Thursday 29 August 2013

Barry M Multicoloured Glitter Nails


I absolutely love Barry M nail polish. I was hooked on them once I discovered their glitter polishes which were such great quality for such a great price. They have such a wide range of glitter polishes that it can often be difficult to choose which polish to wear. So, I thought it would be a good idea to wear 5 different glitter polishes at once. I think it worked out pretty well. I was slightly disappointed that I didn't have more fingers so I could have worn more than 5 at once on each hand. Hehe!

I really loved having multi coloured glittery nails. I don't know why I had never tried this before.

The polishes I used are called:

blue glitter= Blue
purple glitter = Magenta
green glitter= Green 
red glitter = Red
turquoise glitter = Aqua

What do you think? What is your favourite glitter polish?

Wednesday 28 August 2013

Butter London Polish: Trout Pout


I was so excited when I got some Butter London polishes for my birthday as I had never tried them before but had always wanted to. Trout Pout is an unusual pinky peach shade which I love because I don't actually have any other polishes which are a similar colour. It looks more peach when it is in the bottle but once on the nails there is a hint of pink and the polish is quite bright. I really like the square bottles this polish comes in. I was slightly worried that the brush would let this polish down because it is rather thin but it was actually ok when it came to application. The polish itself is slightly thinner than most polishes being sold on the high street just now but again the formula turned out to be quite nice. I only needed two coats for the polish to be opaque and streak free. I found that this polish dried pretty fast because it was thinner. 

Overall, I really like this polish and think it is such a unique colour. 

Have you tried any Butter London polishes? What do you think of them? Let me know your thoughts!

Tuesday 27 August 2013

Topshop Bee' s Knees Yellow Polish


I had been lusting after Topshop nail polish for a long time but had been trying to refrain from buying too much nail polish. However, I got a couple of these polishes for my birthday which was so exciting. I can't believe I had never tried Topshop polish before. It seems pretty ridiculous since I love both Topshop and nail polish. The first polish i tried was Bee's Knees which is a light sunny yellow. What I love about this yellow is that it is not too dull and it is not too golden. It basically is the perfect yellow-bright and pastel at the same time. The brush is pretty decent as it is not too long and although it looks thin it actually splays out widely and holds a lot of polish. I really like the Topshop polish formula. It is not too thin or too thick- it is just perfect! I painted two coats of this polish onto my nails and then added a third coat to one nail because it was slightly streaky. I have found this with all yellow polishes though. 

I am so glad I can add this yellow polish to my collection. It is so nice. 

Have you tried this yellow polish? What is your favourite yellow polish?








Monday 26 August 2013

Blogging Rambles

This is going to be a bit of a different post today. I would really like to know what your thoughts are on a few things.

Over the last few weeks I felt that my blog was getting a bit repetitive and boring. So, I have been spending a lot of time trying to write a better mixture of posts so it is more interesting to read. Although, I've been getting a bit worried that my polish review posts are a bit "samey". I've been sacrificing the time I would spend reading all my favourite blogs and searching for new ones to try and improve my posts :( very sad face (I need to find a balance). 

Obviously, it takes me even longer to put together posts because I have to paint my nails to demonstrate how the polish looks and applies. Plus, posting everyday takes a lot of work. I will definitely have to reduce my posts at some point-again :( sad face!

So, I was wondering if you would like to see some beauty, fashion & lifestyle posts to add a bit of variety? Or do you like that my blog is solely about nail polish? I'm not necessarily going to change my blog as I have a major passion for polish hehe! I just wanted a little bit of feedback.

Please let me know your thoughts if you are reading this post! Big thank you if you do follow, read and comment on my blog! I really appreciate it and always will!:)

Love Stef xxxx


Sunday 25 August 2013

Dior Bird Of Paradise Polish Duo


I received Dior's Bird Of Paradise polish duo for my birthday. I don't normally buy such high end nail polish for myself so it was lovely to receive some as a gift. The actual polishes don't have names they only have numbers which is a shame. One of the polishes is a gorgeous metallic green/blue which is polish number 794. The other polish is a green/mint colour and is polish number 402. 

The polishes come in really cute 7ml bottles and their brushes are not really wide but I found them to be reasonably good. I was worried that the polish would apply very thinly but the formula was better than I thought it would be. The polish was easy to apply and only needed two coats to be streak free. These polishes were actually a lot nicer than I thought they would be. I obviously have a very low opinion of high end polishes! Oops! I think this is because I have seen some rubbish ones in the past that were ridiculously costly. It is always nice to be pleasantly surprised though. 

As the polishes came in a duo I decided to use them both together. Firstly, I left the polish plain and then I added some polka dots. I also couldn't resist adding some glitter to jazz them up a bit. 

These Dior polishes were such a great gift. I would definitely recommend buying these as a special gift for someone who loves polish.

What do you think of them? I think the green/mint is a bit dull but its still nice enough.













Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips : Fly With Me


I ordered these Sally Hansen Fly With Me Nail Polish Strips from Amazon and couldn't wait to wear them. I applied them on a day when I needed cheering up and thought that the multicoloured butterfly pattern would definitely do this. I hadn't realised when I ordered these nail polish strips but I think they came all the way from the USA. Unfortunately, like another set of these nail strips I had ordered from America one half of the pack of nail strips were just about all stuck to their protective covers. This meant they would rip and be ruined. Luckily I managed to use the other half of the set to cover all of my nails.

I ordered quite a few designs at the same time so I am hoping that none of the others are ruined but they might be. I think its important to highlight this because it is a real shame that they are not in perfect condition. It makes application much more difficult.

On a positive note I think these butterfly nail strips look awesome. I love that the butterflies are on a white background. I think it makes them stand out even more.

I am a huge fan of these nail polish strips but I would maybe recommend staying away from packs from the USA. I will let you know how I get on with the other designs I have ordered.

What do you think of the design? Let me know your thoughts. 

Saturday 24 August 2013

Lilac & Mint Polka Dot Nails : Birthday Nails


I am majorly loving my Rimmel Salon Pro polishes in Ultra Violet and Peppermint at the moment so I decided to combine them and then add some polka dots. And BOOM that creates this awesome combo. I was just looking at my nails and this colour combo totally reminds me of one of the dinosaurs on that programme Dinosaurs from the 1990's. Does anyone remember it? Anyway, the contrasting colours of the polka dots on the base colour looks so nice. I just keep looking at my nails. I used my dotting tools to make the big and small dots. This design is really easy and fairly quick to do. Although, trying to do both big and small polka dots on your right hand is pretty difficult. You need a steady hand. Mine kept shaking! 

I wore this colour combo with the polka dots on my nails for my birthday. I was meant to be having sparkly nails but in the end I opted for this.

What do you all think of this design? Are there any other colours that i should try out together?

Rimmel Salon Pro Polish : Peppermint


 I have recently reviewed Rimmel Salon Pro Polish in Ultra Violet and I am pleased to say that I have found another total winner from this collection. Rimmel's Peppermint polish is just as amazing as their Ultra Violet polish. I am loving both of these polish colours, especially together (More on this coming soon)! Peppermint is an awesome bright mint colour polish. It's so great that its not too dull-it has just the right amount of minty-ness! As with the Ultra Violet polish, Peppermint has an amazing wide brush, a great formula and is very long lasting. I literally can't get enough of mint and lilac polish right now. Rimmel's Salon Pro Peppermint polish is great for nail art too as I have found out. 

I would highly recommend trying these polishes. I am very impressed with them.

Have you tried this polish? Let me know what you think of it!

Just realised how blue this polish looks in the photos-it is indeed mint though..a nice bright mint!

Friday 23 August 2013

Birthday Polish :)


My parents very kindly bought me some nail polish for my birthday all of which I didn't already have so it was a lovely surprise.  I was so excited to try them all out so I will have lots of new posts coming soon about polish from brands such as Topshop, Bourgeois, Leighton Denny, OPI and Dior.

Here is a sneak peek photo of the polish that I will be posting about soon! I'm rather excited!:-) Can you tell I love nail polish?!?!

Do you have any of these polishes? If so, what do you think of them? Are there any in the photo that you would like to try?

Thursday 22 August 2013

Mirror Nails Experiment


Ok the title may sound a bit more exciting than what this post is actually about. I didn't actually smash up a mirror and stick the broken shards onto my nails. My auntie kindly gave me some little beads which have a mirrored surface. They are meant to be used for making cards but I was like well why not try dipping my nails into them. So, that is what I tried at first and I found that it was not very successful. Lots of the beads were stuck to my nail with their edges sticking out and so weren't shiny. I wanted all of the beads to be flat against my nail and with their mirror sides on show. So, I got a cocktail stick and turned the beads that I could onto their flat surfaces and then used the cocktail stick to add more beads in the areas that I wanted them. I put top coat over the beads to see if it would ruin them and luckily it didn't. 

I am definitely going to try something a bit prettier with them next time but I'm not sure what. This was really just a post to show you what you can do with beads like this.

Let me know what you think of my little experiment!:)


Wednesday 21 August 2013

Rimmel Salon Pro Polish : Ultra Violet


I'm rather excited about this review just because I LOVE this polish so much. I recently purchased Rimmel's Salon Pro nail polish in Ultra Violet which is such a gorgeous colour. When I bought this polish i didn't have many polishes this colour so I hardly had it off of my nails. This polish impressed me so much. It has an amazing wide brush which makes application easy and the formula is so great. As it is gel-like it provides such good coverage. Two coats of polish and your nails are perfect. I found that this polish lasts a long time on your nails and almost has a rubber quality about it which means it doesn't chip like normal polishes. This is totally out of character for me but I wore it without topcoat for a week and it lasted so well. So, if you hate wearing topcoat these might be the polishes for you. I wouldn't recommend not wearing a top coat though! I found that it dried fairly quickly too. 

I really think these polishes are worth a try! I am rather obsessed with them at the moment. 

Have you tried these polishes? What do you think of them?

Tuesday 20 August 2013

DIY Glitter Nails


If you want to have incredibly glittery nails but don't want to break the bank you can easily get hold of some loose glitter and your favourite nail polish and create your own glittery nails.  I had always thought about doing this but had never bothered to buy any loose glitter. My Auntie very kindly donated some glitter that she was using for card making to me.  It's a very fine translucent/pink glitter which comes in a little tub. I painted some of my nails white and some of them pink to see how the glitter would look on the different colours. While the polish was wet I dipped each of my nails into the glitter in the tub and tapped off the excess. I love how it looks and am looking forward to trying it over different colours. I tried putting top coat over the glitter and it actually turned out quite well. It was still really sparkly.

I would definitely recommend giving this a go!

Let me know what you think of these sparkly nails! Have you tried doing this with craft glitter?

Essie Birthday Splurge

I have never had many Essie polishes at all because where I live my main Boots and Superdrug don't stock them. A few weeks ago I noticed that Superdrug online had a 3 for 2 offer on nail polish so I decided to treat myself to a couple of Essie polishes since I'm a massive fan. I was so excited when they arrived and managed to hide them all away until my birthday. I cannot wait to get them all on my nails ASAP so there will be lots of posts on them coming soon! I just wanted to share this with you as I know some of you LOVE seeing haul posts! I'm  quite keen on them myself because I love seeing your newest purchases!:) I will get posts up on these polishes once I've tried them all out.

Sunday 18 August 2013

Ladybird Nail Art Guide


I don't usually paint insects on my nails (or any animals!) but I randomly decided to try out painting ladybirds because I thought it looked really cute. Plus I wanted to see if I could do it or whether it would be a disaster. 

Here is how I did it:

1)Apply base coat

2)Apply red polish and leave to dry

3)Paint a straight black line down the middle of your nail using a nail art brush-I used the Models Own nail art pen/brush to do this

4)Paint a curved black line near the tip of your nails and fill in with black polish

5)While this is drying use a dotting tool to dot black spots onto your nail on each side of the black line

6)Use white polish and a dotting tool to dot the eyes onto your ladybirds

7)Then dot black polish into the middle of your white dots to look like pupils

8)Leave to dry and apply top coat

It was actually really easy to do. I was pretty surprised. I am not usually very good at such precise things but I think this design turned out really well.

You could totally paint your nails like this if you were dressing up as a ladybird for a fancy dress party or for Halloween.

I would love to hear what you think of this design? Have you tried anything like this before?

Maybelline Forever Strong Gel Polish: Surreal


After absolutely loving Maybelline's Forever Strong Nail Polish in Bubble Gum and Mint For Life I decided to try out another polish from this collection. I chose Surreal which is a grey tonned purple/blue. In the photos it looks really really blue. However,in real life it is much more on the purple side. I found that this polish actually looked darker when it was on my nails compared to what it looked like in its bottle. Apart from that I can't fault it. It has all of the great qualities that the two other polishes from this collection have. It's got an awesome wide brush and an even more awesome gel formula which means that your nails are opaque and streak free in two coats. I don't really have a polish which is similar to this one so I'm glad it got it. 

Let me know what you think and if you have tried this polish!

Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips : Fur-Ocious Vocals


Sally Hansen's Nail Polish Strips in Fur-Ocious Vocals seem like they are just another leopard print pattern but I think they are so much cooler than that. These nail polish strips have an amazing blue leopard print on a metallic background. You might think that you would be just as well painting a blue leopard print pattern on to your nails yourself but there is something so special about Sally Hansen's Nail Polish Strips. I think that these nail polish strips looked great on my nails. If you are not very confident with painting leopard print patterns onto your nails then these could be an alternative for you.

I would love to hear your thoughts on these nail polish strips.

Here is the link to my main review of Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips:

Saturday 17 August 2013

Liebster Award no 3


I am really excited that I have been nominated for a Liebster award for the third time. I am so chuffed that people have made the effort to nominate me for this. I honestly never thought anyone would read my blog let alone want to nominate me for something blog related. In the past the lovely Ellie from http://www.littlered26.wordpress.com and the lovely Gillian from http://alwaysalwaysunpresentable.wordpress.com have nominated me.

This time the lovely Jess has nominated me for the award. So, thank you so much Jess-I really really appreciate it.  Please go check out her blog http://beautifullylaced.blogspot.co.uk/ . Jess has the coolest style and does some awesome outfit posts! It's definitely worth following her blog. I recommend it!:)

The Liebster award is a great way to find lots of new blogs to read and for lots of people to find your blog. It is for bloggers with under 200 followers who deserve a chance for more people to read their blogs. I have answered Jess's questions, chosen 10 nominees and written 10 questions for my nominees to answer. I will let all of my nominees know that they have been nominated.

Here are my answers to Jess's questions:

Why did you start blogging?

My work colleagues were always asking about my nail polish and how I created nail designs so I decided because I loved painting my nails I would write about it. I also used blogs and youtube a lot to find new polishes to try and to find reviews on polishes. I decided that I really wanted to share my reviews of polishes with people too.

If you were having a dinner party what 3 people would you invite? dead or alive, famous or not
Hmmm... That's difficult... Maybe my awesome Grandma who has been gone for about 13 years....Barrack Obama cos he's ace...and Kesha cos she seems like fun haha...those were totally off the top of my head!

What is your favourite item of clothing?
All of my skater dresses-I love how comfy and flattering they are!

Who is your favourite blog?
Ahhh there are sooo many awesome ones..I can't say I have a favourite but I would recommend Laura's blog http://lauraloveandliquor.blogspot.co.uk because it is really good!

What is one planned post you have for the future?
I have a post coming up soon on Mavala's Sugar & Spice nail polish collection.

If you could have any super power what would it be?
To make horrible, nasty people genuinely nice and treat people well.

Have you been to any blogging events? If so where, what and did you have a good time?!
I haven't been to any yet..I'm fairly new to blogging and I don't think there are many events taking place near me.

Give us a fashion/beauty tip you live by
Always clean off your make up at night. Always moisturise your face.

What is your own opinion on your style/look?
Im probably quite boring...I have always had a slight punk/rock element to me though..I love skull prints and studs etc. 

Who are your inspiration? 
In life probably my parents. In terms of fashion I think I take inspiration from everything and anything- and probably anyone.

My 10 lovely nominees are:











My questions for my nominees are:

1) Do you have a favourite handbag?

2) Embellishment or no embellishment?

3) What is your favourite nail polish at the moment?

4) Do you have a favourite film?

5) Which make up or beauty product would you recommend?

6) How long have you been writing your blog for?

7) Is there a blog that you love reading that you would recommend?

8) What is your most flattering item/items of clothing?

9) What was your first blog post about?(the one after 'My first post')

10) Do you prefer chocolate or cake?

I really appreciate that Jess nominated me so would love it if you would check out her blog! http://beautifullylaced.blogspot.co.uk/ she really does have amazing style!

Please also let me know if you do the post so I can read your answers!:)