Weekly Wishlist | 004

This week has just flown by! I actually have some pretty exciting news to share with you all... I've just got my first job! Well, six month internship actually but, it's a start, it's paid, it's in London and it's in an industry I love. I can't believe how lucky I am! Another post will be up soon explaining some more details, but for now here's a little peek at some of the products I'm lusting after this month.

Weekly Wishlist 002

Weekly Wishlist 002 

Another week that's just flown by! This week I've tried really hard to be motivated; going to the gym, blogging and sharing all the time, and most importantly keeping up with the dreading dissertation. So this morning I decided to treat myself to a bit of online shopping (read: online window browsing) and these are just some of the beauty items I'm lusting after at the moment. (From l-r)

1) Smashbox Camera Ready CC Cream: £29.00 I've loved Smashbox ever since I tried their Photo Finish Foundation Primer, which is one of the best primers I've ever used, and I'd love to try out this CC Cream next. £29 is quite a lot to shell out for one product, but when it comes to foundations/BB creams/CC creams and the like, I think if it's something you're wearing everyday it's worth spending a few more pennies. I'd also like to switch to something lighter for the spring and give my skin a chance to heal from its latest breakout!

2)No7 Peony Petals Blush Palette: £12.00 No picture online can do this palette justice, I've seen it in store and it is absolutely stunning. The background colour is lovely warm pink, in the foreground you have a dusky rose colour and the back to shimmery gold petals to highlight. Three products in one for just £12, what more could a girl ask for!

3) Essie Nail Polish Twinkle-Belle Duo Kit: £12.99 I always love the little kits that Essie come out, they're really well put together and the colours complement each other perfectly. In the Twinkle-Belle kit you get a Crème-de-Menthe green and a multidimensional top coat in incadescent pink. Wear alone, wear together, it's up to you.

4) Marc Jacobs Honey Eau de Parfum 30ml: £39.00 This perfume has been in stores for a while now, but I still can't resist a spritz whenever I pop into my local Boots. I'm not much of a perfume girl - I stick to my two favourite DKNY fragrances - but this lovely summery floral scent. With top notes of green pair and juicy mandarin, it's very fresh and energetic, and the honey scent isn't overpowering at all.

5) Barry M Aquarium Nail Effects: £3.99 each Barry M is my favourite nail polish of all time, and one day I am determined to own every shade they have! I saw these on Twitter yesterday and I instantly thought it was such a pretty collection for summer. There are four mirror tone shades and two glitter top coats in the range, perfect for creating that mermaid look.

Have you tried out any of these? What beauty products are on your wishlist this week?

Beth xx

Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Top Coat

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat £5.99

A few months ago I shared the Sally Hansen No Chips Acrylic top coat with you all, and I was incredibly disappointed with the formula. Not only did it make my nail polish crack and chip, but it actually damaged it more than wearing no top coat at all. The experience did put me off Sally Hansen a little bit, but I've heard so many positives about the brand from friends, family and other beauty bloggers that it was difficult not to go back and try a different product. Plus I would hate to write a brand off completely just on one bad performance.
The first time I tried this top coat I actually borrowed it off my housemate, who blogs here, and I was really impressed with it! It completely made up for my bad experience with the No Chips Acrylic Top Coat, and more! If like me you are too impatient to wait for your polish to dry, or if even when it seems dry you still manage to smudge it, then this is the perfect product for you.
As it says on the bottle Insta-Dri is a clear top coat which you can apply to freshly painted nails to "instantly dry" them. I was a sceptical when I first tried this top coat, I thought there was no way it could dry my polish s quickly but it has worked every time. All you need to do is apply your nail polish (after you've put on a base coat of course), wait two minutes, and then apply a single coat of Insta-Dri and in a minute or so your nails will be completely dry! The top coat also contains UV filters, which helps protect your manicure and prevent nail colour from fading. Definitely worth the £5.99, just for the frustration it has saved me with ruined nails.
The only downside I've found with this product is that towards the end of the bottle it can tend to get a little sticky and tacky. I'm not sure why this is, maybe it's the drying properties, but if you try and apply it when it's like that it will ruin your polish. So just go out and get another bottle! You can buy Insta-Dri at Boots and Superdrug stores, or online here and here.

Have you tried the Insta-Dri top coat? What did you think?

Beth xx

Mani Mondays: The nail care basics

Apologies for being absent over the weekend but my best friend came to stay at my new house so we were busy catching up. It was a proper girly weekend: shopping in Southampton, tapas and cocktails at La Tasca and a spa day at Bournemouth Marriott Leisure club. Okay we didn't actually have any treatments but we had a lovely, relaxing few hours swimming in the heated pool, sitting in the jacuzzi looking at the seaside and first time tries of the sauna (which I wasn't keen on) and the steam room (which I loved).
This week's Mani Monday's post isn't technically a nail art design for you, but rather taking things back to basics and properly taking care of yours nails - after all we all need a good base for any nail tutorial whether it's a simple French manicure or going made with dots and stripes.
I've been researching some top tips for keeping your nails in good condition as part of an assignment for Black Box Beauty - where I work as a beauty writer - so I thought I would share some of the best ones as well as my current favourite products.

Models Own 4-way nail buffer (very well used)

Filing and Buffing
Most people are split when it comes to buffing but I love it! One of my favourite products has to be my Models Own 4-way nail buffer. It comes with a nail file and then 3-stage buffer so it's really handy to carry in your handbag. Buffing removes the top layer of the nail bed to get rid of any ridges or bumps, so if you have weak or brittle nails you might want to avoid it altogether.

Nail Shape
This varies for everyone, my housemate keeps hers short and square where as I grow them long and file them into an oval shape. Even when I cut them off I still keep them rounded, I just think it looks nicer and also makes your fingers look longer and slimmer.

Some of my favourite shades for Autumn: Polishes from Barry M, Rimmel Lycra Pro, NYC Nail Glossies, M&S, Max Factor Nail Effects, Bobby Pin and Acessorize.

Colour
This winter is all about deep, berry shades which look amazing but do lead to stained nail beds - as I've found out the hard way. My favourite base coat is Save the Nail by Nails Inc, but recently I've been using Rimmel Nail Nurse which you can use as base coat and top coat - great for lazy girls like me.

Soap and Glory Hand Food: Hydrating hand cream

Extras
Winter is on it's way and it's definitely getting colder, which means dry, sore red skin. To keep this at bay I've been using Soap and Glory Hand Food. I also suffer from quite weak nails at times. I always seem to be bending them back, and then ripping the top part of my nail off, though only on my thumbs or ring fingers! It's really  painful but not exactly something you can make a fuss about so, when I remember, I like to apply a strengthening coat. It's also helpful to cut off any nicks as soon as you notice them to prevent them catching on anything.

What are your favourite hand and nail care products?

Beth xx

Mani Mondays: French Manicure

Hello beauties, I hope you are all well. I'm settling into my new house and I've got job interview tomorrow morning so I decided to give myself a French manicure in preparation. I always think french tips look so elegant and classy so they are the perfect nail art to wear to a interview.
I know some people like to draw a straight white line across the top of their nails but because I keep mine long and oval shaped that doesn't look write and is better suited to square of squoval shapes. I'm not very good at French tips however, my hand isn't steady enough, so I do cheat by using stencils. I picked up Nailene Perfect Tips from Superdrug this morning for just over £3 - and the pack contains 96 guides - and they seemed to have worked well. I will mention though be careful when peeling them back otherwise you will remove the polish underneath.

I used

• Rimmel Nail Nurse nail base & top coat £4.49
• Barry M in "Nude" £2.99
• Barry M in "Matte White" £2.99
• Nailene Perfect Tips

Instructions

• Prep your nails by making sure any polish is thoroughly removed, you don't want any traces showing through your manicure
• Apply 2 coats of Barry M "Nude" and leave to dry
• Apply the nail strip - if using - to the tip of nail, leaving the gap you want to paint white.
• Apply Barry M "Matte White" to the nail, above the strip, or paint on in a curved or straight line depending on which look you want to go for.
• When the white is dry remove the nail strips carefully, if they have been used, and apply another coat of Rimmel Nail Nurse.

Do you like French tips? Have you come across any interesting ways to jazz the look up?

Beth xx

Sally Hansen No Chip Acrylic Top Coat

A top coat was never something I really bothered with, I mean I only recently got in on the whole base coat act after being fed of having stained nail beds. But having a top coat really does help your nail polish last the whole week so on one of my visits to Boots a couple of months ago I decided to pick up this top coat by Sally Hansen.
Now there's a reason why I've waited so long to post this review, because I really wanted to give this polish a chance but unfortunately it just isn't working for me. Every time that I've applied this top coat it has made my polish crack which just makes it peel off easier. Not at all what I was expecting from an Acrylic Top Coat. I actually dithered between this and another Sally Hansen top coat for a few minutes, knowing me I probably walked round the store with both bottles and then made an impulse choice between them at the checkout.
I have tried this polish over Barry M, Models Own and Essie nail polishes and nearly every single time it has made the polish crack and completely ruined the look. My housemate tried it out over a Models Own polish and was also disappointed to find her nails ruined.
Like I said, I waited to post this review because I really wanted to make sure that the top coat wasn't working. I checked my nails were fully prepped, the colour polish was completely dry and tried several brands but the same problem keeps happening. Perhaps it's only meant for Sally Hansen polishes, but I do wish it had said that on the box!

Have you tried any better top coats? Or is there somewhere I'm going wrong with this one?

Beth xx

Mani Mondays: The Colour of the Season

Mani Mondays is the latest addition to my blog, while I'm not going to claim to be some sort of genius nail artist - I'll leave that to the professionals - I am a lover of all things nail polish related hence the reason for this new post.
I adore collecting nail polishes and I have around 60 bottles in my collection, a few of them were gift sets I was given for Christmas or birthdays but a lot of them are just bottles I've picked up whilst I'm out shopping with friends - I never can resist a 3 for 2 offer on Barry M. I don't usually go for any specific brands I just pick up ones which I like the colour of and, more often than not, have a nice bottle design!
Today's post is all about one of this season's must have colours, PINK! Whether it's baby pink, magenta, neon pink, barely there pink, fuchsia, cerise, rose or salmon this Autumn you will need some pink in your make up bag and a good place to start is with your nails.

(l-r) Barry M Sequin Effects Pink, Rimmel Lycra Pro Oyster Pink, Accessorize nail polish from a gift set, Models Own Bubblegum, Mavala Funny Coral, Max Factor Nailfinity Disco Pink, Revlon Colourstay Cafe Pink

Growing up I was never much of a pink person, purples were always more my thing and I tended to go for shades of blue and green when I was picking an outfit because they flatter my skin tone. Until recently I though I still wasn't much of a pink person but a quick look at my make up box proved me to be, I found a glut of pink lipsticks, pink blushers and pink lipglosses all which have been well used.

Everything from Bourjois blush and baby stick, to lipglosess from Rimmel, Clinique, Neal's Yard Remedies and Missguided

I've just started wearing this gorgeous pink nail polish from Mavala which I got in my goody bag from Fabulous magazine and I think it's the perfect colour to see the season in with. Funny Coral is from the 2013 Pacific Dream collection and is a combination, I think, of coral, French rose and deep pink not too bright that you can't wear it everyday, but still noticeable enough. I also found the polish had a lovely glossy finish and was quick to dry - which is always, always a bonus!

Mavala Funny Coral*

From the Summer 2013 Pacific Dream Collection

I think I'll be wearing this colour considerably throughout Autumn, before turning to darker, richer pinks almost on the verge of deep reds as the weather gets colder. Mavala polishes are available from a number of stockists online as well as large department stores like Boots. For more information visit the Mavala website.

Will you be wearing pink this season?

Beth xxx 

Barry M gelly hi shine nail paint

Hello lovelies, now I'll let you in on a secret - I absolutely adore nail varnishes but I am rubbish when it comes to painting my nails, so much so that it reached the point where I would ask anyone to paint them for me, my friends, my mum, even my brother. I have to say I'm getting better with practice but I still manage to get varnish all round my cuticles and miss half my nail at the same time... how?

Anyway my collection of nail varnishes now stands at nearly 50 bottles! I think the bottles all look so beautiful but at the moment I keep them in a giant box from paperchase as it's less hassle than keeping them all out on display

My "small" collection of nail varnishes including ones from Rimmel, Revlon, Barry M,
H&M, M&S, Maybelline, Bobby Pin and Accesorize!

My latest purchase was from Barry M, it was buy 2 and save £1 and that was all the encouragement I needed. I have to admit I tend to have a love/hate relationship with Barry M, they do such a huge range of colours, everything a girl could want or need - pastels, brights, dark, glitter, e.t.c. - but their polishes seem to take an age to dry! I don't know whether I'm just impatient, but I seem sit still for ages and then I make a tiny movement and then BOOM, smudged, all my hard work ruined.

Now Gel manicures are incredibly popular at the moment but they also happen to be incredibly bad for your nails, ruining the nail bed and making them weak if you have them on a regular basis. It's also quite an expensive habit to upkeep to if you're looking for an alternative or just want to try a gel effect then this is the perfect nail varnish for you. Like all Barry M products, this gel effects nail varnish is very reaonably priced at £3.99 and comes in a range of shades - which I think is great considering this range is pretty recent.

I went for this lovely pastel purple colour called "Prickly Pear". I absolutely adore pastel shades, it's one of my favourite trends and I am so pleased to see it is back again for S/S13. The only problem with pale shades, and this is synonomous with any brand, is that you have to really layer up the coats to get a good even colour and hide the whites of your nails. I'm happy to report that after 3 coats of Barry M I achieved a colour that matched the bottle, the nail paint went on very smoothly and created a lovely glossy, smooth coat. I found myself glancing at my nails all day long and admiring the colour. 

So what do you think? Have you tried the Gelly Effects range yet and, if so, what's your favourite shade?

Beth xx

Save the nail - toughen up base coat

Hello everyone, I hope you're well.

It's been absolutely freezing today, we've even had some snow but unfortunately it wasn't heavy enough to settle so looks like we won't be having a snow day tomorrow!

Anyway as you've probably all noticed nude and natural nails are going to be huge this Spring/Summer and I noticed mine were in need of a bit of TLC. Working it a kitchen is definitely puts a strain on your hands and mine are always looking damaged. The hot water dries out your hands and leaves you nails looked tired and ragged. I've lost count of the number of times I've bent my nail back or ripped it halfway down the bed (ouch!). 

This base coat was a bit of an impulse purchase, I was browsing in Boots with a good friend and this cheeky little product caught my eye. The packaging is so cute - covered in hearts (perfect for Valentines Day) and seeing as it was on offer how could I refuse? 

 

Like all other products by Nails Inc., gets a lovely (and very appropriate) name "Save the nail". It contains silk powder to add instant strength and mineral complex with added protein to helps nails grow stronger and longer. The idea is that you apply a coat every 7 days and then on the 8th day you clean your nails and start again. I've only been using it for a few days but I can already see difference in my nails. They look smoother and healthier, and the whites are much lighter.I definitely think I will keep using this base coat, and I'll report back as to whether it's made them any better to deal with the strains and stresses of a working kitchen!

 

 

Apologies for the bad pictures of my hands, the camera isn't the greatest. Also if my nails look slightly blue it's because the house is so cold!

Save the nail toughen up base coat is available from Boots and online here for £7.50

Have you used any other products from Nails Inc.? What did you think?

Beth xx