How To Make Your Own Nail Swatches + Ulta3 & MUD Polish Reviews

You know when you go up to the nail polish sections in stores and they have these special plastic nail things that show what each colour looks like so you can "try" them on, without actually painting your nail? (If that wasn't the most roundabout way of explaining what a nail swatch was, I don't know what is...). 

ANYWAY. I'm the sort of person who owns waaaaaay too many nail polishes (like almost every female I know basically) and sometimes I can't decide what colour to use #firstworldbeautybloggerproblems. And CBF painting my nails in case I don't like the colour and I either have to live with the commitment I've made (this seems way more dramatic than it is in real life haha), or I have to get the nail polish remover out.

So I found a way to create my own DIY nail swatches. In other words, I'm lazy and this is an easy way to trial my polishes when I can't decide which one to wear, hehehe.

How pro do these babies look? In reality, you'd probably only ever need these if you're a beauty blogger like myself, a nail polish hoarder (also like myself), or a nail artist.

But they're cute, serve their purpose really well and you can always use this as a technique for keeping plain fake nails steady as you paint them to later pop on your digits. And they take less than a minute each to make!

Taken By Surprise Tutorial - How To Make Your Own Nail Swatches

How. Simple. Was. That? 

Let's get these babies painted!

 I figured I'd make good use of my new nail swatches and use them to review four new polishes. Read on for the reviews!

 MUD Nail Polish in "Nudely Now"

I barely ever wear nude nail polishes (read: never) because having a yellow undertone to my skin means that most nudes make my skin look sickly. But this nude is more of a brown, rather than a pink or beige, and I love the way it looks on! I actually painted all of my nails with this shade and am wearing it right now, and it looks really classy. It's definitely a great shade to wear at work. I also love that it's not a muted nude either; if you look closely it has a subtle hint of shimmer to it. Big thumbs (or all my fingers) up!

ulta3 Nail Colour in "Fruit Punch"

I've only recently begun wearing reds on my nails because I always saw it as the "grown ups'" colour. But I guess now that I'm officially a grown up (finished university yesterday!) I suppose red is going to become a little more regular on my nails. I like that this is almost a pastel red, not a blood or fire engine red. This lighter colour will be great for spring and summer because it's not as dramatic as those other, darker shades of classic red lacquer. I'm currently wearing this hue on my toes, so bring on sandal season!

ulta3 Nail Colour in "Corsican Rose"

If you've read my last post on the new Essence Me and My Ice Cream collection, then you'll already know that I'm not a big fan of green nail polish. Unless it's a really cool-toned, bright mint colour, green just doesn't suit me. I think this shade would look amazing on darker skin tones because it would really contrast and pop! I also like that this shade has a little bit of shimmer to it, which I haven't seen a green of this shade have before. 

ulta3 Nail Colour in "Twinkle Toes"

Christmas is only a couple of months away and I already know that I'll be breaking this baby out for the festive season! Most glitter polishes I've tried take many, many coats before it becomes opaque, so I love that this polish becomes pretty much solid glitter after only two coats. It'd also look amazing as a top coat over a coloured polish (I'm thinking black would look amazing for a starry sky kind of look!).

Which of these four colours would you most likely try on your nails? Let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: The four nail polishes featured in this post were sent to me to review, but all words and opinions are honest and my own :)