Nail Polish

Marks & Spencer Soft Pink (D6)

August 18, 2011 8 Comments

Just got my A level results this morning – eek – I got B in Biology, B in Maths, and C in Chemistry! Exactly what I needed to get into Oxford Brookes to do Occupational Therapy so I am VERY relieved and excited! A little bit scared too but more excited! New start and all that, I am glad to be leaving Sixth Form behind with no bitter regrets (well, other than the mere existence of Chemistry in my list of qualifications…) My hands were shaking as I opened the envelope this morning haha. Starting on 19th September so I have a whole month to go! If anyone is looking into Occupational Therapy or other Allied Health professions, feel free to get in contact as I have a brain full of tips and advice 🙂

Back to the real subject of my blog post – this lovely sheer pink, perfect for work or weddings or even school if your teachers need glasses 😛

It’s a little more pink than the pictures would have you believe, so a little more flattering than looking like you’ve spent too long in cold water at the bottom of a river… Anyway, this is lovely because it works well as a french manicure base, or as a neutral wedding nail, or just to cover up any unsightly staining (which I of course have never ever suffered… cough… cough…) I think worn alone, it works best on shorter nails, but it is still very flattering and kind of gives the impression of a healthy tan. It also looks really beautiful with black nail art detailing as it really sets off the black, but I messed mine up before I could show you 🙁

The pictures above all show 2 coats, although you can wear 1 for a more sheer look or you can build it up to get rid of the nail line. Personally I think it looks beautiful and rather dainty with a little nail-white showing through. This type of shade used to be one of my favourites before I became a nail polish addict.

It dried very quickly, the colour spreads evenly across the nail and with no streaks.

And of course the usual reason for this being a fab polish is because it’s BUAV Approved – Cruelty Free. Retails at £3 from Marks and Spencer – you really can’t go wrong.

Hope you are all well and good, and particularly anyone who received their results today – I hope it was good news! Feel free to drop me a line (or a Tweet or email) if you fancy a chat about going to Uni!
Emma xxx

Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Boots 17 Lasting Fix Fairy Cake

August 17, 2011 2 Comments

Hello my lovely readers, long time no see! Sorry it’s taken so long to blog… My nails are in such a state at the mo I’m ashamed to show them haha. I dabbled with some falsies when I was away on holiday and me being impatient, I got fed up trying to rub them off with acetone and ended up trying to rip them off as gently as possible but of course I ended up taking a few chunks out of my nails 🙁 you live and learn! Anyways, business should resume as usual since they’ve pretty much grown back now (apart from the obvious index nails being way short!). I may get some photos of the holiday up as there were some beautiful sunsets, and maybe my little Scottish haul 🙂 It’s nice to be back but I miss sharing a bed with my Andy 🙁
3 coats.
3 coats.
3 coats.
I’m just going to put it out there… I don’t like this polish. Even in the bottle I wasn’t keen. This is a classic ‘baby pink’ pastel creme. Usually I love Boots 17 Lasting Fix polishes as most of them seem to be good quality 2-coaters. This one, however, was a streaky mess.
The formula is quick thick, and because of this and the fact that it semi-dries quickly, the polish drags as you apply it if you aren’t careful. You end up putting excess on the nail and this makes it harder to control = flooded cuticles. Argh! And on top of that, the polish doesn’t sit evenly, and you end up with patches of uncoloured nail. It took me 3 good coats to get to what you see in the photos, and even then there were patches that weren’t opaque.
It did dry quickly, but it just had that kind of chalky, thick finish that reminds me of tippex on the nail. The colour doesn’t sit quite right with my skin tone either, it’s too stark and Barbie-esque. Not a fan.
I noticed that it was very similar to Barry M’s Strawberry Ice Cream, which I am a fan of, so I put them side by side for comparison. Each nail has 3 coats, although the Barry M really only needed 2.
Index, middle and pinky: Boots 17 Fairy Cake.
Ring finger: Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream.
As you can hopefully see, Strawberry Ice Cream is ever so slightly more blue-toned. What you can’t see is that the Barry M was a dream to apply – lovely smooth, creamy formula and not at all streaky, and glided on my nails easily while still being controllable. It’s almost jelly-ish compared to Fairy Cake – I’d go for the Barry M any day.
My personal verdict is that if you like this pink, go for Strawberry Ice Cream or another similar colour by another brand because Fairy Cake just ain’t worth the headache.

Have any of you tried Fairy Cake? Reckon mine was just a dud bottle?

Hope you are doing okily dokily, I nipped into town the other day and picked up something for an upcoming giveaway I have planned, more on that when it happens 😉
Emma xxx

Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Models Own Pro Limited Edition – Swan Lake

August 6, 2011 7 Comments

By the time you’re reading this I will *hopefully* be on the lovely island of North Uist, Scotland 🙂 as it turns out I’m a crap blogger and never managed to get round to the scheduled posts and I don’t get how to do the whole guest blogging thing. Well anyway, who knows, I may even have 3G connection on North Uist. It’s weird writing this while trying to keep in mind that you’ll be reading it next week. It is, by the way, currently Thursday 28th July. Anywho, I’m very sorry to be disappointing but I thought I’d break up those long 2 weeks away with this post.

Enter Swan Lake!

If you look at the bottle in the photo below, this was not what I paid £8 for at 3 coats!!!
As you can hopefully see, the bottle colour is *very* misleading, I was expecting a lovely taupe-y shimmer. Nevertheless it inspired this gradient mani.
Pinkie to thumb: Boots 17 Peacock, Boots 17 Supreme Shine Wave, Nails Inc Electric Teal, Essie Lapis of Luxury, Barry M Blue Moon.
Thumb to pinkie: BeautyUK Slate, Barry M Mushroom, Nails Inc Fashion Fawn, Oh My GOSH Nude Champagne, Barry M Matt White.
I have to say, it does have a lovely unique finish even despite the sheerness. You know when you look into a lake or into the sea in the sun and it glistens in a lovely fluid, silvery way? Well it’s like that. It’s beautiful. Still I was disappointed with the price!
Anyway, layered over the top of other colours it looks absolutely beautiful. It dries quickly, and is fairly easy to control. I’m not a fan of the square lid, it doesn’t hinder the application too much but for a ‘Pro’ polish you would expect something a little easier to work with. The glittery shimmer spreads evenly across the nail so that isn’t a bother.
Overall I have very mixed feelings about this polish. For my first Models Own Pro polish, for the price, I can’t say I’m that impressed. However, the glistening effect of the polish has won my heart over. Just beware of this one if you were expecting a more opaque colour. Personally I would expect at least a hint of the taupey brown jelly base on the naked nail but apparently not – I only saw this when it was put over the Barry M Matt White!
Hope you are all well, and I’ll be back in a week!
Emma xxx
Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Marks & Spencer Quick Dry Coral

July 27, 2011 6 Comments

First of all I would like to wholeheartedly recommend this colour for unique summer nails 🙂




This is a beautiful salmony pink colour, perfect for the summer. It surprisingly goes with a lot of colours clothes-wise, so is quite versatile. It also brightens up a neutral outfit with an interesting look, not the classic red or pink.

In terms of application, this took 3 coats, but that was due to the hideous staining on my nails, it just shows through anything >:( so I reckon if you have perfect nails or a French mani or just short nails, this will take 2 coats. The polish glided on my nails smoothly and it was very pigmented, not streaky like a lot of the summery brights. Dried in no time at all, with a lovely glossy finish, and it levelled itself out. The brush is pretty average.

This will cost you £5 from the M&S; range, and is it worth it? YES! I’ve never seen a ‘drugstore’ brand come out with this colour, I’m sure that China Glaze or OPI have done one similar but this is readily available if you, like me, hate the wait for internet shopped goods! Also it’s a lot cheaper than most of the eBayed or Amazoned nail polishes.

Hope you’re all well, I’m preparing to go on holiday on Friday morning – to North Uist! This will be for 2 weeks so if you don’t hear from me in that time, that’s why 🙁 I’m sad to be leaving my blog, please bear with me and don’t leave me haha!

Emma xxx

Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.

GOSH Miss Minty

July 25, 2011 Leave a comment

I’ve never really ‘got’ the whole mint-green nails thing, I absolutely hated Barry M Mint Green on my nails (don’t hate me!), but I think I’m starting to understand it, Miss Minty is a much better tone for my hands and I may even go so far as to say that I really quite like it. I have to say, when I bought it, I only remembered AFTER that I really don’t like mint green on my nails. Moments of madness.

This is roughly 2-3 coats. The polish is VERY pigmented, opaque in 1 coat really but due to my impatience and a couple of smudges I ended up doing 2-3 coats (I think my index and middle were 3, ring and pinkie were 2).
Dry-time was fine, dried quickly and the polish evened itself out so if you think it’s uneven, don’t!! go over it again, just leave it and if necessary use a topcoat later, otherwise you will end up with it dragging and bubbling. It dried with a lovely glossy finish, so topcoat isn’t necessary.
The only danger with this shade, as you can probably tell from the pictures, is it can bring out the pink in your skin, making your hands look lobstery like mine! It’s not too bad, the pictures make it look worse than it was, but still. Haha.
I did a quick colour comparison with Barry M’s Mint Green:
Middle and Pinky: GOSH Miss Minty; Ring and Index: Barry M Mint Green
I know it’s not an amazing picture – my camera wouldn’t pick up the colour difference between these two, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. Both polishes are shown at 2 coats. Now hopefully you can see that the Barry M is much more sheer and streaky than the GOSH, which is totally opaque. Miss Minty also is a lot more blue-toned, and more of a true pastel, than the Barry M, which is a much truer green (not what I’d call mint green!)
If I were to describe Miss Minty to you without photos, I would say go and get a tub of Mint Choc Chip ice cream and take a good long stare at the ice cream part – that is the colour of Miss Minty. So if you’re one of the many who are wild about mint green, I’d grab Miss Minty over Mint Green!

I have an amazing colour on at the moment but trying to resist posting a 2nd blogpost today, so I’ll have to wait til tomorrow. Or maybe late tonight. All I can say is that it is PERFECT for summer!
Emma xxx

Disclaimer: Everything mentioned in this blog post was either bought by myself with my own money, or given to me as a gift from friends/relatives. All opinions expressed here are my own.