Swatches of Mavala Delicious Collection
Spring is in the air and pastels are on my nails! This collection is two years old, and I bought it as it came out. I did swatch them all back then but I thought I’d reswatch them properly because they are definitely worth it, and I didn’t really do them justice last time. You might also notice that I’ve changed my opinion about some of these polishes since then too, which is a result of being more experienced in nail polish and what to expect from polishes.
In all these photos I’m wearing three coats and no topcoat, and even though these polishes are two years old (and used a few times each) the formula is still absolutely perfect. When I first bought these I was a bit disappointed that the description and press photos said they are cremes, but they all have a slight shimmer to them. Now I don’t mind it that much, but I do still prefer my pastels being cremes.
Lemon Cream
Lemon Creme is a pastel yellow shimmer polish, and goes on a bit milky the first two coats, but the third definitely clears that up. For some reason I really love wearing pale yellows, probably because they make my skin tone look less yellow. It’s also absolutely perfect for Easter!
Candy Floss
Candy Floss is a warm pastel pink shimmer polish, and such a sweet shade it is! I find this shade of pink is rather a good alternative to a nude polish, and as such it’s office friendly. I do think, however, that it’s a bit too girly for my taste, but that’s just my personal preference.
Blue Mint
Blue Mint is a baby blue shimmer polish that I remember not liking very much back when I bought it since it’s pale blue and a bit frosty – it reminded me of cold winter mornings and I must say it still does. I would have preferred this polish without the shimmer, but it’s not so bad as I might make it sound. I mean, imagine doing a gradient with this polish, a pale yellow and pale green – it would look like a summer sunrise!
Fresh Melon
Fresh Melon has grown to be my favourite out of the bunch because I just love peachy colours. It might be a tad too orange for my skin tone when I’m a bit tanned (when I took these photos I had just returned from a week in the Canary Islands, and I tan quickly), but I don’t really care. I think the shimmer works in this polish, it gives it a bit more depth than it would have had on its own.
Pistachio
Pistachio is a lovely warm tinted pastel green polish with the same hint of shimmer as its sisters. I used to love green polishes for so long that I now feel a bit greened out. That aside, this is a stunning pastel green and I love it still.
Frozen Berry
Frozen Berry is a warm pastel purple shimmer polish and probably the most opaque of the bunch. I could have gotten away with just two coats with this one, but I do prefer my coats thin so I added a third just to be on the safe side. I think this shade is rather office friendly as well, which is great for us who like wearing purple. The shimmer softens it further, leaving it a bit too girly for me, but not less pretty.
Swatches of Estée Lauder Travel Exculsive Collection (picture heavy)
The red and berry red polishes are not color corrected, see below for accurate colors.
My husband and I went to the Canary Islands last week, and I picked up a few polishes while we were there. This cute little travel collection from Estée Lauder I picked up at the airport on our way home. This set of 5 polishes á 5ml cost €35 which is not too shabby if you ask me. The brushes in these polishes are of the wider sort, which to me is highly appreciated since you usually have to reload your brush more than once with mini polishes. That was not necessary at all with these. They do smell a bit stronger than I had expected, though.
Nudite
First up is Nudite, a nude cream polish with a slight yellow undertone. It had the worst formula out of all of them (thick and sticky), but that was easily fixed with a few drops of thinner. This is three coats and topcoat, since it wasn’t perfectly self-leveling due to the formula. It’s a nice color for my skin tone I believe, although it looks slightly offish when my skin is tanned.
Pure Red
Pure Red is, like the name suggests, a red cream polish with the faintest traces of blue undertones. The formula was spectacular, as was the coverage. This is two coats and no topcoat. Cleanup and removal was surprisingly easy and non-messy, the polish didn’t stain or smear at all.
Love Bite
Love Bite is a rich berry pink cream polish and very difficult to capture on photo. I had to color correct these photos over and over, but I think I got it now. The formula was just as flawless as in Pure Red, this is also two coats and no top coat. Easy, stainless, smearless removal with this one too!
Bête Noire
I had high expectations of Bête Noire, and was devastated to see that the first coat was awfully sheer. However, it built up very well, and I only needed three coats when I was dreading I would need more. It has a dark blurple base with purple and pink shimmer particles. Three coats, no top coat, fairly easy cleanup and removal, but the shimmer particles do stick to the skin a bit.
Nouveau Riche
In total contrast to Bête Noire, I wasn’t expecting much at all from Nouveau Riche. It looked like one of those awfully sheer foil polishes that end up being topcoats to darker underwear polishes and never worn on their own because you just couldn’t bother with all the coats.
That is NOT what Nouveau Riche is. The first coat was a bit sheer, I’ll give you that, but just like Bête Noire it built up nicely and I managed to get it somewhat opaque in three coats. This is an antique gold/brass colored foil polish with hints of pink mixed in. Absolutely stunning! Removal was a bitch, though, since all foils are like that with messing foil particles all over your hands, but no matter. I think this polish just oozes luxury, don’t you?
Swatch of OPI – Muir Muir on the Wall
Muir Muir on the Wall is a dark, vampy duochromatic polish, shifting from warm purple to dark gold (to green in some lights). I was expecting a stronger duochromatic effect on the nail, since it’s fairly strong in the bottle, but it is still very, very beautiful. This is three coats and topcoat.
This polish is named after the Muir (pronounced “myoor”) Woods National Monument north of San Francisco, a kind of reserve protecting the redwood trees growing there. Therefore, I think that the color they chose for this polish is absolutely spot on. It’s always been a dream of mine to see the redwood forests of northern California, but for now I’ll have to make due with this fantastic nail polish.
