Essie Nail Polish Haul and NOTD

Last week I placed an order on eBay for some Essie nail polishes and I also got a Colour Club polish.  I used the seller recommended by Laura, Lollipop26 which can be found here

My polishes arrived yesterday which was very quick.  They took about a week to come from the States.  They were very well packaged in a box with plenty of padding and inside was a cute box which contained all the polishes.  It looked like a tiny wine holder that you can get from the supermarket:)



I had bought 5 polishes in total.  They are:

Essie - Soiree Mauve, Little Brown Dress, Charleston and Sequin Bash. 

I also bought Nothing But Truffle from Colour Club.

I have never tried any polishes from these brands before so I was very eager to get trying.

Last night I painted my nails in Charleston.  It's a beautiful purple/brown/mauve colour.  Last night when I applied it in false light it looked very brown but today in the daylight it looks more of a purple colour.  It's very unusual and quite unlike any other nail polish I own.  Here's a quick NOTD pic:)

I have to say I am already disappointed in the quality.  It applied very streaky and took very careful application to get an even coverage.  In the picture I have applied a base coat, 2 coats of the Essie and Seche Vite top coat. Today, only 12 hours later, I am sporting my first chip on the left thumb.  Not a great start but I'm still looking forward to trying the others:)

Have you ever tried Essie?  What are your favourite colours and did you get any more staying power than me?

Black and Gold Crosshatch Nails

Today I decided to have a little fun with my nails and go for a black and gold design.  I decided to do a simple crosshatch pattern and I was pleased with the results.  I like how my nails look with this pattern and I have had a few compliments on them as well. Not bad for a days work.
Cue silly pose:

I used:

Boots No17 Strengthening Base Coat
Boots No17 Nail Polish in Nightshade
Gold Nail Art Pen
Seche Vite Top Coat

I applied my base coat, followed by 2 coats of the black (Nightshade).  It was taking a really long time to dry so at this point I applied a coat of Seche Vite top coat to speed things up.  I then applied the gold polish in the crosshatch pattern and another layer of Seche Vite.  I'm pleased to report that I have had no minor mishaps with my nails today and they are still as good as they were when I first applied.  I normally smear/smudge at least one of them lol

Tomorrow I am going swimming and hope that my nails can survive half an hour or so in the pool:)

What are you sporting on your nails today?

Bioderma Haul

About a year ago I discovered Bioderma Crealone TS H2O.  This is a well known cleanser and it is said to be popular among models as it is very gentle on the skin and is ideal for removing lots of makeup, several times per day.  I first saw this stuff when Sam from Pixiwoo mentioned it in one of her videos here. She told us where she bought it from Pharma Discount which is a French based company.  I hot footed it over to their website and duly purchased a bottle.  One year later and my bottle is empty (see the sad empty bottle above).  So I went back to Pharma Discount to buy some more, only to discover that they no longer ship to the UK.  What a disappointment as I had been loving this product and really needed more.  One quick Google search later though and I had found somewhere else to purchase and they delivered to the UK.  I got mine from LeGuideSante which is also a French based company.  Bioderma is a French brand and therefore is more readily available in France.   

So just in case of any repeat episodes in a year's time I bought 3.  See the 3 happy bottles below. 

I had found this cleanser for sale on eBay also but I would have had to pay £20 for one bottle (500ml).  The 3 bottles above cost me £19.33 plus delivery.  The delivery charge was £15 which is perhaps a little expensive, but then it is coming from France and it is quite heavy so maybe not extortionate.

I also got myself some lip balms (well 4 to be precise, don't ask me why I needed 4 lol).

The lip balms are ridiculously cheap.  These 4 cost me £3.72.  They are lovely and moisturising on the lips and I love the fact that they are French and noone else here might have one like it.  Sad I know:)

So on total for the above lot I paid £43.07.  Not bad considering I would have paid £40 for 2 of the bottles on eBay.  I'm happy with my purchase and the service I received.  The parcel took only 6 days to arrive.  Of course I wasn't in when it did arrive but the Parcel Force man took it to my local Post Office rather than all the way back to the Parcel Force depot, so I had no bother getting the parcel.  I was able to walk to the Post Office after dropping the kids at school.

If you haven't tried the Bioderma cleanser you should.  I am in love with it and really missed it when I had run out.  It is suitable for sensitive skin and can be used on face and eyes.  I don't really rate it as an eye makeup remover but I love it for the rest of my makeup.  I use it on dampened cotton wool as this saves a tonne of product.  Your product will not be absorbed right into the cotton wool, wasting most of it.  This is how I got my bottle to last a whole year.  I used it most days too (probably 5 or 6 days a week) and sometimes twice in the one day although I normally only use it to remove makeup at night.  In the morning I need a soapy cleanser as I find this more refreshing at that time of day.

Have you tried any Bioderma products?  I want to try more:)

Nude Nails of the Day

Today I thought I'd jump on the nude nails bandwagon.  I have had this polish for a while and with a free house this afternoon (hubby and kids are out) I thought it was the perfect opportunity to have a wee play:)

The polish I have chosen is by 2True and is Shade 30.  2True make up is available in Superdrug and is from the cheaper end of the market.  Normally you can pick up 3 items of 2True make up for £5.  Great to cheer yourself up on a budget!!

The colour of Shade 30 is beautiful and I have applied 2 coats to achieve this.  I also have a base coat on and Seche Vite top coat.  The colour is perfect for every day wear as it's not too "in your face" which is perfect if you need to keep it subtle for work/school/college.  If you are allowed to wear nail polish to work/school/college of course. 

However I was disappointed with the ease of application.  Well basically it wasn't easy at all.  The brush is really short (although it does go all the way to the bottom of the bottle, so it's as long as it can be).  You get 9ml in the bottle and I found it really cumbersome to apply.  The lid/handle is quite large and is difficult to dip into the bottle for more polish and when you have wet nails this makes it difficult to apply without having any mishaps!!  I did have a few minor ones.  Maybe this could be resolved by having a taller, narrower bottle.  Compared with Boots 17 nail polish (which only has 8ml in a bottle) this is much more difficult to apply and I think this can be attributed to the shape of the bottle and lid.

I do like this colour but I'm unsure as to whether the faff of application is actually worth it.  Surely I can find something similar that is easier to apply?  My quest starts here!!

What Goes First?

Which do you use the most of? Shampoo or conditioner? I'm just being nosey here;) I seem to use more conditioner than shampoo. I only ever shampoo my hair once though. I think the old double shampoo idea is just a con to get us to buy more shampoo!!



Does anyone ever get their bottles of shampoo and conditioner to run out at the same time?

Red and Black Zebra Stripe Nails

My most recent upload to Youtube is a tutorial for red and black zebra nails. The camera didn't pick the detail up as well as I would have liked so here is a picture of the finished nails:)



Catch the video on my YouTube channel.