Beauty Rehab

Hi there!

I'm back with another instalment of my quest for space and freedom. My stash has got to the point where I am overwhelmed and although I'm clearly addicted and have cut my spending down dramatically, I still have drawers, cupboards and suitcases full of products. It's quite frankly ridiculous and I've cleared out crappy stuff that I've hoarded for no reason, got rid of doubles to family members and powered my way through tonnes of amazing products (which you can see following this link).

It's still an overwhelming amount of stuff but it has been cut down from its original size, here's my latest load of empties for you to browse!

Aussie 3 Min Miracle - 100% love this product, continuously repurchasing!
Scrub of Your Life - Another good one from S&G, would repurchase on a 3 for 2 deal
Burt's Bees Buttermilk Lotion - Weird smell, nice and moisturising but wouldn't repurchase
Origins Modern Friction - So much love for this stuff! Expensive but lasts a long time and works wonders

Murad Refreshing Cleanser - Lovely cleanser but didn't always cleanse all my make up off
Origins Make a Difference Serum - Lovely but just doesn't last long enough for me
Vichy Normaderm Promat - Mattifying but seems to have disappeared off shelves?
Clarins Bath and Shower Concentrate - Not a fan of the smell but was very concentrate so lasted well, wouldn't repurchase though
Una Brennan Rose Miracle Facial Oil - Nice product, removes make up well but needs a few pumps of oil to remove everything and is too expensive for such a small bottle for me personally.

Clarins HydraQuench Cream - Super thick and hydrating, but £35 for 50ml might be too much for me at the moment
Philosophy Snow Angel - Lovely smell but it was just a gift, wouldn't repurchase
Redken Color Extend - this was a sample and not big enough really to know long term colour protection effects, but was light and I barely noticed it on my hair so wasn't crispy or sticky
Sally Hansen InstaDri Top Coat - This is a pretty good topcoat, I'd consider repurchasing when my Essie one has run out

Origins Checks and Balances Cleanser - This is my 3rd tube and I've bought a 4th! Enough said.
GHD Heat Protector - Not sure if these truly work but any protection is better than none! Have repurchased a cheaper one
Ted Baker Body Lotion - This was so thick it was hard to get out the tube and hard to absorb too, wouldn't repurchase
Alpha H Liquid Gold - This definitely works and I'm a bit gutted to have finished it, would repurchase if I can find a deal!

No7 Face Wipes - Always buy these with the vouchers when they come around. I know face wipes aren't ideal but after a drunken night out its exactly what's necessary and for those times when you need to remove a few layers of product before washing your face properly.
Duac - Technically not a product you can buy as it's only on prescription but if any of you have skin problems I would 100% recommend you ask your doctor to try this. It's not a long term solution as it can thin your skin but it has permanently cured my acne.
Crabtree and Evelyn Hand Therapy - This is a lovely hand cream I would recommend for anyone with dry hands that need a little more than the average hand cream

Have you tried any of these products? Would you repurchase or give them a miss?

L xxx

NOTD: Sally Hansen Salon Manicure 540 Frutti Petutie

Morning lovelies!

I hope you're not feeling too hungover today, I didn't go out last night so I'm feeling pretty fresh for once!

I'm feeling productive so I'm having a clear out of all my clothes and shoes. I used to eBay a lot of clothes but eventually it was so time consuming and so many restrictions were placed on my account that it's so not worth it anymore.

So instead I'm just donating it all to charity to clear out a load of crap from my room and items that I just don't want or need any more.

That aside I've been sporting some bright pinks on my nails recently due to the summer months and small amount of good weather that we've had.

Pink always makes me feel happier!

I picked up this Sally Hansen polish from America a little while ago, I've been using and meaning to post for a while but haven't got round to it.

This is a beautiful bright pink shade called Frutti Petutie, shade number 540.

The photos below shows 2 coats of the polish and its so bright and shiny I absolutely love it!

Isn't it gorgeous?!

These photos were taken on my phone so they're not the best and I hadn't cleaned them up at this point but you can see how easy it is to apply.

It's really smooth and I really liked the brush that was in the bottle.

It's quite large which meant I could apply the polish with one smooth movement which I find is always better.

From the few Sally Hansen polishes I've used, I found that they're great quality and don't chip as easily as other polishes.

Do you have any colour suggestions from the range? I've heard their glitter ranges are really good too!

L xxx

Nail Splurge!

I'm sure you can imagine after getting myself a discount card at Boots I have been putting it to good use.

The other day I went in to pick up a few things before my shift started and the things I wanted weren't in stock (boooooooooooooooo!)

Clearly this meant that I had to buy 8 nail varnishes and some nail wraps instead.....oops?!

I'm not quite sure what happened to my logic during that decision as the other items were ones that I needed, and still need.

But it was too late at this point so I'm just enjoying my new polishes!

Here's my haul......

Having only bought one Essie polish before (Sand Tropez, read here) I needed more in my collection.

Having heard so much about Ballet Slippers that was first in my basket, then I saw the Winter 2012 collection was was won over by the sparkle.

This was when the sparkle went to my head and I became drunk on nail colours.

Suddenly Lovie Dovie (the pink), Chinchilly and the Top Coat were added to my basket before I'd even blinked.

After breaking a nail half way down my nail and coincidentally having to keep painting it so it doesnt snap and bleed (ouuuuucccchy!) I also bought the Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hard as Wraps in an effort to stick it back together as a temporary aid whilst it grows out.

The nail wraps were also a spontaneous buy that I will be saving for after Christmas when I won't be opening boxes all the time and potentially ruining them.

Just look at those colours!

I will be doing a separate post on these coming up shortly I would imagine.

Leading Lady is a beautiful colour and perfect for this time of year, whilst Snap Happy and Beyond Cozy are obvious party season choices!

This would be the perfect stocking filler and I wish I'd bought more of them in other years, assuming they existed.

I'm new to the Essie hype and am completely loving it!

These are all my Essie purchases bringing my total now to 8 from this particular brand, and I am yet to find one I don't like!

I can see my discount getting used quite a considerable amount.....eek!

I always hear 'Painted Lady' on the tannoy but I have to admit I hadn't heard much about them.

When I did walk past them I was amazed, there was such a good choice of patterns and colours!

It took me a good few minutes to decide but as I've never used them before I made myself choose one as I also don't know how they will fare with my job being so demanding on my manicures.....it's inconvenient!

Sally Hansen is yet to fail me with her range of affordable polishes for every ailment imaginable so I am hoping this will stick my nail back together and stop it from coming off/splitting any more until the time comes when I can cut it off myself.

I have heard the tea bag technique can work wonders....can anyone comment on this? 

I would love to know if it can work!

My broken nail is on my middle finger and although it doesn't hurt yet it has snapped across half way and would likely bleed everywhere if it did break further. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

How do you like my impromptu splurge??

I felt so naughty buying them as I really cannot afford to buy unnecessary items so I've had to hide them from my parents ha!

What's on your Christmas list from Essie? 

L xxx

NOTD: Halloween Theme!

Aaaaah Halloween week! 

We love a theme and what better than scary spooky Halloween?!

We went a little nail crazy with ideas and decided to put them all on one post so you can see for yourself and hopefully get some different ideas!

First up is a galaxy nail style design:

I used the following polishes:

Nails Inc Black Taxi was the base coat, with the Max Factor Silver and Nails Inc orange from in Style sponged on top in galaxy style. I then added some stickers from the picture below (Andrea Fullerton at Superdrug) and then the Saffron glitter on top.

It was a nice relatively easy style to do and a little different!

Next up I attempted to do my own spin on the Sugar Skull nails which was SO MUCH fun:

I started off with a white base coat which looked a bit flat so added on a shimmery white polish on top.

Then I used Models Own black nail pen to draw on triangles for the nose so I could keep the whole face as central as possible:

After this I used my dotting tools using the largest dot and applied the eyes and mouth using this.

I used 5 different bright colours on each hand, using 4 big dots to create the eyes followed by a line (of sorts!) for the mouth, as shown below:

Then I used the pen again to outline the eyes and putting a dot in the middle, and also lining the mouths and creating some teeth.

To make my own little spin on this I then added in a few dots, lines, squiggles etc so mine ended up looking a bit tribal!

I loved this design and it was definitely my favourite.

I had so many compliments, even from men serving me on tills in Superdrug and Tesco!

How random.

The last of my designs features a somewhat gimmicky polish from Barry M.

I've been using black and white a lot lately so picked up these colours from Barry M in Superdrug, and currently their promo is when you buy 2 products you get their limited edition orange 'web effect' polish for free.

I would never have bought this but as its a freebie the blogger in me wanted to give it a go:

As you can see it is different to a crackle effect, but not really producing a web effect!

The white does look pretty effective but the polish isn't opaque enough to cover the black polish sufficiently enough for you to see it, so this was a bit of a let down in my view and i was glad it was free!

Hope you like my designs!

Which one do you prefer?

L xxx

Today's post is a little late going up! I'm currently mourning the loss of the Ciate Advent Calender that was never meant to be I guess. No nail varnish everyday of December for me!

Anyway onto my Halloween nails. L's sugar skulls are my favourite. I was so impressed when she sent me photos of hers! I decided to have a go at a spooky castle type of nail art. Please ignore my grown out acrylics. They have been removed tonight!

I started off with two coats of Max Factor Max colour effect in shade cloudy blue (which isn't a cloudy blue shade at all) to creat a dark night sky. It reminds me of OPI Russian Navy. I really like the formulation of this polish and one coat was opaque but I did two for good measure.

On top of that I applied my new Sally Hansen polish I picked up in American in the shade glass slipper. I love the colour of this and the way it looks on the nail. It gave it a really starry night effect and you get so much glitter in one coat.

Partially as I wanted to try another new colour (OPI Altar Ego) and because I wanted it to look a little more foggy and spooky I applied a thin coat of Altar Ego which is a pearly white shade. I'll be interested to see what this looks like on a bare nail.

I really liked the effect and colour the combination of these three gave on the nail and I can't wait to use Altar Ego and Glass Slipper over different shades to see what they look like.

Once my nails were dry I used my Models Own nail art pen in black to drew the castle outlines.

I filled them in using the nail art pen too. I really need to invest in a good black nail varnish. I'm regretting not picking up OPI Black Onyx. What's your best black polish?

I then used OPI You Don't Know Jacques to draw a thumb on my nail and OPI My Pointe Exactly to create windows and my white Models Own Nail Art pen to Add a moon. 

Then using my Models Own Nail art pens I added details to the door, a cat and a ghost in the windows and some birds in the sky and on the moon. I like to think of them as Ravens.

and a close up of the thumb.

I wish they'd turned out a bit neater. I need to steady my hand more but overall I quite like them.

Have you tried Halloween Nail art?

Love M

xxx

NOTD: Mermaid Gradient Glitter

Triple whammy NOTD post for you today!

I finally got around to experimenting with gradient nails when I got my hands on some sponges.

As my nails seemed to have grown like crazy and for once not flaked away (thanks to Revlon's Post Trauma nail treatment I believe!) I couldn't resist going for it this time so decided to cover 3 trends in one.

Firstly I painted my nails in this gorgeous turquoise colour from Rimmel 60 seconds, have no idea what the name is but its a metallic turquoise that has been available for a while and the colour is a must have!

(I also applied a top coat before this...my latest one is the calcium gel nail hardener from Revlon...dream!)

Then I nabbed one of my new sponges and used Max Factor's Odyssey Blue to sponge onto the ends to create a gradient effect:

Then I covered the design with a Saffron blue glitter which I bought off ebay (you can find plenty if you search for Saffron glitter!)

Which basically created this beeeeeeeautiful blue green shimmery mermaid tail esque design!

(What a mouthful!)

Here it is in different lights so you can get the full effect.

They are a little messy as these were pre clean up (silly me!)

I also used my favourite top coat (Sally Hansen Insta Dry) and so far, a whole week later and it's just starting to show the ends of my nails but still no chipping or cracking which is amazing!

What do you think of my take on mermaid nails?

Link us to your mermaid nails if you've done them as I love seeing variations!!

L xxx

NOTD Sally Hansen 080 Glitzy Gal

I picked this nail varnish up quite a while ago now and have been meaning to share it for a while. It's Sally Hansen Glitzy Gal. I'm not to keen on the name it seems a bit cheap to me. (if a name can sound cheap) But the polish more than makes up for that. It's a gorgeous grey glitter that's kind of matte with a variety of different shades and sizes of glitter. 

Look how amazing it is after one coat. It's literally so packed with glitter it's opaque in one coat. Pretty impressive I think.

After two coat you have a solid glitter appearance. It shimmers but it's not overly sparkly. It's more of a dull glitter but I love this. It feels quite rough on the nails so needs a good top coat. Don't think this will make the glitter super sparkley. It doesn't but I like that. 

Complete with top coat you can see how the light hits the silver in the polish and gives it a glitter while the grey stays matte looking. It's such a pretty polish and I feel comfortable wearing this for day wear. I sometimes feel a glitter polish is too much.

Is it a pain to remove? I honestly can't comment. When I apply a glitter I apply a layer of top coat a day so after 3 days I can usually peel off each nail in one and then just remove the few left over bits.

I'm keen to try more Sally Hansen polishes especially now they are more easily accessible.

Have you tried them? Any colours to recommend?

Love M

xxx