Tag Archives: Marks & Spencer

Marks & Spencer Quick Dry Sherbet

July 1, 2011 3 Comments

I stumbled upon the new M&S; beauty range last Sunday on my shopping trip, which, can I say, is HUGE compared to how it always was (in my M&S; at least!) They have a huge range of nail polish so obviously I was in heaven. You can have a browse here. I am absolutely in love with the beauty range as you can probably guess, because it is BUAV approved (non animal-tested).

I limited myself to one polish, which was this one, from the Quick Dry range. It retails at £5. The pictures show two thin coats.

So the polish – the polish was opaque in one coat but I added a second for good measure. It dried quickly and glided on my nails beautifully 🙂 it dries very glossy so doesn’t require a topcoat and lasts wonderfully, I didn’t experience any tipwear, which I usually do with most polishes after a day of wear without topcoat. The ragged edges on my cuticles were because I was watching Being Human all day and was chewing on my nails 😐 don’t ask…

The polish was also unusually ‘tidy’ for a red, I don’t know about you but I always find that reds make an absolute mess of my nails and fingers during cleanup and also removal, which wasn’t a problem with this colour, so I was very happy about that!

The only thing I’m not sure of is the name – I’ve never seen any sherbet of this colour!

What do you think? I am very happy with the polish, I know the colour isn’t unique but they have a big range of colours, and at £5 for 10ml (compared to GOSH’s £5 for 8ml for example) I’m happy!

Hope you are all doing good, I have a few lovely polishes coming up so look out for them 😀 Spent a lovely day at the Garden Centre with my mum, we bought the most beautiful Dahlias I’ve ever seen (they’re called Mystic Enchantment, Google them if you haven’t already seen them!) and also some bright pink Gerberas for my room (which I am utterly convinced I will kill within a day but there we go). What have you been up to in this gorgeous sunny weather?
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.

Updated Nail Polish Collection

May 3, 2011 21 Comments

This isn’t a showing off post, au contrare, I wish I had more – lol.

I thought that maybe for the benefit of you all I would put up some photos of my current collection, and say for example you want to see a picture of a particular polish I happen to own you can let me know in the comments box. I will also link pictures I have already taken when I name the polishes, if that makes any sense. Basically click the blue words if you want to see the pics.

Grouped by brand.

Here is my storage, I managed to find a large shoebox which will fit perfectly for the next 20 or so polishes, then I suppose I’ll have to move on to bigger and better boxes.
So this is going to seem like a tiny collection to certain among you who will no doubt have about ten times the amount that I do 😛 Believe you me I plan on expanding my collection for ever and always to the extent that income allows. Haha.

Left-Right: Gosh 60 Lambada, Rio Nail Art Pen Red, Collection 2000 Hot Looks 29 Big Hair, No.7 Stay Perfect 93 Salsa, Rimmel London 60 Seconds 300 Movie Star, Illamasqua Scarab, Chit Chat Sweet Maple.

Left-Right: BeautyUK 33 Coral Surprise, Barry M 136, Rimmel London I , Rio Nail Art Pen Yellow, Barry M 307 Lemon Ice Cream .

Left-Right: Chit Chat Seamoss, Barry M 304 Mint Green, GOSH 548 Green Hawaii, Barry M 290 Spring Green, Rio Nail Art Pen Green, GOSH 564 Golden Dragon, Rimmel London I

Left-Right: Marks & Spencer Duck Egg (EM), Barry M 317 Blue Moon, Revlon 044 Blue Lagoon, Barry M 295 Pure Turquoise, Boots 17 Fast Finish Catwalk Couture, Marks & Spencer Bright Aqua (M2), Essie Lapis of Luxury, Barbara Daly Denim, GOSH Special Edition 001 Lavender Love.

Left-Right: Boots 17 Fast Finish Peacock, Collection 2000 Hot Looks 37 Bongo Beat, Accessorize Illusions 39 Mermaid, Barbara Daly Aqua Shimmer, Illamasqua Viridian.

Left-Right: Barry M 294 Cyan Blue, Barry M 297 Blue Glitter, Nails Inc x Diet Coke Denim, Rio Nail Art Pen Blue, Marks & Spencer Lagoon (RC), 2true Shade 14, Nails Inc Chandos Place, Barry M 292 Navy.

Left-Right: BeautyUK 51 Smokey Lilac, Nails Inc. x Diet Coke Heather Grey, Natural Collection Lunar Haze, Barry M 308 Berry Ice Cream, GOSH 571 Wild Lilac, Collection 2000 Hot Looks 42 Teeny Bikini, Barry M 161 Vivid Purple, Barry M 312 Indigo.

Left-Right: Maybelline Forever Strong Pro 76 French Manicure, Barry M 264 Pink Iridescent, Rimmel London 60 Seconds 210 Ethereal, Accessorize 9 Fudge, MaxFactor Nailfinity 882 Angel Nails, L’Oreal Paris Resist & Shine 103, Barry M 309 Strawberry Ice Cream.

Left-Right: Rio Nail Art Pen Pink, No.7 Stay Perfect Milan, Barry M 305 Pink Flamingo, Boots 17 Lasting Finish Pink Grapefruit, Revlon 040 Fuchsia Fever, Unknown Pink from Argos Pretty Pink Makeup Palette, No.7 Speed Dry 41 Cherry Tang, NYC in a New York Color Minute 224B Times Square.

Left-Right: Accessorize Illusions 35 Pink Spice, Nails Inc. Chester Place, L’Oreal Resist & Shine Titanium 603, OPI DS Jewel, Barry M 165, Nails Inc. Petticoat Lane, No.7 Stay Perfect 105 Damson Dream, Marks & Spencer Aubergine (EP), Nails Inc. Victoria.

Left-Right: Barry M 310 Mushroom, Nails Inc. Battersea Power Station, Boots 17 Lasting Finish Toasted Almond, Accessorize 48 Magical Mocha, Unknown Gold from Argos Pretty Pink Makeup Palette.

Left-Right: Rio Nail Art Pen Silver, Accessorize 45 Dove, Rimmel London 60 Seconds 805 Grey Matter, Models Own Smash Up Silver, Chit Chat Starshine, Rimmel London I GOSH 549 Holographic, BeautyUK 50 Slate, No.7 Stay Perfect 62 Night Silver.

Left-Right: NYC Long Wearing 105 Starry Silver Glitter, Max Factor Nailfinity 133 Extra Frost, Rio Nail Art Pen White, Rio Nail Art Pen Black, Rimmel London I Barry M 311 Nail Effects Black, Models Own Smash Up Black.

Left-Right: Nails Inc. A+E Base Coat, Rimmel London Stronger Double Duty Base Coat, Barry M 3-in-1 Base Coat Top Coat & Nail Hardener, Sally Hansen Nail Shine Miracle Top Coat, Rimmel London Lycra Pro Matte Finish Top Coat.
So once again if you didn’t read at the top 😛 comment if there’s any of these you’d like to see before you buy, as such, or even if you feel my pictures don’t show you what you want to see 🙂 I will also strive to update this every time I post pictures of each colour as and when.
Emma xxx

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

Models Own Smash Up Polish Silver – Blue/Turquoise Series

April 16, 2011 4 Comments

I was lucky enough to win the Models Own Twitter competition, celebrating the release of the black and the silver Smash Up polishes. I can’t tell you how excited I was to receive the silver crackle as I’ve been eyeing it up ever since I first heard about it. These two polishes were released on Monday 11th April. The polishes arrived super duper fast, and in a well protected package.
I’ve decided to do a series of posts on the silver shatter over different coloured nail polishes, as I always find it can be a bit hit and miss with certain polishes as to whether or not it will look alright. Today I’m starting with blues/turquoises.

Thumb to pinkie: Illamasqua Viridian, Accessorize Mermaid, 17 Fast Finish Peacock, Marks & Spencer Bright Aqua, Marks & Spencer Duck Egg.

In normal light.

In the lovely sunlight 🙂

As you can see, none of these polishes show particularly well through the silver.

Pinkie to thumb: Boots 17 Fast Finish Catwalk Couture, Barry M Cyan Blue, Nails Inc. Denim, Marks & Spencer Lagoon, Nails Inc. Chandos Place.

In sunlight.

In normal light.

This one, as you can see, has turned out a bit better. I’m wondering if it’s maybe something to do with shimmer polishes as all of the polishes on my left hand (the first photo) were shimmers. Saying that the M&S; Lagoon has turned out fine. Anyway, the two which turned out the best were Barry M Cyan Blue and Boots 17 Catwalk Couture (basically a dupe of Barry M Pure Turquoise for those interested). So I’m thinking bright is best with this shatter. Looking at the Pirate of the Caribbean collection by OPI I’d say that kind of follows, because none of the pastel shades in that collection show up too well through the silver shatter. I included Nails Inc. Chandos Place in place of Barry M Navy as they’re basically the same but my Navy has gone too gloopy to use.

I really like this shatter polish, it goes (as you can see) with all of these blue shades, and many other colours besides (as you will see if you follow this series!) It’s much thinner than the Barry M shatter polish, which I find to be very gloopy and hard to work with. The Models Own Smash Up, by contrast, gives a very smooth, easy application, and doesn’t dry too fast for you to apply it (cough Barry M). The only difference is that the Models Own polish gives much thinner cracks than the Barry M so less of the base colour shows through.

I will be doing a comparison of the Models Own black shatter with the Barry M black shatter soon. In the meantime I would absolutely recommend the silver shatter, it’s absolutely gorgeous, and most likely identical to the OPI one but a lot cheaper!

EDIT: Just thought I’d mention that the silver itself has a few random pieces of glitter in it very pretty!

Thanks for reading 🙂

Emma xxx

Disclaimer: I won this polish in a competition from the brand owner. Despite this, I maintain that I will only publish my own personal views and opinions as I would hate to mislead any one of you, particularly as a student I know just how precious money can be.

Marks & Spencer Aubergine (EP)

April 10, 2011 3 Comments

So the end of my four M&S; polishes is here, did I leave the best til last? You decide 😀 (by the way sorry for the rubbish photos, my nails don’t actually look this tatty IRL.)

Here is yet another impossible-to-capture colour, I’m starting to think maybe it’s my camera. Or my eyes. Anyway, this gorgeous shimmer is a very deep magenta-ish base, with red and gold shimmer. The gold is more apparent in the bottle while the red is more so on the nail.

I used to have this polish years ago with the old M&S; nail polish line, and I absolutely loved it then. The colour now is a little bit more red than I remember but still very similar which I love, because my old bottle dried right up.

This shade is at 2 coats. The chipping/sheet marks you can see is actually due to the dire state of my bare nails rather than the chip-ability of the polish, but I’m chopping them down tonight as I have work experience in a hospital for the next two days.

I absolutely love this shade. I first bought it when I was going through a dark clothing phase because I’ve never liked plain black polish, I just find it looks cheap and tatty on me. This was suitably dark and vampy for me and still is, I can’t tell you how flattering it is on my skintone and makes my fingers look longer and slimmer… I love it 😀 It feels very classy.

The shimmer isn’t as visible unless in direct light or sunlight but that hasn’t been a problem thanks to all the gorgeous sun we’ve been having 🙂 Dry-time again was fab (a little slower than the other polishes but still quicker than the likes of Barry M etc, probably more comparable to Nails Inc.) The formula was a little on the thick side but wasn’t an issue and didn’t drag sooo….

How are you all? I hope things are going well for everyone, I’m about to go and do some more revision but I must conclude with this post that I would definitely recommend the M&S; polishes because they are fabulous quality, and largely because (as mentioned before) they are certified Cruelty-Free by the BUAV, so if you want guilt-free polishing this is the brand for you 😉

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.

Spring Time Nail Art

April 9, 2011 4 Comments

First of all I still had the M&S; Duck Egg polish on, and didn’t want to take it off so did this over the top. I used GOSH Wild Lilac and the silver polish “Moonshine” (to make it shimmery) from Poundland mixed together on a piece of cardboard with a cotton bud stick (all cotton removed ofc), and then dabbed it onto my nails using a cheapie foundation sponge, from a pack of 25 I also bought at Poundland.

Originally I intended this as a gradient effect but as you can see that didn’t exactly happen lol.

I then topped it with Barry M’s Pink Iridescent to make it even more sparkly and because it didn’t look right on its own, I used my Rio Nail Art pens in black and white and just dotted the flower petals and switched colours for the centre.

A bit boring I know but it gained some interest at school 🙂

And if you’re wondering where the splodges came from it’s because I can’t sit still to save my life, even when nail art is at stake!

Hope you are all well, my GOSH Golden Dragon polish arrived today so I’m feeling very cheerful 😀 revision here I come…

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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