My Essie Mini Collection

I've done a nail polish collection, way back here. Obviously, since then it's been edited down a few times and new polishes added here or there. But I've never really touched on my mini Essie collection. Isn't it adorable?

Revlon Nail Enamel Gold Goddess | Rio Rush

Moving on from Wednesdays post, the last 'piece' I picked up from the Revlon 'Rio Rush' collection was their new nail enamel in 'Gold Goddess.' If you're looking for a gold leaf effect polish? Look no further..

Seventeen Gel Colour

I did not need any more nail varnish - I have a whole drawer that is getting dangerously full as it is. However, when I saw the new Seventeen Gel Colours, well, I caved.

Essie Winter 2013 Collection

I think I'm not the only one in saying I am down for any of Essie's seasonal collections, no? Here's the deal though, I usually only pick two a year - either between the summer or resort and likewise fall or winter. There is usually a similarity between the colours after all and it helps saves the pennies. This year, you've already seen I chose the Summer collection, and for the more colder months it had to be the winter collection...

In this years mini cube (there are two more shades available not in this cube,) you get four delicious shades, pretty beautiful for this time of year. First up is 'Mind Your Mittens' which is a deep (almost navy) teal. Second is Shearling Darling (for which the collection is named,) which is a super glossy plush burgundy red. The glitter of the bunch is called 'Toggle to the Top' which is described as a 'sparkling crushed garnet red' - pretty spot on. Last but not least is 'Sable Colar' described as a 'pearlescent cocoa plum' - this almost looks like a greige/aubergine/purple concoction (pretty similar to Rimmel Hot List,) and has a slight shimmer running through. 

As with all Essie polishes, wear time is great (a full seven days with Seche Vite as your top coat before any sort of chips appear,) and the finish on all of these polishes is literally the most beautiful. Yes, I'm in love.

This collection is pretty beautiful and I'm glad I picked it up, I got mine from ebay here, which has sold out but you can still get some here or pick the three cube collection at Boots and Superdrug, so I'm told but they are selling out quick! 

Have you tried the Essie Winter 2013 collection yet?

Peace!

Beauty Bag | November

It's that time of the month again, a new month and so a new rotation of beauty bumf to switch it up and this month there's a hint of sparkles and shimmer in the bag...

True Red

I don't know anyone who doesn't like nail polish. I mean seriously, it's a lot easier to get to grips with than other make-up out there and can complete an outfit - plus make you feel amazing. I'm always gazing at my hands once I've done a fresh manicure and I know I'm not the only one...

Do excuse the claw, but I think I've found my new perfect red. In this post I asked everyone whether they could accept the challenge of whittling down your nail polish collection and find your perfect red. A red lip never dates and neither does a red mani/pedi. So considering my favourite had gone as bad as bad can go - it was time for a fresh coat and I was in the market for something new...

I love the Rimmel nail varnishes but especially the Salon Pro range, the colours are beautiful, they are under a fiver and they last on the nail. Winning all round. This shade in 'Rock N Roll' is a perfect deep, true red. Not pillar box, but this cooler toned red suits my skin tone perfectly and looks just as beautiful on toes as it does on fingers. Plus it won't look out of place all year round, score.

So, what's your favourite red?

Peace!

Maybelline Colour Show Nail Polish - Cool Blue

My favourite colour is what I call 'Happy Blue' - it has a hint of Tiffany blue about it (typical for a woman, right?) and it's usually got a holiday, fresh kind of vibe about it too. My previous 'happy blue' polish was Barry M's Blueberry Ice Cream. I used it A LOT - so when it ran out and the remaining dregs were gloopy anyway, into the bin it went. Onto the new, am I right?

On walks the Maybelline Colour Show in Cool Blue - it now has me itching to buy more because oh good lord - it is opaque in one coat! Seriously, it applies like a dream with it's medium sized brush and I was just a little mystified about as to why it went on so opaque - but when I read up about it, it is a gel based formula - which solved my incredulous reaction. I actually love this a lot more than the Barry M Gelly's... I just got on better with this formula.

I think the next one to be added to my basket will be 'Ocean Blue' - a bright cobalt number, don't mind if I do!

Have you tried the Colour Show polishes yet? Like 'em or hate 'em?

Peace!

Barry M Sequin Effect Nail Paint - SNP1

You know those sweets - the small (and sometimes huge) white chocolate disks with hundreds and thousands on them? Jazzles - I think. Well they are the one for me. My perfect penny sweet, well, not so much a penny any more but the point is... This polish reminded me of those, in a way.

On first impression (in the bottle) it looks promising, a milky white with red, blue, green and silver glitter pieces that made me excited (as much as you can get over a polish,) to try it. There was the whole Jazzles thing egging me on, too.

That's where the excitement stopped for me, I'm afraid. I applied this polish twice - the first time, pictured above, two coats of this stuff made my nails super thick so I was scared to do anything with them after that, plus it has that awful texture like concrete nail effect nails - if you like that texture, more power to you, but I cannot stick it. I'm a glossy/smooth girl through and through. 

So after that failed (they peeled off in the sun?) I tried another approach. I used just one coat of this stuff, then applied Essie's Waltz - a milky white polish over the top. It didn't work. The Barry M stuff seemed to suck it in to it's own formula - it still remained gritty.

However, despite it being a faff and hating the feel of them - if you do like concrete nails then you will love these. I really think two coats is too much - so it might do well just over a plain white so you're not left with uber thick nails. I so wanted it to work but just didn't anticipate the gritty texture.

You can buy the Barry M Sequin Nail Paints from here, and they retail for £3.99.

Have you tried this polish? Did you like it or hate it?

Peace!

Essie Summer 2013 Collection

Essie's mini collections can be something like an enigma...

For instance - the Resort 2013 collection, so hard to find and when you do people are over charging like nobodies business and it really makes you hate collections and especially limited collections, so on and so forth. 

The problem was that I wanted/needed (not really though, it was pure colour lust let me assure you, no one needs nail varnishes in every single colour,) the resort collection until I spotted the Summer Collection Mini's... Then I was like, well damn it - which one to go for?

In the end, thanks to beloved e-bay again, I went for the Summer 2013 collection and oh god - I am in lurve, let's take a look at the colours, shall we?

From left to right on the swatches;

Full Steam Ahead - A pretty pearlescent lilac with subtle shimmer.

Naughty Nautical - An amazing blue-green with shimmer, I'm dubbing this the 'mermaid' shade.

Sunday Funday - A hot pink/tangerine coral-y blissfull shade with shimmer running through, probably my favourite and will pretty much be my new go to for summer.

The More The Merrier - A juicy lime green shade - this looks amazing on and I love it, surprisingly. 

There are two more colours that weren't included in this set -  but you can check them out here.

The polishes are the old brushes but surprisingly I'm becoming a fan of them - it means I concentrate more and tend to have less slip ups when I'm doing my nails, not so great if I'm in a rush, but totally perfect for the weekly mani/pedi session. 

Have you got your eye on any Essie collections?

Peace!

Nail Polish | Current Collection

(click images to see full size, much prettier.;)

I'm an odd one; this statement is true for most people though. I have this perfect 50/50 split of how I treat hoarding/collections from my parents. My father, a hoarder - my mother, an obsessive compulsive who fears not with throwing anything away and would probably have a supremely minimalist house if it wasn't for the rest of us (you know, pesty children, grandchildren...)

I hoard (magazines, books, make up...) but then a while later just throw it out - not everything, I re-evaluate what I will use/read and then donate the rest to family members or bin them if they've gone bad (magazines usually go straight to the doctors office,) - books are the only exception, they always stay. 

My boyfriend rolled his eyes when I purchased a magazine and it came with free nail polishes. 'But you already have a ton!' -- 'But they are Ciate,' I say. And mores to the point, a freebie with a magazine I would of bought anyway. Win win. He told me to go take a picture of my collection; and here's what I've learnt...

You can never have too many nudes/whites. They are perfect for doing accent nails, nail art, and just as a base to a glitter nail. No matter how much I grew up hating pink; it just looks god damn good on my nails. Four of a shade range seems to be a healthy balance (blues, orange/corals, yellow/golds.) I'm probably going to donate 'Crack Your Colour' to my niece, it slipped through the net. I don't have enough greens/mints. There can only be one red.

Okay, 'only one red?' I hear you cry? Let's just take a minute to process this thought. I swear by this particular red polish time after time because I know it suits my skin tone, know it applies like a dream and I can rely on the fact it will still be on my nails after three days at least before any tip-wear occurs. I also have a favourite red lip stick that I know rocks any outfit and makes me feel awesome. A red nail is as much as a staple as a red lip, a little black dress, a crisp white shirt and those perfect jeans (if you're lucky enough to have found your perfect pair...) and a classic pair of black pumps. It's just something you have to have - need to have because it's your beta, an old friend, a comforting soup... 

Have I made my point? This is my red. 

So, what's your favourite red polish? I put it to you to narrow it down to one that you know is perfect for you.

Peace!

Essie Bikini So Teeny

I was a late bloomer to make up. It wasn't that I had no interest; I loved watching my mum and sisters apply it and watched how they changed minutely into another 'part of themselves' - but I never 'plastered' it on in school, until I was about 16 and then it was all about the cat flick eyeliner. 

I just wasn't that fussed - I had been cleansing, toning and moisturising since the age of 11... My skin behaved throughout my teens. Apart from redness and the monthly spot (every month, one would appear without fail,) my skin was clean and clear. It was Avon products that my mother got me, if you were intrigued and they worked a charm at the time.

Why the long bio? Well, I was a late comer to Essie polishes too. My first was Absolutely Shore, a pale green, almost minty and perfect for my ever-pale skin tone. Since then I haven't looked back and the collections been building.

Recently I purchased Bikini So Teeny (told you I was a late bloomer!) and oh gawd! It is so beautiful. It's the most perfect shade of cornflower blue with the right amount of shimmer - it's the kind of shade that'll look beautiful on all. I don't regret a thing, I say! It has the wide brush (my favourite,) so application is a dream. Depending on what I'm doing depends on the tip wear/chips. Not working and it can go between three to four days before I need to repair, but if I'm working then, well, just two days and I need to do a repair job but the colour is so pretty I don't care.

It's like the little sister of Lapiz of Luxury a pretty ocean blue - put these two together and you could most definitely do an ombre effect that'll remind you of clear skies and sea... 

Essie polishes retail for about £7.99 but you can pick up mini's from Ebay and Fragrance Direct also carry selected Essie that usually go on sale so keep an eye out!

What's your favourite Essie polish?

Peace!

Rimmel Salon Pro - Peppermint

showing off my new Moleskin too...

Let me just clarify; I had a massive clear out of nail polish - I had quite a lot of polishes where I had two or more of the same colour so my niece (who lurrrves make up, by the by,) benefited quite nicely if I do say so myself.

So what did I go and do? Well I bought some more, but I promise, they were all colours distinctly missing from my (growing, out of control, blah blah blah,) collection. 

I spied this Peppermint shade before from Rimmel and I think it was when the Salon Pro range was in the old bottles - I distinctly remember swooning back then - and don't ask me why, never picked it up. I love Rimmel polishes, they have an amazing quality for the price range and a wide variety of colours, no matter whether I pick it up in Morrisons, Tesco or Boots/Superdrug etc. They are just the one.

Peppermint is no exception to the range, it's a darker mint, almost a turquoise and thanks to the fat-fool-proof brush (wide, if you will...) which is my favourite for nail polish application, a dream to apply. So far this polish has lasted five days before tip wear occurred - but, I haven't tried this out when at work where I constantly use my hands, that will be the ultimate test.

Now, thanks to Anna and Meg - I'm seriously heading back to purchase Hip Hop (a coral/pink/hard to define shade,) and Reggae Splash (a peachy, creamy orange that is not in my collection which is very much being added to the basket as I type and is also from the Kate range) which is going to look a beaut on the nails for this summer...

Rimmel Salon Pro polishes retail for £4.49 at Boots where an offer is invariably on, so go have a look and swoon, see if you are stronger than I and not leave with a few or five...

Peace!

fashion | home | beauty

1//2//3//4//5//6

Hello lovelies!

I want all of these things. That chair also doubles as a single guest bed - and it's in grey. Swoon. And do not even get me started about the media unit in yellow! Goodness! Anyway, moving on...

I'll be frank. I am tired. Shattered. Knackered. Worn out. All of those and then some.

After working 10+ days in a row, yesterday was the hardest on my mind. I had to do an early shift and late shift. Oh the joys of shift work! I moan, of course, but I do enjoy working and I offered to do the work because, well, I like buying things. You sort of need money for that. I also like moaning. ;)

I now have a week off so I can take some time to evaluate our living space. We have a living room and a bedroom - but the living room is also like a dressing room too - with two wardrobes, a chest of drawers, a tv unit, a bookcase and a hamster... Kind of crowded at the moment.

I had an idea to get rid of one set of wardrobes, and change the dresser to two tall but slim dressers I think maybe these from Ikea - so we still had our own area for clothes and the remaining wardrobe could be used for dresses/stuff that shouldn't be folded/shoved into drawers. We need the space for a desk (eventually,) for the boyfriends mac, plus it would make us feel less crowded. 

So - the extra hours at work were needed, I need the pennies to fund this project. I also want to upholster our footstool but that can wait until April - when my parents return from Spain, well rested. Then I can pounce and use my mothers seamstress skills to the full! 

Sorry for the ramble but isn't it nice to get it all out? Right, I'm off to get the polish and duster... ;)

Have an awesome week!

Peace!

New Things....

Just a few things I've bought recently. 

The Soap and Glory scrub is truly delightful, smells beautiful (the packaging is amusing, as always,) and really does the job it was set out to do.

I haven't tried the little trial size of the L'Occitane Almond Shower Oil, but I will let you know how I get on. I've heard amazing things about it, so I've got high hopes. 

Also, Essie nail polish in Absolutely Shore. It's a delightful 'milky' green, I'd say and really suits my skin tone. Pale, hahaha.

Peace!

Top Five Spring Nail Colours

 Left to right; 17 Lasting Fix 'Glisten', No7 Stay Perfect 'Tangy', All About Nails 'Caribbean Coconut', Barry M 'Blueberry', MUA 'Shade 5'.

When it comes spring colours, I'm all for the pretty pastels and such like - but I usually like to go for a punch more colour like No7's 'Tangy' or Barry M's 'Blueberry,' so that when spring leads into summer - I am all set with my colours.

That being said, I like to keep the brighter colours on my toes - while the milder colours like MUA 'shade 5' and All About Nails 'Caribbean Coconut,' are usually on my nails - I find them more adaptable for what I'm wearing, and usually I can layer some glitter polish on top of the peachy colour when I want to add a bit of sparkle. 

And for special occasions I bring out the 17 Lasting Fix in 'Glisten,' - It has two tones, pink and coral with a gold shimmer. Perfect for a night out. Subtle and pretty, with glitter.

What are your favourite nail spring colours?


Have a great weekend!

Peace!!