JUST LOOK AT THE PRETTY*



*slightly sarcastic, I am aware that my cuticles are minging. The dry, unforgiving winter air decided to vacuum every last drop of moisture out of my already Gobi-esque hands. Thanks winter. I really appreciate it.

This is the free Nails Inc polish, 'Basil Street', that Glamour magazine were giving away, over which a layer of Kiko nail polish is applied. I quite like the 'flaky' effect that this one gives, and I don't own any other top coats like it, so I consider it a good buy.



As always, the Kiko polish had an impeccable formula and this manicure lasted for about four days without chips, which is a big thing for me as my nails are quite chip prone :/ Basil Street took about three coats to get to the level of opacity that I really like, but two are more than sufficient for most others.



I decided to go classier this year and stick to a nude polish. The Kiko topcoat creates a sort of shimmering effect, almost like rain or snowflakes. Christmassy enough? Probably not. I didn't really put any effort in *hangs head*.

Wishing all blog readers a really happy Christmas!

 Similar to my Summer Nail Trends post, I selected a few (well, eleven) shades from my collection that I felt best represented what the early autumn landscape looks like, nail wise. Though I've been rather out of the loop, blogging wise, I kept up with reading my favourite blogs and from these, I formed an idea of what the current trends are (going to be? I don't know. I'm probably totally wrong, lol).



Yes, I photographed these over my Physics textbook, for I am a hardcore nerd.



Companies seem to be bringing out the foiled, irridescent colour shifting polishes at the moment in gorgeous antique colours (I'm seeing lots of old golds and greens) such as the Model's Own Beetlejuice collection (sourced from Vampy Varnish)...the Inheritance fan in me hopes that this is a sort of nail polish celebration of the release of the last in the series but somehow I really doubt that. What? The strong duochromes remind me of dragon scales, OK?

Geekery aside, the other new fad seems to be magnetic nail varnish, which I think is lining up to replace the mighty crackle. The colours of the polishes again fit the model of the 'autumn trend' - that is, they're darker and shimmery, but I'm wondering if it's going to catch on like the crackle trend simply because including a magnet with your nail polish is going to make it more expensive, and there isn't really a way to get past that. While the cheapest crackle polishes retail for about £6, you can buy a crackle for £1.99 from W7, or just a pound more from the MUA Pro range.

Finally, I've seen loads of lilac around recently. This may just be where I live, but pastel lilac nails seem to be really popular over here...so I bought two new ones, one from No7 and one from MUA, so I could be a sheep and take part in this new and fascinating obsession with the lilac colour. *shrugs* Purple in general seems to be a huge thing at the moment, both in clothes and in cosmetics. Perhaps it's something to do with the recession? Isn't purple linked to royalty? Maybe there's some sort of subconscious thing going on there.

Onto the photographs...


Right hand (from left to right):
Nails Inc 'Lowndes Square'
MUA Shade '23'
No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour in 'Vivid Violet' (I think. I 'borrowed' this one off my Mum to swatch, and she's asleep as I'm writing this post so I can't sneak into her room and double check!)
Funky Fingers 'Snakeskin'
Barry M 'Dusky Mauve'

I'm fully aware the Dusky Mauve phase has gone and passed, OK? But I included it as an example of a subtler colour shift. I do think the neutrals/mannequin hands trend is slowly passing right now, very few brands have included neutral colours in their line up.




Left hand (from left to right):
American Apparel 'Passport Blue'
No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour in 'Lucky Lilac'
Barry M Nail Paint in 'Indigo'
No7 Speed Dry Nail Colour in 'Beautifully Black'
Kiko Makeup Milano '262'

Bonus polish, for sitting through all of that so nicely:


A gorgeously sparkling Kiko topcoat, to help add that bright, otherworldly look to the polishes in your collection - cheaper than buying loads more soley for the sake of the trend, in all honesty. I'm really up for buying all of that Beetlejuice collection, personally, but for now I'll make do with this to paint over my darker nail colours. It's beautiful in it's own right, really. I don't have nearly enough coloured/glittery topcoats.








Thoughts on the trends for Autumn? Do you like them, or are you staying away? If you do like them, which companies do you feel interpreted them best? I personally want to say Models Own, but 17 have really stepped up their game with their releases recently (I'm thinking about the BB Cream as well, even though the shade range is pants) so perhaps they deserve the crown.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure I got my hands mixed up and left is right and vice versa. I get so confused with these things, sorry!

The NPLQ is the qualification you need to lifeguard in a pool in the UK, and it's a week long course that I've just completed. Basically, they teach you how to save someone in the water, CPR, First Aid and all the sorts of things you'd need to know to do your job effectively. And we were in the water for hourssss each day (OK, perhaps not 9 and a 1/2. But a LONG TIME.) Naturally, I couldn't NOT wear makeup where other people were around...but I had to improvise.

Behold:



We have an Active Cosmetics Eye/Lip palette, a Barry M 3 in 1 (supposedly) Nail Strenghthener, Base Coat and Top Coat, an MUA nail polish in 'Shade 9', a NYC top coat, an Urban Decay 'Zero' eyeliner and an MUA Pro twist up eyeliner. Apologies for the somewhat natural background, as we've moved house I'm yet to find another suitably brightly lit, flat white surface to photograph products on. Until I construct a light box (or miraculously locate such a surface) photos will be taken outside...



The soft texture of the MUA pencil makes it easy to blend, which is why I use it primarily for filling in my eyebrows. It's not the blackest black, which means that I can overapply a little and I don't look scary/angry. It's slightly oily texture means that it holds up decently in the water, as long as it's not rubbed, and I was too busy desperately trying to follow instructions and swim while dragging big heavy teenage boys to the other side of the pool to start fiddling with my eyebrows, yo. The two lines underneath are the MUA pencil. The big 'UD' is the Urban Decay one...sensible to wear a waterproof pencil in the water, no?



I was planning to have painted nails all week, but these were my hands by the end of the first day - not great! I remember the teacher trying to teach us how to do a spinal board (google, because it's too long to explain here) and we had to support the casualty with our palms facing down. I was staring at my hideously chipped nails as opposed to worrying about the 'casualty' with a potential spinal injury...

At first, I suspected it was merely the brand (even though I'd had no problems with chippping using MUA polishes in the past) so I then painted them with a Barry M polish the next day (same thing) and finally a Nails Inc one (not even a freebie, a genuine, £11 bottle of Nails Inc polish) and the exact same thing happen. Clearly, no brand is immune to prolonged immersion in the toxic soup of chlorine, baby vomit and piss that constitutes poolwater.



Please excuse my photographing of hideously used and abused makeup (I guess that vouches for it's effectiveness? Lol...) but we've misplaced the baby wipes in the move so it's not even like I could clear this up. Regardless, I used one of the lip colours as a blush and a lip tint in the pool, because it's waxy texture meant that it's somewhat water resistant.


A tiny dab like that, mixed with a little moisturiser on the palm of the hand, then BLEND BLEND BLEND like it's the UN truck out of a war zone once applied to the cheek. Then you're good to go. Apply to the lips as normal, though I think I stopped bothering with lip colour after the second day.


 I never had it quite that bright, though...


 This cloud is a seven.

It was actually rather pleasant taking photos and blogging outside. Might become a regular thing!


The mini trampoline which I was lazing around on while taking photographs.


 New garden!



I stumbled upon some rare, highly sought after blue grass. It doesn't look at all like it's been painted with MUA's Shade 9...

Feast your eyes on this corally goodness.



For me, this is my perfect summer coral. It's bright, clearly coral (doesn't lean red or pink or orange in particular) and applies nicely enough that I don't have to struggle every time I apply.



Two non streaky, opaque and even coats and this was good to go. Drying time was slightly quicker than average, even without my usual quick drying top coat. For a freebie, this was pretty darn good (the now ended buy-two-Dove-deodorants-get-a-nail-polish offer in Boots)





*snuggles bottle*
I liked this one so much I actually bought a backup bottle so I won't run out. That's something I NEVER do with my beauty purchases, so yeah. This one is a keeper.

I say slightly redundant because I've pretty much not hauled anything this month. Between Duke of Edingburgh, family members coming to stay, and that huge boner kill of not having any funds, it's been a spend free month :( Apart from prom shopping. That was essential. and expensive.

Regardless, here is like a collection of stuff that I've cumulatively hauled from 2001 last month. Feels like forever :(


 Nails Inc/Fabulous polishes: I collected the tokens, so now I have a spare set which I was going to give away until I got back from D of E and then everyone hated the News of The World so I thought it might be best to leave that...alone for a bit.
Two Miners polishes which I should add to the blogsale, not really that enamoured with these.
Last month's Glamour offer. I picked up Benetint and High Beam.




Two Barry M crackle polishes, the pink one and the black one - these are sooo cool and were my first foray into the dark crackle underworld...does anyone want a full review on these? I'm under the impression almost everyone has already done one.
Everyday Minerals rollerball eyeshadow! It scares me how easily I fall for a gimmick...
I bought Pears soap on the basis of a review I saw by Fee on how non-drying and gentle it was on sensitive skin, which really excited me. But when I got home and talked to her on twitter about it (@MakeupSavvy) I realised she'd actually done a follow up post to say they'd changed the formula and it was now quite harsh! #learntoresearchlena
I cut it up into little cubes and we're using it for hand soap at the moment. At least it was (relatively) cheap.



Lastly, my new nail polish love: 'Copacabana' by Nails Inc. It's this gorgeous coral colour which everyone and their pet of choice needs in their life this summer...bright but not off putting and applies really well. I had to buy two Dove deodorants in Boots for this offer, which wasn't too bad as I usually use Dove anyway. I then went back for two more so I could get another bottle...obssessed much? The other colour, 'Havana', was really boring and looked sheer so I left it alone. They should have named it 'Sand' or something. If I think 'Havana', I think something vibrant and colourful, not yet another greige nude tea colour. grumble, grumble.

I found this shade in particular applied sooo nicely. Two coats, no bubbles, like a sort of wham bam thank you mam but in a more desireable context. I approve.








I couldn't decide which pictures to add and which to leave out (I'm exprimenting with a new nail polish swatching technique, which is photographing them outside my window, lol) so this is a rather pic heavy post.





These dry down to a semi-satin, but still with some shine to it - again, typical of a neon finish but not quite. They're just bright enough to be bang on trend for summer, but not too bright as to alienate less daring nail polish wearers. The swatches that you're seeing have had a layer of topcoat applied to it though, as I wanted to see it shiny!



As you can see, my Mum and I are collecting our tokens...are you? The value of these polishes is pretty damn intense, if you're in the UK I'd be surprised if you missed out!

An unabashedly bright, bordering-on-neon-but-not-quite radioactive ('scuse the pun - Atomic - Radioactive. Lol. OK, that's probably only funny to me) orange. 



Pretty damn pigmented when it goes on, but not thick - one coat would have sufficed but I always do two anyway to ensure longlevity - speaking of which, this polish held up well on my currently thin and bendy nails. I had three days with no chips or tipwear, minimal tipwear on the fourth day and a couple of chips on my index nails (always those ones. ALWAYS. It'd be great if humans had two ring fingers instead of an index finger and a ring finger) and on the fifth day I had to remove it as I'd spent the night with my hands immersed in water and it was like wearing a crackle polish without the crackle polish. Looked like someone had Chernobylded my nails...You don't want to know.


Only one more week to go if you started collecting the Fabulous mag tokens from the beginning! It's pretty intense value when you think about it (£3 and a bit of patience for £22 worth of stuff!) so I'm pretty pleased with that.

EDIT: Forgot to explain the colour difference in the two photos...d'oh! First one is under natural light, the second is in direct sunlight - you can see how much darker and more intense it looks. Begins to border on a sort of salmony-coral combination...me gusta.

OK, so as we all must be aware by now, you can currently pick up a bottle of Nails Inc polish with a purchase of Coke, "chocolate" (quote marks because Cadburys is foul and can be barely considered such) Malibu, Dove deoderant, Fabulous magazines, shares in Waitrose, a fake greencard and any two Romanian orphans. Nails Inc are currently everywhere in one of the more agressive marketing strategies that the beauty blogging world has seen. And I love it.

I scroll down my Twitter timeline and see one or two beauty bloggers turned economists debating how on earth Nails Inc can possibly be making any money whatsoever. Well, er...isn't it obvious? Agressive promotion (in which case is giving the polish away with like, oxygen) = more people knowing about and being familiar with the brand. Which translates into increased sales. I actually saw one blogger write a post on the topic and then say, 'I don't even consider Nails Inc high end any more'. Sorry, it's not what you consider a brand that makes it so. If I regard Burberry as low end that suddenly doesn't mean that I won't have to save up my pocket money for a year to buy half a lipstick. Likewise, saying that E.L.F is high end doesn't change the fact that you can get eyeshadow quads for like a quid. Not really sure where she was trying to go with that.

I do think that we in the beauty blogging world do forget sometimes that not everyone can name all the shades of the latest OPI collection or recite a list of MAC shadows from memory. To the average Joanna, who hasn't been exposed to all of the freebies and doesn't really pay attention to what's hot, new shades and trends, who hasn't been over saturated with the news of endless offers and freebies, it's just a chance to pick up a nail polish with a deoderant that they already buy. Or a Coke they were having for lunch anyway. Or the paper they already bought on Sundays. From that, they've been exposed to a brand that may have been new to them and Nails Inc have just earned themselves a new customer. Or not, whatever.

This isn't a rant as such as I'm not personally invested in Nails Inc, but I'm just more confused at why people are so opposed to them promoting their product. Is it the oversaturation thing? (i.e people seeing it everywhere, and then getting sick of it) or are people pissed because they used Nails Inc before they became easily accessible to the masses and now don't feel exclusive any more? I personally don't understand this one, I too used Nails Inc before I could buy a farm animal and get a free Nails Inc polish in 'Milkmaid' (sheer sky blue jelly with large pieces of hexagonal black glitter) and I'm not annoyed. Maybe it's just me. Someone care to explain?

In other news, can I send things like Posietint/Benetint overseas? Because they look like nail polish (but aren't) but if the big burly men at USPS who dislike nail polish immensly pick up on it, I don't want to be slapped with an $800 fine for a swap or a giveaway. Any help would be appreciated!

I'm kinda notorious for being a not very trendy person. I:

still don't own a matte top coat
don't like Adele's music
have only recently decided to expand my pastels collection
don't own a pair of Uggs, real or otherwise. (and don't plan to, because they're fugly)
only bought my first crackle polish a couple of weeks ago.don't own any lipsticks in bullets that aren't brown.
etc.

But seeing as this is going to be a long and hopefully fruitful summer, I thought I'd have a go especially as it's summer, and the trend this year (isn't it the same every year? idk) is for bright, colourful nails. Here are my personail picks for this summer, style shamelessly borrowed from the lovely 25fLONDON:










Thumb: Nails Inc for Diet Coke (one of their ever frequent collaborations <3 helps us poor students afford their polish which is great because I'm sure many of you are aware that I'm a diehard fan) 'Milan'
Index Finger: Barry M 'Cyan Blue'
Middle Finger: Essie 'Bermuda Shorts'
Ring Finger: ASOS Paints 'Lily'
Little Finger: ASOS Paints 'Olivia'

'Milan' is a bright, true red, which is a staple pedicure shade in the summer. Pity that there are least photos of it, because it was really hard to get my whole hand in the shot with the glass, lol.
'Cyan Blue' is bordering on neon, but it's still an unconventional shade to nail muggles and pretty appropriate for the summer, in my opinion.
I love love LOVE 'Bermuda Shorts', as I'm sure you've already heard judging by my review on it, but this is a very bright fuschia-pink and again, a great pedicure shade.
'Lily' is a twist on the mint green love in that's been going on for far too long now. It appears darker in the some of the photos because of the (lack of) lighting (it was like two in the morning) but it's a neon, turquoise-teal colour. Pretty unique!
'Olivia' is the orange on my little finger, it's quite bright but not actually neon or anything. It's more understated and would be interesting as an accent colour in a mani of Barry M's Cyan Blue, or something.


Fabulous Magazine (comes inside the News Of The World on a Sunday) are offering two free Nails Inc polishes when you collect three tokens and take them to a participating Tesco store. I have some information from the press release here:

This summer Fabulous are keeping Britain’s nails sizzling by giving away two free Nails Inc. polishes worth an incredible £22. Created especially for Fabulous, the shades – called Atomic and OMP! (that’s Oh My Pink!) – are sure to be this season’s hottest shades!

To bag the two free nail varnishes, readers need to cut out and collect three of the tokens printed over the next four weeks in Fabulous, starting this Sunday (19^th June). They then need to take these to participating Tesco stores from 3^rd July to redeem.  Plus, they can treat themselves to a half-price manicure for £14 (usually £28) at any participating Nails Inc salon.

This summer is proving increasingly tempting. My bank account is in a perpetual state of emptiness because of the great magazine freebies (Fabulous as well as Glamour/Benetint and Harpers Bazaar/Leighton Denny) and the new collections (MUA, BeautyUK, Sleek with the Mediterean/Carribean/Oh So Special) so yeah, trying to get Bill Gates to adopt me right now.



What Nails Inc promo polishes have you picked up, if any? I went STRAIGHT to Boots and bought two Dove polishes on the day that the promotion started. Coincidentally, I'd just finished my Dove roll on that morning...no foul play involved. Anyway, in the morning, my Mum and I went for a walk and then drove into town to the rather large Boots. Went to the deoderant section, and the special stand was displayed, replete with poster, but...no polishes. Wtf. So we (and another older lady who just happened to be standing with us) complained, and then at first the woman said she had some in stock, went to check, wasted about fifteen minutes and then came back and said they hadn't had a delivery yet. I was like, that's false advertising then. Why put the stand up if you haven't actually got any? Urgh. So we went into the next town and managed to acquire one 'Copabana' each. The other colour wasn't really my thing.
I know they're also doing something with Malibu (the drink) and a bar, and I like the colours, but I'd never get served so there's no point even trying. So yeah, anyone else planning on taking advantage?