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.

NOTD: Nude and Glitter

I am slowly beginning to realise that most of my blog posts are literally what I'm wearing on my nails that day.. woops. Oh well, I hope you enjoy them anyway.

Today I really didnt know what to wear on my nails so I went to my failsafe, gold glitter. I used Deborah Lippmann's Boom Boom Pow a lot over christmas layered over greens and reds and it looked really festive. This time I decided to layer it over Nails Inc's Basil Street, one of my favourite nude polishes. I used 2 coats of Basil Street then one coat of Boom Boom Pow on top.

Normally the gold glitter can look pretty obvious, but layered over a nude polish the glitter looks a little more subtle. I am so happy I bought Boom Boom Pow, at first I balked at the price but I use it so much and so often that its totally worth it.

Review: Avon's Ideal Flawless Foundation

Finally, the post I have been meaning to publish for the past week (blame uni visits and exam results...). This is the latest foundation to come from Avon and is marketed as being full-coverage yet invisible looking on the skin.
The one massive selling point of this foundation range is the wide range of shades, 16 in total, and has several shades suitable for darker skin tones.

First onto the packaging. The glass bottle is pretty heavy and the lid is made out of pretty solid plastic, making it feel quite expensive which is always a bonus.

Secondly the coverage and formula; the foundation itself is quite thick, although it does blend out pretty easily and I would say it is buildable and gives medium-full coverage. The colour is about a shade too dark for me and my incredibly pale skin, although give it a few months and it will be a perfect match. Also, it is a really good balance between yellow and pink tones, its pretty much perfectly neutral.

It leaves a dewy/satin finish on the skin which I really like, although on my combination/oily skin it only lasts about 5 hours with no primer or setting powder before it begins to slide off my face. It is also worth noting that it does dry a little darker as the product oxidises. It doesn't really cling to dry patches so its pretty suited to all skin types. Weirdly enough in my bathroom, the lighting picks up tiny little bits of shimmer although in natural light an all other lighting in my house this isn't the case...



Overall, I like this foundation although I dont think I would necessarily repurchase again (mainly because I have my eye on a few other foundations like, mainly Rimmel's Wake Me Up). Any recommendations for foundations suitable for pale, combination skin would be welcome :)

NOTD: Marbley-Pastel Nails

I admit I have a problem. I am obsessed with pastel colours at the moment. I have already done a post on pastel nails where I painted each nail a different colour. This time, I decided to do marble nail art and incorporate a few of my favourite pastel nail colours. All are by Barry M: Mint Green, Berry IceCream and Lemon IceCream and the white polish is Snow White by Models Own.

The result is this crazy pastelly-psychadellic mess and I kind of love it. It looks like I smeared ice cream all over my nails! Only issue with water marbling is that it takes forever! and unless you tape up your fingers it gets everywhere, but really, the end result is totally worth it.
Loads of people commented on them, with one of my friends refusing to believe they were real nails and that it was even possible to do this, oh boys, they will never understand haha.

Also sorry for my complete lack of blogging in the past week, I will try harder. AND I promise that the foundation review will be up by the end of the week. I mean it.

Nail Polish Collection: Blues

Continuing on with this little series, I have my blue polishes. Originally I was going to lump them together with my green polishes but when I realised how many blue AND green polishes I had, that post seemed a little too long.

First are two pretty similar colours, Avon's Twilight Blue and Navy by Barry M. They are both metallic dark blues and are 2 coaters, the Avon polish dries a little faster. These colours are perfect for winter although they do have a tendency to make my skin look quite pale.

These three are all creme polishes, from left-right Models Own Feeling Blue, H&M Blue My Mind and Models Own In The Navy. Of the three, the H&M one is my favourite, its such a bright cornflower blue with a really slight purple undertone and it looks SO bright on your nails. It looks good now but I think it will look even better in summer. The Models Own polishes are very similar in formula, all three are 2 coaters. In The Navy is a cross between a royal blue and a navy shade and Feeling Blue is a light cornflower blue. Pigmentation on these three polishes is fantastic.

These two are Barry M's Turquoise and Blue Moon. Turquoise isn't exactly turquoise, there is no real green undertone to it. Instead it is just a pastel/bright/pale blue (not 100% sure how to describe it) and this is my second bottle! I used it constantly last summer and the bottle was about 3/4s gone before it went all gloopy and unuseable. It has a great formula, doesn't apply with streaks, and is opaque in 2 coats. Blue Moon unfortunatley has a pretty bad formula. I would say it needs 3 thick coats to get it opaque which is a shame because its such a lovely pale blue. I love wearing white on my nails when I have a tan and this colour is perfect for giving that contrast when my skin is paler.

These three are all pretty similar, on the left is 17's Peacock, the middle one is Revlon's Ocean Breeze and on the right is NYC's East Village. Peacock and Ocean Breeze are very similar colours, Peacock is just a tiny bit darker. They are both 2 coaters, the only real difference being the fresh scent of Ocean Breeze (but wash your hands a few times and the smell tends to go). Now onto what I feel is a bit of a fail nail polish, East Village is not pigmented enough for me. I mean yes you can get away with 3 coats but I am so bad at waiting for my nails to dry that I would much rather have either the 17 or the Revlon polish. East Village is also quite shimmery, whereas Peacock and Ocean Breeze are just youre every day metallics.

Foundation post should be up on friday... maybe. Fingers crossed.

(and rosie if you read this before tomorrow. GOOD LUCK!!!!!)