Nail Polish Haul | Models Own, Topshop, Essie & Barry M

Hi Ladies! I hope you are all well and had an amazing weekend. I had a lovely chilled one which consisted of blogging, watching Prison break, eating Mexican food and having a mooch around the shops at the metro centre - Ahhh. Now over the past few weeks I seem to have developed a bit of a nail polish addiction. Each time I go into a shop selling beauty products I am drawn in by the lovely nail polish stands or every time I have a browse on the Boots website I am inclined to click on the 'nails' section.

To be honest, I have rubbish nails. I always have and I probably always will. For some reason or another they just don't seem to grow and even when they do I can't help myself from picking at them. With this being said, I'm going to have to revert back to my acrylics. I know they are bad for your nails and all that but I am so sick of looking down at my hands to see rubbish little stumps for nails. I also miss being able to wear pretty polishes and play around with new colour combinations and nail art. So, from now on I am going to make an effort to make more effort with my nails (phew - what a mouthful!). As soon as I get paid at the end of the month I've decided I'm going to treat myself to a set of acrylics and try and keep on top of them maybe giving my natural nails a bit of a break from them every couple of months.

As you can see from the photos above, I've collected quite a few polishes over the past few weeks so I decided to buy a nail wheel so I can share them with you all. I got four on ebay for only £1.99 and had so much fun painting it. If you don't already own one, I highly recommend buying one as it's very therapeutic!

So here is a little bit more about each of my new polishes ...

Models Own

Models Own is a brand I have only become interested in more recently but I am SO pleased I now have some of their nail polishes in my life. Not only is the colour range humongous but the polishes themselves are exceptionally high quality and very reasonably priced. So, as I was having a mooch on the Boots website the other day I noticed that Models Own had a '2 for £8' offer on and me being me couldn't resist a bargain. I decided to order 'Purple Grey' which as the name states is a purple grey and 'Pink Fizz' a gorgeous rose gold glitter. I'd been wanting to try 'Pink Fizz' for quite a long time after seeing it featured on various other blogs and I'm so glad I've finally got my hands on it as its definitely the most lovely glitter polish I've ever used. Unlike most glitter polishes that are watery and thin this one only needs two coats to be a completely opaque glitter with no need for a base coat. Purple Grey was more of a spontaneous purchase but I'm glad I chose it as its a lovely multi-toned polish and unlike anything else in my collection. If the 2 for £8 deal wasn't enough, Models Own were also offering a free nail art kit with any order. It came with a cute mini gold polish and a black nail art pen. As you can see in the photos above I have used the two together and created a black tip with the nail art pen which I think has created a lovely effect. The offer is still available on the Boots website here if you're interested. I can't wait to start using the nail art pen when I get my nails done so I can experiment with some new nail looks!

Essie

I actually won these two Essie polishes in Tereza from Cityscape Bliss lovely giveaway. They are the first Essie polishes I have ever tried (I know - shock horror!) and on first impressions they are lovely. I received the shades 'A Crewed Interest' which is a lovely muted pale peach and 'Chubby Cheeks' a dark coral (I realise it looks bright red on these photos but it isn't!). I think both of these shades will look amazing in the Spring/Summer months and I especially think 'A Crewed Interest' will look perfect with Models Own 'Pink Fizz' on the ring finger. Thanks again Tereza, I adore them!

Topshop 

Topshop has to be one of my favourite brands for nail polishes and as time goes by my collection is growing bigger and bigger. Everytime I go into the store or onto their website I am drawn in by their nail polish and last time I was in town having a mooch around, 'Awol' caught my eye. Awol is the latest addition to my Topshop collection and it is a very vivd, bright electric blue. I don't own any other colours like this but I absolutely love it and think it will look perfect in the summer months. As with all Topshop nail polishes it applies like a dream, only needs one coat to be completely opaque and is super shiny. The cute polka dot packaging is a bonus too!

Barry M

I bought this Barry M polish just before Christmas and was planning on doing a 'Christmas NOTD' featuring it as soon as I had my acrylics done. However, time ran away with me and I just didn't have time to go to the nail salon. Now although it is a gorgeous shade for Christmas with its flecks or gold, copper and red, I think I will get a lot of wear out of it all year round. It immediately stood out to me while I was browsing the makeup stands in Superdrug and I'm so glad I picked it up as its a truly stunning shade. It reflects in the light, has a high metallic finish and goes with most outfits. I can see myself getting a lot of wear out of this one.

So there we have it, the new additions to my nail polish collection! I also got my first China Glaze nail polish for Christmas but I couldn't find it before I took the photos for this post so that will have to wait until another time.

Now I just need to decide which one I'm going to wear first!

Decisions, decisions ....

Do you like wearing nail polish? Whats your favourite shade?

Lots of Love,

P.S - I posted about my giveaway on Sunday for the chance to win a deluxe set of Clip Hair extensions in the colour of your choice. They are worth £69.99 so its not one to be missed! Click here to find out more.

Monthly Favourites | July

Hey Ladies. Can you believe it is Monthly Favourites time again? It only feels like two minutes ago I was sitting down to write my June favourites so the fact a whole month has passed seems a little bit crazy. As it was my birthday in July, I was lucky enough to get some lovely new products making it easy to decide my favourites this month. So without me blabbering on any more, here are the products I have been loving for the past month.

Elemis Freshskin Dreamy Sleep Night-time Moisturiser - I bought this moisturiser recently with some of my birthday money after deciding I would like to try a moisturiser specifically designed for night time use. I had always heard people say they use different moisturisers for morning and night but it was just something I had never seen the point in doing. I thought, surely a moisturiser works the same morning or night? However, temptation got the better of me and after seeing the huge range of 'night' moisturisers on the Feel Unique website, I just had to try one for myself. I am going to do a full review of this product soon so without saying too much, I am really enjoying using it and my skin has been feeling softer than ever in the mornings. If you are interested in hearing more about it, keep an eye out for my review.

Models Own Hed Kandi 'Hedonist' Nail Polish - I got this from my mum as a birthday present and I absolutely love it. It is a bright neon orange and unlike any other shade I have ever used. The formula is great too and I have had it on my nails and toes a lot since the start of the month. I have done a blog post here including swatches if you are interested in seeing how it looks on the nails.

Yes to Carrots Nourishing Exfoliating Cleanser - I bought this on a whim a few weeks ago after my Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish irritated my skin. I was on the hunt for a cleanser that didn't contain any harsh chemicals and this brand claimed to be paraben-free and full of natural ingredients. It also contains small exfoliating particles which meant as well as cleansing it would give my skin a light exfoliation. So far, I really like this product and have found my skin looks clearer after using it. Again, I will be reviewing this soon so I will explain why I like it in more detail then.

MAC 'Sail La Vie' Lipstick - I won't say too much about this as I have explained why I love it here in my review. All I will say is the colour and formulation of this lipstick in beautiful. Why oh why is it limited edition. 

Topshop 'Infrared' Lipstick - My lovely boyfriend bought me this for my birthday and it has been my most worn lipstick this month. I love the vibrant orange colour, the formula is great and even though it is bright, I find it very easy to wear during the day. I am sure most of you have seen this colour before but if you would like to see a swatch, I have included one in this post here.

Benefit Erase Paste - I bought this product at the same time as the Elemis moisturiser after reading a tonne of good reviews. I have been using it most days since for the past couple of weeks and I find it works perfectly for covering dark circles. I will be reviewing this product over the next week so if you want to see before and after photos, keep an eye out for that.

Joico K-PAK Reconstructive Styling Oil - If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may have read my post about the Joico K-PAK hair range here. I have been really enjoying using the whole range over the past few weeks but I have particularly enjoyed using this oil. I am a real lover of hair oils at the moment and this one is great. My hair is left soft and shiny after using this product and if I didn't already have other hair oils, I would be tempted to buy the full-size version.

NARS Isolde Eyeshadow Duo - Again, this was another birthday present and I love it. I won't go into too much detail as I have done a full review here. I would really recommend these duos if you are looking for a handy high quality compact suitable for everyday use.

Revlon Grow Luscious Plumping Mascara - Sorry if I keep repeating myself but I will also be reviewing this product soon so I won't say too much about it other than it is a great mascara for length and thickness. It also claims to help the lashes grow which I am currently testing after a set of eyelash extensions has left me with snapped lashes.

What are you favourite products this month?

Lots of Love,

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Models Own Hed Kandi Nail Polishes | Balearic Cool & Hedonist

Balearic Cool | Hedonist

Hey Lovely Ladies! Today I wanted to show you these a-maz-ing Models Own nail polishes I got for my birthday. Now I realise I am completely late jumping on the Hed Kandi band wagon as every man and his dog probably has these already. However, they have been on my wish list for quite some time so I am very happy to finally own them. These two polishes are from Models Own 'Hed Kandi' collection which is basically a range of very bright, in your face summer polishes. There are five shades to choose from including Balearic Cool, Hedonist, Beach Party, Disco Heaven and Ibiza Mix. The first three mentioned are a selection of brights and the latter two are glitter polishes. The two I picked for my birthday are Balearic Cool and Hedonist, a neon orange with red undertones and a bright mid-toned blue. I decided on these two after looking at various swatches online as I liked how vibrant they are without being too over the top. I also loved 'Beach Party' but being neon orange (think highlighter pen) it was very 'out there' and I wasn't sure if I could pull it off. Now you might be quite surprised by this but these are my very first Models Own nail polishes. To be honest, before I started blogging I was never very adventurous with my nails and stuck with my basic Barry M polishes. Don't get me wrong, I still love Barry M but I have certainly enjoyed discovering new brands. As I'd never tried any polishes from Models Own previously, I had no idea what to expect from them. However, I was not disappointed. As you can see from the swatches above, the colour payoff from these particular shades is amazing. I was particularly impressed with 'Hedonist' which only needed one coat to get an opaque coverage. Balearic Cool needs a second coat but I can deal with that as I expect most polishes to need two coats anyway. I also loved how easily they applied. I found the brush was just the right size to cover my whole nail in a few strokes and it applied streak free. One thing I did notice is that Hedonist dried to a matte finish whereas Balearic blue was glossy. I didn't mind the matte finish but for swatch purposes I added my Sally Hansen Insta Dri top coat. Both polishes dried super fast which may be down to the Sally Hansen top coat but either way, it worked. I also love the packaging and I feel like the bottles are pretty big meaning a decent amount of product. Now for the best thing about these polishes? The price. These cost a mere £5.00 each which I think is amazing value for money. As I said, you get a good amount of product in the bottle and the quality is second to none. I will certainly be investing in lots more Models Own nail polishes after trying these. I can sense a new beginning of a new obsession, oh no! I got mine from the ASOS website here where you can also get the whole set for £20.00 meaning you get one polish for free. They are also available on the Models Own website here and at Boots here.

I hope you are all well. I am about to my finger and toe nails with Hedonist. Yey! 

Lots of Love,