October is Autumn: Day 5 - Wine (Burgundy)

So the lovely She Loves Lacquer has set this month's challenge: to paint your nails a beautiful autumnal colour depending on the day of the month. Here's her colour scheme below: how sweet and varied is this? :)

So the 5th October called for a red wine colour, so I dug out my O.P.I. Skyfall, from the James Bond collection. It's a rich, deep red creme polish that is very brown-toned. While that may make it look a little boring in the bottle, it goes on like a dream and is a colour that looks good on my skin - I can't quite believe it's the first time I've used it in about 2 years! Like most OPIs, it does goes on easily (opaque in two coats) and lasts well on me. I did however put it on under a low energy light bulb last night, as my cuticle line now shows in the light of day. I really need a good lamp now that the evenings are pitch black again!

OPI Skyfall in natural (but dull) light

OPI Skyfall in daylight (no direct sun)

While this is lovely, I am however itching to stamp it, and am feeling that a gold design is in order... So, I'm sure this post will be updated soon. In the mean time, why not check out how my fellow participants are getting along :) Feel free to share your blog links so that I can see what you are up to as well! Thanks for reading :)

UPDATE: I have indeed added some gold stamping, with Barry M Gold Foil and Moyou Sailor 07. I'm so pleased with this - I had pictured this exact pattern in my mind, but wasn't sure if I owned it. I love it when a plan comes together!

OPI Skyfall, Barry M Gold Foil and Moyou Sailor 07, in natural light (no direct sun)

The ingredients. Does anyone else get this streaking with pure acetone? It doesn't wash off with hot water and liquid soap: I only find normal nail polish remover to work so far.

October Autumn Colour Challenge: (Belated) Day 1 - Moss Green

This month, I will be taking part in Lady Loves Lacquer autumn colour challenge as often as I can.  Sadly her blog is offline at the moment, or I'd share a link and describe the challenge in more detail. I hope she's okay and is back soon!

Day 1's challenge colour was moss green, and I was excited to dust off a colour I haven't worn in over a year, but I love it for its distinctiveness - it's Nails Inc Belgrave Mews, a moss green colour with very subtle copper shimmer when it catches the light.

Nails Inc Belgrave Mews in direct sunlight

As a polish, this lives up to the usual Nails Inc standard - easy to apply, opaque and glossy in two coats, and with a shimmer that just makes me smile. No wonder NI make up 3/4 of my collection really!
.

So, being me, I wanted to stamp this mani (although that's not part of the challenge itself). I chose Nails Inc Westminster (magnetic) to stamp with, as it's a lovely copper colour. In fact, when I wear it using the striped magnet, I refer to it as my 'tabby cat polish'! Despite me remembering all the magnetics as thick and opaque, I found that this was a temperamental and thin beast that required gentle scraping, but oddly enough that worked in my favour. Just as the copper shimmer in this polish is subtle and faint, so too was this stamping over the top, and it's made for a manicure that is even more pretty than it photographs, and is only really visible to other people when it catches the light.

Nails Inc Belgrave Mews stamped with Nails Inc Westminster magnetic and Pueen Encore SE02B. Taken in direct sunlight.

Nails Inc Belgrave Mews stamped with Nails Inc Westminster magnetic and Pueen Encore SE02B. Taken in indirect daylight.

All in all, I'm really pleased with this mani and these two polishes, but I wouldn't use a magnetic again without taking the time to test run it on an outgoing mani, paper, or a painted nail wheel. I'm also surprised at my last of autumnal, leafy patterns among my plates. I seem to have 90% flowers, 5% butterflies, and 5% other stuff! I really need to try and shit on my hands and not just browse Moyou and spend another fortune...

The ingredients: Nails Inc Belgrave Mews and Nails Inc Westminster (Magnetic)

Leaf pattern from Pueen Encore plate SE02B