OPI Muppets Most Wanted Collection - 'I Love Applause' and 'Let's Do Anything We Want'

Greetings fair readers, how are you??!

It has been a while, hasn't it? I took a well needed sabbatical from Blogger, but I didn't stop painting nails.

Over the last few months I have been privy to experiences I could only have dreamed of. I've had ups, I've had downs, but I am happy to say that I return to my trusty readership with a new zest for life...and polish. Needless to say, I am a little late to the party with some of my nail art and reviews, but please stay tuned because I have A LOT to show you over the coming posts.

First, I'll return to my good old beauty blogger roots - a swatch (hazzah!).

OPI's Muppets Most Wanted Collection (2 of 8)
'I Love Applause' is a beautiful pale creme polish. No shimmer, just a yummy pink, reminiscent of my favourite childhood dessert - Angel Delight.

 Image

'Let's Do Anything We Want' is a clear jelly stuffed with pink and white glitter particles, with some chunky white squares chucked in for good measure.

Totally worth layering, wouldn't you say?

What can I say? The combination works and it's perfect for a Summer time pedicure. Fingers crossed that the weather in good old Blighty (slang for Britain) stays nice and dry for us!

I will be back again with a few more polishes in this collection, but in the interim, thanks for reading!

xx

Products sent to me for my consideration

Just a bit of glitter and stickers

Today, I thought I'd show you a mani that I have been wearing for about a week. 

This is gel polish, and some Nailtopia nail stickers.

 The stickers are roses and the rest is acrylic paint.

  The lines are done with a very thin detailing brush and the dots? A dotting tool!

Here they are again in a 'negative space' manicure. The polish is gelish this time.

The stickers are thick and raised, so if using them with nail polish or gel polish, you will feel them if you run your finger over them. I suppose that this isn't a bad thing really - the stickers are quite sturdy as a result. I can't really fault them and I have been quietly adding these to my stash since last year...shhhh. It's not just polish that I hoard (muhahahahaaaa!)

xx

Rococo Nail Apparel Purple Reign and 23ct Gold Leaf Lacquer

I may be a bit tardy to the party, but this is my first time wearing gold leaf nail polish.

This is Rococo's 'Purple Reign'  By *Rococo Nail Apparel. This polish has great coverage and I only needed two coats. The bottle also has a nice wide brush (my most favourite thing!)

'Purple Reign' and '23ct Gold Leaf Lacquer', available at Space NK You'll notice that the gold leaf has sunk to the bottom of the bottle - I'm pretty sure that this is not supposed to happen. I've just now had another look at the site and can see that my bottle of polish looks like it's missing 50% of the flakes.

Excuse the tip wear. This polish was on for three days!

The gold leaf pieces are quite large (brilliant), but they wouldn't stay suspended in the lacquer base (not so brilliant). The clear base was very thin, so trying to apply the flakes took some time. They would not come out of the bottle and I had to chase them around the bottle to scoop them out. Even after giving the bottle a good shake, I still had to fish for the flakes. If I simply dipped the brush into the bottle, the only thing that would come out was clear polish. 

Having tried Rococo polishes for the first time, I was really impressed with the 'Purple Reign'. It had great coverage and was beautifully pigmented. The '23ct Gold Leaf' Lacquer', however, was a bit disappointing because it was a chore to apply. I was able to enjoy this for three days without a chip, so I guess the positives outweighed the negatives in the end.

Have you tried any of the pigmented Rococo Nail Apparel polishes before?

xx
*Sent for my consideration and honest review

A fast polish drying spray that actually works!

Happy Friday everyone.

Notice anything different about my nails? Yes, I've taken off my acrylic extensions...and my nails are still strong, don't worry :) When they are a bit longer I'll file them into an almond shape.

Today's post is two-fold; I want to show you a new polish of mine, but I also want to show you a product that was recently sent to me. I was contacted by Angela at Beauty Narcotix who dared me to try 'The Ultimate Fix' - a polish drying spray.

£17 for the 200ml bottle.

This is the polish I decided to experiment with:  XOXO Nail's Angel Spell - (two coats of )a clear jelly with matte white hexagons and shapes.

After my base coat, I sprayed a shot of The Ultimate Fix on my nails and continued to do so after each coat of Angel Spell and 'normal' top coat. Would you believe it, the spray wasn't oily at all. In fact it absorbed into my nails and skin pretty quickly. It did have a smell that reminded me of a perfumed body spray, but it was quite pleasant and not too over powering.

Did it dry the polish quickly? I am pleased to say that the polish did dry a lot faster than other sprays that I have tried (and subsequently thrown in the bin) over the years. I did give it about 10 minutes before starting to tidy things away, but my nails were definitely dry by that point. The Ultimate Fix is also supposed to prolong the longevity of your polish and guard against chips. I can't personally comment on this however, because I don't like to wear the same polish for too long.

Would I buy this? Based on the speed with which the spray works, I can see the benefit of paying £17 for a product that is guaranteed to work effectively. I can also see this being quite handy on the set of a photo shoot, when there's a demand to create manicures that don't smudge when a stylist decides to swap outfits on a model at the last minute! I think I'd probably use this in conjunction with the fast dry polishes I currently use - for extra speed.

What do you think about the idea of polish drying sprays? Would you use them?

Whilst you are thinking, have another look at this beautiful polish and have a great weekend!

To gloss or not to gloss? That is the question.

Hello there!

Tonight, I want to share one of my Poundland bargains. I have at least 15 Revlon polishes - only one of which was bought for the full price (£6-7). This one was bought for £1...

Revlon's 'Red Ribbon'. Yes, it's a matte polish and yes, it did look like suede...but when adhering the rhinestones, the polish became glossy in some areas. To fix it, I covered it with a glossy top coat.

Admittedly, I do love glossy polishes. I'd rather turn a glossy finish into a matte by using a matte top coat, because that eliminates streaks (for me, anyway).

This is what happens when you use cheap rhinestones! As soon as I embedded these rhinestones in the top coat, their backs started to wrinkle. Any integral shine they had diminished immediately. I ended up smothering them in top coat in the end. Now they don't even look like rhinestones!

So, how do YOU feel about matte polishes? Are you a sucker for gloss, like me or is matte the way forward for you? Let me know in the comments box.

Take care!
xx

Barry M 'Black Multi Glitter'

Hi everyone.

Today I have a polish for you that I bought before Christmas and never worn. It was the holographic particles that swung it for me.

Barry M's 'Black Multi Glitter'

This was amazing in the bottle, subtle on the nail, but so difficult to capture with the camera.

Far better in real life - really! I can't really fault any of the Barry M nail paints. They always seem to (quietly) release new polishes with such regularity.

I'm also using a different top coat at the moment. Recently I went to my local beauty supply before a shoot and I was horrified to find that there was NO SECHE VITE in the store. As the blood drained from my face, the sales assistant said, 'you can try Toma'. I was at a loose end, because all I had in my Helmer was the OPI Rapid Dry (and I don't particularly like it), so I grabbed some Toma.

I'm happy to report that this was a very welcomed alternative to Seche Vite, for me anyway. There wasn't an issue with shrinkage either!

Thanks for reading.

xx

Leighton Denny 8 Piece Mini Mani Collection

Happy Friday everyone.

I have something special to show you today - Leighton Denny 8 piece Mini Mani Collection from QVC!

Admittedly, I've never used any of the products created by Leighton Denny, but I'd heard that he had some amazing polishes. When I was offered the chance to review this nail polish set, I had to accept.

The set comprised of 5 colours.
L-R: High Flyer, Diamond Diva, Rampant Rose, Pleasing Purple and Butterfly Wings.

L-R: One For All (base and topcoat), Precision Corrector and Miracle Drops Speed and a precision brush.

Exciting, huh?

Let's have a look at the colours first...

 

High Flyer (4.6ml) -  a  turquoise shade enriched with silver glitter. This is two coats plus on layer of the One For All topcoat. This was my favourite shade. The brushes weren't wide and flat, but they were well made and the consistency of the polish was creamy.

Diamond Diva (4.6ml) -  molten silver shade which can be used as a French manicure tip. I chose to put it on the whole nail, however, because I don't like how the look of a French manicure on almond shaped nails. The polish is beautifully pigmented and would look amazing marbled with a black polish. This is two coats without a top coat.

 

Rampant Rose (4.6ml) - deep red with a touch of brown. Two coats of creamy perfection.

 Pleasing Purple (4.6ml) -  The website states that this is a 'navy blue with a subtle purple shimmer', but I suspect that they swapped the colours around. This is a PURPLE with a BLUE shimmer, in my opinion. Initially I didn't like this at all, but after three coats, it grew on me. You may be able to detect a smudge on the ring finger...I used the polish drying drops and they did nothing to speed up the drying process.

Butterfly Wings (4.6ml) - sheer peach with an iridescent shimmer. This was my least favourite shade, because I'm not fond of shimmers. I will admit that this shade would look amazing layered over a darker colour. This didn't actually occur to me until just now!!

Left: One For All (4.6ml) all-in-one base coat, top coat, ridge filler and clear gloss coat - perfect for when you're on the go...or so the blurb says.
 It is fine as a base coat and gives a lovely glossy shine when applied as a top coat, but because it is not fast drying, I simply would not buy this. This is not a reflection on the quality of the polish, I just prefer the convenience of a fast drying polish.

Middle: Precision Corrector (4.8ml) - a three-in-one product that tidies up nail polish mistakes; also the key easily creating the perfect French and Naked Moon manicures.
 I love this! Seasoned nail polish bloggers will all confirm that a good 'clean-up job' is imperative, when polishing nails.  This does not appear to be acetone, because it does not leave a dry, white mark on the cuticle area after use. It's not harsh on the skin and it removes spills with precision and speed. I don't know what is in this miracle elixir, but I love it.  The little brush contained in the pack is the perfect size and the hairs are stiff, so they don't splay when you are cleaning the cuticle area.

Right: Miracle Drops Speed (4.8ml) - specially formulated to radically speed up drying time, help stop smudging and add lustre to nails and cuticles.
Unfortunately, the only thing these drops did for me were make hydrate my cuticles! After a few minutes, my nails still smudged. Again, perhaps I'm just used to my normal fast drying topcoats, but I'm not used to having to wait for my polish to dry anymore!

Overall, this was a sweet little pack with some top quality polishes. If the top coat had been a speed-dry polish, I would have been in heaven.

If you go head over to the QVC website, you can find this set for the introductory price of £28.44. 

Have a great weekend!

xx

Party menu

Hi everyone.

This is a quick post to show you the menu I had for a nail polish party I did a few days before Christmas '12 (that makes it sound so far away, doesn't it?)

I can't wait until my next party - it was so much fun!

xx

2True 'Shade 3'

Recently I've managed to build up quite a few un-tried. What with frivolous polish buying and taking part in a Secret Polish Santa on Instagram, my second Helmer (yes, I now have another) is now brimming.

Here's one I picked up and have been staring at for a few weeks:

This is 2True's 'Shade 3'.

This is two layers of a blue jelly polish jam packed with glitter hexagons. So jam packed in fact...it was quite thick. I some of the hexagons were standing on their sides - that's how thick the consistency was. I had to pat them into place! Stroking this onto the nail was not easy.

I think I may have to add a few drops of polish thinner before wearing this one again. It's really not bad though because this only cost £1.99 (from Superdrug).

Have a good weekend and thanks for reading.

xx

Mani's I've missed

You know what it's like. You do a mani, you remove it and then you forget to post it?

As I've already said, my New Year's resolution is to be more organised in terms of blogging (and schedule posts if I know I have a busy week). I also need to make more use of my blogging app on my phone too.

Here are a few things I've done recently.

Some press-on's I did for Annie for a photo shoot.

This pattern was created with acrylic paint and Nails Inc's Baker Street.

Black Gellux and glitter.

The acrylic extensions I gave myself for Christmas. I had some staining which I covered with a rose blush acrylic.

That's it for now.

xx

2013, welcome...(NYE mani enclosed!)

As I sit here typing at my archaic PC, after a major laptop crisis...which ended up being no crisis at all, I'm pondering over this old year. During 2012 I managed to accomplish several goals I have set myself and also gain from experiences I never thought I'd have.  In terms of the 'nailism', I got my qualifications, insurance, set up a website (which I did not promote, due to my health being fragile) and had the new-found confidence to take my skills and passion to a different level.

Throughout all of this my blog fell to the wayside, because being a mother to small children, an employee, a blogger, a nail art lover, a nail painter to myself, a manicurist to others and a session nail technician became a little overwhelming. The session work came as a pleasant and welcomed surprise, but my love of late nights, early mornings, busy days and a stressful office job meant that something had to give.

This year, I aim to be more organised and actually read the 'to-do' lists that I make at home. Perhaps diarising things may ease the anxiety I've felt on occasion, when I've sat here staring at the 'compose' page.
Don't get me wrong, I still love my blog (hence the little overhaul), I hate that I've neglected it.

I will now post everything I do, my nails and other peoples too. My love for polish and nail art has not changed; I've just been a little pre-occupied.

 What I'm wearing right now...Jacava's 'Blueberry Muffin'*

 Can I just say that I love this shade?? It's a British brand (whoop, whoop!) and it's 4-free, meaning there's no formaldehyde, toluene, camphor or DBP in it to be of detriment to your health.

 I couldn't stop staring at my nails.

 I'm also loving my acrylics...I've missed having nails *sobs*

And to make this manicure more New Year worthy, I threw glitter at it.

 Why the drips? I don't know, I just like drips!

I'll end, saying only that I wish you all the very best this year. Make those dreams work in 2013...

xx
*Sent to me for my coconsideration.