Review of 'Barry M Silk Collection' in 'Heather'

Hi everyone! We slowly easing our way out of winter which means it's nearly spring time meaning new spring collections are being released! Barry M have released their spring collection in the form of these new 'Silk' nail varnishes in 6 different colours. I picked up the colour Heather for £3.99 as I thought out of the 6 it was the one I'd be most likely to wear. It's sort of a lilac colour infused with pink and it's definitely not as dark as the colour I'd associate heather with is.

I don't really feel that this silk trend is a new thing as I remember the kids kind of nail varnishes used to have a similar look and to be honest I never really liked it because I always felt the brush strokes were really visible. However, I did discover that this drys matte which is something I don't remember my old ones doing which is why I wanted to give it a go.

I used my Sally Hansen base coat first which dried super fast; always a plus with nail varnishes!

I then applied the first coat of colour. It wasn't too streaky like I remember my old ones being and if I was in a rush I think it looked actually okay with just one coat of colour. It drys really quickly and once it was dry it sort of reminded me slightly of my holographic one from Topshop. It also seemed to have a sweeter scent to normal nail varnishes when I was applying it but it still dried with no scent!

I applied a second coat even though one probably could've been enough but I had the time! I found it was better to kind of dab it on or just apply a thicker coat because it eliminates any sign of brush strokes.

Originally I didn't apply a top coat because I thought it would ruin the matte look but I did test a top coat out on one nail and it didn't actually look too bad. I don't think I'll put it on the rest though as the matte finish is what I think makes this nail varnish original.

Personally it's not my favourite kind of nail varnish because I'm not too keen on matte finishes and it just reminded me of something a small child would wear on their nails when they had first been allowed to paint them. But despite of that the nail varnish it's self is just like all the others from Barry M in quality so if you like that style I'd recommend you go check it out! Let me know if you've tried any others from the collection and which is your favourite, thanks for reading!

Review of 'Rimmel London I Love Lasting Finish Fruities' in 'Strawberry Fizz'

Hi everyone! I was scanning through my nail varnish collection and this caught my eye as I don't think I've worn it before. It's not really a colour I wear so I was surprised I had bought it but then after reading the back I realised it was a scented one! (Which is what I imagine compelled me to buy it). You can pick them up pretty much anywhere as they've been around for a while now for £2.99.

It's a very Barbie Pink kind of colour so I'm not really sure why it is named ' Strawberry Fizz' as I don't think I've ever seen a strawberry that colour!

I used my Barry M base coat as usual, to make sure my nails were protected.

Then, I applied the first coat of colour. I have to say I didn't really notice the scent at first but after it had been drying for a little bit it was quite noticeable. However, I would not have said it smelled very life like, it was a very sweet sickly strawberry scent sort of similar to those scented fruit balls you can get. It did go on very smoothly though just like the other Rimmel nail varnishes I own which was a great plus although it was a little streaky.

After applying a second coat the smell got a little bit stronger but you did have to sniff the nails quite hard to get a whiff. 

I only applied a top coat onto one of my hands as an experiment to see if it masked the smell. By the next morning the scent had definitely faded more on the nails with a top coat which wasn't really a surprise! However, by the day after your could no longer smell anything from nails without the top coat on either! They did manage not to chip a huge amount though which I was pretty impressed by as I've been doing my DT coursework all week which has included gluing and sanding of wood and plastic and by the end of the week they still looked somewhat acceptable!

I wouldn't really recommend you buy it if it's the scent you are after because it doesn't stay around long and is very artificial - although I did read that some of the others in the range have a longer lasting scent. Personally, I don't really like this colour as Barbie pink doesn't really suit me, but the fact that they stayed on so well was a huge bonus! Let me know if you've tried scented nail varnish before and how it turned out for you! Thanks for reading!

Manicure - Beauty For Everyone

Hi everyone! So I am heading back to school (well technically sixth form) and I thought I would treat myself to a little manicure, so my nails would make a good impression! My friend had given me a manicure voucher for my birthday and I just hadn't got around to using it yet so this seemed like the perfect opportunity! I think I've had a manicure once before (?) and I've had a few pedicures, but they have all been when I have been staying with my aunt up in London so I had never been to this place.

It's called Beauty For Everyone (their website) and is based in Chippenham. When I walked in the first thing I noticed was the adorable interior design. It's very vintagey, which in my opinion gave it such a welcoming and homely feel to the place.

Photograph from Beauty For Everyone Website

I think the lady that did my manicure was called Lauren (I've got a bit of a short term memory so sorry if that's wrong!) and she was absolutely lovely and she had amazingly long eyelashes which I was very jealous of as I'm burdened with having short stubby lashes!

I chose a lovely shimmery purple pink colour which was a China Glaze one but I have absolutely no idea what the exact colour was and completely forgot to ask! Amazingly I've had it for 4 days now and they've barely chipped which is great as I won't need to paint them again for another week! Annoyingly I smudged my pinky nail a little bit as I went into town to pick up some things straight after, but it's not awfully smudged!

If you live in Chippenham or the surrounding area, I would recommend you check them out! They are a little bit expensive in comparison to other beauty salons in the area but are always doing great offers so keep an eye on their Facebook page and you might get a great deal!

Let me know if you ever get your nails done professionally or if you just do them yourself? Thanks for reading! (:

Review of MUA Lipsticks

Hi everyone! Until about 3 months ago I'd never heard of  the brand MUA. That was until my sister came home raving about an eyeshadow pallet she had just bought. It's basically a brand that is only available Superdrug or online and it is so incredibly cheap but the amazing thing is although the price is low the quality of the products isn't (or at least the ones I've heard about)!

As you may know I don't really wear much makeup - a little concealer and a dab of mascara and I'm good to go! But I've been feeling a bit facial/cosmetically boring lately so I thought I would buy some lipsticks to spice things up so I went to have a look at MUA in my local Superdrug and saw the lipsticks were only £1!!!

The packaging isn't anything fancy, but then again, neither are some other high end lipsticks such as some of MACs lipsticks. I quite like the simple black tube with a silver ring as a break in the middle as it I think it looks quite elegany. I absolutely love that you can take off the little pot on the bottom of the tube and use it with a brush when your lipstick runs out! I thought this was a brilliant idea as it gives you some time if you run out and can't get to buy another one straight away.

The first shade I picked up was 'Shade 1' which is a very deep wine red. I've especially seen Zoella wearing a dark shade of red on her lips in her recent videos and it looks really nice on her so thought I would give it a go!

It's really nice to apply, the colour goes straight onto your lips and your lips feel sort of moisturised rather than the sticky feel some lipsticks have.

I think it's a little dark for me personally as I'm pretty pale and it just makes me look paler but that might just be because I'm not used to wearing anything like this.Maybe if I wore a little more face make up, like foundation, it might look better?

The second one I picked up was 'Shade 14' which also has the name 'Bare' on the label. It's a nude colour that looks amazing on.

This one looks the best on in my opinion and it really moisturises your lips at the same time!

This was my favourite one out of the 4 as I am happy to wear it out as it isn't too bold. I've worn it quite a few times now and I think it looks gorgeous!

The next one I picked up 'Shade 13' which is a much brighter red than previously and more of the classic red you see lots of people wearing.

This one was similar in application to the dark red; it went on smoothly and felt really good on my lips.

I love the colour but as I'm just starting out wearing lipsticks I think it might be a little too bright for me at the moment as I'm still not 100% comfortable wearing lipstick out. Fingers crossed that will change!

The final shade I picked up was 'Shade 2' which is a sort of bright pink colour which I found matched my hair when I dip dyed it for the second time.

Again it's really nice to apply. I felt this one more so than the first seemed a bit cakey but once I had blended it with my finger it was good to go!

I really like it as it's something different from the classic red and the simple nude colours but I'm not sure many occasions have arisen where this colour matched with my outfit but hopefully I'll find something soon!

I really like all of the MUA lipsticks I have tried and for a £1 it's an absolute bargain! I would wholeheartedly recommend you having a look at the lipsticks MUA has to offer as they've got quite a broad selection for you to choose from if you didn't particularly like the colours I picked up. I know I will be going back in and picking up a couple more in different shades.

Let me know if you've tried anything from MUA and what you thought about. Thanks for reading!

Review of 'MUA Nail Constellation' in 'Pisces'

Hi everyone! So as you know I normally just do plain nail varnish reviews but I thought I would try something different! I'm also thinking of doing some patterned nail tutorials and things like that in the future, if you are interested in that?

This isn't mine by the way, it's actually my sisters and she kindly let me borrow it so I could try it out. I believe you can buy them at £3 from MUA which is a brand you can only find online or in Superdrug and I'd not heard of this brand until pretty recently but they basically do super cheap make up and from what I've heard most of it is actually pretty good!

So I am using the colour Pisces (which is actually my star sign) but I think I am right in saying there are 4 other ones in a variety of colours. This one is mainly green with bits of pearly pink and white infused into the mixture.

I have already painted my nails with a colour I found to match the green balls best which I got from the NYC and you can read a review of that HERE . I didn't have any that matched the pearl or white but I think it would have looked more effective if I had been able to use a pearl colour as my base.

So what you have to do is paint your desired nail with your base colour and whilst it is still wet and tacky pour the small balls onto you nail. This can be a bit messy so make sure you have something underneath to catch the mass of stay ones! Once your nail looks fully covered gently push the balls down onto your nail and then apply a clear top coat on top to secure them.

My whole nail is covered! Honest! It's just that the green balls blend in the my base colour

I only chose to do one nail thus acting as an accent nail because I had never tried anything like this and thought it might be a little bit too much if I did all my nails like this!

Although the bottle is very well designed to pouring the balls out it is a bit tricky getting them back in. For some reason I couldn't remove the funnel part of the bottle as you are supposed to do so I have to try and pour the stray balls back through the tiny hole they came out of! I managed to get there in the end but it was a bit annoying.I'm sure by removing the funnel it is a lot easier to pour the balls back in but I was just unable to do so.

Excess balls 

I quite like the overall effect although I did find it strange to have things sticking out of my nail! Considering the price of £3 I would recommend this as it is a great way to jazz up your nails although personally I would try a different colour out as I don't think this one was right for me!

Let me know if what you do to spice up your nails and also if you would be interested in me doing some tutorial/nail pattern design things in the future! Thanks for reading.

Quick Update: My Hair

Hi everyone! So I know it wasn't that long ago since I dipped dyed my hair pink, but after 2 weeks in Europe where I wasn't able to care for it with colour protection products it was pretty faded, so I've re done it (or rather my sister re did it for me!) but this time purple!

I used the Schwarzkopf Live Colour XXL in 94 Pink Purple but it is only supposed to last 6-8 washes so we will have to see about that! When we were doing it the tube looked pretty small but I ended up not even using half of it so if it does wash out in 6 washes I can do it again.

I'm not sure what colour I expected my hair to turn when I decided I wanted it purple and bought the dye as my hair is pretty much the colour on the box but it looks really pretty, but it's just not the shade of purple I had envisioned when I imagined doing it purple but it wasn't what I got. Don't get me wrong though - I'm really happy how it turned out and I think it looks better/me more than the pink did.

Also another thing that's happended with my hair that didn't go at all to plan is well... this! I cut a little bit!

I had a braid in my hair that I did in Europe, but the day after I came back I had a job interview and the braid was looking a bit tacky so I tried to take it out. Then I got tired and it wasn't coming out so I made the stupid decision to cut it out. I thought because it was at the back and bottom of my hair, no one would notice it, and no one did... until I put it in a pony tail! I forgot that cutting it would make it too short to tie up so now I'm left with that little stumpy bit of hair. I think low side pony tails will be the way forward until it grows back a bit.

And also it's so obvious in the photo how different my hair colour is! It's not that noticable normally but I think with the flash on it really picks out the red in my hair from where I dyed it. The brown underneath is my natural colour although it never really was that brown as it lightened like highlights in the sun!

Thanks for reading (:

Review of 'Holographic Nails Topshop' in 'Wistful'

Hi everyone! I have never actually tried any of the range of cosmetics that Topshop has to offer and thinking about it I don't think I have ever bought any clothes from there either?! But I was given a gift card from the family I  babysat for almost every day after school for nearly a year, as they are moving away and this was sort of a thank you present!

So I went into the Topshop in Bath and had a little look at the clothe,s but the store isn't really that big and nothing exactly caught my eye until I went over to the nail varnishes. A few of my friends and lots of other peoples blogs I read love the nail varnishes from Topshop and I have to say there is a huge selection! Instead of getting a plain colour (although there were some gorgeous colours) I thought I would be a little adventurous and I got this holographic one!

It is £6 and it is really different to other nail varnishes I have seen in Boots and Superdrug and I have never tried anything like it before! They also had a bluey one and a sliver one but as I wear a lot of flowery clothes I thought I would get the pink!

So I applied my base coat from Barry M. Please excuse the state of my nails but they got completely ruined whilst I was travelling around Europe as I didn't really take time to take care of them as I was just having so much fun!

I then applied the first coat of colour. I needed to apply it quite thickly in comparison to what I normally do as it dried quite quickly so when I went I tried to spread out the nail varnish across my nail it just sort of made it really uneven and gloopy if that makes any sense! But once I got that sorted it was all good!

I felt it needed a second coat as in some places it seemed sort of opaque. But the effect was there are after one coat and I actually was surprised how much I liked it! It is very shimmery and does look like those hologram stickers that I always seemed to have when I was younger. I did think it felt slightly odd when I ran my finger over the nail as it wasn't smooth like my other nail varnishes.

I then put a top coat over the top and I was worried that it would ruin the effect but it didn't do anything like that - it just gave it a nice gloss over the top and it made it feel a lot better when I felt it! I also cleaned up an bits of rogue nail varnishes that had crept onto my skin and all done!

I actually really like this nail varnish because the effect it one I haven't seen before and it looks really nice! I don't know if it is the same with all the nail varnishes but I found it dried really quickly which is a huge plus to any nail varnish for me!

Let me know if you've tried any of the other colours from Topshop and if you like the hologram effect? Thanks for reading!