Models Own - Polish for Tans & Speckled Eggs

A little parcel arrived to cheer up my Thursday!  A Models Own order I placed yesterday, super fast delivery which is always pleasing, I was expecting to have to wait until after the weekend for these!

 

 

First up I ordered the Polish for Tans Collection which are apparently "the first-ever collection designed to enhance and compliment a natural tan. Five essential summer shades chosen to highlight golden skin from sunrise to sunset. These tan-enhancing neon-pastel shades are the perfect combination of muted brights - the ultimate collection for beach babes!"

 

I couldn't resist the bright neons and had to get the whole collection:

Sun Hat, Shades, Beach Bag Bikini & Flip Flop

 

Next up a couple from the Speckled Eggs Collection, I already have a few Yes Love Speckled polishes which are very similar so it seemed silly to double up, which is why I only bought two; Magpie (minty green) and Goose (yellow).

 

As you can see from the first picture I also sneaked in a bottle of Utopia from the main collection to make the order up to £30 so I got free P&P; a great way to convince myself I am saving money by buying more polish.  Stand by for swatches over the next few day.

Models Own HyperGel

Today I have a post about the latest offering from Models Own - The HyperGel Collection.

Models Own describe them like this: 10 brand-new mega-shine shades that are highly pigmented, long-lasting and chip resistant. Enriched with lotus flower oil, the gel-like finish gives the professional shine of a salon manicure. The collection is completed with limited edition colour caps, topped off with colour-matched high-shine swatches on the lids that reflect the gel effect finish of the polish so you can select the perfect shades!

I really liked the sound of these and the swatches I'd found online so far made them look very pretty so that combined with Models Own having a half price sale meant that I couldn't help myself and had to place an order, rather than trying to choose my favourites I ordered the whole set, we'll just file that under Pay Day Treat, shall we?

 

Models Own have changed their packaging since I last ordered and I was pretty impressed, the polishes came in a box covered with a branded slip cover, then wrapped in tissue over some bubble wrap, so fairly secure but also rather pretty and lovely to open.

 

 

The colours on the stock photo are pretty spot on, so you can have a look at that rather than my badly lit attempt at a photograph of my actual bottles.  It's always good when a website photo portrays the colours in a true to life way so this collection gets a tick for that.

 

The swatched tops are a nice addition too, not only do they look pretty it will make them super easy to identify on my helmer drawers which is always a bonus.

 

There are no earth shattering new shades in this collection but as a basic range I think Models Own have done pretty well, they've picked a really good selection of popular wearable shades with something to suit everyone.

 

First impressions are good, I'm really looking forward to trying out these polishes and posting some swatches for you to see.  I'm particularly excited about the white and the nude shades, although the coral and pale pink are also calling to me; decisions, decisions!

 

Check back over the next few days for a full review and some swatches.  I'm also hoping that these will stamp well which would be another plus point!

 

 

Kiko Christmas Haul

I posted the other day about Kiko's 2013 Christmas Collection - Digital Emotion and the Sugar Mat Gift Set which is a part of the collection and now I have them in my grubby hands to show you some more photos.  One of the best things about Kiko is that even buying online, having not seen the polishes in person, you can be fairly certain they are going to be gorgeous and this order was no exception.  Here's what I chose:

First up, 4 nail polishes from the main Digital Emotion range of Digital Nail Lacquers, they are (from left to right); 437 Intuative Pink, 440 Electron Blue, 441 Illusion Green and 442 Techno Black.

All 4 (and I presume the other two in the range which I don't have) are slightly sheer base polishes crammed full of holographic glitter, each polish also features glitter in the same shade as the base making them all slightly different from each other but obviously part of the same collection.

While they're not really very typical Christmas colours I think the glitter packed look of these polishes is perfect for the holiday season and I like the fact that Kiko doesn't always go with a Chrismtas specific colour palette.

Next up the gorgeous Sugar Mat box set, I am so delighted with this, the colours are gorgeous and for £19.90 it's a huge bargain, pretty much half price for the polishes!

The foily purple and pink box opens like a book to reveal the 8 polishes neatly lined up inside...  The colours are 451 Apricot, 452 Watermelon, 453 Cherry Red, 454 Wine, 455 Light Taupe, 456 Teal, 457 Royal Blue and 458 Anthracite.

 

When you remove the tray they're sitting in you can see them in all their glory.

From the description on the website I wasn't sure how many of the 8 polishes would have the sparkly Sugar Mat finish that I love but as luck would have it all 8 of them have a shimmer so I really couldn't be more pleased.

Again the colours aren't typically festive but they are super sparkly and gorgeous so perfect for party wear and nights out and the red is definitely ideal as a Christmas manicure.

The blue and green also look like they might make good bases for some Christmas style stamping.

I can't wait to get these on my nails, the main problem will be deciding which to use first!

And with that I am turning the blog over to Christmas, so for the rest of the advent period expect snowflakes and santa and snowmen to be front and centre.

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.

 

 

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.



Sparkly Haul

I had some Advantage Card points to spend so I decided to take advantage of Boots 3 for 2 offers and pick up some polish, without meaning to a created a bit of a glittery sparkly theme, here's what I got...

 

First up two if the Seventeen Rock Hard Couture polishes; Charm Bracelet and Celestial Pearl.  I've been meaning to pick these up for ages now but I've been good and waited until there was an offer on.

 

I also picked up one of the textured Barry M polishes; Countess.  I was tempted by others but I already have a few pink textured polishes from the Kiko Sugar Mat collection and the other two in the collection are basically exact dupes of the Seventeen colours above.  

 

I grabbed the new LE bar glitter polish that Boots have available at the moment too, it's a mix of pink, green and blue bar glitter in a clear base.

 

Then two of the new Maybelline Brocades; Foil Flash and Knitted Gold.  I've seen the US collection pictures of these (they seem to have 8) and so I had to try a couple when I saw that Maybelline UK had 4 available, there's also a grey/black and a red but I preferred the silver and gold ones.

 

Finally, Rimmel Space Dust in Total Eclipse.  Since getting back online after the purchase I've realised this is another matte finish textured polish which I didn't know in the shop.  It's a gorgeous colour so I'm looking forward to trying it both with and without a topcoat to see which is prettiest.

 

Look out for swatches over the next few days, I have enough new colours to keep me busy for a good few manicure now. :)  A good use of my hard earned points, I think.



Holiday Haul!

This post should really have appeared yesterday but nevermind... I'm back and as usual I didn't return empty handed. :)  I was very good this time though and only bought a few choice bits.

First up a trip to Kiko, no Spain visit is complete without one.  I picked up 5 polishes from the regular collection (on the right here), none of them are new shades I am just filling gaps in my collection now. :)  I'm hoping the french manicure polish, second from the right, might be the perfect cream I have been hunting for. *fingers crossed*

Kiko also have a new range of quick drying nail polish so obviously I had to pick up a couple of them to try out, here is a close up of the ones I chose.

Then, because they were on offer, I picked up another couple of base coats

Next up my polish from various China Bazaar shops, there seem to be hundreds of them in the area my parents live and they stock all manner of things including cheap nail polish.  These bottles were all under a euro each.

They can be a bit hit and miss quality wise but I always like to grab a few and see what they are like, I've had some really good polishes from the various ones I've visited and at such a tiny outlay it seems rude not to.

These were a particularly cool find, they remind me so much of the nail polishes from Illamasqua's recent I'mPerfect range but at a teensy 5% of the cost.

Stay tuned to see which ones I tested out first and for pictures of all my holiday nails (which are shamefully few and far between as I was VERY lazy and hardly changed my polish at all).

Boodles Textile Yarn

I recently picked up some Textile Yarn from Hobbycraft (who currently have all their yarn and wool on a 3 for 2 deal), the brand is Boodles by Avec.  I've been wanting to try textile yarn for a while now so I could make a chunky cat basket / bed for James but it's proved quite difficult to track down and expensive. 

I've got a few ideas pinned on my Crochet board on Pinterest so when someone told me that Hobbycraft not only sold it but sold it at a decent price AND it was on offer I had to check it out.  Here's what I chose:

The yarn doesn't come in specific colours instead there are broad shade categories, the two greens are from the green selection and the grey is from the black / white which means that you basically have to just work with what they have in stock and if you run out of a colour you probably won't be able to pick up more too easily. 

The yarn is made from cuts offs from the textile manufacturing industry so the colour of the yarn depends on what's being produced at the time which is why the shades vary so much and aren't guaranteed.  It's definitely a case of grab what you can while you can. :)

I've settled on this pattern from the zen of making's blog as it seems pretty easy to follow.  So far I haven't gotten too far, mostly because this stuff is super hard to work with.

I'm really having to wrestle with the yarn and hook so it's a bit of a slow process at the moment, hopefully I'll get used to it and the process will speed up as I go along.  I do think it's worth the initial struggle though as I love how it's worked up so far.  I'm using a 10mm hook as suggested on the yarns packaging.

I also picked up some Paton's Fab Big Super Chunky yarn while it was on 3 for 2, I'm looking forward to making a super chunky blanket with this yarn so stay tuned for updates on that too.

Nails Inc Fine Sprinkles & Special Effects Set in TK Maxx

I popped into TK Maxx at lunchtime to pick up a present for some family we're visiting later for dinner, promising myself I would avoid looking at the nail varnish, and the scented candles, and the cookware too.  Truth be told there aren't many sections of TK Maxx I can be trusted in.  However, sometimes something is such a bargain you just have to buy it which is, funnily enough, what happened today.

 

I'd previously been eyeing up the Nails Inc 4 Piece Fine Sprinkles Collection on QVC which includes:

 

* Market Place - Lilac Sprinkles

* Langham Street - Vanilla Sprinkles

* Little Portland Street - Pink Sprinkles

* Devonshire Place - Mocha Sprinkles

 

So when I spotted a Nails Inc Colour Collection set in TK Maxx that looked very, very similar for just £12.99 I couldn't really resist.  It turns out it's not exactly the same set but very similar, the TK Maxx version includes:

 

* Special Effects in Warwick Street
(which oddly is often described online as a QVC exclusive shade with Blue, Red & Silver sprinkles but mine doesn't match that description.  Mine is the one shown here with multi-coloured sprinkles which I think is even prettier!)

* Langham Street - Vanilla Sprinkles

* Little Portland Street - Pink Sprinkles

* Devonshire Place - Mocha Sprinkles

 

 

I'm slightly sad to have missed out on Market Place as it does look very, very pretty but getting the other three and Warwick Street for such a bargain price will no doubt ease my pain in time. ;)

Poor macro shot of the multi-coloured glitter in Warwich Street:

 

After the excitement of my Nails Inc find I couldn't decide on anything suitable to take as a gift to dinner so it looks like it'll be a stop off to grab a bunch of flowers on the way over there, excellent shopping skills there, I'm sure you'll agree!

Look out for swatches coming very soon.

 

 

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Barry M Limited Edition Summer Neons

Every so often (usually twice a year once in winter and once in summer) Barry M launch a Limited Edition range of colours which are available in either Boots or Superdrug.  Generally, as is the case this time, the Superdrug polishes are free gifts if you spend a certain amount (over £6) whereas the Boots ones can be bought on their own. 

 

This summer they have launched 4 neon colours for summer, all of which I picked up.  Superdrug has a light pink and a green (on the left) and Boots has a yellow and a deeper pink (on the right). 

 

 

Since I was buying the new Gellys anyway I picked up the Superdrug colours with them and then used my Boots points to grab the other two, guilt free.  The two pinks are similar, but not the same as you can see from the comparison swatch below

 

 

Here are some quick dot swatches of the colours along with the new Gelly Hi Shines I posted about yesterday.  The LE neons are in the top row.

 

These polishes seem quite sheer, as a lot of neons are, so I am thinking about layering them over a white polish to make them not only opaque but hopefully brighter too.  Look out for swatches coming soon.

 

 

 

New Barry M Gelly Hi Shines - Eventually!

I was hoping to be able to pick these up before I went away but no such luck, I had to wait until I got back but finally I have them and now I am putting myself on a semi-strict no buy for the foreseeable future while I try out all my new lovlies.  There are only so many new polishes a girl can handle (until the next must have comes out).

 

 

I have high hopes for how these little beauties will stamp so stand by for future posts on that.

 

Here's a quick dot swatch of the polishes, along with the new Limited Edition Summer Neons from Boots and Superdrug, more about them tomorrow.



Kiko Sugar Mat - 634 & 635

As you may have seen from my Spanish haul post the other day, I gave in and bought ALL of the Kiko Sugar Mats, today's post features two of the non shimmery side of the range, 634 and 635.

 

 

634 is a soft pinky lilac shade whereas 635 (which I used as an accent) is a light cornflower blue sort of colour, both feature the textured finish of the Sugar Mat collection.

 

I hadn't been expecting to like the non shimmery Sugar Mats as much as I loved the ones with shimmer but I was wrong!  These polishes are lovely soft colours with the added interest of the texture finish.  As with all the others I have tried from the collection they applied beautifully, this pictures are two coats, and dried super fast.

 

Having tried a couple of the non shimmer side of the Sugar Mat collection I'm definitely glad I took the chance to grab them all while I was away and they were on offer.

 

Kiko Haul!

Every time I come out to visit my parents in Spain we make a little trip to the nearest Kiko store.  Initially it involved an hours drive to get to the nearest one, then one opened about 20 minutes away.  At the end of last year a big new shopping centre opened a 5 minute drive away and in it a Kiko! So now with it just on the doorstep it's dead easy to get to. Naturally I had to pay a visit, especially since all of their nail Polish is currently only €2,50 each.  Here's my little haul...

First up a few colours from the regular range, including a backup of my favourite Kiko nude, 372.

Two gel look top coats (which are great value at €2,50) and a bar cost to try and dirt out my peely, yellow nails.

One of the new Sun Pearl collection.

The remainder of the shimmer Sugar Mats.

Three more of the Mirrors for stamping with.

And all of the rest of the regular, non shimmery, Sugar Mats.

So that little lot should keep me occupied while I'm away and mean that I have plenty to post about when I get back.