Nail polish candy selection boxes

Not a clue what to wear tonight, but my nails are sorted thanks to the most amazing early xmas pressie from my wonderful friend. I am such a lucky girl,  it's like a sweetshop of nail candy! Neons, metallics, foil wraps, 3D effects and nail gems Don't know where to start - but will update you on my polish pic 'n' mixing.... ...

Adding a touch of sparkle

I have experimented with blended a shimmer coat over a block base and I'm very impressed with the results! This look is acheived by combining OPI 'He's My Boo' polish (part of OPI's Spookettes halloween collection) with Barbara Daley's Nail Polish in Lustre (£5) I often find that paler nail polish colours can often have a more translucent look on the finger nails, especially when they get a bit older. I bought this OPI 'He's My Boo'...

Dermalogica Active Moist

My friend recommended Dermalogica Active Moist (£43 for 100ml) to me, whilst I was moaning that my skin always becomes greasy at work by about 11am - she affectionately named this 'butter face' which is something I seem to suffer from also. It won In Style's Best Beauty Buys 2013, Style's panel said: "It’s very light, non-greasy and never makes breakouts worse, yet it’s still ultra-hydrating. In fact, it’s so light that you may need to...

Mr.Men inspired nail art

I've not dabbled with nail art before for three reasons: I have a short attention span ( I love a quick dry/minimal coat polish) I don't have the steadiest hands I didn't own a nail art pen.....I now do. Inspired by the beautiful blank Revlon's 050 White On White Nail Enamel* (£6.49) provides, I thought I might get creative. For a beginner I thought it best to keep it simple and I don't have any fancy tools (yet).....so went for 5 dots...

Pop art nails

I can't take credit for this amazing pop art manicure as I was treated to it by Fashion graduates from Southampton Solent University. For those who don't know, I've recently moved jobs to be their Digital PR Officer. The graduating fashion students have organised Southampton Fashion Week (SFW), an entire week of Fashion events, demonstrating the wide skill sets across all of the varied fashion courses at Solent University.  As part...

Bobbi Brown's 'pop' blusher method

As the lucky owner of some John Lewis vouchers, I decided to treat myself to some beauty pampering from the beauty floor. In search of the perfect blusher I went to the Bobbi Brown counter and got thoroughly spoilt by their makeup artists where I learnt about Bobbi's "pop" method. "Blush is used to create a healthy, pretty look. Different formulas can be used , depending on the desired finish or time of year. The right shade will add...

Bespoke blended gel shades - "Skiing: all the gear, no idea"

Hi there - apologies for the radio silence, but I've been away skiing in the mountains. I'm a bit online security-conscious, so didn't mention anything before, but it's good to be back peeps! Refreshing balcony manicure - bit chilly! using 5 different shades of purples and lilacs I go skiing every year with my family, and my cousin and I have taken to spending our evenings manicuring to match our ski gear. The phrase "all the gear,...

Magnetic Manicure

I'm a big fan of nail polish and it's really exciting to see all of the new beauty tech out there at the moment meaning that we can try out the latest trends at home without the expensive salon prices. Today I'm going to try out a magnetic manicure using Barry M's Instant Nail Effects in Magnetic Blue (£4.99). Each metallic colour comes with a different magnet design in the cap of the bottle, so the pattern is dependent on the colour that you get....

Colour-blending: step-by-step tutorial - loving the lilac!

In this blog I'm going to demonstrate colour blending, creating a very bold look, and then blending it down with a white. This look is based on MUA's eye colours, they have amazing pigment and stay on all day and are only £1 each (I shit you not). What I love about MUA's shades is that they actually deliver the colour they are in the pot in the first stroke. Purple is one of my favourite colours, for blue eyes it's such a versatile colour,...

Home Gel manicure? Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Polish

In the pursuit of a nail polish to rival a gel manicure I came across the Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine (£3.99) nail colours, which look good enough to eat! They come in 13 fruity shades and I have the scrummy looking 'Blueberry' and 'Satsuma', the latter is a vibrant orange, almost neon, but the blueberry is more of a cute pastel blue. I did get a bit excited about the 'gel' element of the product, thinking it potentially had magical non-UV setting...

Breakdown of the breakout

So here's the wrap-up post of the breakout experiment. In 6 days with the help of The BodyShop Seaweed Ionic Clay Mask (£12) and Montagne Jeunesse Clay Spa masks (£1.49) I successfully managed to clear a major breakout on my forehead in time for a big party night. (Disclaimer: I may have used a naughty bit of toothpaste on the big blighter shhhhhh don't tell the beauty police!) So here is the experiment progress in pics....  6 days...