Nail Bling!

In the wintertime I get more magpie-ish, I think it is cause of the lack of sunlight!

So I got myself some (2000pcs, hehe) of assorted nail art rhinestones from Hong Kong, and I will now make a point of putting bling on every polish I put on until my birthday :)

REVIEW - Tara Smith Big Baby Shampoo + Conditioner

According to the bottle, the Tara Smith range is organic and earth-friendly without parabens, phtalates and sodium laureth sulphates (the website is snazzy but uninformative). Sounds good to me :) My hair, like my skin, is very temperamental. It hates everything. Apart from Indian head massages, that is. And I swear it gets worse the older I get. Anyway. I currently use MOP's Pear Shampoo, which is lovely but pricey so looking for some savvy alternatives (also, I am a bit of a product whore and I like new stuff :) )

I spotted the Tara Smith range in Tesco supermarket at the weekend and decided to try it. It is quite pricey for the supermarket, £4.99 a bottle, on par with the professional ranges like John Frieda, but MOP is twice the price. I chose Big Baby which is for kids or sensitive scalps. No use in pretending anything else is going to be ok for my angry hair :)

The round bottles are attractive, and add to the "we're different but still cool" vibe of this brand.

So how was it for me? It has a mild astringent "herbal" smell, not very noticeable. I like that. The more organic/natural products I try the more I can't bear over-perfumed products. It cleans nicely, and leave a nice shine. Careful not to take too much product; the shampoo lathers a lot and the conditioner is very rich, so you only need a tiny bit. It didn't upset my scalp, no flyaways or static, and no tufty bits :) 4 of 5 stars for Tara Smith Big Baby!

NOTD - MAC "Rougemarie"

"Rougemarie" is part of the Red She Said MAC holiday collection. I saw this polish and knew I had to have it :) Usually I admire the MAC polishes from afar, but never buy them so when the sales assistant n Harvey Nichols in Edinburgh said that it might be out of stock I was heartbroken. But after a lengthy drawer search, she found it! :) "Rougemarie" is a glossy, vampy dark red.

The formula seems a little bit thick, but it presents no application issues and you get perfect coverage in 2 coats. This is Seche Clear base coat, 2 coats of "Rougemarie" and Poshe top coat.

Also, "Rougemarie" will go great with my MAC "Russian Red" Lipglass :) So top marks for "Rougemarie"!

Poshe v Seche Part 2

So, now for the Advanced Wear Test results :) It entailed a day of travelling and I ended up in the rain and so ended up being soaking wet for about 4 hours, which would have affected the results. I also did a lot of household chores and ended up breaking two more nails :( So now its back to proper ultra-short nails again...

Seche: Retained the glassy shine throughout. Tipwear not as pronounced as the Poshe hand, even though Seche was on my dominant hand. That stuff on my middle finger, thats makeup not cracks or wear :) Note the broken index finger nail :(

Poshe: Lost some of the really deep gloss by Sunday, so you would have to reapply every two days to keep the shine. Tipwear more noticeable than the Seche. Note again broken nail on index finger... :(

Final verdict? I think I need to test Poshe more. I have applied it to today's mani too to see how it performs on a creme. Then I will do another similar road test to this one and watch the results.

NOTD - China Glaze "Coconut Kiss"

I bought this polish because I had seen some lovely swatches of it. Then I had a thought perhaps it's a dupe for OPI "Purple with a purpose". However, that is not the case, "Coconut Kiss" has a glow inside it that "Purple with a purpose" doesn't have! It's that bluish glow that makes this polish so special :)

This is part of my experiment Poshe v Seche, so on this photo, you can see Poshe top coat luxurious shine.

Poshe v Seche Part 1

So I have finally got my hands on a Poshe fast-dry top coat. In the spirit of making informed decisions, Pretty Perfect Beauty has performed an advanced scientific test to compare the two highest ranking top coats; on my right hand I put Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat, left hand has Poshe Super-Fast Drying Top Coat. I have a Bachelor of Science, and I live for a good scientific experiment :) So here goes!

The Application and Drying Time Test:

Seche: Thick and self-levelling, dries to the touch in 1 min, dry nails in 6 mins 32 sec mins.

Poshe: Slightly thinner than Seche but still self-levelling, dries to touch in 1 min as promised, dry nails in 6 mins.

The Shine Test:

In lack of equipment measuring light reflection or the like, I have relied on my eyes :P

Seche: Glass-like shine

Poshe: Super-wet shine

Check back on Sunday for the Advanced Wear Test, including a whole day of travel, household chores, shopping and partying.

Other points to consider when choosing between the two:

• Seche is easier to find in the UK, some larger Boots stores even sell it, whereas I had to buy Poshe from the US
• Poshe is Big 3-free
• Seche has a more punguent smell, whereas Poshe doesn't really smell that much at all

NOTD - China Glaze "Ruby Pumps" with Nfu-Oh #44

This photo is the best of a rubbish bunch, you just can't capture the glowing intense heat of this polish! This is 1 coat RP, then 1 coat Nfu-Oh then 1 coat of Seche Vite. It's a shiny, glittery awesome red! :) It's like hot glowing lava...