Favourite Spring/Summer Polishes

L-R Models Own Hedonist £5, Topshop AWOL £5, Barry M Pink Flamingo £2.99, Barry M Neon Pink £2.99, Essie Fiji £7.99, Essie Go Ginza £7.99, OPI Gargantuan Green Grape £7-9 & Topshop Celestial £5

Hi everyone, hope you're all well. Today I wanted to share my favourite spring/summer nail polishes. I was looking back through my old posts and one of my first posts was on colours for autumn/winter so I wanted to continue on with the seasonal polish post. Without further ado, here all my bright and pastel picks for this time of year! :)

First up a couple of bright polishes. Hedonist is a gorgeous red/orange neon shade that's particularly eye catching on the nails, I've done a full review here. Then we have Topshop AWOL. I was trying for a while to track this shade down and it was so worth it. It's a beautiful colbalt blue and as with all Topshop polishes, the formula is great. Then we have a couple of old Barry M favourites, Pink Flamingo which is actually a very pretty coral toned pink and neon pink which is exactly as the name suggests, a bright pink with a slightly blue duochrome to it which looks incredible in the sunshine when the light hits!

Then onto the more pastel shades! First is a cult favourite, Essie Fiji. As much work as this polish takes to get perfect (usually around 3 coats) the colour is definitely worth it. It's so unique and so pretty. Also on the off-white theme we have my latest addition, Essie Go Ginza from their new collection. I actually haven't heard anything about this shade from any bloggers but it is absolutely incredible! It's a slightly off white purple and is so stunning, definitely going to pick up some back ups when this collection goes! Next is OPI Gargantuan Green Grape which I find to be the perfect shade of mint green. The formula is really nice, I do find OPI a bit hit and miss but I have absolutely no gripes with this one. Finally, my all time favourite polish Topshop Celestial. The perfect cornflower blue that actually looks flattering against my pale skin and a nice glossy, long lasting finish.

I'd love to know your favourite spring/summer shades as well as whether your team pastels or team brights. I have to say, I'm totally undecided!

Boots & MAC Haul

I'm back again with more shopping I really didn't need but got anyway! I've tried to justify it by telling myself it was okay because I got my student loan on Monday but actually, it probably isn't justifable, especially seeing how many lipsticks and nail varnishes I already own. I basically couldn't resist picking up a couple of things I'd wanted for a while now that I had a bit of a money and to get some work appropriate lipsticks because starting next week, I have a two week internship at Red Magazine which I'm so, so excited (and nervous) for. Not only do I not really own nude/neutral lipsticks but it also meant I had to get some more fashionable clothing pieces as in all honesty, I'm a comfy casual kind of girl! Anyway, onto what I picked up!

First up was nail varnish. I have to say, I was so excited when I saw that my local Boots had started selling a ton of nail polish brands: Sally Hansen, Sinful Colors, Butter London and more so I really had to narrow my picks down to a couple, even though I ended up buying another two polishes later that day! The Sally Hansen shade I got was in Hidden Treasure, a beautiful lilac greenish duochrome which I cannot wait to use. Then I got the shade Gorgeous from Sinful Colors as I'd originally planned on getting Topshop Eclipse but when I saw this one with a similar effect for £1.99 I had to try it out. Then I went to John Lewis and saw the OPI polish in Which Is Witch and couldn't put it down! I had originally intended on getting this but it's an amazing glitter polish full of holographic pieces of glitter. Finally I got MAC Soiree, a rose goldish polish I'd wanted to ages as I'm obsessed with anything rose gold. 

Next I headed to get lipsticks. From MAC, I got Hue and Patrisserie and let me just say, I cannot believe I'm only just trying these for the first time when I own so many MAC lipsticks! They are both really lovely shades and very wearable nudes, coming from somewhere who really struggles to get nudes to suit them. I've always found they just haven't looked right on me and have shown all the imperfections in my usually dry lips but now they are in better condition thanks to my Maybelline Babylips, they actually look really pretty and will be great for when I'm working. I then couldn't resist picking up three more of the Bourjois Rouge Edition lipsticks because they are my favourites alongside MAC and are just incredible. I now own six and love them all, I got Rose Tweed which is a browny nude, Rose Neon which is a bright but still everyday shade of pink and Rouge Jet Set which is a true red colour. I also got some Tweezerman tweezers as I needed some new ones and thought I'd take the plunge and try them out and a MAC Brow Crayon in Spiked as my current brow eyeshadow has started to look too warm toned for my brows!

Have you tried any of these products? I always love to know people's thoughts on them! :) 

Models Own Fruit Pastel Collection

Hi everyone! I'm currently working my way through a long list of recent purchases I have to review but I know this particular collection was one a lot of you requested to see in action. As you may have seen from my wishlist that I've been eagerly awaiting the release of the Models Own Fruit Pastel collection for a while now, which features five scented colours that I thought would be perfect for spring/summer.

Models Own Fruit Pastel Collection, £5

So first off, the shade range. I have to say, to me these are the perfect five shades to put in a 'pastel' collection, pretty much covering all the colours I would love to wear in these upcoming months. To me, there wasn't one that I thought looked too scary or ugly which wasn't great for my bank balance when it came to buying them! The shade names match the scent of each one; Blueberry Muffin, Apple Pie, Grape Juice, Strawberry Tart and Banana Split. 

I have to firstly confess that the scented element really isn't what I was interested in, I don't often go to smell my nails anyway..? But actually, it is a cute edition to them. However, if this is something that drew you to these polishes it's worth noting that after two days wear, the only ones I can still smell are Blueberry Muffin and Strawberry Tart.

Onto the formula which is where this becomes a little disappointing. These take a lot longer to dry than I'm used to and to get an opaque, non-streaky finish it took three coats. On top of this, they do have a tendancy to bubble even with a good top coat, which was really such a shame. I actually ended up applying them twice as the first time, I had bubbles on every nail which I cannot stand! Wierdly though, the second time round only the yellow and the pink bubbled badly, despite all having the same amount of time between each coat, whilst the other three remained pretty bubbleless.

Overall, I will probably continue to use a couple of the ones that don't bubble but I will probably be passing on a couple too. Banana Split is a really great pastel yellow which is so hard to find so I may persevere but with some of the other shades, I have plenty of similar only with a better formula. If I were to recommend any of these as a better shade/formula, I'd have to say go for Blueberry Muffin, Grape Juice or Apple Pie (though the blue and green were the only scents I really liked!)

Swatches L-R Blueberry Muffin, Strawberry Tart, Banana Split, Grape Juice and Apple Pie

Hope this review helped and please let me know your experiences with them as I'd love to know if it's just me doing something wrong! Also let me know if there's any posts you'd like me to do and I'll add them to my list! :)

My Valentine's Day Inspired Nails

I'm not a massive fan of Valentine's Day myself but I do like to get in the spirit of holidays slightly and this is often done through nail art! I've done these nails before and just think they look so cute, i'm really terrible at anything too fiddly so if you're like me and like easy to do but nice looking nails then look no further!

So like I mentioned before, I don't have the most steady hand hense the slight wobbly heart here and there! However, even if you're the same as me, they are so easy to do! For this nail art, I used Essie's Fiji which as you may have guessed from my post on overhyped beauty products I'm not in love with due to the formula but the colour is beautiful after the required effort, Topshop Helter Skelter which is like MAC Impassioned in a polish and dotting tools which my housemates got me from Ebay!

After painting on three layers of Fiji and letting it fully dry, I then took some of the Topshop polish and dabbed it onto a piece of paper. From that amount, I then dipped the dotting tool into the product and drew on two lines diagonally opposite eachother to create a heart shape. You can do them either to face you or away from you, but I chose to do them so they would face other people for this! Then all there's is to do is add a top coat and you're good to go :)

Hope this was helpful for any amateurs like me and have a lovely day Thursday whatever you're doing!

NOTD: Revlon Plum Seduction

Revlon Plum Seduction £7.99

I figured I hadn't done a nail post in a while and after wearing this colour the last few days I decided now would be the perfect time to review Revlon's Plum Seduction. I haven't had this colour too long after purchasing it on a whim a couple of weeks ago but I absolutely adore it!

To me, this is a great transitional colour from Winter to Spring, a mid-toned purple pink that is perfect for brightening up an outfit without being too in your face. As always with Revlon I find application to be super easy and opaque - this one only taking two coats. It lasted around four days on my nails which is great for me because I try to change my nail polish about twice a week to stop myself getting bored. The finish was also nice and glossy and I'd highly recommend it for any time of year :)

What's your favourite Revlon or transitional nail colour?

Also running my giveaway for reaching 100 followers, one in two chances to win a MAC lipstick of your choice! Click here for the link!

Review: Barry M Pink Silver Polish, Sophisticated Glitter!

Hi everyone! As you can probably tell if you were a follower of mine before my blog has had a total makeover thanks to the lovely Ana @ Peaches and Cream designs. I would highly recommend using her design service if you're looking to revamp your blog, she honestly works wonders! Second thing, if anyone knows of a good, free editing program for photos I would really appreciate it as the lighting in my uni room is atrocious and I want the best quality pictures possible with would probably involve some tweaking! 

That aside, I thought today I would show you what I'd call my sophisticated glitter polish :)

The nail polish in question is Barry M's Pink Silver Glitter. Weirdly enough, I don't think I would have picked out this shade myself. It was actually a Christmas present from my lovely housemates (they know me so well) but after trying it on, it's absolutely beautiful.

As always, the formulation is great. I find Barry M to last longer on my nails than most higher end brands which is great considering they're only £2.99 each! It's lasted around 4 days before chipping and was opaque within two coats on me, even better considering how impatient I get painting my nails which often ends in my trying to multi-task and smudging polish all over myself. Not great!

The shade is perfect for being a neutralish glitter as I'm not often a fan of the really in your face ones, I'm much more of a plain creamy colour kind of girl but for this polish, I can definitely make an exception.

Have you tried this shade? What's your favourite glitter? 

Barry M Collection

As you might be able to tell from my backlog of posts, I love nail polish. I literally can't go a day with nothing on my nails. The biggest collection from a brand I have are Barry M polishes. I find these last really well on my nails with a good top coat and have a beautiful range of colours. There was actually a time I owned every single Barry M polish on the website but cut it down to my favourites when I started realising I never got to wear half of them!
They are definitely my favourite forumlation and great for the price (usually between £2.99-£3.99 but on offers a lot). With that being said, here's my collection...

From L-R

Raspberry - as the same suggests this is a raspberry red colour with pink undertones.

Red Glitter - again, as the name says this is a red glitter polish. This is definitely a christmas shade for me and I pretty much wear this every year around the festive period.

Burgundy - I never really see this shade spoken about but it's a dark purpley red shade with sheen to it. It's really a lovely shade, it definitely deserves more recognition.

Coral - I'd say this is more an orange red shade than a coral but one of my favourites, it's a go to colour when I don't know what colour I want to wear.

Racing Green - Another amazing shade that is never spoken about, a beautiful emerald green I think would look amazing on any skin tone

Navy - This colour goes with anything, a navy with a shimmer running through it

Berry Ice Cream - This is from their pastel range so the name 'berry' may be a little misleading. This colour is a definite favourite for me alongside Topshop Celestial, a light lilacy shade that is especially perfect in the summer.

Boots LE - I don't know if 'boots' is the name of this but it's all it says underneath! I really like this one because I like purple nails a lot, and this one is bright with a pinky tone to it which is really flattering.

Vivid Purple - I spoke about this shade as well as Racing Green and Navy here, this is a deep shimmery plumish purple, great for this time of year

Pink Flamingo - This is my favourite pink polish because it is more of a light coral colour, it really stands out

Neon Pink - speaking of shades that stand out, this colour is lovely! I use this most on a night out because it's such a shocking neon shade with blue reflects when it hits the light, I really recommend this if your looking for a really bright colour.

Silver Pink - This a new one for me (thanks housemates!) and as the name suggests it's a pinky silver glitter. I've only used this once but I love it for an accent nail with a neutral colour.

Gold LE - Again, this annoyingly has no shade name. It's a gold glitter that sort of looks like shimmery foil on the names. It comes free when you spend £6 in Boots at the moment so worth picking some up for the freebie.

Charmeleon - This is the silver/purple one. It's great for doing some simple nail art because you get a different colour when you apply top coat. The only problem I find is I like to wear top coat all over the nail to stop it from chipping so I'm not totally sold on this one yet

Matte White - I have this shade for one reason and one reason alone, which is that my housemates bought me some dotting tools so I really needed a white shade so I can have polka dot nails. I am yet to test this but expect to see a nail post if it goes right!

Phew! Sorry for all the rambling but I hope this was helpful for anyone looking into getting more/some Barry M polishes. What are your favourite shades?

OPI Gargantuan Green Grape

After the positive feedback on my previous nail posts I thought today I'd write about my favourite mint green polish, Gargantuan Green Grape by OPI! I realise this may seem a bit inappropriate for this time of year, but I'm not one of those people who restricts myself to dark colours in the colder months, am I the only one who doesn't?! Anyway, onto the review..

I only bought this nail polish a couple of weeks ago whilst waiting for my flight to Dublin. Gatwick Airport was the worst temptation, it's full of such lovely brands and there's so many counters! Anyway, I've wanted this shade for ages after seeing it on Ingrid (MissGlamorazzi on Youtube), but never bought it online because I was convinced that mint greens don't go well with my skintone. Again, I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a lovely colour in the bottle and on the nails.

(Please excuse my cuticles, I'd run out of cream for them!)

This shade only took a couple of coats until it was opaque, which was great. As much as everybody raves about OPI, I often find they can be a bit hit and miss. I seem to unintentionally choose shades that are either very sheer, chip easily or streak a lot and sometimes all three but I can report that this one does not do any of these things and is in fact a great formulation. It lasted around 4 days on my nails which is always good and if you're looking for a mint green or a new OPI polish I would highly recommend this one!

Review: Topshop Celestial - the most beautiful nail polish ever?

Topshop Celestial may just be my all time favourite nail polish. When I first set eyes upon Celestial, I was sure it would be another blue shade far too bright for my pale skin, especially since I've never found a blue that looks nice. However, I was ecstatic to discover that this one is absolutely perfect! A cornflower blue, this is not as harsh as some brighter shades due to the purpley undertone and stands out in the right way.

I've also found the application and finish of Topshop nail polishes to be really great. This particular shade only takes 2 coats to be opaque and leaves a lovely shine to the nails. It lasts around 4 days on my nails (this picture being taken on day 4, hence the slight chip on my thumb!) which I think is a great wear time and at £5, it is definitely worth trying out for yourself! 

Which Topshop polishes do you love? :)

Favourite A/W Nail Polishes!

First of all please excuse some of my swatches looking a little sloppy, I didn't intend to have it look this way but it was the result of late night nail painting and I didn't realise until after I'd taken the photos!
That aside, I thought today I would share with you some of my favourite autumn/winter nail varnishes. 

From Left to Right - OPI 'I'm Not Really A Waitress', Barry M 'Racing Green', Barry M 'Navy', Revlon 'Bewitching' and Barry M 'Vivid Purple'.

Firstly, OPI's 'I'm Not Really A Waitress' is one of their best selling shades and for good reason. It's a true red with shimmers running through it, making it the perfect seasonal colour.

As you can see, I'm a huge fan of Barry M nail varnishes and I honestly think they are one of the best forumla's out there. Due to the quality and price, I have more Barry M then any other brand and believe they bring out some lovely, bold shades. I really don't hear enough about the shade 'Racing Green', it is so underrated! It is a shimmery emerald green and I really believe it would look amazing on any skintone.

Barry M 'Navy' is exactly what it says on the bottle. A true, dark navy shade with shimmer running through it. This is one of those shades that can go with any outfit and I use this shade a lot in the colder months!

Next up is Revlon's 'Bewitching'. This shade is everything I wanted Barry M's 'Raspberry' to be on me! It's a dark raspberry red shade that really compliments my pale skintone, it is true to the colour it is in the bottle unlike Raspberry which was far darker on my nails - though I know not everyone has this problem!

Finally, is a well known Barry M shade 'Vivid Purple'. Like the other Barry M shades I have spoken about, it has a fine shimmer running through it and shows up true to colour as a dark plummy purple shade.

What are your favourite shades for the cooler months? Do you like these shades also? :)

Katherine xo