Sally Hansen nail products

Recently I have tried some of the Sally Hansen nail products.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure.
I love the brush on these, it is quite big so covers the nail well in only a couple of strokes. The formula is thick and creamy on the darker colours and therefore you can get away with one coat if you are using it as a main colour, under nail art or havn't got much time. I got it in the colour 'fiery island so I could use it for some Halloween nail art. The lighter colours may need more than one coat.

Sally Hansen Gem Crush.
These are really pretty, they are a mixture of fine and normal glitter. I was bought mine as a present and it's in the colour 'bejeweled'. The coverage is about the same as a normal glitter polish and lasts well with a good topcoat. You can see it below on my middle finger.

Sally Hansen instant cuticle remover
Not totally sure on this product. It is used to get rid of the excess/dead cuticles. I keep my cuticles very neat so don't think this really did much good for me, however I know that a lot of people swear by it!!

Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Nail Hardener
This is great for using as a base coat. My nails have definitely improved from using this and I have tried several hardeners so can really tell! I sometimes use two coats depending on the shape of my nails (I find my nails break easier when they are squared off). It is a little more expensive than some hardeners but definitely worth it!!

Festive Nails

It's that magical time of year so here is the start of my festive nails. I prefer to do patterns rather than people (if that makes sense). I'm really pleased with how these snowflake nails came out. There are several ways to do snowflake nails so I will make a youtube video soon with a few designs that you can all try out :-)
For these nails I used Essie's 'Toggle to the top' and I absolutely love it!!! It covered my nails in one coat and is really pretty. Is is also handy as the glitter and colour are all in one. Unfortunately so far I have only been able to find it in a 5ml bottle in a gift set so I may end up ordering a full size one off the internet!

If you haven't already please go check out my youtube... www.youtube.com/user/georgesartwork

 

Thanks :-)

October GlossyBox

Welcome to the October GlossyBox.......

This month the theme is Dark Romance, however it came in the ordinary box rather than a decorated one. It doesn't really matter to me about the box design but a dark red version of the box would of suited the theme abit better than the pale pink one.

This was another good box for me as I will be giving all of the products a go, however I have read several reviews today where people have been really disappointed.

In my box I received:

- Me Me Me Cherub's Blush - Cheek & Lip tint
This is a full size product worth £5.50. I probably wont use this on my cheeks but it does add a nice bit of colour to my lips. I quite like the idea of lipstick but when wearing it I feel like it doesn't suit me so I'm hoping this will get me used to having some colour on my lips.

-Katy Perry Killer Queen fragrance
This comes in a sample spritzer bottle which is handy. The scent is very strong when first applied  but after a few minutes it calms down and is actually really nice. This is one of the nicer "celebrity" perfumes that I have smelt. It costs £29.50 for a 50ml bottle which is an affordable price. Sample worth approx. 88p.

-Monu Illuminating Primer
This is something I have hoped I would get to try. I don't generally wear foundation unless I'm on a night out so was hoping to test one of these that you can use either under foundation or on its own. It's not a full size sample but it's a very good 20ml one. It is quite a thick formula but once on your skin it does feel light. Sample is worth approx £9.98.

-Premae Multi-Vit Smoothie Serum
This is a lovely lemon scented serum for your face. Even though it's called a serum it is actually like a cream. A decent sized 20ml sample which is worth approx £9. Not really much I can say about this really but I will be happily using it as part of my skin care routine.

-Eva Cosmetics Mystic Diamond Argonoil
Basically this is a Morrocan oil type product. It doesn't really have a scent but is cheaper than morrocan oil at £22.70 for a 100ml bottle. The sample I have received is worth approx £1.36. I am quite happy to try new hair products to see whats out there so was quite pleased with this one. It is quite a thick sticky substance but it doesn't leave your hair looking greasy.

So..... unlike most I am happy with my box, it is worth about £26.72 so I am still getting my moneys worth!

Please visit my YouTube to see what the products look like :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhOU-_xW1Uk

Color Club Canada Holographic Nail Polish Review

The above picture is of my nails painted with Color Club Canada's Holographic nail polish in "Harp on it". This one is actually one out of last years collection but I really wanted a silver one so this was the one for me. I added the nail gems on myself for an accent nail. I purchased the polish off eBay for about £9.99 inc p&p, you can also get nails gems off eBay for about £4. This is a gorgeous nail polish but it does need to be in a good light to be seen as holographic. I did wonder how it would come off because of the effect on it but I was pleasantly surprised as it came off really easily with normal nail polish remover :-). The polish is also quite opaque so I only used two coats, however you could probably get away with one good coat.

So all in all I am really chuffed with this polish. I love abit of sparkle :-)

Thanks for reading :-)

Where to find Bargain Polishes!

Recently I have managed to find myself some very good nail polish bargains!!!

My first bargain is the LA colours collection which I have talked about in a previous post. These are available in my local Harry Tuffins supermarket and are £1 each!! the nail polishes and nail stripers are both really good and a great price.

My next set of bargains were found at a car boot sale!! There was a lady with a stall selling make up and nail polishes. On the off chance a took a look at her stock and I found some China Glaze and Nina nail polishes. She was selling these for £2 a bottle! At first I thought maybe they were discontinued ones but I was mistaken as they are still in the collection. :-)

My final set of bargains were purchased at TK Maxx. I'm not very good usually when it comes to this shop as I find everything messy and hard to look through, however I spotted some nail polishes and when I investigated I found that they were top brands at cheap prices. I therefore treated myself to a Color Club box set and a Ciate limited edition foils set.

I don't know about you guys but I do love a bargain! Hope this post helps all you polish bargain hunters out there :-)

September GlossyBox Review

So this is the September GlossyBox.....

It arrived very quickly this time and is presented really well in a union jack box.

Elizabeth Arden 'Untold' perfume sample.

This came in a cute little box and a really nice little bottle. It is a gorgeous scent and stays on really well. I may have to purchase this next time I need a posh perfume. I got a 5ml tester which is actually a good size!

Eyelure Pre-glued Lashes.
I have never used false eyelashes before so this will be an experience for me.

Toni and Guy Classic Shine and Gloss Serum.
I love trying out new hair products and this one seems to be a winner. It does exactly what it says on the tin and controls the frizz. I used a small amount on my hair and it kept the 'fly-away' bits of hair down without looking greasy. This was a full size product.

Be a Bombshell Onyx Eyeliner.
This is a great eyeliner, its easy to apply as it's nib is like a pen. This is an American product so I don't think it's available in UK shops but you can shop online. This was a full size product.

Dr Lipp Nipple Balm for lips
This was an unusual one on first sight. It is a lip balm which was originally produced for nipples! It is to help with dry chapped lips so this will come in very handy in the winter. This came as a 3ml sample.

All in all a great box with 3 full size products and 2 very good size samples.
This box in total was worth approximately £25

To find out about GlossyBox go to www.glossybox.co.uk

Review of my August 2013 GlossyBox, "High-flyers"

This was my second GlossyBox and I was again pleased with my products.

First up was an Emite Eyelash curler (worth approx. £20). This item more than paid for this months box. I haven't actually owned an Eyelash curler before so this was good and it's a good quality one. Product comes from Sweden.

Next was an Oceane make up remover pen. This is not available in the UK yet so is an exclusive product which is always nice. It comes from Brazil and the price is not known but I'm guessing it's worth around £10. This should come in handy for all those mascara mishaps :-)

My favourite product in my box was the Purity cleanser. My skin is sensitive so I have to be careful with what I use but this seems to be fine and it's definitely helped my skin clear up a little bit. Think I will definitely be investing in this product. This originates from the USA. The bottle size was 30ml so a good sample worth about £2.19.

In this box I had a Juicy Couture perfume sample from the USA. It is a tiny sample (approx. 95p worth) and the full size costs about £63 which is a bit pricey for me. However the sample is in a cute spray bottle and it does smell really nice, very fresh.

The last item was a Jelly Pong Pong eye liner/shadow crayon from the UK. Its a full size sample worth £10.50. I got a browny plum colour which suits me perfectly.

So yes all in all this was a good box :-) the overall cost of the box being around £44 so very good value for money!
Please feel free to leave your comments on which were you're favourite products from this month.

Review of July 2013's GlossyBox, "Seaside Splash"

So, this was my first ever GlossyBox!! I was very excited to receive my box and couldn't wait to see what was in it.
My first product was a Ciate paint pot nail polish. Its in the colour 'island hopping' which is a goldy reddy shimmery colour (nice technical explanation there from me). This is a really nice nail polish and I am really pleased it was in my box. I have visited the ciate website (www.ciate.co.uk) and was very impressed. The colours are gorgeous and I will definitely be purchasing more of them.

Second was a coconut scented dry shampoo. I was pleased with this item as I have never tried a dry shampoo before. It smells really nice so I look forward to trying it.

Next up was a bamboo style boho waves tousled texture mist by Alterna Haircare. My hair is naturally wavy so I gave this one a whirl after washing my hair. I let my hair dry naturally, it definitely added volume and did help to keep the waves in place. So quite a good product but I won't be using it regularly as I generally straighten my hair.

Fourth product was a Coola organic mineral face sunscreen. I haven't tried this on yet as I am saving it for when I'm either abroad or its hot here.

Last product was ILA SPA face oil. I'm not keen on the smell of this product but it does make your skin feel really soft and it's not too greasy. The only downfall is a full size product is £75!!

So all in all not a bad first box :-)
I worked out that the value of the box is £24.67. Not bad considering you pay £10 per month plus p&p. Two of the products were fullsize as well (nail polish and dry shampoo).

I have enjoyed painting my nails since high school, over the years I have stored my nail polishes in several ways, baskets, boxes, make up bags etc.. Make up bags were the worst as one of my bottles smashed whilst in the bag and I ended up cutting my hand open on it (I have a scar). I have recently seen that people use nail racks (like in salons) in their homes! I looked for some online, the cheapest was around £30 but didn't hold enough bottles and the most expensive was around £60 (this one held more bottles). Instead of buying one I drew my wonderful dad a diagram and he made me one for around £25 (wood, etc..). I am really pleased as it looks great, as you can see by the pic below :-)

I have a lot of people ask me about my hair colour! I always use Schwarzkopf live colours. I have tried several of their red and purple shades. At the moment I have Real Red on my hair and I have put their new semi-permanent red on to brighten it up that bit more. I also use their smoothie shampoo and conditioners (these are a bargain as you can get them for a pound a bottle from savers and are great for coloured hair)! I tend to always straighten my hair. I always put either Moroccan oil or Evo easy tiger smoothing fluid on my hair when its wet. when I have straightened my hair I like to put abit of SP satin polish on to keep it looking smooth :-)

Hey Guys!! This is my first Nail Polish review and I am doing it on L.A.Colours. These are the best value nail polishes that I own! I purchased mine from Harry Tuffins in Craven Arms and they are £1 per bottle! Yes you read right just ONE POUND!!! They are good quality and I always use their white (Energy Source) as a base for light or neon colours! I have tried their glitter polishes and they are quite good too. They also do nail stripers which I purchased 4 of yesterday so will be trying them out soon!

Today I had my first attempt at doing a water marble manicure! I have to say it is much harder than it looks. I used 3 - 4 different colours but it seems that each one differs in how it takes to the water, even if they are the same brand! so, my tips are to experiment with all colours to find out which ones work best and to start with just try doing it with a couple of colours as this will be quicker!

Hello!!

Well this is my first attempt at a blog so hopefully I will get it right!! I'm hoping to use this blog to show some things that I do and also to review some of the nail varnishes etc that I use!!

Here is a pic of my latest nails...