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 :).

NOTD: Nude and Metal

This is a look I came up with when I painted my nails a plain nude colour for work but then wanted to jazz them up a little for school. I used 2 coats of Nails Inc's Basil Street, then 1 coat of OPI's Privacy Please to give it a more pink tone.

I then took my favourite metallic polish ever, Topshops' Moonshine, and painted slight curves on the end of my nails at the cuticle.

I ended up really liking this look and got a lot of compliments on it. I think the pinky nude colour works really well with the champagney-rose gold colour of the Topshop polish. It also took a very quick amount of time to do, painting the half moons on took about 5 minutes total.

Next post will be straying away from polish (for once aha) I think...

NOTD: Avon Nailwear Pro+ Starry Sky

Avon has just come out with a new and improved line of their nail polishes. It claims to give you more colour, fuller coverage and is more chip resistant. There are 13 shades in total and gives you a decent range of shades.

The colour I chose was Starry Sky, a pretty metallic silver colour. I will admit that I was slightly disapointed as in the brochure it appeared to be a silver glitter topcoat. Alas this was not the case but is still a pretty colour nonetheless.

Formula on this was good, didn't go on streaky and I used two thin coats to get full coverage. It is very similar to GOSH's Sterling Silver so if you own that you don't need this.

Overall I am very impressed with this polish and plan on purchasing some more colours from the range. I'm thinking the red and mint green shade.



NOTD: Metallic Tribal Nails

Again, no idea what to call this nail design. Its pretty much exactly the same as my recent nail post but instead of using pastel-bright colours I decided to use some metallics. The colours I used were (from L-R on my thumb) Revlon's Steal Her Heart, Sephora by OPI's Charge It!, Models Own Sterling Silver and Topshop's Moonshine. Again, I used my Models Own WAH Nail Art Pen. I found that the hardest part is actually laying down the stripes on my right hand as opposed to drawing the triangles, lines and dots. Seriously took like an hour.

I think I actually prefer this to the previous look.
I promise soon I will have less repeaty nail looks, also review of an Avon nail polish coming soon.. like. next post soon :)

NOTD: Made In Chelsea Inspired Nails

 So Made In Chelsea is back on in the UK for its second season and one of the girls on the show, Caggie Dunlop, has each nail painted a different colour. Taking inspiration from this I decided to follow suit. The colours I used, from thumb to little finger, were Models Own Feeling Blue, Rimmel's Peppermint, Models Own Sterling Silver, Barry M's Berry Ice Cream and Lemon Ice Cream. All were good 2 coaters aside from the yellow which needed 3.

I know its not the most exciting nail look, but as soon as I had all my polishes back, I had absolutely no idea what colour to paint them so instead I picked up the first 5 I liked and this is what came up.

I hope you have all had a good Easter (if you celebrate it that is :)). I have of course managed to eat almost all of my chocolate and all that remains is a few of my favourite Lindt bunnies (yes I did save them till last on purpose). Trust me though, it will be impressive if they aren't gone by tomorrow night.

I will try to think up something more exciting for my nails soon although I have managed to misplace my white polish which is the main polish in all the looks I keep thinking up. A trip to Boots might be in order...

Everyday Eye Makeup

I hope you're ready for a pretty long, picture heavy post :)

When I find a makeup look I like, I tend to stick to it for weeks until I decide to try out different products and end up using those for a few weeks and so on. This look is pretty natural, just some neutral eyeshadow, thin black liner and mascara - in fact its so boring I'm not sure why I am writing a post on it...

Here is a shot of all the products I used: Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer, Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in R.S.V.P, Body Shop Eyeshadow in Marshmallow, Rimmel Glam Eyes Eyeshadow in 030 Smokey Quartz, Virgin, Naked and Darkhorse from the Naked Palette, Avon Glimmerstick Eyeliner in Blackest Black, Rimmel Glam Eyes Professional Liquid Liner and FINALLY Avon Little Red Dress Mascara.

Here is a close up of some of the eyeshadows. I use the Benefit Cream Shadow as my base and its just a really pretty pearly, pinky champagne colour. I have been using this so much over the past month or two and I have managed to make a serious dent in it (- I'm thinking I might try out different colours so suggestions would be welcome). The pretty Body Shop eyeshadow came in one of their Shimmer Cube Palettes and is such a pretty shimmery rose-gold colour (which I am obsessed with lately). The Rimmel eyeshadow isn't anything remarkable, just your average mid-toned shimmery brown.

Now I had to include a close up of the mascara brush. I used to use Avons SuperShock Mascara about a year ago and when I ran out of my Clinique High Impact (best mascara ever!) I decided to try something new just to see whats out there. This is a really weird brush, the bristles are practically non-existent but it means you can get really close to the lash roots and grabs the corner lashes. The end result is it gives you pretty long and seperated eyelashes although its lacking on the volume front but for me thats fine for everyday use.

And thats it! For something that I consider to be such a simple routine, I'm thinking maybe 9 products just for my eyes might be overkill?

Also quick note, I left ALL my nail polish at my friends house last tuesday and haven't been able to get them yet and I swear this shouldn't be such a big deal but I have been missing painting my nail polish so much, even though I have managed to keep my amazing patterned nail polish on since last tuesday with almost no chips (seriously considering my kind of 'meh' opinion on Sally Hensen Mega Shine Topcoat). Can't wait to paint my nails tomorrow!

Every Day Tanning Routine

Now I'm not the sort of person who has ever been obsessed with keeping brown and tanned before, but the recent nice weather has made me want to change my pale legs into something a little less pasty. I am using the Dove Summer Glow which is a gradual tanner and I have started to crave being brown and am looking into maybe buying something along the lines of Xen Tan (although I might start off with something a little less expensive first).

Before using the gradual tanner I use this Salt Scrub by Sanctuary which I purchased in Boots. I have been using this twice a week for the past year and I swear by this stuff if you are after soft skin. The salt while abrasive isn't painful and a little bit of this goes a really long way. Only issue with this is it leaves an oily film on your legs although because I use this in the shower its not a big deal because it goes when you use shower gel on your legs.

Now possibly my most loved product of the month, Dove's Summer Glow. It costs around £5 from Boots or Superdrug. I apply this every day as soon as I hop out of the shower and it sinks in pretty fast so you don't have to sit around for ages waiting for it to dry (a massive bonus in my book as I am always on the verge of being late to school). Aside from its tanning properties it is also a really good moisturiser and leaves my skin really really soft. It has a nice slightly fruity scent, its quite light though so its not too offensive. I feel like if you don't use it every day then it goes a little patchy but i use it in place of my regular body lotion so I have no issues with this. Within a week my legs are SO much more tanned.

Overall I am really impressed with this product and cant wait for summer so I can get my legs out as often as possible.

Any recommendations for other tanning products?

NOTD: Tribal Easter Eggs(?!)

Forgive the weird title.. I had literally no idea how to describe this nail look.

First off, if you feel like copying this look be prepared to set aside 3 hours (at least) of your time. I did this for a night out and in typical girl fashion took about 6 hours to get ready, and half of it was spent doing my nails.

I used Barry M nail paints in Mint Green, Lemon Icecream, Berry Icecream and Turquoise and carefully applied a thin streak of each colour over a quarter of each nail. This is probably the most time consuming step and it took a lot longer on my right hand than on my left - if only I was ambidextrous.

Then I used a Models Own nail art pen that was given to me for my birthday by my best friend last year (how well she knows me) and drew random dots, lines and zigzags over the coloured stripes. I finshed off with a layer of Sally Hansen Mega Shine topcoat, which although is good has nothing on my beloved Seche Vite.

And the finished result...

 
I cannot explain how much I love how this turned out, I kept on looking at my nails all night (and still am) and for some reason it makes me feel happy. Which is mildly pathetic and probably quite shallow of me. So many people commented on them and the observant noticed that the black lines on my right hand are a little more wonky and squiggly than on my left but OH well.

I will most definitley be doing this again and am already dreading the inevitable chipping but my logic is applying a layer of topcoat every day will help it never ever chip.

Also, sorry for not posting in such a long time. When the weather is warm (which it has been in England recently) I become the worlds worst procrastinator. I can literally lounge around and not do any work. Of any sort. Which is pretty bad seeing as exams are coming up in 2 months.