Empties: July 2012

Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Reconstructor

 This was a repurchase and I will always get this.

Minute Colour Deep Treatment 

Not as good as the reconstructor, I won't be repurchasing.

Body Shop Mango Body  Butter

Very intensive, smells nice. Think I will try a different scent next though.

Boots Acetone Free Nail Polish Remover 

Not much to say about this, it works.

John Frieda Full Repair Deep Conditioner 

Not bad, but I prefer my Aussie!

Lush Bob Soap

Green and the smell reminds me of pine cleaner for the bathroom

John Frieda Full Repair Shampoo 

Not a repurchase item for me.

Bblond Cream Peroxide

Worked and has the exact amount of product to mix with the powder which makes it easier to use.

Soap and Glory Off Your Face Wipes 

Nice enough but won't repurchase.

George @ Asda Polish in shade Buttercup 

More proof I do actually use up polish. I liked this, nice formula, price, brush etc but I have another yellow so no need to repurchase at the moment.

W7 Clear Nail Polish 

 Good amount for the price, I like the brush and the bottle shape. Only bad thing is it stinks! I do need to get some more clear soon and would buy it again.

Bblond Powder Bleach

 Seems fine to me although I haven't tried others before.

Summer Nail Challenge: Olympic Medals

Challenge for today is the Olympic Medals, which apparently come on a purple ribbon this year. Each medal is personalised to each discipline so thought I would just do a general set of gold, silver and bronze.

52 Week Challenge: Blue

The 44th Challenge is entitled 'Blue' what a perfect excuse to use one of my Kleancolor Holo's!

Essence - Let's Get Lost
Kleancolor - Holo Blue (135)

Summer Nail Challenge: Olympic Rings

Olympic Rings is the challenge of today, and this is my quick interpretation of them. I much prefer my other ones I did which I will cheekily post underneath, so let me know which you prefer.

Summer Nail Challenge: Olympic Opening Ceremony

Index Finger - The Torch and Cauldron
"The big finale is the entrance of the Olympic Flame into the Stadium. It is passed through the athletes to the final Torch bearer, who will ceremoniously light the Cauldron, indicating the beginning of the Games. The Flame will continue to burn for the whole of the Games"


Middle Finger - The Official London 2012 Olympics Flag
"Once the Games have been declared open, the Olympic Flag is then carried into the Stadium and hoisted into the air as the respective Anthem is played. The Olympic Charter states that each flag must fly for the entire duration of the Games – placed in a prominent position in the main Stadium"


Ring Finger - The Queen
Receiving the Head of State. "The Head of State of the Host Country is received at the entrance of the Olympic Stadium by the President of the IOC. For the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, Her Majesty the Queen will be greeted by Jacques Rogge"


Little Finger - Official Olympic Emblem
"The Olympic Emblem is based on the number 2012 – the year of the Games – and includes the Olympic Rings, one of the world’s most recognised brands, and the word ‘London’ – the world's most diverse city"


Thumb - Olympics Union Jack Flag
As far as I can gather the reason for the Official Union Jack Flag to be blue is because it is the same as the outfits which have been designed by Stella McCartney.

Summer Nail Challenge: Zoo Days

Summer Nail Challenge: Red, Orange and Yellow

Bright colours were a touch scary so I put a coat of Barry M's Croc Special Effects

Nails: Furry / Velvet Manicure - My Take

Having seen the furry nail look on various blogs I wanted to have black furry nails for my birthday. I couldn't find any 'fur' anywhere in shops or online for any reasonable price. Finally bit the bullet and got some flocking / embossing powder so I could too have furry nails.

Ciaté was advertising their 'Caviar Manicure'. They kept on mentioning that they had a new textured nail coming soon, the Velvet Manicure. While they didn't show it I knew it was what I had done.

After the whole legal action being taken on bloggers for calling their nails a Caviar Manicure and claiming they came up with the idea was wrong. However it is a positive that they are bringing nail art to the forefront, especially seeing how difficult I found to get the powder. I won't be purchasing their version, as I imagine it is out of my price range and I am uneasy with the company as a whole.

What do you think of the furry / velvet nail look?

Swatch: Jessica - Holographic Topcoat

A different sort of polish from what I have seen before, the photo on the left is prior to shaking and the one on the right is after shaking the bottle

 

Both photos are one coat and were taken in LED light, the one on the left with a flash, on the right without

 

(Layered over two coats of ELF Black)

Finish: Fine pieces of holographic glitter in a clear base
Brush Type: Flat and wide, not as wide as OPI
Opacity: Not designed to wear alone, buildable effect.
How Much? 14.8ml - £9.75
Anything Else?  Possible Dupe for China Glaze - Fairy Dust
The neck of the lid has little indentations which makes it easier to keep a grip of.

Summer Nail Challenge: Tour de France

I had so many ideas for this but none of them worked! Ended up getting that frustrated and came up with this.

Summer Nail Challenge: Golf

All of these sports related nail challenges are really quite challenging! I am not sporty in the slightest and have no incline to watch any of them. Which means it is difficult to work out what to do nail wise. 

Review: Twist and Out Polish Remover

I doubt I need to explain the principle behind this product as the name sort of suggests what it is all about! I spotted this in a Poundshop and after the hype of the Bourjous Magic Nail Polish Remover I couldn't help but try this.

I have heard a lot of good things about this sort of thing especially when it comes down to removing the dreaded glitter polish. The Bourjous version has 75ml of product whereas this one is 55ml.

Inside of the pot is a sponge which has a cross shape cut in to the middle of it which allows you to stick your finger down the centre. The sponge is very soft and squishy, and isn't stuck to the outer packaging which means you can accidently pull out the sponge.

Took about five seconds to remove standard polish, it did take longer for the glitter polish but not much. Even with the really stubborn glitter with shaped pieces this managed to remove it within about 15 seconds. 

 

It dried out my skin, nail and cuticle but that was expected as it is acetone remover. Nothing a bit of lotion can't fix! Little bits of the sponge did come away leaving bits of stained sponge stuck on me which wasn't nice but once I knew what it was it wasn't so alarming. 

I would like to try making my own version of this with a more heavy duty sponge such as a kitchen one as it might wear better than a softer bathroom one. I think this is really handy for holidays and weekends away. Especially at this price, you wouldn't feel bad leaving it behind either.

Summer Nail Challenge: Buttercups

I had to google image search to find out what a buttercup looked like, and I admit mine didn't really turn out. Changed my design and added Buttercup the power puff girl as she also came up when I searched for Buttercup, so yes I did sort of cheat!

Summer Nail Challenge: Summer Lovin'

With a challenge title such as summer lovin' I was very tempted to do something Grease related. But I fought against the urge and ended up with something exceptionally girly and pink.

ELF - Hot Pink
Stamping Polish: Barry M - Raspberry

52 Week Challenge: Inspired by a Book

THE HUNGRY CATERPILLAR!

On the first day he ate a hole all the way through an apple,

on the second day, he at holes through two pears,

on the third, through three plums

and on the forth, through four strawberries.

And of course eventually he turned in to a butterfly!

Summer Nail Challenge: Bastille Day

Summer Nail Challenge: Sea Shells

52 Week Challenge: Tribal Nails

Base: ELF - Smoky Brown

Stamping Plate: BM 315

Summer Nail Challenge: Pink n' Purple

Nothing guiding me today other than the colours pink and purple;

Polish: Barry M - Berry Ice Cream

ELF - Purple Dream

Stamping Polish: W7 - Black

Stamping Plate: Q1

Summer Nail Challenge: Beach Towels

Stamping Sunday: Something I Love

This didn't turn out in my head how I envisioned. I really like the 'colour' black and silver.

Summer Nail Challenge: Cricket

Seeing as the Ashes is the cricketing event, that inspired the challenge for today, yet again I have no knowledge about cricket!

Summer Nail Challenge: Chevrons

Challenge of the day 'Summer Chevrons'

W7 - Sheer Yellow
Color Club - Almost Famous

Swatch: Barry M - Chameleon Blue Polish

This post is literally a swatch post, my thoughts are the same for this colour as it was the lilac. Which you can see what I thought about that here. It changes from blue to red with a topcoat.

Summer Nail Challenge: Independence Day

4th July – Independence Day was the challenge for today and being British I had to actually double check the American flag!

Fireworks and the flag!

Summer Nail Challenge: Euro 2012

I had to go ahead and google what a football pitch looks like! I have no incline to watch football, I only opted for the England flag as that's where I am from.

Shopping: June 2012

First thing I bought this month was a nail polish... which isn't really surprising.

Barry M - Chameleon Colour Changing Paint - Blue

Barry M - Chameleon Colour Changing Paint - Lilac

Barry M - Black Multi Glitter

Barry M - Retro Blue Paint

Jessica - Holo Top Coat

Superdrug - Acetone Free Polish Remover

Review is coming soon

Very pigmented

Lemony Flutter smells very lemony.

I do like my Lush card, still got some voucher credit from Christmas! 

Collection 2000 - Electric Dreams - 56

Miss Sporty - 326

Miss Sporty - 320

Miss Sporty -  Rain Drops - 470

No.7 - Damson Dream

W7 Mosaic

W7 Lava Flow

W7 Salt n' Pepper

Swatch: W7 - Metallic Mars

This polish is a duochrome and as such is almost impossible to photograph, and so there are more photos than I would usually post;

Hopefully you can see that this slight duochrome, it goes between purple, black cherry, deep raspberry to a milk chocolate colour. Occasionally I noticed a hint of green and almost a yellow.

 

 

Opacity: This polish needed four coats to achieve coverage, the formulation is very water-like
Scent: I didn't find this particular polish offensive smelling, but be aware many people have commented on this before
Brush Type: Standard, verging on the wider side
How much in the bottle? 15ml
Price: £1.95
From: NailPolishDirect