NOTD: Maybelline "Pink Carats"

So I have to keep it subtle this week because I am covering work for the big boss's PA this week. I found this little gem in my untrieds, I got it in a swap a while back. I thought it might be too skin coloured for me but it isn't! It is just like a sparkly version of China Glaze "Innocence". This is two coats of sparkly nude goodness and Poshe top coat.

Lina-Elvira Loves It Thiiiis Much:

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

POTD: Minx "Funky Design"

So I am back from a weekend of learning how to identify and record Scottish water voles and feel most refreshed and ready to rock n' roll again despite the fact it is going to be an incredibly stressy week ahead..

And after soaking my tired little feet after a weekend in walking boots I finally got to try my new Minx nail coverings!! This one is called "Funky Design" and it is the juiciest of the Minxs and fantastic for summer toes.

I took a photo of my kit for you. I use an 150watt infrared bulb to apply these (it was originally used for deep tissue massage pre-treatment heat therapy). But remember, if you want to use infrared light; it is VERY hot and it can seriously burn you if you are not careful!

I trimmed some of the Minx stickers into two bits as the toenails are so tiny and one sticker will easy do two or three little toe nails.

You use the glassfile to file in a downward motion to remove the excess Minx. You can use a plastic cuticle pusher to make sure the Minx is stuck firmly down the sidewalls if your nails have a deep 'c' curve.

Minx is quick, easy and gorgeous, and if you prep the nail properly before application your Minx will look nice for 2 weeks easy :) if there is a salon that offer it near you, consider getting it done! The original Gold and Silver Lightning ones are amazing on toes also.

You can find out more about Minx here!

NOTD: OPI Designer Series "Extravagance"

So I've been admiring my CND nubs for days now, but today I was eager to try the Popits for myself. They really are idiot proof! My nails look lovely :) I made them shorter than I will do next time, so short in fact they look like my normal nails when they grow out. The invention of the Popits it means that I can do acrylic enhancements for myself now! I will most likely soak these off on tomorrow though, and see how that goes, then re-do another set after my weekend away.

This polish is one of my all-time faves, it just glitters so incredibly. It's a queen of nail polish! This is 2 coats and Sally Hansen Mega Shine top coat. I have worn this when I first got it last year but can't find any swatches. The brush in my "Extravagance" is stupid and wonky but the formula is opaque and smooth. The only thing I don't like about the OPI Designer Series is the price - £18.99 is just insane.

Lina-Elvira Loves It Thiiiis Much:
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

CND Open Day with SweetSquared!

♥ My nails! ♥

♥ Samantha Sweet's amazing Minxed toes in "Gold Lightning" ♥

♥ Mixing up acrylic coloured powders to make the perfect green ♥

♥ Application of acrylic tip & overlay using the new Popits ♥

♥ Application of Minx Nail Armor, the coolest thing ever! ♥

Holy shizzle, my mind is still buzzing with excitement over attending the CND Open Day here in Aberdeen, hosted by SweetSquared! The demos were excellent, I tried and got fantastic new Minx designs, was amazed by the simplicity of the new Popits and got a lot of tips and tricks from the amazing ladies that hosted the event. This is a selection of the great stuff I saw today, and the fantastic nails I got from volunteering my fingers for the demos :)

Thank you so much to the organisers from today

- it was hugely inspiring event for me!

GUEST NOTD: Rimmel "Black Cab"

Today's NOTD is by my lovely "palette" Wench who recently received a little parcel in the post from me :) "Black Cab" is one of my favourite blacks!

REVIEW: Jergens Naturals Ultra Hydrating Body Moisturiser

I havee told you about the lovely Naked range, and here is another lovely "mostly natural" body care launch - Jergens. I bought the Ultra Hydrating moisturiser because it was half price, I wasn't really expecting anything; I just liked that is contains the beauty miracle Jojoba oil. And it is 95% natural, low carbon mileage, cruelty free, no parabens et c.

When I tried it I was instantly in love. It is sort of a rich gel-creme. It goes on smooth and doesn't make your skin sticky or greasy. It has a really light scent, fresh with a hint of either citrus perhaps?... Whatever it is, it's lovely. It has turned into my Holy Grail body lotion over night!

It retails for about £4.88 for 200ml, so it is medium expensive. You will find it in Boots in the UK.

Lina-Elvira Loves It Thiiiis Much:

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Updated NOTD!

So I was doing acrylics for a client today and there was serious scratching on my little nubs so I decided to revamp. I added a diagonal pattern of attention-grabbing China Glaze "Ruby Pumps" and a fresh layer of Sally Hansen Mega Shine over my NOTD yesterday - China Glaze "Hot Lava Love". Then I fought with my camera to try and photograph this lovely combo!!

Lina-Elvira Loves It Thiiiis Much:

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

NOTD: China Glaze "Hot Lava Love"

Changed my temporary extensions to oval ones as I prefer that to square. These melt off in 100% acetone in about 5 -6 minutes and no damage to the natural nail! They look great without polish or with a sheer nude too.

Was watching The Exorcist and for some reason craved a hot red polish. "Hot Lava Love" is just that - deep and glowing like hot lava. I really love this polish! It's more cherry than you see it here however. This is 3 coats and still some slight VNL...

I topped it with a slick of Sally Hansen Mega Shine and this is the result. I have lots of reviews coming up this week as Iam not doing a lot of nails this week, so stay tuned! :)

Lina-Elvira Loves It Thiiiis Much:
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

NOTD: Orly "Mint Mojito"

Today both ALU and Scrangie showed off the new Nubar Go Green collection. I believe however that Siobhan at The Nailphile got a preview of the collection something like a month ago. I am in love with these greens! I am especially keen on "Reclaim" which is a grassy-green holo. So I fancied a green manicure to celebrate :)

I got this lovely green Orly in a swap, and I had yet to try it! It's from the Tiki Time Collection for Summer 2009. Why did I leave it so long?? Well, I wasn't sure that the colour would suit my skintone. But it kind of does! It was really smooth to apply and dries fairly quickly. This is 2 coats with Poshe top coat. And I love the rubbery bottle tops! :)

Lina-Elvira Loves It Thiiiis Much:

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

REVIEW: Benefit Bad Gal

I got this much talked about mascara as a mini sized freebie. I have read rave reviews about it but I am not convinced. The formula is thick and well-pigmented, but the brush is far too large to work for me. It may be the dense concentration of bristles that does it - it is very full. I just can't get it close enough to the roots to get the volume promised by the sales blurb. I keep getting clumps too. However, It didn't smudge much even for me (all mascaras smudge on me, its som kind of voodoo curse I've decided).

RRP for Bad Gal is £14.50, which puts in the high-end drugstore mascara group, in between the pricey luxury mascaras and the economic drugstore brands. However hyped, it doesn't do it for me. I am sorry Benefit, you're cute and quirky and I love your Creaseless Cream Shadow and Liner but Bad Gal doesn't impress me!

Lina-Elvira Loves It Thiiiis Much:

♥ ♥

NOTD: Collection 2000 Hot Looks "Juicy"

So I was feeling in an adventurous mood and did myself some full cover nails after my client left. I am just not happy with my nails right now, and was desperate for some length. If you are careful in applying full cover nails, they look really great with minimal damage to the natural nail underneath.

These nails turned out to be really good and you can usually find them on eBay or in the drugstores fairly cheap. Next time I might get the oval ones. These have been slightly trimmed shorter, but I think they need some work to become more squoval.

Collection 2000 Hot Looks is a speed-dry nail polish that come in a range of cool colours. This orange jelly has a lovely goldy shimmer to it. It truly deserves it's name! This is 2 coats and Poshe top coat. The formula applies really well. The bottle is small, only 8ml, but it sells for about £2.50. I have not seen this colour lately in the shops though, so I think it might be left overs from a collection last year.

I love the end result here, puts me in a very summery mood! :) Rockin'!

Lina-Elvira Loves It Thiiiis Much:
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

It's French mania!

Lately my clients are dying for some good ol' clean, crisp French polish. And the polish that is hitting the top of the list? China Glaze "Innocence"! :) It's not just me who loves this lovely jelly nude. And it is perfect for making toes look young and healthy too!

Thank you to the lovely ladies who let me loose on their hands and feet!

NOTD: China Glaze "Emotion"

I am loving my pinks right now, I can't seem to get enough of them. This is another lovely swap item :) The Romantique collection were all gorgeous pastelly metallic shades, but they are awkward to apply; the formula needs to glide on fairly thick and precisely to avoid heavy brush strokes, and this causes cuticle overflow. This is before clean-up.

However they are opaque in one thick coat, so amazing for Konad! I might do a flowery Konad pattern with the lilac "Harmony" over this manicure later. This is 2 coats over Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Base and Top Coat, finished with Sally Hansen Mega Shine. Goodness I missed the quick-dry top coat!!

Lina-Elvira Loves It Thiiiis Much:

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

NOTD: New York Color "Midtown" and China Glaze "Pink-Rox-E"

I originally put on China Glaze "Pink-Rox-E" (bottom), but I ended up ruining it AND getting a lot of nail polish stuck in my hair so I had to change. Instead I put on the new to UK New York Color: In a New York Color Minute nail polish - "Midtown". They had s lot of really lovely colours, and I got two which I liked the look of, this one and a sparkly bronzey brown called "Canal Street". This colour is very juicy with a deep fuschia shimmer and a slight jelly formula, it is an absolute cracking polish - I can see my toes in this all summer! It is very quick to dry as well (10x quicker than the top coat...)

Application of this new NYC polish is also very good, if a bit runny (it is 3 Free) and the brush is one of those great flat brushes that many brands are now introducing. This is 2 coats, you will need 3 coats if you don't like a bit of Visible Nail Line...

I am currently road testing Sally Hansen Diamond Strength 2-in-1 top and base coat. It is not a speed dry top coat, which is not so good as I am too fidgety and impatient to wait for polish to dry, hence the now sparkly nude nail polish nestled in my hair :( I will bring your a proper review when I have tested this top coat further...

EOTD: Green Eyes

I went to an open day at the Macaulay Land Use Reasearch Institute today, and thought a green eye makeup might be suitable for all the ecology stuff :)

This is Fyrinnae "Leif" over Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow+Liner "RSVP" and the glittery greeny-goldy Collection 2000 GlamCrystals gel liner in "Spandex". The mascara is Benefit BadGal. I really like these cheap and cheerful glitter liners; they are better than you would think and at £3 you can add a bit of sparkle to your eyes in many colours!

NOTD and I'm Back! :)

Hey guys, I hope you all missed me, I sure missed writing for you! :) As you see I had a fantastic holiday with lots and lots of puffins, seals and other sea birds! I am now back from the wild with a tanned face, one broken nail and well, ahem, a sunburned neck requiring endless aloe vera gel! And a load of fantastic products to review over the coming weeks! Once I have caught up on my email, post and paperwork that is! :)

When I returned from the Stonehaven Open Air Pool today where I was bobbing about in it's 28°C / 82°F salty water while it was raining, I did today's NOTD is China Glaze's Blue Island Iced Tea, from the Bahama Blues collection of 2008. It's sparkly and foil-y. This is 3 coats, with a new base and top coat 2-in-1, Sally Hansen Diamond Strength. I am road testing this one for possible use in my mobile salon, so stay tuned for a review this week!