#GuessThePolish winner!

Hi!

Thanks to everyone who entered my #GuessThePolish giveaway last week! If you didn't already know the answer was *drumroll* Beauty UK! They're reformulated their polish line with a sleek new bottle and 22 on trend shades to chose from for just £2.99 a bottle! Congratulations to Alicia S who wins her very own (branded) bottle of Coral Burst. Your prize will be in the post in the next few days!

There are some lovely colours there, I especially like the look of Let's Hit The Peach and Tealed With A Kiss. I might just have to stop by the Beauty UK stand next time I'm in Superdrug...

Hx

Pin It

Tri Polish Challenge April #3 - Blue, yellow and pink

Hi!

We're mid-way through April and mid-way through the school Easter holidays, so please forgive me if I'm a little cranky! My little darlings have been very demanding and later on we're off to build a birds nest and a fire in the woods. Basically, we're making things with sticks. Such fun! Anyway, I went simple for the TPC today. I had plans for all singing and dancing multicoloured gradients but instead went for a simple accent nail and stamping. Maybe next week... I used Beauty UK Blue Himalayan and Miss Sporty Taxi (incidentally, these were my primary school colours, so I reminisced a bit before I stamped!). The stamping was done with Sally Hansen Insta-dry Speedy Sunburst and MoYou Pro XL 6.

I love the contrast of the bright primary colours here, really simple but eye catching. I've just realised that April has 5 Tuesdays this year, so maybe I'll get that all singing and dancing multicoloured gradient in after all!

Hx

An InLinkz Link-up

Pin It

Tri Polish Challenge, Blue, Purple and Green #3, Flutterbies!

Hi all!

Silly Mr NN got me a mug for valentines day this year (don't ask) and I noticed that the colours were perfect for this month's tri polish challenge so I decided to recreate it, or at least try! I actually changed the colours a little but they still fit. I used Rimmel Salon Pro Barmy Blue as my base and then made butterfly decals with Barry M Gold Foil, Barry M Greenberry and Beauty UK Lilac Girl. The single butterfly is from a Salon Express plate, and the other butterflies are from Pueen 39 (I don't know why I've not used it before, it's beautiful!) I like how this came out, I changed the clear polish that I used for the decals (LaFemme clear) and it works much better - and it was really cheap AND it doesn't smear stamping. Win! Excuse the awkward hand poses, it's a big mug and it was hard to hold and photograph!

There isn't a huge amount of the green and purple, but it is there! Quite a girly look this one, not very fitting for a clumsy oaf like me!

Hx

An InLinkz Link-up

Pin It

GOT Polish? Stripes!

Hi!

Second instalment of Golden Oldie Thursday and the theme is stripes. I kind of shot myself in the foot here because I used purple and that's next weeks theme, so I shall have to find more old purples for that... I'm sure I'll manage ;) For this manicure I used OPI DS Temptation and Sinful Colors Amethyst, both of which were gifts from over a year ago (they have been worn though!) I then put down some striping tape on the Amethyst nails and stamped over it, creating stripes within the stamp. I used quite a "busy" pattern from Bundle Monster 201 with Barry M Silver Foil. If you're a regular reader you'll know I'm not a whizz at striping tape manis, but this went without a hitch for once! I went with a coat of Beauty UK Pinkabloo on my thumbs, which is an OPI Polka.com dupe.

I like how subtle the stripes are, and I love Amethyst. It's my perfect purple :)

Hx

Pin It

Palate cleanser of the week - Beauty UK Grit Effects Fabric

Morning!

I hope you're not all as stressed as me right now! There's something about this time of year that sends my blood pressure soaring! Anyway, what better excuse for a soft, pretty polish to chill me out and calm my nerves. It was either that or a bottle of vodka... Beauty UK Fabric is from their Grit Effects textured range, and while the rest of the range are matte, this pretty soft pale pink has irridescent pink and blue shimmer running through it, making it just that little bit more special. I thought it was going to be terribly sheer, but I used just two coats for these swatches.

Fuzzy shimmer - yum!

This is a great polish, easy to wear, fairly neutral but just with a hint of something special. The only thing I found was that after a days wear it looked a little bit grubby. I guess the pale colour and the texture worked against it that way. But I rectified that by festive-ing it up with some stamping, which you can see over on my Instagram!

I hope you're not too stressed! I'm off on a sticky-tape hunt, wish me luck!

Hx

Pin It

33 Day Challenge day 18 - featuring two patterns!

Morning! 

Today's mani was a bit random for me. I love me a skittle, so 2 patterns in a skittle would normally be my perfect manicure, but I just felt it was a bit garish with ALL the glitter. Got lots of love from people though, so what do I know lol. I used a combination of W7 Gold Dazzle and Sinful Colors Paris for the gold, and the pink and blue are Beauty UK Gel Effects Pink Orchid and Sally Hansen Model Behaviour.

The next challenge is to follow a tutorial, and I haven't found one yet so off I go!

Hx

Pin It

33DC Day 14 - Abstract!

Morning!

We're well into the 33 day challenge now, and I feel like I'm having more wins than losses...hopefully that will continue! I was pretty pleased with today's offering. Let's face it, "Abstract" gives you a pretty broad spectrum to work with, so I googled around a bit and came up with this.

Kind of based on this abstract pattern...

 I wanted more of an ombre effect so I used shades of the same colour on each nail, starting with the darkest. It perhaps would have worked better if I'd started with the lightest, but I wanted the triangle at the bottom to be dark like in the picture.

I used 15 different polishes for this design - a sure sign I have way too much! Mr NN saw the box full I was using and joked that I'd never be able to hold them all for the photos. Smartass.

Listed from dark to light:
Purple (Pinkie) - No7 Violetta, Sinful Colors Amethyst, OPI Parlez Vous OPI
Red (Ring) - Nails Inc Victoria, Tate, King Edward Street
Blue (Middle) - 2True Shade 10, Nails Inc Baker Street, Models Own Feeling Blue
Green (Index) - China Glaze Holly Day, Nails Inc Eden Grove, OPI Stranger Tides
Monochrome (Thumb) - Sinful Colors Black on Black, Beauty UK Slate, Beauty UK Soft Grey

A fairly easy design, although it took me a long time it was satisfying and simple to do (I just freehanded in layers, no tape here!)

Abstract enough?

Hx

Pin It

33 Day Challenge day 10 - Flowers

Morning :)

Today's theme is flowers, and though floral is not really my thing, I tackled this challenge with some bold, graphic flowers in black over a base of Beauty UK Gel FX Cafe Cosmos. Just a simple round centre with tear shaped patterns and it looked great, or so I thought until I looked closely at the pictures! They were a little more wobbly than I initially thought... But nevermind, I'm sure you get the picture!

The good thing about doing a challenge like this is if you don't like something, you have a good excuse to take it off straight away ;)

Hx

Pin It

Beauty UK Posh Polish Gel FX swatch and review!

Hi!

It seems that the latest thing in nail polish is a "gel" effect finish - everyone wants shiny, long lasting colour. To me, as someone who changes their polish every few days if not more, a gel manicure seems like a big commitment! Two weeks with one colour! Luckily, lots of brands have realised this and it's now easy to find gel effect polishes on the high street, and Beauty UK seems to be the latest to join in!

Beauty UK have always been a favourite high street brand of mine. I'm sure I've said before that they are always on trend and at a great price point. When I was first restarting my collection, I would always head to the Beauty UK stand in Superdrug first, and as a result have quite a few of their pretties sitting in my drawers. Their newest range, Posh Polish, comes in round 9ml bottles, and has glitters, textures, denim effect and now these Gel FX polishes. Beauty UK were kind enough to send me three shades to show you: Blue Himalayan, Pink Orchid and Cafe Cosmos. On to the swatches!

All of these swatches were two coats, with no topcoat. I wanted to see if you really could get a good "gel" shine from these polishes. The formula was good, all solid two coaters that weren't runny or streaky. Dry time was average - I would reach for a quick dry topcoat if I was in a hurry but if I had more time I could wait. First up, Blue Himalayan, which is a lovely creamy blue with just a hint of cornflower.

Next is Pink Orchid, a lovely berry-toned pink perfect for Autumn if you're not ready to let go of your summer brights just yet and still want a pop of colour.

And lastly, Cafe Cosmos, perfect cool toned nude. Everyone needs a good nude, and this is a good one! I loved this and you'll see it again avec nail art next week!

You can see the colours are lovely classic shades that wouldn't go unloved in any collection, but do they live up to the "gel" reputation. When I think of gel polish I think of longevity and shine, and you can see these are certainly shiny! No topcoat was used for these swatches, and you get the shiny, squishy effect perfectly. As for wear time, I've been wearing Pink Orchid on my toes for over a week, with no topcoat, and there's only now just a little bit of wear. A week is usually my max for pedicures, but that's with a good strong top coat so for this to equal that without is good going. Overall, I would recommend these polishes if you're looking to extend your collection of good quality basics (there are three more shades available - a dark burgundy, navy blue and classic red), and at just £3.49 you wont break the bank!

Beauty UK Posh Polish is available at Superdrug, Select stores and the Beauty UK website.

Hx

The product featured was a PR sample provided to me for free for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own and 100% honest. Please see my disclaimer in the tab above for further details.

Pin It

Un-girly Nails featuring Beauty UK Denim FX

Hi! Hope you've all had a good weekend!

I almost skipped Sunday Stamping this week, because the theme was un-girly nails (nothing pink, glittery, flowery, cutesy etc) and I didn't have a clue what to do! That is, until these lovely denim effect polishes dropped through my door on Saturday morning! I do love me an effect, and these really are something special. Matte black and dusty blue polishes, with teeny specks of silver that really do look like well-loved jeans and I couldn't resist some nail art!

I started with two coats of Black Denim on two fingers, and Blue Denim on the rest. The blue could have been a one coater, but the effect deepens with the second coat. Then I added studs in a pocket shape to the middle finger (popping them straight into the wet polish as topcoat would take away the matte effect) before stamping silver zips on the fingers either side. In all, it was a really quick, funky manicure! The polish dries quickly, and without topcoat adding another step, these are going to be a polishes I reach for when I'm a hurry!

Beauty UK are one of my favourite British brands, and these polishes don't disappoint. They're always on trend, affordable (£3.49 from Superdrug or the Beauty UK website) and good quality. I have some more to show you later in the week!

Hx

The product featured was a PR sample provided to me for free for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own and 100% honest. Please see my disclaimer in the tab above for further details.

Pin It