NOTD: Dogtooth

Here is a quick NOTD post. Today I am wearing my Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips in Check It Out. I have loved dogtooth patterns since I was a young teenager so I am so happy that I can actually have a perfect dogtooth pattern on my nails thanks to Sally Hansen. I have never tried to paint a dogtooth pattern onto my nails by hand and to be honest I'm not sure I would manage to pull it off. Therefore, I think these nail polish strips are AWESOME!

Let me know what you think of them!

Essie Cascade Cool Pink Polish

If you have read my previous posts you will know that I am a major fan of Essie nail polish. I love everything about them. They are awesomely pigmented, the formula is great and the brush is amazing. Essie's Cascade Cool polish is a really beautiful pastel pink colour and it definitely lives up to my high opinion of Essie polish. It is such a lovely polish that is not too bright and not too dull. As usual with Essie polish it is opaque and streak free within two coats. This polish would look amazing with one of the pastel winter coats that are in the shops this season.

Have you tried this polish? What is your favourite pink polish?:)

Bourjois 1 Second Polish: Lavender

I cannot rave about the Bourjois 1 Second polishes enough. I have already reviewed Turquoise Block and am so glad I have bought their Lavender polish as it is gorgeous. Everything about this polish is great! The colour, the formula, the pigmentation and of course the amazing brush. The only fault I can find is that unlike Turquoise Block you need to apply two coats of polish for total opaqueness. Even so, I think this polish is brilliant and would definitely recommend it!

This polish looks really blue in the photographs but it is more Lavender in real life.

Have you tried this polish? What do you think of it? Let me know your thoughts!

Here's the link to my Turquoise Block review: http://scottishstefsnails.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/bourjois-turquoise-block-polish.html

Christmas Gift Ideas #2: Nails Inc's Christmas Crackers

I am really getting into the Christmas spirit early this year so I thought it would be a great excuse to give you some more ideas for presents. I tried extremely hard to resist buying Nails Inc's Christmas Crackers but in the end I gave in and bought them for myself as another special treat after a long and stressful year. I am so glad I did because I think these crackers will be the highlight of my Christmas gifts this year. They are so gorgeous and sparkly so even without pulling them they will look amazing on my Christmas tree. I think the selection of polishes inside the crackers is brilliant. They include some of their new releases too- and at a pretty decent price for the amount of full sized polishes that you get.

I will definitely be displaying these beautiful crackers around my house this Christmas before I pull them with my family. 

What do you guys think? Maybe you could make crackers for your friends & family yourself and fill the with an assortment of other polishes like Barry M!

I would love to hear if there are any other nail polish related gifts that you will be wishing for or giving this year!

NOTD: Purple & Pink Polka Dots

This is just a quick post to show you this pretty purple and pink combo I've put together. I've used Leighton Deny's purple polish called Rebel and Essie's Cascade Cool pink polish. I love polka dot nail art because it is so easy to do with a dotting tool. Plus polka dots always look so cute. It is definitely a good way of jazzing up plain nail polish.

What do you think? Do you like polka dot nail art?

Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips: Cut It Out

I received these Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips called Cut It Out for my birthday and I think they are one of my favourite designs out of all the strips that I have tried. I have not seen them on Amazon again at an affordable price so I am so glad I got them when I did. The pattern is so pretty and intricate I don't think I'd ever be able to paint my nails like this. This design is definitely a great way to wear monochrome nails. Monochrome is something I love anyway so these nail polish strips were so awesome to wear. They looked really great!

Do you like monochrome nails? Are you good at painting intricate patterns on your nails? Any tips?

Leighton Denny's Get Your Cote

Since lots of people liked my post on Topshop's orange polish called Stage Dive I thought I would publish another bright polish post. So, here it is!

Leighton Denny's Get Your Cote is a pretty bright blue polish. I don't really have many polishes this colour so was glad to add this polish to my collection. I really love the Leighton Denny polish bottles. There is something so nice and luxurious about them. The actual polish itself was a bit thin although I almost got full coverage after two coats. You might be able to see in the photos that my nails look a bit streaky. This is a shame but I think most polishes this colour are a bit thin. I am not quite sure why though! The brush is quite thin and small but it was better than I thought it would be in terms of applying the polish. 

I think the end result it rather pretty though whether the quality of this polish lives up to its high price tag I am really not sure!

Have you tried Leighton Denny polishes? What do you think of them?

Sponge Nail Art

I got some lovely metallic Topshop polishes for my birthday and decided to do what I feel I do best- be creative. So I painted my nails with black polish and let it dry. Then I went a bit crazy on my nails with a sponge and the gorgeous metallic polishes. I think this is such an easy way to create your own unique nail art, especially if you struggle a bit with it. You can't make any mistakes with this technique which is awesome. Obviously,you need to tidy up around your nails once you have finished dabbing on the colour with the sponge but there is not much else involved in the process. 

I found it really difficult to get good photos of this polish. It was even more awesome in real life. It's a shame it doesn't always show up on camera!

The colours I have used with this design look really autumnal which I am loving. That wasn't my intention when I started but I think its great.

Have you tried this technique before? What do you think of it?

Topshop's Stage Dive Polish

I know it is winter and a lot of people like to switch to wearing more autumnal polish shades. However, I am not really bothered about wearing seasonal polish and tend to wear whatever colour I feel like whether it be bright or wintry no matter what the season. I know lots of other people feel the same. So, I am going to mix a couple of brighter polish posts in with my more festive posts. 

I love Topshop's orange polish which is called stage dive. I have been so impressed with the Topshop polishes. I think the formula and pigmentation of the polish is great and the brush is surprisingly good. I think the polish is such a gorgeous colour and my thinking is if you feel like wearing orange polish in winter go for it!!:)

I think you can tell from the below photos that the formula is pretty damn good!

What do you think? Have you tried this polish before?

Retro Nail Post

We've been having a major clear out in my house for the last few weeks. It is amazing how much rubbish you can have in your house! However, at the bottom of a box I found some old nail tattoos that I had when I was a kid in the mid 1990's. I was so excited to find them as I remember how much fun I had with them at the time. I think I got them in packs from Tammy Girl (anyone remember that shop??). My favourites were the coloured ones but I only found the glow in the dark ones as I think I had used up all of the coloured ones. They actually still glow in the dark after all this time. I can't wait to have a sneaky try of these nail tattoos as I remember them being way easier to use than the water transfers you get now.

There are some super cute tattoos on the sheet that I found. Although, the Mona Lisa and Elvis Presley ones are a little odd! There are even Marilyn Monroe tattoos and randomly some little pigs!! Apparently that's just how we rolled in the 90's :-).

Did any of you have these when you were a kid?

Christmas Gift Ideas #1: Ciate Mini Mani Month Advent Calendar

November is finally here which means that it is now socially acceptable to write Christmas themed posts, listen to Christmas music and think about buying presents. I have started pretty early this year to make sure I am organised so i don't have to stress in December. 

I got a Ciate Mini Mani Month advent calendar last year and I absolutely loved opening it every morning before work and getting a new polish each day. It was so much fun and such a treat every single day. It's exactly what a polish addict needs everyday before having to trudge to work/uni in the darkness and the icy cold weather. I am absolutely loving the packaging too! It is so cute this year and very Christmassy!

I am really excited about this years calendar and looking forward to start opening it in December. I have bought this for myself as a special end of year treat but I think it would make a great early Christmas gift. Its definitely a great Christmas present to myself:). If you need a gift for someone who adore nails polish then you definitely can't go wrong with this.

I will try to post every day in December so you can see which polish I get as the days go by. If any of you have any other beauty advent calendars please let me know as I'd love to see the exciting products you will be opening every day!:)

Halloween Nails #3: Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips in Spun For You

I have had so much going on lately that I haven't had much time to experiment with my nail polish. I have just been slapping on some awesome nail polish strips and leaving them on for a week at a time. I really do love Sally Hansen's nail polish strips a lot. They are so great. As Halloween is tomorrow I decided to wear these gorgeous nail polish strips called Spun For You. They are metallic silver with a black spider web pattern which is so cool. I've never had spider web nails before and I'm guessing that you have to be very talented to paint spider webs on your nails free hand. In reality I absolutely hate actual spider webs but these nail polish strips are the cute standard web pattern which is why they are so pretty:).

I really wish I had the time to try out spider web nail art so I would love to hear if you try it. I think painting my right hand would impossible. 

Have you ever tried to paint spider webs on your nails? How did it go? Do you think you would try out this pattern free hand?

Halloween Nails #2: Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips in Hot Wired

I am loving wearing these Sally Hansen Hot Wired Nail Polish Strips at the moment. Halloween is almost upon us and this year I am taking full advantage of being able to have themed nails. These awesome bright green nail strips have a barbed wire pattern on them which I love. They are channelling Frankenstein but I think if you were brave enough you could totally pull these off anytime if the year. It would be a pretty edgy look but I am all for a bit of edge. If you teamed them with an oversized leather jacket, floral dress and some biker boots they would really help grunge up an outfit.

What do you think of these? Would you try and recreate this look with nail polish?

Halloween Nails #1:Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips in Batty For You

Ok so I know that my posts have been rather erratic recently and well a bit non existent. I've really missed posting regularly so hopefully I will be back to regular posting ASAP. So, seeing as its nearly Halloween I thought I would do a three part series of posts on Halloween nails. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do any Halloween nail art which is a shame but I have been getting in the spirit of things with some crazy cute Sally Hansen nail polish strips. I thought it might give you inspiration to try out some spooky nail art.

The first Halloween nail strips I tried by Sally Hansen were called Batty for You. They are a gorgeous deep metallic purple colour with black bats on them. These nail strips are super cute and pretty subtle in their spookiness so if you want more subtle Halloween nails then these might be for you. I think they actually just look like animal print unless people look closely. I had a hospital appointment and these nail strips were getting a thumbs up from the nurses. 

I really love these. They secretly reminded me of being a wee kid and dressing up as a witch with a purple feather bowa :-). As always, Sally Hansen's nail polish strips did not disappoint in their quality and longevity.

Have you ever tried these? Have you been experimenting with Halloween nail art?  

Jessica's "Sophia" Polish

Jessica's Sophia polish is one of my new favourite finds. It's a gorgeous baby blue coloured polish which has a very fine shimmer through it which shows up in sunlight. I have been really impressed with Jessica polish lately. I really like the formula which provides a streak free, opaque finish in two coats. The pigmentation of these polishes is really lovely. Their brushes look like they will not be as good as other brushes because they are thin, however, I have found that the brushes actually do a great job. 

All in all I really like Jessica polishes and would like to add more to my collection. I would definitely recommend this baby blue polish. These polishes are a little more expensive but they are great quality. They would make great presents.

Let me know what you think of this colour! Have you tried Jessica polish? What did you think of it?