Kiko Sugar Mat - 632

These Sugar Mat polishes are quickly becoming my go to polish for a speedy manicure, they apply so easily and dry super fast without the need for a top coat so they're ideal for a quick paint job.

 

 

632 is a bright matte red, I'm not a huge fan of matte colour normally but somehow the texture of the Sugar Mats adds a little extra and I really love how they look on my nails.

 

I love this colour on my newly short nails, it's bold and bright without being too out there.

Kiko - Digital Emotion - Christmas Collection 2013

Every year Kiko bring out a Christmas collection, although often it's not obviously Christmas themed.  Last year there was Dashing Holidays, this year we have Digital Emotion.  As well as a whole host of lovely make up products the line features 6 gorgeous new glitter nail polishes.

 

Since I was already ordering the new Sugar Mat gift set and the minimum order on Kiko's UK site is £25 it seemed silly not to add a couple of the new collection polishes to the order too, just to make up the total, obviously...

 

I like that Kiko don't always do a traditional holiday collection but they do tend to have some colours with a festive sort of  theme to them, this years selection is no different.  The six polishes available from the new collection are:

 

437 Intuitive Pink

438 Fascinating Burgundy

439 Cyber Red

440 Electron Blue

441 Illusion Green

442 Techno Black

 

All 6 are bright glitter packed jellies and there's definitely a festive feel to most, if not all, of them.  I was very reserved and only ordered Intuitive Pink, Electron Blue, Illusion Green and Techno Black so look out for some swatches of them in a post very soon.

 

 

Kiko - Limited Edition - Sugar Mat Nail Lacquer Set

Christmas shopping is a treacherous activity for the bank balance, one minute you're ordering your dad a nice pair of slippers the next you've stumbled onto the Kiko website and discovered their new range of gift sets, I think what happened next is probably fairly obvious...

 

 

I'm a huge fan of Kiko's Sugar Mat collection as you can see from the number of times I've posted about them in the past. Essentially Sugar Mat is a textured polish, the original Limited Edition Collection featured 8 cream and 8 shimmer polishes all with a fine sandy textured finish. They apply beautifully, dry quickly and last really well considering you don't apply top coat.

 

The easiest way to fill you in on the details is to show you what Kiko have to say about the new Limited Edition Sugar Mat Nail Lacquer Set on their site.

 

"Eight limited edition sand effect polishes with full shade, pearlescent and glitter colours in a matte finish. The nail polishes are contained in a desirable "Digital Emotion" style case, making them ideal as a gift or to collect.

Formulated with added microparticle grains, giving a three-dimensional textured effect that can be seen as well as felt.

After application, the texture appears sandy, as if sprinkled with grains of sugar."

The 8 new colours in the collection are shown below:  

 

 

There are a couple which look similar to other colours in the previous Sugar Mat release or the main collection but it's always hard to tell without seeing them in real life.

 

 The Sugar Mat collection costs £19.90 and is available now, a pretty good deal if you ask me as the regular nail polish retails at £4.90 each, which means this set of 8 is pretty much half price!  There's also a Satin Nail Lacquer Set available for the same price which I have resisted so far.

 

Stand by for more pictures and details when it arrives with me, hopefully later this week.

Wedding Nails: Maybelline - Brocades - Rosy Rosettes

As promised as update on my wedding nails from the weekend.  My oldest cousin was getting married and I wanted something sparkly and gorgeous on my nails to match my dress, I chose Rosy Rosettes from the Maybelline Brocades range.

 

 

This is three coats with top coat, as you can see it's a lovely bright berry red shade with lost of sparkly hex glitter and a micro glitter base.  There are golden pink tones through it which makes it very sparkly and festive looking so I expect this will get another outing over Christmas too.

 

And just in case you're nosy like me here's a quick shot of the whole wedding outfit so you can see what I was matching my nails to.

2True - Sequins - Naomi

Another textured polish today, I'm getting slightly obsessed I think.  Today's is Naomi from the Sequins range by 2True.

 

 

Naomi is a beautiful blueish purple shade filled with gorgeous sparkly sequins like pieces of glitter, these pictures are two coats, both of which applied easily and dried quickly.

 

I really love this polish, it's so pretty and perfect for cold crisp winter days, it looks like some sort of icy glittery snow affair, definitely one I am keen to stamp over.

Superdrug - Vitamin E - Hot Cloth Cleanser

I've talked about my love of hot cloth cleansers before and I've been using a few recently including the original (and in my opinion best) Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish, the original version of this stuff is pretty much my favourite hot cloth cleanser and on my Christmas list for this year.  I've also tried, and blogged about, Superdrug's Naturally Radiant Brightening Hot Cloth Cleanser and Boots No7 Beautiful Skin Hot Cloth Cleanser. 

I've read quite a bit online about Superdrug's Vitamin E version so I decided to pick it up and give it a go while I wait for my new batch of C&P to arrive at Christmas.

 

Here's how it looks in it's box:

 

 

As well as the cleanser itself you also get a muslin cloth for wiping it off with.  All these hot cloth cleansers work in a similar way; you apply them to your skin, rub them in a bit and then wipe off with a muslin cloth soaked in warm water.

 

The Vitamin E version is a nice thick luxurious feeling cream cleanser and smells absolutely amazing which wins points with me straight out the box.

 

It feels lovely on my skin too, rich and thick and smooth and it's super easy to massage all round your face.  After using it my skin felt good, smooth and moisturised and not at all irritated and the smell really is gorgeous.

 

I'm pleased with how this product works, it seemed to make short work of my make up and feels lovely on my skin.  Given the choice I think I would still plump for the Liz Earle version if I had to stick to one but from first impressions I think I'll be happy and enjoy using this budget version until Santa delivers it.

 

 

 

Blogging Mini Break

I'm away at a family wedding this weekend so I haven't had time to prepare a post for today but I'll be back next week with more nails, some skin care and my special wedding manicure.  See you then!

 

 

Sparkly Haul - Part 2

There is only one person to blame for this mini sparkly haul and that's Claire from Nuthin' but a nail thing.  Her recent post on the best of all the textured polishes, along with her lovely photos, meant that I had to add a few more to my collection, that combined with Superdrug having a 3 for 2 on all cosmetics at the moment meant that I came away with these three pretties:

 

 

Barry M Nail Effect Textured Nail Polish in Lady

2True Sequins in Naomi

Maybelline Brocades in Rosy Rosettes

 

Lady is a second attempt to get a white textured polish which I like, I really didn't get on with Celestial Pearl, the very similar looking polish from Seventeen, so I am hoping I'll like Barry's version better.

 

Rosy Rosettes looked so lovely in Claire's pictures that I couldn't resist and I thought it might go with an outfit I am wearing to a wedding soon so that was all the excuse I needed to buy it, plus it'll be lovely over Christmas for a festive manicure.

 

Naomi is just pretty, and reminded me of a friend who recently passed away so it seemed like a perfect choice for my third polish to complete the trio.



Create Your Own Textured Stamping

Another stamping manicure using the Bundle Monster Create Your Own set today.

 

I used Barry M Silver Foil Effects to stamp over Kiko Starry Black textured polish.

 

I'm not sure this was the best choice of image for over a textured polish as the trees lose a bit of their clarity, something more abstract might work better.  Nonetheless I quite like the effect, from a distance it looks a bit like crackle polish.

 

I used plate 407.

Kiko Sugar mat - 646 - Starry Black

As I've mentioned before Kiko's Sugar Mat polishes are pretty much my favourite textured polishes on the market, although I'm not sure they ARE still on the market as I think they might have been limited edition polishes last summer.

 

 

Today's pictures are 2 coats of 646, Starry Black, a black base with lots of tiny shimmer silver glitter particles through it.

 

These polishes apply beautifully and last really well, especially for a textured finish which you can't wear top coat with.

 

I notice as I was standing at the train station that my manicure was rather seasonally appropriate as it almost perfectly matched the freshly gritted tarmac!

 

 

Max Factor - Fantasy Fire

I love this polish and I've read online that Revlon Royal which I wore yesterday is a great base for it.  I wasn't blown away by Royal on it's own so I was hoping the addition of Fantasy Fire might make me more of a fan.

 

 

Unfortunately I don't think FF looks any better over Royal than it does over various other colours I've tried it with so it wasn't really a win on that front and the tip wear of the Royal was still very evident which is annoying.

 

I so still adore Fantasy Fire though, it's definitely in my top 5 polishes of all time, just look at it's shimmery duochrome gorgeousness!



Revlon Royal is one of those polishes that I felt I should own but I'm not sure why, I've seen it mentioned a lot online but never owned it myself, until now.  I think it was a US release that never really made it over to the UK officially but now turns up on various websites for a bargain price, I found mine for 99p and decided to give it a go.

 

 

Royal is a deep, shock horror, royal blue.  The finish is a sort of jelly effect but with the colour being so dark it's not as sheer as a lot of jelly polishes.  These pictures are two coats.

 

I can't say I'm blown away by Royal, I found the tip wear on it really bad and although it's an alright colour it's not the sort that I really adore.  I can't complain for 99p but it's definitely not caught my attention the way it seemed to do with some bloggers.

 

 



Maybelline - Brocades - Foil Flash

A second Brocade to show you today this time Foil Flash which looks very silver in the bottle, however on the nail there is a distinctly golden flash to it, as you can see in the photo below.

 

 

These pictures are 3 coats although two would probably have done as it's quite an opaque polish.  The base is a shifting silver gold colour made up of tiny glitter particles and then there are larger silver hex glitter too.

 

 

Like it's sister polish from the same collection, Knitted Gold, Foil Flash is super foily and sparkly, another brilliant polish for the upcoming holidays

Kiehls Midnight Recovery Concentrate

I'd heard quite a lot about Kiehls Midnight Recovery Concentrate online so I recently popped into the pop up shop they have in Princes Square Glasgow to have a look at it in person.  The very kind assistant gave me a sample to try and I have been using it for the last 10 days or so.

 

Before I give you my opinion here's what Khiels have to say about it:

 

The elixir works all night to replenish the skin with moisture and leave younger-looking. skin by morning. Enriched with a blend of naturally derived ingredients including Squalane, Evening Primrose, and a blend of essential oils.

This readily absorbed elixir helps the skin to recover radiance by morning, with skin feeling smoother and softer. Enriched with Squalane, Evening Primrose Oil, Omega-6 Fatty Acids and Essential Oils including Lavender, our formula provides a boost of intensive moisture to dehydrated skin. The formula instantly penetrates the skin surface to help replenish it with moisture. Our concentrate is designed to work at night; with skin hydrated, supple and soft, rest assured you can say goodnight to a tired-looking complexion.

 

 

 

 

I've used oils on my skin before and liked them so I wasn't worried about the fact that the Khiels was an oily formulation but even I was surprised by just how nice it felt on my skin, although it's oily it's a dry sort of oil which sinks in really fast and doesn't leave you looking like you've put oil onto your skin.  It also smells divine!

 

You only have to apply a few drops (Khiels say 2-3, I use 4 or 5) to your hands rub them together and then pat on your face but the difference I have noticed has been amazing.  My skin feels lovely and smooth and moisturised on waking the next day and it looks better too; brighter and more radiant.  Another added bonus I have found is that it seems to heal up any blemishes I have faster than usual and seems to make them less liable to leave red marks or scars.

 

All in it's a bit of a wonder product for me.  It retails at £36 for a 30ml bottle but considering how little you use each application and how lovely it's left my skin feeling I think it's well worth the money.  I've also found Khiels to be very helpful and generous with samples so it's worth popping in to speak to someone if you're not sure whether it's the sort of thing for you but you'd like to try it. Definitely one for the Christmas list if you want to give your skin a boost this winter.

Seventeen - Rock Hard Couture - Charm Bracelet

I have another textured polish to show you today, the second of my Rock Hard Couture textured polishes from Seventeen, this one is a taupey gold sort of shade called Charm Bracelet.

 

 

These pictures are three coats with no top coat.

 

It applied a bit better than Celestial Pearl which I wore the other day although I still don't like the finish as much as the Kiko Sugar Mats.

Rainbow Ripple Progress

A few quick photos of my progress with the rainbow ripple blanket.

 

 

I'm pleased with how this is coming along, I've crocheted 25 rows so far which means I am on to my second run through the rainbow. 

 

It's hard to tell at the moment but I think the balance of colours is pretty good, roughly even hot and cool shades which is what I was aiming for - it's definitely bright enough...

 

The one thing I am not 100% happy with is how many colours I have used, I wonder if it might have looked better with fewer shades and more rainbow repeats?

 

I think it's the sort of blanket which needs to be worked up fully before I can decide, it's hard to get an idea of how it will look with the repeating rainbow pattern until I have worked a good few more rows.



Maybelline Brocades - Knitted Gold

Maybelline in the US have a page on their website about these polishes but as far as I can tell we only get 4 in the UK and they seem to have different names. :)

 

I picked up two, the first of which I have to show you today, Knitted Gold.

 

 

First up, this polish was a bugger to photograph, it's so foily and shiny that it's almost impossible to get a decent picture of it, I'll forgive Maybelline this though as the impossible to photograph foil finish is gorgeous on your nails; super, super sparkly and foil like this is definitely the sort of polish I will be bringing out around the festive season.

 

These pictures are three thin coats and it covers pretty well for a glitter polish, the polish is made up of a sheer base crammed full of minuscule golden glitter particles and two sizes of larger pink hex glitter.  Application was pretty easy, it goes on nicely and doesn't require too many coats.

 

I added a couple of layers of top coat to fully smooth it out.  The wear time is pretty good, I have one annoying chip on my index finger but other than that it seems to have held up pretty well which isn't always the case with glitter formulas.

 

All in a very pretty polish and super sparkly, ideal for festive parties.

Rimmel - Space Dust - Total Eclipse

Space Dust is Rimmel's version of textured polish, Total Eclipse is a dark grey green coloured polish which in certain lights also has a sort of duochrome effect with a purple lean to it, it's almost impossible to capture the purple in photos but it is there and you can see it in person.

 

The polish applied nicely, these pictures are three coats but you could probably get away with two.  The wear time was good too, I took these photos before a busy day resealing my bath and even after picking out all the old silicone sealant my nails only had tip wear and no chips.

 

In a darker environment with flash you can see the grey colour of the polish but in real life and most lighting the polish is a very definite green / teal shade.

 

Overall I'm impressed with this polish; it's pretty, wears well and is easy to apply.

Textured Stamping

I was a bit sceptical about stamping over textured polishes at first but it actually works really well, for today's manicure I used BM-422 from the Create Your Own Collection.

 

 

I used Barry M Gold Foil for the stamping and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

 

 

The simple hexagon design compliments to base colour and the textured adds an extra element to the stamping which makes it a bit different.

 

I'm also really pleased with the wear time on the Barry M textured polish, I'm on day three now and there is only the smallest amount of tip wear which for a textured polish and no topcoat I think is great.