Review // Collection 'Work The Colour' Nail Varnish

Working in certain retail environments can be tough on a girl: hair always has to be tied back, unflattering uniforms and no nail varnish, ever.

This is a world I know all too well so when I have a good few days off in a block, I jump at the chance to jazz up my nails and actually feel like a girl again. Probably like most girls, I have a vast collection of nail varnish but sometimes the right one just isn't there no matter how many you have so I decided to go out and find something new to try.

Being as pale (and extremely indecisive) as I am, I often struggle to pick a nail varnish as I worry that certain colours will make me look even more corpse-like than I already do. I tend to stay away from the neon trend that's around at the moment, as well as blues and pastels - I feel like I just can't win but perhaps one day I'll take the plunge and just go for it!

However, this time I settled on Raspberry Pink 20 from Collection's new range: Work The Colour.

This nail varnish is extremely good value as it's only £1.99 in Superdrug!

I've got to admit, I didn't expect much from it as it's so cheap and I wasn't exactly in love with the colour either - after a while of um'ing and ah'ing, my boyfriend practically forced it into my hand! But I'm glad he did, as I love it!

The coverage from it is amazing. It takes two strokes to paint the nail and I only needed one coat of it! Plus it's not too Barbie pink, which I was worried about. I like feeling girly, but not that girly. It dries in as a lovely dark pink/red colour and it doesn't leave my hands looking pale either. As you could probably guess though, the only downside to the product is that it chips very easily. After only having it on for a few hours it had already began chipping, although not too drastically.

As you can see, the chipping isn't as noticeable as you would expect, although I did put a clear top coat of protective and strengthening nail varnish on top so that could perhaps be why it hasn't chipped so much (I would recommend doing this, maybe putting two coats on, to prevent chipping!). You could get away with keeping it on like this as it is barely noticeable and so for the price, this nail varnish is pretty impressive!

This range from Collection has a great selection of colours to choose from so if pink isn't for you, take a look and see what you fancy! You can't go wrong at £1.99.

Jack White // Lazaretto

Jack White has featured in music news a lot recently, from producing a song in record-breaking time to publicly apologising to anyone he has ever spoken cruelly about in the past. However, his new album Lazaretto – released on June 10^th through his own label Third Man Records – is something which he shouldn’t have to make apologies for.

The first song of his second solo album Three Women sounds like a rock gospel anthem – whether or not that’s a genre, White has made it one – with White repeating “Lordy Lord” accompanied by a bit of uncharacteristic organ music. Record-breaking track Lazaretto – the first single release – is the second song on the album and despite the production of it being rushed, it is well executed. It contains everything you would expect from the man. His trademark vocals paired with strong rock-sounding guitar riffs altogether creating another great piece of music.

Following on from that, Temporary Ground is a refreshing change from the so far very rock-sounding album as this song has more of a country edge to it. An image of White sitting on a porch in a rocking-chair, chewing on a piece of barley and playing the banjo sprung to mind as it began. However this change is short-lived as we’re straight back onto the iconic piano/guitar pairing in next song: Would You Fight For My Love? Although it begins quite hard-hitting, the guitar soon drifts off to leave White’s vocals – sounding slightly softer than usual – and the piano. This song could be seen as his version of a ballad, however he doesn’t commit to this concept as it very quickly turns back into the familiar angry-sounding rock song. High Ball Stepper is a strictly instrumental piece which seems to encapsulate all we have heard so far in the album, and acts as a break almost half-way through the 11 tracks, with heavy guitar being the most dominant feature and an odd bit of violin thrown in for good measure.

Just One Drink seems like a drunken nod to Would You Fight For My Love?  with the line “I love you, honey why don’t you love me?” being repeated several times, hinting to perhaps some trouble in White’s love life which makes for a bit of awkward listening. This idea is continued through into Alone In My Home as his previous anger seems to have subsided to leave something that just sounds quite sad, with White claiming “lost feelings of love” as well as that he is becoming a ghost. This sense of sadness continues on through Entitlement- which has remnants of the country sound from Temporary Ground. That Black Bat Licorice introduces the Jack White we know best back into the world after a melancholic break, and what else would you expect from a song with a title like that? This is followed through into I Think I Found The Culprit. The final song on Lazaretto, Want and Able begins with the sound of birds crowing and features a chorus which is filled mainly with the word ‘who’. Or is it an impression of an owl? It wouldn’t be an album by Jack White if there wasn’t something a little odd in there.

As a Jack White fan, this album doesn’t disappoint at all. Artists going solo can be a bit hit-and-miss, especially if it spills into a second album, but Lazaretto fills the shoes of Blunderbuss and then some. Bring on the next one.

New dates for a UK arena tour in November have been announced with tickets for the gigs in London, Leeds and Glasgow going on sale at 9am on Friday 13^th June. White will also be making an appearance at Glastonbury later this month.