Saturday, February 27, 2010

Nails Inc Ebury Place NOTD: Attempting the Lilac Trend

You know, sometimes I really think the nail polish companies are just out to get me. They're always making the "trendy" colours of the season some colour that I think is just plain ugly, or some colour that just doesn't look good on me. Well, to be fair, there was the whole taupey-brown-purple mushroomy craze that I really liked - hellooo Sephora by OPI Metro Chic (here), Nails Inc Jermyn Street (here), and all your imitators. That one I liked. And then there was the mannequin nails trend, which while I know was boring as heck, was at least good for me (here). But for the most part, the polish companies just seem to hate me. Take the mint green trend for example, inspired by Chanel Jade (which isn't really jade colour at all, but more a mint colour) - I actually tried it out, and it looked like a pastel green puke of death on my fingers. And then now there is the LILAC trend, thanks to Color Club's Light As Air and Essie's Lilacism.

Can I tell you how much I hate those kinds of pastel lilac purples? Granted, I like them in the form of eyeshadows for some looks, but for nail polish, I just KNOW it's going to look like the pastel-purple-puke-of-death on me. But you know, I can never resist something if it's hyped up enough, and so I decided to give the trend a try. Of course, I wimped out of wearing straight up lilac, so I rooted around in my stash for something lilac, but with a tinge (okay a pretty strong tinge) of pink to it to make it less purply-pukey and more pinky-nude. And this is how I ended up with Nails Inc Ebury Place for my NOTD.

So here is my half-hearted attempt at wearing a lilac-ish shade, in the sun:



See see see? See what I mean about lilacs looking like purply death puke on my fingers? While I could certainly think of worse colours to wear, I initially felt like it made my fingers look really dirty. And not in a good way.

But anyway, I didn't have much to complain about. This was actually surpringly pigmented given that it's a light colour, especially since most light colours tend to be formulated (or mis-formulated) as sheers - as though an opaque light colour doesn't exist. Anyway, this was actually pretty much opaque in one thicker coat, although I used two out of habit. I think I might actually try konading with this someday, I think it could do. It also has a superfine silver pearl finish to it, that doesn't show up in most lights, if at all. But I think this slight pearlized finish is why this shade looks really glossy and reflective in the light.

Here is Nails Inc Ebury Place indoors. Here you can sort of see the silver pearl finish, if you squint. It's best seen in the bottle, around where the light hits:



Application on this, was, as is usual for Nails Inc, absolutely smooth and problem-free. I actually feel sorry for my fellow US girls, because it's hard for them to get their hands on Nails Inc, and they don't know what their missing. Every bottle I've had has been awesome in terms of application and consistency, with the slight exception of just one bottle, out of the many I have.

Wear time on this was also really good, as is with almost all my Nails Incs (except one). I don't know what Nails Inc puts in their polishes, but every company seriously needs to learn from them.

Anyway, I guess this didn't look THAT bad on me, although it wasn't my best colour. I feel that it's a little too cool-toned for me - it kind of really draws out the yellow in my olive undertones. The colour itself is interesting though - it's a lilac pink that looks either more lilac or more pink depending on the light. And that slight pearlized finish helps prevent it from looking too flat and uninteresting. I guess it's not a bad buy if you like these colours, and if you, like me, want to try out the lilac trend but don't dare to wear a straight up purple, this is probably a better bet for you.