A 99p manicure! (Otherwise known as rainbow coloured, star spangled nails!)

A new retail complex opened last week, about a ten minutes walk away from my home. It was a nice day, so me and Mr Claw decided to talk baby Claw for a stroll up there. The retail park featured a new behemoth Tesco Extra, which I had hoped would have some unusual, Tesco exclusive nail varnishes. No such luck, as all the Tesco own brand nail varnishes were boring, predictable colours.

As we were leaving, I quickly nipped into the 99p store, in search of exotic foreign toiletries that aren't stocked in Boots or Superdrug. (Y'know the ones that kinda look familiar, but are either a different scent from your usual shower gel, or are in a completely different language, bar the brand name?) However, that is when I stumbled across this little kit:-

So, in this kit is a nail file, cuticle stick, some nail glue and six vials of little holographic stars. The pink tube has hearts, not stars. What I liked is that the stars are different shapes, as you will see in a second. I loved the colour of these, and in my mind, there was one particular varnish collection that I had to try these out on:

Left to Right: Apricot Punch, Peppermint, Show Off, Ultra Violet, Aqua Cool. (All varnishes are Rimmel London)



Last summer, Rimmel London brought out these four Lycra Pro Summer colours. These are bright, sherbet colours, and they instantly caught my eye last year, so I was glad for an opportunity to finally swatch them. I just needed another colour for my thumb, and picked the I <3 Lasting Finish Fruities in Apricot Punch, a colour which I felt co-ordinated well with the other four colours. Here is my creation:

Sooo pretty! Have a look at those holo stars!! Luckily, there was a corresponding star colur to each nail varnish! Here are close up shots of the nails with the bottles, so you can have a better look at the colours.

I <3 Lasting Finish Fruities in Apricot Punch. A lovely warm apricot creme. I love how holo the stars look here! The varnish applied well, this is three coats. When dry, the varnish smells faintly of apricots, not a horrible chemical smell, which a lot of perfumed nail varnises can (more of that in my next post!) The smell does eventually fade away, and is gone by the time top coat is applied. The brush on this varnish is fine, and and as I said, the varnish applies well, but definately needs the third coat to reach full opacity.

Lycra Pro in Spearmint. The Lycra Pro nail varnishes have a wide, flat brush that is super easy to use. The formula on these was superb! I have worn these in the past, and can confirm that they last for days. I seriously love these varnishes. On my nail is three coats. You can get away with two, but I did a third coat to act as an adhesive for the stars. I used this technique on all the subsequent nails. Spearmint is a lovely cool mint creme. Beautiful.

Lycra Pro in Ultra Violet. A lovely soft purple creme. I don't mind sharing with you that this was the varnish I was wearing at the time I went into labour! 41 hours laterand it was still perfect. My midwife even commented on how lovely it was....



Lycra Pro in Aqua Cool. A cool, aqua blue. Pretty much what it says on the tin.

Lycra Pro in Show Off. A medium bright pink creme. I don't normall fly for pink nail varnishes, but I LOVE this shade. It just complemets the other colours so well.

So what do you think of this manicure? Not nail art per se, but when it looks this good, why worry? I always believe you can create great nail looks using stickers, decals, rhinestones, sequins... the list is endless. Plus this manicure is great for the not so steady handed!

After this, I am mega tempted to try more Rimmel Lycra Pro nail varnishes. They really are easy to use, and from what I've seen, there's lots of different colours to pick from. I also can't wait to use the little holo hearts that came in my 99p pack. Can you think of any polish that would go well with these?

My Nail of the Day: OPI Pros and Bronze layered over OPI Chop-Sticking To My Story!

I recently purchased quite a haul from the Lena White online sale. One  of the polishes I purchased was Chop-Sticking To My Story. It was described as a caramel colour online, but in reality it was much more brown than I was expecting. So, I decided to jazz it up a bit, and add another OPI shade called Pros and Bronze as a topcoat. The orange tones in Chop-Sticking, really made the duochrome in Pros and Bronze stand out. My nails ended up looking like sweetie wrappers- kinda like Quality Street. Yum. I have tried my best to capture the duochrome quality from this polish. Have a look:

Mmm, yes! Just look at that colour! Red, orange and a touch of gold in there. Theylook like little flames of fire. Simply gorgeous. :) Have you had a great weekend, everyone?

MUA and Love Hearts Collaboration Swatches and Review

I have finally got round to swatching all six of the MUA Love Hearts Nail Varnishes! Feast your eyes on these little lovelies:-

The six varnishes.

I Want U (Orange Shade)

U & I (Yellow Shade)

I <3 U

U & I. This shade surprised me, as it looks very soft and pastel in the bottle. In reality it is more of a bright sherbet shade. Still nice though, as it's not often you see a good yellow colour in spring collections. This makes me think of Easter- fluffy chicks and the like :)

I Want U. Again, this surprised me as it looks softer in the bottle. This is a nice bright orange creme lacquer, without being borderline neon. Cheerful.

I <3 U. A dusty pink creme. I would say that this has a touch of lilac in, as it does not seem a true pink. A beautiful colour, that soothed my eyes after the two bright shades above!

Love U 24/7 (Purple Shade)

U Rok (Blue Shade)

U R Fab (Sorry for the dry cuticle situation- it's being resolved this evening!)

U Rok. A deep cornflower blue creme.

Love U 24/7. This looks really lilac in the photo, but in reality, its much more of a deeper purple. I think the picture above is a bit more true to life.

U R Fab. A plummy magenta colour. This and I <3 U are the two more reserved colours of the collection.

The application of these was a bit of a mixed bag. U Rok and Love U 24/7 bubbled upon application, you can see this on my pinky finger in the pictures. I had to redo a few nails in these colours. You need to take your time with these two, do thin coats and let them dry well in between coats. Doing a thin coat, however was impossible with the brush in these varnishes (all six of them.) Seriously, the brush is not the best. The bristles splayed everyhere, and were scratchy and left lines in the varnish on the nail. My brush on U & I even broke :( Sad times.

That said, once on, these colours are beautiful. I kinda see the collection as three sets of two, the orange and yellow are the brights, the dusty pink and the magenta are the more refined colours, and the purple and blue are the sherbet colours. That said, as a collection, they all work well together.

These lasted well too, which surprised me given their price point of £2. They only started to chip after a couple of days, which to me, is pretty good going. I think if I reapplied my top coat every day, I would have got a bit more wear out of them.

After trying these, I will definately be trying more MUA nail varnishes- for only £1, what's the worst that can happen?

Did you all have a fun Valentine's Day?

The Mascara Wars #2 Maybelline Volum' Express The Colossal Cat's Eyes

Hello and welcome to the second installment of Mascara Wars! This week I have tried Maybelline's The Colossal Cat's Eyes Mascara. I have always heard good things about Maybelline's mascaras, but have not tried one in absolutely YEARS. (Not since Great Lash, in fact.)

So, when I saw Cat's Eyes on offer on at Superdrug I thought, why not?

Nice bright packaging- easily spotted in a busy make up bag!

A curved spoon brush. I saw on the Maybelline stand that this is very similar to the curved brush on the Falsies mascara, just a bit thinner, and not so densely packed with bristles.

So, as in my previous and all subsequent Mascara Wars trials, here are my uncurled lashes.

And, with one coat of Cat's Eyes Mascara

Pretty nice, huh? And, toshow how well this mascara builds up, below is a pic of two coats.

I'd say this definately needs two coats to get the full lengthening qualities of the mascara.

Now, here is the same test, but on curled eyelashes. Here is a pic of my natural, curled eyelashes.

And, with one coat of Cat's Eyes Mascara

And here's two coats

Nicely separated, defined and lengthened lashes.

So what did you think judging by the pictures? I must admit, I really enjoyed using this mascara. The thin brush made it very easy to coat my lashes, and moreover, to comb through them without any clumping or excessive build up on the lashes. I'd say this mascara gave great length and definition to my lashes, but didn't any volume so much. I wonder how this mascara would work if I used it in conjunction with a thickening, volumizing mascara? Mmm. In addition, I'm pretty sure that this mascara did a better job on my uncurled lashes! Looking at the photos, what do you think?

The brush is definately the part I like the most about this mascara, and the bright packaging really stood out in my overflowing make up bag (which can resemble a black hole at times). There is nothing I that particularly disliked about this mascara, although I would say that if it's thickness or a 'false lash' effect that you're after, I'd maybe pass this one by and go for something like the Falsies instead. (Which I'm yet to try, but I hear is awesome. Will have to review it soon!)

Hope you've all had a fab weekend! 

Make Up Too Beautiful To Use (or, Pretty Pieces of Cosmetic Art to Treasure Forever!)

Remember how yesterday I mentioned make up that I have in my beauty collection that I NEVER use, but occasionally take out and covet lovingly? Well, I decided to share some pieces with you here. Enjoy.

MAC Wonder Woman Quad Pallette in Defiant

Paul and Joe Alice in Wonderland Set

The tin, open.

So, inside there is a lip conditioning stick, a case with blotting papers, and a refill of blotting papers.

Peach Lip Conditioning Stick

And here's the pink Paul and Joe Alice in Wonderland tin.

I'm late!

I absolutely love the cards!

Pink Lip Conditioning Stick

And, as a special treat for you readers, I have pulled out some of the blotting papers for you to see.

Look at the beautiful patterns on the papers! These are pictured next to the reverse side of the blotting papers case.

The Dormouse!

Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows

Alice

The Pallette itself is in the drawer that pulls out.

Look at those colours!

So, can you tell what my favourite story of all time is? 2010 was a great year full of Alice in Wonderland collectibles to coincide with the Disney remake of the story. I don't mind sharing with you that me and el boyfriend were considering calling our little daughter Alice, but in the end, plumped for different name. :)

So, there's my stash. Do you have any make up items that you never use, but sometimes pull out just to have a look at?