I used at least half of the Wilkinson's blue for this, added the remainder of the crushed up white eyeshadow I featured in my tutorial and mixed it up. Then I added lots of clear nail polish in an attempt to make it more jelly like :P

 Unsatisfied with the hue, I added some white nail polish. That white nail polish is all finished now because I used the rest in the next franken coming up.
I did have a couple more swatches for you but they're on my laptop - which is in repair. Don't worry though, I'll keep the nails coming :P

Love,

September Lena

xxx

Hey! As you guys may have seen on my post about entries for nail art contests, I entered this contest here:

http://glamgeekchic.blogspot.com/2010/04/problems-with-poll.html

I can't ask you to vote for me because of the rules, but if you are one of her followers, you can vote. Thanks!

Another one that I hadn't had a chance to swatch.
I've got more frankens coming up! Sorry for the short post.

I thought I might as well group all my relatively tame/sheer polishes together that I could get away with at school. Some of these are generic randomers but others are ones that weren't discontinued in the 90's...haha :P
 I have nine polishes that I can choose between for Mondays/Wednesdays, when my nails are likely to be checked.
With flash.
Without flash. The polishes are, from left to right:
Avon "Minimalistic Peach"
Generic Peachy colour :P
Generic Pearl
Nails Inc "Sloane Mews"
Rimmel "Lycra Wear"
From thumb to little finger:
Avon "Minimalistic Peach"
Generic Peachy colour :P
Generic Pearl
Nails Inc "Sloane Mews"
Rimmel "Lycra Wear"

I'm not too keen on the peach colour on the index finger. It shows up as fine gold microshimmer and is the most noticible out of all the polishes. I might use it for frankening or something. The Generic Pearl, I quite like. (I did one coat of everything) Sloane Mews is pratically a clear polish but I like to layer one of the Boots polishes over it to give it some kick. Rimmel Lycra Wear is one of my favourite gold glitters. It's buildable, and the glitter is so fine and shimmery it goes wild in the sunlight.
Left to right - Generic Silver Glitter, Boots Glitter Babes in Clear, Confetti and Glitter.
From Right to Left (just to keep you on your toes, aha)
Generic Silver Glitter,
Boots Glitter Babes in:
Clear,
Confetti
Glitter.

Confetti just sucks as a polish. It's so hard to pick up any of the hexagonal glitter and when you manage, it just falls off after about twenty minutes or so. However, what I like about Confetti and Glitter is that they tint your nails a slightly, barely noticable pink colour which really makes Sloane Mews pop. The Clear has long strands of bar glitter in them. You usually end up with about four or so on each nail if you make a special effort to get it on. Not bad, I guess. Glitter and the Generic Silver are the most noticable, in my opinion. The glitter in the Generic Silver is larger, though, and a uniform silver, whearas in the Boots Glitter, the glitter is smaller and many different colours. Anyway, I'll choose one of these lucky polishes to wear to school tommorow. Joy, eh?

Love,

September Lena

I do love this colour. It was my first Nails Inc colour ever! Still, I think the colour might be better suited to someone with paler skin.
The application on these is great - they're a true salon brand. This particular polish is also very pigmented so great for Konading.
http://tugbaseckin.blogspot.com/2010/04/giveaway-d.html

Here are some random entries I've put together for the Beautopia Nail Art competition, amongst others. (There's also one going on at Glamorous Geek Chic and one that has been cancelled at Lali Amora)

This I created with: My white franken as a base, followed with Maybelline Colorama in Tropical Peach, then the Boots 17 Purple, then the Avon Blue. I then freehanded with a black nail art pen.



For this, I used Miss Sporty Nail Polish in Black, with the Boots generic pink nail polish, Miss Sporty Clubbing Colours in yellow, Maybelline Colorama in Jelly Bean and Nails Inc Brompton Place on the tips. I then freehanded an abstract design over them. My cuticles look overly greasy in some of these - I was trying out this new cream...don't ask :P
 Which, if any, are your favourites? Plus don't forget to check out the other entries here!

Love,

September Lena

DISCLAIMER: I'm not forcing you to do this. So if you blow up your house or scratch your lips or I don't know, gain twenty pounds or something, it's not my fault. Sorry, but some people will sue for ANYTHING.

Hey my gorgeous people,

So this has been interesting me for a while. My lips tend to get very dry very quickly and once I heard about lip scrubs (I didn't know you could exfoliate your lips!) I decided to look into it. Only loads of major brands are selling tubes of the stuff for upwards of £20 - I mean, really? - and even one of the cheapest (and nicest) brands, LUSH, are selling theirs for around £4.50. (review here: http://theglossgoss.blogspot.com/2010/02/spring-haul-part-1.html) This is reasonable considering it comes in lots of different flavours and is a lot cheaper than many other brands, but even so it's the best part of a fiver for what is essentially flavoured sugar. Knowing this, I decided to look into making my own.

Ingredients (or a brief guide, anyway):

Two tablespoons caster sugar (or any type you want, not icing sugar though as that will make a paste)
Half a teaspoon of cocoa powder (add more if you want it more chocolatey)
One teaspoon Jojoba oil (really, you can use any oil for this, I just fancied jojoba. Add more if you want it more moisturising or less if you want it more exfoliating. Make sure the consistency is right for you)
A few drops Mint essential oils, to taste (please make sure these are safe for your lips!)

So I started out with the sugar and the cocoa powder in a bag and mixed them together, really well.

 I emptied them, mixed, into this little tin that used to hold my rosin for my violin bow (it ran out, so I have another one now :P)

Here it is! So use this on damp lips or with a bit of Vaseline. You can apply it with your finger or an old toothbrush, and just scrub until all the dead skin is gone!

Love,

September Lena

I have finally gotten round to actually swatching my white franken properly :P

I probably won't be wearing this on it's own very often but as a base for nail art, definately. Same as the Miss Sporty Black Polish.

 Over at NAILSTAH, she's giving away loads of once-swatched polishes. Personally I have no problem with this but if you do then she recommends that you don't enter :P
Here it is.

Check it. At XOXO Parisky, you can win like loads of nail polish, essence stamping kits and earrings!

http://xoxo-parisky.blogspot.com/2010/04/100-followers-giveaway.html
 So I'm going to try and post all the giveaways once a week or so and update them as needed, because it's geniunely the most irritating thing when every other post on someone's blog is a giveaway...I don't want mine to become like that :P

 First, I'd just like to say thank you to Le Vernis Chocolat for the Love Your Blog award!

http://levernischocolat.blogspot.com/2010/04/love-your-blog-award.html

I'm going to tag:

Susie's Home and Hobbies
The Chain Nail
The Gloss Goss
Dr Frankenpolish
Toxic Lipstick

These are all really great blogs!

About the nail polish:

The dismal grossness of the yellow was merely a blip, thank goodness. This black has restored my trust in Miss Sporty.

You see that? This polish, if you play it right, is a one coater - yes, ladies and gentlemen, a one coater for only £2. Still, I did two on most of the fingers just out of habit, I guess. The formula is alright, I guess - could be improved. It's not as good as the Metal Shine formula but is still miles better than that disgusting yellow. It's slightly streaky but that can be gotten around.This is the sort of polish that should be a staple in every broke teenagers make up kit. Perhaps not for school, but hey, isn't black meant to be all fashiony, angsty and edgy all into one? Yeah? Urgh. I really can't stand posers. There are some kids at my school who go around wearing half a stick of eyeliner on their faces, listening to Paramore and Showaddywaddy (yeah, I hadn't heard of them either) and claiming that they're "glam rockers" or something...it's just so ridiculous. Funny, certaintly, but ridiculous. Anyway. I digress. Point is, this is a cool black colour to wear. Warning - is still prone to smudging after a large amount of time has elapsed. Once again the one minute drying thing is just bull.


Not bad, is it? Oh, by the way, this polish is surprisingly good for Konading. So yeah, all in all, I'd buy it again.

*sigh* Do you hear that? It's the collective sigh of, I don't know, a million plus British schoolchildren. School starts up again tommorow. Do you know what that means? It means NO POLISH. Or at least, very subtle polish. So, I'm taking the opportunity to try out this Sally Hansen Miracle Grow/Cure thingymagic that I've just been given, because my nails are all horrible and peely right now :( I've got loads of pictures and swatches stored up for you guys, so don't worry! But yeah, I'll see if I can go this week five days four days, maybe, with a clear polish on to try and give my nails a rest.

Love,

September Lena

I talked about their giveaway on this very same blog not too long ago and was delighted to find out that I've actually won one of their quad palettes today! I'm really excited to try out their line as the swatches look gorgeous, very highly pigmented and with a nice shimmer. So yeah, expect some reviews soon!

What. A. Fail.

Words fail me when I'm trying to describe this disgusting, streaky mess. Urgh. This is the second colour that I bought from Superdrugs and the second one in their Clubbing Colours line that I'm reviewing. After the great things I had to say about Metal Shine I thought this would be similar. Just no.
It seems the trick to these is to do one or two thin-ish coats before a final huge dollop of polish and hope for the best. I painted a thin coat and waited sixty seconds, as promised, for it to dry. What a lie that was. I ran my thumb over it lightly and immediately ruined my manicure. It was tacky on the surface up to ten/fifteen minutes after first application. Clearly their definition of dry is, "sort of feels dry if you run your finger over it really quickly using next to no pressure."
The debate finished at 10 o clock and I went to bed at about twenty to twelve. When I woke up in the morning, there were crease marks on my nails. These were the nails that I painted at 8:30 in the evening. EIGHT. THIRTY.

Oh, and if you wear this without a base coat? Smokers hands. They will be stained the most hideous shade of yellow you have ever seen. I learnt this the hard way.

If this wasn't the only yellow I owned I would have stamped on the bottle in frustration. I should have bought the Barry M one when I had the chance. Grr.

Honestly, it really did. Or at least, that's what I'll tell anyone who asks why my formerly classy looking silver nails have loads of pink dots on them.

I did the dots with a hairpin and Nails Inc Brompton Place. The Miss Sporty is remarkably, still chip free. I am very impressed indeed :P
I did this last night while watching Waterloo Road (a BBC drama set in a school) and wasn't paying as much attention as I could have, haha.

 Over at Get Ready For Summer, there is a full on GIANT giveaway going on. And I mean giant. Link here:
http://getreadyforsummer2010.blogspot.com/2010/04/giant-giveaway-chanel-particuliere-opi.html
She's giving away rares like Chanel Particuliere (sold out everywhere!) and OPI polishes! Full list here (from her blog):

1. CHANEL PARTICULIERE 505 nail polish from Spring 2010 collection
2. THE BODY SHOP Neroli Jasmin shower gel & body lotion (both 50ml)
3. MAYBELLINE Dream Sunglow Bronzing Booster
4. CHINA GLAZE ENTOURAGE nailpolish
5. CIATE : One Coat a Day (base polish), Hang Over Cure (treatment for cuticles), Super Sexy Dry (drying drops)
6. CALVIN KLEIN Ultimate edge Gel Eyeliner in shade 301 Cocoa Sheen (with mini brush)
7. H&M BRACELET (pink coral color with gold, perfect for spring/summer)
8. CIATE Pink Nail File
9. JILL SANDER SUN EDT 100ml (without alcohol, perfect for summer)
10. NYX LIPSTICKS in 3 colours: Electra, Indian Pink, Circle
11. NAIL ART FIMO fruits (3x10)
12. ELDORA FALSE LASHES B127
13. MORGAN STREET Lip Balm Chocolate Cake
14. 5 SHE STYLEZONE Nailpolishes
15. OPI nailpolish LA- PAZ-ITIVELY HOT normal version + MATTE version
16. THE BODY SHOP RASPBERRY Body Butter 200ml
17.  FRUCTIS Elastic Power Fix Hairspray

Check it all out. Hurry though - it's ending tommorow, Thursday the 15th!
EDIT: Silly me. That's the fifteenth of MAY, not April :P You've got another whole month from this date!

Over at Nail Babble, there's a giveaway!
http://nailbabble.blogspot.com/2010/04/giveaway-details.html

She has second and third prizes as well!

For all and any that are interested, there's a nail art contest going on at Beautopia! The theme is artist's choice!
http://beautopia.onsugar.com/Beautopia-Nail-Art-Contest-Starts-Now-7871905
There are some seriously lush prizes to be won - just look at what first place get!

Also, over at Susie's Home and Hobbies (she was one of my first comments!) she's doing a giveaway!
There's ELF and China Glaze and Sally Hansen and all sorts :)
Get a load of that! Plus, she's added more:
So please follow Susie's blog and enter her giveaway because she is actually really nice and I won't forget that she took time out of her day to make the first comments on a new blog :)
http://susies1955.blogspot.com/2010/03/hey-enter-my-little-giveaway.html

This is a polish from their "Clubbing Colours" line. It was actually not bad to apply.

The Zoya picture is from Polishing the nails!

I think they're pretty close, don't you?
I really like this colour, even though I think it'd probably look better with a lighter skin tone (I feel gold suits me more than silver) but yeah. It did dry pretty quickly, though I don't know whether it was one minute, and only one finger smudged, which I redid. It's day three of wearing it now and it still hasn't chipped - not bad for a £2 polish! Though whether it lives up to it's seven day claim will be interesting. To be honest I don't know if I can keep the same colour seven days straight but I'll have a go :P

The formula on this was actually really good, considering the price. I did two coats and there's barely any visible nail line. It wasn't too thick and it wasn't too runny. All in all, a good buy!