Thursday 25 July 2013

a-england - Ascalon



ASCALON

Forged by magic and guided by our hero's sainted hand, the steely grey of his spire is alive with a swirling heart of lavender fire.


Today I'm showing you a-england's wonderful Ascalon. If you haven't tried a-england's polishes before then you are seriously missing out. The formula is beautiful; dries quickly & thin, no streaks and never gloopy. The bottles are so pretty and a-england is fast becoming my favourite polish brand. Ascalon is a holographic dark grey with tiny prismatic particles that make you want to stare at your nails all day. With different lighting the shade changes; in the sunlight and in strong artificial lighting is when it looks it's best. Indoors it's still a stunner - the effect is still there. 

I'm always worried about applying a top coat on holos, as I've had a disappointing experience before when it just completely took the prismatic effect away. I've used Seche Vite Top Coat on my ring fingers to keep the studs in place, and you can see a slight difference compared to the nails without top coat.

These cute little round studs are from bornprettystore that came in a wheel containing a variety of studs etc. The top coat kept them in place for two days and then a couple fell off. 





You can buy a-england polishes here. What do you think of Ascalon? I love it!

Also, I'd love it if you follow me via Bloglovin' - link and my Twitter - link.

Thanks for reading!

Thursday 18 July 2013

Orly - Nailtrition Review


I've had Orly's Nailtrition for quite some time now so I think it's the perfect time to give you a review on it. Nailtrition is for weak, peeling / flaking & splitting nails. If you find your nails can't get past a certain length without splitting this might be something you'd be interested in. Before using this product I had very weak nails that I could easily bend and I grew tired of breaking a nail every 2 weeks or so. The peeling on my nails was horrendous and weakened them incredibly. I had to find a treatment that worked, and after reading many reviews, I bought Nailtrition. 

Directions: 
Week One - Apply 1-2 coats daily. Remove at the end of the week.
Week Two - Repeat.
Repeat 2 week programme as necessary, waiting one week before reapplication.

I have tried doing it this way, but I find it very hard to live without a colour on my nails. So instead, I use this a base coat under any polish I decide to use. Orly do claim this is a good base coat and will still work under regular nail polish. 

- Nailtrition has a pink-y / clear shimmer shade by itself. More coats, more colour.
- It has a lovely purple rubberised handle allowing an easy grip and comfortable to hold
- The drying time isn't too bad - a few minutes
- Nails feel considerably stronger and not as bendy or peel
- Free of DBP, Formaldehyde & Toulene
- Can be used as a base coat or alone
- Can leave a bumpy surface / texture which can be seen through nail polish on top - therefore not the best base coat for an even finish.
- Contains Collagen, Wheat Protein, Keratin & Bamboo Extract
- Supposedly makes nails grower quicker
- Brush is a little on the skinny side - a thicker brush would be more appropriate for even coverage

I haven't got photos of my nail condition before because I was so eager to get it on and see the results, but from this photo below you can see my nails aren't peeling anymore and no breakages! Breakages are still going to happen especially as I'm always bashing them on things, but they are generally stronger and less susceptible to breaking.


I've now come to the last dregs of my beloved Nailtrition and after I've posted this I will be buying some more. My nails need this product in their life & I'm very happy with the results it has given. Before, I couldn't grow all my nails to a nice long length without at least one cracking / splitting or chipping. Now, my nails are getting healthier by the day which is amazing considering how often I paint and remove them.


Do consider buying this if your nails are in a similar condition to how mine were as I'm sure this will work for you too. If you've tried other related products to this please do let me know in the comments as I would love to compare them! 

Thanks for reading!

Sunday 14 July 2013

A Rose Combo: Barry M - Dragonfruit + Nails Inc - Totes Pink


Do you ever feel the need to have an extremely girly manicure? Today I did; therefore creating this - 'A Rose Combo'. I used Barry M's Dragonfruit from their Gelly Hi-Shine range, along with Nails Inc's Totes Pink which is a collab with InStyle. Both were very streaky to apply & needed 2-3 coats. I used two in these photos plus a top coat. I found Totes Pink to leave bald patches, whether this is down to wearing Orly's Nailtrition as a base coat I am not sure. However, the overall result does not look streaky and I'm happy with the result. I find Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat usually evens out any lumps + bumps, and although Dragonfruit was a very glossy finish, the top coat makes it that much more shiny.  


I added some rose nail stickers that I purchased from www.nailtopia.co.uk (purchase review here), which went well with the pink colour scheme & made it just a bit more girly. They last fairly well with a top coat and although they look a little lumpy in these photos, it's not actually that noticeable. 


I love the bright barbie pink plus the baby pink shade makes a great combo don't you think? You can find Barry M's Nail Paints here.

Thanks for reading & let me know what you think :)

Essie Geranium Review + Born Pretty Studs


The sun is out and I wanted a bright red on my nails for once! This is the only red I own that actually really like - it's a coral type red with hints of orange which encourages me to wear red more. I can't say enough good things about the formula, it applies like a dream, thin and dries very quickly. The end result is very glossy and vibrant & I only needed two coats to make the shade perfect. Also the brush is a great width, making the application much easier and quicker.


Essie polish always impresses me and I wouldn't hesitate to spend my money on their beautiful shades.  It's worth the money and the polish stays on for a lengthy amount of time. Below is a photo of the shade indoors where you can see it's more orange-y tones which makes it a much more unique red. I also added some gold studs from the bornprettystore.com on each ring finger, and sealed with my beloved Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. I did think that the gold and red combo made my nails rather Christmas-y which is the last thing I wanted for summer! Oops...


What do you think of this mani? Too Christmas-y or a good summer shade? Let me know in the comments! 
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Thanks again for reading!

Monday 8 July 2013

China Glaze - Fairy Dust on Rimmel's Grey Matter



China Glaze's Fairy Dust is the most versatile polish and I keep coming back to it because you can jazz up your current mani if you're a little bored of it and it gives you a whole new look! Also it looks simply beautiful on it's own, plus it looks great layered over any shade of polish. It's so sparkly but not so much that you couldn't wear it on an everyday basis. In direct sunlight (above) it's more subtle, however indoors (below) you can really see the glitz. 

Underneath I've used Rimmel's 60 Seconds Grey Matter 805 - a light, concrete-grey shade that I find myself wearing quite often. The formula isn't amazing; a little thick, but the brush is nice and wide, allowing you to cover the nail more evenly. This polish also looks amazing with a matte top coat.



I've included an out of focus photograph below so you can see the sparkly potential of this polish. The only con about this product is that it's quite tricky to remove like all glitter polish's, however if you keep the cotton pads with the remover on your nail for a period of time before wiping off, it should come off easier. 



Plus - this is the same mani after a week! It lasted really well; slight chipping and wearing away near the cuticles, other than that it looked great!


As 'FD' looks great on pretty much any shade, I will be doing more posts soon - watch out for 'Fairy Dust on...' posts. Do you have Fairy Dust? Tell me what you think! 


Thanks for reading :)

Rimmel Lasting Finish Tangy Tangerine 705 Review



Today I'm showing you Rimmel's Lasting Finish nail polish in Tangy Tangerine. It's a vibrant, peachy-orange creme that definitely makes your nails stand out. I also used some nail art stickers from Nailtopia which are very elegant, and you can see my purchase review here.


The polish itself doesn't have the best formula at all - in fact I had to paint quite a few coats before the colour became opaque, and even then you can still see the white part of my nails underneath. It was also extremely streaky - but my Seche Vite top coat does a good job of evening it out. Indoors it does look a bit brighter but this is the shade in direct sunlight. These photos were taken a couple of days after (oops) but they still look okay condition. The nail stickers also last well, as long as you seal them with a top coat. 


It's unfortunate that the formula lets this polish down, as I love the bright summery shade! I shall have to hunt for a better solution. Any suggestions? 

Thanks so much for reading! :)