Sunday, 29 April 2012

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.

Friday, 27 April 2012

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 :(

Wednesday, 25 April 2012

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.

Monday, 23 April 2012

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.

Saturday, 21 April 2012

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 :).

Tuesday, 17 April 2012

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...

Monday, 16 April 2012

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.


Thursday, 12 April 2012

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 :)