Manicure Monday: Runway Ribbon

One of the best things about Christmas has to be advent calendars.

This year - as I can't have chocolate - I've embraced the trend of the beauty calendar instead, and now I've experienced it I don't think I'll ever be fully content to go back to a measly piece of chocolate each day ever again. 

That's where the sparkling red glitter of Runway Ribbon comes in. It's a bit different for me - I know - but I came to the conclusion after a lot of deliberation that if I'm ever going to experiment with nail polish then Christmas is the perfect time to do it.

Manicure Monday: Sole Mate

Once again my Essie obsession has got the better of me this week - not that I'm remotely bothered - with the deep plum of Sole Mate.

Manicure Monday: Metallic Khaki

A couple of months ago I stumbled into the Burberry Beauty shop in Covent Garden, and after a long chat with one of the loveliest shop assistants I was persuaded to do something uncharacteristically impulsive.

I bought a nail polish that wasn't red, pink or neutral.

I left the shop with number 202: Metallic Khaki.

Manicure Monday: Bordeaux

Confession time: I'm a repeat offender and I don't care who knows it.

I'm fully aware that I wore and reviewed Essie's Bordeaux really recently, but I've fallen so in love with the shade that I couldn't bring myself to wear anything else to kick off December.

Manicure Monday: GLAMOUR Tate

Today's nail varnish is a bit of a surprise one and a last minute addition to my collection.

I buy a ridiculous number of magazines each month, and a large chunk of my wardrobe is taken up with boxes full of archived old editions from at least the last 5 years. I'm pretty sad, and can't wait to live somewhere with decent bookshelves to display them all. Although I have a set selection of magazines that I buy religiously, there are others that I purchase here and there if they take my fancy. Glamour is such a magazine.

Claire Danes and "stress-free Christmas shopping" have been tempting me all month, but after a friend mentioned there was a bottle of Nails Inc. nail varnish with the magazine I knew it was definitely going in my basket the next time I was at the supermarket.

I'm glad I decided to take the plunge even if I'm not overly impressed with the polish!

Manicure Monday: Bordeaux

I had another look at my nail polish collection last week and finally decided that I needed to bite the bullet and actually buy a couple of winter appropriate shades. After approximately a decade crouching beside an Essie display in Boots I settled on three deep red colours, all of which upon reflection look pretty much identical in natural light. Oops.

As Christmas music is now on a repetitive loop in shops and festive films are infiltrating nearly every channel on the television it's getting harder to ignore the impending holiday season, so I've gone for Bordeaux on my nails: a beautiful dark red the colour of mulled wine.

Manicure Monday: Urban Jungle

When I had a massive tidy up of my nail polish collection a few months ago it turns out I threw away most of my autumn/winter shades. Booo. The only non-pastel shades I have are various shades of red (all of which are practically the same…) and a couple of greys, which is extremely annoying! Despite my best efforts to save money at the moment, I'm going to have to invest in some deeper reds and purples over the next few months - any recommendations are greatly appreciated!

In the meantime, however, I've taken inspiration from the chill in the air and the growing Christmas excitement and used one of my favourite Essie polishes this week: Urban Jungle. The icy white reminds me of snow and practically screams 'winter', so I felt it was a November-appropriate shade, despite being in Essie's summer collection.

Manicure Monday: Le Poivre

Another week, another chance to indulge my Soigné obsession.

I told myself I was going to stop buying nail varnish, but then I saw Soigné had a sale on, and safe to say all my best intentions went out of the window. Oops.

Manicure Monday: Cinéma

There's something about having gleaming red nails that makes me feel really, really bad ass and a little bit invincible.

Manicure Monday: Sirop de Rose

One of the first things I saw this morning when checking my Twitter feed was the sad news that actress and television presenter Lynda Bellingham had lost her fight with cancer and passed away on Sunday. I've seen a lot of her on television and in magazines over the last month as she promoted her new book and spoke of her incredibly brave decision to stop chemotherapy for colon cancer and let nature take its course. She'd been battling the disease since July 2013, and she had decided to end treatment to ease her family's suffering after discovering it had spread to her lungs and liver. Bellingham had hoped to make it to Christmas, but sadly this was not to be.

Friday evening saw Channel 4 host the monumentally successful Stand Up To Cancer live televised event that to date has raised over £14.5 million.

The fight to beat cancer is well and truly underway, but how does this related to Manicure Monday? As October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, pink on my nails and a charity donation seemed only appropriate!

Manicure Monday: Figue

I have a new obsession.

Oh hello, Soigné.

Manicure Monday: Naked Nails

I'm having a break from painting my nails this week.

For some reason, the nail polishes I've used over the last fortnight (Graphic Berry from Dior and The ELLE Grey from Mavala) have left my nails a little stained despite using a base coat, so I'm taking this week off to try and restore them back to tip-top condition.

As such, although I'm not reviewing a polish this week I thought I'd share the products I use to help keep my hands and nails nourished and healthy.

Manicure Monday: The ELLE Grey

I never normally trust nail polishes that come free with a magazine.

Manicure Monday: Graphic Berry

There's something really magical and autumnal about a deep, rich berry on your nails for September, and let's be honest, if you're going to do it properly then you might as well hand the reigns over to Dior...

Manicure Monday: Lilacism

I know I've been harping on about autumn - it is, after all my favourite season - but when it came down to it I couldn't resist one last week with a pastel shade adorning my fingers, particularly as the weather this week seems very reminiscent of summer.

Manicure Monday: Fifth Avenue

This week's polish was a bit of a no-brainer.

Manicure Monday: Sweet Pea

I was really naughty last week.

I tripped and fell onto the Selfridges website and before I knew it my basket was full, card details entered and a confirmation email was comfortably sitting in my inbox. A few days ago a beautiful yellow package was delivered by the postman, and I opened it to discover a selection of the nail polishes I've been lusting over all summer.

Manicure Monday: Point Blanc

Rather naively, I had no idea that Calvin Klein even made nail polish.

Last week I was stocking up on Chanel's Dissolvant Doux at Debenhams and needed something else to add to my basket in order to qualify for free delivery, so obviously began perusing the nail polish section looking for something - anything - to help. That's when I discovered 'ck one long wear + shine nail color'. As it's only £9 and the range of colours still left were right up my street, I decided to throw caution to the wind and give it a go.

What a mistake.

Manicure Monday: Peach Daiquiri

My addiction to Essie is getting a little silly, but given how amazing the polishes are I'm really not bothered!

Manicure Monday: Urban Jungle

The last time I used Urban Jungle, a shot of my nails miraculously racked up over 500 likes on Instagram in less than 12 hours: so clearly I'm not the only one totally in love with Essie's stunning summer shade!