Glitter Pumpkins

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you've all had a fun day dressing up. My work dressed up on Friday instead as Monday is a super busy day and we wouldn't have had time to play any Halloween games, so I didn't actually dress up today. But on Friday I was Wednesday Addams, which makes a chance from my usual cat outfit that I do every year! I of course had to post some nails on Halloween, and whilst they are more autumnal than scary, I hope you still like them!

Barry M Rose Gold Geometric

Hey everyone! Hope you're all having a lovely weekend. I've had quite a busy weekend so far and we're off to Chester today to go the zoo and do a bit of shopping so another busy day ahead. Whilst I'm waiting for my boyfriend to be ready I thought I'd write a quick blog post as I haven't had much of a chance recently. I created these rose gold geometric nails a couple of weeks ago whilst I was playing around with the gorgeous autumn releases from Barry M. Their recent Molten Metals collection from a few months ago contained a copper shade which was close enough to rose gold that I thought that they wouldn't possibly create anything closer. Well I was wrong, their newest releases include Twinkle Twinkle*, a limited edition polish especially for Superdrug. You'll know how much I love creating nail art with rose gold if you've been followers of my blog for a while, so of course I had to do something with this. I wasn't really sure where I was heading when I started these nails, but I just went with the flow and I really liked the end result. 

Madam Glam Gel Polish Review + Swatches

Hey everyone! Hope you're all having a lovely week so far. I've still got a lot going on at the moment which is why it's been quiet from my end, but I've still got a few posts edited and waiting for me to write them up. I was recently sent a selection of Madam Glam gel polishes to try out. It's a brand I've heard a lot of but I hadn't got around to trying yet. So when they reached out and asked if I'd like to pick a selection of colours I jumped at the chance. I chose colours that I don't really own in gel shades as I wanted to add something different to my collection. I had high hopes based on the things I'd read, and they were proven to be correct. I really loved all of these shades, and I'm sure you'll be seeing them again.

Unlike other gels I have tried, I did not receive a lamp with my polishes from Madam Glam. This isn't a problem as I own a couple of curing lamps, but just as I agreed to review these Melody Susie contacting me asking me to review their new Pro48W lamp*, and I knew that the two reviews could go hand in hand.  I will do a more thorough review of the Melody Susie lamp at some point but I just wanted to say that I was really impressed. For the price ($109.99) you get a really high quality lamp. As it has three settings it meant that I could set it to the correct curing time for Madam Glam, which is 30s per coat. This is actually quite quick for gels, the majority take 45s or longer. The lamp also has a sensor so that it knows when you have inserted your hand, and how long to keep the light on for, which made the whole swatching process much easier.

Gelish Glow In The Dark Polish + Halloween Nail Art

Hey everyone! I'm so glad it's the weekend. I'll soon be on my way to Sheffield to go pretend I'm a student again for the weekend, and I can't wait! I haven't actually been back since my graduation, so it will be great to be there again. Today I'm showing you my first Halloween nail art of 2016. Each year I struggle to come up with new ideas for Halloween and Christmas. Most of the designs have been done 5 billion times so it's hard to come up with something original. So whilst this isn't a particularly new design idea... it is glow in the dark! Glow in the dark nails are one of my favourite things about Halloween, and so when I saw Gelish were bringing out a glow in the dark polish* this year I jumped at the chance to review it. 

I wasn't really sure what to expect from the polish, I didn't know whether it would be a standalone colour or a topcoat-type polish. It turns out it's more of a topcoat type polish. When applied it looks kind of cloudy, but once cured it goes more see-through. I put two coats over the whole design below, and as you can see in the glow in the dark images, it shows up a lot brighter on the white but it is also still visible on the dark blue. I always feel a bit childish in my love for glow in the dark things, I used to have glow in the dark stars on the ceiling in my bedroom and it always reminds me of that. So glow in the dark nails will always be a win for me, especially when they are gels. I was worried when I first applied it (before curing) as it didn't seem to glow, however curing activated the glow and it was bright enough that I could see them glowing even when not properly in the dark. 

Pink Glitter Roses

Hey everyone! Happy Monday. I'm starting the countdown again for trip away this weekend, which, as I mentioned in my last post, I spent last week counting down for as I thought it was last weekend... oops! At least I know it's definitely this weekend now. Anyway, on to the nails. I find that despite the fact that I have hundreds and hundreds of nail varnishes, I tend to only use the same colours or ones that I have to review, and as a result so many of my polishes don't get used and get forgotten about. It helps now that I have changed from a Helmer to Alex drawers from IKEA, because the drawers are much easier to use and don't feel like they are about to collapse as soon as you open them. Now I don't just keep a collection of polishes on my desk, and I try to use different colours in my drawers now and again, even though my priorities are products I have to review. Recently I saw on Pinterest that an old Barry M review of mine was quite popular, which included the shade Princess, and I remembered that I owned such a gorgeous shade, and I've been wanting to use it ever since. Then I stumbled upon this design on Pinterest and I knew it would be the perfect design to use the polish in. Unfortunately it's no longer available to buy, you could probably find it on eBay but for some reason they chose to stop making it, even though it's stunning! 

All That Jazz - Bridal Gradient

Hey everyone! Aren't you glad it's Friday? This week has seemed go really slow as I waited and waited for the weekend because I believed I was going away. Turns out, I got the dates wrong and it's actually next weekend- doh! Annoyingly my boyfriend has already made plans for the weekend believing me to be away, so I need to find some of my own entertainment this weekend. Some of which I'm sure will involve nails! 

Today's post involves a simple, but elegant, glitter gradient. Because sometimes simple is best and also because when I received the All That Jazz - The Bridal Party Collection* I knew I had to do something fitting of the collection's title with the polishes. A glitter gradient such as this would be perfect for a wedding day. Understated yet elegant, just what you need to accompany a dress. Also what I love about glitter gradients is that anybody can do them, all you need is a make up sponge and some nail polish, and because it's glitter it doesn't need to look neat. Yet despite the simplicity, it's the kind of design that receives multiple compliments, because it always catches your eye. 

Sharpie Watercolour Flowers

Hey everyone! I want to apologise for not being the best blogger at the moment, I have a lot of products building up and I'm definitely feeling the pressure but life has to come first. I've needed to prioritise my life off the internet for the past few weeks, and I still need to, but my blog has always been my escape and I want it to remain that way, so here I am escaping for a little while. I've been finding it hard to find the time to do my nails, let alone blog about them, but I managed to spend the entirety of Saturday doing nails and it feels nice to be able to have some new content to show you. 

Today's nails are kind of a fail, but as I've said before I want to document all my designs, fails or not. I've never tried watercolour nails before, mainly because I didn't think I had the necessary products (what is 'rubbing alcohol' when it's at home?). But then my lovely friend Very Emily informed me that all I need are some Sharpies and some nail cleanser, and I decided to buy a nice huge pack of Sharpies to give it a go (I'll always be a stationary hoarder at heart, so any excuse really). These were so simple to create, I was kind of just playing around and they turned into a design. It was so satisfying to see them turn into little bubbles rather than blobs of colour. And I really loved the design ... until my topcoat smeared it everywhere. I don't know if it's because I used a gel topcoat, or if I should have used nail polish for the centre of the flowers rather than black sharpie? If you've done watercolour nails before let me know where I went wrong. 

Pumpkin Spice - Meebox October Review + Nail Art

Hey everyone! Hope you're all having a good week so far, this is my first 5 day week at work in a few weeks so it's feeling like it's dragging a bit. Today I've got a review of the October Meebox* for you. This is my fourth review of the monthly subscription box, you can see all my previous reviews here. Each month comes with a new theme, and this months theme is Pumpkin Spice*, just in time for Halloween. Each months box costs £20 if you subscribe on a month to month basis, or you can subscribe for 3 months and it costs £18 a month. This might sound like a lot but you get so much value out of a box that it's well worth it. This months box includes:

- Crabtree & Evelyn - Clementine (RRP £6) 

- Lauren B - Nude 01 (RRP £11)

- Leighton Denny - Venus Desire (RRP £12)

- Bundle Monster Giant Stamper & Stamping plate (RRP £12)

With a total value of £41 you're definitely getting a lot for your money. I also like the surprise element of it, and also that there's always at least one nail art look to create out of the products you receive. And, even with an extensive collection such as mine I've only ever encountered one duplicate shade to one I own in a Meebox, which isn't too bad going. This month they were all pretty much new brands to me, except for Leighton Denny. I was also intrigued (and a little intimidated) by the giant stamper from Bundle Monster which I ended up loving once I got the hang of it. I know my stamping skills aren't the best and I don't claim for them to be, but I wanted to give the plate a try nonetheless.

Detailed Gelish Florals

Hey everyone! I'm still in denial that my holiday has come to an end and that it's officially Autumn, as much as I love cozy jumpers, and having an excuse to have the heating on (I'm always cold) I really wish we'd had more of a summer in the UK. But, my holiday isn't quite over until I've shown you my holiday nails, plus my 'nails on tour', so for today's post and tomorrow's post my holiday can live on. 

Whenever I go on holiday I use it as an excuse to wear gels. Because I have to (and like to) change my nails so often, whenever I review gels I usually do so with a peel off basecoat so that I can swatch a few at once without the lengthy removal process. So it's always nice to be able to wear a design for a bit longer, without the risk of them chipping or peeling after a few days. I spent ages choosing a design to do because I wanted them to be a design that I'd want to wear for a while but also look good in my 'nails on tour' pictures. In the end I settled on this design I found on Pinterest. I didn't stick with the colour scheme or the design 100% because I wanted to make it my own but I really loved how it turned out, and I still have them on my nails now, 2 weeks later (although I'm hating how much they have grown out I just haven't had time to take them off). 

Nails on Holiday: Majorca

Hey everyone! As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I have another nails on holiday post for you all today. For those of you who haven't seen my previous posts on this and don't know what I'm talking about, I basically take pictures of my nails in front of things on holiday, you can see all my previous nails on holiday posts here. I really love doing these as they are great for me to look back on as a kind of holiday diary, but they are also great as a way for you all to nosy into my holiday! I do sometimes get funny looks when I'm taking these pictures but it's worth it for the post at the end. If you want to know more about my nails see here for my post yesterday. This is quite a lengthy post so I won't blame you if you don't read it all, but for the nosy readers out there hopefully you'll enjoy it!

This year me and my boyfriend decided to go to Majorca. We decided quite late on that we were going to go on holiday because we thought originally that we couldn't\shouldn't afford it because we've just moved into our first house. However we decided to go anyway because we were both craving for some time away and we spent ages poring over holidays before we finally settled on a hotel in C'an Picafort, Majorca for September. By the 9th we were excited and prepared to fly that weekend, when we received a call that our hotel had overbooked and we would not longer be able to stay there (it turns out that all that time poring over hotels was pretty fruitless). However, they had decided to upgrade us to a hotel in Alcudia instead. We were upgraded from a 4* to a 5*, so we were pretty excited as 5* hotels are very much out of our budget. 

We weren't told much about our room or what to expect from the hotel so we went with pretty average expectations. However, when we arrived we were completely blown away. We were staying in the Viva Zafiro Alcudia and it was absolutely gorgeous. The hotel has recently been revamped so everything is bright, clean and sleek. It was 1am by the time we got to the hotel so we were both pretty tired, but we decided to just have a peek on our balcony to see the view. When we got out onto the balcony I was confused to see some steps leading up toward the roof so I decided to explore, only to find that we had our own rooftop balcony with a jacuzzi! I'm sure for some of you my excitement over that seems silly but I was so happy and to be honest we barely moved from our rooftop sunbeds the whole holiday. We went down to the beach a couple of times and lay by the main pool once or twice but we mainly stayed up there and chilled out which was amazing. This does mean that there isn't a great variety in pictures I'm afraid but hopefully you still enjoy reading. Unfortunately the hotel is a (thousand pounds) out of our price range so we probably won't be able to stay there again as much as we would like to, but if you have the money I would 100% recommend it!