Similar to my Summer Nail Trends post, I selected a few (well, eleven) shades from my collection that I felt best represented what the early autumn landscape looks like, nail wise. Though I've been rather out of the loop, blogging wise, I kept up with reading my favourite blogs and from these, I formed an idea of what the current trends are (going to be? I don't know. I'm probably totally wrong, lol).



Yes, I photographed these over my Physics textbook, for I am a hardcore nerd.



Companies seem to be bringing out the foiled, irridescent colour shifting polishes at the moment in gorgeous antique colours (I'm seeing lots of old golds and greens) such as the Model's Own Beetlejuice collection (sourced from Vampy Varnish)...the Inheritance fan in me hopes that this is a sort of nail polish celebration of the release of the last in the series but somehow I really doubt that. What? The strong duochromes remind me of dragon scales, OK?

Geekery aside, the other new fad seems to be magnetic nail varnish, which I think is lining up to replace the mighty crackle. The colours of the polishes again fit the model of the 'autumn trend' - that is, they're darker and shimmery, but I'm wondering if it's going to catch on like the crackle trend simply because including a magnet with your nail polish is going to make it more expensive, and there isn't really a way to get past that. While the cheapest crackle polishes retail for about £6, you can buy a crackle for £1.99 from W7, or just a pound more from the MUA Pro range.

Finally, I've seen loads of lilac around recently. This may just be where I live, but pastel lilac nails seem to be really popular over here...so I bought two new ones, one from No7 and one from MUA, so I could be a sheep and take part in this new and fascinating obsession with the lilac colour. *shrugs* Purple in general seems to be a huge thing at the moment, both in clothes and in cosmetics. Perhaps it's something to do with the recession? Isn't purple linked to royalty? Maybe there's some sort of subconscious thing going on there.

Onto the photographs...


Right hand (from left to right):
Nails Inc 'Lowndes Square'
MUA Shade '23'
No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour in 'Vivid Violet' (I think. I 'borrowed' this one off my Mum to swatch, and she's asleep as I'm writing this post so I can't sneak into her room and double check!)
Funky Fingers 'Snakeskin'
Barry M 'Dusky Mauve'

I'm fully aware the Dusky Mauve phase has gone and passed, OK? But I included it as an example of a subtler colour shift. I do think the neutrals/mannequin hands trend is slowly passing right now, very few brands have included neutral colours in their line up.




Left hand (from left to right):
American Apparel 'Passport Blue'
No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour in 'Lucky Lilac'
Barry M Nail Paint in 'Indigo'
No7 Speed Dry Nail Colour in 'Beautifully Black'
Kiko Makeup Milano '262'

Bonus polish, for sitting through all of that so nicely:


A gorgeously sparkling Kiko topcoat, to help add that bright, otherworldly look to the polishes in your collection - cheaper than buying loads more soley for the sake of the trend, in all honesty. I'm really up for buying all of that Beetlejuice collection, personally, but for now I'll make do with this to paint over my darker nail colours. It's beautiful in it's own right, really. I don't have nearly enough coloured/glittery topcoats.








Thoughts on the trends for Autumn? Do you like them, or are you staying away? If you do like them, which companies do you feel interpreted them best? I personally want to say Models Own, but 17 have really stepped up their game with their releases recently (I'm thinking about the BB Cream as well, even though the shade range is pants) so perhaps they deserve the crown.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure I got my hands mixed up and left is right and vice versa. I get so confused with these things, sorry!

Summer nail trends for feet! Now, I went to all the trouble of creating a special graphic so ya'll don't have to see the feet and can casually scroll along your dashboard for the next non-feet related post. Not my fault if you enter and mentally scar yourself!


So I wanted to swatch my chosen colours for my Summer Nail Trends post on my feet. I wouldn't wear ALL of these as pedicure colours, but a fair few have a shot. Behold:


In different light:


Big Toe: Nails Inc 'Milan'
Second Toe: Barry M 'Cyan Blue'
Middle Toe: Essie 'Bermuda Shorts'
Fourth Toe: ASOS Paints 'Lily'
Little Toe: ASOS Paints 'Olivia'

I've already worn 'Milan' as a pedicure and I have worn 'Cyan Blue' but didn't really rate it, so for this summer, I think I'll pass. I liked 'Bermuda Shorts' and 'Olivia' as well.

And this post lacks a snappy ending. Sorry. *wanders off for coffee*

I find the name somewhat questionable, but hey, that's how the article addressed it...meh. What can you do? Anyway,  I discovered this new nail trend online. It reminds me slightly of a crackle manicure, but you can do it with any polish, not just a specified crackling one.

It seems like the technician in the photo used special tools to create that look but I found that it's actually surprisingly simple to recreate the idea armed with just a bog standard nail polish brush. Using No7 nail polishes in "Berrylicious" and "Beautiful Black", I did a quick interpretation of it below.







Apologies for the poor quality pictures - I have no idea what was going on, but I just /could not/ photograph this without the blurriness. Adjusted the lights and everything. I think it was just one of those days :(

For my other hand, I reversed the polish order, so instead of pink on black, it became black on pink.




 What do you guys think? I'm not sure I'd make it into a regular thing but it's pretty interesting and a talking point. Now, if someone could tweak the name slightly...