the nippers feel firm and easy-to-use (although I couldn’t for the life of me find out what it was for until I finally swivelled it round enough to actually use it lol – I feel Elegant Touch could benefit from putting this in their instructions!). The nipper part is sharp and tends to nip fully in one go. Remember, never pull at your cuticles!

I reckon it’s a good product to have, even if you don’t use it often. I may have to report back on my usage though, as I am terrible at keeping a nail care routine!

Price value

Is £15 worth it? Do you get that value and more from the box? 
I’ve shopped around a bit and the lowest prices I can find for each item (in actual e-shops excluding eBay) are as follows – linked:

• Nails Inc Colville Mews Gel Effect – £14 (! Am I looking in all the wrong places?!)
• Tanya Burr by Eye Candy Mischief Managed – £4.49
• Essie Roarrrrange – £5.95 (although Essies often pop up for around £2.50 so we’ll count it at £2.50)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat – £3.25 ex. VAT
• Elegant Touch Professional Cuticle Nipper – £4.50

So the total value in this box is £28.74. I reckon that’s pretty good going, given that the most you can ever pay for a single box is £15, and even if you bought all of the above items at their cheapest price you would need to factor in delivery costs.

How it all works

Dispatch day is 21st of each month.

How much?

For a one-off subscription, nailbox charges £15. If you choose a 3 month plan, it’s £14.50 per box, 6 months = £14 per box, and 12 months = £13.50 per box. The plans are prepaid options. You can see the pricing here.

Delivery

Delivery is included in the cost of the box, and it’s sent by Royal Mail 48 Tracked Delivery (so in theory should take 2 days to get to you, from dispatch day on 21st of each month).

Additional info

All nailbox subscribers will be entitled to a 15% discount from nailpolish.co.uk by using a code at the checkout. Any other info is available through their FAQ page here.

Overall

Okay you may be able to tell already but I’m pretty chuffed with this box. I’ve been wanting Seche Vite for a loooong time, and the Nails Inc has sold me on it too. And even if I bought those two individually, I would almost certainly pay more than the cost of a one-off box. So for me, it’s definitely worth it. Even if you don’t like a colour, you could always use them as gifts

I think someone commented last time I reviewed the box that the products are all ‘old releases’ – i.e. there’s nothing from new and recent collections, but personally that’s not something that bothers me. I think if it worries you, it’s better to go for the one-off boxes for just a little extra each month – that way you will see what you’re getting before you buy.

I think the value for money is great, and if I wasn’t already swimming in more nail polish than a single human will need in a lifetime I would definitely sign up (but I’ve made a moral promise to myself to downsize before I buy even more, lol).

So, will you be signing up? Let me know in the comments!   For an easy link – you can sign up here. If you want to keep up to date with nailbox, you can follow their Facebook here, their Instagram here or their Twitter here.

The post NailBox June 2015 – UK Monthly Nail Polish Subscription appeared first on Imagination In Colour.