NOTD: Topshop Tidal and NYX Girls Grand Royal

This is the same mani I had on yesterday but decided to try on a new glitter topcoat (Im a sucker for them... any and all colours I NEED) that I got from NYX when I was in Oxford last week.

Grand Royal is a holographic topcoat, I had seen a similar on in Topshop but for double the price so thought I would give the NYX one a go. Now I'm kind of wishing I just spent the extra £2.50 and got the Topshop one. Its not that this is a bad polish necessarily, but it has very few of the hexagon glitter peices which is what I was most looking forward to. Instead it has a bunch of small holographic glitter.
Nevertheless its still a decent polish and I will use it for nail looks like this in the future.

NOTD: Topshop Tidal

Love. This. Polish. I got this last week sometime and have only just got round to trying it on (thats what happens when you have 130+ nail polishes). Its a pale blue shade with slight grey undertones, the formula is good but a little on the thick side, went on smoothly and evenly and is opaque in 2 coats.

After my disappointment with Barry M's Blue Moon I was sceptical about pale blue polishes but I'm so glad I gave this a chance, might have to go out and buy a backup..

NOTD: Neutral and Pink Glitter

Hi :) so A-level results came out on thursday and I got into my first choice uni. I am so unbelievably happy and it just goes to show that having to take that extra year and working like a mad person was worth it.

Todays manicure was pretty simple, I used 1 coat of OPI's Tickle My Francey over 1 coat of Revlon's Smoky Canvas. On my let hand ring finger, and my right hand middle finger I used 3 coats of Revlon's Sparkling to create an opaque multi-sized pink glitter effect.

I finished off with a coat of Essie's Good To Go top coat.

NOTD: Black And Gold Glitter Gradient

Im getting kind of obsessed with gradient nails recently. This was pretty easy to do, I used one coat of Charge It! by Sephora by OPI then used a sponge to create the gradient effect using a sponge with another coat of Charge It! and Black As Night by Avon. To add more sparkle I used one coat of Deborah Lippmann's Boom Boom Pow.

Sorry for not posting in a while, I went on holiday and didnt schedule any posts. Woops :)

Wish I could teleport myself back...

NOTD: Primark Neon Yellow

I am loving the abundance of neon polishes at the moment and this yellow one from Primark is no different. It came in a set of four, and I cant remember the price but I'm guessing it was around £5.

This colour has slight yellow shimmer to it which I dont really like - I would prefer it if it was a straight up cream polish like Orly's Glowstick. This polish also wasn't as neon as some other polishes I own and the formula was thin and took about 4 coats to make it opaque. And as with most neon polishes it dried with a semi-matte finish.

While this polish has its drawbacks, for a little over a £1 I cant really complain - I will just have to wait until I can get hold of Orlys Glowstick.

NOTD: H&M Blue My Mind Marble

While I was browsing through a few random nail blogs I stumbled upon this technique for creating a marbled nail effect using clingfilm (link to original post containing the technique here!).

I used Models Own Snow White as my base colour and H&M's Blue My Mind - a bright cobalt blue over the top. To get this effect I painted 2 coats of Snow White and let it dry completely before applying one relatively thick layer of Blue My Mind nail by nail. Before this dried, I used small pieces of rolled up clingfilm and gently dabbed some of the blue colour off the surface so the white polish could be seen through.

I really like this effect and although I haven't tried to I'm sure another colour could be layered on top of the blue (I'm thinking pink or yellow). This gives a very different look to water marbling but takes far far less time and with none of the mess or hassle.

NOTD: Pink Glitter Gradient

I have made a ground-breaking decision, my blog will be pretty much solely based on nail polish. World changing I know ;)

Anyway, todays nail polish look was a way to extend the longevity of my nail polish without having to take off my existing polish - Essie's Fiji. I decided to do a glitter gradient using GOSH's Frou-Frou and my newest polish Revlon's Sparkling - a rosey pink-gold glitter consisting of medium sized hexagonal glitter and little micro glitter.  I used a kitchen sponge to place Frou-Frou on about half on my nail, concentrating most of the colour towards the tips, and then added Sparkling just on the tip.

I like how this turned out - someone at work said they looked like princess nails which is a pretty accurate description.

 

 Polishes L-R: Essie All In One Base, Essie Fiji, GOSH Frou-Frou, Revlon Sparkling and Essie Good To Go

NOTD: Essie's Fiji

Sorry for lack of posting - exams and that first rush of freedom from exams have meant that blogging slipped to the bottom of my to do list.

I have been wanting a very pale pink polish for a while now and after reading reviews I chose Fiji, a very pale milky pink. It took about 3 coats for full opacity, 2 might have been enough if you dont mind having a ever so slightly visible nail line.

I have only had this on for a day so I cant really comment on its longevity but no sign of tip wear so far.

Next on my Essie wishlist - Sand Tropez and Cute As A Button.

NOTD: Color Club 51

With summer fast approaching (take a hint weather) I am finding myself changing up my nail polish every day or so.
Today I painted my nails with one of the Color Club polishes I got recently. Now because I bought them in a pack I dont know what the names are so all I can go by is the number on the bottom of the bottle.

51 is a peachy, salmon pink with a subtle gold/pink microshimmer. Initially I didn't notice the shimmer in the bottle until I held it up to direct sunlight. In fact this shimmer doesn't transfer to the nail at all.

As much as I want to love this polish, I can't. It was really thick, applied quite streakily and took 3 thick coats to get an opaque finish. It took about an hour to dry total which is a shame because the colour is really nice, like Barry M Peach Melba but less bright.

If you already have this polish let me know what you think and if you have the same issue of it being difficult to work with.

How I Ombred My Hair

Hey everyone :) now I know ombre hair was huge last year and if I'm honest I always wanted to do it but having never done anything to my hair before I was pretty nervous to say the least. But last week I bit the bullet regardless of my slight fear that a) it has been pretty overdone and might be getting a little outdated, and b) that having never dyed my own hair using bleach on it could be a recipe for disaster.
I am SO glad I did it. Like seriously. I'm in love. Even though I did it almost a week ago I still catch myself checking it out in the mirror.

The product I used was Jerome Russell B Blonde Hair Lightener for Medium-Dark hair. You can purchase it from Boots here and Superdrug here.

Image curtesy of boots.com

Its a formulation of powder bleach and cream peroxide and you can leave it on your hair for however long you want depending on how light you want to do. After I mixed the powder into the cream I applied it to the bottom 3-4 inches of my hair, varying the lengths from strand to strand to give it a more messy natural effect. I left it on for 10 minutes then applied more to the 3 inches above that, again varying the lengths and left it for another 10 minutes. I then added more product 3 inches above that, left it for 10 minutes and then washed it out. For each of the application I made sure that i had evenly covered my head.
Between me and my friend who has incredibly thick long hair (seriously - belly button length long) we didnt even use an entire bottle although we were both only ombreing our hair, one bottle would be enough if you wanted to completely bleach your hair.

Time for the before and after....

Old hair

New hair

As you can tell, the ends are a lot lighter, slightly ginger which I was expecting from googling other people's experiences. And I really love the slightly beachy laid-back vibe it gives my hair.
I am so happy with how it turned out and I recommend this product to anyone who is looking into doing the same with their hair. And for less than £6 for the bottle it is definitely worth the price. It claims to have moisturising properties and I'm not gonna lie, my hair was originally in pretty horrendous condition and it didnt make it any worse and my friends hair was exactly the same after as well (in texture not colour obv).

Phew - sorry for the wordiness of this post but when youre as passionate about changing your hair as I am... haha. But seriously, I have a feeling I will be doing this to my hair, using the B Blonde, for a long time to come.

Review: Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow

Another review here, this time for Benefits Cream Shadow in RSVP.
I have had this for a while but for the past month I have been using it everyday underneath shadows from my Urban Decay Naked Palette.
First off the packaging, I love the bird print on the cap of the pot. As far as I can tell the pot is pretty airtight, the product hasnt dried out and I've had it for about a year now.

Second onto the shadow itself, its a pink toned champagne colour. If you own the Topshop polish in Moonshine its pretty similar to it as is the shadow Sin from the Naked Palette. The formulation of this is so good, really creamy and really pigmented. It goes on really smooth and stays put for a good 10 hours before creasing even on my oily eyelids. Its longevity can be increased if a primer is layered underneath although for day to day use I dont think its necessary.

Left: Sin, Right: RSVP

I really love this product, the colour is perfect for everyday and am planning to try out some of the other colours in the line, maybe a darker one for smoky looks. Also I feel the £14 price tag is more than justified.

Beauty Product Haul

Last week I went shopping with one of my closest friends Rosie (who has a blog and you should definitley check it out if you havent already - link! ). Typical me, I bought a lot of nail polish as well as a few other items.



I got a few clothes from Primark and when I was in the queue I saw a set of 4 neon nail polishes. I immediately grabbed a pack and got Rosie to get them too. They all look pretty good, tried them out and they are all 2 coaters apart from the yellow which took 3 coats to get it opaque. All are creme finishes apart from the yellow and I am slightly dissapointed with it because it was the polish i was most excited about. More in depth review will be up soon.

In TKMaxx I saw a collection of colour club polishes, a brand I have heard good things about but never been able to find. It was a set of 7 but 3 of those were top coats so I gave one to Rosie along with a pink glitter polish of which I own a pretty good dupe for. I got the set mainly for the flakie colour and tried it out as soon as I got in the car. The polish is pretty densely filled with the flakes. Really excited to try it out over some polishes - I'm thinking lilac or black first. Reviews will be up shortly.

I quickly tried out the Revlon Pinch Me lip tint and honestly I was kind of dissapointed. The texture is sort of like putting jam on your skin and there is little to no colour pay off.
I was given the Super+ BB from SKIN79 to try out from Rosie and I love it. While it comes out of the tube as grey it quickly blends into the skin. I really like it and am going to get some off ebay for the summer months - it covers well without feeling heavy. The lipstick was also given to me by Rosie as a birthday present and I love it. Its really creamy and leaves a light stain. Love it!

I picked up these two mascaras at a pound shop and honestly both of them are kind of meh. They dont really do much more to my lashes other than define them a little and increase the length. That said for only a pound I'm not complaining as I can use them on days I want to wear barely any makeup.

Clothing haul will be up soon :)

NOTD: Models Own Hedonist

The other polish I got from the HedKandi collection from Models Own is Hedonist. Seeing as its been so sunny and feels like we are finally entering summer, it felt like it would be the perfect time to try it out this neon red/orange/coral colour.

In two coats it was opaque, I tried it over white to see if it made it seem more neon but it made no difference. It does dry semi-matte so if you want a glossy finish I suggest using a topcoat.















I absolutley love this colour, its so perfect for summer. I am currently wearing it on my toes as well and am going to pick up the other neon colour in the collection because I love this one so much. Seriously in love with neon polishes at the moment.


side note - my local boots now has an essie stand. going to need a high paying job to fund this

NOTD: Ibiza Mix over Snow White

So the sun has been out for the past few days and I am loving it. Aside from a tiny bit of sunburn life is pretty much perfect. The amazing weather has made me finish the 4 week process of Renunails a week early just so I can use glitter and neon nail polish.

This is 1 coat of Models Own Ibiza Mix layered over 2 coats of Models Own Snow White. Models Own is quicky becoming my favourite drugstore brand for nail polish.

I love that the glitter in Ibiza Mix is pastel making it different from other multicoloured glitters I have seen.

Complete side note but look how pretty the sky is :)

Sorry for the lack recently but more posts soon. Promise.

Recent Nail Polish Aquisitions

First things first, sorry I haven't been posting recently. Its exam time again which means I spend most of my time revising (or procrastinating to avoid revising). This paired with the fact that when I'm stressed I bite my nails and I can pretty much kiss blogging anything goodbye.
But it was my birthday last wednesday and my wonderful friend Rosie (here!) got me some nail polishes. Also being the nail polish fiend that I am, I recently picked up two for myself.
Rosie gave me the 2 on the left: Maxfactor's Fantasy Fire and Models Own Ibiza Mix and I picked up Models Own Snow White and Hedonist (the 2 on the right).

 Fantasy Fire is amazing, just look at all the different colours of shimmer. In different lights it has reddish shimmer, green shimmer, gold shimmer all suspended in a royal purple/blue base. Its love. Only downside is the bottle is so small :(. Gonna have to drag this one out.

Ibiza Mix is amazing, I never got Happy Birthday from Deborah Lippmann or Rainbow Connection by OPI but thats all okay now that I have this. Might have to buy another bottle as a back up... It consists of multicoloured and multisized hexagonal glitter in a clear base.

On the left is Hedonist, a neon coral/red shade which I have on my toes at the moment. I layered 2 coats of it over 1 coat of Snow White. I have read that to make neons really glow layering them over white helps. Snow white is a repurchase, this is my third bottle, I use it in a lot of nail looks - especially water marbling.

I promise I will have proper reviews and swatches when my nails are long again.. give it a month :)

p.s. To all those doing exams, good luck!!!

Review: Simple Hydrating Light Moisturiser

I know its been a while since my last post, exams are coming up and its my birthday next week, revising and organising a 90s themed birthday party is taking up more time than I anticipated.

While I have been using my Clinique Moisturising Gel  for ages, it ran out recently and I find this in my bathroom cupboard. I was planning on using this for a few days until after the first day, I found it was working just as well, if not better than the Clinique.

A quick run down of the back of the bottle shows that it contains pro-vitamin B5 and vitamin E, glycerin and borage seed oil. I have tried several Simple products in the past and one thing that I like most about their products is that there are no colours or perfumes. I like their philosophy of not using any unnecessary or harsh chemicals on your skin, especially seeing as I have quite sensitive skin.

For one, it is more moisturising than the Clinique. I need literally the smallest amount (ss shown in the picture above) and it moisturises the whole of my face and it feels soft all day. You can't really see it in the picture, and honestly I didn't even notice until I took these pictures, that there is the slightest pearl finish to the lotion and I'm not really sure what this is meant to do to be honest. Another way it beats the Clinique moisturiser is the price, it costs £3.79 compared to £28. One thing, it doesn't sink into the skin as quick as the Clinique but at the same time it sinks in quickly compared to other drugstore moisturisers I've tried.

Now that I've tried this and fallen in love with it, I know for a fact I will repurchase it when it runs out. I seriously recommend this to anyone who feels like trying out a new moisturiser.

NOTD: Holographic Purple over Lilac

So this is my 4th nail post in a row... OH WELL :)

I used an Avon Nailwear Pro polish in Luxe Lavender (now that they have come out with their new nail polish line I'm not sure if this polish is available) which is a cool toned lilac. I was going to wear this alone but saw my Bourjois polish in 18 which is a holographic glitter.

I really like how this turned out and got quite a few compliments on it (in fact a few of my friends used the glitter over their nail polishes and it looks great on so many different colours). I have used this over black and really liked how that turned out as well.

NOTD: Topshop Moonshine

And yet another nail polish post.. beginning to think this might be my forte haha.

Today I am wearing my favourite polish from Topshop, and my all time favourite metallic polish, Moonshine. It is a champagney, pink, silvery/gold colour which in some lights can look a little lilac.
For a metallic polish it doesn't leave bad streak marks although I do advise wrapping your tips otherwise it shows pretty badly.

 No flash

Flash

Formula is great, not too thick or thin, almost a one coater and lasts about 2 days without top coat before chipping.

I have used this polish in two of my previous nail looks and am going to panic when it runs out because it isn't available on the Topshop website anymore :(

NOTD: Revlon's Cherries In The Snow

This is something a bit different than usual for me.... Nail polish without any design or glitter. Just a plain old creme nail polish.

Cherries In The Snow was the first Revlon polish I ever brought and this is my second bottle. Its a cherry red although in dim lighting just looks like a dark red-scarlet polish.
As with all Revlon polishes the formula is great, albeit slightly thin, 1 coat is almost opaque - if you applied a thick coat 1 would probably be enough. I used 2 for the photo.

It feels really odd to have plain and simple nails, I keep feeling like there should be something more to them. But thinking I should stay off the polish/crazy designs for a while so I can get used to wearing just one colour on my nails again.

NOTD: Glitter Tips

These are a few of the nail looks I have been wearing recently. They are pretty similar. The only way they differ is the base colour.

For both looks I used Paul & Joe's Confetti polish (which has unfortunately been discontinued) mainly on the tips then slowly working it up. I love the really tiny, multi-coloured glitter in this and layered alone it looks quite subtle.

Here I used Barry M's Strawberry IceCream as the base polish. I needed 3 coats but the formula was alright - it didn't go on streaky but with 2 coats there was visible nail line.

The next polish I used as a base was Revlon's Smoky Canvas. I love this polish, the formula is great, a little thin but 1 coat gave opaque coverage. While I used 1 coat here, I tend to like to use 2 coats of any polish if I am wearing it alone.

I really like the fine glitter graduating up the nail from the tip, its very easy to do but manages to look like you have put a lot of time and effort into your nail polish.

Hair Care Routine

Sorry for my lack of posting. Been pretty busy this week with going back to school and all and somehow blogging slipped to the back of my mind.

As promised I have a post completely non-nail polish related for you. Now if you told me 2 years ago that I would be using products specifically designed for dry hair I wouldn't have believed you. I used to have really long, incredibly thick and curly hair (cue very embarassing picture below) that while sometimes got curly, was never dry and used to be prone to oiliness.

 And this is what my hair now looks like. As you can see its a lot thinner and has magically turned straight with a slight wave. Now I honestly have no idea how this happened, but I think it might be a combination of heat damage and a change in my hormones which have caused it. It is also pretty dry now, especially at the ends. I have had to keep it short to stop it looking straggly although I intend on growing it long when it starts to get thicker and healthier again.

 

Now that the ramble is over, here are the products I am using currently.


First up is Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Shampoo and Conditioner. It has coconut and hawaiin orchids and smells unbelievably nice. These are my second bottles, I love how well the shampoo lathers up and cleans very thoroughly without stripping it. While I do love these, I am considering investigating in some Percy and Reed, or maybe Ojon or Kerastase (recommendations are gladly welcomed).

I got this as a sample in a Glamour magazine and LOVE it. It has blueberry extract, grape seed oil, sweet almond oil and alo vera gel. It moisturises really well and I literally need about a 50p sized blob for my hair. The only downside is the smell, while not bad it doesn't smell as good as the Herbal Essences. Strongly considering buying this in full size.

Lastly is the Tresemme Argan Oil Glossing Spray. This doesn't moisturise at all really, although it does a good job at smoothing down fly aways and giving it a glossy shine without weighing it down at all. I spray two pumps onto my hand and then work it into my hair, ends first and then working my way up. 

And thats it. To be honest I will probably have a an updated one up in a few months or so.

Next post will of course be about nail polish.. what can I say - I'm an addict :).