Review: A England - Sleeping Palace

Hey Guys,

I'm back with another review for you. As it's summer and the sun is still (kind of) shining, I thought I would use holographic polish. If you've read my previous post, you might have noticed that this polish was used in that nail art mani. 

A England's Sleeping Palace is beautiful, the colours really pop in the sun and even in dull light, you can still see the holo. It's deep purple base with a rainbow holo and is utterly stunning. I LOVE it. 

However, this polish has commitment issues - it won't stay on my nails for longer than a day or two. I found this really disappointing as the colour is so wonderful and I had high hopes (for a student on a budget, these polishes aren't that cheap). I don't know if it's the base/top coat that I use (though I don't have a problem with any of my other polishes) or whether it's simply not a very long lasting nail polish. I have nothing to compare it to as I don't own any other A England polishes. I must say that the formula on this polish is very nice, it's super easy to apply and you only need two thin coats to get it opaque. Just shame about the staying power :(.

Thank you for reading - it means a lot to me! 

Love Emily x

Geometric Negative Space Nail Art

Hey guys,

Today, I have some nail art that was inspired by a picture I saw on instagram (unfortunately I can't find the image). I decided to use some holographic polishes as it was sunny (for once) in England and I wanted to see the full effect of the holos. Get ready for lots of pictures of these beautiful polishes.

I used striping tape to map out where my lines would be. I then filled in each space using a detail brush/the brush in the polish bottle. I think I would have liked the negative space to be slightly wider but I still like the effect that it has. 

Colours I used are:

A England - Sleeping Palace

Lilypad Lacquer - Tanzanite Twinkle

Ciaté - Sugar Plum

I cannot get over how amazing these polishes look in the sun, they catch the light so perfectly and really show the spectrum of colours in the holo. What are your favourite holo polishes?

Love Emily x

Review: Essie - Leading Lady

Hey guys,

Here is a swatch of a new polish I got a couple of weeks ago but has been sat in my 'need to swatch' pile until now. This is Essie Leading Lady.

Leading Lady (in the bottle) is a red glitter in a deep red base. However on the nails, I feel as though it's more just a dark red polish with a bit of glitter that doesn't really show up. To me, it looks more like a textured polish than a glitter. Let's just say I was disappointed. I did 3 coats with a top coat.

Here is a close up shot, I think this best shows the colour and texture of the polish. As you can see, it's not very glittery, sure there are lots of glitter pieces but it just doesn't shine on the nails.

Overall, I'm not blown away by this polish like I was hoping I would be. I love the colour but the glitter has let me down. 

Has anyone got this polish and thinks differently? Let me know - maybe I just got a dodgy bottle?

Love Emily x

Birthday Nails!

(I'm just going to pretend like I haven't been away for over a month, okay? Okay.) 

Hey guys,

As many of you won't know, it was my birthday on Tuesday (1st July) and so of course, I had to paint my nails for the occasion. This was the first time in a long time that I had sat down and done some proper nail art (aside from dotting and striping) and so I'm not really pleased with how these nails turned out. 

The nails were inspired by this blog post I saw ages ago and had saved in a my favourites as I knew I wanted to use the design at some point.

I used the ring finger design from Heather's nails as my main design. I began by painting my thumb and little finger in  solid pale/bright blue.The rest of my nails received a glittery base. I then used a detail brush to draw on the balloons and outline them, adding a 'string' to each. I finished everything off with a coat of my glitter topper and a coat of shiny top coat.

Here is a close up shot of my artwork nails:

The colours used are:

(Base) Rimmel 60 Seconds - Too Cool To Tango

(Base) Essence - Space Queen

(Balloons) OPI Brazil Collection - Kiss Me I'm Brazilian, Amazon...Amazoff, Live. Love. Carnival, I Just Can't Cope-acabana

Who else had a birthday this week? I'd love to see some more birthday nail art so leave links in the comments and I'll check them out!

Love Emily x

Lilypad Lacquer - Tanzanite Twinkle

Hey guys,

Today I have a swatch of the gorgeous Tanzanite Twinkle by Lilypad Lacquer. My pictures really don't do it justice. 

Tanzanite Twinkle is a holo with a pale purple/lilac base. The holo itself is made up of blues, pinks and purples. It looks like a rainbow in the sun - its beautiful.

I tried playing around with my camera settings as I have never photographed a holo before! Some of the pictures are done on the 'sunny day' setting and some on the 'auto' setting. The pictures with a hint of blue are on the auto setting.

And that's the end...short and sweet but with lots of pictures. There isn't much to say about a polish so wonderful.

Love Emily x

Matte Skittles (from the archives)

Hey guys :)

Today I have a post for you that includes some nail art I did last year but never posted anywhere. It's new for you but not new for me. 

For these mix and match nails, I decided to use a white base on all of my nails. For my thumb and little finger, I used a small detail brush to outline the shape from the cuticle and then filled the rest of the nail in with my chosen colour. I used the detail brush for both my index and ring finger and a dotting tool for my middle. I added a matte top coat to the design.

Colours used:

Barry M Nail Paint - Blueberry Ice Cream

Rimmel - White

LA Colors Art Deco striper - Blue Glitter

I'm going to try and post once a week but I'm not making any promises, being a student teacher is hard work and I don't have a lot of time to myself anymore (hence the archive post today). Thank you to everyone is still sticking by me, it is much appreciated :)

Love Emily x

Apologies....and Vintage Spring Florals

Hey guys,

I'd like to start by saying how sorry I am that I haven't blogged since the start of last month *hangs head in shame*.

As some of you may know, I'm currently studying at university, I'm training to be a primary school teacher and so my course is one of the most intense courses you could pick. I had 3 assignments to do last month and I have another 2 to do that I have to hand in in 4 weeks. So I'll be a little MIA for this month as well...I am honestly going to try and update you guys a little more though (you can go follow me on my social sites for even more updated up to date info ;)).

Anyway, on to the nails....

I did these nails a couple of weeks ago and they lasted me for at least a week before they started chipping, I took them off and I haven't painted my nails since. That should be an indication of how busy I have been!

I began doing the roses first because I think they are quite spring like and then I wanted to add something else to the rest of my nails. I stumbled across this blogpost and decided that polka dots were the way to go.

They turned out like a vintage rose design - I love them! Someone said to me that they resemble Cath Kidston and I kind of agree with them.

That's all for this week guys, I am going to try and back to a regular blogging schedule. Leave a comment below telling me which day you would like me to upload and I will try my absolute hardest to have a post for you.

Love Emily x

Rimmel - Too Cool To Tango

Hey guys,

I have a swatch for you today! Not something I usually do but I came across this colour whilst browsing Boots the other day and I just had to get it. It's basically spring in a bottle. 

This ladies and gentleman, is Rimmel 60 seconds - Too Cool To Tango.

Too Cool To Tango is a soft blue that packs a punch with great coverage and an equally great name. If it's not the colour that sells me on a polish, it's the name. Cute names, funny names, play on words-names, whatever it is, I'm there.

The colour is intense and most definitely eye-catching. I can't tell you how many compliments I had when wearing this. Everyone said how beautiful it was and I couldn't agree more! When I got this and brought it home, I was worried that it would be too similar to some colours I already had. It wasn't. This polish is in a league of its own. Too Cool To Tango lasted well on my nails, I had at least 3 days before I started to get minimal wear at the tips.

A couple of indoor shots....

And that's all from me, something a little different but I hoped you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed wearing it!

Love Emily x

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Born Pretty Store Water Decal Review

Hey guys!

Who else can't believe that it's almost the end of February already?! Where did the time go! Today, I have a fairly simple mani that I did using water decals from bornprettystore.com.

I decided to get these ones (minus the ones that I used because I was a genius and used them before I took the picture). They are so cute, I want them to be real so they can be my pets and I can take them for walks and gahh...

They come with easy to follow instructions on the back. I did get a bit confused though, so just read them carefully. I would advise people to cut as close to the picture as possible as when I did mine, I left a border around the decal which meant it was hard to position when placing it on the nail.

For the nails, all I did was paint the nails in a base colour and then paint half the nail with another polish. I decided to use a textured polish to add depth and because it has opacity in one coat.

Colours used are:

Primark Beauty (no name for the colour) - its a cornflower-ish blue with a creme finish

Barry M Textured Nail Effects - Duchess

This is a sunlight shot - stunning!

And that's it from me on this fine February day. I'm off to do more university work and prep for a presentation that I have on Thursday (wish me luck!).

Love Emily x