Rimmel Cocktail Colours

Another newbie review for you today...Rimmel's Cocktail Colour in a Flash nail polish. This range contains 3 gorgeous bright colours which give a subtle shimmer rather than a full on glitter which I am getting a little bored of at the moment. I went for Baby Bellini which is a lovely pinky purple (obviously had to be the purple), but the other colours include Shirley Temple and Hawaiian Punch (orange and pink).

I really love this colour as it makes a nice change from the chunky glitters I seem to keep going for and it feels quite summery, something I think we all need at the moment!

I couldn't get a picture with a true to life version of the colour, it is more pinky than this but you can see the lovely shimmer it gives. Worth a try at £3.99 and on 3-for-2 at Boots at the moment!

While I'm talking about Rimmel I thought I'd just give a quick mention to something I have totally fallen in love with. I have a habit of peeling my nail polish off which has left my already weak nails peeling and thin, meaning I have to keep them short. I have tried a few base coats/strengtheners but not found any impressive ones. However, I have been using Rimmel Stronger base coat religiously for a while now and it is amazing! No more peeling and my nails are even starting to grow. A bargain at £4.59 and something I will keep on using.

MUA Fur Effect Nails

Another review for you today - MUA's Fur Effect Nails. I tried these last week and found they lasted really well despite me going to work and washing my hair etc, I think I had them on for three days which for me is a long time anyway!

Today I'm using Fluffy Bobbin, a lovely deep purple colour, with Barry M Gelly in Blackberry which I'm hoping will be a good match. The fur effects come in five colours so far (I'm hoping for more!) pale pink, bright pink, burgundy, bright blue and dark purple and sell for £3 - bargain!

The fur pots are pretty simple to use, all you have to do is paint your nails in the base colour, then add a second coat. The fur pots sieve the fluff for you which means it won't go clumpy as I have seen in some posts, so you just shake the fluff into the top of the pot so there is plenty in there. While the second coat is still wet you roll your finger in the fluff to coat it. 

Once coated I found it best to pat the fluff down straight away so you get the most possible stuck to the polish, then leave it to dry before using a small make-up brush to brush off the excess which can go back in the pot.

I really like the effect these give, the picture doesn't do it justice and I got loads of compliments and wow's the last time I used this. For £3 it is worth a try! I have a really interesting idea for these for a valentines day post so I'll see how that goes next time :)

Seventeen Doll'd Up Mascara and Eyeliner

Another review for you all :). 17 are a Boots brand like No7 although their products and designs are targeted at the younger ones among us. They have recently re branded themselves as Seventeen with a whole new look and some new releases along with it! Doll'd Up mascara is the first new product to be released so I had to pick it up when I was at work yesterday along with the 3 way Doll'd Up eyeliner pen which is free with it at the moment.

I am a big fan of the 17 Falsifeye mascara for giving big lashes for a night out so I was expecting great things from Doll'd up and I have to say I wasn't disappointed! After only a couple of coats I felt like my lashes looked much longer, well defined and curled. They claim the mascara gives 24-hour curl which is impressive (I haven't tested this as I don't want to sleep with it on) but I do like the effect you get.

After a couple of coats it does start to clump a little, but I haven't found a mascara yet which doesn't.

I did struggle a little with the 3-way eyeliner however. I haven't got round to trying a felt liner yet but assumed this would be easy enough to get a straight, neat line. The liner tip has three prongs to allow you to create different effects.

I found it quite difficult to keep the line straight, although after a couple of touch-ups, I do quite like it but I think I will stick to my tried and tested favourite, Collection 2000's Fast Stroke liner. I do like the dotting idea though, as demonstrated on their Youtube channel, and I also found it easier to get a softer line than I do with my normal liner, so not all bad.

The Doll'd Up mascara and free eyeliner are on an introductory offer at Boots at the moment, selling for £5.29 (usually £6.29) so with discount this was a bargain and I would recommend :) After having seen a couple of other new products Seventeen will be releasing (including a nail polish I can't wait for!) it will be interesting to see what else they have for us!

MUA Conceal and Brighten Kits

I wanted to share something I bought recently after hearing some good reviews! 
MUA is a brand I have only recently discovered but have fallen in love with (mostly for their nail constellations and fur). They can be found in Superdrug or online and have some lovely products for really cheap, with things like nail polishes and lipsticks for a pound! Who could resist that? I have ordered quite a few other products from them as they recently had a 50% off sale online so I couldn't resist buying a few more pieces which I am looking forward to getting!

One of their latest releases is the Conceal and Brighten Kit. It looks much more expensive than it is as it sells for £3.50. There are three colour options and I chose the middle shade Natural - Medium Rose.

The first two pots contain creamy concealers which can easily be blended to match your skin tone and the third pot has a creamy highlighter.

(Unfortunately these make it look a lot darker than it actually is!)

I have been using the first concealer blended with a small amount of the second one under my foundation as a cover-up for the dark circles under my eyes. This is something I have always suffered with and hated, but I do think this has really worked to cover them up and brighten up the darkness!

These colours are a good match for my skin and as you can see from the first swatch the first concealer is really brightening whereas the second is darker which tones the first down to blend it in. The highlighter is something I haven't had chance to experiment with yet, but the colour blends really well and gives a lovely subtle shimmer. The concealers are quite oily and do tend to crease after a while under the eye, but I found a little powder over the top stops this from happening.

I would definitely recommend trying this for the price, along with other MUA products, which I am looking forward to testing out when my order arrives :)

Something New For Spring

Since it's so cold and snowy outside I was excited to see some new releases from Barry M for the Spring. They are bringing out four bright sunny new additions to the Gelly range. I will have to get my hands on some of these as I love the Gelly polishes!

 Lychee GNP10, Dragon Fruit GNP11, Green Berry GNP12, Papaya GNP13 retailing at £3.99

Something else exciting, they are also releasing four new textured polishes, which sound similar to Nails Inc concrete polishes. These will be interesting to try as I have loved the recent trend for nail effects with the caviar and fur effect nails!

Available in four bright summery shades: Ridley Road (Green) TNP4, Kingsland Road (Pink) TNP3, Station Road (Yellow) TNP2 and Atlantic Road (Blue) TNP1, they will also retail for £3.99.

These will be available in Superdrug on the 13th Feb and in Boots on the 20th Feb. I will definitely be getting some of the new Gelly shades and I'm looking forward to seeing how the textured ones turn out!

Models Own Jack Frost

This is just a quick post to show my favourite shade from the winter collections I have seen this season- Models Own Jack Frost from the Wonderland collection. I have used this over a few different colours and it seems to go with anything. It is a gorgeous iridescent glitter showing different colours depending on the light.

I use this today over Barry M Gelly in Blueberry, with the Blue Plum shade for a statement nail. Having seen a few different posts using this polish I do think it is more effective over darker shades as the glitter shows up mores although I do love it over the pale blue for an almost snowy effect. 

The Models Own polishes are buy one get one half price at Boots at the moment and at £5 each this makes them a bargain so I might have to stock up on a few more :)

MUA Nail Constellations

I've seen loads of posts around these lately and I love it! The Ciate caviar sets are so expensive and I couldn't believe it when I saw the MUA version in Superdrug for £2 (usually £3).

I have tried this once before but when I put a top coat on in the hope it would make it last longer it took a lot of the colour out of the beads, so this time I am trying nail glue.

I used Barry M Gelly in Blackberry as a base colour (this has to be my favourite polish at the moment, it is a gorgeous colour, lasts really well and gives a really nice shine without a top coat).

The nail constellations come in a bottle with a really useful nozzle to allow you to apply the beads easily. This shade is Leo, a gorgeous mix of bright purple and turquoise beads. They come with a little how to guide attached to the bottle

After painting a thick coat of polish onto the nail, leave for a few seconds to dry and then shake the beads over the nail until they are coated. This time however, I painted my nail first then brushed on the glue before applying the beads. I used a little tray I got some glitter pots in to catch the excess beads which can then be poured back into the bottle.

This was the finished look. I don't think the nail glue makes it any better, half of my nail dried before I could get the beads on and I had to put a top coat over anyway as they were falling off. But I do really love this effect and will be trying out more colours :)

As you can see, using the beads on only a couple of nails doesn't use much at all and after two uses I still have loads left. Amazing to think it only cost two quid. 

Glitter and studs!

I went out round Leeds for a friends birthday on Saturday so I wanted to do something a bit special on my nails. I had bought some mini studs from ebay after seeing some amazing nail art done with them so thought I would give them a try.

This is how they look two days later, so they have lasted really well. I used two coats of black polish on each nail, with a coat of glitter and top coat to finish it off. 

These are the products I used: 

No7 Stay Perfect in Just Black

No7 Stay Perfect Limited Edition Glitter in Gold

No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat 

(This is amazing and something I always stock up on when I have No7 vouchers as it makes it so cheap with discount. It gives amazing shine and dries the polish so quickly, leaving it touch dry in less than a minute)

The studs I found quite difficult to apply. Once my nails had dried I tried to dab a spot of Broadway Jet Dry nail glue onto the stud, which led to me glueing my fingers together. Not a good idea! But once I thought to put the glue onto my nail it made it easier. Just dab the glue on then drop the stud into place and adjust before it dries. I added the top coat on once it dried to keep it all in place.

I love this look for a night out and will be trying it again!

First attempt at blogging :)

So.....I'm forever reading blog posts from other people to get ideas and tips for my nail art ad next beauty buys and I thought why not make one myself!

I'm turning 23 in a week, studying for my MSc in Occupational Psychology and currently working part time between Boots and ASDA to fund this all! Working at Boots has led me into a little obsession with all things make-up related particularly nail stuff, and there is rarely a day I don't come home from work with something new!

Hopefully my posts will give people some new ideas as I'm forever trying out new things :)