Nailbox June 2015*

Hey All

Beauty boxes are a saturated market now but I still love the odd one. There is starting to be a change in the market with more variety from health snack boxes to specific boxes. Nailbox is a subscription service that offers flexible subscriptions. You can order one off boxes for £15 or pay for 3,6 and 12 month subscriptions which saves some money.

L and I are both big nail fans and love painting our nails so a nail specific box was going to be something we loved. Each box contains 3-4 polishes and a nail tool or treatment. I do like that it's not just all polish.

We were kindly sent the June box to try out and review. As I've got a ridicuoulsy large nail collection atm and I'm trying to grow my nails and not paint them too much L tested out all the colours. I couldn't resist snapping up the seche vite (£9) though as it's my favourite top coat. Nothing beats it in my opinion. You can reads my original review here.

The thing that immediately stood out to us in the box were the great brand names and the wearable colours. The Nails Inc Gel Polish in Colville Mews L put on straight away as she had a wedding to go to. Nude nails go with everything and leave a look polished and classy. L loved how smoothly it applied and the gel effect left a great glossy finish. This nail polish alone is worth the price of the box as it retails for £15.

The elegant touch cuticle nipper is worth £12.50. I think cuticles are usually something people neglect to clip. I find my cuticles need clipping every few weeks. Tools like this make it so much easier. I can't get on with scissors but this is sharp and allows precision without cutting more than is needed.

The second colour L tested out was the Tanya Burr Polish in Mischief Managed £5.99. We'd both heard a lot about these but this was one L didn't get on with. It wasn't the easiest to apply, had a thin formulation and took too long to dry. 

The final colour was Essie Roarrrrange £7.99. Essie is a brand we both love and you'll find lots of NOTDs of. They have a great colour range, great formula and a reasonable price. Roarrrange didn't disapoint with that. It's a perfect summer colour and one L will be getting lots of use from!

Overall we are both really impressed with this box. It's great value (worth over £50)  and comes with good brand names. Previous boxes have included china glaze (another favourite brand of L and I) and opi!

What's your thoughts on a nail only subscription box? I'll be treating myself to more of these! I do love that from what I've seen the colours in the boxes also reflect the season not just a random selection. It really feels like thought goes into the box. 

Love L and M

xxx

NOTD: Roses

I've seen many roses nail art tutorials so I thought it was about time I finally got around to trying it myself. I love being creative with my nails and love the look of rose nails but have never got around to doing them yet.

There are so many step by step tutorials online I've read lots so just did it from memory. I'm a nail biter. Last year was the first time I stopped so for nearly a year I actually had nice nails. You can see these in my posts from the start of this blog. Stress, uni and work has got me biting them again and I hate the way they look. Until I can kick the habit again I'm wearing false nails a lot.

False nails can get an expensive habit. I love acrylics but not the price and the damage they do, plus I like to do my own nail art. I get my nails from Boots. The kiss brand sell 100 nails for £6.49 (here) I can get between 5 and 10 uses out of these depending on if I file down the nails that are too big. It makes them great value. I don't like the glue in them so I get the Elegant Touch Brush on Glue £3.10 (here) This last ages. The combination of these two products means I can have nice nails reasonably cheap. The brush on glue is much easier to apply and less messy. I find it lasts about 5 days too.

For my nails for this look I painted all my nails except my ring finger in Ciate Dangerous Affair (Ciate polishes can be picked up here for £9) I found two coats gave a gorgeous pinky red shade. It's lasted well without chipping.

For my ring finger I painted them using the Ciate Cutie Pie. It's a creamy nude pink. I left this to dry well before starting the nail art. Once dry I applied 3 oblong shapes to my ring finger in Dangerous Affair. Then left those to dry.

Once they were dry I used my handing dotting tool and Ciate Cupcake queen to make the oblongs round with two lines of cupcake queen. I then applied a dot in the middle of the smaller one's and swirls to the bigger ones.

To add the leaves I used the dotting tool again, this time using Avon Midnight Green (reviewed here). I adding two leaf shapes using my dotting tool.

I left it my nails to dry then painted with a coat of my trusty Seche Vite (reviewed here) I can't be without this top coat now.

Sorry they look a bit scratched. They are four days old now!

One last thing I'm loving at the moment is this Nail file and buffer from Avon (found here for £3). It has a great cuticle trimmer on the end which makes neatening cuticles so easy. I don't like the file much but the £3 is worth it just for the cuticle trimmer in my opinion. I get much better results then any liquid cuticle remover.

Have you done rose nail art? Would love to see your colour combinations!

Love M

xxx

NOTD Studded Nails

When I was picking a nail varnish on Saturday I wanted to do some nail art but I was feeling very uninspired after routing through my nail varnish. I chose to use one of the Ciate ones I had in my advent calendar as it was one I loved the colour of but hadnt used yet. It's called Cabaret. 

I love the wear of Ciate polishes. They are streaky after one coat but after two give a gorgeous finish and last really well. When looking for my top coat I spotted some studs I'd ordered from eBay. You can find similar ones here. I always get nail stuff from eBay and usually from China as it's so cheap. You just have to wait a while for delivery.

These particular studs are great as they have flat backs so I don't feel the need to pick them off. When I've done this before and use Caviar type beads they annoyed me quickly.  Caviar manicures annoy me after 24 hours and I tend to pick them off.

This manicure lasted me over 48 hours. In that time,  I cooked, cleaned, had a bath and spent a whole day in work. In that time only one stud fell off. That's pretty impressive to me. The only thing was some of the studs ended up looking more silver than gold as the colour wore off.

To do this manicure.  I painted two coats of nail varnish. Then used my Seche Vite and applied it one nail at a time. I sprinkled the studs onto a DVD case and touched them gently with my dotting tool till they were all the right way up. 

Using a not very hygienic method (but it's my nails and easiest so doesn't matter) I lightly dabbed the end of my dotting tool on my tongue then found it was easier to get a stud on the end. I've tried other methods and they don't work as well. If you don't have a dotting tool you could get one cheap on eBay when you order studs or use a toothpick, tweezers or something similar.  When a stud was on my dotting tool I gently pressed this into the wet top coat and continued to apply them.  Once one nail was done I applied top coat to the next nail and repeated.  When they were all done I added a layer or top coat over the top.

I'm so impressed with how long this manicure lasted and how quick it was to do. Which surprised me. I'll be doing this more as I love the way it looks. Im gutted I lost a nail on the way home so I've had to take a them off but all studs were still strong, none were loose and I think I'd have got another couple of days out of it.

Do you like stud manicures?

Love M

Xxx

Seche VIte

When I went to America Seche Vite was one of the things I picked up. When I spotted it in target it went straight in the trolley. I'd heard so many good things about it I couldn't resist it. I love my No7 top coat and have mentioned my love for it loads on this blog.

Excuse my slightly battered box. It has been on a long flight. The bottle seems large and this will definitely last a while.

Seche Vite has a unique formula which allows it to be put on wet nails. Something I found my No7 one wasn't allowing. Lately when I was using it, it would streak the wet polish on my nail. Seche Vite is truly amazing. A drop on the nail does spread really well.

This topcoat really deserves all the good reviews it gets and I now wouldn't use another. It drys really quickly, leaves nails looking glossy and doesn't smudge wet polish. What more could you want. The brush is also very good. The way it holds the perfect amount of topcoat allows the nail to be covered easily and quickly.

You can pick it up readily on eBay it's a bargain £6.25 from this seller and they have 100% feedback. I cannot recommend this top coat enough and will be ordering some of their treatment base coats.

Have you tried Seche Vite? What's your favourite top and base coat?

Love M

xxx

America Haul

I'm sure you probably know by know I was lucky enough to go to America at the beginning of the month. I was determined before hand to save my pennies so I could buy loads over there as so much of it is a lot cheaper. Safe to say I spent a lot!! Who can resist?!

A trip to Target cost me $270 ooops! I did get some bits for L in there too, I was gutted not to find a Ulta or Sephora as I had really wanted Real Techniques brushes and China Glaze. There is always next time and I'm really hoping to go to America again but it certainly won't be for a while.

I have to say Americans you are so lucky!! I adore Target. They have the most perfect jeggings ever and they are only $27!! They fit amazing, they hug you in and look so good. I wish I picked up more. Since being home I've order some skinny jeans from eBay and they are just as amazing. As Target don't deliver to the UK eBay is my only option. If you search Mossimo you should be able to find them! I also picked up a New York Giants T shirt. Which I love and I've worn loads since. I love casual t-shirts like this. The last clothes type thing I got was some black flip flops. These are so soft and almost velvety like.

On the plane out there I couldn't resist getting Naked 2. It was £30 and I do really love it. I use it most days. I love it so much I'm considering getting the original Naked palette too. For eyes I picked up high end products. I'd heard so many good things about YSL shocking I had to have it. But in duty free I couldn't find it so was recommend Lancome Hypnose Doll Lashes. Thank you duty free lady as I know love this. This is the best mascara EVER!!!! So worth every penny. I also picked up Givenchy Phenomeneyes. I really can't get on with this so any tips would be appreciated  When on the plane back I saw YSL shocking in the magazine and had to have it. Lucky the OH gave me some of his dollars as I'd spent mine. I prefer Lancome to the YSL but I'll do full reviews on these.

I bought quite a few different face products. I wanted to try a few Revlon ones as they are so much cheaper. I really wanted the PhotoReady Airbrush Mouse for evenings as it doesn't contain SPF so I wouldn't look like ghost in photos. I wanted more of the ColorStay foundation as I absolutely love it. I also really wanted to try the PhotoReady Primer and powder. I picked up the powder in translucent hoping I could use it for Halloween make up. I also got Mac Studio Sculpt to try as the Mac shop didn't have pro longwear in my shade. I don't love it though to be honest. Finally face wise I picked up Clinique Stay Matte as I love the face creams. 

For lips it was all about the Revlon. I tried my first lip butter in Candy Apple as so many people had raved about it. I like it but don't love it. It kind of just feels like a normal lipstick to me. I do want to try more of them though. I also got three lip stains. I got honey as I'd heard lots about it being a great colour, Cherish (I'm gutted I picked this one up by mistake, I wanted sweetheart but grabbed the wrong one) and my OH's Mum bought me a second Smitten as she borrowed mine on holiday and loved it so much she kept it ha! I also picked up two EOS lip balms as I really love these.

The YSL duty free counter also sucked me in to this beauty of a lip product. It is the Rouge Volupte. I love everything about this. The beautiful packaging, the texture of the lipstick and the pigmentation. It just glides on in one swipe and gives a beautiful finish. I have shade 27. It's an amazing coral colour.

For nails it was all about the OPI I wanted a new bottle of Nail Envy as I love that stuff and nothing compares to it for me. I also picked up a few other shades. I couldn't resist the New York Ballet Collection as it was only $11 dollars. I really love all the shade in it. I also picked up full size bottles in the shades I'm all ears (from the mini mouse collection), Altar Ego and Dating a Royal. Which I adore the name of and love the shade. (I've just noticed I picked up Red, White and Blue. I also got a Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Glass Slipper and the Seche Vite top coat to try as it's so raved about.

How pretty is dating a royal.

I also picked myself up the shampoo and conditioner L mentioned in her haul post. I thought they'd be great for us to try and boast some brilliant moisturising properties. In the Yankee Candle shop they had a new product out called Fragrance Spheres. They are little jelly like balls that release fragrance for 45 days. This is making my bedroom smell amazing. Really hope they bring it to the UK.

My shopping didn't stop in America though, I had a parcel waiting for me when I got back from holiday. I placed an order before I left from Dainty roses as she got some new products I had to have. 

I got a cute bangle with a heart on, the two rings have love and hope engraved in (I really love how simple these are), the copy of the YSL ring, an orchid hair grip and Lisa was kind enough to send me a new bow. She regularly offers great offers.

Lastly on a trip to boots with L I just couldn't resist a few more buys.

I couldn't resist 3 for 2. The Rimmel Scandaleyes liner in Nude. Which is amazing. Models Own Nail Varnish in Snowball which is very close to the China Glaze one I featured in this weeks NOTD and the Stay Matte Concealer  I've also got acrylics on at the moment so I'm hoping this little pot will make removing them easier.

Wow that was a lot of shopping. I could have done soooooo much more. I have picked up a few amazing clothes bits which I will share soon. Primark and Oasis have some amazing pieces?

What would you get on a trip to the states? 

Love M

xxx

NOTD: Next Gold Library - Green

If you've seen our recent posts (or our tweets) you'll have seen that we were lucky enough to be invited to the Next Beauty event last week.

It was great fun and we met some lovely bloggers and chatted our way through the evening.
(Post here if you wanted to see the pictures!)

As a bonus to the night there was also an area where you could have a massage, threading or a manicure done, which I couldn't wait to have!

The poor lady was very nice and had to go through the arduous task of removing my glitter nail polish from my nails first (I had china glaze and saffron glitters piled onto the tips!) but she was lovely about it, and even complemented me on my natural nails, how nice!

Here's the colour that I chose:

It's a gorgeous bottle green shimmery colour that applied opaque in one coat, but had a second just to ensure it lasts.

The colours were all really impressive, and I'm missing this particular colour from my collection and wouldn't hesitate to go out and buy the box set as the colours in it are amazing!

Here's a photo of the Gold collection with a close up of the Nail Library on the right:

You can see the great range of colours that would be a perfect gift for all females at Christmas time!

There's a blue, green, red, purple, bright pink and some gorgeous shimmery metallics too.

This green colour also complements most skin tones as it isn't too yellow toned.

I personally couldn't stop staring at it in the lights!

The lady at the manicure station applied Seche Vite as the top coat and this kept the nail varnish on for a good 5 days before the chips started coming through.

I would definitely say this is a perfect gift for someone as Christmas, or even yourself!

It's a bargain at £10 and can be found here which is great for 9 polishes in wearable colours.

Would you pick this up as a present for family or a friend?

Do you love the range of colours?

L xxx