Not so green with Envy

I have been very queit on my product reviews lately as I have tried to concentrate on my nail art as it is the original reason I opened this blog up. However, that doesn't mean the beauty posts will come to a halt, don't worry your little noggins. This post is actually a nail produt review for the week and I have a few Christmas and winter themed posts in the upcoming weeks .. I am even going to try something fashion-y this weekend, see how you like that :)

So.. O.P.I Nail Envy.

What did I think? When my mum told me she had ordered us both a bottle I was ecstatic. I paint my nails ALOT and have always applied my trusty Avon Nail Strengthener or another favourite Sally Hansen Diamond Strength (which I have featured on here a fair bit), and I've not had much cause for complaint with them. HOWever... My nails do seem to break frequently, probably down to my clumsiness and excessive handbag clutter. So when the package arrived I was rather giddy.

I tried the routine for a week -

2 coats on day 1 > 2 coats on day 3 > 1 coat on day 5 > remove on day 7.

And I honestly wasn't all to impressed with the results, I think I got overexcited and expected a little too much. So I waited a few weeks and tried again, and this time I noticed a difference!..

A few weeks later I tried again again.. and now my nails are so tough it took a bowling ball to break one. They feel thicker, are growing faster and seem to be invincible. The protein must take a few goes to really get to work on them.. If you aren't a nail painter, then I do suggest you keep this on and repeat the process over and over to have impeccable nails for those special occassions when you do lacquer up. If you are a nail painter like myself, then I suggest giving yourself a week break every 3-4 weeks on this formula. Just like your skin needs no make up days, so do your nails.

Take care ladies.

nail art: winter sparkle

Adding a lil bit o' winter sparkle to my life and yours. It's finally December so I will be giving in to the Christmas cheer I do love so much, when it's not October.

P.S. Sorry it's been a while.. I'm a very busy final year student who has taken to living in the library!!

Hope you enjoy the video below...

I love this look for two reasons - it's simple and it's sparkly.
I used:
- GOSH Matte Silver Polish
- Barry M White Polish
- Tape (from eBay any colour should do)
- Sponges from Primark
- Brushes (from eBay of course)
- Avon Quick Dry Spray (My secret to happy nail-hood)

Steps:
- Apply tape
- Apply two coats of white polish
- Sponge on your sparkle
- Allow to dry
- Remove tape
- Clean line and around nail
- Top coat and spritz!

Taping tips:
- Be careful when applying a thick layer of anything on top of tape .. make sure it dries completely before removing the tape
- Pre-cut your tape for each nail.. of course
- Clean your negative space with a thin brush dipped in polish remover
- A top coat will even out the bumps and edges, don't worry!

Gradient tips:
- I do gradient a lot but not with glitter because it's hard to clean... Use plenty of polish remover, cotton buds and brushes and keep at it!
- Any remaining glitter will come over over night/with time, don't worry about the odd speckle
- Use a make-up sponge to apply.. of course

Please please do take a quick second to check out my other videos on YouTube (click here!) and subscribe away my dears!

nail art: great gatsby

A couple of years ago when Great Gatsby actually came out I did an inspired design in black and gold; it's one of my absolute favourite freehand designs from my collection.

Follow this link to see the full video on my YouTube channel! 

I used:
- GOSH Nail Lacquer in Gold 554
- MUA Polish in Pitch Black
- Thin brush for black and gold seperate!
- Avon Instant Dry Nail Polish Spray


Tips:
- Use the thinnest brush you can find for creating your design
- Have a dollop of the design polish on a piece of paper next to you
- Don't let the dollop dry! - Obviously
- Use black to neaten the design - so don't worry about smudges

nail art: an easier way to marble

I have now (well my dad has now) invested in a tripod so I can film all my tutorials from now without the scary balance of my phone on a stack of books! SO without further a due I give to you my dry marbling tutorial!

This design is a super easy way of getting an interesting 'how did you do that?!' design. It works great as a feature nail and you can use just 2 colours or as many as you want!

I used:

• Models Own Polish in Pukka Purple
• Barry M Nail Paint in Matt White
• GOSH Cosmetics Polish in Deep Purple
• Maybelline Super Stay 7 Days Polish in Crystal Clear
• 1 small dotting tool (smallest you can find - a needle or anything sharp & pointy can work)

Tips:

• Use a fair bit of polish for your base colour
• Act fast
• EXPERIMENT with design
• I use my nail to clean up any wonky lines or leaks in the polish (this can happen when applying a big dollop at once.. use a fine brush dipped in polish remover if you aren't a fan of the nail to nail clean up I use)
• Enjoy :)

frosty make-up

I know i know.. it's been a week but I am working on something amazing for my next nail tutorial. So while you wait for that I am going to do you some winter make up looks over the next week. I have a few favourite looks from the catwalks for winter.. now that winter is really kicking in it's time to show them off. The first look I want to show is the white on highlight look that you can see here from the Givenchy catwalk..

Careful contouring and highlighting and lots of white eyeliner (and bleached eyebrows) make up this look. I have adapted it for a day look with a bit of glitter...

PS only reason I have wet hair is that it was my only opportunity to get in the bathroom (fullhouseprobs!) but it worked ..

I used both flash and no flash so I could capture the glitteryness I used, I still don't think either of these images give it justice - much more glitter in real life!

I hate taking lips pics but .. there it is! Again, much more glittery in real life :(

How did I do it? What did I use?

.. Well my base is the same as my everyday make up but with a little less dark contour and more highlight, here I used my Sleek Light Face Form Palette. I use GOSH mineral powder in 002, 17 Super Stay Concealer in Light (it is most important to use this/foundation on your eyes on this look so you have a clean even colour to work with .. that way the white will be more obvious). I have had my brows tinted but normally I use Shavata Brow Palette and my mascara is Max Factor Clump Defy. 

For my eyes I used a standard white shadow - I don't have a white eyeliner so I lined my low bottom line with the shadow and a bit of vaseline. Then I used B. by Superdrug Eye Shimmer in Moonshine to line the bottom over again, then I applied a line of this to my cut crease (Barbie style) and blended that in with the white eyeshadow. I then used a taupe shimmer from MUA to blended and highlight. 

For my lips I used the B. eye shimmer to get the glitter going and then topped that with Avon Clear Plump Pout lip gloss. 

I hope you like this look.. I'm off to a baby shower now! <3

nail art: losing my video virginity

For this post I have put in many hours filming and editing the below video, now I am not 100% impressed by the quality of my nails, I usually am much more of a perfectionist but given the resulting video I am quite happy. I more or less just wanted to demonstrate these two techniques and simplify them for you.

What I Used:

Barry M Nail Paint in White (a current favourite)

Barry M Gelly Hi Shine Nail Pain in Key Lime (a pretty new addition to my collection)

Maybelline Super Strong Gel Nail Colour in Crystal Clear

Pointed dotting tool

Make-up sponge

Sally Hansen Moisturising Nail Polish Remover

Cotton buds & pads

Masking tape

Glass of luke warm water

Avon Quick Dry Polish Spray

10 Essential Tips:

1. Always start water marbling with a clean white base
2. Always use tape to limit clean up
3. Make sure the water is luke warm/room temperature so the polish can spread
4. Shake the glass is the polish is struggling to spread
5. Add each drop quick as you can
6. Blow on the polish once you have dipped the nail in to make removing the excess easier
7. Wait until the nail is dry before removing the tape and cleaning
8. Do a few tester nails - practice makes perfect!
9. When making the design in the polish - act fast, but not too fast (again practice!)
10. If you can - use a brush to clean up your nail also as well as a cotton bud

dream dots for spots

This product does exactly what it says on the tin and that's pretty much what I want to tell you in this review. Lately, I have had spouts of 'breaking out' as some will call it (I call it being really spotty) and no amount of water or laying off the chocolate or no make up days seems to help me (even though they are great things to do for your skin). So, I came across Dream Dots and at first, honestly, I was skeptical... I mean sticking a little round sticker on your spot for a night really doesn't sound like it could make all the difference does it? No - but first impressions can be tough and often wrong.

I stuck the three dream dots on fairly sore white heads and left them on while I slept, I read the packaging very carefully because I would love to know if there is some special gel or ingredient that makes these things work (like a witch stick formula) but there weren't any harsh chemicals or ingredients. All it said was that the sticker extracts the excess dirt from your pore/spot and soaks it up and helps it heal so you don't have to go through the eye watering process of popping them. (there is some more detailed sciencey talk on their website, link below)

And I saw results... When you use these dots on white heads you can see a result the next morning, much cleaner and hygienic than popping zits, these stickers cut right to the problem. I was actually very impressed, I had a particular spot under my nose that was really sore last night and now its gone, no more soreness, redness or white head! Amazing! I would definitely recommend these to someone who tends to break out and especially dislikes the gruelling spot popping process - because let's face it, it's kinda grim even though sometimes satisfying! I haven't uploaded a before and after pic of my spots as I thought that would be even more grim, you will just have to trust me!

Dream dots are available from the website in packs of 24 www.dreamdotsforspots.com for £9.35 (viewed in dollars on website - try Amazon if you are struggling here)

This product was a PR sample.