Manicure Monday

Hi girls, I'm back with another Manicure Monday for you guys today.

I thought I would go for something really girly for my nail colour this week. And this one from Revlon called Fuchsia Fever is just perfect, its a really bright highlighter pink, that is great for the spring/summer months. I've never actually used any Revlon nail polishes before, I got this one sometime last year in a Scholl Velvet Smooth Express Pedi set, and I have only just got round to using it! Which means I can't really give an opinion on it, but so far so good. I've had this on for a day now and there is no signs of chipping (trust me when I say thats really good for me) and I only had to use one coat for full coverage of the nail. It doesn't streak at all and goes on really easily. Drying time was also really good, my nails were dry within 5 to 10 minutes and I was able to carry on with my day without worrying about any chipping. Depending on how well they last on my nails, I might just purchase a few more of these polishes.

Much Love,

Gemma xo.

Manicure Monday

I have decided to kick off the 'blog series' that I started last time I was blogging. And as I started back at work today, I thought it was the perfect time to do so. I have a full drawer of nail polish that very rarely ever see the light of day, which is really sad. So from now on I am actively trying to use them all and make my nails look all pretty again.

I have decided to use one of the latest editions to my collection, one of my Christian Louboutin nail polishes. I have 4 of these and I absolutely love them all. This one, Rouge Louboutin, is the classic red shade, that is found on the bottom of all Louboutin shoes. It is an absolutely gorgeous true bright red colour, and I want a pair of Louboutins even more now that I have seen what the colour of the soles are like.

this label was horrendous to photograph because of the black glass on the bottle, sorry!

In the picture above I have only used one coat and the colour is completely opaque, which I think is amazing. At £36 these are pretty expensive nail polishes and you definitely do pay for the name, but I love them. The pigmentation is really good and I don't even need to talk about the packaging do I?! It is so extravagant and amazing! The longevity however isn't the best but no nail polish AT ALL lasts well on me, I think I need to invest in some new base and top coats to solve this issue, or maybe just stop doing so much housework ;)

Much Love, 

Gemma xo.

August Favourites

Hi everyone, favourites time once again. This year has seriously been the quickest year ever!! I can't quite believe there is only a few months left til Christmas. But enough of that here's what I was loving in the month of August!

 

Yankee Candles - Strawberry Buttercream and Black Cherry

 

 

My non beauty favourites this month have been these two gorgeous Yankee Candles. I absolutely love the scent these give off when burnt together. Strawberry Buttercream smells very sweet, almost like the smell of baking cakes and Black Cherry is just a strong cherry scent. The two together fill my room with a sweet and fruity scent that is absolutely delicious. Neither one overpowers the other and I don't find the scent to be too sickly sweet. Strawberry Buttercream can get a bit much when burnt alone but Black Cherry cancels that out and burning together they are an absolute dream.

 

Essie Eternal Optimist and Barry M Princess

 

 

Another duo I have been loving are these two polishes I mentioned a few weeks ago. Essie's 'Eternal Optimist' is a gorgeous dusky rose colour that is fully opaque with two coats. Its a really lovely subtle colour that would be perfect for an occasion like a wedding or christening. Or even just for work when you don't want something that stands out too much, but still want a nice wash of colour. I have been pairing it with Barry M's baby pink glitter 'Princess' from their Royal Collection using this on just my ring fingers for a glitter accent. The glitters in this are not at all chunky and glide on the nails perfectly. I absolutely love these kind of glitters and would love some more, If you know of any I might like please comment below. All I seem to find are horrible chunky ones that go on the nails in patches. I've been switching up my nail colours a lot recently but throughout August I kept coming back to these two because I think they look so chic and classy together.

 

MUA Undress Me Too Palette

 



Again another product you have seen recently. My apologies but as you know I am at the minute out of a job and looking for work, so I have had to make deal with my current beauty stash because I can't afford any new products. I also think this featured in a favourites way back but that just goes to show how much I do really love it. I reach for this palette every single time I put make up on weather that's for, the eyebrow colour Lavish, a mixture a of a few shades for a complete eye look or just a highlight colour. I always go back to this palette because its just a perfect everyday palette that can be used for so many different looks. There isn't one colour I don't use in here. I have a lot of other palettes and this is not my favourite of the bunch buts its definitely the most used.

 

DHC Deep Cleansing Oil

 

 

Last but not least, and the only product that has not yet been featured on my blog is my first ever cleansing oil. I got this in the Summer edition of the Latest In Beauty Glamour Beauty Edit box a few months back. And I have been loving it ever since, although dispensing the oil has been a pain (there's a only a tiny hole for the product to come through when you un screw the white lid) this really is an excellent product. When massaged into a dry face, then wiped away with a muslin cloth soaked in warm water, it really does remove every scrap of makeup without irritating my skin or leaving it oily. The only problem I have with this product, except the dispenser, is the fact it can not be used on the eyes. Let me tell you if you put this on yours eyes it will temporarily blind you! In the products defence it does state to not use it on eyes but I tried it anyway, and although it removes eye makeup like a dream the momentary blindness and fuzzy film it leaves over the eyes is just not worth it!! So all in all a great product that I absolutely love I just wish it was friendly on the eyes. I am wanting to purchase an oil that can be used all over the face so let me know any suggestions you may have.

 

That's it for another month. What were you loving in August?

Much Love

Gemma xo.





Manicure Monday

I've been wanting a running weekly feature here on my blog for a while now. And I think this is the perfect one! I've always been a girly girl and loved having my nails painted, but working in Cafés for the last 4 years has meant I had plain boring nails for the majority of the time. Painting them on a Friday or Saturday night then removing it again on Sunday seemed pointless and a waste of time and product, so I only ever did it on the odd few special occasions. Since leaving the Café back in May however I have constantly had my nails painted and thought I'd show you what nail colour I am sporting each week.

 

 

I've been loving have a glitter accent nail recently and this week I went for Barry M 'Princess' from the Royal collection on my ring finger. This is a beautiful baby pink glitter with flecks of silver and gold running through it. And Essie's 'Eternal Optimist' on the other nails. The camera doesn't quite pick up the colour but its a lovely dusky rose pink, that I really do not get enough use from!

 

 

My nails seems to be a lot stronger now I'm not in and out of hot water constantly and using cleaning products all the time. And they have actually been growing really well. I love the look of square nails and once mine grew to a decent enough length I squared them off. I absolutely love how they look and I think these colours really complement my new shape.

 

 

I only have two decent glitter polishes, this one and a Topshop one I featured on my blog a long time ago. All the other ones I seem to come across are chunky and horrible so if you know of any brands that do good glitters like this one, please please let me know! I'd love to try this look with the many other colours I own I just don't have the matching glitters!

Hope you like this new feature.

Much Love

Gemma xo.



My First Ever...GlossyBox!

Hi Everyone. I know you have probably all seen the April GlossyBox by now, but I just had to show you what I got in my box, because it was my very first and I absolutely love it!

Like I said this is the first ever GlossyBox that I have got. And I am still really excited about it. I love all of the contents and as for this special one off design, it's lovely! I am so pleased I eventually got round to subscribing and I can't wait for my next box to arrive. On to the contents:

Essie Nail Polish in Eternal Optimist - 

As well as getting my first ever Glossybox, this was my first ever Essie Polish. I was over the moon when I opened the box to find this little beauty staring back at me. I've wanted an Essie for such a long time but with the price tag it carries and the fact I don't have a counter where I live, meant I have been holding back. When I first saw Eternal Optimist, I wasn't exactly blown away. But after trying it on I fell in love, its a gorgeous dusky rose pink and it looks lovely even on my small broken work worn nails! I'm very impressed!

Sleek Blush in Flamingo - 

Once again my town doesn't stock Sleek. Superdrug did have it years ago but I wasn't as into make up back then so I only ever tried out the Kajal Eyeliner, which by the way I loved. Since falling more in love with make up, I am devastated that I didn't try out more Sleek products when it was so easily available to me and I've been wanting to get my hands on quite a few of their things, the blushers being one of them! I received this one in the colour Flamingo which is a gorgeous bright bright pink. I haven't tried it yet but it looks super pigmented and I can't wait to wear it. It reminds me of a Barry M blusher I had years ago, which I think may have been called Raspberry! Non of my pictures did the colour any justice so I advise you to look for swatches online or try it in store yourself if you are interested.

A-Derma Intense Repair Lip Balm - 

This lip balm is gorgeous! It's made with a 100% natural active ingredient, Rhealba Oat Milk, which leaves your lips incredibly smooth. It is meant to provide your lips with a long last protective film that leaves them nourished and soothed, and it definitely does! I apply this every night before bed and wake up with really soft lips. It's slowly knocking my beloved Carmex off the top spot!

Nip + Fab Dry Skin Fix Body Butter in Coconut Latte - 

I haven't actually used this body butter yet so I can't really comment on it, but the smell is delicious!! It has a coconut smell to it which for some bizzare reason reminds me of Play Dough from when I was a kid! I can't even stress how much I adore the smell of Play Dough so I loved this as soon as I smelt it! I have high hopes for this product, its look really thick and moisturising. I will get round to using it one day and let you know my thoughts.

Yves Rocher - So Elixir Purple Perfume - 

I'm so rubbish with scents its untrue, so I will give you the description provided in the leaflet you recieve with your GlossyBox - 'an intoxicating and magnetic fragrance, which boasts a unique infusion of Tuberose, Vetiver and Patchouli culminating in a floral-woody elixir' in all honesty that makes no sense to me whatsoever! All I can say is, it's a rather deep dark smell that I wouldn't usually go for. But in actual fact I really like. It would be perfect for a night out!

So there you have it my very first GlossyBox. I absolutely loved it and I am so excited to get my hands on next months in the next few weeks! What day are they usually delivered does anyone know?? I have very high hopes for it! And am definitely sticking with my subscription for the foreseeable.

Much Love Gemma xo.

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine in Lychee

Hi Beauties, I'm on a roll with the posts today. This being my second of the day. Here I'm going to talk about one of the recent nail polishes I have picked up.

I've been after one of these new-ish Barry M polishes for a while now but for some reason just didn't pick any up. A few weeks ago when I was in Superdrug I noticed these were on offer for, 2 for £6 along with the new textured polishes. I've got to be honest I've had my eyes on most of the colours in this range for a long time and after a lot of pondering I decided to go for this nude 'Lychee' and the pink textured polish named, 'Kingsland Road' (which I'm sure I will blog about in the near future)

I've never really wanted a nude for my nails, because I always felt my skin was too pale and would just look stupid. But after seeing loads of pictures of nude nails floating around the blogosphere and Instagram I decided I wanted to try one out. And after seeing countless reviews on this I decided to go for it. Afterall if it didn't suit me I hadn't lost out on a lot of my money. These usually cost £3.99.

It turns out I love it! Lychee is a gorgeous beige nude that actually complements my pale skin. The shine on these polishes are amazing! Both times I've wore this polish I haven't used a top coat and my nails still looked super shiny and last really well. I never wear nail polish for longer than a couple of days because of work so these are perfect. I only noticed slight chips after 3 days without a top coat so with one I assume they would last much longer. They are fully opaque after 2 coats and if your in a hurry, 1 coat would actually be enough. The consistency is really lovely and applies easily without any streaks. I really do love this polish and I am absolutely certain I will be adding more Gelly Hi-Shines to my collection, they are fantastic!

(please excuse the shoddy application)

Have you tried these Nail Paints? If so what do you think of them? And do you have any suggestions of other colours in the range that I should buy?

Hope you enjoyed this post and maybe want to try these out for yourself.

Thanks for reading.

Much Love Gemma xo.

After Christmas Beauty Buys

Hey Everyone, In today's post I'm going to show you the recent beauty bits I've bought. Unfortunetly only 2 of them were sale items! So lets get started..

sorry about everything going on in the background i need to learn some basic photo editing

The items I managed to pick up in the sales were the 2 Body Shop products, I was after a new shower gel and was determined to pick up the Ginger Sparkle one however they were all sold out. So I opted for the Cranberry Joy Shower Gel instead, the smell is so fruity and delicious, and I really wish they did this range all year round because I love fruity scents. A little goes a long way with this and it really foams up as you massage it into your skin. I'll be distraught when I use it all up. This was in the sale and only cost me £2 for 250ml. Like I said I was orginally after the Ginger Sparkle Shower Gel because I adore the scent. When I noticed it was all sold out I just had to grab one of these mini hand creams because I refused to leave without something with the ginger scent (sad and pointless I know, but its my favourite scent at the minute and I needed it) The smell is really gingery and sweet and kind of smells like cheap coke (am i the only one that thinks that?) and I absolutly love it! The cream itself is very thick in texture and makes your hands feel wonderfully soft, its not greasy but does take a bit of work to sink into my hands. I find that with any hand cream I use though, so it doesn't put me off at all. This also cost me £2 and is a 30ml tube. If I'm not too late I think I will definitely pick up the Body Butter next time I'm in The Body Shop.

The other 4 products I picked up were from my shopping trip in Liverpool. I talk about the Topshop nail polish in this blog post. Next I bought my first ever thing from LUSH. The Comforter Bubble Bar, which cost me £4.25. This smells amazing its really fruity and I cant wait to use it. Expect a blog post once I've tried it out because I just know already I'm going to love it!

And finally I had to take a trip into MAC. I was after a new brow colour because mine is quickly running out. I picked up 'Mystery' eyeshadow with out realising it was a satin finish (this means it has ever so slight shimmer in it) Thankfully I have tried it on my brows and it is a perfect match and you cant see any hint of shimmer! I am going to be buying a new matte colour for my brows in the near future and using this as a shadow colour but for now its good enough for use on my eyebrows.

The second thing I bought from MAC was a lipstick. I picked up 'Girl About Town' which is a very bright fuscia pink with blue undertones. In a word the colour is amazing. The lighting in that photo does not do it justice at all! I've always been a fan of bright pinks and this one really is beautiful. The formula is very creamy and glides on really smooth adding lots of moisture to the lips. Regarding staying power I am not sure yet because I tested it then wiped it off again, but I think for these kind of finishes you get around 3 or 4 hours of wear. This lipstick cost me £14 and the shadow was £12.

As always thank you for reading and I hope you have enjoyed this post.

Much Love Gemma xo.

Recent Nail Varnish Purchases!

Hey Everyone! I've been a little bit obsessed with Nail Polish recently, even though I hardly ever wear it because of work, hmm, a waste of money? I think not! I'll get use out of them all eventually. 

Here's 4 that I've got recently..

(l-r, topshop firework, rimmel metal rush purple reign, nails inc st. james, gosh holographic hero)

and the swatches..

(l-r gosh holographic hero, nails inc st. james, rimmel metal rush purple reign, topshop firework)

Topshop - Firework, This is my most recent purchase from when I was in Liverpool a few days ago. I wasn't actually going to buy anything from Topshop, I was browsing the Nail Polishes for ages but resisted and walked to the counter with my friends without a single item, then this was amongst a few other polishes by the counter and I just had to have it! Its a beautiful lilac glitter with tiny chunks of multi coloured glitter in it as well. I've only tested this out once and I absolutely love it! Its a really lovely lilac colour and needs about 2 coats for a full on opaque finish. It costs £6.

Rimmel Metal Rush - 80 Purple Reign, This is another one I bought on a whim when I was out shopping because I liked the look of it. The metal rush collection has been out for about 3 months from what I can gather. This one is the plum purple colour with a slight hint of gold/bronze going through it and in some lights you can see a hint of blue. This is another really beautiful polish and again takes 2 or 3 coats to become opaque. This cost me £3.99.

Nails Inc - St. James, I got this free in the December issue of Glamour magazine (Glamour is £2 and Nails Inc polishes are £11 so this was an absolute bargain!) St James is your classic red and seeing as  I for some bizarre reason have no true red colour polishes I had to pick this one up (there were 4 choices with the magazine) As with the others a few coats and the colour is opaque. Applied on its own it is super shiny anyway but with a top coat over it, it has a gorgeous shine! This is the polish that has been gracing my toe nails recently.

Gosh - 549 Holographic Hero, This was actually a prize I won from ScarlettLondon blog. It's a special edition polish called Holographic Hero. In a word it is amazing the holographic effect is really nice, its silver with a variety of other colours as it hits the light. It says its a one night only polish, which is very true. It didn't last long at all on my nails, maybe a day until chips started to appear, I've read on blogs that it has lasted for up to 2 days but I wouldn't expect much more. Its a perfect polish for nights out and is opaque in 2 or 3 coats. It will set you back £4.99 if you can get hold of it. I'm not sure how readily available it is now.

I hope you like my very first review type post. I think the pictures turned out quite well for my first attempt. I'm rather pleased. Much more to come I can assure you

Thanks for reading. Much Love Gemma xo.