China Glaze - The Hunger Games

Top to bottom - Luxe & Lush, Dress me up, Smoke & ashes

Luxe & Lush - An incredibly beautiful polish! A clear, almost jelly like base packed with flakes that shine blue, purple gold, depending on what light you're in. Gorgeous over other colours. I may love this as much as Rainbow connection!

Dress me up - A beautiful creamy brown. Browns are my absolute favourite when it comes to polishes. Will sit nicely with all my other similar colours!

Smoke & Ashes -  I can't make up my mind wether this polish is an incredibly dark green, or black. Whichever it is, I can't take my eyes off this. It sparkles from a range of green, blue and purple. It is just the most deepest, gorgeous colour I've ever seen!

I picked up these 3 polishes over at BeautyJoint. Had to have these as I am a major fan of The Hunger Games. They have some really beautiful polishes in this collection so you should definetely check these out. I've been waiting 2 weeks for these to come so I'm so excited they're finally here!

Holly x

Ebay nail polish rack

 So today I bring you my new acrylic nail polish stand! I've been dying for some sort of nail stand/rack but everyone I came across seemed ridiculously priced. This is from Ebay and cost me £10.99 including P+P, you can buy it here. I currently have 31 nail polishes sitting on this, a decent amount! I think I'll probably buy another along the way at some point, can't beat a nice polish display in your room! I must say I have gone off Barry M nail varnishes so much now. I hate how they're still not properly dry and easily smudged after an hours wear, whereas OPI dries in like, 10 minutes! A bit of a pain really when they're so affordable and with such a wide range of colours! Where do you keep your nail polish? Holly x

OPI Pirates of the Caribbean - Steady as she rose

 Lately I've been obsessed with any polish that may fall in to the "nudes" category and this one to me does! I have no idea where they got Rose from, I see no Rose colours in this varnish at all! To be honest, I can't quite put my finger on what colour this actually is. I would say a very light lilacy grey colour? Hmm. None the less, it's absolutely gorgeous and right up my street! On the first application I found it to be a little streaky, not a major problem, as after the second coat it's pretty much a nice smooth coat. As usual with OPI polishes, this drys incredibly fast! Which to me is great. I'm becoming more and more intolerable towards Barry M's polishes which can still be dented I find even after an hour of being on your nail!  I always hate paying £10 for any nail polish but I love OPI so much. If you have a look on the internet you can usually get them 1 or 2 pounds cheaper from places like Ebay. Just make sure it's a trusted seller as the fakes on Ebay are ridiculous. Holly x

Galaxy nails without the effort!

I always get so jealous when I see people uploading pictures of their nail art, where they have beautiful, long, healthy nails, and always have great designs like the famous "galaxy nails" design, newspaper nails, etc. I've tried these galaxy nails before and not only do they require a sh*t ton of effort, mine just never seem to turn out right either. I've had this nail varnish since Christmas now, and I've never noticed this until recently, but how much does the nail varnish in the bottle look all galaxy/starry sky like? Perfect for a quick coat and there you have it - galaxy nails without all the effort. This varnish is called Gypsy night, and you can buy it from Topshop here for £6. It's a really beautiful nail varnish anyway, and is good to go after 2 coats. 1 coat is a bit too sheer but it's easily buildable and gives a beautiful finish. I'm sorry it doesn't show up so well on my nails, but I promise it's beautiful in real life.

Holly x

Moving & Storing my nail polishes

I was having a massive clean up of my room yesterday and was also trying de-clutter ( Is this a word?! haha. ) and I decided that one thing that had to be moved were my Barry M nail polishes from along the top of my dressing table mirror. They're pretty to look at but I'm trying to make sure everything has a place where it belongs so it doesn't end up lying around!

I decided to make use of my Laura Ashley storage boxes and move all of my nail related products in to the larger so far unused box that I had. I used some sticky labels I bought from I think either the Range or Staples to swatch my nail varnishes and stick them on top of the bottles making it easier for me to see them. Yes, it isn't the nicest thing to look at but sometimes I think convenience wins over presentation!

Speaking of storage, I think I'm finally going to give in to the Muji drawers! They always look so clean cut and neat, and I'm fast running out of places to put all the makeup products I have!

Holly x

What the Postman brought me today...

I've been eagerly waiting for the postman to drop off some goodies I ordered before the weekend, the most exciting thing for me being my Crest whitening strips. My only resolution this year is to have whiter than white teeth! If anybody can point me in the direction of any good products they know that would be wonderful! I've been using Blanx toothpaste aswell. Also my Models Own polishes, which I'm pretty sure I'm addicted to now!





I got 'Emerald City' and 'Pink Fizz', which I should've owned a long time ago but they seemed to always be out of stock when I went to buy them! I didn't bother swatching them because I know they will be somethings you have seen swatched hundreds of times before.





As for the whitening strips, I'll probably post about these after I've completed the set, It's 14 days worth of strips that you leave on for half an hour, I did the first ones today but didn't see that much of a difference, not really going to comment until I've used them all though! I bought them off Ebay for around £25ish. I'm a bit of a panicker when it comes to things like this, had it in my head that they were going to melt my teeth or something haha, time will tell!

Hope you're having a lovely day!

Love, Hol xxx

Models Own Autumn/Winter nail polish box set

L-R: Nude beige, Becca's Brown, Purple ash, Purple grey, Grace green, Mushroom. 

At the moment, these sets of 6 Models own polishes are £20 a pop! Now if you do your maths correctly you'll realise you're going to save £10 by buying these sets since the polishes are £5 a go! I suppose the only down side is you'll have to hope the sets come in colours you like and will want to wear.

Luckily, this Autumn/Winter collection is perfect for me. For some reason I've always found myself attracted to the "ugly" nail polishes as I call them! Muddy browns, greys etc. So I jumped at the chance to ask for this as an Xmas present. I hadnt tried Models Own polishes up until last week, when I borrowed 'Pink Fizz' off a friend of mine. I had only ever heard Amy from flawsandall raving about them, So I've always been very keen to try!

Let me tell you they do not disappoint! I always think the formulas of darker nail polishes ( especially browns for some reason ) are generally better than lighter ones anyway, but all of these are really great. They applied really well and were beautiful and shiny after just 2 quick coats. Personally I think they dry incredibly fast compared to some polishes I own, and they resisted chipping alot more than Barry M, but unfortunately don't last for a lengthy amount of time.

I know that I personally always love to see swatches of things before I buy, So I took the time to photograph all 6 of these colours on my nails. Unfortunately the pictures aren't so great but you can definetely see what the colours are like from them. The swatches are in the same order as they're shown in the first picture of them all together.


















Overall I think these polishes are great and in my opinion I think they have much better colours to choose from than Barry M. The only thing that dissapointed me about these sets is that the glitter set doesn't actually include Pink fizz, and if you ask some people they would definetely tell you that it's one of the best glitter polishes they've ever used. I certainly thought that!

Love, Hol xxx

Nail polish picks for a cold and frosty winter :)

I dont know about you but i love my winter nail polishes glittery, metallic, and with a lot of baby pinks and blues, think of when you look at snow and how much it sparkles when the sun shines on it! Of course you have your more tradiotional berry tones and deep greens but i think i might restrict those for xmas day, and in all honesty, i always get sick of seeing any shade of red nail varnish, and i'm not a fan of green nail varnish, except from Barry M's minty green colour!

Now, i know two of these nail varnishes have been blogged about in a previous post but they're two of my favourite, especially for winter, so i had to include them again!



Firstly, Mac's 'uncondtionally fabulous', A perfect winter glitter nail varnish which when looked closely at has circles of glitter which shine a mixture of blues, greens, and very light pinks. Next, Barry M's 'Blue moon', a lovely icy blue colour.



One the left another Barry M varnish, 'Pink iridescent', the glitter in this polish shines very similar to the mac one, making it another sparkly winter polish! Lastly, a Topshop varnish, I really like the forumaly of this, it can be a tiny bit streaky, but personally, it is one of my favourites! You cant go wrong with a silver metalic polish at christmas time!

What are your favourite colours to wear throughout winter?
Love, Hol xxx

Simple icey blue winter nails :)

Instead of going for the more traditionally festive colours like plums, reds, deep greens etc. I opted for more of an icey blue colour, "blue moon" by Barry M to be precise. Since i never want to give removing glitter polish the time of day i simply added a few coats of Macs "unconditionally fabulous" to my ring finger to give it a little something extra. Unfortunatly i think this combo would seem more wintery if it had snowed (which it had this time last year!) as i think of snow and ice when i look at my nails with these varnishes on. Mabey if we all painted out nails snowy themed someone up there would hear us and give us the snow we want! I know it can be a nuisance sometimes but sledging and playing in it for an hour or two until you freeze is fun! :)




If you're thinking about buying this Barry M polish, be prepared to pile on quite a few coats, the first coat is pointless and terrible, the second is better but you can still see parts of your nail, the third coat onwards is much better. The Mac polish is just what you would expect from a glitter based varnish!

What are your favourite holiday looks? :)
Love, Hol xxx

Rainbow connection accent nail

I've been looking for any excuse to wear Rainbow Connection ever since i got it the other week, and just today as i was admiring my Nails Inc. Bastil street varnish when i thought i could maybe just do an accent nail on my ring finger! Partly because I'm getting my nails done on thursday and removing a lot of glitter polish is a pain (Even though i have a simple but sort of time consuming way to do it, which i might be posting about soon!) and because i always regret putting way too much glitter and way too many gems on my nails when i already have on a polish i really like in the first place! I wasn't so sure that Basil street would look so good with Rainbow Connection but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out! Simple but with a little something something!






The great thing about this glitter polish is it doesn't feel gritty at all on my nails, and when you look at your nail from the side its completely smooth, no lumps and bumps, i did put over a Barry M top coat that i have just to protect it and to try and even it out, but you wouldnt even think you had glitter on your nails if you ran your finger over it! I'm such a fan of glitzy sparkly nails but i cannot for the life of me stand taking off glitter polish so i avoid it most of the time!
Love, Hol xxx

Product fail: Ebay 24 nail art pens

A month or two ago i was getting dead in to nail art and fancied myself some nail art pens, i had seen a load of them on ebay, 24 for around £10 which i thought was really good. Obviously i was a bit skeptical as to wether they would be any good since they were so cheap but either way i bought them anyway.

I was pleased when i first saw them, nice range of colours, a few glitters, neons, and one or two with a pearl sort of effect. They have the typical fine brush at the end that you would expect from a nail art pen/brush, i'm not sure if it was just me not being able to use them very well or if they were just poor in general but i thought some of the brushes were a little too bulky for doing fine lines?! Anyway, the part of the product that i thought would be really handly for me personally was the part that let me down the most! These pens can be used two ways, if you unscrew the lid then its a brush, but if you just pull the lid, its like a metal point for sqeezing out tiny amounts of product! I thought this would be good for polka dots or something. I found that out of 24 pens, the whole of 2 of the metal ends work! The rest of them i squeezed and squeezed and squeezed until i began to worry it was going to explode on me so i gave in. Oh! and some of them seem to leak a little bit within their lids!







When i first purchased them from Ebay i thought that it would be like, one or two of them that didnt work, not one or two of them that didn't work! The thing is, i've seen my freinds with these exact ones before and im thinking maybe i got a shoddy batch of them or something. Don't get me wrong i still use the brush ends occasionally but i think it's unacceptable that barely any of them work the way they're supposed. I've even thought about buying them again to see if i did just unluckily get a bad batch of them, but i would be so mad if i wasted another £10 on something i should've learned my lesson with first time round!

I would love to hear if anybody else has bought these, and if the ones they received work okay! I would love a nice range of nail art pens but without breaking the bank, unfortunatly i would be reluctant to buy these ones again but i'm not sure where i would get them as cheap! So i am reaching out to you lot, my lovely readers to tell me where i can find some!
Love, Hol xxx

Mac Glitter & Ice!

When i first had a look through the Glitter and Ice collection on Mac, i wasn't really too impressed! First of all, i know usually the little boxes of colour that represent the colour of the product on Mac are usually a little off, but this time i was shocked at how bad they were! I went on Temptalia to check her swatches ( I just KNEW she would have them ;) ) and one of the paint pots "for effect" was literally black, compared to the very light brown shade shown on the Mac website! Annoying!

But anyway, having a new love for paint pots from Mac, i can forgive them for bad swatches since the paint pots from this collection are SO gorgeous. I got two of them, "For Effect" and "Lets skate!". I wasn't a major fan of the colours of glosses or lipsticks in the collection judging by temptalias swatches, and i almost never even consider buying nail varnish from Mac, but "Unconditionally Fabulous" is right up my street! It fits the whole christmas theme perfectly since the varnish itself looks like the inside of a snowglobe after you've shaked it up! So pretty! If you're not a fan of glitter than i'm afraid this one just isn't for you.





Look how gorgeous it is though! It's really difficult to take a good picture of this because every time i look at it in a different room or a different light i see a different colour glitter in it. You do have to apply a couple of coats of it on your nails as it's typically a glitter varnish that spreads the holograms very sparesly on your nails, or even better pick a lovely baby pink/white/whatever takes your fancy and throw a few coats of this on top for a very wintery feel!

Now the paint pots are by far the most gorgeous things i have seen! Againt they are difficult to get a good picture of because whenever you move them you see a different shimmer to what you saw before. "Lets Skate!" is a lovely baby pink with flecks of what i want to say are gold! I can just imagine this would look so pretty by itself on your eye with a little bit of mascara, or i think as a highlighter as it is very similar to my dior pro cheeks that i have! Whatever you want to use it for, its perfect for winter.









"For Effect" is another gorgeous paint pot, a lovely black with silvery running through it. In all honesty, i would love to know people opinions on what colour this actually is, somes it looks black, but as i'm writing this it looks like a very deep navy. Again this would be lovely just put on to your eye by itself, either blended out for a more subtle look, or piled on for intense party eyes (Hey it is party time over the holidays right?). The great thing about this shade is that it is very easily buildable to get a more deeper colour, unlike the the pink shade which doesn't really change at all if you put alot on (But the shimmer it gives is amazing!).

What does everybody think about this collection in general?! Will you be buying anything? Being a glitter lover i was hoping they would maybe include some glitter in this collection, especially with it being called "Glitter and Ice" never mind!
Love, Hol xxx

Nails Inc for £2?!

The lovely Amy at Flaws and all tweeted yesterday about Glamour magazine including a freebie - A Nails inc. varnish! Keeping in mind the magazine is £2... £2 for a nail varnish that usually costs £11?! What! Now if you're a nail varnish junkie then the chances are you've already rushed out to buy a copy, hell you've probably bought 4 copies of the magazine and receieved all 4 shades with them! If you havn't it's the perfect chance for you to nip out and grab yourself one of these if its something you've been wanting to try out without breaking the bank. Crazy to think that you can buy all four of the shades that the magazine offers for even £3 less than what it would cost you to buy ONE from the Nails inc. website! Personally i can't resist a bargain nail varnish for £2, even if i did have to look at Kstew's stroppy face on the front cover!








The shade i was automatically attracted to was "Basil Street". I am such a nude person when it comes to nail varnish and this is just another one of my perfect shades! I think nudes are those timeless sort of nail varnishes like blacks and reds which are acceptable to wear all year round for a clean cut finish to your nails. I hope all you lovely readers take advantage of this wonderful bargain and if you do get round to getting a copy of Glamour i would love to know what shade you all go for!

Love, Hol xxx

OPI nail varnishes - The Muppets collection!

After much debate of wether or not to go ahead and buy those expensive OPI nail varnishes, i gave in and went round the corner to a salon near my house that sells them and bought two! If youre wondering why i would happily spend an unholy amount at mac but then complain about OPI polishes, its because my nails arent the greatest nails in the world, so i usually stick to Barry M! They are something ive always wanted to try though, I cant resist all the gorgeous sparkly colours for much longer, so i bought these two! I had seen the Katy Perry collection on various youtube channels and blogs which first made me really want to try these out, i came away from my local salon with a two shades from The Muppets collection! Lovely!

Obviously, being a glitter addict, i was instantly attracted to these two colours! Im not much of a red/pink person, but the other sparkly ones from the muppet collection were in blue and green, and i rarely ever wear those colours on my nails if at all, so i stuck to something more red which i occasionally wear! Even though i dont wear much pink anyway, i was so curious to try out these OPI nail varnishes that are packed with glitter, that i HAD to pick one! AND how flipping gorgeous is the varnish on the right?! SO MUCH GLITTER AND SPARKLE AND SHINE!

 "excuse moi!"

 

    "Rainbow connection"

I tried this briefly, unlike the excuse moi! The glitter is in a clear varnish, so i would advise applying this over maybe  a silver nail varnish?! I think that would look pretty! But if your all about nude nails and a sprinkle of glitter, then this glitter varnish is your pick!

I can safely say OPI has really encouraged me to buckle down and look after my nails in the future so i can buy more of these gorgeous glitter based ones, my nails are so flimsy and snap and ive tried all sorts of treatments! But ill keep soldiering on!

Love, Hol xxx