Nail Polish

This came with my July GlossyBox, which, for those of you who don’t know, is a box containing 5 samples of ‘luxury’ products costing £10 (but £12.50 inc. P&P; from September) which comes around on a monthly basis. Once you have signed up, they will automatically take the money each month until you unsubscribe. Last month there was an uproar on Twitter because the box contained a small bottle of Batiste Dry Shampoo which isn’t ‘luxury’, although frankly compared with the price of the other products, I think it’s a bit greedy to expect all expensive items! I just think it’s a shame to see a brand new company get so much grief for one little mistake. Anyway, those who unsubscribed after that apparent outrage will probably be kicking themselves this month, as the July box was fab! Even better- it arrived on my birthday!
In my box I received a pack of Nouveau Lashes, Ciaté Nail Polish, Weleda Pomegranate Body Oil, Illamasqua Lipgloss in Explode, and the only sample sized product is the Xen-Tan lotion (in dark – I’m a bit scared to use it haha!)
So anyway, onto the nail polish. FYI, Ciaté is 3-Free (free from formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate and toluene).

1 coat – hopefully you can see the very pink jellyish base! This s reminiscent of China Glaze Strawberry Fields, and I actually wore my nails all day in Oxford like this as I loved the bright pink!

Left: 1 coat. Right: 2 coats. Huge difference!!

The gorgeous yellow-orange shimmer in the bottle.



This is my first bottle of Ciaté, I’ve always admired their polishes online, but never got round to buying one as I never managed to decide which one first! I have to say, as a first taste of the brand, I am SUPER impressed. The polish has a pink jelly base, with tons of yellow-orange-red shimmer, which I assume accounts for the red effect as the layers build up! I ended up applying a third coat, but if you don’t have nasty stained nails like mine, you could easily get away with 2. coats.
This polish is easily mistaken for a classic red shimmer in dim light, but as soon as you get under a light or into natural daylight, or even better, sunlight, this polish lights up like a fire! The blend of orangey-reddy-yellow shimmer makes it look like glowing embers, and you occasionally catch a hint of the pink base. Can I emphasise how amazing this polish is any more?
Onto application. I’m in love. You know that myth that you’re supposed to do three strokes with nail polish, middle then 2 sides? I’ve never ever been able to do that until I used this polish. The brush is firm enough to control the polish, but soft enough to maneuver it neatly around the curves of the nails. I love it! The handle is long, allowing for good hand control, and the brush is the perfect width and density – not too thin and not too thick. According to the GlossyBox notecard, the brush has 250 bristles, though it doesn’t explain why haha.
Ciaté polishes retail for £9.00 from the Ciaté website, or from the Powder Rooms. I would seriously recommend this fiery red to any of you! Well worth the £9.00 for 13.5ml, if you compare with OPI’s average £10.50 for 15ml in the UK and China Glaze’s average £8.00 for 14ml, plus the application makes it all the more amazing.
Just wanted to say a quick thank you to all of you who said Happy Birthday in the comments on my last post, it made my day to a) know that you care and b) know that people actually bother to read my ramblings! I promise I will work on cutting down the waffle but thank you so much
Emma xxx

I wore GOSH’s Midnight Blue (a slightly darker version of Nails Inc. Chandos Place) with my prom dressfor my cousin’s wedding party last weekend, which was absolutely lovely and so nice to have all my family together in one place after so long 🙂 The next day, after 3 days of wear, Midnight Blue was starting to show some tipwear so I decided to brighten it up a bit with LOTS of glitter!

I’m afraid I’m not 100% sure whether these polishes are limited edition or a permanent line. But these are 5ml bottles of nail polish in colours other than those already available (as far as I’m aware). Basically I saw them in the section of the GOSH counter in my local Superdrug which is normally used to showcase limited edition products so I can’t tell and can’t seem to find it anywhere. Anywho, these bottles cost £2.99, which isn’t bad when compared with the £4.99 for 8ml of the normal GOSH bottles. Sheer curiosity made me pick this one up, but I now have my eye on the green creme they have to offer! They have a broad colour range in this new line.



I found it so hard to get a proper colour-accurate shot of this polish! It looks a little less greyed-out than the pictures show. Not an amazing description I know but… It’s kind of in between the bottle colour and the colour on the nails. Anyways, it’s a lovely greyish-biscuity nude. It’s a bit warmer than putty colour, and a little more flattering. Argh, not doing well here! It’s just very pretty, very subtle and work appropriate without being mannequin-esque.
Application-wise, it dried in an average time, not super fast but not really slow either. Manageable. I needed 2-3 coats for full coverage because it seemed a little streaky over my stained nails and the polish dragged a little but it wasn’t anything too bad. It dried with a lovely shine too so I didn’t need a topcoat 🙂
My only real problem is that where I left a little gap between the polish and my cuticles, the colour of my nail underneath really didn’t look pretty so I’d recommend polishing all the way up the the edges of the nail for this one!
Hope you’re all doing well, my life is being pretty hectic at the mo, I’ve just been up to Yorkshire for my cousin’s wedding which was lovely! I haven’t got an amazing photo of my dress yet, so this one will have to suffice:

I know you can’t see it so well here, but basically it’s a halterneck. It’s a lovely green-grey cotton dress with cobalt blue roses and a black sash. The skirt ties back on itself to create the bunched up -ness (is there a word for it?!) at the bottom, or it can be worn loose (with the skirt lying flat, more like a maxi). You can also go half up, half down, which seems to be fashionable of late (although how would I know – queen of unfashionability!). It’s also very kind to a larger tummy, and helps to emphasise the breast area (which became a problem as my boobs have somewhat increased since my diet was abandoned!) and makes the waist appear smaller.. I found 2 links to photos of the dress on the Facebook page of the shop it’s from:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=205436339485515&set;=pu.110156945680122&type;=1&theater;
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=199714216724394&set;=pu.110156945680122&type;=1&theater;
Basically it’s from a shop named ‘Fresh’, found in the Covered Market in Oxford. If you ever get the chance to go in, DO! It’s got some lovely people running the shop, and people who are normal in body shape and attitude if you know what I mean – they don’t bat an eyelid if you ask for a dress in size 14 or 16 and they are very welcoming, helpful and friendly. The shop itself is tiny, but absolutely filled with gems like this dress. The dress cost £75, which really isn’t bad considering how versatile it is.
Anyway that’s enough of my babbling on! Hope you’re all okay and all that.
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.
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Finally I’m back! Basically my camera connecting lead broke so I couldn’t upload any photos, sorry guys 🙁 Anyway, I have another lovely Cosmo freebie today, one of the three different colours available 🙂 The other day I showed you the bright orange, Misstaken, and today I have a beautiful aquamariney teal colour – Misstique.

First of all, sorry for not doing the 2nd Missguided freebie post but I’ve come down with a hideous virus and frankly feel like the waking dead, so I haven’t taken pics of my nails today so that may have to wait. I’m sorry. I do however have a couple of pictures from a few days ago so hope this will suffice.