Never judge a book by its cover. I know it looks like your typical unassuming wallflower baby blue nail shade but I’ve seen images of it on nails and it looks completely different. On nails its has a glassy icy finish and is more a sparkly silver grey meets ocean blue in hue.
I am seduced by Riva’s glacial gloss and first noticed the shade when it made its debut on the Chanel 2010/2011 cruise catwalk (it is part of the Côte d’Azur Makeup Collection).
Anyone tried/or looking to try it yet and if so, thoughts?
Catch up on the rest of The Nail Polish Files series here.
As you can tell from the images above, hip east London nail art boutique, WAH Nails, is the go to destination for “bad ass nails” (as the brand puts it).
WAH Nails founder, Sharmadean Reid has joined forces with makeup line, Models Own to create nail art pens.
The pens as seen in the first image, currently come in two choices (white and black) retail for £6 and have a duo application system. A thin nib which allows for intricate art work and a long thin brush to add strokes and lines.
If you are a fan of creative nails, now you can experiment with it yourself.
More on the WAH Nails art pens for Models Own here.
A girl can never have too many bottles of nail lacquer. Why not try a 3 free nail polish next time you stock up on new nail colours? 3 free nail products are more body friendly as they contain no formaldehyde, no toluene, and no dbp, which can be potentially harmful.
Most nail polish lines contain dbp, toluene and formaldehyde but more and more brands(like the featured above) are going 3 free.
Give your nails a break with a 3 free nail lacquer.
1. Orly | Orange Punch £8.75
Let your nails pop in Orly’s Orange Punch shade.
2. A Beautiful Life | £7.63 approximately
Pair American brand ‘A Beautiful Life’s’ Vette shade with outfits inspired by the ladylike autumn winter 2010 trend. A Beautiful Life nail products are all natural and free from potentially harmful carcinogens.
3. Butter London | £10.00
Get in early on the summer 2011 neon trend with this Primrose Hill Picnic shade by Butter London. This British brand has a shade to suit each mood.
4. Priti Polish | £7.95 approximately
Vamp things up in Ruby Giant by Priti Polish. Priti NYC Polish is 100 plus shade range which is completely non toxic and all natural.
It was only a matter of time, till there were doppelganger shades of Chanel’s Khaki collection as featured here.
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Makeup brand, Models Own, have created a nail collection that pays hommage to Chanel’s Khaki collection. The similarities do not just stop at the colours of each nail shade in the 3 piece collection, the name ‘Car Key’ sounds similar to the Chanel counterpart.
The collection consists of ‘Grace Green,’ a mossy pastel green, a beige shade called ‘Becca’s Brown’ and a dusky rose called ‘Purple Ash’.
Seeing that each of the shades retail for £5, will you be tempted to buy a Models Own ‘Car Key’ colour instead of Les Khaki de Chanel range?
The ‘Car Key’ range launches in October and will be available to purchase instore at Boots or online.
Any Chanel Nail Polish addicts out there? Peter Philips, Chanel’s creative director of cosmetics has come up with a limited edition of colours to have us panting.
The three shades as featured above from left, are Chanel Khaki Vert, a moss green, Chanel Khaki Brun a brown meets grey and Chanel Khaki Rose a terracotta hue.
According to the beauty blog on Style.com, the limited edition collection is set for launch at Chanel Stores in New York on Vogue’s Fashion Night Out. Each shade retails at £19.
Is it just me, or does the colour palette of the collection goes hand in hand with the current utility, military and camouflage trends?
How fun would it be match your handbag with your nail polish? A different nail shade for each day of the week. Our hands are always against our bags so it would only make sense to actively consider their tones.
I must just be tempted to put the nail beauty and bag diary to test. For the bags, I took inspiration from this post on the autumn winter 2010 -2011 ladylike bag.
All the nail shades are available online at Superdrug.
What is your favourite nail varnish of the moment? What bag are you wearing with it?
Chanel’s Nouvelle Vague nail polish came, saw and conquered…
Peter Philips, Chanel’s creative director of cosmetics seems to know the way to a girls makeup bag.
In the summer of 2009 his limited edition Jade nail shade created a maelstrom of waiting lists, blogging fever and frenzied bidding on Ebay at inflated prices after it sold out in stores.
Half a year later, for autumn winter 2010 -2011 it was Chanel’s Particuliere that caused a similar storm. There were only a couple of hundred bottles of the putty meets clay meets taupe nail shade and it soon sold out. I did a feature on that shade and it’s doppelgangers here.
On the hay strewn Chanel spring summer 2010 catwalk, Philips had the clog wearing models bedecked in temporary tattoos and the Nouvelle Vague nail lacquer.
Both the temporary tattoos and the nail varnish shade ignited blog-o-fever.
Chanel Nouvelle Vague is an aqua blue meets teal meets turquoise shade. Some of my favourite look alikes are ‘Haymarket’ by Nails Inc, ‘Turquoise Top’ by Models Own, ‘For Audrey’ by China Glaze and Essie’s Greenport.
Here is to wondering what Peter Philips will have our makeup bags lusting after next?!
What are your thoughts on Chanel’s nail varnish waiting lists and frenzy?
Do you love or loathe Chanel’s Nouvelle Vague shade?
I cannot get enough of the candy soft and pastel nail trend. I recently bought the Rimmel baby pink nail lacquer shade because it reminds me of candy floss/cotton candy and that is always a good thing!
On Friday I wore Utopia by Models Own for the first time(as pictured in collage). It was part of a sample pack sent to me. I only wore for it for a day, so did not get to test it’s staying power but I did like the soft lilac meets grey meets cream shade. Although Models Own has a wide range of colours, for me it is their interesting take on pastel nail polish that intrigues me. I like that their collection features colours that you don’t usually get in baby soft version. With colours like a pastel lilac nail polish to a soft green nail polish.
In the recent past I did a feature on another trendsetting Chanel nail polish. I wrote about the Chanel Particuliere grey meets beige meets clay shade here.
Since then it seems clay/putty nail lacquer shades keep popping up everywhere. On the other spectrum, are nude nail polish hues. I scored a bottle of Revlon’s Copperglaze Platinum nail colour not too long ago at a shopping outlet. It is a perfect nude hue with a slight shimmer (as pictured in collage).
Rewind to 1997, I had a neon purple nail polish on my nails. Me and neon nails have come a long way. I love Barry M’s range of Neon nail varnish. I must state though that I only wear a colour for short periods at a time, so I’ve never tested it’s durability or wear. All I know is the company is taking a lot of Marian’s pennies, I have a hill high of the stuff.
I cannot get enough of the above three nail trends. They are the main spring summer 2010 nail polish colour trends . Your fingernails will be begging you to paint them into trend!
Please Note: I only recommend the above nail polishes in reference to their palette/colour. I cannot speak for their durability or wear.
