HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This years Halloween manicure became China Glaze "Ick-a-body" from their Halloween collection a few years back after I failed to make a Frankenpolish dupe for Maybelline "Dotty" yesterday... I should just have gone to Claire's and got their orange splatter Halloween one.

I haven't worn this polish before, not sure why?! It's sparkly, it's weird-looking, formula is good - what's not to love? This is 2 coats over Seche Clear base coat and a thick coat of Seche Vite over it. It's still fairly bumpy glitter but I'm so used to the textured polishes now it doesn't even bother me anymore! Love it :)

Speaking of textured polishes, I managed to score two of the new Maybelline ColorShow 'Brocades' collection polishes today - "Rosy Rosettes" and "Woven Skyline" (totally shit names, super-hot nail polishes). Can't wait to wear them at Xmas and New Year! :)

I've revived my old combo of Seche Clear/Seche Vite after running out of my Bourjois gel effect base coat. I am not convinced that Seche Clear is a good base coat; I think I might try another one for my next mani (I do have a wee stash of various treatment/base coats...). It seems to want to create bald spots if you go over the same place twice. Seche Vite is still a great top coat though but somehow not as shiny as my beloved Sally Hansen Megashine and it's also double the price!...

Halloween NOTD #1: Cute Monster Nails!

First Halloween manicure for 2013 :) The inspiration from these came from Googling Halloween manicures and seeing a few monster face ones and then thinking I wanted something sweet but still Halloween themed. I used a few random nail polishes for this and black and white specialist nail art polishes. From thumb to pinkie it's: Rimmel SalonPRO "Britpop", GOSH "Wild Lilac", Rimmel LycraPRO "Urban Princess", Barry M "137 Lime Green" and lastly Rimmel I Love.. "Sunshine". I had to do 3 coats with the green and yellow. I have underestimated the coolness of "Lime Green", I definitely need to do another mani with this. I struggled a bit with the nail art polishes as usual, they become stringy very quickly as they are a different formula from regular nail polish. You also absolutely HAVE to wait before you put on top coat to make sure it's hard and dry or you will streak the design out... PITA. But worth it. Aren't they cute?? :) They're like my mini-Frankensteins.

Anyway I am off to play a new computer game, RIFT...

NOTD: Revlon Parfumerie "Wintermint"

OMG it arrived :D I was so stoked when I saw the little red card from the post man yesterday!! I wanted to put it on immediately but stuff got in the way...

Bright light

Softer light

This is 2 coats without top coat. I might put on 3 coats next time? It dries quite quickly actually, maybe from the frosty texture? And it does already smell vaguely of mint when you apply it. But once it's dry, this smells like a freshly opened pack of After Eights (if you've not experienced this, it's a must-try!). I am LOVING this polish, I feel so lucky having been able to score this from America - absolutely gorgeous colour, completely unique in my extensive collection and the smell is such a novelty!

Of course, I had to try layering it with a glossy top coat to seal in the shimmer... And it still smells of mint even with top coat :) I love this - I really hope Revlon brings out this range in the UK, I think it would definitely sell like hot cakes!

This is a definite 'add' to the Top Ten Polishes of the Year list :)

NOTD: Barry M "Navy"

We are sadly trading in our 'vintage' red metallic Nissan Micra tomorrow for a swanky new dark blue metallic Skoda Fabia. We love the old Micra and are both really sad to see it go but the Man's new job won't pay the monthly allowance for a car older than 7yrs old so we had to trade it in. He is an essential car user in his new job and so need his car allowance. I thought I would put on a navy shimmer to match the new car and make it feel a bit less traumatic when we drive off, but not in our old lovely Micra...

This is 2 coats with a slick of Megashine. It's dark but even in low light you can totally tell it's navy, not black :) Can't believe I've never worn this before!

Our new car!

SPOTTED: MUA 1D Nail Crush

My fave Superdrug finally got some in but I wasn't sure I really wanted to pay £5 for the set? Maybe £3.50? Anyway. I still want the 'Stole My Heart' set, but will keep eyes open for a special deal on these :)

NOTD: Isadora China Nail Art "Hot Pot"

I won a Facebook giveaway by Isadora a couple of weeks ago and the parcel with 3 bottles of their new China Nail Art polish arrived today :D I am so stoked - I got this one, "Chop Sticks" and "Shantung". I will be swatching the other two next week :)

I keep finding only one black polish, an old Rimmel black polish which is absolute shit to apply so I will really need to find a new black polish... I did 2 crappy coats of black polish then added 2 coats of "Hot Pot". I sealed the lot with a coat of Megashine. Awesome!! It's a lot more colourful in real life and sparkles like crazy! Woohoo!!

I started using Isadora when I was still in my teens and I've found some of my old leaflets that Isadora used to do for their seasonal collections :) I need to find my earlier ones now!

I really wish that Isadora would enter the UK market perhaps through one of the online beauty retailers!

NOTD: Topshop "Copper Coated"

In a softer light

I felt like something autumnal again and whilst tidying up my Helmers today I found this copper flakie :) Awesome! I decided to put some bling on it as well. Please excuse the poor paint job but this polish is surprisingly runny... This is 2 coats with a bit of nail glue to secure the jewels and a thick coat of Megashine. I love how it has little copper flakies in it, makes it feel cosy and warm :) I decided to take a photo of this in the normal spotlight from the kitchen and also in the soft lighting in the bathroom - you can really see how lovely and 'flakie' the polish is under soft light!

While I was tidying up my Helmers I realised just how many Sinful Color polishes I have! I used to get them exclusively from America before Boots started selling them and I appear to have two duplicate buys - I have two of "Show Me The Way" and "Call You Later". But as this video of my Sinful stash shows, the old and the new formula of "Show Me The Way" are completely different polish colours?! I prefer the old formula (the one on the left) which is the one I got in a swap from America couple of years ago.

I am looking forward to Halloween manicures, I think I will start them next week :) I have got some ideas for 'faux nails' from my old pal Zeke the Evil Beech which we will be working on as well, and I will share our progress on here. I have also managed to score a primo indie nail polish and a very hard to find Revlon (in UK) from America which I hope will arrive in a couple of weeks!

NOTD: Collection Gothic Glam "Poison"

First I want to show off my super-cool new cover for my Samsung Galaxy S3 - it's from a seller on Etsy and is just awesome :D I saw it and needed it, 'nuff said.

I am kind of craving darker colours again as the chilly winds are creeping in again and when I saw this in Boots I decided to spend some Boots Advantage Points. I had a bit of a time applying this; it's kind of runny and overloads the brush quite easily. But 2 coats is enough for nice coverage on shorter nails. If you have a large tip best put 3 coats. Nice and glimmery though, not too dark. A bit like Seventeen "Navy Glint" maybe?

In soft daylight

Then I accidentally happened upon the new Bleach London hair colour section in Boots. It's just launched. I wish I could still do awesome hair colours!! But one has to remain blonde and boring I'm afraid... I might do some cool stuff at Xmas time though :) I fancy some temporary pastel pink 'underhair' using the 'Rose' colour!

NOTD: Pink Waterfall Manicure

I fancied something a bit celebratory as we bought a new car today! :) I have been meaning to try the gorgeous waterfall manicures that The Nailasaurus do for ages but it always seemed like too much work but I made myself do one today. My nails must me a million times smaller than hers as I couldn't get that many lines on my nails! :O Anyway here is my very first attempt, I will likely try to return to this design later and try and do much neater lines.

I used Essie "Vanity Fairest" for the base as I already had it on from yesterday. I used Essie "Angora Sweater", Barry M "Christmas Pink", Bourjois 10 Days "No 17" and Rimmel LycraPRO "Urban Princess" for the stripes. I used a 1cm nail art brush to put them on. I sealed it all with my trusty old Megashine top coat.

I kind of want to try a green version of this, that might be next :)

NOTD: Isadora Sugar Crush "Pink Crush" and MINI REVIEW

My Mum sent me 3 different sugar texture polishes from Sweden along with some Swedish sweets! This is the first one, another of the Isadora Sugar Crush polishes. I can't get enough of these, I wish so much Isadora was sold in the UK. This is 2 simple coats over my Bourjois base coat. It's sooooo glittery! And pink!! :D Woohoo!!

I also wanted to do a mini review on a perfume sample I got from What's In Your Handbag - Van Cleef & Arpels 'Rêve'. As you may know I am certainly not a perfume connoisseur but I actually love this perfume :) I have been wearing Marc Jacobs 'Lola' for so long it was quite nice to have a change. 'Rêve' smells grown up (like I should be) but the fruity background makes it a little bit fairytale and playful (like I actually am). According to some perfume websites, it's a fruity floral (duh!) and apparently the notes are...

Heart notes:
Osmanthus, Lily, Peony
Top notes:
Neroli, Juicy Pear
Base notes:
Sandalwood, White Amber

I wish I was more helpful but I am sure you can find plenty dedicated perfume blogs out there to tell you more... I like it, that's all I can say, and I think it might make it onto my wish list for Xmas.