Beauty | Barry M Matte Nail Paint

Barry M Matte Nail Paint - £3.99 each.

I haven't written a Nail Polish review in what feels like forever, even though I frequently wear it. Recently I picked up two new shades from Barry M's new Matte collection. I had never tried matte nail polish up until now and I love it. I love how the finish is so completely different to any other polishes which I've purchased before. I chose the colours Burgundy Crush and Mocha as I thought that they were perfect winter colours!

I've always loved Barry M Nail Paints as I think they're brilliant quality for their price. From the pictures you can tell that the polishes really do have a matte effect which I love, however in the daylight, naturally, it gives the polish more of a shine. The top photo is the day of application and the second photo is 4 days after I had painted my nails. I wanted to show just how great the polishes last, which to me is something which is really important that I look for in a nail polish and Barry M always keep me happy with their quality of product.

I think Burgundy Crush is going to be one of my new winter favourites with it's deep red colour and Mocha will be perfect for winter, but for spring too, as it's a very similar colour to their famous Mushroom Nail Paint, just in a matte finish. As you can tell I love both these nail paints, although I don't think I'll be purchasing the other colours in the collection as I already own a lot, and I mean a lot of dark nail polishes. However, I will always replace these two and may purchase other colours if they bring out a new colour range. I think Matte pastels would be lovely for spring!?

Have you tried Barry M's Matte Nail Paint?!

Beauty | The First 2014 Haul!

It may be awful, but when I'm feeling a bit down I got for a bit of a make up spending spree! Boots and Superdrug are both my bestfriends and also my enemies, as far as my bank account is concerned! I recently headed to both, and surprise, surprise brought things from both! So here's a little look at what I brought!

Firstly, a trip to Superdrug is never complete without buying something from MUA! MUA is like my holy grail beauty brand as their prices are incredibly affordable and the quality is really impressive for what you pay. I'm yet to come across a MUA product which I don't like. Their palettes have always been a favourite of mine, especially my much loved Heaven and Earth palette. I've also been dying to try out their new Colour Blast Eyeshadow Tint and chose the colour 'Stay'. I also picked up their 'Smokin' palette and their 'Ever After' matte palette.

Next, I headed to Boots where I embarked upon a new adventure. I don't know how it's possible to go this long without one but I picked up my first Bourjois blush in shade 35 Rose d'Or - Golder Rose and it is the most beautiful colour ever! I also repurchased an ever favourite of the Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Translucent. This is currently one of my most used products and helping with any oilyness I've been having recently. I'm also always on the look out for that perfect mascara and after watching a video by Moree Milk, ages ago, where she swore by this Mascara as being the best I knew I had to give it a go. So that's how Number 17's Peep Show Mascara ended up in my basket! Finally, after hearing everyone endlessly rave about Barry M's matte Nail Paint I had to have some for myself, along with adding another Gelly Hi Shine to my collection. I brought the Gelly Hi Shine in shade 'Plum' and the matte Nail Paints in shades 'Crush' and 'Mocha'.

- MUA Smokin Palette - £6.00
- MUA Ever After Matte Palette - £4.00
- MUA Colourblast Eyeshadow Tint - £3.00
- Rimmel Stay Matte Translucent Pressed Powder - £3.99
- 17 Peep Show Mascara - £6.29
- Bourjois Blush Rose d'Or Golden Rose - £7.99
- Barry M Gelly Hi Shine Plum - £3.99
- Barry M Matte Nail Paint Crush - £3.99
- Barry M Matte Nail Paint Mocha - £3.99

So that's what I've been buying recently, and reviews will be coming as soon as I possibly can find time to write them, as it's starting to get hectic again being back at uni!

What are your recent favourite purchases?!

Beauty | Sinful Colors Cotton Candy

Sinful Colors is starting to become a well recognised brand which are becoming very popular amongst the beauty industry and blogging community. As far as I'm aware, the best place to purchase Sinful Colors nail polishes apart from their website, is Boots. I'm going to keep this review short and sweet because I could go on forever with my reasons as to why I love this brand.

As you can see from the pictures above I chose Cotton Candy which is a gorgeous, bright, bubblegum pink. It has been my most go to colour this summer. I've even put aside my usual Barry M Gelly Hi Shines. That is how much I love this colour!

The polishes are easy to apply, are very bold and have great lasting power. I have found that these polishes can last up to a week before chipping, and even then; it's only little chips at the tip of the nail. If you have the time to give yourself a good manicure then do it as the rewards will be in your favour by not having chipped nails and not having to keep touching up. I'm currently on day 6 and have only just touched up the tips on 4 of my fingers! What more could you possibly want from a nail polish?!

Finally, the thing which I love the most about this brand is that they have such a huge collection and variety of colours. The polishes also come in 5 different finishes including matte, cream, shimmer, pearl and glitter. There's something there for everyone, especially when they only retail at £1.99. They are one of the best highstreet Nail brands I have ever come across and I'm definitely going back for more!

Have you tried Sinful Colours yet?

Beauty | NARS Nail Polish in Madness

NARS Nail Polish in Madness* - £14.00

I have never brought or tried anything from NARS before, even though there are a few of their products which I'm seriously lusting over, I think it could be my student bank balance hindering me from purchasing any products! So when the lovely Beka from HQhair got in touch with me I was delighted. I am also a massive Nail Polish junky and couldn't wait to try out the quality of the NARS Nail Polishes.

Madness is part of NARS's Opaque Nail Polish range and is a limited edition Electric Orange, which is a perfect colour for the beautiful summer weather we have been having recently.

The application of the Polish is easy and smooth. I found it applied really well, without streaking and it left a nice bold colour. I only used two coats to gain the colour above (because I'm impatient!) But it could of done with three. The finish of the polish is rather matte, and personally I prefer a more glossy finish which just meant that I added a top coat to gain that look, which makes this polish ideal for both matte and glossy lovers. Finally, the thing which impressed me the most about this polish is how long wearing and chip resistant it is. It was only after about day 4/5 after application that it started to chip, which I personally believe is fantastic! There's nothing more which I love than low maintenance nails. I know for some people, you may think that £14.00 is a bit steep for a nail polish, but when it's this good quality and means that you only need to paint your nails once a week and not every few days, then personally, I think it's very much worth it and I can't wait to purchase some other colours. I already have my eyes on a few perfect for Autumn!

The NARS polishes can be found here to buy with a great range of colours!

What's your favourite NARS product? Have you tried their Nail Polishes?

Beauty | MUA Nail Constellation

I've just been having a little blog organisation and found this post still sat in my drafts, opps. A while ago I brought the MUA Nail Constellation after seeing lots of people's reviews about the Ciate Cavia Nails. So I thought I'd pick up MUA's version for a much less price tag at only £3.00

In order to create the Constellation effect you will need:

- Nail Varnish Remover to remove any traces of previous nail polish which you may have been wearing.

- A nail file to shape and polish off those nails.

- A nail polish colour of your choice.

- MUA Nail Constellation, I choose mine in Gemini.

- I forgot to include it in the picture, but you'll also need a top/base coat as this will keep it all in place.

To begin with I choose to paint my nails in a very nude colour in order to emphasise the effect. A while ago I received a set of Ted Baker Nail Polishes which I love and wear very frequently. They last a long time before becoming chipped and they also don't require many coats in order to get a bold, pigmented colour.

 Once you've painted your nails and they are still wet, apply the Nail Constellation to your nails. I chose to do mine just on my ring finger for a more subtle look. Make sure when you're doing this that you have either a pot or a piece of paper at the ready in order to catch all the beads which don't stick straight away to the nails. If you find your nails are looking a little patchy, roll them in the excess beads which have escaped! Once you're happy with the look, apply a top coat over the beads in order to secure them and make them last longer.

I think that this is such a simple yet effective look, which I love. I found that the beads didn't last too long on my nails before they all came off, around a couple of day I'd say they lasted. However, I only really wanted them for a certain occasion, so I wasn't too fussed. For £3.00 MUA have created some great nail constellations in 5 various colours which are very easy too use, not too time consuming and receive great compliments when ever worn.
If you're feeling a bit bored of just the plain old nail varnish and want to vamp your nails up a bit then try the constellations, you've not much to loose!

Have you tried the nail constellations? What do you think?

Lipstick Crazy

I somehow seem to have gone crazy with my recent purchases, especially lip products. I'm finding it a wee bit ridiculous just how many I've brought over the past few weeks, but honestly, they were all necessities!

MUA PowerPout £3.00 each Nail Polish £1.00

Firstly is MUA, a few weeks ago I did a post telling you about the new release of their Power Pouts. MUA just seem to be going from strength to strength at the moment. Whilst waiting for my train home today, I popped into Superdrug, (it's the worst habit I have,) and picked up a few of the colours I had my eye on. Luckily, they were very well stocked so I had my pick of the bunch. From left to right I brought Irreplaceable, Broken Hearted and Justify. They are obviously so similar to the Revlon Lipstains, but I have to say, already I prefer the smell of the Power Pouts than to the Revlon Lipstains! I also brought a Nail Polish. MUA have changed the packaging of their Nail Polishes and they are very much identical to Essie Polishes, except they are a lot smaller. I haven't tried their polishes yet so I thought I'd give them a go, and picked one up the colour Strawberry Crush.

Rimmel Apocalips £5.99 each Kate Moss Lipstick £5.49

Finally, when Superdrug held their 3 for 2 offer I couldn't resist purchasing some more Rimmel Apocalips, I now own five in my favourite colours, and I'm hoping that that'll be it for now! From left to write I brought shades Luna and Stella. I'm also wanting to try my hand at coral Lipstick so I went for a Kate Moss Lippie in shade 16 as I already own two, one from her first collection and one from her Matte collection and I love them both, so I'm expecting good things for this one too!

Hope you all had a good start to the week! What have you been purchasing recently?!

Haulin'

I am such a sucker it's becoming ridiculous. As soon as I step into Boots or Superdrug they're laughing!! The majority of all these lovely beautiful things have been brought because there was some sort of offer on them one way or another, except the MUA, I just had to have the MUA! This post is bit picture heavy but that's because each photo shows the offer. So if you'd like the laugh at how easy I get sucked into buying things, then continue to read and then leave me a comment about how foolish I've been. But one way or another, I will justify each and every piece of this lovely beauty-ness!

First up is Soap and Glory. They are my biggest beauty weakness when it comes to beauty. I will one day do a post on my collection, it's just ridiculous, and I just keep on and on buying more. However, I did save myself a whooping £10 as when you spend £10 or more on beauty products you get the lovely tub of Butter Yourself free. It would just be point black rude really wouldn't it? One of the things which I don't have in my collection yet is Pulp Friction and I've heard so many people rave about it and it won a Stylist Skincare award in 2012. It smells incredible and its self and Butter Yourself have the same fragrance. Pulp Friction costs £8.00 and I didn't want to spend out on another full sized product so I picked up the last Hand Maid hand-sanitiser for £2.50, these are just perfect, they smell great and I take mine everywhere. So this little lot enabled me to get my free Butter Yourself. Yaay! The offer is not valid on Soap and Glorys skincare range, however on their skin care range they had an offer of buy one product and get another half price.

 Next up are the Barry M Gelly Hi Shines. Again I have succumbed to bblogger peer pressure after everyone saying how great they were and I have to admit, they really were. Superdrug were doing an offer on the Hi Shines of 2 for £6.00, which I'm not sure they're doing now, but do make sure you check if they are. However, Boots currently have their 3 for 2 offer on at the moment. So from left to right I picked up Blueberry, Dragon and Papaya. I don't really have very many pastel colours for summer so these are great and I've already tried Dragon and I was so impressed with the results!

More Nail Polish? Really? Well yes, because I don't have anything sort of like these colours. Told you I could justify everything and plus NYC in Superdrug have an offer of any two nail polishes for £2.99. As you could imagine the stand was verging on empty as it was across their whole nail polish range, but luckily these two are gorgeous and I picked them up in shades Lincoln Square Lavender and Greenwich Village from left to right.

More nail polish? Yes, I promise you this is the last one and again it was bblogger pressure, it looks so pretty and everyone says how good it is so I have to have it, but it's okay, because it was free with the 3 for 2 offer at Boots. Win, win! The L'oreal Top Coat Confetti is an amazing top coat to give your nails that speckled look and retails at £4.99. Next is Bourjois Effect 3D Lipgloss. I've been wanting to try out Coral lips but I'm too scared to go straight in with a lipstick so I thought I'd ease my way in with those gorgeous gloss which has hints of gold glitter throughout it. The Lipgloss retails at £7.69 and I brought the shade Corail Idyllic. Finally after falling in love with the Rimmel Apocalips I have added another colour to my collection in the form of Nova for £5.99.

Lastly, I had to feed my MUA addiction with a few pieces from their Undress Your Skin range. Of course I have to pick up the Undress Me Too Palette for a bargain of £3.00 as they currently have a pound off it at the moment along with the Undress Your Skin Highlighter for £2.00 as that also had a pound off it.

 

As you can see all these things were necessities! What have you been buying recently?!

 

Miss Holly's Giveaway Prizes!

A few weeks ago I entered a giveaway on Instagram which wan run by the lovely Holly from Miss Holly and I have to give her credit for her lovely blog which I have been following ever since I started blogging. I was thrilled when Holly announced that I had won her giveaway as it was the first time I had ever won one!

Amongst all my lovely prizes were three products from Elf, which is a brand that I love, their products are great quality (well all the ones which I've tried) and are great for value. However, I'm not entirely convinced they're better than MUA, but still great! I'm excited to try the Tone Correcting Powder along with the Bronzed Look Beauty Book, because if their shadows are anything like their blushers then they'll be so pigmented. And nail varnish? You can never go wrong with nail varnish for a girl like me!

As well as the Elf products Holly also very generously added four more products, including Champneys body cream and body glow. I love my lotions and potions and these smell great. She also included a Konad double side stamp yet, which I'm not familiar with but can't wait to use. I love nail art but I'm not the greatest at it so hopefully this will get me more creative! Finally, there was a bottle of So...? Kiss Me Perfume which takes me right back to my days of being at school and it's a scent which I've never grown out of and still love. 

I feel so lucky to win such a lot of lovely things, so thank you so much Holly!!

You can also follow Holly on her Instagram @misshollyxo

I hope you all have a great week! If you've tried any of the goodies which I've won then let me know what you thought about them!

Hi, I'm Hannah And I'm an MUA Addict.

This addiction for  MUA is almost out of control! For some reason I just cannot resist their products. I think I almost have one of each product. Next I'll have one of each colour!

 A while back MUA had a promotion which was something like 45% off and five free Nail Quakes with your order - it wasn't their most recent promotion, but like always I couldn't resist. So this is just a quick haul of what I brought.

- 3 in 1 Contour Eyeliner Pen in black - £1.50

- False Eyelashes in Glam - £2.00

- Undressed Palette - £4.00

- Trio Eyeshadow in Innocence - £2.50

- Lipstick in shade 15 Juicy - £1.00

- Blusher in shade 1 - £1.00

- Intense Kisses Lipgloss in Quick Smooch - £2.00

- Lip Liner in Softly Lined - £1.00

- Out There Plumping Lipgloss in Pink Sugar - £2.00

Finally, the Nail Quakes which they sent my free were Jailbreak - the black, Shockwaves - the pink, Broken Arrow - the purple, Shattered Ice - the silver and Quiver which is the blue.

Soon will be reviews of the products, I have lots of posts for you but at the moment I also have lots of coursework deadline dates coming up!

I've also recently purchased a few products from their new range so theirs also a smaller haul and reviews to come on those too!

What have you recently purchased from MUA and are loving?

MUA U R FAB

Now I know it was nearly over a year ago since MUA released their LoveHearts collection, but recently I've been falling in love with nail vanish all over again and realised I forgot to show swatches of a few of the colours I picked up. You can read the original post here.

Now I'm no longer working at my old job it means I can wear nail varnish again and over the past few weeks I've been painting my nails with MUA's U R FAB, and have been receiving some lovely compliments about it. So I thought I'd share it with you.

 Firstly, I love the packaging. It has LoveHearts original logo, and is incredibly cute and girly. The nail varnishes for this collection come in 6 colours, all which are pastel colours and are great for spring and summer. U R FAB is the only colour which I think you can get away with wearing in the winter and Autumn too.

The only down fall to this product which wasn't too much of an issue was that my brush seemed to have not been made well and had almost like another head which luckily I was able to cut off, otherwise it made painting your nails very tricky, I think this must have been a manufacture problem and I hope that it was only with this bottle of nail varnish. The other colour which I brought was perfectly fine.

I really have fallen in love with this colour. It's a cross between a red and a dark pink. Depending on what light you're in, it will show different tones. One which seems like a very dark colour and the other a very light colour. Both which are lovely. I didn't put a topcoat on my nails once I had finished them as I was too impatient to wait any longer and had things to get on with. I now regret not putting one on as after 4 days they have begun to chip quite a bit. But when I do put a topcoat on they last much longer and better.

For £2 these nail varnishes are brilliant for anyone on a budget, and I can't wait to buy the other colours next time I go shopping.

 

Have you tried any of the MUA LoveHearts collection? What do you think?

 

Decembers She Said Beauty Box

I have only recently signed up to the She Said Beauty Box subscription and after receiving my second box I will be unsubscribing. You can read my November Beauty Box review here. I really enjoyed the November box and have been using all the products, but when I received the December one I was less than impressed and felt that the products which I was getting inside didn't seem to be my moneys worth. So lets take a look...



First off, I apologise for the quality of my photos, it has been so dark and rainy down here that I've had to use artificial light which doesn't work well when taking photos of shiny packaging!

Looking at the contents my first reaction was that I like the colour of the Nail Varnish. My second was it's a box full of sample creams, and my third.. TEABAGS?!? I know that Beauty Box's are meant to be samples, but I find them totally irrelevant to me, and Teabags as far as I last checked are totally unbeauty related?!



1. First is the Amie Spring Clean Cooling Clay mask fullsize - it's an extra in the beauty box as a Christmas treat. I'm actually quite looking forward to using this and reviewing it. Many people said that they received it in a previous  months box, but I am yet to try it. I am all for trying to improve my skin, so keep your eyes peeled for a post later on to see how I got on.

2. JING Whole Leaf Teabags - These were also an added extra into the box as a Christmas treat, and I know that they didn't have to, but I just can't seem to get my head around why?! Maybe the company had a whole load of samples that they wanted to get rid of?! I've given my mum this to try, but retailing at 15 teabags for £5.40 I somehow don't see them making an appearance in my tea and coffee jars any time soon.



3 & 4. - Next were these Doctor Duve samples for anti-aging. When subscribing there are different options of interest for skincare with anti-aging being one of them, and it was not an option that I opted for. Again these went to my Mum. She seems to be getting more out of this for me and she doesn't even pay the subscription.. madness! However, it is yet again a product which I won't see her rushing to buy as a full size 30ml Anti-Ageing & Firming Eye Cream comes at a cost of £115.00 whilst the Face Cream for 50ml comes at a cost of £129.00 and with Christmas just around the corner I think it is a bit unrealistic for mine and my Mum's budget.

5. YanNa Kiss Ghassoul Clay Mask - This is probably the most interesting product in the box and I can't wait to try it. It's beautifully packaged and is meant to be great for pampering. The Clay Mask is also for hair and body, so there will be some experimenting going on. A full sized Clay Mask retails at £7.00 for 250g

6. Minivita Baobab Body Oil - I'm a bit apprehensive about this product as I don't really like using oils due to being really greasy. However, the product description says it is non-greasy and absorbs quickly. The product is designed to improve skin elasticity and encourage the regeneration of skin cells. A full sized product of 100ml retails at £35.00

7. Techni Nail Varnish in Tawny Port - I love nail varnish's and as everyone knows I love my dark colours the most. This dark purple almost aubergine will be perfect for the winter months. This product is full sized and retails at £1.25 which is a bargain!

 

There are a few products in this months box which I like the look of, and some which I don't. I personally feel that there are just some better beauty box subscriptions out there for only a pound or two more. I have now subscribed to Glossy Box and I'm currently waiting on the December box to arrive and after looking at what everyone else received I cannot wait. Sorry She Said Beauty, it's just not what I'm quite after.

 

What beauty box subscriptions do you have?

#88 NOTD

Just a quick Nail of The Day post today, as recently I have really gotten back into the routine for making sure I give myself a good manicure at least once a week, and it's working! My nails are growing faster than ever and are in such good condition!

If you read my recent posts you'll know that I was given the Ted Baker From Ted To Toe Nail Beauty set for Christmas and used it for the first time ever, and I have to admit I was really impressed at the quality of the Nail Varnish as I'm always a bit wary when ever I get given products in sets like that.

The first colour which I tried out of the set was this dark brown. I always used to love my dark colours and that's all I would wear but recently I've been getting into pastels and more bright colours so when I wore this colour I remembered why I loved my dark colour and fell in love all over again!

The polishes come up very glossy which I love. It also has a sight red tinge to it when in very bright natural light and then the other times it's a really dark brown. Like most polishes it also needs at least 2 coats and a top coat to give it that perfect finish. I haven't yet tried the other 3 polishes so there are some more NOTD posts to come!

♥