Just My Nails

Attempt at Marble Nails

2012-02-11T07:01:00.001-08:00

Well I tried it! My first two attempts are below.

L: Essie Mint Candy Apple, Essie Van D’Go and Models Own True Blue
R: Models Own Turkish Delight, Models Own Peach Sherbet and Essie Mint Candy Apple

I think it is definitely something that you get better at over time! Took me a while to get used to what temperature the water needed to be and also timing to get a pattern before the polish dries! I’m not admitting defeat as I will be trying this again soon but it’s quite messy and time consuming so I’ll need patience when doing it haha.

Saying that, I did get some nice comments when I wore the above!

To be continued!

Haul

2012-01-31T22:03:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Laura's post about Ebaying US polishes, I was suckered in and ordered some tonight. After much debating, I decided to go with…

OPI Jade is the New Black
I have lusted over this for a long, long time so am really excited to finally be adding this to my collection!

OPI Do You Think I’m Tex-y?
I don’t really own many pink polishes and I’m not really a pink person but I looked up some swatches and this looks like a really pretty colour so I’m looking forward to trying this out.

China Glaze Grape Pop
I have been on the lookout for a nice ‘proper’ purple polish for a while as I have so many variations of blue/purple, grey/purple, lilac/purple, pink/purple so now I shall finally have a real purple!

Colour Club Wish Upon A Rockstar
For now this is the closest I am going to get to OPI Rainbow Connection <3 it was a real bargain too so I’m not too worried if I don’t end up liking it!
Can’t wait for these to arrive, all together it cost just over £20 including postage, which 2 OPI polishes would have cost alone in the UK! Oh and if anyone’s wondering I got them from this eBay store.

Miss Minty

2012-01-30T06:25:00.001-08:00

This NOTD originally was going to be something completely different, but I ran out of time (and patience) when doing it and as I was heading out I had to settle for something a little more simple! However I do plan on re-trying my original idea so will keep you posted on that.

I created this look with two coats of GOSH Miss Minty 597 and then drew some dots on with OPI Barefoot in Barcelona and another dot on top of that with Natural Collection White. Then finished off with a top coat.

Simple but still quite effective…and more fun than plain one colour nails, right?! I know…more dots! I don’t think this will last long as I’ve got plenty more things I want to try out!

I’ve been watching quite a few YouTube videos lately showing how to do marble effect nails and really want to give it a go. Have you ever tried it? Let me know if you have any tips or pics!

May the odds be ever in your…nails!

2012-01-25T10:33:00.000-08:00

I cannot BEGIN to tell you how excited I am about the China Glaze Hunger Games collection! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the trilogy and read the whole series in a few weeks. The books are such a good read and keep you engrossed and you literally can’t put them down!

Anyway, enough book talk (just go read them!) as you may already know, Lionsgate are releasing a movie of the first book in March this year and China Glaze will be releasing a collection “Colours from the Capitol”

It has been suggested that each colour goes in hand with one of the 12 Districts of Panem, if you’re a HG fan this makes sense!

I am really excited about Luxe & Lush, Fast Track and Electrify especially! Although, the Capitol did place me in District 3, so maybe I should get Riveting too?!

Well,this was a rather geeky blog post :0)

Scotch Tape Mani

2012-01-23T12:44:00.001-08:00

I’ve recently come across the concept of using Scotch tapes in manicures (am I ridiculously behind with the times?) and wasn’t sure if I’d like it…I’ve tried using manicure guides before and just end up getting annoyed when you get residue or it peels off your base polish. However, I decided to give it a go and found this video with cute design which I based my mani on.

First of all I used a Rimmel base coat and when this was dry I put a strip of Scotch tape across each of my nails and painted the top half with 2 coats of Models Own Turkish Delight. I waited a few minutes before peeling off the tape and was pleasantly surprised to find no residue or peeling! I let this dry and then painted on the white dots using a Natural Collection white polish (with the end of a hair grip as the dotting tool). Then I used Barry M 47 Black to draw a black line.

I’ve never actually done a mani leaving some of my un-painted nail showing but I kinda like it! I’ve had a lot of comments already and am excited to try different versions of this look. And yes…I am still obsessed with dots on my nails it seems!

Have you ever tried a Scotch tape mani? Would love to hear any other ideas – I’ve seen some checkerboard designs which look really cute too!

Suits You Zooey…

2012-01-20T11:26:00.001-08:00

I saw this pic the other day of Zooey Deschenal’s nails at the Golden Globes on Monday and fell in love…

SO COOL! I definitely want to try the tuxedo nails soon, but this pic inspired my most recent nails:

I used Models Own True Blue (1 coat) and then drew three white dots on with a cocktail stick using Natural Collection – White.

They didn’t take long to do and I think they look pretty cute! Have you tried tuxedo nails? If so, I’d love to hear!

More Dots!

2011-10-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

I am a bit obsessed with drawing dots on my nails, I’m not really quite sure why! I wanted to try some contrasting colours, originally I was going to do red and black but then decided to go for red and white. I used Essie’s Silken Cord which is a vibrant red and a white polish from Natural Collection.

Some of the spots are a bit too splodgey on my index finger but I think it’s quite a fun look overall. I did a reverse pattern on my left ring and right index finger again. This seems to be becoming a new favourite of mine!

Let me know what you think!

Turkish Delight…with a bit of Blue…

2011-09-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

I ended up getting Turkish Delight with my recent Models Own haul because the polish I had originally ordered (Pure Purple) was sold out. I am SO glad I got it! It is a gorgeous shade of purple/pink which is really deep and rich.

I decided to mix it up a bit and paint one nail on each hand True Blue. (Left hand: ring finger, right hand: index finger).

I loved this combo together and both polishes lasted really well with little chipping.

What do you think of the random ‘one nail being a different colour’ idea? Let me know!

Haul and Smash Up Polish

2011-09-26T11:37:00.001-07:00

My Models Own order finally arrived, woo!

(L-R: Turkish Delight, True Blue, Green Grass, Silver Smash Up & Purple Smash Up.)

I was really excited to try out the Smash Up polishes as I’ve only used the Barry M one’s before, so I put Purple Smash Up over GOSH’s Groovy Grey.

I think it gives a different effect to the Barry M crackle polishes, I’m not sure if it was the base colour but I wasn’t really feeling this combo that much. I will be trying it with a mixture of different colours though, I think it would look awesome with a bright pink underneath! I shall keep you updated!

Also, I nabbed a bargain from ASOS the other day – I got the Essie Resort collection for the amazing grand total of £1.50!

(L-R: Fair Game, Da Bush, Lion Around & Your Hut Or Mine)

I am LOVING the look of Da Bush so far, so I think I’ll be trying this out very soon! Have you got any of the polishes from this collection? Let me know your thoughts!

Sally Hansen–Salon Effects

2011-09-10T12:39:00.001-07:00

I was in New York last week and picked these up in Walgreens. They were around $9 I think and I haven’t yet seen these on sale anywhere in the UK so thought I’d pick some up. They had some awesome designs but a lot were sold out so I ended up going with these.

I applied them before our flight home at JFK and found them VERY easy to apply and work with. (I did make one boo boo on my index finger as you can see below, but that was my error and I couldn’t be bothered to replace!)

This picture was taken 4 days after I originally applied them with a top coat of Sally Hansen Double Duty top coat. They are without a doubt the best polish strips I have used (so far) and I am very impressed with their lasting power! I can see me ordering more of these! Does anyone know if they are available in the UK?

I also picked up a couple of boxes of these leopard print polish strips from Forever 21, so I will post these up when I’ve tried them out!

I am also waiting for my delivery from the Models Own sale (one of my polishes was out of stock so it delayed my delivery) I have ordered a few coloured crackle polishes which I’m really excited about and some shades I’ve been eyeing up for a while. Haul post when they arrive

Elegant Touch–Nail Polish Strips

2011-09-03T13:02:00.000-07:00

I saw these on offer in my local Savers store so thought I would give them a go! These were only £2.99 for 3 applications so were really good value. I found these much harder to work with than the Nailease ones I posted about last month and they didn’t seem to go on as easily. I had quite a few bumps and creases which I found hard to straighten out. I ended up peeling them off after a few hours so I couldn’t tell you how well they lasted but they did peel off very easily!
I will be giving them another go to see if it was just an application error on my part so will let you know if I have better luck next time!

They also had them in silver so I may give these ones a go. What’s your opinion on metallic nails!?

Essie Hot Coco

2011-08-31T09:53:00.000-07:00

I bought this polish when I went to America last year and it was part of the Autumn/Winter collection 2010. Believe it or not this is the first time I have got around to wearing it!
It is a gorgeous chocolate brown shade (hence the name!) which is very wearable. I sometimes fine that Essie polishes are quite streaky and take a lot of building up but this went on nicely with 2 coats and I finished this off with a top coat of OPI Top Coat.
I do love a good brown polish, what about you?!

DIY Polka Dots

2011-08-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

I decided the other day to try and re-create the Nailease polka dot stickers I have on my own nails! I used Barry M 47 Black underneath with Natural Collection White to do the dots with the end of a Kirby grip ;) I decided to do random dots rather than in a line and I like the way it has ended up although could be a little neater I think it looks quite cute still! Think I will give this a go again with different colours too!
Have you done any DIY polka dots before? Any tips for me?!

Models Own - 50% Sale!

2011-08-24T14:27:00.000-07:00

The lovely people at Models Own have reached 50,000 Facebook friends and to celebrate are having a 50% sale - amazing! Pretty much everything on their website is half price, so head on over and get saving, you can pick up polishes from just £2.50 - bargain!

Naturally, I have ordered myself 4 polishes and 2 Smash Up polishes so far. I am very tempted to go back for more! Models Own are one of my favourite brands so I would recommend you give their polishes a go if you haven't already :)

Enter code FIFTYFIFTY at the checkout: https://www.modelsownit.com/

Happy Shopping!

Crackle Me Up

2011-07-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

I have been using the Barry M Crackle Polish a lot since I got it…I need to post more pics of this! One of my favourite polishes to mix it with is Models Own – Grace Green. It reminds me of an army kind of camouflage look mixed with a turtle shell!

What’s your favourite polish to team with a black crackle polish?

Splash of colour

2011-07-20T14:46:00.000-07:00

I decided to try something a bit different today, I was originally going to try and do a colourful cheetah print pattern but did a few spots and thought this looked pretty cool.
I used a base coat with Sally Hansen white polish as the bottom layer. Then I used GOSH Pink Rose 543, Barry M Mint Green 304 and 17 Sherbet Lemon to do the coloured spots and went around the edges with Barry M Black 47.

The little finger is a bit smudged but I thought this design was quite fun and got quite a lot of compliments while wearing it.

I may try this look again with some different colours and see how it looks. What do you think? Any colour combo suggestions?

I am going to attempt a zebra print mani next so look out for pics coming soon!

Grey Zebra

2011-07-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

Well here is my first attempt at zebra print!

I don’t think it has turned out TOO bad! I decided to go for a grey and black zebra theme to mix it up a bit. I applied a base coat, then applied 2 coats of H&M Miss Stone Heart and waited for it to dry.

When dry I used a cocktail stick & Barry M Black 47 to draw the zebra print pattern on. As you can see, some turned out better than others but they got better the more I did! It really helps to have a zebra print pattern in front of you when doing it.

When the black pattern was dry I applied a coat of Rimmel’s Matte Top Coat to finish it off.

What do you think of these? Do you have any zebra print tips? Let me know!

Back to blog

2011-07-07T10:31:00.001-07:00

I have been on a bit of a hiatus lately, due to a few reasons but now I am back and ready to blog!
We’ll start with my latest discovery: Nail polish stickers. I was never really interested in these until I saw the awesome designs that Nailease offer. I was suckered in a thought I’d give the Black & White Polka Dot stickers a go.

I cleaned and buffed my nails as directed and got going. They don’t lie when they call them easy to apply! Although I found my right hand a bit tricky to do (being right handed) I was very impressed with the end result.

Although I LOVED the overall look of these, I was a little disappointed about the amount of time before they started to chip. I had to take them off after 2 days as a few nails were starting to peel. As they are £5.99 per pack (of 20 strips) I would expect it to last at least 5 days as stated on the pack.I didn’t use a top coat as I wasn’t sure how the polish strips would react but maybe I would do this next time. I think in future I will use these on just one or two nails with a bright colour polish on the other nails as this would look pretty funky!

Saying this I am dying to get my hands on two of their new designs: snake print and floral. Apparently they will be available soon!

Also, one other thing is that I found them quite difficult to get off, they were very tough and sticky underneath.

Have you tried these? Let me know what you thought and which designs you chose! (And let me know there is still somebody out there somewhere reading my blog!)

Speak soon!

Models Own–Purple Grey

2010-11-12T11:26:00.000-08:00

So the first polish I decided to try from my recent Models Own haul was the coveted Purple Grey which has been compared to Chanel Paradoxal and dubbed as the ‘must have’ shade for Autumn/Winter. Now, I don’t have the Chanel polish but I have to say I LOVE this colour!
It is a brown, purple, grey mix which looks different in every type of light! At its best it looks like it does in the picture above, a gorgeous deep purple with a hint of grey. In the shade it looks more purpley-brown, as below…
This polish applied well with two coats and was a nice consistent formula. What do you think of this shade? I think it’s a love it or hate it colour! Do you have Paradoxal? Comment and let me know your thoughts!
Also – just to let you guys know I will be away for the next 2 weeks I am going to the USA! I’m hoping to get my hands on a few goodies so look out for my haul post when I am back!

Blue Leopard

2010-11-08T13:59:00.001-08:00

As mentioned in one of my previous posts, I loved the mani that Gem Fatale got at the Models Own/WAH nail pen launch night. So I decided to try and re-create it on myself. I don't think I did too bad!I used H&M Blue My Mind, which applied brilliantly and only needed one coat! I really need to get my hands on some more H&M polishes, I also like the new bottles. Here is a pic of the polish on its own...
I LOVE this colour! Next I applied a layer of Rimmel's Matte Topcoat. I applied the leopard pattern using GOSH's Black Passion and a cocktail stick!(With Flash) Black Passion is a black polish with tiny bits of shimmer in so it added a little bit of sparkle to the look. Let me know what you think!

Models Own–Pink Fizz

2010-11-07T03:23:00.000-08:00

I have a love-hate relationship with Models Own glitter polishes. The love part being that I think they look awesome on and the hate part being that they are a nightmare to remove! Despite that, I finally got my hands Pink Fizz and gave it a go this week. The fact that they are tough to get off means they stay on really well and this polish has worn very well with no chips and very little tipwear. This is a light pink/silver heavy glitter polish which is actually very wearable for both day and night. I love how good the coverage is for this polish and this was after 3 coats (over just a clear base coat). I would have Scarlet Sparkle to show you all but unfortunately the bottle smashed on its way to me, so I’ll need to try and get hold of another bottle!

Models Own Nail Pens

2010-11-06T05:19:00.001-07:00

Models Own have teamed up with WAH Nails to create some nail art pens in black and white – you can see some pics of the launch event over at the Models Own blog – my absolute favourite mani has to go to Gem Fatale, adorable!

(Pic from Models Own facebook page)

These go on sale on the Models Own website from 15th November – no confirmation of the price yet. So what do you think of this? Will you be getting your hands on these?

MUA Swatches

2010-11-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

I thought I’d do some swatches of the Superdrug £1 MUA range polishes that I have purchased.

Shade 1 – Navy glitter
With flash:

Without Flash:This is actually quite a pretty polish, it definitely needs two coats as it looks a pretty gross colour after the first coat! This reminds me of Christmas and is a perfect colour for Winter. The specks of glitter are quite hard to make out when not under light, so it looks more like the picture without flash in real life.

Shade 3 – Dusty Fuchsia
With Flash:

Without Flash:

I LOVE this colour! It is a very inoffensive and wearable shade of pink and I don’t have another polish like this. This was two coats but looking at the pictures I think it could have done with three.

Shade 4 – Coral
With Flash:

Without Flash:

I actually bought this polish a while back and wore it a lot over summer. It is a really pretty coral colour and I do love a good coral polish! I have a few in my collection but this is definitely one of my favourites as it is a perfect mix of orange and pink. This polish had the best consistency of the three I swatched and I used two coats.

These polishes don’t last that long without chipping but for £1 per polish, you can’t really go wrong. Slap on a top coat and you’ll get a few days wear out of them so go for it!

Zoya–buy one get one free

2010-11-01T10:46:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately this is not much use to us UK-ers as Zoya.com do not currently ship to the UK, boo! But those of you in the US may be interested to hear that Zoya are currently offering a BOGOF offer using the code ‘BOGO5’ at the checkout. This is valid until 5th November, full t&c’s can be found here. I am yet to get my hands on a Zoya polish, but there are some gorgeous shades available…maybe one day. Happy shopping!

P.s...Happy 1st November - pinch, punch first day of the month!

Superdrug Haul

2010-10-31T12:28:00.000-07:00

So I caved when in Superdrug this week and I saw the Barry M
2 for £5 offer and they had the much talked about ‘Crackle Polish’…so of course I had to purchase!

For some reason I didn’t get a fancy gold lid like I have seen on some other blogs but I did pick up Raspberry too which is a really pretty dark pink. Swatches coming soon!
I also noticed that my local branch has started stocking the MUA range so I picked up a couple more shades to try out…
Shade 1 (L) is a navy blue glitter and shade 3 (R) is a dusky fuchsia . I am soon planning to do a swatching session of these and the MUA polishes I picked up a while ago!

P.s - do you like my new layout?

The Internet Is Really, Really Great…

2010-10-30T01:18:00.001-07:00

Today one my my favourite West End shows is closing – Avenue Q. Well it is going on tour actually, but it is leaving the West End after 5 years. I have seen the show 4 times in 3 years and will be going to the last show this evening. In honour of this, I decided to try and dedicate my nails to the show today…ta da…I used Miners Photo Finish shade 34 (which I have had far too long) and Special FX Black nail pen. I then did a topcoat of Rimmel Pro Matte Finish.If you haven’t seen the show – you should definitely try and catch the tour!
In other news…my Models Own order arrived!L-R: Peach Sherbet, Purple Grey, Grace Green, Vintage Pink & Purple Ash. Cannot wait to get these polishes on my nails!Have you seen Avenue Q? Do you have any of these Models Own shades, let me know your faves!

Boots No7 - Help!

2010-10-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

So I need your help...I have a few of those wonderful £5 off Boots No7 vouchers but can you guys recommend some nice shades to me? Over the past few months I've got my hands on Beanie, Heather and Night Silver so let me know if you can recommend any...

OPI Barefoot In Barcelona

2010-10-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to get this polish for a long time now and I finally managed to get my hands on it last week! I got it along with a few other polishes that I ordered from ASOS but this had to be the first one to go on!

As usual with OPI, this polish went on nicely with two coats and lasted a good 4-5 days before starting to chip. The colour is such a pretty warm brown colour and I have had lots of nice comments whilst wearing it too! Looking forward to doing a few comparisons with this too. I adore this polish and can see myself wearing it a lot in the future, recommend to you all

Models Own: I Did It!

2010-10-25T13:56:00.000-07:00

So I finally bit the bullet and ordered my favourites from the new Models Own collection, I took advantage for their 'buy 5 save £7' deal (I'm such a sucker for a bargain) and ordered 3 from the 'Car Key' collection plus 2 other shades that I've been lusting after for a while! My order came to £18 in total plus free delivery so that is only £3.60 per polish...so I keep telling myself! Anyway hopefully my order will be here sometime next week so I shall leave you in suspense until then and I can show off the colours I ordered :)

Non Nail News

2010-10-24T11:04:00.001-07:00

While I sit here deciding whether to apply Pink Fizz or Blue My Mind, I wanted to introduce a new idea I’ve been thinking about called ‘Non Nail News’. Basically every now and then I will blog about a random topic/product/tv show that I am loving. Don’t worry, the majority of my posts will still be nail related but I just thought this would be fun so you guys can get to know me and I get to know you!

So this week I am LOVING…

I have just finished Season 2 and am totally hooked! After a slow start for the first few episodes, it all went crazy and I was gripped. I think Stephen Moyer is great so I love Bill but I am still not sure about Eric…If you have never seen this show then I urge you to give it a go, I think Season 2 is currently airing on Channel 4 in the UK. I’ve heard Season 3 is even better…I think I might explode!

"Don't say UH-OH! Vampires do NOT say UH-OH!"

OPI My Big Break

2010-10-18T14:34:00.001-07:00

This polish is a gorgeous purpley-pink colour with green/silver sparkles, which actually doesn’t come across very well when photographed.

As expected from OPI the formula is nice and I particularly like the brushes on OPI polishes as they seem a bit bigger than normal and this makes foreasier application! This shade took a good 3 coats to get a decent coverage and not a bad drying time. I have also included another photo that gives a better idea of the ‘sparkles’

On another note, how amazing is the new Car Key collection from Models Own?!

I can see myself ordering Grace Green, Purple Ash, Garnet and Vintage Pink in the not so distance future <3

Has anyone got their hands on any of these yet? Any favourites, recommendations?

Let me know!

GREY MATTEr

2010-10-10T12:26:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone, I am back! I had to have a break from this blog due to a few reasons one of them being that my camera broke so I was unable to post any pics. Anyway I have a new camera now and ready to share more polish love with you all!
I am so excited about this NOTD look, I recently purchased the Rimmel PRO Matte Finish Mattifying topcoat with my trusty Boots points and have been dying to try it out! I decided to partner this with a polish which has been occupying space in my drawer for a while now but I have never gotten around to actually wearing it. (I’ve a feeling this will change after today!)
I have always loved Grey polish on other people, so when I saw this beauty in H&M for £2.99 (I think!) I had to snap it up. Enter ‘Miss Stone Heart’. This went on really nicely and was wearable after just one coat. It also dried surprisingly quickly. Here is a shot of the polish pre-matte topcoat…
I do have one other H&M polish, but I am not too keen on the colour but this has really encouraged me to try a few more shades! Anyway, now for the moment of truth…I applied a generous amount of the matte top coat on and voila!

I think this is my new favourite!! Looking forward to trying some other polishes with the matte top coat as I am really impressed with it so far.
How is everyone anyway? Have you tried any matte polishes or top coats before? Let me know what you think!
Speak soon

No7 Beanie

2010-05-24T11:15:00.001-07:00

I decided to buy this polish after seeing a review on another blog and the name stuck in my head, so when I went to Boots to use my magical £5 off No7 voucher I decided to give it a go.

My first impressions weren’t great as the formula was particularly thick and hard to work with, resulting in quite a lot of lumps and bubbles.

So unfortunately, due to this the colour didn’t even last 24 hours on my nails. But I am willing to forgive and forget and give it another go sometime. I only have one other No7 nail polish and that one has a great formula (note to self: must do a NOTD for that polish) so hopefully application will be a smoother with Beanie next time I use it.

Apart from this, it is a really nice, subtle and unique shade which is not quite brown and not quite grey. I don’t usually go for neutral colours but this could be the start of something new. I am still searching for the perfect nude polish though!

Anyway let me know what you think of No7 Beanie or if you have it/have another No7 polish with questionable consistency!

NOTD - MUA Shade 14

2010-05-19T11:52:00.001-07:00

Sorry it’s been a while, I’ve been away with work for a few days so have been unable to update!

Just wanted to share the MUA shade which I have given a try so far – Shade 14 (the red coloured polish from my ‘haul’ pic).

I was quite pleasantly surprised with the way it went on, it was quite a thick consistency and the brush is quite large so took a bit of getting used to. It only took two coats to get a decent coverage and it lasted very well, I had to do a slight re-touch after a few days but apart from that I was relatively impressed.

I do have a million different shades of red polish, but I like the pretty gold fleck effect in this one, which is not very visible in the first pic, but this pic shows it better…

I am still yet to get around to trying the other three MUA polish I purchased, so I will let you know my opinion on those when I get round to it.

Have a few more NOTD looks to come as I have a bit of a backlog now! Glad to be back though :)

Pure – Grape Wine

2010-05-06T10:15:00.001-07:00

I’ve never used this brand before, so thought I’d give them a go as I really liked this deep subtle purple shade.

It went on quite well, if not a little too thick but it was very easy to cover brush strokes and only needed one coat really but I went over most of them again with a second coat. This picture was taken last night when I did them, I put a flower nail art sticker on my index finger and a little dragonfly on my little finger…

It looks more red in that picture than it really is, so I took another one in daylight which gives a better idea of the colour. It is such a lovely deep purple colour that pops in the sunlight. It almost looks brown in the shade but it’s still a pretty brown!

I will be looking out for some more PURE polishes as I was quite impressed with this one and I will let you know how it wears.

Bargain polishes!

2010-05-05T11:39:00.001-07:00

So I managed to get to a Superdrug store to look at their new ‘bargain’ range MUA, which I have spoken about in previous blog entries. I brought 4 polishes which appealed to me the most, at £1 each it was tempting to buy them all but I want to give them a trial first!

Anyway the colours I chose are thoughtfully named (L-R)
Shade 14, Shade 4, Shade 5 and Shade 13!

Or: red with a smidge of gold, coral, light teal and emerald green as I’d describe them. I will swatch these when I get a chance and am looking forward to how they turn out.

I have a little more love to give to Models Own – Emerald City, I REALLY didn’t want to take it off and it stayed on so well but it had to be done!

Have any other UK beauty/nail bloggers tried out MUA yet? Let me know what you thought…

Emerald City

2010-05-01T04:37:00.001-07:00

Hats off to Models Own again!

I decided not to use another colour underneath Emerald City as I just wanted to see how it would turn out, after the first coat I thought it wasn’t going to work but I kept going and after 3-4 coats I really started to love it. It has been years since I have worn a glitter polish and I so have the glitter bug now…I want a red one and a pink one and a blue one now!

Emerald City is definitely a polish I will be wearing again and I will be trying it over another colour polish to see how it turns out.

I had real trouble trying to get a decent picture of the colour of this polish, it comes out very teal-y in photos, whereas it is actually more green. I played around in Photoshop and (ignoring how green my hand looks) this is a better colour match for the polish. It hasn’t come out great but it really is such a pretty colour.

In conclusion, thumbs up for Emerald City!

Oh and it turns out MUA is only stocked it selected Superdrug stores, and my local store is not one of them! So I am taking a trip to the nearest one later on today, so I will let you all know how I get on and post some haul pics!

MUA – I need to check this out!

2010-04-29T10:51:00.001-07:00

I have just seen the new MUA make up range at Superdrug! Everything is £1!! One Pound! Well, well, well, I will certainly be making a trip to Superdrug on my lunch break tomorrow! Has anyone tried their polishes yet? Some of the colours on the website look quite pretty so I’m sure I will be sucked in! I will post some pics tomorrow to let you know what I got :)

“Makeup Academy, only available at Superdrug, offers complete colour cosmetics range with every item costing £1, a pound, 100 pence. However you say there's no getting away from the fact this is the best priced cosmetics collection available in the country.

The range includes lipsticks, glosses, eyeshadows, mascaras, eye liners, blush, powder and nail polish in shades from neutrals to brights and every shade in between.”

Oh and you can now follow me on Twitter! - Twitter.com/JustMyNails
(Go on, please I have no followers yet!)

Has anyone ever tried

2010-04-28T11:23:00.001-07:00

My beloved OPI drip dry drops are beginning to run low, so I am starting the search for a replacement when they are finished. I got my current 30ml bottle as a bargain on Ebay for around £15, but can’t find anything in that price region for the 30ml bottle at the moment.

I have seen a few alternatives that I was thinking of giving a go but I was wondering if anyone had ever tried them or if they had any advice for them…

Avon Nail Experts Liquid Freeze Quick Dry Spray

£6.00 for 50ml

”Spray nails dry in a flash. A convenient, fast-drying top coat in a easy to use spray.”

No7 Quick Dry Nail Oil

£6.50 for 10ml

”No7 quick dry nail oil is the ideal accessory for any manicure fan.”

Please comment and let me know if you have used either of these and if they are worth a go!….Or if you think I should stick with my trust OPI drops!

Leopard Nails...not Cheetah!

2010-04-27T12:55:00.001-07:00

Ok so in my last post I mentioned that I was going to give Cheetah spots a try...now obviously I meant Leopard spots and said post has now been edited! Anyway, I spent somewhere near two hours creating this look and it's been a long time since I attempted any sort of nail art so I was a bit rusty. Anyway, here's how they turned out...

I think they looked better from a distance than close up (maybe that's just me being a perfectionist and noticing every little mistake, though). This picture is of my right hand, which I did first so by the time I got to the left hand I was getting the hang of it and created better 'spots' more like the little finger nail in this pic.

If anyone is interested, this is how I created this look...

1. Applied Sally Hansen Hard as Nails as base coat
2. Applied Two coats of Sally Hansen Clearly Buff Naturel Beige (which I got as part of a french manicure set)
3. Did the Leopard spots with GOSH Gold 554
4. Went around the gold spots with a black polish I got in a set which has a long, thin nail art brush, the make is 'Special FX'
5. Applied OPI Drip Dry drops and waited...
6. Applied top coat

I got a lot of comments about them and loads of people were surprised I did them myself and thought I had been somewhere to get them done, which was flattering. I will definitely try this look again, this was a bit of an experiment so I would like to give it a go with some different polishes, maybe trying a silver one next time (Snow Leopard, anyone!)

Models Own: Slate Green

2010-04-21T11:23:00.000-07:00

sSo to follow on from my previous post...I must report on the false toenails I tried out. They lasted a whole four hours in the end before I had to take them off! I could cope with the little ones, it was just the big toes that were unwearable as they were SO long for some reason. However, I would still use the again, but on an occasion that I would only be wearing sandals/flip flops (as they don't go very well with boots, as I found out!)

Anyway, I just wanted to post a quick NOTD from my recent haul. This was my favourite colour and I had to put it on as soon as I got it! I think it has probably become my no.1 polish and I had so many comments while I was wearing it too which is always nice!

It went on really nicely (this is my first time using Models Own) and this was with 2 coats. It stayed on really nicely too, which is always good.

But I regret that I am going to be taking it off tonight as I really want to try something new. I've been wanting to give it a go for a while but never got around to it....Leopard nails! Hmm...this could be fun, wish me luck! I'll let you know how I get on.

OH! And I just want to say hi to my 2 new followers, yay!

False Toenails

2010-04-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd say this but today I brought some false toenails! I've always found them quite creepy, but I was browsing in town on my lunch break at work today and I just had the urge to buy some. So I brought these French Manicure toenails by Elegant Touch.

I put them on when I got home from work and at first they felt quite weird but I am slowly getting used to them. On the box it says 'lasting results for up to 10 days' but somehow I can't see them staying on that long as I've already had to re-glue two of them back on! Then again, I haven't used any kind of false nails since I was about 10 or 11, so maybe it was me not being generous enough with the glue.

They also came with little applicator tabs on the top of each nail (you can sort of see them in the picture on the box) which was really helpful and definitely made it less fiddly when applying them.

Overall, I do quite like the look and I think it looks really pretty, especially for in the Summer when you'll be wearing flip flops and sandals all the time. I'm pretty sure I would buy some more, they did have some other types with designs on...so I'd quite like to give them a try too. I would definitely buy some for going on holiday but I will see how long these one stay on for and how sturdy they are, it wouldn't be very glamorous walking around the pool and one of them popping off...whoopsie!

Has anyone else used false toenails before, how did you get on with them? Comment and let me know!

Get Ready For Summer - Giant Giveaway

2010-04-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

There is a great giveaway taking place over at Get Ready For Summer...check it out:
1. CHANEL PARTICULIERE 505 nail polish from Spring 2010 collection (Do I need to tell you it is SOLD OUT everywhere? ;))
2. THE BODY SHOP Neroli Jasmin shower gel & body lotion (both 50ml)
3. MAYBELLINE Dream Sunglow Bronzing Booster
4. CHINA GLAZE ENTOURAGE
5. CIATE : One Coat a Day (base polish), Hang Over Cure (treatment for cuticles), Super Sexy Dry (drying drops)
6. CALVIN KLEIN Ultimate edge Gel Eyeliner in shade 301 Cocoa Sheen (with mini brush)
7. H&M BRACELET (pink coral color with gold, perfect for spring/summer)
8. CIATE Pink Nail File
9. JILL SANDER SUN EDT 100ml (without alcohol, perfect for summer)
10. NYX LIPSTICKS in 3 colours: Electra, Indian Pink, Circle
11. NAIL ART FIMO fruits (3x10)
12. ELDORA FALSE LASHES B127
13. MORGAN STREET Lip Balm Chocolate Cake
14. 5 SHE STYLEZONE Nailpolishes
15. OPI nailpolish LA- PAZ-ITIVELY HOT normal version + MATTE version
16. THE BODY SHOP RASPBERRY Body Butter 200ml
17. FRUCTIS Elastic Power Fix Hairspray

Wow, huh! So head over to Get Ready For Summer to enter!

Stardust

2010-04-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

First of all, here is the NOTD I've been meaning to post. It's a Rimmel 60 Seconds Polish number 530 - Stardust. It's a bronzy, metallic-y colour with slight shimmer/glitter in it. The glitter shows more in the bottle than it does when it's on the nails which I was quite disappointed about, but I might try compensating for this and using my own glitter in future. I also put a few little stickers on my thumb and little finger nails which had a bit of a glitter in them as they felt a bit plain.

This was with two coats but when I was adding a top coat I started to notice some dreaded air bubbles, grrr! Anyway I took this off after a few days because of the bubbles and also because my new polishes came, woohoo! When it came to taking it off, this polish did really not want to leave my nails and was a bit of a mission to remove.

So below is the line up of my most recent polish haul (L-R: PURE Persian Red, Models Own Red 'n' Black, Models Own Emerald City, Models Own Slate Green & Bourjois Black Green.)

Tealed Out!

2010-04-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

Eeek I couldn't resist these two while I was searching for 'Dream Catcher' in Claire's today! I know I have just ordered two very similar colours from Models Own, but I can do a comparison right!? And they were so inexpensive I couldn't resist. I don't think I've ever owned a nail polish from Claire's before, but after reading a few reviews and seeing some gorgeous colours on other blogs, I thought I'd give them a go.

I brought Heavy Glitter Teal (left) and Jade Neon (right)...no idea why it has neon in it's name as it is really not!

I also have a new NOTD to post but I will get some pics tomorrow, I don't think it will stay very long though as a) I will hopefully get my new polishes tomorrow and b) there are quite a few air bubbles, boo!

New polishes

2010-04-11T15:52:00.000-07:00

I have just gone on a bit of a shopping spree and ordered 5 nail polishes, there are quite a few greens in there, in fact I think 4 out of the 5 are different shades of green! I have also ordered two colours from my wish list – Models Own: Slate Green and Emerald City and I can’t wait to try these out.

I ordered them from: http://www.asos.com so hurry up and deliver them Mr Postman!

Welcome

2010-04-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

Hi world and welcome to my new blog! I am a nail polish junkie so have decided to create my own blog to share and discuss my love!

Where better to start than with my current colour…

I have only discovered the GOSH brand quite recently. I brought a few other make up bits and one nail varnish and loved it so much that I went back the next day to buy 3 more. Maybe it’s just our Superdrug store but the colours we have are quite limited, I keep meaning to look up the full colour list to see if I am missing out.

The shade I am wearing is 527 DIVA which is a gorgeous deep pinky metallic colour and is a nice casual colour for every day wear.

I feel like I am just at the beginning of my GOSH nail varnish love so I am hoping to delve deeper into it this year! Comment and let me know if there are any GOSH colours you’d recommend!

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