Fragrance Direct Haul!

Hey guys,

So today I have a few polishes to share with you! I haven't actually discovered them all myself yet.. but more on that later! They came in an absolutely huge box though!

This is the overall of all the polishes I have seen so far! As you can see I have 2 normal polishes, 1 magnetic and 2 glitters. The two main colours are 1 layer, all the rest are 2.

I mean look at this huge thing! Admittedly it was mostly bubble wrap, but it made it much more exciting having such a huge box to open!

So this is the main reason for the large package is this, and its also the reason I haven't seen all of the polishes yet. The idea is to open it like its meant to be opened - one per day. Its also hopefully something to look forward to during the rest of my exam period. The first polish is very cute though, I hope the rest of this is the same. I believe this is called 'Nordstorm Mini Mani Month'.

So here are the first two, my first ever Essie polishes! I have heard a lot about them and their really nice brushes. From trying them quickly just now they do seem really good!

I also don't have either a magnetic nail polish, or an orange nail polish - so clearly I needed to fill this gap in my collection!

These two are called Essie 'Fear and Desire' (Orange) and 'Snake Skin Repstyle - Lil Boa Peep'

Next, I bought this for the same reason as the ones before, I didn't have a silver nail polish in my collection so wanted to fill the gap.
This was the nicest one I could find on the website without spending more than I wanted to.

Its called 'Manhattan Lotus Effect Nail Polish - 01'.

Next, this one I didn't really need so much, but again I didn't have a copper coloured glitter! As you can see on the lid this is Sally Hansen 'Copper Penny'. Its so pretty! Just sadly not anywhere near as dense as a gold Sally Hansen glitter I bought before.

And finally, two clear polishes, because the only top coat I have left at the moment is a really cheap polish my mum bought, and its really annoying as it doesn't dry very quickly at all, and it also loosens the other layers underneath it meaning if you knock it before its dry, you end up upsetting the whole nail.

I have had some Rimmel ones before and I really like the brushes on these ones as they are really wide.





So that's my haul for now! I'm sure there will be an update on the rest of the Ciate polishes, I know its a bit out of date now, and i'm sure there are the full set online already - but as its still available to buy I might as well do my own review!

See you after exams!

Haul Post / Barry M Pearl Lady

Hey guys,

So today I have a minature Haul post for you along with some swatches of one of the polishes I picked up. I did this a couple weeks ago but haven't had time to post it until now sorry.

First of all though, when I went up to the Barry M stand in my boots I was met with a crazy sight. Swatch sticks of every colour but their new Silk paints - they were only officially released the day after I went (yeah.. I did go a long while ago now!)
However, this is such a genius idea, why can't all brands do this? They were all labelled with a handwritten piece of paper stuck on with tape so it seemed to be handmade rather than something Barry M had brought out themselves. Does anyone else have this or was this just a random thing my Boots store seems to have?

When I went in Boots had a 3 for 2 offer, but only on Barry M - annoyingly it was extended to the whole store only the day after - I went in again to pick up something and was quite annoyed. 

I picked up 2 nail varnishes after much deliberation and swatch stick comparisons, but the third item I really could not decide on. However in the end I went with a lipstick, but more on that later.

The two colours I picked out were Pearl Lady and Passion Fruit. 

This is what Pearl Lady looked like on me, however I don't think my photos really show how beautiful it is, the glitters in it make this a really nice textured polish. 

I do have a few complaints about this polish however.. for one, the polish wasn't opaque at all, I put three layers of the polish on (having to wait each time as I wanted the maximum amount of texture) but you could still see my tips quite clearly underneath. If I was to use this again I guess I would have to use a white undercoat but it was a bit disappointing. 

My other complaint is that I didn't actually find this to be that textured, I mean sure I could definitely feel the texture when I ran my finger over it, but compared to my other Barry M texture (Kingsland Road) it was nowhere near as textured. Shame really, but the polish is super pretty and the glitters really add to it.

Now for something completely different - lipstick. I have worn lipstick before, but only some I have "adopted" from my mums stash, and I have never bought a lipstick for myself before, neither had someone buy one for me. However as it was 3 for 2 anyway, I thought I may as well try one. 

I bought number 53 - their coral colour as it looked really pretty. I have to say I really like the polish packaging, I really like the mix of the matte black and the shiny black together. 

My lips.. yeah.. I thought I may as well do a lipstick swatch while i'm at it. The top one is my normal lip colour and the second is with the lipstick applied. I put on a base of Lip salve before I put the lipstick on as if not I have quite dry lips. 

Even with the base however I still found that the lipstick decided to clump together in the creases of my lips as you can see in the photo - this may be due to application, as i've stated I am not experienced at all with lipsticks so have no idea.

The colour is really pretty, just the summer coral I was looking for and although I dampen the colour down slightly to suit my skin tone, it is just what I was looking for so i'm really happy.

Hope you didn't mind such an obscure post! Should be back to normal with more Nail Art next week. 

Christmas Nail Related Gifts

Hey guys,

I have been far too good lately, I didn't buy myself any new nail related things for Christmas. I really don't know how.. well, other than I banned myself from going into Boots/Superdrug when going shopping...

But, thankfully my friends and family bought me a few things to make it up to me!

The first item I am going into just made me laugh so much when I got it. Incase you can't tell, its a nail dryer - it blows out air from between its hands when you press down the button with your wet nail.
We had a few troubles getting it to work, but realised that all it needed was a bit of tin foil next to the battery and hey presto the fan worked again! I haven't actually used it to dry my nails yet though, but its cute if nothing else.

From the same person I got a couple of polish sets, which I believe are both from primark, this one here and another which I will show you later.

This set contains one gold polish and a little bottle of gold glitter. Incase you cannot read what the back of the box says, it seems the general idea is to paint your nail with the gold polish, and then tip the glitter into the 'dish' - basically a dip in the plastic packaging that the two bottles are held in in the bottle - and then dip your nail into the glitter where it will stick and coat the nail.
Its a cool idea I guess, I will have to see if it actually works out, and if I manage to do it without getting the glitter everywhere, which is the reason I have always avoided actual loose glitter before on my nails.

The other set from the same friend I received was an 'Ombre' set, inside the box was also 2 make-up sponges cut into triangles and a couple of wooden sticks. If you look at the polishes inside the box, I thought they were in the wrong order as I pulled them out so for the next photo I put them in the order I thought they should go in. As I was editing the photos I realised that the illustration on the box actually shows them in this order too, so it appears I was right. No idea why they were in the wrong order in the box though, I hope no-one has opened them before or something. 

I don't think i've ever tried an Ombre manicure before either so I am really excited to try this out. The purple on the end is also really really pretty, it has little bits of glitter inside and looks a really nice colour. Shame its in such a small bottle so will probably have a not very good or easy to use brush with it.

Next I have a nail related item that I will call 'Designer' as it is by Ted Baker. When I unwrapped this present to reveal this metal tin I had no idea what could be inside. The present gifter said afterwards that there had been a piece of cardboard round the tin saying what was inside, but she took it off so that it would be a surprise.

And a surprise it was when I took off the lid to reveal these cute polishes. I haven't had a chance to try them out yet but the glitter ones look very cute, and a black is always useful. 

I love the tin though, its so cute and I'm sure i'll find a use for it elsewhere to put something in. I really hope the polishes are a good quality too and don't chip really easily. 

So that's it, I said there wasn't very much. Sorry for no Nail Art this week but there will definitely be some next week due to starting the Nail Art Challenge! I have no ideas for the first week 'Teal' yet, but i'm sure i'll have something by tommorrow!