Accessorize Nail Wraps

I've always wanted to try some nail wraps, the early ones seemed to all be of a leopard print design and I've always preferred to paint my own leopard! Now however there are many different designs to choose from and I was quite taken with these floral ones from Accessorize.

They were a total impulse buy at the till. I had been saving them a bit but since it's New Year's weekend I thought I'd give them a whirl.

The instructions were simple, cut to fit, peel off and apply. It suggests using a hairdryer to warm the wrap to make it more pliable. Application was easy, I cut them down to size with some excess which I filed off, I tried a few sans hairdryer but they weren't sticking so I decided to use some heat, however they didn't actually go on very smoothly and each one has a lump or a bump in it. 

Be very careful when filing the excess, the wraps are very soft and will tear if you are too rough, I chipped almost all of them with the nail file.

I chose to apply a topcoat as the wraps themselves were clearly peeling away from my nail and I thought a topcoat would help to adhere them to my nail. This was initially successful however throughout the night and during my bath this morning the topcoat completely peeled off. 

Wear on these is pretty bad. I chipped it within the first half an hour of wear and I was only getting ready for bed! I've had a leisurely day today and they have somehow chipped some more! 

I absolutely love the design and the look of these wraps and although I have no other brand to compare them too I would suggest these were fairly bad quality, cheaply made to jump on the nail art bandwagon. Price wise they were £5 so I'm not too upset that they haven't worked out and there is enough in the pack for two uses on my tiny nails. I would  suggest they are best used for a party or night out as they would never last more than a day or two.

They have whet my appetite for trying a different range, maybe a Nails Inc or Sally Hansen. Have you had any success with nail wraps?

NOTD - Essie Jamaica Me Crazy

Jamaica Me Crazy from Essie is a bright sparkly fuchsia from the Dive Bar collection released in the Autumn. The collection contains some stunning jewel toned shades including this one that caught my eye in John Lewis amongst the cremes and nudes I also love from Essie.

I love the colour, I have nothing like it in my stash, it's a fab Barbie pink!

The polish itself is thin and applies nicely, two coats is perfect. I would recommend a shiny topcoat as despite is glittery-ness in the bottle it falls a smidgen flat once dry on the nail. My fave Nails Inc Kensington Caviar topcoat sorted that out!

Although I love the colour, I wish it was a tiny bit brighter or a bit sparklier and it's neither! I think I'll prefer this colour on my toes with a glitter topcoat.

xoxo

Gingerbread House Party

After I dipped my toes (geddit?!) into my first Lush Bath Melts last week I really wanted to try another from the Christmas ranges. I popped in on Christmas Eve to get a couple more to pamper myself with after a tough day at work and because my feet were killing me!

I bought another Melting Snowman, a Lil' Lish Pud which smells identical to the snowman and the one I really wanted, the Gingerbread House bubble bar.

How cute is it?!

I love the little cinnamon chimney and the snow covered roof with the hundreds and thousands sprinkled all over! The first thing I noticed is that it's a lot softer than the others, I crumbled some of this one into my bath, it didn't need cutting. It smells sweet but not sickly, I can't stand anything with too much vanilla or sweetness in a scent. I can't pinpoint a particular fragrance in it, it's not spicy ginger which is what I was expecting more the sweet smell of a ginger nut biscuit!

It turned my bath water a murky orangey colour but the white bubbles hid that a bit! It left my skin soft but I didn't feel I was moisturised like the Melting Snowman which contains cocoa and shea butter. I suppose I bought this one more for it's looks and it's Christmas nostalgia than it's effects but I really enjoyed it and it was a lovely way to end my Christmas Eve!

xoxo

P.S Slightly gutted to realise they are now in the sale! I could have waited and got more!! Maybe I will!

Festive Fingers!

Merry Christmas!

I just had my Christmas dinner and I'm chilling by the fire for a bit and since we've just had some Christmas pudding I remembered I wanted to show you a manicure from earlier in the week!

I purchased on the of the new Topshop Nail Art pens earlier this week with the intention of doing a wintery snowflake manicure after seeing some amazing nails on The Illustrated Nail, here and on WAH Nails, here. However I thought I try out my new pen with something a bit more fun! Since I was wearing brown anyway I thought I'd try out a little Christmas pud!

I have no idea why my fingers look so pink! I can assure you I didn't have freezing fingers!

I found the pen extremely easy to use with my right hand on my left finger but I was a bit clumsy the other way around! I've never been very ambidextrous! I had to do a couple of coats to get the white opaque and the polish itself was a little chalky, a top coat was most definitely needed.

I have the WAH Nail art pens from Models Own but I've never got on well with the white one. I prefer this style as the nib is much more like a pen making it a lot easier to use, the WAH pens have a metal nib that you can't really control the flow of polish and it can drag on your design. I think I'd still prefer the black WAH pen for leopard print as it looks less uniform.

I still want to have a play around with it but so far I like it! I hope they expand the range and I'd like to try some of the other colours as I've always wanted to do an Aztec design. The pens are £6.50 from Topshop, link!

Have you tried these? What designs have you done?!

xoxo

Forgotten FOTD!

I was just flicking through the pictures on my camera and I came across some pictures from my work Christmas do! I did a quick FOTD on my way out, it was bit of a rush that night as I had been at work during the day and I rushed home to change and wash my hair and of course I ended up being late! 

I purchased the lipstick I'm wearing especially for the evening after a massive craving for a bright, matte red lipstick. Of course I popped along to my favourite of lipstick retailers, MAC! 

I originally wanted to get Lady Danger but I have asked for that for Christmas so I went with a MAC classic, Ruby Woo. After swatching all the red lipsticks in the place I plumped for Ruby Woo as it was the brightest and the MUA had a gorgeous bold matte red lip and I assumed it was this one!

I also purchased a lip liner, something I don't own and have never used before however after I once caught a horrifying reflection of myself once at work when my other red lippie, MAC's Cockney, had bled terribly I have avoided a red lip ever since. The liner that went the best was called Redd and I'm so glad I bought it!

Ruby Woo is a stunning colour however with all the eating and drinking I found it didn't have much staying power, just a couple of hours. I enjoyed wearing it although I have yet to reach for it again since this night out as I still feel very self conscious with a red lip, I feel like my lips are right "out there"!

I think I'm going to wear it for Christmas Day next!

xoxo

A Lush Christmas Bath

I was recently inspired to make a little trip to Lush after seeing lots of videos on their Christmas ranges. I became very jealous of those with the special Christmas carrier bag with the candy cane handles and I wanted to skip away from the shops sporting one of these bags myself!

Now I'm not normally a Lush shopper, I've dabbled but I've never been committed to them. Not really knowing what I was going in for, I picked up and sniffed the first few products I came across and I hit the jackpot straight away!

I picked up this sad fella, the Melting Snowman Bath Melt. He smelt of vanilla and with a hint of marzipan, not normally my kind of fragrance but I was drawn in nonetheless. He has real chocolate chips resting on his melted body and a big chunk of real ginger on his head. 

I used his head for my first bath, it turned my bath milky and I will confess I wasn't a huge fan of the fragrance. 

As it fizzed away in the bath it released coco butter and shea butter to moisturise my skin. I sunk into the bath and really started to enjoy the fragrance and my skin was silky soft when I got out also the warming scent of the butters lasted on my skin and it was noticed that I smelt nice! I will definitely go back to get a couple more of these I really enjoyed this bath melt, I split it into three and have used it all up! The Melting Snowman was £1.95 - Link!

Secondly I picked up this bad boy!

The Satsumo Santa! It's massive! This one smells heavily of citrus but what sold it to me was the assistant told me he was full of essential oils and of course because its a Father Christmas!

I chopped off his head and threw it in the bath I was slightly alarmed to see this...

Not the most relaxing bathroom scene! Fortunately this red mess shortly turned into a lovely pinky orange water,

The orange flower fragrance was strong and pleasant and the bergamot and mandarin oils left my skin soft with a lovely sheen. Overall I didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous one and I'm not sure I'd buy another. The Satsumo Santa Bath Bomb was £2.95 - Link!

I'm very keen to go back this week and try the Gingerbread House Bubble Bar and get a couple of Melting Snowmen. Do you have any recommendations?!

xoxo

In Neon - FOTD

Hiii!

*hangs head in bad blogger shame*

I've been a bit MIA in the blogging and YT community recently, I lost the will a bit but I've definitely got my blogging mojo back and I'd thought I'd start off with a face of the day so you can remember who I am!

So this was yesterdays "face" I went shopping in Cambridge with my Mum for a few Christmas presents we had a fab day and it wasn't nearly as busy as we were expecting, this is the before shot as after we were a little frazzled!

I'm wearing,

♥ Chanel Vita Lumiere Aqua in Beige

♥ MAC MSF Natural in Medium

♥ Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer in Warm Ivory

♥ Benefit Coralista

♥ MAC Fluidline in Avenue

♥ YSL Faux Cils Shoking in Black

♥ MAC Neon Orange Lipstick

The point of this FOTD is to show of the amazing MAC Neon Orange lipstick, I absolutely adore this lipstick! I purchased it on a whim at Stansted on my way to France in October and I wear it whenever I can! I choose not to wear it for work as I like to keep a few of my lippies for days off, it keeps them a bit special! 

Despite the name its barely neon, it is bright however but not all crazy lips! I do like to apply it with a brush as it does just tone it down a little bit also the consistency of the lipstick itself is so soft it's much easier to use a brush.

I am so pleased I bought this lipstick it's in my top 10 lippies! Its a permanent colour so I shall certainly be repurchasing!

xoxo