This is the old manicure to show another side to this polish
I've been so busy the last few days but I did manage to squeeze in a couple of manicures! :) I am off on a 3 day training course on Phase 1 Habitat Mapping tomorrow for work, and there is threat of rain when I need to be outside so I decided I wanted a nice tropical manicure. I did two coats and no top coat here of Isadora's awesome Sugar Crush "Ocean Crush". I just love this fantastic colour, but I can NEVER catch the colour shift on film :(
During the weekend I took the Man around the town to buy man-essentials such as self-inflating camping mats, ladderlock straps and - pants... I needed a nice hot red for this so I chose my very first premium nail polish buy - OPI Designer Series "Ruby". I did 2 coats here as well without top coat as I find top coat scatters the holographic particles too much in the DS polishes.
It's been 6 years since I started this blog! :) A lot of stuff has happened in 6 years but it sure as hell doesn't feel like I've been blogging for six years. I decided I wanted something special for this anniversary but unfortunately 'that polish' didn't arrive in time - the anniversary was actually 27th May... Ahem. But I decided I wanted to wait until it arrived to do this post :)
When I saw "Sand In My Shoe" from Nicole by OPI I knew I had to have it. In fact I wouldn't have minded having the whole collection! The collections is called Roughles, which is a play on ruffles and the rough texture. It's cheesy but the collection totally rocks! It took ages for it to make it's way onto eBay which is the only place I would be able to get this polish as it appears Superdrug doesn't seem to be stocking this in their stores/online yet, if ever. This is 2 coats over my Bourjois SoPerfect gel base coat. It's awesome. Just awesome. Like bottled happiness!!! :)
To grow my circle in my 6th year of blogging I have also set up an account on Nailpolis - if you haven't heard, it's a "nail art museum" :) It's a great place to see original nail art from some very talented ladies and also swatches of polishes! Go visit me now!
This nail polish makes me feel happy and sunny, just like "Waterloo Sunset" by The Kinks! :)
I reluctantly took off OPI "Green on the Runway" tonight but I had jammed my finger in the printer putting in more paper so had ruined one nail completely and it had to come off. But I needed something bloody spectacular to replace it. And here it is...
I started off with a base of the silvery sparkler that is GOSH "Silver", then added pops of summer colour with GOSH "Wild Lilac" (purple), Rimmel LycraPRO "Aqua Cool" (blue), Orly "Mint Mojito" (green), Rimmel 60sec "Sunshine" (yellow) and finally the old classic, Rimmel LycraPRO "Urban Princess" (pink). I finished off with a thick coat of Seche Vite to smooth over it all and give it that rock-solid mirror-finish. Good to go for the end of the week! :)
I have a discovery to share as well, I will do a full review once I've used it a bit more - Bleach London Reincarnation Hair Mask. It is supposed to soothe angry (home) bleached hair like mine, with sunflower seed extract and micro wheat proteins. It is also formulated to be gentle on an expensive and exotic dye job. And best of all - it's £6!! So far I've only tried it for about 5mins in the shower, but I will put it on my hair for 20mins tomorrow under a disposable shower cap to see how that goes! The smell is very light, not smelling of anything in particular. Even just 5 mins have done a nice job to soothe my straw-like tresses so here's hoping for tomorrow night's marathon hair masking!
As I casually visited Topshop at lunchtime for an makeup fix I instead ended up perusing the jewellery stands, and it was obvious that... SCRUNCHIES ARE BACK IN FASHION??!!
I thought, no way will that be anything but a Topshop thing. So I went to River Island...
I still thought, no way!? So I went to Accessorize...
And it's a fact. Scrunchies are back. I suppose after ripped jeans and plaid shirts, scrunchies completes the 90's revival. Not a bad thing for hair though, scrunchies are very gentle on the old strands. Because I'm a horrible person who abuses her hair with home hair dye, I always have a mission to find the gentlest of hair bands.
But you must excuse me, for I am off to shop for some hair accessories on Topshop's website... :)
So here is the highly anticipated green from the OPI Coca Cola collaboration! :) An acquaintance got the mini set so I managed to blag the green for myself! I love this so will likely need to purchase a full size bottle once they become more available. Looks almost like heavy velvet drapes?! It is supposed to be inspired by Sprite fizzy juice!
I thought this might be similar to China Glaze "Gussied-Up Green". It's not - I think it might even be a richer, nicer green?? Perhaps a quick look side by side...
OPI "Green On The Runway"
China Glaze "Gussied-Up Green"
Hmmm. I think the China Glaze is slightly cooler toned whereas the OPI has a golden glowy undertone. If you are a green afficionado like me, might as well have both shades! This is 2 coats and a slick of Sally Hansen MegaShine top coat. The coverage is good on this polish and not too brush-strokey. But I always have some issues with the tiny bottle top and brush on the OPI minis so I'm afraid it's a bit messy.
I apologise for the scrappy cuticles... You know I said I would put on the Sally Hansen Cuticle Rehab 3 times a day for 7 days to review? Never happened :( I was was so busy at work rummaging round paper files for a week so they are still in a sorry state. I will better myself and try again this week!
I decided to enter my first contest on Nailpolis, for Father's Day. Took me AGES to come up with a design although I had decided I wanted ties in there somewhere because my Dad love his ties! :)
I dug out Nails Inc "Denim" (Diet Coke Special Edition) cause my Dad likes blue and some of the MUA Nail Constellations micro glassbeads. Some nail gems. And a white nail art pen. Then I did some stuff. And it was all crap.
Then I went back to basics... And it totally works! :)
And apparently I'm not too hot with names of more conventional nail polish colours :)
I decided I wanted to wear something red and scorching hot after recovering from this wretched 'flu I've been suffering for a week. I chose this old super-hot glitter from the revamped Hard Candy range (they have since revamped again!). I doubled up and did a matching pedicure as well!
I used 2 coats here with a slick of Seche Vite. It really does glow like lava!! :) I think if you are sensitive about VNL you need to do 3 coats but my nails are so short it doesn't bother me.
I've picked up something new as well - Sally Hansen Cuticle Rehab nail oil. I decided I needed something portable for my cuticles after months of hideously dry cuticles. This is an oil in a squeezy tube with a little brush. I found it rather hard to squeeze the oil out, which might be a good thing if you're thinking of keeping this in your handbag... The oil smells lovely and fresh, almost like watermelon? Love it! Now we just have to wait and see how it works using it 3 times a day for 7 days :)
I lusted after these 'Acid Wash' polishes as soon as I saw the promos popping up on the shelf in Boots (as usual well in advance of them actually having any stock...). I then saw some swatches elsewhere on the Internet and was sold. I needed.
So I got this particular one from the collection because it's mint coloured and I'm a sucker for mint coloured. The formula is OK if you don't overload the brush, this is 3 thin coats and a slick of Seche Vite. The large hexagons are a bit tricky, they just tend to appear where you don't want one, like in a clump together on the same nail. The polish isn't entirely flat on my nail either because of the various glitters, but it could be because I've got very strongly C-curved nails? But it looks cool! Not sure how it's 'Acid Wash'?... Never mind, it's still cool. Totally sets me up for going to see 'Godzilla' tomorrow night! :) I'll warm up by watching 'Age of Dinosaurs' tonight on Syfy Channel!
This is a new line for Collection and it has some nice colours, but most are all fairly 'safe' cremes so didn't attract my attention much. I picked this one up even though I realised it was going to be quite sheer as I am a sucker for a glassfleck. I layered it over Rimmel LycraPRO "Aqua Cool", after hesitating as the colour on "Aqua Cool" is so amazing :) This is 1 coat of each and a slick of Seche Vite. I was at Gardening Scotland on Friday and saw this amazing vegetable display among other really awesome things :) It was a glorious sunny warm day and we finished off with a nice run around Harvey Nichols beauty department in Edinburgh City Centre!
