posted by Sheenie on Essie, Nails, Nails of the Day, OPI, Rimmel, Sally Hansen

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Six months ago I spoilt you with showing off all the nail polishes I grabbed from my Miami trip. (Jeez, has it really been that long? Tell me where 2012 is racing to, please!)

Here’s are a few swatches on some gems I swooped down onto like an over-excited magpie.  All photos were taken with flash.  Let me know what you think!

OPI DS Extravagance from the Designer Series collection is an oldie but I’ve been craving this one for so long yet I couldn’t bring myself to pay over £20 for a bottle of this as sold by Fenwicks in Brent Cross shopping centre. I picked this up at Ulta Beauty for a ridiculous price (something like $10).  I can’t remember exactly how much but I do know it was unbelievably cheap and I gushed on about it to my friends like I’d won the lottery. It’s a stunning concoction of purples and pinks for an epic holographic polish and the picture above does not do it justice.

British brand Rimmel have a Lasting Finish Pro range that were in abundance in the US but obviously don’t exist in its country of origin. Can you get them here? I have never seen these in the shops, perhaps online but definitely not in Boots and Superdrug. When I saw these in on my holiday, I had to buy one and this olive metallic called Rags to Riches was the one that stood out the most. The bottle is really big and square shaped (Rimmel polishes usually are quite small in the UK). To see the complete range the US sells, click here.

After three years of beauty blogging, you may have twigged I have a passion for rich, jewel colours. Wined Up by Sally Hansen from the Insta-Dri range is gorgeous! Amazing shine and a smooth finish, it actually looks quite disappointing in its bottle but clearly pops on the nails. Fabulous!

Pronto Purple is another one from Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri – a mix of purple, red and blue speckles. These polishes were really easy to apply and pretty good chipping resistance and hold. Absolute bargains too! The girl serving me in Ulta remarked on how many purples I had in my basket…erm, yeah that. So I do have a slight problem with liking purple too much…

In keeping with my fascination of jewel shades, this peacock teal metallic number from Essie called Dive Bar is divine. It is very thin and I had to apply 3 coats but it’s a beautiful colour.

Another one from Essie is Midnight Cami, a deep, dark blue which was thicker in comparison to Dive Bar and opaque in one coat surprisingly.

So there we have it! My firm favourites carried over the Atlantic ocean. Dare I imagine what I may come back with in September when I plan another trip over that ocean…I’d better not think about that too much.