NOTD - Tuxedo Nails

So Day 2 of our 21 days of nails! Today I'm showing you tuxedo nails. Everyone went crazy for these after Zooey Deschanel was spotted with this very cute manicure on the red carpet. I'm a little behind and decided to give it a try last Saturday as I was wearing a nude and pink dress and wanted some nail art to blend with it.

As I'm yet to own nail art pens (I use my dotting tool) and I don't have a steady hand I decided on a feature nail. You'll notice I favour this manicure a lot through these nail posts.

Firstly I painted a base coat of OPI Nail Envy Maintenance (the best at the moment for me) then I painted all of my nails with two coats of  OPI bubble bath. Its a gorgeous slightly sheer nude pink. Even though it's sheer I actually really like the colour which surprised me. It applied easily. I have the small bottles as I have the best of the best collection ( a great set of 10 mini OPI polishes in their most popular shades. I fully recommend it.)

When it was completely dry I started by doing the bow tie. I did two little triangles and a dot for this. You could use a kirby grip if you are like me and don't have nail pens. (I should add yet, as I don't think I can resist the Models Own stand much longer) I used OPI Lincoln After Dark for this. I always use this for my dark colour in nail art as I don't own black nail varnish.

Excuse my disgusting stubby nails, I bit all this hand the other day, naughty me!!

Then using my dotting tool I did 3 dots for buttons and used the brush in the pot for two triangles at the side. I really like this look and will definitely do it again.

Did you try this manicure before? Would you try it again? I think nail art pens would make it much easier.

Love M

xxx

21 days of nails! Day1: Revlon Nail Treatments

Me and M have both bought quite a few new nail bits and pieces recently so we decided to make it a theme and do 21 Days of Nails.

I'm sure many other blogs have done something similar but we have so many nail things to share with you that we couldn't resist doing the same ourselves!

So Day 1 is based on the wonderful new products from Revlon.

Unfortunately I don't have a photo of one of the products as it seems to have disappeared which is rather annoying!

I'm a big fan of their new nail treatments and now between me and M I think we have them all...

Mine include the Post Trauma Nail Treatment (no photo of this unfortunately!) Calcium Nail Hardener and Liquid Quick Dry.

I've had a problem with my nails since last December time (ish) where they've been peeling and generally in bad condition for no reason really!

Nothing I could do would make it go away.

The first products that have got rid of ANY peeling at all and any softness in my nails have been the use of both the Post Trauma nail treatment and Calcium gel nail hardener.

Below in the photo I have on the Post Trauma one:

It's a light pink colour in the bottle but as soon as you paint it onto your nails the colour disappears and the polish appears to melt into your nails and mattify them, it's such a weird thing!

After using this whilst I was in America and digging a hell of a lot using my hands I never thought there was a hope it would work, but it actually did!!

I couldn't believe it.

I then applied the Calcium Gel on top of the Post Trauma which as you can see in the pictures above is a white colour, but it dries clear on your nails with a shine.

You can use both of these on their own for a specific problem, combined for the ultimate in nail treatment and protection, or under your normal manicure of choice and the effects are still brilliant.

I would more than recommend these in place of other more expensive nail treatments such as OPI Nail Envy. I have never used the Nail Envy and I know that it is very popular but for those who are on more of a budget this more than does the job!

What do you think of these treatments? Would you try them over OPI?

I hope you enjoy the 21 days of nails, we're really excited about all the posts we've got coming up!

L xxx

L bought me back the gentle cuticle remover and I was so excited to use it. I've recently started looking after my cuticles so this was something I was excited to try. I tend to use cuticle oil on my nails every night then a cuticle remover once a week when I give myself a mini mani. I was recently ussing my mums Sally Hansen gel cuticle remover which was like a scrub which I loved. I really like this Revlon one though as it's more gentle on the cuticles which is a bonus as they are delicate and it will last longer. I'm also off to town today to pick up the post trauma treatment.

If you've read nail posts written by me you'll know I'm in love with OPI nail envy (review found here) It's the best nail strengthener I've used. After I used that bottle up I then picked up a bottle of the nail envy maintenance which I equally love but it's quite expensive and I've almost run out so I'm keen to see if I can get as good results as L did with the Revlon ones.

What is your go to strengthener? I have very weak nails after biting them very very short for 21 years of my life. I'm still resisting at the moment. I find I bite them less if I have them painted. I'm determined to have pretty long nails.

Love M xxx

Review: Mac Eye Brows

I am SO excited to show you this purchase!

I have wanted a higher end eye brow product as after having my eyebrows done in Mac for my birthday makeover I absolutely loved the look they gave me and my Sleek brow palette, whilst great for every day use isn't quite the right colour for me.

After browsing the Mac website I decided I was going to get an eye brow product. 

It's odd as it's like a pencil but they don't call it a pen, pencil, crayon or anything like that, it's just known as 'Eye Brows'....but I've decided it's a crayon!

It's boxed as usual in the iconic black and white packaging and is a really streamline small box which I always like as unnecessary packaging is....well unnecessary. 

It's a waste of time, money and materials but Mac are always ahead of the game with this kind of thing, particularly with their Back to Mac scheme

I picked up the crayon in Spiked, which for me is the perfect brown.

My eyebrows are actually black but as my hair is brown, having black eyebrows would look a bit silly (in my opinion) so I needed a dark brown that isn't too reddy in tone as that look silly on me too!

So onto the crayon itself:

It's a sleek pencil shaped product with a plastic nib area that you twist to get the product out.

This is very handy as it will never snap and you never need to sharpen it, genius!

It's got quite a small tip so application is pretty easy and precise

In fact, it may even be a little too precise for my liking, it takes a little while for me to fill in the gaps in my brows and define them to a look I like!

You can see in the picture below how small the end is, which I would much rather prefer than it be too big and end up with me drawing all over my forehead...

So here's one of my eyebrows....I had serious issues trying to take a picture without me squinting, pulling a face and generally not getting my eyebrow in the shot so the photos aren't great, sorry!

All I have on is foundation in this shot:

You can see they're pretty dark but need filling in because I have some gaps in them.

I've never had my eye brows done but always wanted to. Maybe one day I'll get round to getting them done professionally!

So I filled them in using the crayon which is so easy to do and you can easily add more as you go if you don't want to do too much in one go:

In the above picture I have generally filled in the gaps and shaded lightly which I find is all I need for day wear, especially as my skin is so pale!

The crayon is so easy to use and doesn't drag on the skin at all. I also find it lasts all day and doesn't smudge down your face at all during the day.

When I go out however I up the ante in all respects!

More foundation, more bronzer, eyeshadow etc etc and define my brows to match.

I don't have eyeshadow on in the picture below but you get the idea!

Do you have any brow products you love? Have you tried the Mac crayon?

What do you think of the results?

L xxx

Review: Real Techniques Core Collection Brushes

So I know most people by now have these, but here is my 2 cents on the Real Techniques Core Collection.

I wanted this for a while but after buying some of the other brushes in a 3 for 2 deal (post here) and already owning quite a few others I didn't really NEED them...so I stopped myself.

However on my shopping trips in the US I cam across them selling for the equivalent of £11!

This was when I could NOT resist snapping them up, as you do

I'm sure most of you have seen these pictures, and to be honest there are a lot of pictures in this post!

I love the simple packaging, the fact it comes with a case and that all the brushes can stand up.

I also like that on the back they detail the types of brushes and what they're used for and also you can go onto YouTube and find yourself their tutorials which are actually pretty informative. 

I recommend you all go and watch them here

 

The case intrigued me as I haven't seen it shown on any other blogs that well (I'm sure someone has it though!) so I didn't really understand what all the fuss was about....it's just a case right??

Wrong! It has this whole toggle business as shown in the photo above and all you have to do is pull the cord and bend the case in half for it to become a stand as below:

Genius!

I like this idea as it makes it super easy to wash your brushes and stand them upside down to dry

So onto the brushes....I was a little disappointed with the buffing brush as mine will not stand up, which is being picky but isn't that supposed to be one of the features of the brushes?

I've gone through each brush and taken close up photos of each so you can see the brushes in all their glory before I used any of them....good blogger!

This is the pointed foundation brush.

It's quite small for a foundation brush but I found it much easier to apply concealer and foundation around my eyes and nose than other brushes, but covering my entire face with this might take a while and I'm always in too much of a rush!

I also liked using this for my liquid highlighter (High Beam) as it blended everything in so well.

The design of the brush is so simple and each has the name of the brush printed at the end:

Onto the contour brush:

All of these brushes are so soft they are so nice to use, this one in particular as its bigger and feels so soft when you are contouring.

I haven't used this brush much as of yet, just once or twice but I love the effect it gave when I did use it.

Next is the buffing brush:

This one is my personal favourite!

I love using it to apply my foundation as it gives such a nice finish.

I alternate between using this brush and the stippling brush when the other is being washed.

I would definitely consider getting more of this brush if I could get it separately (have no idea if you can?) so that I could keep it in my gym make up bag as I'm lazy at having to re pack it every other day!

Just look at how soft it is!!

Who wouldn't want to use this every day??

I just want the brush to be super size so I could jump onto it!

Last is the detailer brush:

I have used this to apply concealer to the spots that seem to be plaguing my life at the moment!

As soon as I start getting rid of them a new crop suddenly appears....I'm 24 and this shouldn't be happening anymore!

It has a really small tip that helps with precise application and is great for covering small areas and any tiny imperfections you need to apply a little more product to.

All in all I am super happy with my purchases and the only problem as always is washing them...i wish they'd stay cleaner for longer!!!

What do you think of Real Techniques brushes? Are you in love with them too?

What do you think of my nails? They're coming up in a new series were starting next week so watch out for them!

L xxx