Mani Monday!

Hi hi hi (: 

Manicure Monday comes in the form of these little bargain buys from Primark Beauty. I actually got them quite a while back so these one's aren't readily available in stores right now, although if you search around on Ebay and Amazon you might find them. However, they are currently selling a pastel set and a lovely collection of blues so for £2, I think you should go and see for yourself. 

The set doesn't have a name, I'd say they were all jewelled colours. It includes a purpley blue, a blue/ pink/ purple glitter, a silver glitter which has various sequins in, and a glittered bronze. My favourite would be the silver polish, as it's really thick (gives the illusion of a gel nail) and it only requires 2 coats to get an even finish. 

They're all pretty different polishes in regards to consistency, texture and pigments which is quite odd but it is Primark and you get what you pay for. 

• Purpley Blue Polish- This is probably the one I wouldn't buy if it was sold seperately. It looks really rich in colour in the bottle but once it's on the nail it's almost invisible. It required 4 coats to get the colour in the photo, therefore took quite a while to dry. In fact, it took the best part of an hour to completely dry, this is no good if you're looking for a quick fix. 
• Blue/ Pink/ Purple Polish- I really like this varnish as it only took 2 coats to get an even finish and dried really quickly. It's a pretty standard glitter nail polish at the end of the day.
• Silver Glitter Polish- Not only is this my favourite of the set, but one of my favourite glitter varnishes in my collection. Like I said, it applies thickly so it looks like I've had it done professionally, but it also dried pretty quick. Bonus! 
• Bronze Glitter- I use this quite regularly because it's such an versatile shade to wear. It's easy to wear this from day to night and it doesn't chip that easily either. I wish they sold this individually!  

I'd definitely recommend getting yourself a set of these. Yeah okay, they're not the best quality but you get 4 pretty decent nail varnishes for a measly £2. 

£2!

XXX

MUA Magnetic Nails- Mayfair

I adore MUA so after a shopping trip with our dearest Amber, I purchased this little varnish. I've never tried any magnetic polishes before so I was quite eager to use this and I'm so, so glad I bought it. There are 6 shades in this collection, including this one called Mayfair. there are two other 'swiggle effects' which are Regent Street and Park Lane and 3 circle effects in Picadilly Street, Kings Road and Leicester Sqaure.

I picked this dark, rich shade of blue as I don't really have many varnishes in this colour and it was a nice change from all the pale pinks and nudes at the moment. From the photo it looks quite glittery but it definitely isn't (if you wanted a glitter go for Kings Road or Picadilly Circus), it's actually quite shimmery but the magnet seems to turn it more into a glossy finish which just adds to the effect. 

To Apply: 'Just apply the magnetic glitter to your nail, and while the polish is still wet, hover the magnetic brush cap over your nail for five seconds. Be careful not to touch the polish though!' 

It was literally that easy (trying to read the super fine instructions on the back of the bottle was more difficult!) It was also quite pigmented for a super cheap varnish as well which was a nice surprise and it also didn't take years to dry so I was super impressed. 

 

I will definitely be purchasing the rest of this collection. The application process was effortless, it dried pretty much a minute after it was one, and the overall effect is lovely. Personally, I think it looks a bit like a base to a galaxy nail and I'll be playing around with this more in the future. 

So impressed and a must-buy for £3.50 from Superdrug.

You can see the rest of the varnishes here.

Pro's 

• Gorgeous, glossy finish.
• Quick drying.
• Highly pigmented.
• Good quality magnet to create the 'squiggle effect'.

 Con's (I'm being picky for this because I actually can't find a solid con)

• Slightly pricey for MUA... But it's worth it. 
• Hard to read instructions on the back. 

 XXX

Mani Monday! Embellish 3D Manicure.

This week, Manicure Monday comes in the form of Embellish 3D Manicure exclusively for Primark beauty. There has been so many of these 'caviar' nail effects on the shelves lately since they were first seen done by Ciaté. However, for £18 I couldn't really justify it despite how much I wanted to. Working in Primark, I noticed these manicure packs before MUA bought out their version of it so I purchased this first and for £2.50, it was quite a bargain buy.

Currently, there are only 3 different sets (there was more during Christmas, which were featured in the black box, not white.) This one has a 10ml pearly nail varnish with 14g bottle matching beads. Other sets come in a raspberry coloured varnish with multi coloured beads and also a mix between the two (pearl nail varnish/multi beads.)

The set also comes with a convenient little funnel so you can put all the excess beads back into the bottle it came from, so you're not wasting it all.

Pearl Nail Varnish

Obviously, you need a starting point and this varnish is it. I really love the colour, it's highly pigmented and the photo above shows only one coat. The instructions on the back say to apply two coats but I really don't think it's needed at all. Other than the colour, there's nothing else positive about it. It's gloopy as can possibly be, which also meant that it took quite a while to dry and even when I was sat doing absolutely nothing, it had still managed to smudge. You could also see the brush tracks which I tried to even out as much as I could but ended up creating little mounds of it instead. Not a good look.

Pearl Beads

Whilst the varnish is still wet, you pour over the beads over your nails. I chose just an accent nail to try this on, as I was unsure how it would turn out. It was easier to apply then I imagined but just make sure you have a tray to collect all the beads that don't end up on your nails. The end result was a bit messy as the beads didn't cover the entirity of my nail and even when I pressed individual beads to fill in all the gaps, it still didn't look 'right'. I also applied a top coat over the beads just to ensure that they wouldn't fall off during the day but this also didn't work because only half an hour later I was missing half the beads off my nails and was finding them all around the house. 

I think you can see for yourself that it didn't quite work out as I hoped, i.e the lumpy nail varnish and messy accent nail! What I did like, however, was the funnel (simple pleasures) which was really needed after the cascade of micro beads. They went straight back into the bottle mess free which is exactly what I wanted instead of crawling around my floor picking it all back up again.

 

 

Overall, it's an alright little gift and despite the not so brilliant review, you might find it works a lot better for you. However, I am quite hands on so it's not really ideal for me to use everyday. I would try this again if it was for a one-off occasion or a night out but I would take it straight off the next morning. The main problem I had with it was definitely the nail varnish so if you're put off you could just use your own and buy this simply for the beads, or buy MUA's Star Constellations (which have been reduced to £2 here!) For £2.50 I can't complain too much, it just lacks a little finesse.

Pro's 

• The nail varnish is highly pigmented and a lovely, luxurious pearl colour. 
• Cute packaging.
• Highly needed funnel included.
• A good quantity for the price (but a case of quantity over quality maybe?) 

 Con's 

• Gloopy, slow drying, brush tracking nail varnish.
• The beads don't stick (maybe because of the formula of the varnish? something wasn't right nontheless!)

 

XXX

 

Super easy New Year's Eve nail ideas

Hey guys!

Here are a few nail art ideas for New Year's Eve. I say 'nail art' but there really is no art involved at all, they're all really really easy to do and  use affordable products, all of which I'll really briefly review as I go!

Carnival by Technic

Carnival Glitter polish by Technic, without flash

Carnival glitter polish by Technic, with flash

 Jenn got me this amazing Technic glitter nail polish for Christmas, the name is 'Carnival', and it's a clear polish loaded with flecks of different size and colour holographic glitter. At the moment I can see red, gold, silver, blue and green but I seem to notice another colour every time I look at it! Carnival and other Technic nail products are available from Bodycare, but I'm not sure about the price as this was a gift.

#1

For this one, I brushed Carnival onto my nails in the usual way I would apply a polish. I didn't use a base coat so this was to give a nice shine to my nail and add a few flecks of glitter here and there. Applied in this way, not much glitter actually gets onto the nail. For the tips, I applied Carnival in a dabbing motion instead, which allowed me to concentrate the glitter on the ends of my nails. 

#2 

 

To add a bit more sparkle, you could use the dabbing technique to apply more glitter to the top half of the nail, gradually getting less and less towards the cuticle for a glittery ombre effect!

#3

 

And if you wanted to go all out, dab the glitter all over your nail and layer as much as you like! (It is new year's eve!)

 All in all I love this nail polish, it's really easy to  achieve a subtle look with one coat or a reaaaally glittery one with just a few! Loving the colours and different types of glitter, especially at this time of year. 

Black Multi Glitter by Barry M

Black Multi Glitter by Barry M, without flash

Black Multi Glitter by Barry M, with flash

  Black Multi Glitter does what it says on the bottle, it's a highly pigmented black polish with loads of really fine multi-coloured glitter mixed in. Most of the glitter looks silvery but when the light catches it you can see glints of pink, red, green blue, etc etc! The thing I have about this one is that it looks amazing in the bottle and from the description, but I've used this a few times now and been disappointed with how it looks on my nails. I thought I may as well show you...

 

 Although it's really pigmented, I still needed two coats to get full coverage. I think the top picture looks pretty much like any plain black polish, and although the flash picks up the glitter a little, I don't really think it's much to write home about. I've seen other reviews and pictures of this polish on nails and it looks amazing, but never seems to work that way for me! It just seems to dry really gritty and dull on my nails, and base and top coats don't seem to help, am I doing something wrong!?

If you want to give this one a go yourself, I had mine from Superdrug although I can't find it on the Boots or Superdrug websites! It's also available from ASOS for £2.99. 

Gold Mine by Barry M

Gold Mine Glitter by Barry M, without flash

Gold Mine Glitter by Barry M, with flash

 In complete contrast to the previous Barry M polish, I LOVE this one!! Gold Mine Glitter is a really pigmented black polish with tonnes of large-ish gold flecks, perfect for a night out or if you fancy something a bit more special than plain black. You can purchase Gold Mine Glitter from Boots or Superdrug, £2.99 from both stores.

#4

This, again, is impressively pigmented for a black, but to get completely full coverage you ideally need 2-3 coats. I find this one to be really difficult to remove so rather than layering it (and to save wasting it) I'd advice using one layer over a plain black polish. In this picture I'm wearing it over Barry M Black Multi Glitter (above). 

 And my personal favourite...

#5

 

I really like dark nails, so I wanted something dark but with a bit of sparkle for New Year's Eve. I think this combination of Carnival over Barry M Black Multi Glitter is perfect, it reminds me a little of fireworks on the night sky! I tried adding a bit more Carnival glitter for a more full-on look (below), but at the moment I'm thinking of keeping it subtle.

#6

 

I wasn't wearing any top coat in these pictures as I was removing the polish and re-applying really quickly, and I think you could probably get away without it. I pretty much always wear some top coat when I do my nails properly, just to give them that extra shine and protect the polish underneath. Just in case you're interested, this is my favourite:

Wet Look Top Coat by Save the Nail

It gives a really high shine finish, goes on smoothly and lasts really well. I also think it brings out the colours of the polish underneath and really makes them pop! Definitely worth the money as it's lasted me ages (£6.95 from Boots). :)

Thank you so much for reading and happy new year guys!

Sophie xxx