NAILS: First nails of 2015 ...

For my first nails of 2015 I decided to mix it up. I was going to have black with a gold accent but then decided to swap out the black for a grey. I had a bit of a look on Pinterest and found a lot of people mixing grey and pale pink, now I don't have a pale pink in my collection but I do have a nice nude and a pink pearl colour which I decided to combine. 

My gold is very yellow based gold so I swapped that out for a shimmery Barry M silk polish in truffle. It sounds like an odd combination but I like it, it contrasted really well with the black dress I was wearing on Monday. 

xXx 

Treats from my mam ...

My mam went into M&S a couple of weeks ago to pick up some new PJs for her, turns out they had this offer on where if you spent so much you got a free box of cosmetic treats. When we went over to see her today she gave me some of the freebees that she didn't want. 

I have to hand it to M&S these are all full size and after checking them out on the website they were very generous, the items mam gave me retail at over £50 combined with the face cream alone £27. 

I'm really looking forward to trying the hair treatment as my hair is being very fuzzy at the minute and looks in quite bad condition. I will also be trying out some coconut oil in a later post to see if that can help restore my hair, I would love to be able to reduce the amount of washes I need a week but when we go to the gym and sweat I have to wash my hair afterwards. 

The mascara looks really nice to, I like the addition of argan oil as this should hopefully keep moisture in my lashes. As I am sure most of you will know sometimes your mascara can leave lashes quite dry and the best way to keep them healthy and looking full is to keep them conditioned like you would with your hair. 

I am thinking of trying out the nail colour later on tonight so keep an eye on my Instagram feed, ema_jane47 for the results.  Also keep an eye out for my reviews as I try these products, but for the minute I just want to say well done to M&S for actually giving away full size full price goodies. 

xXx

Ever growing nail varnish collection ....

As you will know from my previous posts, I am a big fan of nail varnish and a big fan of a bargain. This week I popped in to Durham with the fiancé and had a cheeky look in Superdrug I wasn't looking for anything in particular but ended up coming out with 2 lovely new nail varnishes. One of them I could have done with the other week for our friends wedding when I was frantically searching round Boots for a nice light pink colour and couldn't find a decent priced one.

The two colours I bought are Late Night Latte and City Blackout. I love the pink its really shimmery and you cant beat a good black in prep for autumn/winter.

These were £2.49 each or multi-buy 2 for £3 bargain for polish bottles this big.  

I currently have the Late Night Latte on. I used Avon illuminator base coat then two coats of the colour followed by a clear top coat. Going to see how long it lasts, supposed to be long lasting 10 days but we shall see how it fairs with my typing at work, which tends to rub the ends of my colour off and see if it chips from wear and tear. 

Here are the colours in person, sometimes I think website images can blow out the colour a little so you really need to see them for yourself before you buy them. 

You can see in this pic how much the pearl quality catches the light. Its a really light natural colour which I think will work with a lot of different colours. I think it will also work as a shimmer top coat over some of my other colours but I will try that at a later date. 

As this colour is so light but still shimmery I am thinking of wearing it to the wedding in a few weeks time. As that outfit is neutral and blush this colour should work really well. 

Hehe last pic is my toes, I currently have NYC Raindop blue on them, as I wanted a pop of colour. The weather isn't quite bad enough for socks all the time yet so I am making the most of having my toes out in sandals hehe plus I don't see the need to always match hands and feet, I will sometimes but other times I like having a contrast. 

What do we think? Do you have any new colours in your nail varnish collection? 

xXx

New Nail Varnish ...

Today we went round to my mams house for Sunday lunch so I decided to try out one of my new nail varnishes. First  up is NYC quick dry, from Superdrug in Rainbow. Now like I said in my cosmetics haul page this one is a lot lighter in person then on the website.

Its a really light sky blue colour which I think will be perfect for summer, nice and light to contrast with a hopeful tan hehe

I've got a few NYC colours and they have all been fine, but for some reason this one was a little bit gloopy. It was almost like an old nail varnish that is starting to turn. I wasn't overly impressed as it meant that the first coat was really uneven then the second was streaky. I put a third coat on tonight when I got home and this one went on much better ... so I'm not sure if it was just that the bottle had been sitting out in the warm or what. This has however encouraged me to invest in a proper nail varnish thinner so I am going to keep an eye out for a good deal on one.

Anyway a side from the slight issues with application, I really like the final colour and its actually covered really well in the end. I will write an update when I come round to trying this colour again to see if I have the same problems.  I will also include an update about how well this colour lasted when it comes time to try the next one. Fingers crossed it lasts a while, this week will be a real test not only am I going to the gym a few times but I also plan on going swimming and every girl knows that swimming is the natural enemy of nail varnish hehe

xXx

My mini cosmetics haul ....

So today I had to pop into town to get some birthday cards, 3 inside a week! So while I was in I took a look about since it had turned out to be quite a nice day. I first took a look in New Look and found quite a few nice pieces, I'm really liking the tribal prints in at the minute ... But that's for another post.

After I had taken a look in a few shops I decided to take a look at some make up .. I wanted a clear mascara for day to day wear. My normal clear mascara is natural collection from Boots but I passed Superdrug first so popped in there. 

I wasn't really looking for anything in particular, though I did fancy a new bright red lipstick so just had a general browse. After Superdrug I took a look in Boots and would you believe it they had a deal on, buy one get one half price mix and match across nearly every cosmetics range. I took a look at the more expensive stuff but at the minute I just can't justify spending much on non essential make up. So I stuck to the 1.99 ranges of Natural Collection and 2True. 

So here is my mini haul from today ... 

1. NYC Expert last nail varnish in Mint Macaroon - £2.49 Superdrug 

2. Natural Collection LashCare Mascara in Clear - £1.99 Boots 

3. 2True Colour Drench Lip Gloss in Shade 9 - £1.99 Superdrug 

4. Rimmel Instand Tan, 24hr Water Resistant - £3.49 Superdrug (on offer) 

5. Natural Collection Moisture Shine lipstick in Crimson - £1.99 Boots 

6. 2True nail varnish in Shade 15 - £1.99 Superdrug 

7. 2True nail varnish in Shade 18 - £1.99 Superdrug 

8.  NYC nail varnish in Rainbow - £1.79 Superdrug (a lot lighter more pale sky blue in person) 

Total = £17.72 

Except I got: 

     

                      3 2True items for £5 

                      2 Natural Collection items for £2.98 

                      2 NYC items for £3

                                                                       BARGAIN!!! 

I cant wait to try the new colours, I really like the light pastels in at the minute. Didn't think I would but recently I've been wanting an everyday colour that can mix and match with different outfits but that isn't beige or brown base. Don't get me wrong I love my bright colours but its nice to have a change every now and then, mix it up a bit. I will be sure to post some pics. Same with the lipstick which I plan on wearing either alone, with the gloss on top for some shine or even just the gloss alone depending on how strong the colour it is. 

                                                                                xXx

Nails ... Nails .... Nails ...

Just a a short one today with a few little pics of my latest adventures in nail painting. First up I decided I wanted to try out something really bright so bought a NYC quick dry from the local chemist of all places in High Line Green. 

I used this on both my fingers and toes. It looked really cool, bright and a funky clash with most of what I was wearing.  I wore this down to a family birthday but to mix it up a little for the meal out I decided to add a black crackle top coat. 

I was't sure how it would look but it turned out awesome. The picture kinda blows out the colour, it wasn't quite as grunge in person. My mum on the other hand wasn't quite as keen she thought my nails looked a bit mouldy :s but hey I liked it. 

Just to combine a couple of posts, as you may r may not know we have joined Bannatynes and as such we have been going swimming a lot. Swimming, long nails and nail varnish do not mix, here is the result of two trips to the pool ... eeek! As a result I have taken my nails a tad shorter then I would usually keep them to try and stop them bending as much when they are wet and soft. 

So aside from psychedelic green I have been sporting a few other looks recently a couple of weeks ago I went natural and did a light french manicure just using my sparkle white and top coat, I dont like pink bases as they can look a bit fake. 

I love this look but the white can tend to crack after a few days and get strange dark lines through it. I love how this look just enhances your natural nails which for me is great as my nails grow quite long. 

Next up I borrowed a Nails Inc colour from my friend.

Not the best paint job as I was in a bit of a rush but this is there leather effect. I'm not sure how leather it looks but it was kinda cool. I love the grey colour and kinda like the dull effect it has. One thing I did discover about this sort of textured varnish is that its really distracting hehe I kept feeling up my own nails. Sitting at work running my thumbs over them and running them across my lip. This was also surprisingly easy to get off, I was expecting it to take ages like glitter but it didn't which was good. I hate having to spent ages trying to get your varnish off. 

I have also bought a couple other new colours recently first up was a little pot of dark gold from H&M sale which I picked up because it looked cute and shiny hehe my last new colour is shade 13 from 2true at superdrug. I finally found the light grey I wanted woop woop. 2true is really nice as its not too expensive like the NYC ones so you can mix it up with a new colour without having to spend a fiver to find out you dont like it. 

Thats all from me on nails for the minute but I will keep you updated if I try out anything else new or buy anything awesome hehe 

xXx

Nails!!!

So the last couple of months I've been getting back into painting my nails. I love long square nails, most of the time mine look like talons and more then once people have assumed they are fake when I've just got a coat of clear on.

I used to paint them all the time, mainly black when I was a kid but then I started mixing it up. I loved it so much I would paint them on Monday nights after cadets then take it off for Friday session and repeat the following Monday hehe 

Then I kinda stopped wearing it for a while, mainly at uni. I think it was because they chipped all the time and I hate chipped nail varnish. Then last year the Fiancé's sister introduced me to Rimmels nail repair which has worked wonders, my nails are stronger and as such they dont bend as much so the paint doesn't crack. They still wear along the edge which is annoying as hell but hey I've got hoards of different paints and you can pick them up dirt cheap now so having to add an extra coat after a few days isn't going to break the bank. 

Anyway I just thought I would share a couple pics from my recent forays into nail painting. I've decided to get some nail art tools so I can use some of my brighter colours to dot or line etc There are so many ideas floating around on Instagram and people post great pics of each stage so you can follow them like a how to. 

The first pic's were inspired by Fianceé's sister V and some pics of a current trend. For her Bday in November V had shellac done with her ring fingers done in gold glitter and the rest black, it looked ace!! The glitter was amazing and super shiny. So one night when I was bored I decided to paint my talons but instead of doing them all one colour I used contrasting colours. 

Cream base with brown ring fingers!!  This is using Rimmel Nail Rescue as a base coat then No7 stay perfect So Simple and Beanie.  Next up were Christmas nails. 

I loved V's shellac nails so much I decided to my own version. I dont have a very nice black polish so this is two different types, two coats of NYV i119A then a top coat of Gallery Colours Black 212 which I think could be from a market stall hehe its a really dark black but doesn't go on the best. The gold is Barry M gold 289. Then at christmas my sister gave me two Barry M crackle paints. I dont have a pic but my first attempt was 17 turquoise with Black crackle over the top, it looked really cool with the splash of colour coming through. Then my next attempt was using the Barry M purple crackle 322, I used 17 light silver for the base. 

The crackle goes on matt so I use a coat of Boots natural collection clear as a top coat. My latest choice is black with silver glitter. 

This is two coats of the NYC black then a top coat of Gallery Colours black. The glitter looks a lot better in person then in the pic, that is two coats of Millenium 212 silver glitter. Last up are a couple pics of my growing nail varnish collection. Most of the large No7 ones I got at Boots using the vouchers where you got £5 of No7 stuff making them £2 each which is awesome for a10ml bottle, the little ones are an xmas gift of Fiancé's rents, so are the little 17 ones. The 17 magnetic is off my mum this xmas and I've yet to try it. Most of the others are ancient, the Maybelline Wet Shine Diamonds I picked up off a market stall down south and its fab makes a french manicure look a little bit different to a plain white and the Pure Ivory is really nice for a base as its not too pink. 

Variety of colours from No7 and 17 

Bit of Barry M, Millenium and OPI. The OPI isn's that good.

The miscellaneous, Rimmel, NYC, Collection 2000, Maybelline and Avon 

These are just my attempts so far and I will write more posts as I have a play about. I am considering buying some Nails Inc polish as my friend has over 100 of them and she swears by them. They also have some really cool colours, just need to save up first as they a little bit pricey.

Bye for now. 

xXx