CIATE MINI MANI MONTH

During the christmas period I saw this, the Ciate Mini Mani Month. I was unable to bribe anyone into getting it me for advent so when I saw it for half price in their January sale I treated myself! :-)

The Ciate Mini Mani Month consists of 24 windows of nail goodies and was therefore a must have for a nail addict like myself! Behind each window was a quote, such as "keep calm and paint your nails". The nail goodies consisted of a top coat, base coat, mini polishes, caviar beads, loose glitters, a mini funnel and one full size polish.

      

 As I am doing this as one blog post it would be too long if I was to swatch all of the colours for you. I have put the normal and glitter polishes on a colour wheel and have used some for nail art...

     

In the nail art above I used : 'Pepperminty', 'Ferris Wheel', 'Serendipity', and 'Amazing Gracie'. I also used Konad stamping.

So, in conclusion I absolutely loved getting this and it is definitely worth the money (by this I mean at full price which was £42)

To see the polishes up closer check out my review on my youtube channel : 

www.youtube.com/user/georgesartwork

   

Homemade Light Box

After wondering how nail bloggers and networkers get such great photo's of their nails I found a Blog post by Chalkboard Nails (link at bottom) about making your own light box.
So, on my next visit to the supermarket I picked up an empty cardboard box to start my creation with.

The box I found is slightly smaller than I would of liked but at the time this was the only one I could get. Because the inside of this box was the brown colour I actually painted some of it white using poster paint.

When I had finished my creation I got a small spotlight and balanced it on a tub so that it reached the top of the box.

I was really pleased with how it turned out and it was so easy to do! Below are a couple of example pics that I took. I must point out that I do have a camera with macro and therefore this also helps with getting good shots :-)

Thankyou for reading, please follow me on Bloglovin for updates on my blog :-)

Link to Chalkboard Nails:
http://www.chalkboardnails.com/2012/03/intermediate-nail-photography-lightbox.html

Sally Hansen nail products

Recently I have tried some of the Sally Hansen nail products.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure.
I love the brush on these, it is quite big so covers the nail well in only a couple of strokes. The formula is thick and creamy on the darker colours and therefore you can get away with one coat if you are using it as a main colour, under nail art or havn't got much time. I got it in the colour 'fiery island so I could use it for some Halloween nail art. The lighter colours may need more than one coat.

Sally Hansen Gem Crush.
These are really pretty, they are a mixture of fine and normal glitter. I was bought mine as a present and it's in the colour 'bejeweled'. The coverage is about the same as a normal glitter polish and lasts well with a good topcoat. You can see it below on my middle finger.

Sally Hansen instant cuticle remover
Not totally sure on this product. It is used to get rid of the excess/dead cuticles. I keep my cuticles very neat so don't think this really did much good for me, however I know that a lot of people swear by it!!

Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Nail Hardener
This is great for using as a base coat. My nails have definitely improved from using this and I have tried several hardeners so can really tell! I sometimes use two coats depending on the shape of my nails (I find my nails break easier when they are squared off). It is a little more expensive than some hardeners but definitely worth it!!

Festive Nails

It's that magical time of year so here is the start of my festive nails. I prefer to do patterns rather than people (if that makes sense). I'm really pleased with how these snowflake nails came out. There are several ways to do snowflake nails so I will make a youtube video soon with a few designs that you can all try out :-)
For these nails I used Essie's 'Toggle to the top' and I absolutely love it!!! It covered my nails in one coat and is really pretty. Is is also handy as the glitter and colour are all in one. Unfortunately so far I have only been able to find it in a 5ml bottle in a gift set so I may end up ordering a full size one off the internet!

If you haven't already please go check out my youtube... www.youtube.com/user/georgesartwork

 

Thanks :-)

October GlossyBox

Welcome to the October GlossyBox.......

This month the theme is Dark Romance, however it came in the ordinary box rather than a decorated one. It doesn't really matter to me about the box design but a dark red version of the box would of suited the theme abit better than the pale pink one.

This was another good box for me as I will be giving all of the products a go, however I have read several reviews today where people have been really disappointed.

In my box I received:

- Me Me Me Cherub's Blush - Cheek & Lip tint
This is a full size product worth £5.50. I probably wont use this on my cheeks but it does add a nice bit of colour to my lips. I quite like the idea of lipstick but when wearing it I feel like it doesn't suit me so I'm hoping this will get me used to having some colour on my lips.

-Katy Perry Killer Queen fragrance
This comes in a sample spritzer bottle which is handy. The scent is very strong when first applied  but after a few minutes it calms down and is actually really nice. This is one of the nicer "celebrity" perfumes that I have smelt. It costs £29.50 for a 50ml bottle which is an affordable price. Sample worth approx. 88p.

-Monu Illuminating Primer
This is something I have hoped I would get to try. I don't generally wear foundation unless I'm on a night out so was hoping to test one of these that you can use either under foundation or on its own. It's not a full size sample but it's a very good 20ml one. It is quite a thick formula but once on your skin it does feel light. Sample is worth approx £9.98.

-Premae Multi-Vit Smoothie Serum
This is a lovely lemon scented serum for your face. Even though it's called a serum it is actually like a cream. A decent sized 20ml sample which is worth approx £9. Not really much I can say about this really but I will be happily using it as part of my skin care routine.

-Eva Cosmetics Mystic Diamond Argonoil
Basically this is a Morrocan oil type product. It doesn't really have a scent but is cheaper than morrocan oil at £22.70 for a 100ml bottle. The sample I have received is worth approx £1.36. I am quite happy to try new hair products to see whats out there so was quite pleased with this one. It is quite a thick sticky substance but it doesn't leave your hair looking greasy.

So..... unlike most I am happy with my box, it is worth about £26.72 so I am still getting my moneys worth!

Please visit my YouTube to see what the products look like :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhOU-_xW1Uk

Color Club Canada Holographic Nail Polish Review

The above picture is of my nails painted with Color Club Canada's Holographic nail polish in "Harp on it". This one is actually one out of last years collection but I really wanted a silver one so this was the one for me. I added the nail gems on myself for an accent nail. I purchased the polish off eBay for about £9.99 inc p&p, you can also get nails gems off eBay for about £4. This is a gorgeous nail polish but it does need to be in a good light to be seen as holographic. I did wonder how it would come off because of the effect on it but I was pleasantly surprised as it came off really easily with normal nail polish remover :-). The polish is also quite opaque so I only used two coats, however you could probably get away with one good coat.

So all in all I am really chuffed with this polish. I love abit of sparkle :-)

Thanks for reading :-)

Where to find Bargain Polishes!

Recently I have managed to find myself some very good nail polish bargains!!!

My first bargain is the LA colours collection which I have talked about in a previous post. These are available in my local Harry Tuffins supermarket and are £1 each!! the nail polishes and nail stripers are both really good and a great price.

My next set of bargains were found at a car boot sale!! There was a lady with a stall selling make up and nail polishes. On the off chance a took a look at her stock and I found some China Glaze and Nina nail polishes. She was selling these for £2 a bottle! At first I thought maybe they were discontinued ones but I was mistaken as they are still in the collection. :-)

My final set of bargains were purchased at TK Maxx. I'm not very good usually when it comes to this shop as I find everything messy and hard to look through, however I spotted some nail polishes and when I investigated I found that they were top brands at cheap prices. I therefore treated myself to a Color Club box set and a Ciate limited edition foils set.

I don't know about you guys but I do love a bargain! Hope this post helps all you polish bargain hunters out there :-)