NOTD - OPI Fifty Shades of Grey Mini Collection

Monday again, so another nail of the day, or rather at the moment it’s just a set of nail polish without the swatch, check out my Instagram for what the colours look like. 

 

With the release of Fifty Shades of Grey on Friday I really wanted to check out the collection from OPI, not so much fifty shades but 5 shades and a red. The collection is made up from cream, foil and glitter polishes, 

 

The darkest polish is Dark Side of the Mood, a dark bluey grey colour, almost black but still a grey - this needed full 3 coats to get it opaque but I don't mind for the colour. Next up is Embrace the Grey, a creamy mid-tone grey, opaque in two coats and a lovely shade that matches a snowy sky. The lightest grey is Cement the Deal, a light grey colour, another creamy polish, opaque in two coats. The foil of the collection is My Silk Tie, a silvery grey that applies smoothly but shows up streak marks, something I can overlook but others might not. The glitter is Shine for Me, a mixture of silver and blue glitters that is quite densely packed and only needs one coat but a 2nd just finishes it off!

 

The odd one out of the collection is Romantically Involved, a dark burnt red the perfect red lipstick shade, I wish this was a lipstick as it would be perfect. It applied in two coats and was dark straight away.

 

Out of the collection, my favourites are Dark Side of the Mood and Embrace the Day; I love darker polishes throughout the year. 

 

The collection is a lovely little set; it would make a really cute gift for someone this valentine - check it out at Feel Unique for £19.95.

 

What do you think of the collection? Are you excited for the film? 

 

Sarah xx

 

NOTD - OPI Nordic Collection A/W '14

L-R - Skating on Thin Ice, Do You Have this Colour in Stock-holm, Viking in a Vinter Vonderland

L-R - How Great is your Dane?, Ice Bergers & Fries, Going my Way or Norway?

L-R - Thank Glogg it's Friday, Suzi has a Swede Tooth, Can't aFjord not to

L-R - OPI with a Nice Finnish, My Dogsled is a Hybrid, My Voice is a Little Norse

So now I'm back at work, summer is officially over in my mind, I'm turning to Autumn which is my favourite season, I'm not a bright colour person so the darker colours suit me down to the ground. When the pictures of the Nordic collection from OPI started floating around on blogs I knew I had to have them all and my lovely friend in America sent me the whole collection.

The Nordic Collection is made up of 9 creme, 2 shimmers and 1 glitter, with a colour for every skin tone and Autumn outfit.

All of the polishes apply really well, with 2  coats needed for most, only OPI with a nice Finnish needed 3 but thats because its a metallic creme and dragging does occur slightly.

My favourite colours in the collection are Viking in a Vinter Vonderland because its a gorgeous deep purple and Can't aFjord it because its a really autumnal colour as the leaves start changing colour. 

Overall its a gorgeous collection of colours and I will get a lot of use out of this one. If you want to pick it up you can pop over the Lena White where bottles are £11.95. 

Which is your favourite colour of the collection? xx

Mothers Day Gifts Under £30 from Lookfantastic

Mothers Day is around the corner and because of buying a house, things are a little bit tight this year so I've been hunting out the best buys on a budget. I've set a limit of £30 for my mum this year, she has helped so much with all the house stuff that I want to treat her to something nice.

I headed over to Lookfantastic.com as they do some really good deals and I know that my mum would love something to pamper herself with as she works hard as a nurse. 

1) L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand &Foot Duo (£22) – Mum works hard as a nurse, looking after poorly people, looking after us, so her hands deserve a treat so this is perfect, plus I know it smells amazing as I have them!

2) Pixi Perfection Palette (£24) - Lit-Up Lovely couldn't be a better name for a palette, this one is perfect for mums everywhere - lots of neutral and soft pink colours, nothing harsh or over powering, great for neutral looks.

3) Elizabeth Arden Pretty EDP 30ml (£30) - This is something that I know mum would love, its a soft and subtle fragrance, perfect for spring, plus its a small enough bottle that it fits in a handbag without being heavy. 

4) Elizabeth Arden 8hr Intensive LipRepair Balm (£16.80) - A pot that I remember being on mum's bedside table as a kid, she tends to stick to cheaper brands now, so I might treat her this year.

5) OPI Take 10 Mini Kit (£28.50) - Being a nurse, mum can't wear a lot of nail polish but that doesn't mean she can't treat herself to a pedicure. This kit contains some of my favourite colours including Lincoln Park After Dark and You Don't Know Jacques.

So there we have it, all my picks for Mothers Day from Lookfantastic.com, head over to check out them and loads of others.

What bits would you pick for your mum? What else could I get her? xx

NOTD - OPI AVOPLEX

No nail polish today, instead something that I swear by. 

I'm a nail polish addict, I must change up my nail colours every couple of days. If I'm not changing it, then I'm layering up colours, but all of this has taken its toll on my nails. I find in this weather, my hands and nails are dry, flaky and just a bit yukky. So every night, before bed, I use this on my nails.

Avoplex is from OPI, its a nail and cuticle oil designed to treat the cuticle and help grow strong nails.

I've been using this for a couple of months, just a little drop every night and its really improved my nails and my nail beds, my nails are stronger, whiter and smoother. I picked mine up from John Lewis for about £16 but I had a gift voucher, but I would say its worth it! 

How do you keep your nails in tip top condition? Have you tried this before? xx

Half Term Haul

So half term has now whizzed by too quickly (booo!) Back to school on Monday. No half term wouldn't be complete without a little shopping trip with my mum. We headed to Springfields Shopping  Outlet at Spalding, a medium sized outlet store of lower end shops, like the poorer brother to Bicester Village but still good nonetheless.

I knew I wanted to head to the Beauty Outlet store as a must, but we also stopped off in Marks & Spencers and Hallmark Outlet. 


I didn't expect to find anything in M&S, as far as I was concerned its not a shop I normally go into, but I was surprised to pick up two pairs of jeggings, one dotty and one berry coloured, for under £30! My mum also bought me the highlighter pink jumper, it was down from £39 to £8.99, it's so comfy and snuggly. I'm really impressed with how the jumper and jeggings fit, I can see me getting a lot of wear out of them!

Next stop was Beauty Outlet Store. Think poor mans CCO, there were lots of beauty items, but the first stand I headed to was OPI. I picked up two bottles as they were  £6.99 each, 'I Brake for Manicures' and 'French Quartet for your thoughts' both from the Touring America collection back in 2011. I also picked up a W7 Dotting Tool Nail Art set for £2.99, my favourite Sally Hansen Gel Cuticle Remover for £2.99 and a bottle of Korres Conditioner for £1.99 - thought I would give it a try!



Finally I spent ages smelling all the Yankee Candles in the Hallmark Outlet store. For 90p each I thought the samplers were a bargain so picked up 3! Autumn Blooms and Warm Spice smell amazing, all warming and cosy - can't wait to burn these!

Not pictured is a baby grow from Babygap for my friend, Gap had 30% off most of their items, so a fleecy babygrow for under £10 was something I couldn't resist!

So there we have it, the last haul of November - I'm hoping this will tide me over until December - if not then I think I need a sponsor! 

What have you been buying recently? What other Yankee Candles do I need? xx

Top 5 Summer Nail Polish Colours

We all know I'm a polish addict, but there are always some colours that I reach for more in the summer then at any other time of the year, Neon pink just doesn't look the same in December! So I've rifled through my collection and picked my top 5 colours for the summer as well as some of the polishes in those colours! 

Green - 

I love greens and mints in the summer, very fresh and bright withouth being too over the top. My go to colours are Topshop's Pool Party and Barry M's Greenberry.

Coral -

Coral colours live on my toes in the summer, theres just something about coral toes and sandals. I think Essie make some of the best corals, Cute as a Button is great, whilst this No7 polish is cute, but I'm naughty as its a Limited Edition!

Blue -

Blue colours are on the border with green, but a good blue is nice and light for summer - especially if the sky is the same. Models Own make fantastic blues in a wide range of shades. Beths Blue in a perfect sky blue whilst Baleric Cool is the perfect sea blue/green.

Neon -

Oh Neon, you do scare me some what - I have to wait until I'm tanned as Neons look awful against my pale skin. Again, my go to for Neons are Models Own, is there anything they can't do! I picked out Bubblegum, the exceptionally bright pink and Beach Party, a gorgeous neon orange. I love these on my nails, even together with orange base & pink dots.

Dark -

Sometimes I start to crave darker colours on my nails. There is something about dark nails against tanned skin, I do love it, especially on shorter nails. I dug through my stash and there was only one choice for brand of dark colours and its OPI. The two colours that I've been loving is OPI Pepe's Purple Passion and Lincoln Park After Dark. I love both of these, a dark vampy purple looks great on toes and tips! 

So there are my top 5 colours for summer, what colours do you reach for in the summer? xx

Advent Door 2 - OPI Nail Envy - Review

Afternoon lovelies,

With the Xmas party season now upon us, its time to crack out the festive nail polish - but if your like me then you change it quite often over the next 4 weeks! The can lead to dry, damaged nails which no one wants!

To counter this, I thought I would show you how I keep my natural nails strong, even if I'm changing them lots! 

The whole blogasphere is crazy about OPI Nail Envy, but this is one product that I've been using much longer then I've been reading blogs, or even knew about blogs!

Nail Envy is a strengthening treatment which can be used either as a base coat to protect and strengthen the nails or as a treatment, applied everyday and then removed after a week. I find for my nails that I only need to use this as a base but if your nails are weak then apply it regularly to strengthen them

Now a bottle of this is quite expensive, it retails at £18.95 - but I use mine twice a week and its lasted me a good 4 months already - but if you can't justify the cost then add it to your letter to Santa!

You can pick this up from Boots or Lena White where you can buy Nail Envy and receive a free bangle with it! 

I think its important to keep you nails strong, how do you keep yours strong? xx

Halloween Nails - Dripping Blood

Afternoon lovelies,

for someone who has a very large collection of nail polish, I'm not a big nail art fan, simply because I'm really naff at it. I follow so many different nail art blogs, but every time I try it just ends up a massive mess! So when I saw this design, I knew I could try it as it didn't matter that it was slightly messy!

You will need:
A white polish - I used OPI Alpine Snow
A red Polish - I used OPI Big Red Apple
Dotting Tool/Kirby Grip
Paper


Step One - Paint your nails with two coats of your white polish or as many as you need until its opaque.

Step two - Using your red, paint just the tips, it doesn't have to be neat or even so get it on there!

Step Three - Load up your paper with quite a few big blobs of the red polish. You need enough so that it forms drops on the end of your dotting tool to make it look like blood drops dripping.

I used a bent kirby grip as I don't have a dotting tool, but this worked really well.

Step four - Create random blobs on the nail and then drag it upwards to join the top nail polish. Its best if the dots are wider then the tail as that way it looks like the blob has dribbled down. You dont have to get this nice and even, as well as making random marks as though it has splattered.

Step five - Let it dry fully, and then seal it in with a clear top coat. I finished it off with a little bit of red glitter after I took this picture.

I got so many compliments from this nail polish, and it lasted really well so I think for an initial dabble in nail art, it was easy - now to think what else to do! 

Have you tried any Halloween nail designs? Is this really naff or not too bad? xx

OPI Pink of Hearts 2012 - Review

Afternoon lovelies,

Every year 47,700 women and 300 men are diagnosed with breast cancer  in the UK. Scarily the number of women under the age of 30 being diagnosed with it is on the increase. 

So every year, beauty companies across the world join together to help raise awareness for Breast Cancer awareness during October. This year OPI have joined with www.coppafeel.org to produce a limited edition set to help raise money.

For 2012 OPI brought out a set called Pink of Hearts, containing two suitably pink nail polishes.

Adorned with a pink ribbon printed top, You Glitter be Good to Me and I think in Pink are the perfect combination for a duo set.

I Think in Pink - This is a real baby pink polish, which gives a sheer was of colour with one coat. As im not a fan of sheer, I built this up, and I was pleased that it took 3 coats to achieve nearly full opacity. It dried to a glossy, jelly like finish that lasted well over 4 days before tip wear became too much.

You Glitter be Good to Me - Made up of tiny silvery/pink glitter pieces, and magenta hexagonal glitter, this is a gorgeously girly polish that drew so many compliments. One coat added an even spread of glitter, there was no dabbing to get the bits to stick and 2 coats was fully opaque over a coat of I think in Pink.

You can still pick this up from Lena White for £22.00 with £2 going to Coppafeel. I would have liked more to go to charity but maybe another year.

Have you picked up any thing to help raise money? What do you think of these pink polishes?

Recent Buys - Magazines, New Look, Boots & Lush

Evening lovelies, Wednesday again, woohoo!!!


At the weekend I found my camera cable which meant I could pull off some pictures that were stuck on there! At the start of the month I did a bit of shopping and picked up a few bits, but there are loads of things I want!

 Stocked up on magazines!

Three Knit Tops from New Look in the Sale

Real Techniques Blush Brush, Benefit Hervana, 17 Cosmetics Nail Polish - all from Boots

OPI Ink - found this in Trade Secret

Leap Frog, Madame Butterfly, Karma Bubble Bar - from Lush

This was only 3 weeks ago but already I have fallen in love with all of these things, I need to get some reviews of bits up soon, any requests?


Thanks for reading xx

Advent Door 14 - Win Me - NOTD - OPI Rainbow Connection

Evening lovelies, can you believe that it is 10 days until Xmas eve!!


I am very excited today, especially as we had Xmas dinner at work today with the children and then we have a work night out! 


What makes me even more exicted is this polish! OPI's Rainbow Connection!!!!! Look at how it shimmers and sparkles!

 Packed full of Pink, Blue, Silver, Orange and Purple hexagonal glitter pieces and Blue, Purple and Green glitter flakes all packed into a clear base this has to be the most gorgeous polish I have ever owned. I decided to layer this over Barry M Gold foil as I wanted a really bling manicure for Xmas lunch, the kids loved it!

Now for the exciting part, this polish has been incredibly difficult to get hold of it seems so I am offering one of my lovely followers a bottle of Rainbow Connection all wrapped up as a present for following my little blog!!


So the rules:


All you have to do is be a follower of my blog, leave me a comment in the box below with your name, email address and what would you buy as a Secret Santa Present! 


Extra Entries
+1 if you follow me on twitter ( tell me in the box and what your name is)
+1 if you retweet '@KnickersanNails is having a give away over on http://knickersandnailpolish.blogspot.com/


I'll close this giveaway next Tuesday at 8:30pm and pick a winner at random so good luck! 


Thanks for reading xx

Advent door 13 - NOTD OPI Fresh Frog of Bel Air

Evening lovelies, hope your well and settled watching My Big Fat Gypsy Christmas! With only a few days left at work, I'm enjoying spending time with my class making lots of Xmas goodies!

Today I've really ramped up the glitter as we have Xmas dinner at school tomorrow. I chose the very festive Fresh Frog of Bel Air from the OPI Muppets collection.

Thousands of tiny green glitters mix with larger silver flakes, all suspended in clear polish. I layered this over the top of Barry M silver foil.

This is 4 layers of the polish and it is a gorgeous emerald green, very similar to that of the colour of a real frog,  rather then the colour of Kermit.


A gorgoeus polish, but it's not my favourite so I'm not sure how long it will last on my nails before I try to peel it off!


What do you think, a contender for the best christmassy green? 


Thanks for reading xx

Advent Door 10 - NOTD OPI My Private Jet

Evening lovelies, hope you are enjoying your Saturday. Started my Xmas shopping today and bought more for myself then anyone else!


Recently I've been craving a few dark colours as my mood has been fairly dark and this caught my eye in John Lewis.

OPI's My Private Jet is a brown toned polish with lots of tiny silvery flecks of glitter suspended in it. Its a truly gorgeous colour which swings between a gun grey in some lights and a black in darker lights.


The tip wear you see is after 3 days wear, I can't seem to get them to last much longer then 3days. Application was great as with all OPIs and I have no trouble and think I will be wearing this a lot more often over the winter months!


What do you think? 


Thanks for reading xx

A Square Peg in a Round Hole

Evening all, I hope this post finds you well and having a good week.


This weekend, I've read lots of blogs with a contrasting ring finger manicure and I have tried it a few times without posting too much, so I thought I would show you what I did! 

I used OPI Suzi says Da and Barefoot in Barcelona as the contrast. I didn't want to go all out just yet, but I think it turned out really well. Next time I think I want to try it with brights and a contrasting colour.


What colours would you put together do you think?