E.L.F Nail Polish

Finally it is the Christmas holidays, one term done as an NQT, all passed and signed off and now I can relax. The first thing I wanted...no needed to do, was paint my nails with something new!

I'm all for saving money, especially when I have spent soo much recently on Christmas presents, so I was do a little internet browsing on some of my favourite sites, and I saw that E.L.F have a range of nail polishes, and at £1.50 each, I could hardly say no!

I bought two colours, a purple and a gold.

 Party Purple - a gorgeous purple with really fine glitter, I think this is a great polish, two coats and it is opaque. Application was really easy and smooth, and it dried remarkably quickly. 

Golden Goddess - a clear base with a range of large and small gold glitter pieces, some of which are so fine, it creates a shimmering base. As with most glitters, it did not leave a smooth finish.

I tried layering these two, and it looked great, however  at that moment, the postman arrived and I messed it up :( I will try and do it again soon and put up pictures.

Overall, these polishes are really good, the range although small, is packed with a wide variety of colours, and for £1.50, I fear I will be buying them all!!!!

Christmas is a bottle!!!!

This week has been hell - final week of my first full term in school as a teacher ( and passed the term as well!!) but I have been shattered, falling asleep on the sofa most night, the children are up and down more times then a roller-coaster as Disney Land! So I have decided to give myself a stern talking to, have a can of full sugar coke and get on with doing my nails!

So I went through my nail collection and found some colours I haven't tried yet! They are all China Glaze, which I think are great polishes, but I struggled to get these colours in the UK so had to get them from the USA, and I really do love them.

I started with a base of OPI Ridge Filler to give a smooth base for my colour, and then used China Glaze Jolly Holly as my main colour. This is a gorgeous holly green colour with the hint of shimmer to it, a really gorgeous colour, and it was practically opaque in one coat, and it wasn't even a thick coat, however I went for two coats to make it more even.

This picture really does not do it justice, it is a really gorgeous colour. I'll try and take a picture during the day in what natural light we have at the moment ( I wonder what it would look like in the snow?!)

The decoration was with China Glaze Part Hearty. Oh My God, this is like Christmas in a bottle, a clear base with tiny silver glitter, small green circular glitter, and larger hexagonal pieces of red glitter. It is really stunning, and I had to put two layers on to really get a good coverage, however it left a really smooth finish, no need for a top coat, but I used Seche Vite any way!

Again, the picture doesn't do it justice, will try and get a better picture! But see, Christmas in a bottle! I think I will be layering this over everything for the next year easily!


For my thumb, I felt like doing something different and chose to use my new dotter tool that I got from www.sparkly-nails.co.uk to create a random snowy pattern on my nails using China Glaze Frosty - not great but I just wanted something different!

Well its different, and should fit with the changing weather! I will update it when I have more time!

I hope you are all well, any questions then let me know! Happy polishing :)

Clothes Show Live 2010 Haul

This is going to be a mega haul but I go a lot of stuff!!!

Yesterday, I went to the Clothes Show Live 2010 in Birmingham and I have been before but this year was different. I mainly go for the beauty products but its always fun to look at the clothes and this year I had a go at re-designing some clothes! 

Major collection of new beauty products to show off - including loads of nail polish - much to my other halfs annoyance!

The first was Barry M

For £10 I recieved, 3 nail polishes, 3 glitter eye liners, 3 dazzle dust pots, a big glitter crayon, a duo eyeliner, a lipstick and a lipgloss! Wow, loads of stuff!!!! I cant wait to have a play with all that but well worth the money!!

Next was a massive bag of gorgeous smelling things all for £6!!!!

There are face mask, hair tints, hair masks, leg things and loads more!

A favourite of mine is always the Rimmel stand, I went for the 'natural beauty' choice and for £10 I got:

I recieved:

A natural Bronzer

2 eye shadows

clear lipgloss

Orange nail polish

Lash accelerator Mascara! - cant wait to have a play with these

Next up, a little brand I have never heard but a quick google helped me find out some information about them - the polish is called APN (Always Perfect Nails) and they were doing a small deal with loads of stuff for £10 - 

 3 nail polish, I chose a pink, a mink and a turquoise blue.

3 nail files, one buffer

some small make up brushes

Glitter eyeliner

Glitter Lipgloss and some other bits and pieces!!!

While I was there, I got the chance to meet some wonderful ladies from Andrea Fulerton, as well as Andrea herself and they showed me some wonderful products - I even got a manicure by one of the girls using their duo nail polishes!

For £10 I got

Mirror Shine Buffing Cards

Duo nail colour 

Pump bottle of Polish remover!

The last place I visited, and the one I was most excited about was the Models Own stand - as a massive nail polish fan, that was a little bit overwhelming! 

You could choose 3 bottles of polish for £10 and get a gift of products worth £30!!! 

I chose - 

25 Carat Gold







Magenta Divine 

Blue Sparkle

and got all of this!

I got their 

4 in one buffer bar

A mascara

blackberry lip gloss

a loose eyeshadow pot

a blue eyeliner 

a giant models own bag!!!!

I couldnt wait to get home and start playing with the new colours for I got a bit of time to myself and I thought I would create something sparkly! 

 I used Models Own, Misty Grey as a base for all of these!


On my left hand I have Magenta Divine on every finger except my ring finger where have Blue sparkle.


On my right hand I have Blue Sparkle on every finger except my ring finger which is painted with the Magenta.

Blue sparkle is a great colour with really big hexagonal glitter in it - It took 3 coats for it to look like this!

The Magenta Divine is really small glitters in a gorgeous shade and it covered really well!

I would definatley recommend these colours for anyone who wants a bit of sparkle ready for xmas!!

Wow - a massive blog, sorry for the essay! Hope you enjoy!

Little bit of Lush

Ok, so I moved into my flat about 3 months ago, and until now I have only been able to have a shower so had no need for anything bath related.


All that has changed - thank you Landlord, and we now have a working bath. So it called for a little Lush shopping!!!


Everyone always says how nice the Lush girls are, and true to form, the ones in the shop near me were great! As well as that, it was all kitted out, ready for Christmas ( is it just me or is this the best time of of year for shopping!)


I got a couple of things:

Comforter - this is a gorgeous blackcurrant bubble bar - look how much you get! You just break this up and crumble it underneath a running tap and you get loads and loads of bubbles and a pink bath. I loved this, I felt so relaxed after I had a bath with this.




Snow Fairy - As soon as I tried this shower gel, I knew it was good as the OH told me I smelt like bubblegum!
A gorgeous shower gel, that smells divine, and a little bit goes a really long way! A must have, I may go back and stock up as it is only available at Christmas!

Finally, I got a Boog - a really interesting bath bomb. The Boog is based on a Swedish christmas tradition, where every year, a snowmans head is filled with fireworks and then placed on a Bonfire until all the fireworks have exploded! This is supposed to do just that it the bath, explode into lots of colours! You can see all of the different colour bombs that are inside it! I can't wait to try it!

I can't wait to re-visit Lush, and try out even more of their products - are their any that I really need?

Random Sunday Haul

In classic work avoidance mode, and without the OH to keep me on the straight and narrow, I headed into town, not really looking for anything, and I left with 4 bags :S
I got a real mix of stuff that was obviously all needed - I just needed another bottle of nail polish and another eye liner and another mascara!!!

So, just a quick haul!

Boots - got to love the 3 for 2 offer!

I've needed a new mascara for a while, and saw the Rimmel Volume Flash, Max Bold Curves Mascara. I thought I would try it out and see what it was like. I also tried the 17 Starry Eyes Glitter liner in moonrock - a gorgeous purple sparkle!

I'm not overly keen on the mascara - I expected it to give me bolder lashes and it wasn't as thick as I liked, however I think it will be ok for work. The liner is gorgeous (you can just see it) I love the sparkle, and I wore it all day at school and people commented on it!

The two bottles of polish I got are Models Own in Grace Green, and Seche Vite top coat. I've only just started to use the top coat, so will report back on that soon, however I have tested out the Grace Green and I love it!

Its a real greyish green, in certain lights it looks more grey, in others the base seems almost blue. It applied really well, this was two coats in about 2 minutes so dried really quickly with no flaws!

I think this is going to be a fun colour to play with - will let you know what else I come up with, and I will report back on the Seche Vite top coat as soon as!

A touch of sparkle!

As its getting darker outside, I find myself turning more towards the darker shades of nail polish within my collection, however the up keep of dark nails is intense, and I wanted to to brighten up my life a little without reaching for the glitter!!


Step up - Models Own in Champagne! 

It comes out darker in the picture, but two coats of this is enough and I love it - it feels like a little touch of Xmas before the main even actually kicks off!


I can't seem to find this on the Models Own website for whatever reason, but I think there will be a lot of dupes coming up - need to reassess me nail polish collection to see if I have any! 


Great for those early Xmas celebrations, or just to brighten up these early winter days!!!!

Eyeko Mini Haul!

Ok, so as it's half term, I wasn't feeling in the mood to do any actual work so I felt the need to have a little shop and after watching a few youtube reviews, decided I would investigate Eyeko.


So on Tuesday I visited their website (http://www.eyeko.com/)  and placed a little order and bought 4 products and got one free!!
So they arrived today, and I have had the chance to play with them and I love them! So here is a mini haul and review for you all!

Eyeko Fat Balm - after watching a few reviews, I purchased two of the Fat Balms. These are really cute, they come in 6 flavours,all are SPF 15 and all of them are dual products. They can be used as a cheek stain as well as a lip balm with a stain. I love that they are so compact, but a lot easier to open then say the Vaseline pots. These retail at £6.00 each, quite reasonable really, and you don't need much to achieve a good colour, as well as being highly moisturising!


Minty Fat Balm - this is a light, frosty pink, very similar to the Rose vaseline, and it gives cheeks a very subtle pink shimmer. The taste is very minty which I love!

Raspberry Fat Balm - This gives a more berry stain to lips ( very similar to Benefits Benetint) but with better staying power. On the cheek it gives a rosy glow, which can be built for a darker stain. The flavour is a little artificial, but that is just my opinion. 


Eyeko Graffiti Eyeliner Pen - I bought this on a whim, working in a school means my eyeliner never lasts, but I don't have time to reapply that often. This comes in 4 colours, Brown, Black, Navy and Purple. 

The pen really appeals to be as it looks like a felt tip pen, and draws on the skin like a felt tip pen ( I tried to swatch but can't get it to come out clearly) I could really have fun with this, and for £5, this is quite reasonable for a product so good.


Eyeko Nail Polish - There are only 15 polishes in the collection, but at £3.50 each, it would be easy to buy all of them!


Cosmic Polish - After reading some reviews of this polish, I fell for it as it is a black (slightly addicted!) but has a real range of coloured glitter (pink,blue,green,silver. My only complaint is that is it very fine glitter and so the nail looks black when in everyday light, but under a flash, or in bright sunlight you can see all of the different colours. I only needed two coats to get it completely opaque.

Ok so those are all the things I bought, however if you spent more then £10, you could get the free nail polish that was on offer. This was the super gothic Vampira polish - a black base packed with fine red glitter, it looks great!

So that is everything for this post, I really like the brand, its cute and different and has been in magazines quite a lot recently and I think will really start to take off soon!


If your interested in this brand then use my voucher code to receive a free gift with your first order!

Rumour or truth?

I must say, I am in shock. At first I thought it was only a rumour that has bern going around for ages but new reports may be confirming this as true!
There I was,going about my day,selecting what nail polish to have next (Opi - Diva of Geniva if you were wondering) catching up on the nail blogging community when news surfaced that the OPI company may be up for sale!
As this was an unconfirmed rumour,I didn't want to write this unless I knew more,so I spent some time digging around and have the story so far


Aug 2010 - happi.com report that the opi company is allegedly for sale,however the companies founder George Schaeffer denies these rumours.

Oct 2010 - Bloomberg reports on the 26th that the first round of bids have taken place for OPI's company,the main potential buyers Re Coty In - a multinational perfume company owning brands such as 'Lovely' by Sarah Jessica Parker and 'Princess' by Vera Wang. Other potential buyers are private equity companies. L'Oreal were also reported to be interested but not currently involved.

Now, I don't know how much of this is true,however if the company is bought out by one of these larger firms,I do fear that our beloved brand will face some big changes. I suspect that the already high price for this brand will increase, as well as how the products are produced, both Coty and L'Oreal are known to test their products on animals,which OPI currently does not!

I shall say this again,this is currently rumour, however only time will tell. If this brand is sold and becomes a brand that tests on animals then I shall no longer use and review it, my morals are worth more then nail polish!

Wow,this was a long,serious blog! The next wont be like this,I promise!

What to buy next?!

The plan was that with my first pay check I would top up my nail polish collection. That sadly didn't happen (although Ikea is very thankful) 
So with a week to go before payday, I need to have a think about what ones I want to get.
I'm ready to really expand my collection and get ready for the coming holiday season.


Collections I'm lusting after


I'm really tempted by the gorgeous China Glaze Tis the season to be naughty and nice collection - not all of them but I am really lusting after Jolly Holly, Party Hearty, Mistletoe Kisses, Frosty and Little Drummer Boy - all gorgeous colours ( for swatches google the collection!)


I really love the OPI Burlesque collection - I think it will be great for xmas and the colours are gorgeous - I love the whole collection but I'm a bit overloaded with sparkle this year, but I really love Teasy-does it - I feel this may be my next purchase!


I've seen a lot of press about Eeyko nail polish, they have a really fun range, and I have a few ones I really want the Cosmic polish, the swatch I've seen looks fab, a real starry night sky on your nails - just imagine a few well placed shooting starts as nail art! Or they have a gorgeous black jelly base with really finely milled red glitter in it, very sexy, ideal for Halloween!!


Those are just some of the wonderful things I want this month - think I will have to cut my wishlist down as I have to eat! oh well :)

An Introduction!

Hey Everyone, so this is my first ever blog, and I'm hoping that it will be somewhere for my to vent as well as giving you the opportunity to find out about different nail colours and trends!

Ok so I'm a recent graduate from the University of Bedfordshire, I am now about to become a Primary School Teacher, just outside Watford. As well as that, I am also looking to move in with my boyfriend of 3 years and we a looking for a rented home together. I have no idea what to expect from my NQT year and so I'm hoping that by updating this weekly (or maybe daily depending on how bad I feel) to let you know what happens and how I'm getting on!

Coupled with this I love nail varnish and am always asked by friends where I got my nails done or if I wear fake nails, but I don't, I just have a real passion for nail varnish and nail products so I'm hoping to review loads of different nail colours and trends, and try new trends out as well as answering any questions I get!

Right, going to go now, will update on here soon!

:)