How to use gel polish and nail polish together – gelly sandwich!

I’ve thought for a while about combining my normal polish with a gel topcoat and base coat but I’ve never actually got round to testing it as I feel like it’s a lot of time and effort for something that might not work out – and at the minute spare time isn’t something I’ve got a lot of!

I wear gel polish 99% of the time these days as I find it means I’m not doing my nails every couple of days and it definitely stops my nails from snapping.

Anyway, my lovely mother gave me this fab OPI polish (Make Light of the Situation) that I really wanted to try so I decided that this was the time to try out layering polish and gels. With hindsight I probably could have just layered it over the top of my gel polish like a topcoat but I wanted to try it out properly so I went for it.

I did my gel polish as normal (using NYK1 Secrets in Nude – full kit review here), using the base coat and colour coat. I then added a layer of the OPI normal polish, stuck my hands under the UV lamp just to speed up drying time, then added the top coat and cured as normal. When I wiped off the sticky top layer, everything stayed in place.

Some of the tutorials I read in the run up were about using normal polish only and just the gel top and base coat, apparently you have to wait as long as possible for every individual layer of normal polish to try before you add top coat and cure otherwise when you wipe the sticky layer off the top coat the wet polish underneath just comes away.

I’m really pleased with the end result, I think the glitter works really well with the nude gel and makes a nice, subtle nude mani with a nice sparkly twist. It’s lasted way better than normal polish usually does too so I’ll definitely be trying this again! I’ve got a lot of fab nail polish colours that I’m just not using at the minute because gel has taken over my life.

Saying all this I still want to get some more gel colours from NYK1 Secrets – a white, a light grey and a black with glitter I think, but maybe I’ll just keep experimenting with my polish colours for the time being. I'm still trying to be a bit better at using things up before buying new things so...

This is probably going to be my last post before Christmas so hope you have an amazing one!

Thinking about doing your gel nails at home - check out gel nail kits on Amazon.*

Feeling festive? Take UKTV's Christmas quiz!

I’ve got a bit of festive fun for you on the blog today - a fab Christmas quiz from UKTV!  

Do you know your Delboy from your documentaries? Your reality from your River Cottage? Then this is probably the quiz for you this Christmas!

There are three different levels to challenge you and have to admit I found hard really, really hard despite the fact that Christmas is usually the time of year when I watch the most TV so I went for easy on most of them which means I scored less points (oops). To find out more about the quiz or to give it a go click here.

I could actually see this being a great challenge for the family on Christmas day (disclaimer: I am not responsible for any family arguments/rivalries that emerge as a result of this quiz).

You can take the quiz here – let me know your score!

Kérastase Resistance Ciment Thermique Resurfacing Reinforcing Milk

I'm completely fed up of my hair at the minute. It's still recovering from the hair disaster I had about 18 months ago where my hair snapped off around the top from overprocessing so I still have some layers in there (put in to disguise the snappage) which I just want to grow out, it feels a bit mumsy and old fashioned - I want a nice, blunt, one length bob. I had loads cut off the length overall a couple of months ago which felt great, it was a bit wispy and sad at the ends.

The colour is annoying me too! After having to go from white/grey to having loads of root then brown ombre with blonde at the ends, I went back to a more natural blonde for my wedding but I'm still not really happy with the colour. At the minute I'm trying to force myself to just let my roots grow and finally get my hair back to my natural colour without needing to dye or highlight. I'll probably grow the roots out completely to my real colour and then be like "hmm, time to dye it."

As well as going for the chop and stopping using heated styling tools (I probably heat style once every 6 weeks if that - since it's been cut it needs way less styling to look good), I'm also working to find the right products for hair to keep it nourished and healthy. I'm using Ojon shampoo and conditioner, I've been taking hair supplements and I'm also using Kerastase Resistance Ciment Thermique Resurfacing Reinforcing milk when I blowdry after my hairdresser recommended it.

It's really good and helps protect my hair. If I blow dry it holds the shape much better. It smells great too (quite citrusy), feels really light in your hair and you only need a tiny amount so it's definitely going to last for ages. It's reactivated by heat so if you do use heat on it again it holds it in place, it also supposedly makes blow drying quicker but I haven't noticed that to be honest. I would definitely recommend this though, I've been using it for a few months now and I do feel it's made a difference to my hair.

As a kid I had ridiculously thick, shiny hair but after dyeing, bleaching, straightening/curling for about 20 years it's just a bit rubbish and I want to get it back to it's natural state.

Buy Kerastase Ciment Thermique here*.

BookYourLifestyle.com - make beauty appointments with ease!

I don't know if it's Christmas or work or just life in general but I don't seem to have time to spare at the minute. As ever, the internet is proving to be my saviour - I'm researching and buying everything Christmas related online, I'm booking doctors appointments through an app on my phone, I'm organising parties with families and friends through email/WhatsApp and finally booking some much needed beauty appointments using BookYourLifestyle.com

Basically, you just add in your location - have to warn you it probably works best if you're in or near a big city, though I did find some nearer me in my little part of suburbia - and the type of treatment you're looking for. I work in the middle of Manchester so making lunchtime or after work appointments at salons is really easy.

It's really straightforward to use and I found the process saves a lot of time trawling different salon websites (a lot of them don't even have websites) or making calls to find out if they do a certain treatment, how much it is and what their availability is.  There's pretty much every treatment you could ever imagine on there too which is really really helpful!

They're also giving away a pair of Huda Beauty lashes (you'll definitely have seen them on Instagram) with every booking made in December so if you're thinking about booking in for some pampering there's no better time!

To find out more about the services available visit BookYourLifeStyle.com

Having a bit of a makeover!

Just bear with me if it looks a bit strange for a while...being beautiful is never easy!