NOTW 18: China Glaze Take a Trek

WOW WOW WOW! I only bought this polish recently when my friend said she wanted some holographic polishes and recommended China Glaze's. I myself had never tried them but the pictures I'd seen were truly stunning! I made my decision and ended up buying one- even though I wanted more, the others I wanted were out of stock though, much to my disappointment. I bought Take a Trek as that was my second favourite to Strap On Your Moonboots and I'm SO glad that I did.

This polish is an absolutely beautiful blue colour that creates a little rainbow of sparkle on your nail when a bright (preferably natural) light hits it. I cannot describe how beautiful this colour is so you will just have to see for yourself! Regarding formula and application, both are great! This polish only takes 2 thin coats to become pretty much fully opaque and it is so smooth to apply. It dries very quickly too which is always a bonus. The one thing I have found with this polish so far- and it's early days yet- is that it chips pretty easily even with a topcoat. Because I have only used this polish once so far I'm not sure whether it's the top coat I'm using (Essence Quick Dry) or the China Glaze itself. So hopefully I'll find out more when I wear it again. But overall this polish is absolutely stunning and I will definitely buy the other colours I like when they come back in stock!

NOTW 16: Lacey Bahama Mama

One of my best friends bought me Essie's Bahama Mama for Christmas which is a beautiful berry, wine-like colour. I think this is a colour that works all throughout the year and one idea I was really excited to try was a base of Bahama Mama and a white design on top. I had a look through the stamps I have and thought that this flower design would be a great choice as it looks pretty, interesting and elegant! I also thought it would work quite well with the white and I wasn't disappointed!





The polish itself (Bahama Mama) applies so evenly and has great pigment. It only took 2 thin coats to become opaque but more coats would also change the colour slightly, so it's a really versatile polish! It dried pretty quickly too which is a benefit! The stamps I used (Cheeky Stamps) applied evenly too but I do think I need to invest in a proper white stamping polish or use an alternative white as the Barry M one I used just didn't turn out as white as I'd hoped. The overall design was still visible and looked good though so I'm not too disappointed! I also used my Essence topcoat again and I still wasn't disappointed! I loved this design and think it would be a great design for many different occasions and the colour will work all throughout the year!

Technic Bronze Palette First Impressions!

A few months ago (...last August, oops!) I reviewed Technic's Nudes eyeshadow palette and overall I really liked it (link here if you're interested). Today I have another one of their palettes and this one is their Bronze palette. Bronze shades really suit me as I have blue eyes and once again, Technic have not let me down!

W7 In the Buff: Lightly Toasted vs. MUA's Undressed palette. Naked Palette DUPES!

So if you saw a few of my last posts you would know that I recently bought a few palettes from W7 that are dupes for Urban Decay's Naked 1 + 2 palettes. Little did I know that I already had an original Naked Palette dupe from MUA (Makeup Acadamy). I thought it would be a good idea to test these palettes against each other as they are both around the same price, so... lets get into the post!

NOTW 14: Valentines Nails

I haven't done any Valentines Day nails before and I really want to start using calendar events as inspiration for my nails. So I did a generic heart design but I'm actually quite pleased with the result.









I used Nails Inc.'s St. James for my base and used my Cheeky stamps and Konad's black stamping polish for the design. The stamp is a really cool kind of doodle heart design and I thought it'd look great using a black polish. Looking on it, the design is pretty subtle as both of the colours are quite dark but it looks really nice when you can see the actual design. St. James is such a brilliant colour and a joy to apply! You actually only need one coat for it to become opaque but I still applied 2 to make sure. It's a lovely creamy, vibrant red colour and has such good lasting power!
For this design I actually struggled a bit with the stamps, I'm not sure if it was because the engraving wasn't deep enough or if I was doing something wrong. Either way I managed to fight my way through the dodgy application and create this design! I used my Essence top coat which dries amazingly quickly and does a great job of keeping the colour in place! It does tend to smudge the design a bit more than my Seche Vite one but I think I'll be able to find a way around that if I carry on using it! Overall I'm really happy with the design and think it's a great, simple design for Valentines Day.

My Everyday Base Makeup Essentials + Quick Review!

I wear makeup on most days and I tend to reach for the same products everyday, it's not that I don't have a variety of products to choose from, it's just that the products I use are so reliable and easy to work with I don't feel the need to try something else! Here are some of the base products (foundation, powder etc.) that I use on a daily basis and a quick little review on all of them. Enjoy!

W7 In the Buff : Lightly Toasted- An ORIGINAL Naked Palette DUPE!

If you've read my last post (link here if you're interested!) you will know that I recently found a very affordable dupe for Urban Decay's Naked2 palette! After I bought that I did some more research and also found that the same brand (W7) also did a dupe for the original Naked Palette! So I went on a hunt to find it and ended up buying it for £4.99 on Ebay. Once again, I was so excited when I got it!

W7 In the Buff- Naked2 DUPE!

For months I have been debating whether or not to buy one of Urban Decay's Naked palettes. The reviews I've seen rave about them and when I've swatched them in the stores I've been amazed by the quality. The one thing putting me off buying one is the price, but luckily when I found this baby I didn't have to worry anymore...

Empties #1: Starting afresh!

I'm not one for keeping rubbish (lets face it, who is) but I recently finished a lot of products at the same time and thought it would be a good time to do an empties post! It's a new year and I think this is another reason it is a great time for an empties post as it is almost a way of starting again! One of the big things I would like to do this year is upload more posts to on a more regular basis; they may not always be completely beauty related but it just brings more routine and writing these posts actually relaxes me in a way. Anyway, lets get into the post and what products I have (finally) finished and whether I would repurchase them or not!

Glossybox August 2014

It's the time of the month where I show you what came in this months Glossybox! I didn't actually plan on buying this months Glosybox as I cancelled my subscription after I received my July box but I then realised that it said my ending month was the August one. To me that just meant an extra month of surprises so I wasn't upset! To be honest though, I have mixed feelings about this box, carry on reading to find out why...

Technic Nudes Palette First Impressions + Makeup Look

Hello there! So recently I was shopping with one of my friends and she was hunting down a eye palette to take on holiday. I don't think she realised how bad a decision it was to take me; as we'd end up spending hours looking at the same types of palettes and eventually decide not to get anything! But this trip I did end up with an exciting find... Enter Technic's Nudes palette!

Mary Kay Love Lash Mascara Review

I received this mascara in the July Glossybox (my post on it here) and long story short, I'm really happy with it! Carry on reading to see the details!

Eyeko Skinny Liner Review

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

So, like everyone, I love freebies (don't lie... you do too!), and recently I've been looking for a new liquid liner. As luck would have it this month's Glamour magazine had a free Eyeko felt tip liner with it so I had to grab it! I actually had just bought a new liner pen from Rimmel (review coming soon!) but you can never have too many eyeliners and it's always good to have a backup! I hadn't done any research into whether this was a good product or not, but for £2 with a magazine who can complain! So, if you want to see my first impressions and thoughts on this product then just keep on reading!

Collection 2000 Cream Puff Lip Cream Review!

The other day I was browsing in Superdrug and came across a product that I'd forgotten I wanted. It was the Collection 2000 Cream Puff lip cream in the shade 'Cotton Candy'. Well I couldn't risk forgetting about it again so I snatched it up (that's the excuse I'm using anyway!) and I'll sum it up by saying, I'm in love with it! There's also a quick review at the bottom for people that just want an opinion!

NOTW 13: Metal Flip Fiery Blaze

Hi everyone! Sorry for not posting lately, been up to my eyeballs in college work and I'm only just coming up with a routine to do it all efficiently! This weeks post is yet another Nails of the Week post. This week, because we're going into autumn I wanted to have a darker look to my nails, so I decided to try my new Miss Sporty Metal Flip polish in the shade 'Fiery Blaze' (I'm going to review all of the Metal Flip polishes soon, so keep an eye open!) which is a beautiful duo-chrome purple, brown, green... oh what the hell it has TONNES of different colours in it! All I can say is I absolutely LOVE this polish, it looks so beautiful and funky and has a very rock chick look about it! In the shade the polish has a gorgeous metallic purple look to it but when it's in the light it shows up green, blue and brown. The application was a bit tricky as the polish was a it gloopy, however it did dry really quickly and it hardened well too! These pictures really don't do it justice but I definitely recommend these polishes because they look stunning on the nails and they are really fun to work with!

NOTW 12: Matte Black and Shiny Silver

Hey! Hope everyone's doing well this 'fine' (rainy!) day! This week, I didn't want to do an intricate design yet I still wanted more than just one colour so I decided to use my matte topcoat for the first time and chose to do an accent nail to glam things up a bit!
I really love the way this came out and think that, even though it's simple, it adds more to the look and does look really great! For my black I used my Rimmel polish in the shade 'Black Cab' and this was a great polish which became opaque in 2 coats but there was something wrong with the polish. Sometimes when I was applying my first coat it would just be like water and wouldn't come off on to my nail so I had to shake the bottle to mix it back up! Bit disappointed with that but I don't think it's much to complain about! The accent silver nail was done with a polish that came in a set by 'Lumier' and was so easy to apply! It was really pigmented and I could probably have passes with one coat but I put 2 on just to be safe! For my matte nails I just applied my Rimmel matte top coat and waited for it to dry. It dried really quickly and hardened my nails well too!
Overall I really like this look for a quick and easy design that still looks great!

NOTW 11: Do you sea my nails?!

This week, rather than having just one block colour on my nails I decided to add a glitter top coat to add a bit more to them! As it turns out both polishes I used had a sea themed name! Firstly I used Technic's South Pacific which is a really nice dusty blue-green colour. It applies really well and only takes 2 thick coats or 3 thin coats to become opaque (I used 2 on the pictures below!). The glitter I used is also by Technic and is the one I hold in the picture. It's their 'Mermaid' polish and I think it is absolutely beautiful! It has multiple sized blue hexagon glitters which change to silver and green in the light! I think it has a slightly blue tinted base as well but I'm not too sure! Either way I love the colour and think it looks amazing! It was slightly difficult to apply though as all the glitters came off in one place but it can be pretty easily spread out before the polish becomes too tacky to move them. Overall I think it is worth the time that you spend spreading out the glitters as it adds a really beautiful layer to the nails! I love both of these polishes and I think they're really great value!

NOTW 10! MUA Natural Days

So we're now on to my 10th Nails of the Week post! This week I decided to try MUA's pinky-natural polish in the shade Natural Days. This is the second MUA I have tried out and unfortunately I've been disappointed with both! The one good thing I thought about this polish was that the colour was really nice and I loved the way it made my nails and hands look! However apart from that I can't say another good word about it! The application was awful and streaky and this was probably due to the polish being really think and gloopy and the brush being atrocious! The bristles flew everywhere and was not precise at all! It took 3 coats to become opaque and even then it was streaky. The wear wasn't very good either, I only had this on for a day before it chipped on my tips and after that there were little cracks all over the nail which looked really gross! (The picture on the right shows these). Overall really not impressed with this product, I love MUA for other things like their eye shadows and their blusher which are really good quality for their price but I don't think nail polish is their strong point! Sorry MUA but I don't think ill be buying any nail polish from you any time soon!


The cracks can be seen on the tip of my index.

NOTW 9: Running in Circles

I was SUPER excited when I got a package the other day and was so happy when I saw that this polish looked even more beautiful in person! This weeks Nails of the Week is China Glaze's Running in Circles from their Cirque de Soleil: Worlds Away collection. It's a lovely forest green base with lots of green and slightly gold glitters in. This polish applies so smoothly and is quite opaque. It took 2 coats to become fully opaque and in the light you can still see where the nail bed finishes; however this isn't a problem as the glitter in it masks it. The wear-time is amazing, I wore this with just a top coat for 4 DAYS before there were any chips! Even though I was doing a lot with my hands like washing up and opening packets etc. the nail polish stood strong and lasted really well. Overall I think this is an absolutely beautiful polish and I would definitely recommend it. I think this polish would be best for Christmas time however I would still wear it mid-summer! Nice work China Glaze!

July 2013 Favourites!

I cannot believe that we're almost in August already! This year has just flown by! Soon I'll be getting my GCSE results and going to college... now THAT'S a scary thought!! But since it's the end of the month it's time to do my favourites for the month of July! There have been lots of things I've been loving this month and a lot of them are because of the heat-wave we've been having here in England! So, lets get into it!