{Nails} Essie - Haute As Hello

I'm still undecided about this polish, I bought it when it came out, then I sold it and then I bought it again! This week has been the first time i've worn it as it always looked too bright and orange in the bottle. It is actually a really nice colour, and perfect for this weather, but application is a nightmare!

In natural light it appears brighter, the second photo was taken outside just before this post was written. 

The only positive for application is that it dries quickly, you can see in the first photo that it dries to a semi-matte finish, as most neons do, so that wasn't a problem. But this was 4 coats! And if I look closely it still looks a bit patchy in places :( I would expect this of a sheer, but not a neon. Poor form Essie! 

It's a lovely colour and does just about manage to make up for its poor application, but only just.

xoxo

{Nails} Sally Hansen - Fedora

I have blogged about this before and didn't mind it, but I applied it Sunday and now can't stand the colour! This is one of Sally Hansen's Complete Manicure range which means it has included base and top coat included. So Sunday at 11 o'clock when I needed to do my nails I chose to use this one polish, instead of the other 3.

Big mistake. By 5 the next day I had tip wear and this polish had started to wear away, and the shine was never amazing.

This is 2 coats, and it appeared patchy or thin in places. When I wore this with a base coat and top coat it lasted a lot better and the colour looked a lot nicer, but wearing it how it was designed is not desirable. I'm going to be honest, I am contemplating putting this in my pile for a blog sale, I just don't love it!

xoxo

{Nails} Essie - Cute As A Button

I think I'm going to declare this my favourite polish for Spring/Summer, I've had it 2 weeks and have worn it 3 times on my finger and once on my toes. My Boots finally got Essie polishes 2 weeks ago and I had to pick up Cute As A Button as I'd wanted it for a while.

This was 2 coats, and after 4 days of wear hence the chip on my index finger, but it lasted really well. I quite like the new brush on these Essie polishes, but found that it was almost too wide for some of my fingers so hard to get the polish neat around the cuticle. Essie polishes are £7.99 in Boots and Superdrug, this one was definitely worth the price!

xoxo

{Nails} Ciaté - Sugared Almonds

I was sent this polish over 2 years ago, but lately I have been loving neutral/spring shades so dug this back out of my collection. It is a beautiful peachy nude that looks lovely against my skintone, and the bottle is so cute with that little bow.

This was 2 coats, it was a little patchy on the first coat but the second evened it out. Ciate polishes cost £9, or £8.50 from beautybay, but they have a lovely colour range and are 13.5ml so not too bad.

xoxo

*pr sample

{Make-Up} Illamasqua Human Fundamentalism

This collection was released 2 months ago, but due to several reasons I am only just blogging about this! 1 being that everyone was blogging about it so thought i'd wait, and 2 I have been rather brain-dead from work lately so trying to put sentences together was just too much.

So 2 months ago I headed to London, feeling a bit like Super Teacher as I'd managed to teach all day, do a lunch duty, plan all of my lessons for the next day and still make it onto a train to London on time! I met Lydia and we headed to the event.

Illamasqua events are magical, they always inspire me and I leave desperately wanting to play with make-up and create something out of the norm! I was also a little awe struck as not only was Alex Box there, but I finally got to meet Zoe, the london lipgloss, I was nervous but I did go say hi!

Alex Box working her magic:

The collection is all about inverting our ideas of the traditional look. They have introduced a white Precision Ink instead of the traditional black, and their teal lipstick, Apocalips, which many girls could be seen wearing on the night, instead of the usual red. As always, I am most excited for the nail polishes, I will be posting photos of Stance soon, and am hoping for the jade shade, Nomad, for my birthday.

"Because beauty isn't conformity, but the fundamental human desire to express your inner self on the outside."

xoxo

{Nails} Essie - Going Incognito

This was the colour I pulled out last week when the rain got to me and I just didn't feel right wearing bright colours on my nails. I have had this in my collection for a long time, and always admired it but never worn it.

This was 2 coats, but I wasn't overly impressed with the finish, I used Essie Good To Go for my top coat and it just wasn't as shiny as I am used to. It is a lovely colour though, a dark green with a blue hint to it. This only lasted 2 days on my nails before I decided I wanted something bright again to encourage the sunshine out.

xoxo

{Nails} Painting For Life

This week I received an email from Liloo telling me about a new set released from Beauty UK in aid of Cancer Research UK, this struck a chord with me. This year I found out that a member of my family had breast cancer, she is fine now, but not everyone is so lucky. I couldn't not buy it!

The set was inspired by Sam, who responded to a competition to create your own nail polish, and Beauty UK have worked with her over the last year to create this set.

The set is £5.99 from Superdrug, and £1 from every set goes straight to Cancer Research. The aim is to raise £50,000 for the charity.

Hope:

This was 3 coats, as my thumb nail was a slightly patchy after 2 coats so it needed another coat. This was my favourite colour, such a perfect light pink.

Love:

This was 2 coats. It's a lovely medium pink, but my least favourite of the 3, very work appropriate though.

Strength:

This was 2 coats, and application was perfect.

These are only my 2nd purchase from Beauty UK, but I was really impressed with the formula and application. They havent got wide brushes, but I still found the brushes very easy to use.

These work out at £2 per polish, and you are donating to charity, you can't really resist, especially if you need some more pink polishes in your collection!

xoxo

{Make-Up} Illamasqua Beauty School Drop-In

Illamasqua have been busy lately, they have released the 20 piece collection Human Fundamentalism, which I will blog about shortly (I am very behind these days!) They are holding their competition to find the face of their new campaign, head to Beauty Before Age to check it out, closing date is 15th May. And they are also holding the Beauty School Drop-In which starts today (told you I was behind).

This is a brilliant idea and will become a regular event throughout 2012. The first confirmed date is today 13th May, with 2nd June to be the second. I am unable to attend both of these sadly, but I definitely will be taking a trip to London especially for this soon!

If you are in London today, or at the start of June, head to Illamasqua amazing store on Beak Street for your chosen session.

I personally think I need to attend all 3 sessions, which would you attend?

xoxo

{Nails} Summer Nails

While I was browsing the Illamasqua website the other day I came across a promotion they are doing this weekend. Everyday over our long weekend they will offer 5 polishes at 45% off. On Monday they will be offering 2 of my favourite summer polishes!

Illamasqua Lament:

Illamasqua Jo’Mina:

If you don’t own these polishes then I would definitely recommend picking them up, they are such lovely colours and apply really well.

xoxo