NOTD Barry M Chameleon

I'm loving doing our 21 days of nails. I'm linking the fact it's giving me the excuse to paint my nails so much as well as giving me the excuse to maybe purchase a few new nail varnishes. This was one I picked up the other  day and my first Barry M purchase along with the magnetic one featured here.

I couldn't resist getting this as I thought it would make and interesting polish and make nail art so simple. I picked up the Chameleon pink shade and is £3.99 from boots

I was so impressed with this polish. This is the colour after one coat. Fully opaque and a gorgeous metallic rose pink shade. I really need to try more Barry M polishes. I'm eyeing up a gorgeous blue shade and the Britannia special glitter one.

The chameleon polishes work like those magic markers I'm sure you all had as kids I loved mine. You add ordering top coat to the polish and they change colour. What a cool effect. I loved the pink shade so much I almost didn't but after seeing L's Chanel inspired nail art she posted here I was keen to try a similar effect. L told me it gets easier. Mine isn't too neat but you get a good idea of the colour change achieved from applying clear polish.

I'm loving the reverse French effect look. It looks really effective and is a really simple design to do.

I definitely want some more of these polishes, especially the lilac one. I think some simple effect nail art looks can be achieved with these polishes. The purple is a really pretty shade too if left just that colour.

Have you tried any of these colour changing nail varnishes?

Love M

xxx

NOTD: Galaxy Nails

Galaxy nails have featured heavily on blog posts around the world for the past year or so.

I've never actually tried it as I thought it would be far to complicated but after trying out a few other designs I've decided to up my game!

Having already started out our 21 Days of Nails and then also seeing that Fee at Make Up Savvy has started a 15 Day Nail Challenge I thought it would be a great idea to combine the two and test out a Galaxy nail design today.

Hopefully she will link us in her post, but her blog can be found here for any other posts she puts up :)

Onto my designs....I decided to do two as I really got into the swing of things after trying out the dark galaxy nail design:

I started by painting my nails with a very thin coat of No7 Beautifully Black which is a silver glittery black, and then using Max Factor's Fantasy Fire and Odyssey Blue to create a dark glittery base representative of a mystical night sky.

After this I used my latest purchases of the China Glaze Neon colours, Pool Party and Turned Up Turquoise to create swirls and patterns along with Nails Inc's Cambridge Terrace to give a starry effect.

I then finished this with a top coat of China Glaze's Hunger Games edition of Luxe and Lush which will feature in an upcoming post also.

After I managed to cope with my attempt at galaxy nails for the first time, I removed my first attempt and thought I'd go for a more summery edition.....even though the weather isn't really reflecting the expected season! Sigh!

I started by using a pale blue base (Rimmel's Sweet as Sugar) and also the same Max Factor Fantasy Fire and Odyssey Blue, and Nails Inc's Cambridge Terrace to create a similar effect as before but in a lighter colour palette.

After this I used a coat each of the Saffron glitter nail polish in both silver and gold to give the best starry effect you could ever want with different shaped and sized glitter particles. 

I actually found this polish by reading Fee's blog in the first place so I owe her this big time, you can find it on ebay here for £2.20 delivered and here are also some fabulous dupes of other polishes...bargain!

What do you think of my attempts? Are you a fan of galaxy nails?

I'm so impressed with myself, gone are the days when I stick to my simple manicure. The world is my oyster now ;)

Take a look at Make Up Savvy's blog, it's amazing!

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

The AF Bloggers Budget Challenge

This is the first OOTD post on your blog. When Sera from The Agoraphobic Fashionista asked on twitter if bloggers were interested in a budget challenge I was excited to take part. 

I tend to shy away from OOTD due to not having anyone to take photos for me as I know not everyone likes mirror photos! They aren't the best, but this was too good an opportunity to miss. I thought it would be fun.

So what is The AF Bloggers Budget Challenge. Each month Sera picks out four people, they agree on a store and you have to try and get a complete outfit for under £20. Exciting right. It really makes you think about what you are buying and I think it's a great way to showcase how affordable fashion can be.

This months store was boohoo. As delivery was rather expensice £3.95 it was decided we'd put together an outfit under £20 if it included the postage that was a bonus. The challenge is simple. Get a complete outfit for under £20. But you can use one staple item from your wardrobe if you need it. I've never shopped in boohoo before so was excited to place my first order.

Here are the bloggers involved in this month and the outfits we all put together.

I'm excited to read all the posts to see what the other ladies picked up.

You can find the posts here

Sera at www.theagoraphobicfashionista.com

Me www.cosmeticsshoppingandintoxication.blogspot.co.uk

Emma at www.outmumbered.com

Christine at www.fashionfloozy.co.uk

So onto my outfit. I got a pencil skirt, top and ring.

The skirt I was instantly drawn to. It's not something I'd immediately pick but I love animal print and I love the faux leather trim on it. Even better than that it's a bargain £6. Online it does look a lot bluer than in person but I think this actually makes it more wearable. Definitely cocktails with the girls type of skirt.

I absolutely love rings. I think they always add something subtle to an outfit which isn't immediately noticed. I've recently got a few double rings so when it was only £4 I couldn't resist. How cute is it.

As the skirt is such a feature item I decided to keep everything else simple. I plain black boob tube to show curves and not take anything away from the detailing in the skirt and the simple ring. The boob tube is £6 which in all honestly is quite pricey considering you can get them cheaper else wear. I tried a few other tops with it but the baggier ones just didn't suit me the way I'd hoped.

I'm really pleased with the way the outfit turned out. I really love the skirt and think it will be perfect for cocktails with L. My shoes are from stylist pick and I got them for £12 they aren't available anymore I'm afraid. I love stylist pick but I went till sales or I'm offered discount codes. I think this outfit would look great with most heels. It also looked good with wedges for a summery feel and black heels give it a clean sleek look.

But I had issues with boohoo and delivery. I live in an apartment block which means due to working 9-5 getting my delivery was a pain as the driver can't get into it and I don't know whether they have been to arrange a re delivery. When I then arranged for it to be delivered to my work the parcel was delivered to a random part of the hospital signed for by someone who doesn't know me even though the couriers site stated they person signing on your behalf needed your ID. Also it wasn't delivered until 19.08!! For me sites that don't offer royal mail as an option are a pain.

I did also feel restricted on what to order. As although they offer free returns you are charged £2 per item you send back as a restocking fee. I understand people ordering lots then sending back is a pain but I then felt other stuff I liked on the site I didn't order incase I didn't like it on.

Overall I loved my outfit and shopping for it was definitely fun and a challenge I'll set myself more when shopping but I don't think I'll be placing another boohoo order unfortunately.

Thanks to Sera for arranging it all and I can't wait to see what next months ladies put together.

What do you think of my outfit? Have you tried something like this?

Love M

xxx 

Don't forget to check out the other lovely ladies bargains