31 Day Nail Challenge: Week 5 - Blue Nails

I can't believe it's already week 5 of the nail challenge! It just goes to show how time flies!
I thought I was going to love this week a lot more than I actually do. I adore blue nails and have several different shades of blue in my stash. The nail art I chose though was very fiddly, but I was determined to see it through and I did manage to do what I wanted.. I just don't love it as much as I thought.. maybe it's just the pictures that I don't love, it was so hard to capture them!
(EDIT I took some better pictures and I like this nail art a whole lot more! YAY!)
Here are my nails!

I'm a bit (a lot) of a geek and a gamer.. So I chose to do World of Warcraft nails =3
There are two factions (teams) in WoW, Alliance and Horde. Horde is red, Alliance is blue so I chose to do the Alliance symbol, which is a gold lion face on a blue background. Here is the original symbol:

I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out but the design doesn't stand out against the blue as much as I would have liked. They look a whole lot better in person too, the shine from the topcoat really takes away from the design in the pictures. Also, the topcoat kind of ruined my favourite one lol never mind, I'll deal!
The technique I used for this was tricky. I painted my whole nail with No7 Pool Side Blue, then painted 10 nail shaped blobs onto a sheet of plastic (I used the shrink wrap from a CD). When this was dry I used a small paintbrush to paint out the lion design onto the blue blobs on the plastic using Barry M Gold Foil. This was tricky, it's not an easy design!! Once they were totally dry I peeled them off the plastic, trimmed them so that they would fit on my nails and stuck them down using a thin layer of blue. The whole thing was so fiddly and complicated but I never would have been able to do this design on my left hand otherwise. I sealed it all with topcoat to stop it coming loose.
Here are the designs on the plastic before I transferred them! Pretty clever huh!

Gemx decided to go for a glittery sea blue! Here's her design and what she had to say:

"I wanted to go for a 'under the sea' look for the blue challenge. I love blue polish and my favourite is Orly Halley's Comet, it's a duochrome with flecks of gold, green and blue. I used one coat of Halley's Comet and added a coat of Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe which is blue based with green and blue glitter. I really like them both together, you can still pick up the duochrome underneath Across the Universe in the light."

I had my hands on Across the Universe but put it back... needless to say I'm regretting my decision! What a gorgeous combination! I love how the glitter is totally encapsulated by the blue <3

That's it for this week, I hope you liked the blue theme! Make sure you check out Alli's design too! Next week is Violet Nails so stay tuned!

-Leishasaurus

How much is my face worth?

I've seen this a lot on blogger recently and thought I'd have a go whilst it was still current, rather than leaving it several months and then not bothering.
What I use on my face varies, but I've gone with my most common selection (as per my recent 'most used' post). Also, what these items retail for and what I paid for them differs a lot. So I'll do the cost for both. Here goes! (WIP stands for What I paid)

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Foundation
RRP £10.99 WIP £7.99 (introductory price at Boots)

Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer
RRP £7.49 WIP £5.99 (introductory price at Boots)

Models Own Eyeliner Pencil
RRP £5 WIP £0 (free with eyeshadow palette that I wanted anyway)

Soap and Glory Supercat
RRP £6 WIP £4 (in 3 for 2 offer, have used 1/3 of the price I paid)

No7 Lash Adapt Mascara
RRP £12 WIP £7 (£5 Boots voucher.. plus I got a free eyeshadow quad!)

MyFace Blingtone Eyeshadow Raspberry

RRP £9.99 WIP £2.49 (clearance sale at Boots)

The Balm Frat Boy Blusher
RRP £16, WIP £1.40 (I got this in my first Carmine box -RIP Carmine- have divided the £7 I paid for the box by the amount of items in it)

Barry M Lip Paint 132 Pink Gold Sparkle
RRP £4.49 WIP £4.25 (bought on amazon as this colour is not widely available)

My face: RRP £71.96 WIP £33.12

As you can see I love a good bargain!
I think it's fair that I counted the eyeliner as £0 because I was going to buy the palette anyway, and I charged myself the full price for the mascara despite the fact I only bought it to get the quad lol! I was going to add the eyeliner and the palette together then divide by two and the same for the mascara and quad, but it only worked out at like 50p difference so I thought sod it.

I'm happy with the cost of my makeup, I have yet to use any of the items up and I envisage they'll last for a long time yet, so I think it's amazing value. The best part? They're all cruelty free.

-Leishasaurus

Tag - Most Worn Makeup

I'm trying to post regularly and make a effort with this blog. I saw this tag on Glitter on Glitter and thought I'd have a go. I got me thinking about my makeup and I'm going to try and use more of my stash. I only really wear makeup when I'm going out in the evening so I might try and wear it to work and use a few of my less-used items. I find that time is so precious in the morning that I don't get time to play with colours etc.. 
Anyway, here are my most worn makeup items:
1. Most worn lipstick & lipgloss:
I.. hmm I'm not actually sure. For a while it was Revlon Lip Butter's in Tutti-Frutti and Berry Smoothie, but then I heard that Revlon wasn't cruelty free and I felt guilty. I haven't worn them much since. I have a fair few lipsticks and tend to switch it up each time I wear makeup so I usually pick a shade to go with my outfit. I have a few from beauty boxes that I quite like and a fair few Barry M's. Actually it's probably Barry M Lip Paint in 132.. or 130.. they pretty much go with anything. I don't wear much lipgloss as my hair gets stuck in it and my bf hates it haha but I have a few that I like a lot! Bourjois do lovely glosses. And omg they smell AMAZING. The one pictured changes colour which is nice touch! It goes VERY bight pink on me!

2. Most worn eyeliner/kohl:

Models Own Pencil Eyeliner in black Soap and Glory Supercat - Black I use the Models Own pencil for my waterline and to tightline and the Soap and Glory pen liner for my eyelid. I love the Supercat, it's awesome! Very black and excellent control so I can be very precise. I'm pretty rubbish when using liner on my eyelid, I make a mess or blink, or end up making  part of the line too fat then going over the whole thing and ending up with a massive line >.< but I'm getting better. I need to work on my wings though! Some girls make it look so effortless! Grr.

3. Most worn nail polish:
China Glaze - Fairy Dust I pretty much add this baby to everything. I tried to think about a main colour that I use the most and I think it might be Models Own Champagne but that's probably only a couple of times more than any of the others. I have so many I can easily go through the year wearing a different one each time so I don't really reuse them often. I guess that's kind of wasteful. But I have thinner so they'll last for ages! I have my favourites but I kind of clutch on to them like Gollum, saying "my precioussss" and pawing at them with big eyes. I want to preserve them so that they're mine forever. 

4. Most worn eyeshadow:
MyFace Blingtone - Raspberry Beret This eyeshadow is gorgeous. It's a lovely bright-but-not-too-bright pink with tons of silvery glitter. LOVE. I got this in the sale when boots were discontinuing the range for £2.49 down from £9.99. I will replace this when it runs out, I think they still have them on the website. I adore it. I wet my finger and apply it straight to my lid. I have the blue one as well but haven't tried it yet as I adore the pink too much to wear any other colour!

5. Most worn concealer:
Bourjois - Healthy Mix - Shade 51 I like this concealer, thinking about it actually it's the first one I've owned! I guess I can't really compare it with any others but I'm happy with the way it works and I can really notice a difference when I use it.

6. Most worn foundation:
Bourjois - Healthy Mix Serum - Shade 51 This is a good foundation! It can pick up dry bits on my skin but I make sure I exfoliate and moisturise before using it now to avoid any dry patches. They're usually on my nose. I have an oily forehead, it's a bit worse now I have a fringe.. but I don't really see my forehead much because it's hidden haha I use a little bit on there but not much and if I finish with powder and it doesn't get too bad. The shade is good and I like the pump and the smell!

7. Most worn (finishing) powder:
Boots No7 Mineral Foundation I don't really have a finishing powder as such, I bought a mineral foundation with a No7 voucher just to try it out.. I got the lightest one but it's a bit dark for me.. so I use a very small amount to set my foundation sometimes and you can't really tell it's the wrong shade. I like powdering my nose with it, I feel all posh haha

8. Most worn blush:
The Balm Frat Boy I got this in my first Carmine box. Oh Carmine how I miss you so much. RIP. It's a lovely blush, a kind of peachy colour but it's got enough pink to give a nice glow. You can tell it's expensive, the powder is very silky and applies like a dream. If/when I hit pan I'll be buying this again. It's become a staple in my makeup bag. 

9. Most worn bronzer:
I've never actually worn bronzer! It's not something I've ever considered buying or wearing and I'm not sure that'll change any time soon! Am I missing out?
10. Most worn mascara:
Boots No7 Lash Adapt - Black I got this because I had a £5 voucher and there was a free eyeshadow quad that I thought looked very pretty. The mascara was something I didn't need at the time but it was the only way to get the quad so I got it. Funnily enough I've used the mascara every time I've done my makeup (except to try samples from beauty boxes) and haven't touched the quad. LOL. Well maybe once. I love how this defines my lashes and doesn't clump them all together. I have very long lashes, they're darkish at the roots and very fair at the ends so you can't tell how long they are until I wear mascara, this one makes them look HUGE. I only use one coat because I prefer them to look long and thin but I reckon this would be good for layering. It's very black which I like and dries quickly which is useful because I'm impatient. Definitely a keeper.

I hope you've enjoyed having a nosey through my make-up! I'll be pricing them up soon so keep and eye out for that!
-Leishasaurus
PS, Sorry about the pictures, the light was funny -.-

No7 Gold Glitter Topcoat

Last night I went to a wedding reception of an old Sixth Form friend of mine and rather than totally redoing my nails I decided to jazz them up a little!

I added the gold glitter topcoat from No7. It has two sizes of glitter, teeny tiny and medium-sized hexagons. The larger hexagons are still pretty small to be honest, smaller than other glitter topcoats that I own, but I like it! I have the silver colour too, they were £8 (I paid £3 for each, because I had two £5 off No7 vouchers) but I'm not sure they're still available.. I haven't been in Boots for ages now.. at least a month. I did a couple of coats to get a good smattering of shiny and I'm pretty pleased with it! I did my toes to match but I'll let you imagine those.. I'm not going to post my feet on the internet lol

 Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of my outfit, otherwise I'd post that too.. but I wore a pale green strapless dress with a paisley pattern and gold sequins (from New Look a couple of summers ago). One of my rather drunken friends pulled it down halfway through the night and I was left exposing my strapless bra to a complete stranger. That was fun. Oh and I also managed to hit a child in the face with a chair. It was an accident! I swear he was a vampire or something, he appeared out of nowhere! Either way I'm never going to live either incident down and yes, the child was fine.

All in all just a normal night out for me. At least my nails looked nice.

-Leishasaurus

Jubilee Nail Art

Heey everybody!

"Heey Dr Nick!"

Today I have for you my attempt at a Jubilee manicure! I'm not overly patriotic, but I do love England for its history and scenery =) so I thought I'd get into the spirit of things the only way I know how!

This manicure took just over half an hour, which was lucky as I was going to a BBQ (in the rain) shortly after. The bf played D3 whilst I painted =)

I made a few errors with this, firstly I did the flag from memory and didn't leave gaps between the red + and the red x, which was a bit of a rookie error tbh.. Also I meant to do both of the flags on my ring fingers but I did the sponging first and managed to sponge the ring finger on my left hand without thinking lol 

I'm still pretty pleased with this! I love the way the gradient looks against the white and I like the flags despite the error! (oops)

I also attempted to do Jubilee eye shadow but I don't really like it haha, still here it is!

I'm much more comfortable with nail art >.<

What do you think?

Let me know!

-Leishasaurus

PS. Here is a pic of my friend's cat Lucian who was overseeing proceedings at the BBQ

Crackle Top Coat!

So I once again left it too late to do my nail polish before going out so I had to take it with me haha! It's becoming quite a regular occurrence for me to be sat doing my nails in the pub before heading out to the rock night at Liquid! Anyway, there I was, in the pub with my nail polish trying not to become too engrossed as to lose my place in the conversation with my friends.


The design I chose was pretty simple. I had dug out my Barry M black crackle top coat and chosen a nice glittery red, No7 Cherry Tang, for the base colour. The polish pretty much did the job for me! It was pretty lazy nail art compared to usual but I didn't have enough time to really go to town with them! I didn't get the red as evenly covered as I would have liked, mostly because of the poor quality of light within the public drinking establishment but they look pretty good considering! I did manage to smudge them a bit when picking up my bag as it was time to leave, but never mind.. They look good and I've had lots of comments on them!

Barry M also have other shades of crackle polish out, and Models Own are releasing lots of colours very soon (as mentioned in a previous post) so I am excited to get my hands on other colours to try! This particular polish dries to a matt finish which is a nice contrast with the shine of the red beneath! I haven't used a clear top coat because I'm happy to preserve the different textures.

Anyway, there we are! Red and black crackle nail art! Ta da!

-Leisha