Children in Need

Hi guys,

It's been a little while since I posted again! Sorry!! I've just been so busy with work. We had a pyjama day at work today, in aid of Children in Need, which the children absolutely loved (and going to work in my onesie wasn't half bad!). I decided to do CiN themed nails and wanted to share them with you.

These are very basic as I didn't have enough time to draw Pudsey, but I really like the effect :) I just used the Orly Duo Dotting tool.

If you are interested in donating to Children in Need then you can do so here.

Sally Hansen - Girl Flower!

Sally Hansen's nail products have only recently been introduced to the Boot's store near me, so I've had very little experience with anything other than the polish remover. I'd heard many a good thing about Sally Hansen's products and as I'd never tried any sort of nail polish strip before, I decided to buy a packet.

I went for the floral pattern, called Girl Flower, as all the others were a bit too OTT for me. I had no idea what to expect and would have liked to have used two strips as a way to accentuate two nails on my hand, however the strips come in two packets, with 8 in each packet, and the unused strips have to be thrown away as they are real nail polish and will dry out once the packaging is opened.

Packaging of the strips

Instructions come in the packet and, following these, application is fairly straightforward. The instructions say you can stretch each nail polish strip to fit your nail, however this can and does stretch the pattern, giving white hairlines through the design. You then have to choose which end of the nail strip would fit best on your nail and holding the strip in the middle, place on the nail and stretch to fit. I found that there were good matches for all my nails and I wasn't required to do too much stretching!

The product claims to last up to 10 days. I applied the nails on Thursday night and by Monday night I was ready to take them off due to peeling, fading and chipping, which was particularly disappointing as I don't feel I put any real stress on the product.

For the £7.99 I paid for them I was very underwhelmed considering they lasted half the time they were advertised to. I would, however, buy these for a special occasion as they do look beautiful upon application and not like they have just been stuck on.

How do you feel about nail polish strips? Ever tried them?

Essie - Rock the Boat

Essie's Summer 2013 range has hit the shops in recent months and as soon as I saw the “Naughty Nautical” collection, I knew I wanted every single colour! I held off and so far only have my 3 absolute favourites, which I'm quite proud of! All the colour's in this collection have a hint of shimmer which makes for a lovely addition to the formula and doesn't make it difficult to remove, as so many glitter/shimmer polishes do (and which I was slightly apprehensive about when I saw them!).

 £7.99 from Boots

Rock the Boat is described as being light blue with a hint of periwinkle, and as periwinkle is one of my favourite colours I knew this was the one I had to review first!

The shimmer is subtle, however is still visible.

This nail lacquer is quite sheer and takes about 3 coats to reach full opacity. However, as you can see, once on the nail the colour is beautiful and whenever I wear it I get complimented! I found the formula to be easy to apply and wasn't messy or sticky. The first coat can seem a bit uneven but after putting a second on this evened out and I only added a third for complete opacity. After wearing this lacquer for 4 days I found that the colour had lasted extremely well, which is to be expected from Essie polishes and there were no chips (aside from general wear and tear!).

 I LOVE this lacquer and would recommend going and getting this before the shops take them off the shelves!!