A bit of loose glitter makes everything better...(pic heavy)

This is something I've been meaning to do as an accent nail for a while with loose glitter I bought on Ebay (from here) but I'm a bit of a football widow at the minute so I decided to go the whole hog. It's ridiculously easy to do.

 

All I did was paint my nails with two coats of a metallic polish that dries fairly quickly (from Topshop's first ever make up collection, back when I'd just started blogging, aaaw!) and then while they were still quite wet I dipped my nail in the bag, onecatca time obviously. I then pressed down the glitter, left them to dry and then brushed off as much excess as I could. Don't worry a lot of the remaining excess just kind of falls by the wayside as you go about your business.

 

WARNING: you WILL make a mess and you'll be finding glitter everywhere for days so try and contain your working area. I did it on a magazine to try and reduce overspill, it didn't really.

 

 

I think these are probably the glitteriest nails I've ever had. They may be a bit OTT but I love them!

This actually feels a lot less gritty than I would have expected, still a bit rough though. If you like wearing woolly jumpers or playing with your hair a lot, this probably isn't for you, the glitter gets caught on stuff. It's kind of a high maintenance mani and would probably be better sealed with gel (as long as it didn't reduce the bling!).

In terms of longevity, I had this on for a few days and it got less blingy the more I wore it. All in all a simple, cheap and high impact nail look that I'd say is good for a night out...I wore mine to work and got a few comments!

Trendy Lip Wraps

I'm sure by now you've seen these sort of things worn by the likes of Jessie J etc. But as someone without a professional make up artist and apparently "unusual shaped lips" I was interested to see how they worked for me after I was sent these for review. I'm not especially adventurous with my make up but my lips tend to be what I vary the most.

Each packet contains 3 sets of lip wraps and application instructions. You cut them down to size as per below:

Once cut down to size you remove the clear layer, stick it to your lips then wet thoroughly and peel off the back - pretty much like the transfer tattoos you had as a kid. Leave to dry and voila!

I put these through their paces, eating, drinking etc and found that as long as I was careful (which I am even if I'm just wearing lippy) then they last just fine. Removing them isn't really easy, you need to use something oily (like baby oil) on them and even then a bit of scrubbing is required.

I actually really did like these and would consider wearing some of the designs out (the more subtle ones), I think these would really come into their own for special events though like parties, concerts and festivals. Application is straightforward, cutting to size is probably the most difficult part of the process. Pleasantly surprised by these!

Trendy Lip Wraps are available from the Health and Beauty Store at Amazon.co.uk for £10.

Got some Gelac nails done

Sorry, another nail post here!

My nails were long and I noticed that a place near my work has just started offering Gelac for £15 so I made an appointment for my lunch on the Monday.  By Sunday night my nails had snapped so I filed them all down short...annoying.  It always happens as soon as I make a nail appointment! But never mind, hopefully having this on my nails will help them grow longer and stay long.

Your nail surface is slightly roughened before Gelac application which I'm not especially keen on (with Shellac this doesn't happen) but anyway, application took about 30 minutes and it was cured under a lamp.  I had wanted a red but there was quite a limited variety of colours in the salon so I went for a nearly neon pink instead which I actually quite like, it looks really juicy and shiny, perfect for summer.

 

It's hardwearing too, it definitely feels more like a gel than a polish and I don't think I'll have any problems with chipping, it'll just be the regrowth that's an issue.  Or if I get bored of the colour which is usually what happens!  I think this colour would look really good with a pink and clear crystal accent nail which I might try if I get time.  I'm happy with Gellac and I'd have it applied again.

This is the third type of gel polish I've tried and I'm interested to try Gelicure next as I've found somewhere near me that does it and the colours are exciting - they've even got holographic glitters and more unusual colours like blues and yellows!

Have you got a favourite type of gel polish or is there one you want to try?

Just a little thank you for reading and commenting...

Firstly, can I say thanks so much to everyone who reads and comments on my blog.  I really really appreciate it and if you ever have feedback on things you'd like to see on Beauty and the Blogger, please let me know by emailing or tweeting.

I just thought I'd show a bit of love to a few girls who I notice commenting regularly so here we go:

• A Lauren to Herself - she's a proper journalist who blogs about all the good stuff - beauty, fashion, music (plus I'm sure I've seen cake there before) and interviews celebrities from time to time.  Really worth a read so have a look!
• Rachael (LOTS) - totally unique blog written by a Yorkshire girl now living in the US.  She writes about long distance relationships, the differences between the UK and the US, the process of becoming a US citizen and her amazing collection of vintage make up compacts (amongst other things).  This blog is a total one off and some of the compacts are amazing!
• Shenmoo - a beauty blog that's only been going since February and has covered all sorts recently from HD Brows to heated rollers to exercise.  Her blog's kinda new so do pop along and have a look.  She also has gorgeous hair.

So by all means, have a little look at their blogs and if you like them, add them to your reading list!

Working on my big bun

Hmm, let's see what that particular title throws up in terms of Google searches!

Remember the ASOS Large Hair Donut I bought a while ago?  Well straight away I got my hair cut and no longer had enough hair to cover the brown of the bun ring...d'oh.  I cast it aside for a bit before getting jealous of my brunette mates who nailed this look so I decided to cover my bun ring in my old clip in extensions to stop it from showing through my hair.

Which I did (boyfriend is slightly creeped out by this):

I clipped the extensions onto the inside of the bun ring, wrapped them round as much as possible then got a bit handy with hairspray and glue to secure the ends.  Then I use as normal, I've totally covered the foam of the bun ring, as you can see.  I wrap my own hair around it then secure with a bobble and pin the ends if I need to.  I think I maybe overdid it a bit because getting my own hair through the hole was a bit of a struggle, I ended up kind of twisting my hair into a rope and forcing it through.  Beauty/pain, meh.

In the picture below I am indeed wearing a pink hoodie.  But in my defence I was going to see Coldplay that night and it rained.  A LOT.  The hoodie and the bun were part of my weatherproofing plan.  I couldn't help feeling a bit Vicky Pollard though.

Despite all this, I still like the big bun look (and I cannot lie).  I think I'm going to do a bit of a beehive next time with some of my fringe out and do the bun right at the back, quite a lot lower down, for a glam look.  I'll try and get some pics but I'm rubbish with a camera on nights out!

Nail products I'm interested in...Sensationail Starter Kit, Nails Inc The Medal Collection and Loreal Textured Nail Wraps

I don't think it's any secret that nails hold a special place in my heart (and my blog!), I absolutely love them to the point where it's probably a bit weird.  But anyway, here's the nail related stuff tickling my fancy at the moment:

Sensationail Starter Kit
Have you seen these in Boots?  They're kits for you to do your own gel polish, they come with a LED lamp and everything you need.  I hovered around in the Boots aisle for a while looking at this,  in terms of if you were to buy it all individually it probably wouldn't be far off the £69.99 price, except maybe the products would be bigger (I've read somewhere that each starter kit is good for 10 applications, then you need to buy more).  I'm really tempted by this as I love gel polishes but rarely have time for nail appointments, unless I find somewhere that does gel polish near work. I can, in theory, buy Shellac or similar but that can work out really really pricey.  Have any of you tried this, what did you think?  Is it worth the price?

Nails Inc The Medal Collection
These are to celebrate the Olympics (bronze, silver and gold, geddit?) but I don't really care about that.  I just like metallic polishes and these look like they'd be gorgeous on.  I want them!


Loreal Textured Nail Wraps
I've been ridiculously excited by these ever since I saw them on British Beauty Blog and can't wait for them to come out (apparently in late summer/early autumn).  I know Elegant Touch do textured nail wraps already but I like the designs better on these ones.  I was getting a bit bored of nail wraps, though the metallic ones will always be a winner with me, but this has got me interested again!  Have you tried textured nail wraps before?

Is there anything your nails are craving at the moment?  Have you tried any of these products?  What did you think of them?



Essie Ole Caliente Nail Polish

I've had this in my ASOS basket for a while but never got round to buying it until I spotted it in TK Maxx as part of a set for £8.95 for three Essie polishes.  I succumbed (are you surprised?).   I was quite good and gave the other two away as presents though so you know, good karma and all that.

I've hardly stopped wearing it since I got it, I love that it's a mid orange/pink (slightly pinker than this picture I'd say) that looks really glossy and summery.  If you're not really a bright nails person, this would be ideal for summer toes.

My cuticles are a disgrace in this photo and have inspired me to get my dry hands on a cuticle remover (Mavala) and new cuticle oil (Nubar) pronto.  Currently trying these out at the moment and my claws are looking in a much better state, I'm pleased to report, my nails are getting pretty long again at last too.  There'll be a review on these products coming soon!

My love affair with Essie polishes is continuing.........

My new make up bag from Claire's Accessories

Sorry for the slightly sporadic nature of posts at the moment, as usual everything has come at once - there are some fairly high profile launch type things going on at work which is keeping me busy along with a collaborative project for uni (groan) that we're all hopelessly disorganised, coupled with the usual family stuff.  Throw some trips to London and Cumbria in there and phew!

But enough moaning, just thought I'd show you my new make up bag from Claire's Accessories, not a shop I usually frequent but I was on the hunt for a big blonde hair donut that one of my friends had in Ibiza that I was jealous of.  I didn't find that but I found this:

I have a weird love of hummingbirds (when I went to Cuba I saw a real one, the smallest kind in the world called a bee hummingbird and I was so excited...yes, I'm a geek) and I think this just looks really tropical and fun.  I love how it looks like an envelope from somewhere faraway too!  The only downside is it makes me wish I was on holiday now.

The material it's made from is a bit weird, kind of like spongy lino, but it keeps clean well.  My old make up bag was ruined after a black eyeshadow explosion in it ages ago, I've still been using it though.  This cost £6.50 and is a decent enough size...big enough to take it away on holiday with me.

Enrapture Extremity Heated Rollers

I have naturally thick hair that's (unnaturally) pretty damaged. It's kind of frizzy curly if I leave it alone so I have to style it within an inch of it's life, and that tends to be straight rather than curly.  I tend to backcomb it or use rollers for a night out to add volume.  When I was asked to try Enrapture Extremity Heated Rollers I was VERY enthusiastic.  Heated rollers are something I wanted to try but didn't really know where to start to as as there's a lot out there and they range so much in price.

I didn't want a ringlety or permed look, just a natural volume wave/curl type of hairstyle.  Curling my hair with tongs annoys me and doing it with bendy rollers never ever looks right, nor does drying it with a diffuser.

 

These Enrapture rollers heat up in 2 minutes - they really do get hot - and this is indicated by a handy LED panel on the front of them.  As you can see, there's an on and off switch.  The cord's long enough so you don't have to drag a mirror over by a plug (we've all done it, haven't we?), the casing makes sure you don't end up with rollers everywhere and they fit neatly into their case.  The rollers are in two sizes as well so you can vary the size of the curl a bit or just go for a bit of volume. 

I've used these quite a few times now.  They're really easy to use, even for a hair dunce like my good self.  You just heat them up, then roll sections as you would with a normal set of velcro rollers, then clip using the clips provided (which are actually really helpful, I don't know if I'd have been patient enough to use kirby grips or something).  To do my whole head probably takes 10-15 minutes overall - curling with tongs takes me about 45 and always looks too ringlety for me - so add on 2 minutes for heating up time and you're easily looking at under 20 minutes.  Once they're in, they feel pretty secure and there are more than enough to do my full hair.  I experiemented a bit with section sizes and found I prefer to do larger sections with each roller where I can.  Here I am looking a bit moody in my rollers (I had the larger ones at the roots of my hair, and the smaller ones underneath):

 

I left this in as long as I could, probably about 30 minutes in both instances I've pictured, as I'm always running late, and went about my business with the rollers in.   The clips kept them in during this time, they weren't uncomfortable and they came out of my hair really easily without getting tangled.  The top picture is when I took smaller sections of hair, and the bottom is larger sections...I prefer the larger I think.

Can you tell I hate having my photo taken!! I then give my curls a quick spritz with some hairspray (an Aussie one, I love the smell of it) and I'm good to go.  The curls stay in really well.  I'm ridiculously impressed with these, just wish I'd tried them out sooner as they'd have saved a lot of frustrating time trying to curl my hair for hours and then having to put it up anyway as I hate the way it looks! I think they're well worth £74.99, especially as they come with a 3 year guarantee (I think I'm on my third pair of GHD's now....)

For more information on the Extremity Heated Rollers or any of the other products Enrapture offer, you can visit their website at http://www.enrapturehair.com/

Essie Mint Candy Apple

 

As a rule, I hate green.  There's nothing green in my wardrobe, and actually if I think about it, in my house (not including like DVD's, books etc that you don't buy for their colour).  There are certainly no green nail polishes - the colour doesn't suit me at all, and even less so on my nails.  So why have I lately had a hankering for a mint green nail polish?

After spotting Essie Mint Candy Apple on Mouldy Fruit, and realising that my local Boots has recently started stocking Essie, it was a done deal.  So at the earliest opportunity (my lunch break) off I trotted to Boots and picked this up.

Application was fine on the first coat, I was actually quite impressed, but it went a bit draggy on the second coat but evened out on the third.  All in all I kind of like the colour, which confuses me, but I'm not sure it looks right on my skintone.  It's definitely made me more interested to try out more polishes now that Essie is more readily available though!  This is possibly not a good thing for my bank balance or storage space!