Nails

Nails

Primark P.S Gel Effect Top Coat Review

April 7, 2014

Primark P.S I Love You Gel Effect Top Coat Review

If you’ve been into Primark recently you’ll likely have noticed that they are rolling out a new line of “P.S” beauty products. In my local shop they seemed to be mostly nail products but I’ve seen reviews popping up of all sorts of things! Being Primark they are all of course at ridiculously low prices with most being only £1.00, this of course lead to a smash and grab style shopping trip that left both Amie and I with a heaving bag full of bargain treasures!

Now given the price I wasn’t expecting much from this top coat, but the luxe packaging made it seem all the more tempting so I thought I’d give it a go. The brush itself was much better than I expected and although it isn’t wide enough to cover the nail in one sweep it applied very well!

As far as looks go I don’t think you can really see any difference at all between the swatches on the left with no top coat and the swatches on the right with one layer of Gel Effect Top Coat.

As for longevity (which is really the most important job of a top-coat in my book!) I tried this with a number of different familiar polishes and I’d say it fought off dreading chipping for maybe a day or so extra, so for £1 you can’t complain too much but it’s hardly an innovative must-have product.

Have you tried anything from the P.S range?

Totally hellbent for one more day at the very least

– Gem

Nails

Sally Hansen Sugar Coat in Lick-O-Rich, Razzleberry and Cherry Drop

March 31, 2014

Sally Hansen Sugar Coat Lick-O-Rich, Razzleberry and Cherry Drop

As soon as I opened this trio of gorgeous polishes on my birthday I knew it was love at first sight! I’m a big fan of the textured nail look but there aren’t too many of them about that are this easy to use and wear.

There are eight colours in the range but these are definitely the three that I’m likely to get the most wear out of. First up I love the bottle shape and the decal on the front has a texture that mirrors the polish itself which is a nice touch! It’s hard to pick a favourite of the three as they all applied evenly in two coats with amazing colour pay-off.

The matte textured finish looks quite rubbery but it feels sandy to the touch. Isn’t nearly as annoying as I thought it would be and thankfully it doesn’t snag on hair or clothes which I find a rarity in anything with a raised finish.

The only real downside to their polishes is the longevity, all three colours lasted only a day or two before they chipped even with top coat. Removing them wasn’t nearly as tough as I imagined, I thought I’d have to scrub away or soak them but actually they all came off with minimum effort – a tad tougher than normal polish but much easier than glitter!

Overall I am really impressed and the biggest bonus at the moment is that I’ve seen them floating around in a few poundlands!

If you’re after them online you can find them at Boots.com for £6.99 each.

Totally hellbent for a unique finish in my three favourite colours for nails

– Gem

Nails

Etos Glitter Nails and Glitter Topcoat

February 25, 2014

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter you will know I’ve just got back from a trip to Holland to see my lovely other half, and almost all of these trips involve me popping into Etos (sort of the Dutch Boots) to pick up a couple of their own brand nail polishes. This time I went for a shimmery pair of silvers, one Glitter Nails Polish and one Glitter topcoat.

Unfortunately neither of them are named or even numbered (one of my absolute pet peeves – please can’t all brands give their cosmetics cutesy names!) but both have gorgeous finishes to make up for it!

The Glitter Nails polish is a deep metallic silver with multi-holo micro glitters and a sort of sandy texture similar to the O.P.I Liquid Sand. It took two coats to get full coverage but dried reasonably quickly.

The Glitter Topcoat is a much more delicate polish with white and silver micro glitters in a clear varnish. You can hardly see it at all on the pic below but it has a gorgeous ethereal shimmer worn alone if you fancy more of a subtle glitter polish.

I tried the Glitter Topcoat out over a few other colours, and absolutely loved the variety of looks you can get with it. (L-R Leighton Denny – Meet me in Monaco, Ciate – Plastic Fantastic, MUA – Pistachio Ice Cream, Revlon – Black Star, Revlon – Emerald)

Unfortunately these aren’t available in the UK , but if you find yourself in The Netherlands you can pick them up for around from € 2.49 from Etos

Totally hellbent for little treats to cheer up long distance boyfriend blues!

– Gem

Nails

Jess Glitter Nail Varnish – Rock Chick, Ibiza, Tiger Lily, Celebration & Alfresco

February 23, 2014

I’m a sucker for a bargain and can never resist poking my head in Poundland to see what manner of lovely things I can purchase for only one hundred shiny pennies. I often pick up Revlon and Sally Hansen polishes for a fraction of the RRP, but skip past the lesser known or own brands. I’ve never heard of Jess before, but the Poundland website tells me they are a new and exclusive range which would explain why I’ve not seen them anywhere else!

I wasn’t much interested in the display at all until the twinkling of the row of glitter polishes caught my eye! Cheaper glitter polishes tend to be lacking in pigment and are usually quite sparse but these look absolutely packed! I took my chances and picked up five colours (L-R) Rock Chick, Ibiza, Tiger Lily, Celebration and Alfresco

The swatches above are a single coat, and for a £1 varnish I don’t think you can ask for better than that! Tiger Lily is definitely packed with the most glitter, but as far as topcoats go, they all delivered a substantial finish. They all applied easily and dried reasonably quickly too. I really can’t find complaint with these at all.

After two coats they really came into their own!

But if you’ve the patience for three coats you get something completely spectacular from a £1 varnish.

I will definitely be seeking out more of the glitter Jess range, and could probably be tempted to try some of the other finishes too.

Totally hellbent for bargain with a bang!

– Gem

Nails

Colourful Leopard Print Nail Art Tutorial

February 16, 2014

Today I had every intention of sorting out my make-up and varnishes that have seemingly ended up taking over the entire corner of the bedroom. What actually happened is I found this really garish Pink nails inc colour that I’ve never worn, shook my head and took it upon myself to use it. So instead of organising and stacking, I’ve created a cute little tutorial for you all.

You will need:

Base colour (something light preferably) I’m using Nails inc London in “Notting Hill Gate”
Complimentary colour to your base for spots I’m using Avon Nailwear pro + in “Sea Breeze”
A black varnish – for this, my trusty nails inc in “New York Noir”
A nail art brush or an old paint brush

*Funny story – when looking for the colour of this Barbie Pink, I almost thought it was “Flammable” as it was scrawled across the bottom of the bottom! But seriously – how hilarious is this pink?*

Paint your base coat first – I had to use three coats just to make this colour look presentable. Honestly – it’s the least “like me” colour ever!

Once this is dry, take your complimentary colour and dot it onto each nail. Don’t use too much because you don’t want to end up with raised bumps. I picked the green because it reminds me of the adorable coral and blue colours around at the moment, but you can use whatever colour you think goes well together.

In between coats I’ve been using Elegant Touch rapid dry for nails to try and speed up the process as well as at the end. (It’s absolutely brilliant!). Take your black and your nail art brush/paint brush/tooth pick whatever you’ve got, and gently sweep the brush around the edge of each circle, don’t complete the circle, leave a little gap on each one. The beauty of this is that it doesn’t have to be neat because it adds to the effect. You can also add a few extra black dots if you have some empty spaces.

A note to you all, make sure you go to the loo before doing this – honestly, no matter what I do, whenever I paint my nails I end up having to faff around with something and smudging them! Slap on your top coat, leave to dry and it is done! How easy peasy is that?

I hope you’ve enjoyed my quick animal print tutorial, I’m definitely going to try this with some more “me” colours, I’m thinking red, grey and black next. If you’ve tried this out, I’d love to see your pictures!

Totally hellbent for using even the most disgusting nail varnishes

-Pants

Nails

Debenhams Beauty Box Nail Varnish

February 4, 2014

I received one of Debenham’s Beauty Box sets this Christmas and was pleasantly surprised at the contents – of which came 8 beautiful nail varnish’s.

Now Debenham’s isn’t really the sort of store that I think of when it comes to nail varnish, in terms of it’s own brand stuff, but the colours from this box are absolutely gorgeous!

The first two here are my favourite – this is two coats and the pigment’s are just superb. The purple is so bright and the other three are various shades of red/pink, however none of them are too pink for me to wear which is a bonus. Unfortunately, they don’t have any names or shade numbers.

The last four were these gold and silver shades. The first gold has a bit of a pinkey hue to it and the silver is really metallic which is great. The gold glitter was only one coat! I’ve never found a glitter that is so textured in just one coat and I’m super excited to try this out over some varnishes from my ever growing vast collection.

Debenham’s beauty box has been heavily reduced since Christmas and is now only £12.50 instead of £25.00 and contains the following:

2 x cuticle tool
2 x nail clippers
Nail scissors
1 x nail stencil set
3 x eye shadow
3 x eye shadow palette
2 x lip pencil
2 x eye liner
2 x mascara
7 x lip gloss
8 x nail varnish
2 x nail file

You can find this and other tiny treat’s and mini beauty box sets direct from their website here.

Has anyone else tried out this little bundle of joy? If so I’d like to know your thoughts.

Totally hellbent for surprising treats

-Pants

Cosmetics Storage, Nails

Roo Beauty Zebra Print Travel Nail Polish Storage

January 31, 2014

Today I want to share this awesomely cute nail varnish case from Roo Beauty!

I travel around a lot with my band (not to mention the frequent trips across the channel to see my boyfriend who is studying in Rotterdam!) and I always loose my nail varnishes in the bottom of a travel case somewhere. Cut to ten minutes before stage time and I’m frantically trying to find a black sharpie to cover up all the chips I picked up during load in!

Well since my partner-in-crime gave me this gorgeous polish storage I’ve had no trouble putting my hand to my polishes when out and out!

This gorgeous case has space for twenty polishes in a roomy foam insert, and so far I’ve managed to fit almost every kind of polish in the circular spaces. The only brand I have that doesn’t fit is the Avon Nailwear Pro+ as they come in square bottles that stretch the foam out of shape.

The case itself feels very sturdy with a heavy duty zip, and even the mesh top (very useful to spot what you need in a hurry!) feels like it will stand up to lots of abuse being thrown in and out of my tour bag. Even the removable foam is great quality, and I don’t think I’ll have to worry about it crumbling apart any time soon.

I love anything zebra print, so this was the perfect case for me but if you are after a classier black crock print, or a trashier bright leopard there are plenty of designs to choose from!

Available from RooBeauty.com for £14.99.

Totally hellbent for perfect nails on the road!

– Gem

Nails

Using Magnetic Nail Varnish

January 29, 2014

Some months ago now, I posted a Nail of the day which included Avon’s Colour Attract Magnetic Nail Varnish. Since then, I’ve had a few people asking me how to use magnetic wands/blocks with their nail varnish and I have to admit, looking back to when I first tried these out – I too was a little confused.

So to help you all out, I’ve taken a few photo’s to show you.

First off, start by painting your nails with the Magnetic Nail colour of your choice and leave it to dry. Once this first coat has set, you will need to do the next step, one nail at a time.

Next paint another coat on one nail and whilst this is still wet, you need to apply the wand/magnetic block:

You should start to see the pattern forming, hold the wand steady for about 30 seconds before removing carefully and allowing to dry. I’ve found that if you move the wand accidentally then sometimes this ruins the pattern, but by the third or fourth nail, you should have got the hang of it!

The two colours used in this example were “Magnetic Metal” and “Blue Attraction”, both can be purchased from Avon for £6.00 each and the wands purchased separately for just £0.99 here. I have to say, I’m completely in love with “Magnetic Metal” even without the magentised pattern.

I hope this has been of some use to you all, I’d love to know if you’ve tried out other Magnetic Nail Varnishes and whether you liked them or not.

Totally hellbent for helping out the nail varnish community!

-Pants

Nails

Models Own Velvet Goth Trio

January 28, 2014

I can’t believe how long it has taken me to get a review up for this set – they’ve been on my nails almost constantly since December! I’ve only tried a few Models Own polishes, and despite my love for all things glitter they were all traditional finishes, but I can see my collection growing very swiftly on the basis of this set!

The Velvet Goth Trio is an ASOS online exclusive that takes three shades from the collection (L-R) Amethyst, Sardonyx and Absinthe. All three are glitter polishes with a rather unique matte (and yes almost velvety!) finish beneath the shimmer. I’ve been wearing these a LOT, especially Absinthe which has become my go-to stage polish choice! I’ve only had to apply two coats once, as every other time the extremely thick consistency has been enough in just one quick coat.

I love the mix of glitter sizes and the really pigmented colours, but for me it’s really that unique finish that makes these polishes stand out. If you’re not so much into the velvet finish you can turn all three into amazingly shimmer glitters with any old top-coat!

Overall I have to say these are my new favourite polishes by a mile, and I think I’ll be seeking out the two other colours in the range sooner than later.

Available for £9.00 (reduced from £12.00) from ASOS.com

Totally hellbent for unique and rich glitters.

– Gem

Nails, News

Shatter by O.P.I

January 16, 2014

I am very much a latecomer when it comes to the crackle nail polish scene. I had one or two when they first hit the market but never really bothered with them much, I think these three polishes from O.P.I have completely changed my mind!

I found these in Pound World of all places, and picked up Shatter the Scales, Super Bass Shatter and Black Shatter.

I remember reading a review on these somewhere that hinted that if you applied them directly to the nail they didn’t crack, but as you can see below Shatter the Scales is the only one you could really wear alone, Super Bass Shatter was far too streaky and Black Shatter crackled even without base coat.

Used over a coat of polish ( I chose Soho Silver by Nails Inc) they crackled up right away, though Super Bass Shatter and Shatter the Scales seemed to only break vertically.Black Shatter was very impressive however, and I think I’ll find myself using it more and more to cover up a manicure after a few days of wear.

If you fancy getting a hold of them then your best bet is Amazon or Ebay where all three can be found at discount prices, though it’s worth checking the pound stores if you get the chance!

Totally hellbent for getting into a trend years after it shows up!

– Gem