Using up my Boots No7 Vouchers

The latest round of Boots No7 money off vouchers came to an end at the weekend so I popped into Boots to use up the ones I had left and stock up until the next time.  Here's what I got:

 

 

I grabbed two bottles of the Beautiful Skin cleansing water which I tried at the beginning of the month and am really liking, a hot cloth cleanser to try, a nail varnish in Winter Tale (a gorgeous lilac mink grey shade) and another quick dry top coat which I love.

 

I've heard good things about the hot cloth cleanser so I decided to give it a try, I'm looking for a bargain replacement for my Liz Earle cleanse and polish and the No7 one has been touted as being just that, I also have a Superdrug one to try so look out for posts about both of them coming up soon.

 

All in all a successful stocking up haul, I shouldn't need anymore skin care things in the near future, I hope!

 

 

Kiko 389

An old favourite today, Kiko 389:

 

 

I love this polish, as well as being a Kiko cream shade which means I adore it for application and coverage (these pictures are two coats) 389 is also a gorgeous colour, a sort of cross between Tiffany boxes and mint green.

 

It's such a lovely bright, cheery colour that I just love having it on my nails, it also helps that it applies so beautifully, it's  perfect chuck it on colour for when I am in a rush.

 

Colours like this are why Kiko are probably my favourite polish brand ever. :)

Kringle Candle Company

Today I have another (yes, I know, obsessive much?!) post about scented candles (or scented wax potpourri to be more exact) this time from Kringle Candle Company.  I found a link to Kringle via Facebook while on a page for a company that sells Yankee Candles, being rather keen on the Yankee tarts at the moment I had to go and have a look at what was being touted as one of their biggest competitors. 

The people who run Kringle Candles used to run one of the sites which sells Yankee Candles so I was quite keen to see the product that had made them change to supplying a different product.  In turn it seems that Kringle Candles are run by the family who initially set up Yankee Candles years ago (you can read all about it on their site if you are interested).

After having a quick look round the site I decided I was going to have to try out a few of their wax potpurri, not least because they have two of my holy grail scents (pineapple and mint) which Yankee don't ship to the UK!  They also had an offer on where you get 20% off the fragrances that they are retiring soon.

I ordered on Monday morning and my packaged arrived first thing Tuesday, the next day, which is great service especially considering the P&P was only £2.50 (it's free delivery if you spend over £30).  It was packaged well in a nice box which kept the potpourri well protected on it's travels:

 

Inside were my selection of wax potpourri, Kringle's answer to Yankee's wax tarts.

 

They also enclosed a leaflet with details of the company and descriptions of all the different sizes of candles they do which I thought was a nice touch.

 

From the soon to be retiring fragrances I picked 7 to try.  Bartlett Pear, Honeydew Melon, Strawberry, Peppermint Twist, Ruby Red Punch, Vanilla Mint and Frosted Cake:

 

Additionally, I had to try out their Fresh Mint and their Coconut Pineapple as I mentioned above.  I also added in a Hot Chocolate as I have been looking for a chocolate scent that wasn't fake and overly sweet, I thought I'd give this one a go too.

 

The wax potpourri is really nicely and simply packaged; shrink wrapped in plastic with a different sticker on top depending on the fragrance.  All Kringle candles are white so the stickers are the only difference look wise on the products.

 

Even in their wrappers they smell fantastic, the problem was definitely which one to burn first!  I decided on Peppermint Twist which is described as Those classic red-and-white swirled candies have always created a frosty mint sensation on the tongue. Peppermint Twist fills the air with that same tangy goodness.  And they're right, this one smells exactly like candy canes when burned, fresh, cool and sweet without being sickening.  It's quite an uplifitng fragrance and is one I will probably burn during the day when I want to feel a bit more active and revived.

 

Next up I tried Bartlett Pear which is The distinctive juicy aroma of a newly-sliced orchard pear is front and center. With cool green base notes matched by nectar-like top notes, this fragrance honors the real fruit handsomely.  This one is also lovely, and does smell exactly like a lovely juicy pear, not at all synthetic and very fresh and delicious.  Some other fruit scents that I've tried previously can be very synthetic and clawing but this wasn't at all, the green base notes mentioned really do give it a lovely crisp note on top of the fruit.

 

The throw of the fragrance is good too, I used a little under half of a wax potpourri each time and they made my fairly large sized living room smell beautiful and strong enough that you could really smell it rather than just having a background scent.  I think a whole one one would have been a bit overpowering in a single room.

 

Price wise these were £1.40 each, so a little more expensive than Yankee, there are other breakable ones which are £1.80, which are definitely a good idea as the regular ones are hard to break without tools and brute force!  I'm not sure I would pay an extra 40p per item just to have them easily break though, I think I'll continue to just bash at them with scissors.

 

As regular readers will know I am a big fan of Yankee Candles and I use a lot of their wax tarts which are essentially a very similar product, being such a Yankee fan I wasn't sure that Kringle could compete but so far they really have done, I was delighted with the speed of delivery and the initial quality of the products and the wax potpourri I have used so far has only built on that positive first impression.  Another plus point is that Kringle's Facebook page seems to be very active and monitored by the people behind the company so people do get answers if they post on there which I always think is a big plus for any company. 

 

I have a whole load of Yankee tarts to use up but from now on there will definitely be two options to look at when I am buying home fragrance, and currently Kringle are just out in front, mainly down to their speedy delivery and the gorgeous scents.  Having mint and coconut AND chocolate scents avaliable has definitely pleased me.  I can't wait to try some more and possibly a candle or two as well, just to see what they're like, obviously. ;)

 

Have you tried Kringle Candles yet?  What do you think?

 

 

Bruised Roses

As mentioned in yesterday's post, I did try and stamp with the MUA 'one coat' polish but it wasn't very successful, here are the results:

 

 

Again sorry for the horrid mess my nails are in, apparently cleaning up leaks gives you BAD tip wear. :(

 

Although the stamping is quite pretty, it was very subtle in real life and not how I was hoping it would turn out, I wanted to stamp in bold glitter!

 

It's a look I may try again if I was going somewhere that obvious stamping wouldn't be appropriate as it adds another dimension to the plain polish without being too obvious, however as stamping polishes go the MUA one coat polish won't be going on my list!

British Nail Bloggers - Weekly Round Up!

This week Emma was inspired by a game in amongst other 31 Day Challenges over at Emma's Little Corner and textured nails using salt!

Lyndsay at Pie's Eyes has been stamping again Glittery Tiger Stripes are this weeks offering.

Beccy at Two Days Slow has been working on her stamping technique with gold flowers on a purple base.

Sue in Lacquerland has been playing with colour this week Lush & Lynnderella.

Lou has been whipping out comparisons and dupes for Chanel Malice in the first of an irregular feature over at Painted Nails & Baking Scales.

If your a lover of sprinkles check out Accessorize Dragonfly over at Wendy's Delights.

Danielle swatched the new Mariah Carey for OPI Liquid Sand polishes over at Totally Nailed and also took a step back in time and revisited an old mani, creating a new version this week!

Claire at nuthin' but a nail thing has been polka dotting it up with some nail adornments.... Inpractical but CUTE!

Cris Cros has been trying out neddle marbling using her Barry M Gellies as well as trying out various untrieds.

MUA One Coat Fairy Dust Nails

 

I saw this little beauty on offer in Superdrug the other day and couldn't resist trying it out for just £1.50, the range is normally £3 each.  Unfortunately it couldn't do a worse job of living up to it's 'one coat' name!

 

 

Fairy Dust is a shimmery, silvery pink shade which is almost foil in appearance, it's pretty but the photos below show 3 coats, so not only is it not a one coat polish it takes an additional third coat on top of what most of my preferred polishes require!

 

Excuse the messy picture, we've had a leak in the flat and I have been quickly trying to grab a few photos right after painting my nails before I go and chip them and cause horrendous tip wear mopping up the kitchen which means that my clean up of the top coat has not been good, normal service will be resumed shortly, I hope!

 

In conclusion, this polish is pretty but definitely not a one coater, no way.  The bottle is fairly small and for £1.50 it is definitely not a bargain when you need to use so much each application.  I'm most disappointed becasue I was hoping to stamp with it and as you'll see in the next post it is most definitely NOT a polish for stamping with.

Urban Decay - Bruise

I picked this polish up a few years back in Superdrug, it was in a little jar of odds and ends and I thought it looked like quite an interesting colour, a sort of wine shade with a duochrome blue green flash through it.  I also loved the name, the colours do sort of resemble the shades a bad bruise goes through. :)

 

After a bit of research online it turns out that Bruise is actually quite sought after having been discontinued in the US quite a few years ago, there was little mention of it ever having been released in the UK so how it ended up in my Superdrug I'll never know! 

 

 

On to the polish:

 

In bright light the green blue flash really shows through and you can see why this polish is one that people try and hunt down.

 

The downside is that it's pretty sheer, initially I wore two coats but it wasn't at all opaque and really didn't look great in outdoor lighting (as you can see below):

 

 

However, a third coat and some bright fluorescent lighting and it's hard to knock this polish, it's deep wine coloured base is jam packed with thousands of tiny glitter particles which really make it glow.

 

If you happen to see a bottle anywhere I would recommending grabbing it!

 

Yankee Tart Stash...

It seems it's not just nail varnishes that I like to hoard, I mean collect. ;)  I'm going to need another Helmer for my Yankee tarts at this rate...

 

Last night I decided to have a quick hunt through all my Yankee tarts and organise them a bit better so I can use them all up and try out all the ones I got over Christmas and when the new Q1 fragrances were released, it seems I have quite a job ahead of me...

 

I should probably start working my way through some of the multiples soon...

 

Here's a list of all the fragrances I have currently:

 

Apple and Pine Needle, Baby Powder, Beach Wood, Black Coconut, Caramel Pecan Pie, Cherries On Snow, Christmas At The Beach, Christmas Rose, Coastal Waters, Cranberry Ice, Drift Away, Eucalyptus, Fresh Mint, Happy Christmas, Holiday Sage, Honey and Spice , MacIntosh, Mango, Peach Salsa, Mountain Lodge, Napa Valley Sun, Ocean Blossom, Patchouli, Peppermint Bark, Pineapple Cilantro, River Valley, Snow In Love , Sugared Apple, Sun and Sand , Treehouse, Memories, Winter Wonderland, A Childs Wish, Beach Walk, Blissful Autumn , Christmas Cookie, Paradise Spice, Red Velvet , Turquoise Sky, Waikiki Melon, True Rose, Bahama Breeze , Vineyard and Christmas Cupcake!

 

I'm hoping that by the time Q2 is released at the start of the summer I'll have worked my way through most of them, in the meantime let me know if there are any you think I really have to try. :)

Octa-gone Wild!

I decided to break out a holo today and went with the dusky lilac Octa-gone Wild from China Glaze, here it is in natural light, quite plain, not very holo but pretty none the less:

 

And here is with flash, showing a little more of it's holo side:

 

The rest of the pictures show my nails under bright fluorescent lights, as you can see the holo side really shows well in this sort of light, which is just as well because in January in Glasgow there is no direct sunlight to show it off in!

 

This polish is part of the Kaleidoscope collection that China Glaze brought out a few years back, the colours are not quite such in your face holographic as the OMG range but I still really like them.

 

Unfortunately they don't wear brilliantly and you can already see some tip wear in these shots, since they were taken after a day of work there is more tip wear and the odd little chip which is a bit frustrating.  I always end up forgiving holographic polishes for their crappy wear time though because they are so pretty when you wear them. <3 p="p">

Fire Tiger!

Today's nails are a quick tiger print stamp over Kiko Golden Flame which I showed you the other day.  I think this look worked well, the animal print of the glitter gives quite an interesting look.

 

 

I used Kiko black polish to stamp, unfortunately I didn't note which plate I used but since very stamping set seems to come with this sort of tiger print motif I'm sure you can use your imagination and find one in your collection. :)

 

I'm pleased with how this turned out, although I have loads of animal print plates I don't use them very often but this manicure has made me want to try something similar again.

Kiko - 404 Golden Flame

Another polish from my small selection of the Dashing Holidays glitter collection today, this time, Golden Flame which is number 404.

 

These pictures show 3 coats, the coverage is not bad but not brilliant.  As with most Kiko polishes it went on well and for a glitter I would say it has pretty good coverage.

 

 

There is a mix of gold and red small glitter pieces in the polish which give a sort of fire effect on the nail, very pretty!

British Nail Bloggers - Weekly Round Up!

This week Lyndsay at Pie's Eyes has created a beautiful Feather Manicure using her stamping plates.

31 day challenge still going strong over at Emma's Little Corner with this watercolour mani and this stamping over a gradient.

Wendy at Wendy's Delights found a gem of a very old untried Saffron polish which is super sparklicious!!

Sam at Polished Art was inspired by all the Christmas chocolate she's still munching away on to create this Ferrero Rocher manicure!

This week The Teenage Shopaholic has been... trying out furry nails! She swatched and reviewed MUA Fur Effects and was pleasantly surprised!

Susan at Lacquerland has been trying the 3 day oil & naked nail challenge here and was very happy with the results!

JustTalkNails has swatches of A Englands Dragon one of the best scattered holo greens!

This week Nada tried her hands at some flocking she couldnt resist her furry nails! check it out!

Mimi tries her hand at tribal eye nails and LOVES them!

Simple Star Stamping this week for the ABC Challenge on Enigmatic Rambles.

Tara at TarasTalons took her basic flock mani up a notch! Chick it out here :D Why wait until Easter!

Claire at nuthin' but a nail thing has been doing some nail art with incorporating her latest Lush Lacquer haul. This one's a blue fishtail manicure with Dreamsicle.... sparkles!

Ruth hasn't had the chance to post since New Year's, but why not look at her New Year nails until she has the time to some more fun posts!

Steph at Never Mind Suzi is getting to grips with stamping after all, practice makes perfect.

Vic is finally back (and already has posts scheduled to the end of February, just in case she runs out). One of her faves from this week is Song of the Black Swan.

PrettyKittyClaws is trying out the new Enchanted Polish Care Bear collection with Daydream Surprise. So sparkly and pretty!

Pish Posh and Polish's Kerrie has been working on her 31 day challenge this week, but a simple swatch of ORLY's It's Not Rocket Science is her favourite post of the week and may be her top green polish of all time!

Danielle created a purple skittle manicure using a-England and Zoya favourites over at Totally Nailed and also swatched some new Zoya purchases this week!

Lou has been having lots of fun with Illamasqua polishes this week starting with the Raindrops reissue and then the lovely Glitterati. This may be the beginning of a beautiful love affair.

CrisCros has been rocking penguin and snowflake nails finally letting her use her Models Own Wonderland flakie polish Go pick up a penguin!

New Q1 Yankee Tarts

There are few things that make a work day more pleasing than something like this arriving in the post for you, as well as being jam packed full of lovely tarts the box smelled amazing, so it was lovely to have on my desk all day too.  Suffice to say it cheered me right up.

 

 

The new Q1 fragrances have just been released by Yankee so I decided to make an order to try them out and also to stock up on some other bits and pieces I needed (need is a very subjective thing ;) these might have been more 'wants' than needs), including my bathroom staple Bahama Breeze while it was 25% off.

 

First off the new Q1 fragrances; Turquoise Sky, A Child's Wish, Paradise Spice, Black Coconut and Waikiki Melon. These came as part of a sampler pack which makes each tart just 87p, you can't not try the new scents for that price!

 

I can't wait to try them out, they all sound exactly like fragrances I would love and they're perfect for heading into spring with lots of fresh, fruity scents.  I am slightly hesitant about Paradise Spice as I don't like banana or cinnamon scented things but I had a quick sniff of a candle as I was passing a Yankee stall the other day and it actually seems rather lovely so I have pretty high hopes for the whole collection.

 

Here's my whole order laid out:

 

Not just one of each though, that would have been far too reserved...

 

As I said Bahama Breeze is a staple scent in my bathroom so I had to stock up on it while it was on offer, True Rose was also discounted and is another I love and then a couple of the soon to be gone Christmas Cupcake which are seasonal Christmas tarts but I love to burn all year round.

 

I also decided to try out some new tarts so the rest are a mix of scents I've never had before and wanted to try.

 

And finally, as a bonus I was sent a free Cherries on Snow sampler as I spent over £20, I've had a tart of the same fragrance before so I was quite pleased to receive a scent I knew I liked. 

 

My stock of tarts is rather hug now so I think I'll be able to lay off ordering anymore until the next release of fragrances (Q2) in the summer, well, maybe... ;)

 

What are your favourite Yankee scents?

Girly Stamping

As predicted I stamped over yesterday's pinky pure, I'm pleased with how it turned out, aside from the ares on my middle finger where I managed to swipe off some of the stamped image while cleaning up!  It's quite a sugary, sweet, girl look.

 

 

I used Gals plate GA41 and Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine in Pomegranate for the stamping.

No7 Pinky Pure

A very plain and simple manicure today (I'll probably stamp it or add something on top tonight, I can't go two days with something so subtle on my nails!).  This is 3 coats of No7 Pinky Pure:

 

 

It's a pale, baby pink shade.  It's not great to apply, hence the 3 coats, and can be a bit streaky but once it's on it's a nice subtle shade, although it does remind me a little of Pepto-Bismal or Calamine Lotion. :)

Feather stamps

I am so pleased with how this turned out, I was looking for something delicate and subtle and that is just what I got in my most recent stamping attempt. 

 

 

I used Barry M Silver Foil and the GA38 plate which has a lovely feather design on it to stamp over Barry M Blueberry.

 

I love how it turned out; it's pretty, delicate and still quite interesting.  I do love it when a stamping idea transfers directly from my head as I've pictures it and this is one of these times!