As some regular readers of
LydiaLulu may know, I have a bit of a girl crush on Alexa Chung. Me and every other fashion conscious woman in the world, I know. To say she's my greatest style inspiration is just a little bit generic but doesn't make it any less true. She has the
'cool, fashionable British girl' look down to a tee and I always find myself trying to recreate her style. Trying, and failing, I might add. I've been the proud owner of a
Mulberry 'Alexa' for about three years now. The bag perfectly captures Chung's feminine, yet slightly edgier, look.
So when the
Debenhams beauty department emailed me to let me know about Chung's collaboration with
Nails Inc a few weeks ago, I was intrigued. Chung had never really struck me as the type to front a beauty campaign. Personally, I see her as more of a '
fashion' girl - not to say that you can't be both. However, she has used her fashion knowledge to create a range of colours that help sculpt the perfect outfit. As Chung herself says
'I’ve been playing with textures and innovative effects to create the perfect collection that girls can use to revitalize an outfit. This collection is a party for your hands.' These are definitely colours for winter: warm, dark, and sultry shades. I spend over 10 minutes umming and ahhing over what colours I wanted. If they weren't in the pricier range then I would have indulged in them all. I was especially tempted by
'Lace', a sparkling red that should be applied over another shade to create the effect of lace covering the nail. The polish itself looked beautiful in its packaging but I wasn't convinced of what colour I'd pair it with. So I went for
'Cashmere' and
'Leather' instead.
These polishes are unique in that they emulate the different textures they're named after.
'Leather' has a matte, distressed finish which looks really cool on my toes. I'm not so convinced by
'Cashmere's bumpy and unsatisfying final result. I even Googled the nail polish because I thought my bottle was faulty! I added a layer of
Dior Gel TopCoat and that gave it a nice glossy sheen. Perhaps I'm just used to having shiny nails but I much preferred '
Cashmere' with this added effect. The colour is a light, pinkish grey which is so perfect for this season. I'm personally not such a fan of nude nails so this is a really sweet alternative.
As a pay-day little treat, these nail varnishes are worth the extra pennies. At £15 a bottle,
Nails Inc's Alexa range is not the cheapest alternative out there but its definitely not the most expensive either. With nail polish, you ultimately pay for the application and colour and both of these are looking good. The wide brush makes for easy application and the bottles are on the larger side so you really do get your money's worth too. I'm loving the colours as they are nice investment shades that can still be worn in this funny Summer to Winter transitional period. They make for a perfect September treat.
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