31 Day Challenge ~ Inspired By Your Country

Hello!

For today's challenge I decided to go a little cliché and do an England flag! I used Sally Hansens red and silver glitter, Cha-Ching!, for the cross and Sinful Colors' white polish for the base. I have to say I'm not very impressed with the white because, although it gives good coverage, it has a very long dry time :-(

It was actually St George's Day last week and I'm sad to say that I did not celebrate it at all! It doesn't seem to be as big a deal as the days for the other patron saints of the United Kingdom; perhaps, because England tends to be politically privileged, we don't feel as much need to celebrate.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Cairuo ~ 21 Green Tea

Hello!

This is my third post showing you polish by the brand Cairuo, which I bought from Xtras for £1 each. As I mentioned in my Newcastle polish post they have a range of extremely colourful polishes so I was hoping they'd be decent quality!

This polish is called Green Tea, a lovely name. It's a light, grassy Spring green, perfect now that we've finally actually hit Spring in the UK!

Such a nice colour!

From my experience with my three Cairuo polishes I think that, while not being high-end standard, they are certainly worth their £1 price tag. If you're on a budget and looking to build up your collection of staple nail polish colours I would raid their range without a doubt!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Cairuo ~ 16 Blueberry

Hello!

This is my second post showing you polish by the brand Cairuo, which I bought from Xtras for £1 each. As I mentioned in my Newcastle polish post they have a range of extremely colourful polishes so I was hoping they'd be decent quality!

This polish is Blueberry, a bright light blue. I'm quite particular about my pastel blues - I like soft, light and delicate - and unfortunately this one is very bright with a powdery look. It's not a bad polish; the brush applies it a little streakily but this is evened out in subsequent coats. It's just not what I want from a blue. Here it is:

What do you think?

One more Cairuo coming up!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Cairuo ~ 15 Orange

Hello!

This is my first post showing you polish by the brand Cairuo, which I bought from Xtras for £1 each. As I mentioned in my Newcastle polish post they have a range of extremely colourful polishes so I was hoping they'd be decent quality!

This polish is called Orange which greatly surprised me because, up until I looked at the label on the bottom of the bottle, I'd seen it as yellow! It might be on the border between the two colours but I really would class it as a warm and bold Spring yellow. Here it is:

Would you say that's orange?

Whatever the label says I very much like this polish. It has a nice, even finish and is a great staple yellow ~ especially for £1.

I'll be following up this post with the two other Cairuos I bought, see you soon!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

31 Day Challenge ~ Inspired By your Childhood!

Hello!

I decided to combine today's childhood challenge with a current nail trend and do a blackboard manicure!

Ciaté have come out with a set to accomplish the look, which is a cool idea but expensive! It's an easy idea to attempt and I used polishes that were already in my collection to do my mani: a base black by W7, Barry M's white nail art pen to do my doodles and Rimmel's matte top coat to give it the blackboard look. Here it is!

I'm still loving my Barry M nail art pens, it makes it so easy to freehand designs. And the blackboard mani is a fab idea!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

NOTD ~ Get Your Number

Hello!

Yesterday I cut my nails short, which always seems like a great idea at the time but leaves me with rubbish cuticles (no idea why) and feeling quite sorry about my baby nails! So to prettify them I chose one of my OPI Liquid Sand minis, Get Your Number. This one looks stunning with a top coat and I'm growing to love it in its intended textured form as well. My nails remind me of blackcurrant Fruit Pastilles! I took a couple of snaps while on my break at work:

I love having something sparkly on my nails to gaze at while I'm making calls, and this definitely did the trick ^_^ I'll be posting about a couple of my Newcastle buys soon, see you then!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

A Newcastle Nail Polish Post!

Hello!

Today I'm writing a post to showcase the nail polish deals I spotted in Newcastle city centre today! I am absolutely categorically not supposed to be buying more nail polish right now, but at least I can do a public service by leading you astray too ;-)

Here is a pic of my little haul, and below I'll write about where I got them:

TK Maxx ~ TK Maxx have just recently opened their new store at the bottom of Northumberland Street, and the couple of times I've been in there they've had a really good selection of polishes. Today they had Color Clubs in pairs, minis and big sets, Leighton Denny minis, Nails Inc sets and a few others that included the OPI duo above that I just could not resist getting ~ Bubble Bath, I'm Not Really A Waitress and a cute keychain. The set was marked down from £19 to £12.99.

Boots ~ Boots have started stocking Sinful Colors! There are currently displays in the big Eldon Square store. They're at an introductory price of £1.99 but that's supposed to be increasing in a few weeks' time. Amongst the selection are some cool glitters, but I walked away with the white as it had been recommended by fellow polishers as a great base colour. I also bought my third bottle of Sweet Kisses for £2.99 from Boots' own 17 range; it's a slightly dusty pastel pink which I adore. The Eldon Square Boots has really stepped up their polish selection with a ton of desirable brands being given their own displays.

Making Faces ~ This is the make-up barrow that used to be found near the Northumberland Street entrance to Eldon Square but now has moved further up inside, opposite Next and where the calendar stalls used to be. Today they had a great selection of Essie polishes (not just that orange one!) and Revlons for £1.99 each. I actually settled for an unknown brand called Freshcover because its icy blue looked so promising, and I'll be swatching it soon!

Xtras ~ Again found in Eldon Square, Xtras have a range of polishes by a brand called Cairuo that they are selling for £1 each! If you go in, the range of colours is impossible to miss - bright, fresh and very tempting! I bought 3 cheerful Spring shades and will be swatching them very soon to see if they are any good. They also have lots of W7 polishes for £1.99, and I decided to get the blue Suede-effect shade that people have been rating highly.

So these were my nail adventures today! I'll be updating with swatches; hopefully they were worth breaking my no-buy for because it was seriously bad of me!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

31 Day Challenge ~ Inspired by Nature

Hello!

Today's challenge is to do a manicure inspired by nature, and I just had to break out my Nailz Craze plate and try my first butterfly mani! There are so many inspiring manis out there with a myriad of gradient and colour combinations, just like in nature.

For my base colour I chose Layla's Red Taboo, a gorgeous red holo. I stamped the butterfly design on using Konad Black then dotted on white spots to finish. Here it is, in natural light and with flash to show off the holo:

Eeeee, I love butterfly manis! Next time I'm going to try a gradient or duochrome.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

31 Day Challenge ~ Inspired By Fabric

Hello!

I happen to be very much a homebody and am usually found all warm and cosy in my jimjams! So for this challenge, I decided to use my pyjamas as my fabric inspiration. Weird? Not at all.

The stamping is the flower pattern from Nailz Craze's Russian plate, which I adore!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

31 Day Challenge ~ Merge or Melt

Hello!

For today's challenge I decided to merge pastels purple and pink in a sponged gradient style... I ended up with a subtle but very pretty look ^_^

The pink is 17's Sweet Kisses (I need yet another bottle of this as I'm running out!), and sponged onto the tips is one of the new Models Own scented polishes I got, Blueberry Muffin. It's on that beautiful line between blue and purple and it does indeed smell gorgeous :-)

There are many different ways to approach today's challenge so I can't wait to look at my fellow polishers' manis below, go check them out too!

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Barry M Nail Art Pens

Hello!

Today I have a review of the new Barry M black and white nail art pens for you. They were only released today and, as soon as I saw them in my nail polish Facebook groups, I planned to stop in at Superdrug before work to have a look! There's a 3 for 2 offer on Barry M nail products right now so I chose the black and white pens plus the Greenberry Gelly polish :-)

The pens look and work just like felt tips; to get the polish flowing you press the nib against a piece of paper a few times then you're ready to go. The polish doesn't leak or clog up and, when applying, it only goes where you want it to; an extremely refreshing change from the usual metal nib nail pens. It gives quite a thin line which is easily built up. The black is fully opaque and the white can be made fully opaque by going over the same line a couple of times. It dries very quickly and doesn't smudge at all when topcoat is applied.

To try out the pens I went for a nail art idea I've been wanting to try for ages but haven't been able to because I'm rubbish at freehanding! It's a cartoon-style nail, a really bright colour with a black border and white reflection. I used Nails Inc.'s Baker Street and the Barry M pens:

And, to give as complete a review as possible, here is a picture of my dominant hand where the art is a little clumsier ;-)

So, as you can probably see, I'd say the main limitation of the nail art pens is your own dexterity. If you can be patient and keep a steady hand I think you could get amazing results.

If my review sounds like one long endorsement it's because I am truly impressed! These bring me one step closer to being able to freehand decent nail art :-P I bought the pens myself for £4.99 each at Superdrug, with a free polish thrown in because of the 3 for 2 offer.

Hugs,

Lisa xx

Models Own ~ Banana Split

Hello!

Well, a few days ago I went to Eldon Square Boots store for the first time in a while, and I was quite stunned by the selection of nail polish they have in there now! Butter London, Orly, Sally Hansen, Mavala, Essie, Nails Inc, Sinful Colours... amazing!!! They also had a 3 for 2 offer on some items and so I picked up three Models Own polishes - one of the new neons and two scented polishes which I had never even seen or heard about!

Today I'm showing you one of the scented polishes, Banana Split. I already have two pastel yellow polishes but one is a lot brighter than in the bottle and the other is cheap and gloopy, so I took a chance on this Models Own arrival and hoped it would give me a better result! It is banana-scented and it smells genuinely and very pleasantly like a banana milkshake. I applied 3 coats and this is the result:

It's lovely! It has perfect coverage and is barely, barely brighter than in the bottle. Even without the scent it would be my new go-to yellow, and the yummy banana aroma is a sweet little bonus. I am a big fan and can't wait to try my other purchases :-)

Hugs,

Lisa xx

31 Day Challenge ~ Texture

Hello!

For today's challenge I decided to go with the only one of these new textured polishes that I am truly in love with ~ The Impossible by OPI. I bought the mini set (at full price, idiotically!) and this is the one that I could go back to and wear over and over again. The others in the set are pretty, but work far better when glossed out with top coat in my opinion!

Here are two coats of The Impossible:

It honestly looks like a hug on my nails! It's warm, and fuzzy, and hot-strawberry-jammy, it just makes me smile :-)

Hugs,

Lisa xx

31 Day Challenge ~ Your Favourite Polish

Hello!

This was a tough challenge as I have soooooooo many beautiful polishes. And, in the end, I had to make two choices - an "everyday" polish and a "special" polish.

My everyday polish is one that is gorgeous on its own but is especially good as a base for nail art. Sally Hansen's Lavender Cloud is so delicate and creamy, a barely-purple-tinted white. I have two bottles of it, each bought for £1.99 from my local beauty barrow! Here it is alone:

...and with some stamping:

I love it so much!!!

My second polish is a special one... a glitter! It's Barry M's Red Glitter, and this is such a stunning polish that it surpasses even holos in its ability to keep me staring transfixed at my nails all day long. It's deep, rich and has a sparkle that you won't even believe. Unfortunately I've found it incredibly difficult to photograph, but here is my attempt, and be assured that it looks a million times better in real life:

Hugs,

Lisa xx

31 Day Challenge ~ Your Oldest Untried

Hello!

Poorliness update: I am very worn out but am getting there! Illness knocks me out far more than it should do :-(

Today's challenge is to use your oldest untried polish. I worked out that this must be Glisten by Boots 17, as I excitedly bought it when it first came out in Spring last year without really thinking about whether I liked it or not! It's seriously scary to think that that was nearly a year ago ~ at the time I was engaged and still struggling to finish uni! Fortunately I'm now single (for the better) and have graduated, although there are still problems to fight through :-)

So, the polish! Glisten is a very warm shimmer, like a sunset. Here are 3 coats:

Yeah, really not my thing. It blends in with my skin tone to look like a boring, old-lady polish. It's pretty in its own way but definitely not my style. Luckily I think that, in the year since I bought it, I've learnt not to be quite so impulsive with my polish buying!

Hugs,

Lisa xx