Tag Archives: Boots 17

My first (slightly failed) attempt at leopard print

March 1, 2011 2 Comments

Umm well as you can see my left hand has tiny dots and my right hand has splodges. Again, I blame my non-dominant left hand. Arrghh.
What I used:
Barry M Nail Paints – Mushroom (base)
Boots 17 Fast Finish – Catwalk Couture (spots)
Rio Nail Art Pen – Black (outlines)
So, to cut a waffle of a story short, I wore the Barry M Mushroom the day before I did this. That evening something possessed me to do this. The Mushroom colour was crying out for something interesting to draw attention to it! It did look like very yummy melted chocolate.
I took 17 Catwalk Couture and attempted to do some even splodges of colour. I’ve always loved the combination of chocolatey brown and turquoise, hence the colour choice. The splodges didn’t turn out as even as I wished. Oh well.
I left this overnight and then the next morning very crudely outlined the splodges to make them leopardy with the ‘pen tip’ of the Rio Nail Art Pen.
My one tip from this experience – for impatient people like me it is best to use a fast-drying nail polish for the splodges because some will be thick, and even with fast-dry polishes it does take a while to dry properly, resulting in holes in your manicure when you knock the top off by mistake!
I have learnt from this experience that even if your nails do not look amazing (see exhibit a, b and c) up close, they still look fairly snazzy from a short distance, like if you just casually stroke your face. Well maybe not stroke it but you get the gist!
I should really be doing an essay right now. 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 Fast Finish Peacock

February 28, 2011 7 Comments

The pictures really don’t do this polish justice. Please excuse my red hands (cold!) and the lack of cleanup.

My brother bought me this polish for Christmas. I think this must be ‘my colour’ or something because I received a couple of very similar polishes!

I was quite reluctant to try this as it’s a Fast Finish and my experience with Catwalk Couture (will post some pictures next time I wear it) was less than desirable. However Peacock was workable and very pretty.

It has a turquoise base with a lot of green shimmer. It really is so pretty, and although the turquoise/green polish is far from unique I am very pleased with this particular shade! The colour looks almost luminous at a casual glance, probably due to all that green shimmer. It reminds me of those minerals where you go into a dark room and they glow.

Formulation-wise, it was quite thin, which is good for a Fast Finish. I hate when they are thick and you end up dragging the polish *coughcatwalkcouturecough* but this one was pleasant. It dried fantastically fast which I love (being an impatient polish addict was never going to work) and I had a lovely opaque colour after 2 coats – 10 minutes = happy Emma! It’s shiny but could probably do with a topcoat. I didn’t bother as I knew I’d only be wearing it for 1 day max.

The one thing that I have found to be a problem with both my Fast Finishes, is that when I take them off they leave a horrible stain on the skin around your nails. This wasn’t so much of a problem after a day’s wear but it is something to be aware of. Acetone won’t shift it, but most of it seemed to come off when I washed my hands :S just a word to the wise.

Hope you’re all having a lovely Monday!
Emma xxx

P.S. This is a gorgeous polish for toes! My toes felt like gems 🙂

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.

Nail Polish Collection As Of 13th January 2011

January 13, 2011 6 Comments

Considering I only had about 4 nail polishes at the beginning of December… I have gone a bit nail polish mental! 🙂 Maybe it’s just the colours, I hate routine and since buying/receiving all these polishes I have been changing them every day lol – until my nails split at which point I realised I should really consider the health of my nails before abusing them 😀 they are happy nails now though. So here we go:
L-R: GOSH 60 Lambada, Rio Nail Art Pen Red, Collection 2000 Hot Looks 29 Big Hair, Rimmel 60 Seconds 300 Movie Star, ChitChat Sweet Maple, Barry M 136, Rimmel Lasting Finish 050 Tangerine Queen, Rio Nail Art Pen Yellow.
L-R: ChitChat Seamoss, Barry M 290 Spring Green, Rio Nail Art Pen Green, Rimmel Lasting Finish 238 Forest, Collection 2000 Hot Looks 37 Bongo Beat, Boots 17 Fast Finish Peacock, Boots 17 Fast Finish Catwalk Couture, Barry M 295 Pure Turquoise.
L-R: Essie Lapis of Luxury, Barry M 294 Cyan Blue, Rio Nail Art Pen Blue, Barbara Daly Aqua Shimmer, 2True Glossywear Shade No. 14, Barry M 292 Navy, Barry M 312 Indigo, Barry M 161 Vivid Purple.
L-R: Barry M 308 Berry Ice Cream, Natural Collection Lunar Haze, Collection 2000 Hot Looks 42 Teeny Bikini, Barry M 165, Rio Nail Art Pen Metallic Pink, L’Oreal Resist & Shine 603, Unknown Makeup Palette Nail Polish.
L-R: Max Factor Nailfinity 882 Angel Nails, L’Oreal Resist & Shine 103, Maybelline Forever Strong Pro 76 French Manicure, Unknown Makeup Palette Nail Polish, Rimmel 60 Seconds 805 Grey Matter, Rio Nail Art Pen Metallic Silver.
L-R: ChitChat Starshine, NYC Long Wearing 105 Starry Silver Glitter, Max Factor Nailfinity 133 Extra Frost, Rio Nail Art Pen White, Rio Nail Art Pen Black, Sally Hansen Nail Shine Miracle Top Coat, Barry M 54 Basecoat Topcoat & Nail Hardener 3 in 1.
If you haven’t heard of ChitChat, it’s from Poundland (don’t judge me ;)) they aren’t actually that bad, they have a much nicer smell than most nail polishes (though I don’t know whether that means they are cheapie harmful fumes!!!) and they do look really lovely over the top of some polishes. They are too sheer really to wear alone, and I wouldn’t say they are of great staying quality! Hence why I would only use them over the top of another polish.

The two unknown polishes are from a makeup box given to me for my birthday last year, which I would definitely recommend. It isn’t tested on animals (BUAV approved), and the eyeshadows particularly are of fairly good quality considering the price. It’s called PrettyPink, and is (or was!) from Argos.
In total I think I have 42 coloured polishes and 2 Topcoat Basecoats, and I don’t think I’ll be stopping any time soon!
Emma xx

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.