NOTD - Revlon Starry Pink

Hey lovelies!

Well today I am wearing a polish that has been a huge lemming for me! Unfortunately this is not available in the UK and so I have been lusting for this for a while! I also wanted the Revlon Blue Mosaic and fortunately I met a lovely lady via Facebook from the US who was willing to go and purchase these and send them on to me (I cannot tell you how much that made my day!) For those of you that don't know me I have a four and a half month old baby girl and am currently on maternity leave. My polish obsession started at the beginning of my pregnancy and since I had my baby girl nail polish is now my treat to myself in place of clothes (I am a reformed shopaholic but now a self confessed polishaholic) - at least it is a less expensive luxury! Painting my nails has fast replaced retail therapy with nail therapy providing me with some much needed "me" time! I have met fellow polishaholics (yes I am not alone in this) and have formed some good friendships and have been able to share knowledge and to help one another out which has meant a lot to me and to have met this lovely lady I am so thankful! She is so great she has got me some other requests that are being posted out today! Anyway, enough of the soppy stuff and onto the polish ...

I could not wait to try Starry Pink and once it arrived it looked even more gorgeous than I had remembered! As this is such a beauty I obviously want it to last so before I used this polish I painted my nails with two coats of OPI's "Step Right Up" which is a very sheer pale pink and with two coats not enough to reach opacity. I stopped at two coats though as I didn't want slabs for fingernails! I then applied two coats of Revlon's Starry Pink, the polish is a sheer milky pale pink base with tiny silver glitter particles and large silver hexagons. The application was very effortless especially for a glitter polish it applied wonderfully! After two coats I was happy that I had reached opacity and so I applied a topcoat and I must say I am surprised that with just one layer of topcoat this glitter polish is very smooth to the touch!

Did Starry Pink live up to my expectations ... Well in my opinion this polish is "AMAZEBALLS"!!!! I am astounded with this delicate beauty, it is subtle and elegant and super princess pretty! Perfect for the party season! I am so grateful to the lovely lady who got this for me as I absolutely adore it! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

What do you think?

NOTD - Purple Crumpet Fairy Challenge - Your Most Ugly Nail Polish

Good afternoon lovelies!

Ok, so I joined a group on Facebook called The Purple Crumpet Fairy. They set new manicure challenges for each Friday and this week's challenge is to wear your most ugly polish. I am sorry that this post is a little late but better late than never!

Ok, so from the outset I thought this challenge would prove difficult especially because I tend to EBay my ugly polishes and so on looking through my stash and particularly my un-trieds I eventually found "Case Study" from Essie's Brand New Bag Collection 2011 and I remembered a conversation I had with my cousin Haley where she said she wore this and it reminded her of baby poo - so obviously not a good look so it must be ugly! Right?

Anyway, now that i am wearing it I have to confess I kind of like this little piece of ugly! Not sure when I will wear it again exactly but I think it's a keeper - mostly to do with the fact it was almost a one-coater (I still applied two) also applied extremely well and looks so creamy. The colour is a mixture of brown/khaki/green and beige and it is a creme finish. It reminds me of a military colour. It isn't all that appealing in the bottle nor on the nails as it's just not what I would consider "pretty", however, it's not as bad as I thought! I can see why my cousin thought it looks like baby you know what especially against different skin tones it might appear to look like that!

I also used NYC's Grand Central Station as a top coat for this mani and I am very impressed with the speedy drying time and the glossy finish - good job really considering I now have 6 bottles of it!

I apologise that these photos were not taken in daylight but this post is late enough already and I couldn't hold out another day!

What do you think? Would you wear this colour?

NOTD - Essie Chinchilly and Barry M Lilac Foil Leopard Manicure

Good Morning Lovelies!

Well today I am wearing a leopard design over my existing manicure Essie's "Chinchilly" (please see previous post).

To do the leopard spots I used Barry M's new "Lilac Foil" a Limited Edition polish which is available throughout December exclusive to Superdrug. You receive it free when you spend £6 across the Barry M range in Superdrug. (RRP £3.99). The lilac foil is very pretty and I think it will work great for stamping!

I used a dotting tool to place several spots over each nail and I also used OPI's Alpine Snow for some more spots over the nails. I outlined the spots with my good old favourite Andrea Fulerton's "Dot & Flick" Pen.

What do you think? Will you be purchasing the new lilac foil?

NOTD - Essie Chinchilly

Hey lovelies and Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the US!!!

Today I am wearing Essie's "Chinchilly". This is a lovely grey creme. In some lights it almost has a taupe appearance and in others it is a plain grey. This applied like butter and required two coats although I feel like some areas appear a little bald to my eye and so perhaps could have done with three coats but I didn't have time! Grey isn't usually a colour I would select but this bottle had me intrigued! I am actually surprised at how much I like it. I think it would look lovely with some nail art on top so watch this space!!!

What do you think? Do you wear much grey?

NOTD - PAA Lace Challenge - Essie Eternal Optimist

Good morning lovelies!

Today I am wearing a mani inspired by the Facebook Group Polish-aholics Anonymous. The group sets mani challenges which are set for Mondays and today's challenge is "Lace". As I have not long long just joined this is my first mani challenge - hopefully the first of many!

I was unsure where to start with this one as I thought a lace pattern could be tricky but then I remembered my good old Konad!

So for this mani I used Essie's "Eternal Optimist" - a lovely nude/peachy colour. This was one of my untrieds. It took two coats for full opacity but because I smudged a few I went over with a third layer also! The application was good too applied like butter! It has a lovely cream finish and it seems to remind me of a favourite of mine which is OPI's "Dulce De Leche". Anyways, so to create the lace effect I decided to use my Konad Stamping Kit and plate number m57. I used OPI "Alpine Snow" as the stamping colour and proceeded to apply to my nails. I decided to use a lace strip design across the tip of my nails and overall am pleased with the outcome. Although I would have been happier if the White would have shown up more but still it is my first attempt at this sort of thing and so I am happy :-)

What do you think of today's lace inspired mani?

NOTD - Minnie Mouse Polka Dot Nails

Hey lovelies!

Today I am wearing my existing manicure Essie's "Jelly Apple" nail polish which is a red creme/jelly (please see previous post for photos and info). I decided to do white polka dots on top inspired by Minnie Mouse! Well it was my first attempt at a polka dot manicure so there were a few mishaps along the way but nothing too noticeable! It was surprisingly easy to polka dot my left hand too which I wasn't expecting! For the polka dots I used a dotting tool which I dipped into OPI's "Alpine Snow" nail polish and then applied to the nail. I used Andrea Fulerton's Dot & Flick Pen for the black bow on my ring finger.

Overall I am pleased with this look especially for my first attempt! What do you think?

NOTD - Essie Jelly Apple

Hey lovelies!

Today I am wearing Essie's "Jelly Apple". It is a juicy red colour with a creme/jelly finish and is super shiny without topcoat! The application was amazing and took two coats to achieve opacity. I applied a topcoat to prolong the wear and wow I cannot stop staring at my nails and how glossy they are! This is now my go to red! I adore it!

I can feel a red leopard manicure coming very soon - so undecided white or gold spots - any thoughts?

What do you think?

NOTD - Andrea Fulerton Gemstone Overcoat

Hey lovelies!

Today I am wearing Andrea Fulerton's Gemstone Overcoat £4.99 from Superdrug.

Firstly, I painted my nails with two coats of OPI Coney Island Cotton Candy (a great French mani base) very pale nude. I then used two coats of The Gemstone Overcoat (although one coat would have been plenty enough in my opinion). The effect is kind of pearlescent with tones of green, orange, pink and gold so an overall jewel effect finish. The application was great and I could not fault it. The finish is very pretty but I am not sure I will wear this combination together any time soon as I think I might prefer Gemstone layered over a darker colour.

What do you think?

Midweek Nail Polish Haul - Superdrug & The Factory Shop

Good Afternoon Lovelies! This week I felt like cheering myself up and what better way ... Nail polish retail therapy!

During the week I ventured into town and went to The Factory Shop and stumbled across two Revlon Glitter Polishes. One is called "Galaxy" - looks in the bottle to be a clear/blue base with large holographic hexagon glitter and holographic and blue glitter flecks. The other is called "Star" - looks like a clear/lilac base with pewter coloured silver and lilac glitter flecks and large holographic hexagon glitter. Both of these polishes are Topcoats so would be perfect for layering! I snapped them up at a bargain price of £1.50 each. I can't wait to try them out for the party season!

Next up I visited Superdrug (whilst the 3 for 2 on cosmetics promotion is on). I bought NYC In A Minute Quick Dry Topcoat "Grand Central Station" (£1.79) - heard on the grapevine that this is a cheaper alternative to Seche Vite. Apparently it dries as quick but isn't as glossy though! Thought it would be worth a try. I also bought NYC In a Minute Quick Dry "Park Ave" (£1.79) - a lovely taupe colour and this was what I chose as my freebie as I snapped up two Topcoats and got this one for free.

I also browsed the Andrea Fulerton stand and bought the Gemstone Overcoat (£4.99) which is a flakie and has iridescent pink/gold/orange tones! Looks so beautiful I cannot wait to try it out. I also bought Andrea Fulerton Dot & Flick Pen Polish in Black (£3.99) which is my favourite nail art pen so I purchased this one as a back up. Again these polishes were on the 3 for 2 offer so I picked up another Gemstone overcoat.

Stay tuned to see swatches of the above soon!

Have you tried any of the above?

NOTD - Leopard Mani using Essie Chinchilly

Hey lovelies! Today I am wearing my existing manicure Zoya's "Jana" from the Smoke & Mirrors Collection 2011 (please see previous post for more info). I love the colour so much and thought it would look nice with either pale grey or white leopard spots on top. I used Essie's "Chinchilly" for the spots (currently in my untried pile). Chinchilly is a pale grey creme and I like it a lot and hopefully will use for a full mani very soon. I hoped it would stand out a bit more on top of Jana but it's not as light as I was expecting. But still, I am pleased with the outcome. I used Andrea Fulerton's Dot & Flick Pen for the spot outlines. Well as I said I am a huge lover of leopard print so look out for more leopard combo's from me soon!

What do you think?

NOTD - ZOYA Jana

Good morning lovelies! Today I am wearing my very first Zoya Nail Polish. Zoya is a very popular brand in the States and they have some fab offers on their website for their fans from time to time - unfortunately they do not ship to the UK though. So I resorted to Ebay to buy this bottle.

I chose the colour "Jana" from the Fall Collection 2011 "Smoke and Mirrors" to be my very first Zoya polish because I saw some swatches on the Internet and loved the taupe colour! It is a stunning perfect taupe colour. The application was flawless and took just two coats for full opacity. The shine was gorgeous too. I absolutely love this on my nails it really is beautiful and a great fall colour. I can feel an addiction to another brand of nail polish coming on ... Oh dear!!! Look out for more Zoya's in the future ... I am eagerly anticipating the release of the "Feel Collection" on November 15th with neutral colours which is great because I am a bit overwhelmed with all the glitter collections at the moment!

What do you think? Can you recommend any "must have" Zoya's to me?

Some Good Beauty Deals ...

Nails Inc Nail Polish free with Glamour Magazine

This week I bought two Glamour magazines (the December edition with Kristen Stewart on the front cover). The magazine retails at £2 per copy and for this issue they have a Nails Inc Nail Polish freebie. There are 4 colours to choose from - Victoria, Picadilly Circus, Tate and Basil Street. I chose Tate and Basil Street. I haven't yet tried them out but the swatches on the internet look good. Tate is a deep rich red and Basil Street is a nude beige colour so both right up my street! I think £2 per polish is not a bad price and to be honest most of my Nails Inc polishes have come from past promotions or good internet deals. As soon as I try them out I will be sure to post the swatches.

Superdrug - 3 for 2 Cosmetics

Also, just thought it might be worth a mention that Superdrug has a 3 for 2 promotion on all cosmetics/nail polishes at the moment and also free delivery online so if you need to stock up or try out new stuff now might be a good time and you don't even need to make a special trip to the store with the free delivery online!