ILLAMASQUA RUTHLESS SWIRLS

Hey peeps, I'm so sorry for not posting in a week but university is just so busy at the moment! But to redeem myself today I have an amazing acrylic paint review to share with you! 

You can read this post to find out more about the paints I received any my overall thoughts. 

Today I'm going to give you more details about the silver shade I got. I hadn't seen metallic acrylic paints around before and ended up getting some from the Pound Shop however the opacity was dreadful and so I won't be able to use it, this left me intrigued about the silver acrylic paint I received. I wasn't sure what to expect but I was blown away! This paint is amazing, opaque with just one coat and just the perfect formula which is why I can do the following design with it! This is in the shade Silver Morning  and you get this from Art Discount here for only £1.30 and let me tell you, it's worth every penny!

To do the nails I started off with 2 coats of Illamasqua Ruthless and then painted on the swirly design which I think I saw on Nail Lacquer UK instagram. To tie the design in with the rest of nails I used China Glaze Fairy Dust on the rest of the nails. 

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ESSENCE NAIL ART TATOO PEN REVIEW

Hey guys, I'm super tired but I have a day off tomorrow yay! 

Today I have a quick review of the nail art pen* from Essence. I'd been eyeing this up for a while and finally picked it up from at the Blogger event. 

This has a plastic tip and is shaped just like a pen and you have to press it down a few times to get the ink flowing and then your good to go, it's the same type of pen as the Barry M one. 

So, I had issues with the ink flowing, I had to press down loads to get the ink flowing to begin with and then my main issue was that it didn't flow evenly and consistently, it kept stopped and then I had to press it down again several times and then it would just do a huge blob and yeah so it caused quite a few issues. I decided to the triangle design below because it would show you how well it did fine lines and blocks.

I sturuggled using this to be honest, it doesn't look like it did too bad in the pictures but it was frustrating to do and it took a while to get it looking like this. 

I used Essence Love Me Cupcake* as a base colour. 

This is only £1.99 but I wouldn't recommend it (sorry Essence) this is the first Essence product which doesn't live up to the companies high quality reputation and other products. 

The Barry M pen is much easier to use and I'd recommend you go and get one of those if your looking for a new nail art pen. 

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CIATE MOSAIC COLLECTION SWATCHES *VERY PIC HEAVY*

Happy Friday guys, how has your week been? Today I have a big post for you today. When I saw the Ciate Mosaic collection I got really excited and ordered the whole collection (which is quite unlike me) I hadn't seen any good swatches of these anywhere so I couldn't make a decision about which ones to get!

I swatched these a while ago but it's taken me ages to get this post together, blogging is not easy! 

These are the first Ciate polishes I've bought since the whole Caviar drama a few years ago and whilst they're by no means one of my favourite brands these are some nice nail polishes. 

There are loads of pictures so click on the read more to see my swatches and review.

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KISS DRESS TO IMPRESS GEL NAIL WRAPS

Hey guys, a quick post before I head off to bed. I recently received these Gel Nail Wraps* from Kiss. 

These are the first Gel Nail Wraps on the market I believe and you can use an LED lamp to cure them so they last for 2 weeks and to remove them you just have to peel them off! 

I received the French Manicure wraps which aren't really my thing but I gave them a try. These have a funny texture, like a gel/rubber texture but they're still perfectly smooth. The sizes of these wraps are actually really great because I normally have trouble with wraps being the right size for my nails. They did crease a bit too much on my middle finger but otherwise they weren't that bad. 

For 2 weeks wear you need the top coat and the LED lamp, I didn't get these so can't review them. 

Overall these are a very good idea and perfect for those people who want a lovely gel manicure without having to pay too much at the salon but they can be a bit fiddly. 

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ILLAMASQUA MELANGE

Happy Friday, Today sees the launch of the new Once collection from Illamasqua so today I'm going to show you my swatches of the stunning new nail polish* in the collection. This actually dropped through my post box yesterday and I was so excited I had to swatch it straight away. 

I'm always excited when Illamasqua release a new collection and they've been teasing us with this since the beginning of the month! 

“Once is the beauty of the burnished, eroded and erudite. A palette inspired by the gentle and exquisite point when a flower starts to fade and becomes impossibly beautiful in its complex decline. Combined with the subtle opulence of faded gilt layers that reveal themselves the more you blend and search. She is an incandescent moment, a poem alive and a light within a palette of decaying decadence.” – Alex Box, Creative Director

This polish is exactly what this whole collection is about, it fits in perfectly and is just so beautiful, I know this one will be a favourite with many!

Melange* is a dusty teal ( with a bit of jade) which is filled with similar gold/bronze shimmer and microflakies to Facet (which is one of my favourite Illamasqua polishes) It also has some purple micoflakes which sometimes look red. 

The formula is the perfect signature Illamasqua formula and this is only one coat! Yes, you guys know 99% of the time I use two coats well this polish simply did not need it ! 

Ok, that's the end of my rambling, enjoy all the pictures and scroll all the way to the bottom to see some pictures. 

Isn't this polish just stunning? 

Melange is being released today and you'll be able to get it from Illamasqua stores and online. 

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GOSH STARDUST COLLECTION AW 14

Hey guys, I'm sorry for being a bit quiet here recently. I've been a bit busy and now I'm not feeling well, haha! But hey ho, never mind, today I have the new Autumn Collection from Gosh. 

They have a textured sticker on the lid so when I got these I thought they were texture polishes and my heart sunk a tiny bit but when I tried them out I was happy to see there's no texture in sight! 

There's a lot of pictures so grab a beverage of your choice and enjoy :)

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KOOKY NEON NAIL WRAPS

Hi guys, how are you all today? The weather has been awful this past week but today I have some very bright neon nails to share with you all! 

I don't believe I've ever shown nail wraps on my blog before, mainly because they tend to crease on my nails, so I was quite curious about trying these ones by Kooky. 

These are the Neon Orange & Silver* design from the Neon Me collection for Summer 2014 by Kooky. Now, orange is not my favourite nail colour as you may know so when I got these I was a bit hmm but I tried them and was pleasantly surprised. 

These wraps don't require any heat and are really easy to apply, select the size which is best suited to your nail, peel it off the backing (it said to apply dehydrater onto the nail but I didn't receive that it's not essential, you can just wipe your nail with acetone) Apply the wrap to the nail and I find it easier to use my finger to smooth it all down and then file off the excess at the free edge of your nail. 

Simple! I did get some creases as you can see but I can live with it. 

These neon wraps are so bright and they make you look so tan aswell so they're perfect for summer! I'd probably use these on holiday and you can even apply these perfectly on a plane or a train or any other mode of transport (except cycling and walking, unless you have an extra set of hands!)

I actually quite like these, and they're very convenient and easy to use. There's also several other neon designs in this collection which look just as cool! 

These wraps are available here from The Beauty Partnership. 

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ESSENCE HELLO SPRING 178

Hey guys, today I have a beautiful nail polish by Essence to share with you. This is Hello Spring* a gorgeous pale green with lots of silver shimmer in it. Even though it looked gorgeous in the bottle I thought it may be really sheer but I'm really happy to report that it only requires 2 coats! The formula is great and it's a really pretty polish. Unfortunately the silver shimmer in the bottle doesn't show as strongly on the nail but it's still visible. 

  

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ESSENCE GEL NAILS AT HOME TUTORIAL & REVIEW

Hi guys! How are you all? 

Todays post is all about the Essencce Gel Nails At Home System. I picked up the Gel Effect Top Coat* from the bloggers event but didn't pick up any other gel products which I kinda needed to use the top coat, what can I say? I must have been having a blonde moment! 

Anywho I ordered the Cleanser, Primer and Peel Off Base Coat from Wilko's online (they still have a 3 for 2 offer on so now is a good time to stock up) and LED Lamp* came from the PR Company. 

So I thought I'd put a little tutorial together for you and also a little review, I haven't seen any other Gel systems for home so I was really excited to try this out. 

I haven't had gel nails myself because I change my polish too often so the thing that really appealed to me about this Gel System is that it comes with a Peel Off Base Coat so you can remove it whenever you want which suits me perfectly :)

Without further ado...

What you will need: 

(I have included clickable links to buy all of these products online) 

Essence Gel Nails At Home Cleanser £2.50 

Essence Gel Nails At Home Primer £2.50

Essence Gel Nails At Home Peel Off Gel Base £3.00

Essence Gel Nails At Home Effect Gel Top Coat in 05 Polka Dots* £3.50

Essence Gel Nails At Home Mini LED Lamp* £19.90

Any nail polish of your choice (not pictured) I used Essence Color Viva Brasil in 02 Everybody Salsa 

This is what comes in the LED Lamp box. There is a small(ish) lamp, USB lead and an instruction manual. 

STEP 1 - Wipe your nails with the Cleanser to remove any oils/residue on your nails 

STEP 2 - Apply a coat of Primer  

STEP 3 - Apply a layer of the Peel Off Gel Base to the entire nail, don't forget to wrap your tips.  

STEP 4 - Place finger under the LED Lamp for 10 seconds to cure the base coat. You don't need to count the lamp will automatically turn itself off after 10 seconds.

STEP 5 - Wipe the nail with the Cleanser to remove any residue.  

STEP 6 - Apply a coat of your desired nail polish/nail art.  

STEP 7 - Once the nail polish is dry apply a coat of the Gel Top Coat. I'm using the Effects Top Coat but there is also a clear top coat available.  

STEP 7 - Place finger under the LED Lamp for 10 seconds again to cure the top coat. 

STEP 8 - Finally wipe the nail again with the Cleanser to remove the sticky residue.  

This is the finished nail !  

To remove, take an Orange Wood Stick, starting from the cuticle just peel the polish off, it should lift in one layer but if it doesn't it's still fine. Remove any excess nail polish etc from the nail with acetone or nail polish remover. 

Ok, so that's the tutorial, I know there are quite a few steps but it's really easy to do and it doesn't take as long as you'd think. 

So Pros and Cons.

 Let's begin with the Cons shall we: 

Actually there's only 1 con which is also the most annoying thing for me was that curing the base coat and top coat under the lamp caused the base coat/ top coat to shrink and pull away from the edges of nail. I don't know why it did that, I made sure my nail was completely clean and I applied the layer all the way to the cuticle and wrapped the tips, I just don't know why it did that?! If you have experience with gel nails and you might know why this happened please leave a comment! 

The Pros: 

It's a lot cheaper investing in this set and doing your own gel nails than going to a salon ever few weeks.

It's very easy to do, there are several steps but you very quickly get into the swing of things so you don't even have to think about what the next step is.

I love that you can apply any colour or any nail art, it doesn't have to be an Essence polish. I also tried it out with a Morgan Taylor nail polish.

The Peel Off Base Coat is amazing! It makes the removal so easy and it means I change my nails as often as I want and still have the 'gel look'. Removal is not damaging to the nails either.

It wears well, Essence claim it lasts up to 10 days however I removed it after 4 days so I can't comment on the 10 day claim, but when I removed it I didn't have any chipping or lifting or anything of that sort. 

The lamp is small and comes a USB lead which means you can take this on holiday if you want! 

Overall do I recommend the Gel Nails At Home System? Absolutely, I really like it and I know that I will use this a lot! Actually my non swatching hand will make the most use of this because I won't end of removing my nail polish on my right hand when swatching anymore! \o/ 

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NAIL VINYLS IN THE UK - SHE SELLS SEASHELLS

Hey guys, how's your weekend going? 

Tonight I have a post about a lovely UK based nail accessory store, which you may or may not have heard of, She Sells Seashells. The store is run by the lovely Sarah (who is an absolute sweetheart) and offers all sorts of nail studs, embellishments, cabochons, jewellery making sets and nail vinyls, which is what this post is all about.

Nail Vinyls have kinda taken the nail world by storm over the past few months and instagram is choc a bloc with gorgeous manis created using them! They first started cropping up in the US and I was intrigued, when I did go to buy some I was a bit surprised by the prices! $4-7 dollars for one sheet, which is quite dear for a one use product. 

So when I heard that She Sells Seashells was going to sell Nail Vinyls I was so excited! When I went on to buy them I was even more excited when I saw that they were only £1 ($1.70) for a sheet of 100!

There are lots of designs to choose from and you can see them all here.

More Recently they've begun to sell full design vinyls which are great for super fast and easy nail art, these are £2.50 for sheet of 10 which is still very reasonable. If your nails are on the small side you can actually cut the vinyls in half and get double the usage! 

I've done lots of manis using these vinyls, some of which I've already published (which you can see here and here and here) and lots more which will be up soon and there might even be a tutorial or two ;) 

They are great quality, inexpensive and delivery is super fast and cheap as well! They also ship worldwide so everyone can enjoy them :) 

  Aren't these unicorns just magical?! 

I hope you've found this post interesting and now hop on over to http://www.she-sells-seashells.co.uk/ and help support this UK nail store.

 Don't forget to follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to have a nosy behind the scenes, get the first look at what's coming up and for voucher codes !

So that's me done for today, enjoy the rest of your weekend and I hope you have a lovely week! 

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