31 Day Nail Challenge: Week 12 - Stripes

Stripe nails this week! Not much can be said for stripes really, they can look really good and can be done in tons of different ways.. I had an idea in my head for my stripe nails and this is how they turned out:

I used two coats of my trusty Barry M Nude, seriously guys I use this nearly every mani and it's absolutely fab. I couldn't recommend it more. Then used a paint brush to paint stripes in various shades of pink. The lightest pink is Kiko 372 - Kiko have such imaginative names.. (A quick look on the Kiko website shows that this shade is called "Nude" as well lol). The mid pink is Splash of Grenadine by Essie, the first and last Essie polish that I will ever own because they are not a cruelty free brand; something I wasn't aware of when I was in Denmark last year and got all starry eyed at the nail polish there.. It's such a nice colour too, grr Essie!! The darkest pink is China Glaze Traffic Jam which is one of the most gorgeous creme polishes ever. It glides on and is such a rich and beautiful colour <3 I got this free when I bought CG Fairy Dust in Sally's during the summer! I love a good deal!

I quite like this mani, as you see I haven't added topcoat yet so it could do with some smoothing out, and the lightest pink is possibly a little toooooo light... But otherwise I'm happy with it! Hurray!

Let's take a look at what Gemx did for her nails this week!

"This week for the stripes I cheated a little and used some Rebel Nails. I have quite a few of these from GlossyBox and I never think to try them. They are really easy to apply, just warm them up with a hairdryer, stick them in place and file off the excess and they are done! I do like how clean and neat they look and although I always feel like they are going to come off if I don't keep smoothing them down, they are really stuck on. I had several showers with them on and they haven't budged!"

I have never used nail wraps, they always seem overly expensive to me and I would always choose to buy a bottle of polish over a pack of wraps. Having said that these do look really good and I'm glad that Gem tried them out and liked them! I think I have two sets of wraps from beauty boxes that I set aside.. I tend to hang onto things for ages and not use them so maybe I'll have a go for a Christmas party or a special occasion =)

That's about it! I hope you enjoyed the post, please pop over to see Alli's Striped nails too!

-Lei

31 Day Nail Challenge: Week 4 - Green Nails

It's already week 4 in the nail art challenge that Morgan, Gemx and myself are doing together. Time flies! The obvious choice for green nails in my eyes was dinosaurs. I love dinosaurs. I thought for a while about doing Yoshi, everyone's favourite dinosaur! But I forgot to take my red nail art pen with me to my bf's for the weekend so I had to rethink. This is what I came up with!

Super Mario 1up Mushrooms! YAY! I used two coats of China Glaze Gaga for Green from my birthday haul, and my nail art pens for the details. I totally geeked out whilst doing these. Ok well no I was watching Downton Abbey on Sky+ lol but inside I was geeking out. I'm such a Nintendo fangirl and love the whole Mario/Yoshi franchise. Did you know that Kirby celebrated his 25th birthday only a few days ago? Happy Birthday you pink ball of joy! <3

Anyway. Enough of that. I now have 2 more lives than my cat, though my brother asked if I should count my actual life because he said "you haven't got one". *sad face*

Gemx and I met up in London yesterday for a mammoth nail varnish buying session. It went well. I'll do a post on that very soon! She was telling me about the green nails she did and how she wanted to redo them but didn't have time. They look fine to me though! Here is her green manicure!

Here's what Gemx has to say! 

"Here are my green nails! I had a hard time thinking of a green theme,but I've been meaning to try this green glitter polish for ages, so I decided this was the time to try it! I first used a coat of Nails Inc (London Nights) which is a great one coat black and one coat of Filthy Gorgeous Rock Star (Tarnished Gold) over the top. Tarnished gold is definitely a misleading name, it looks pretty green to me, but it's a really nice dense glitter with small and large glitter bits."

I have this same glitter polish and it definitely looks much more limey than the picture shows here! It's so pretty!

So there we have greeeeen nails! These were super fun to do and not too hard either yay! Plus my bf really liked them too =)

Let me know what you think and be sure to check out Morgan's green nails too!

-Leishasaurus

31 Day Nail Challenge: Week 2 - Orange Nails

Helloooo,
It's that time again! Morgan and I are doing the 31 Day Nail Challenge with one design a week!

So the theme for this week is Orange nails. I racked my brains for ideas. "What's orange?" I thought. Well there are lots of things that are orange tbh but it wasn't until yesterday that I hit on the *perfect* idea! So here we go, my version of Orange nails!

Cute orange foxes!! <3 Ah this is possibly my favourite nail art to date, I just know that I'm not going to want to take these off. Ever. I *love* foxes. Check out the adorable fox pyjamas in the photos, they were from Topshop last year and I bought two pairs because I love them so much!

For this design I used one coat of Barry M Nude for the base then for the foxes I used China Glaze Riveting, which was given to me for my birthday by my friends Sandra and Mike (hi guys if you're reading!). I only did one coat as it was so vibrant but I think in some places it needed two as there are a couple of patches. I did a curve about 2/3 up my nail then added points for the ears. The rest was done with my nail art pens.

Gemx sent me an email with her designs in and here they are!

Here's what Gemx had to say!
"I really love orange nail polish. I have two favourites, Illamasqua Gamma because it's so bright and lovely and the one I used for this Models Own Golden Peach. It's a pale orange with a pretty golden shimmer. I painted the tips orange and then added a coat of OPI Pirouette My Whistle. It's my favourite glitter at the moment with small silver glitter and larger sheer white hex glitter. "

I love coloured tips, especially orange. They just look so pretty! I adore Models Own Golden Peach, it's one of my favourite polishes! I love the addition of the glitter and I wish I could buy this one for myself but since OPI were taken over by Coty I refuse to buy their polish. It's sad as they were my favourite brand once.

Anyway. Orange for the win! When I was deciding which polish to use I had a browse through my stash and pulled out all of my oranges.. I thought you might like to see them!

They are as follows: 

Top: Rimmel - Apricot Punch / Natural Collection - Antique Coral / 17 - Tropical Island / Exposed - Sweet Caroline / Sinful Colours - Tapping Nails, Big Daddy, UFO, Cloud 9 / Revlon Orange Fizz.

Bottom: Leighton Denny - Hanky Panky / Models Own - Orangeade, Tangerine Queen, Golden Peach, Tropical Sun /  Nails Inc - Chelsea Flower Show / OPI - Goin' Ape-ricot! / China Glaze - Riveting, Papaya Punch.

Gemx mentioned her favourite oranges so I probably should too, though it's hard to pick! If I had to choose one it would probably be UFO, it's a stunning glitter in an orange jelly base. Riveting is now firmly on my favourites list too! I hadn't realised how much I love orange until this post, woot go orange!!

That's it for now, I hope you enjoyed mine and Gemx's nail art! Let me know! Also, make sure you pop over and see Morgan's orange nails too!

-Leishasaurus

P.S. Some of my orange polishes were purchased over a year ago and are not CF. Of the brands mentioned in this post, I no longer buy Rimmel, Revlon or OPI.

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 -.-

China Glaze - Electric Beat

Woot more China Glaze! This is another birthday polish from the Spring 2012 Electropop collection. It's called Electric Beat and oh my it's so pretty!
I ummed and arred about this one for a while before I hopped off the bus mid-route to grab it and 3 others, then hopped on the next bus and continued my journey.. I already have a couple of periwinkle colours, Models Own - Beth's Blue and Nails Inc, and had trouble picturing them for a mental comparison. In the end I thought sod it, 3 polishes in almost the same shade isn't a total disaster especially if the shade is one of your favourites, and took the plunge. I'm really glad I did!

It's actually a lot more blue than the ones I already have and a slightly darker shade as well. It's more of a mid tone colour whereas Beth's Blue is pale, almost pastel. I applied 2 (3 on a couple of fingers) coats on the Thursday evening before visiting the bf for the bank holiday weekend and took it off the following Wedsnesday. In that time only my index fingers chipped and that was because I was pretty careless and also because once it had chipped a tiny bit I couldn't help but fiddle with the uneven texture and make it worse.
Why.
Why do I do that?
Anyway.
The compulsive addition of Fairy Dust made the polish look a lot paler than it had done without it. I love it. These sorts of blue really suit me =)
Here's a blurry close up of the glitter.

And here's a cat looking stupid.

China Glaze - Make Some Noise

Here is one of the polishes that I bought myself for my birthday. This one is Make Some Noise by China Glaze. It was around £6 and in a buy one get one half price deal at Sallys.

I can't remember how many coats this was but it would have been 2-3. It's a gorgeous colour and applied very smoothly. I added a layer of CG Fairy Dust because I couldn't leave it alone and because I'm addicted to adding FD to everything haha! It's a hard colour to capture, it looks very red here but it's more coraly in reality.

Pretty! My hands always look a weird colour in photos.. I think my skin is very transparent so it looks strange. My skin definitely isn't that pink in real life! 

I love China Glaze so much. After finding OPI, falling in love and then finding out they'd been sold to Coty (who test on animals), China Glaze was there for me; my proverbial shoulder to cry on. Whilst I still have residual pangs about OPI shades that I can now never in good conscience own, I can cope better with CG by my side. And omg Fairy Dust <3

Hopefully I'm picking up a Helmer in the next few weeks when I manage to get vaguely near enough to an Ikea to beg to be allowed to go (shipping is now £10! Ouch!) and when I get it, this polish along with its CG associates is going straight into the favourites draw!

Do you have a favourite nail varnish brand?

-Leishasaurus.

Birthday China Glaze Haul!

So my birthday was just a massive excuse to buy nail varnish.
First I got these four...

 China Glaze: Naked, Flying Dragon(Neon), Blue Sparrow(Neon), Make Some Noise

  Then I got sad about being older again and got four more.

Orly: Red Carpet, China Glaze: Make Some noise, Champagne Bubbles, Gaga for Green, Electric Beat, Blue Sparrow(Neon), Flying Dragon(Neon), Naked.

Arranging them in rainbow order made me feel a lot better about myself.

And they complimented my amazing birthday cake!

He tasted of lemon... mmm lemony...

-Leishasaurus.

P.S. Yup, Champagne Bubbles was actually £0.42. Bargain.