My New Autumn/Winter Polish Picks

It would be easy to assume that I'm not really much of a nail polish person as I don't typically "do" manicures. However, despite my outward appearance of disinterest, I do actually quite like nail polish and I do love a good pedicure (there's nothing like a neat pedicure to make me feel like my life is in order). When it comes to nail polishes I have two great loves, Barry M and Essie. Neither of them have ever done me wrong and I continue to repurchase their polishes without any hesitation. It does also help that Fragrance Direct stock Essie Nail Polish at the low price of £2.49. Yes, you do have to buy last season's colours but at that sort of discount I really don't mind! As I haven't bought any new shades for a couple of months I decided to invest in two new ones - Flowerista and Toggle to the Top.

Flowerista really isn't a traditional autumn/winter nail polish colour - it's bright, it's punchy and it's the perfect mix of purple and pink. However, if you wear a lot of black and grey like I do then you'll appreciate the contrast that shades like Flowerista can offer. They subtley break up the monotony of a monochrome wardrobe, and I'm quite lucky that it also really compliments my lipstick choices (which I'll be talking more about in an upcoming blog post). In the photo above you can see what one coat  (left), two coats (middle) and three coats (right) looks like, with three coats offering the same amount of colour as two coats but with an extra dose of shine. Overall, I absolutely love both the colour and the formula of the nail polish and I'd highly recommend it.

Essie's Toggle to the Top is a more traditional autumn/winter nail polish shade. However, I was intially rather surprised to find that it dries matte as shown in the first set of swatches above. In the same way as I did with Flowerista, I've done one coat (left), two coats (middle) and three coats (right), and then the photo below shows what the same swatches look like with the addition of a clear top coat. It was more difficult to achieve an even application with Toggle to the Top than it was with Flowerista, and without the clear topcoat I really dislike the finished look of the polish. It takes a glossy topcoat to transform the polish into something that I'd wear, but I do appreciate that this does allow two types of application (matte or glossy) which some people might think of as a benefit. All in all, it isn't my favourite nail polish but it's so Christmas-y that I can definitely see myself wearing it once we get into December!

What nail polishes are you reaching for this autumn/winter? And what do you think about the new two shades I picked up?