Speckled Pink

Over the past few days, my dad has been helping me with some gardening, we’ve been putting some gravel down in my front garden, along with lawn edging, and a lot of weeding and pruning! So I’ve avoided doing too much with my nails, and amazingly I didn’t break any! As soon as we were finished, I had to try out one of Maybelline’s new Polka Dots range, Speckled Pink. There’s four polishes in the Polka Dots range, Chalk Dust is the only one I haven’t picked up as it’s pretty much identical to the L’Oreal Confetti top coat.

Speckled Pink is a hot pink jelly base, filled with black and white hex glitter in various sizes. It applied perfectly, I had no problem getting the glitter onto the nail, no dabbing needed. It was a little sheer, and took 3 coats to reach opacity.

Pictures show three coats with top coat.

Have you tried any of the Polka Dots range? I can’t wait to try Shooting Stars!

Lyndsey

Blue Grape

Yesterday, one of my friends and I had a trip to Whitby. We had lunch at the best fish & chip shop, Trenchers, climbed the 199 steps up to Whitby Abbey (I just about managed it!) and spent most of the day winning prizes out of 2p machines!

The view after climbing the 199 steps to Whitby Abbey

Whitby Abbey

Whale Bones

After spending the afternoon on 2p machines – yuck!

Strawberry ice cream sundae!

Whilst we were looking around the shops, I couldn’t resist picking up a couple of nail polishes! I got one of the latest Barry M Gelly collection, Blue Grape. It looked very similar to Nails Inc’s Baker Street, which is one of my favourite nail polish colours. Blue Grape is a gorgeous cobalt blue, which only needed two coats, and has a very glossy finish without top coat.

Pictures show two coats with no top coat.

I compared it with Baker Street, Blue Grape is slightly darker, but there isn’t much difference. Blue Grape is a perfect cheaper alternative.

I also found out yesterday that someone has stolen my twitter identity! I’m @safclyndz, and I found out that someone is using the name @safclyndz_, along with my real name, my profile/cover photo, location, blog url and bio, but they’re tweeting as themselves, rather than impersonating me, which makes it even weirder. I’ve reported it to twitter, and got a lot of my followers to report it as spam for me, so hopefully it’ll be sorted out soon.

Lyndsey

British Nail Bloggers Giveaway

A big group from the British Nail Bloggers group on Facebook have joined together to create this amazing giveaway, with the first prize being a a $100 gift certificate. The gift certificates can be used at any online nail polish e-tailer.

The giveaway is open internationally and runs until 8pm (UK time) on Friday 28th June 2013. You must be over 18 to enter.

Enter through Rafflecopter on Kerruticles (or many other blogs!)

Lyndsey

Nails Inc Lucky Dip

Over the last week I’ve spent a lot of time sorting out my garden, we cleaned all the paths, garden wall and patio with the pressure washer (my new favourite thing, everything looks brand new!) and I’ve been potting some new flowers and sorting out some containers ready to grow herbs. There’s still a lot to get done but I love how everything looks so far!

Taking a break from the hard work allowed me to swatch my latest Nails Inc lucky dip, and with the weather being nice for once, I took everything outside. This created a few problems, mainly the wispy bits of hair that I can’t tie back being blown onto my wet nails!

Dovehouse Street is a pretty iridescent top coat, a nude base with a blue shimmer. It reminded me of Ciate’s Halo. Pictures show two coats with no top coat.

Porchester Place is an orange creme, perfect for sunny days! I didn’t think I’d like this in the bottle, but I was pleasantly surprised. The formula wasn’t great, a little thick, and streaky, but it evened out after three coats. Pictures show three coats with no top coat.

Seymour Walk is a hot pink creme, possibly my favourite from the lucky dip. The formula was the same as Porchester Place and needed three coats to even out. Pictures show three coats with no top coat.

Farringdon Crackle Topcoat is definitely my least favourite. A gold shimmer crackle top coat. I had no idea what colour to use with this, so I went for Barry M’s Greenberry. I’m not a huge fan of crackle top coats, it might have looked better over a darker colour. Pictures show one coat with no top coat.

Park Lane is a pretty silvery purple glitter in a clear base. One coat was quite sparse but it built up well to full coverage with 3 coats. I think I would prefer to use it as a top coat glitter. Pictures show three coats with no top coat.

Bruton Mews is the odd one out in the lucky dip. A deep forest green, similar to Madison Avenue from a previous lucky dip. Pictures show two coats with no top coat.

Hammersmith was a polish I already owned, but even though this is my fourth lucky dip, this is only the second polish I’ve doubled up on. Hammersmith is a teal glitter, with a mixture of green, blue and silver glitter in a clear base, and it reached opacity with two coats. Pictures show two coats with no top coat.

Overall, I’m very happy with the lucky dip, its definitely been one of the best I’ve received. I like that they’ve added an extra polish (there was 6 in the previous lucky dips) for an extra £3. Who doesn’t want £77′s worth of nail polish for £18?! I think they only thing that bugs me about Nails Inc is their delivery charges (£3.95), you have to spend £40 before receiving free delivery, so if you only wanted one polish I’d recommend going somewhere like beautybay.

Did you get a lucky dip this time?

Lyndsey

Jaye Bird – Nails Inc Feathers Dupe

I’ve been getting totally impatient waiting for Barry M to release their Confetti Effects range, and I’ve been lusting after Nails Inc Cornwall Feathers, so when browsing the Superdrug website, I accidentally searched for ‘feathers’ rather than ‘confetti,’ I was so excited when I found a feather range by a brand called invogue. Unless I spot a brand when I’m out, I tend to stick to the same brands, so I’d never heard of invogue, but one of their Feather polishes, Jaye Bird, looked identical to Cornwall Feathers.

The feathered polishes are made up of small matte bar glitter, and I really love the finished effect.

I tried out Jaye Bird over two coats of Models Own’s Beth’s Blue. I applied the first coat normally, and I quickly realised I’d have to apply it a lot thicker to build it up, or it would take forever!

One coat

Two coats

After three thick coats it built up well, although I could have maybe done with a fourth.

Picture shows three coats, with top coat.

The invogue feather range consists of 4 colours, Jaye Bird, Sunset (a dupe for Nails Inc York Feathers), One The Money (a dupe for Nails Inc Brighton Feathers) and Parakeet (a dupe for Nails Inc Edinburgh Feathers.) They retail at £3.49 each, and are currently on 3 for 2 in Superdrug, and are almost, if not totally identical to the Nails Inc range!

Have you tried any of the Feather polishes?

Lyndsey

The Black Knight

A few days ago I managed to break my SD card somehow, it works in my camera, but not in my MacBook, or even in my old laptop, so trying to get the photos off was a right pain. I had to install the software for my camera, and search for the USB cable! So, while I wait for my new SD card to arrive (it’s sooo much easier just to stick it in and copy and paste, yes I’m that lazy!) I can get through a few old swatches that I’ve been meaning to post for ages.

First up, The Black Knight, from butter LONDON, which was part of the ‘Sparkle, Sparkle’ Holiday Collection that I got back in November.

The Black Knight is a black polish, packed with glitter, which is mainly pink and blue. It was a little sheer, and took 3 coats to get it opaque, but it was worth it, its so pretty! I think it would be easiest using a normal black polish first, then a couple of coats of The Black Knight on top.

Pictures show three coats with top coat.

Also, the last week or so I’ve barely put my Kindle down! Two of my favourite authors, Sophie Kinsella and Paige Toon released their new books, Wedding Night and The Longest Holiday on the same day, so I quickly made my way through them! The Longest Holiday was my favourite of the two, such a roller coaster of emotions! I still haven’t forgiven Paige Toon for the heartbreak I went through whilst reading Chasing Daisy! Even though I finished The Longest Holiday a day ago, I can’t get it out of my head, I’m suffering from Post Book Depression! I’d definitely recommend all of Paige Toon’s books. I’m just glad I already have Billy and Me by Giovanna Fletcher to help ease me through the pain! (McFly just came of my iTunes shuffle whilst I was writing that, weird! If you don’t know, Giovanna is Tom Fletcher’s wife!)

Lyndsey

Frosted Gumdrops

A few months ago, Leslie from work / play / polish posted some beautiful pictures of the JulieG Frosted Gumdrops collection. I fell in love with them, and they were available for international shipping, so, for my birthday, my dad offered to get them as my present. The collection consists of 6 polishes;

Hot Cinnamon: Hot-red with a glitter finish

Rock Candy: Teal infused with silver glitter

Blueberry Fizz: Berry blue mixed with shiny silver glitter

Crushed Candy: Pure purple with silver sparkle appeal

Sugar Rush: Bright reddish-pink with pops of gold glitter

Tangerine Dream: Citrus orange with specs of sparkle

Each polish retails for $3.99 (around £2.60) but unfortunately shipping was $16 (just over £10) so shipping was more than the cost of the 4 polishes I ordered! Overall it cost £21, which for 4 polishes and shipping from the US isn’t too bad. They only took 2 weeks to be delivered as well.

I ordered Hot Cinnamon, Rock Candy, Blueberry Fizz and Crushed Candy. I didn’t think I’d wear Tangerine Dream, and Sugar Rush was a little similar to Hot Cinnamon.

If you hadn’t already noticed, I’m a little obsessed with texture nail polishes, and this collection is definitely one of my favourites! Every polish applied like a dream, and all pictures show two coats.

Hot Cinnamon is a hot red, and I’d say it was more of a shimmer finish than a glitter finish. It’s a much more subtle sparkle than some of the others in the collection.

 Rock Candy is a gorgeous teal filled with silver glitter.

 Blueberry Fizz is my favourite. I’m a sucker for blue polish, and this is no different, a beautiful blue with silver glitter.

Crushed Candy is another of my favourites, a gorgeous purple with silver glitter.

 This collection is absolutely stunning! They’re available internationally from Jesse’s Girl Cosmetics.

Have you tried any JulieG polishes? Do you love textured polishes too?

Lyndsey

Solitaire & Wedding Nail Art

On Wednesday, I was at friends’ wedding reception. I got a gorgeous dress by Matthew Williamson in the Debenhams sale, which I’m totally in love with, along with some nude shoes and envelope clutch from the Dorothy Perkins sale.

And of course, I had to have some wedding nail art! I used OPI’s Solitaire from the Bond Girls liquid sand collection, Barry M’s white nail art pen, and Solitare with top coat to create the wedding dress, and Barry M 47 Black, and the black and white nail art pens to create the tuxedo.

Solitaire is gorgeous, a white base with silver glitter, it looks like snow! It looks just as pretty with top coat too, and I think it would be a great alternative to a french manicure for a wedding.

Lyndsey

Gradient Tutorial

On Sunday, I was in London again for the last game of the season (boooooooo ) Tottenham v Sunderland. Unfortunately we got beat (and I missed the goal!) and now I have a long summer with no football. No doubt I’ll spend even more time doing my nails! I had an hour to spare when I got to London before I had to meet everyone in the pub, and managed to spend that whole hour in Victoria’s Secret! But I did get a free umbrella, worth £70! (I don’t know why anyone would pay £70 for an umbrella!)

Its been a while since I first did gradient nails, so I decided to give them another go, and do a quick tutorial while I was on, even though there’s probably much better tutorials than mine!

Start off by painting your nails white, I used two coats of Models Own Snow White.

I use a make up sponge, they’re cheap to buy, and don’t have any large holes in like other sponges sometimes do. I then cut it up so its just larger than my nail.

Paint the sponge with the polish, you need to be quite generous, as it sinks into the sponge. I used Barry M Greenberry, Models Own Lilac Dream, and Pastel Pink.

Dab the polish onto the nail, side to side, and then slightly up and down to blend the colours together.

It is very messy! But that’s quickly cleaned up with a cotton bud, brush and pure acetone.

I also added some tribal nail art using the Barry M nail art pen.

Lyndsey

Pink Sequin Effects

Barry M recently released their sequin effects nail polish, they looked really pretty in the press release, and I couldn’t wait to try them, but I couldn’t have been more disappointed.

I ordered the pink sequin effects, which is a pink based polish, with multi coloured hex glitter. In the bottle they look like a jelly sandwich polish. On the nail, they’re a lumpy, gritty mess. I’m a big fan of textured polishes, but this polish looks as though it has pieces of sugar in it. It might have looked better with top coat, but to be honest, I was so disappointed with how horrible this was, I removed it straight away. I’m so glad I only bought one!

I’m a huge fan of Barry M, they’re my favourite ‘budget’ nail polish brand, but this just isn’t working for me.

Have you tried any of the sequin effect polishes?

Lyndsey