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.