Pretty Serious Cosmetics - Liquid Leprechaun

Hi Everyone,

I'm sharing one of my latest polishes today, from a company I have wanted to try for a while! Pretty Serious seems to have it's head on straight - I love that it's a company with ethics, creating fantastic vegan and cruelty free products, meaning anyone can enjoy them. I'm not vegan, or vegetarian, but I appreciate how hard it must be for people to find great products and stick to their personal beliefs.
They say...

'Pretty Serious Cosmetics is an Australian based company creating cruelty free and vegan products. Our products are moulded with personality, fun and class.'

Whats not to like?

Anyway, this is one of two Pretty Serious nail polishes that were bought for me as a gift from the hubby! Call it a 'thank you and I'm sorry and thank you' gift. It's a long story, but it involves his car, being woken up at 4am whilst he's away at a meeting, and me kinda saving the day. The sorry bit is because it was 4am. As in, in the morning. Who knew it could even be that early?!?

Enough of my ramblings, lets have a look!

The first thing I love: the name. Liquid Leprechaun. Makes me think of a 'Will it Blend?' video. Poor little leprechauns, but, ya know...

The second thing: the packaging. Their avatar/logo/company goddess is gorgeous, really well designed and pretty much just fab. I love the detail they have put into it too. It makes me think that they care about their products, and to be honest, its what I would do too.

 The third thing I love: OMG the formula. LOVE. Its beautiful. Not what I would expect for a glitter - this applies like an absolute dream. This is two coats - with about two coats of top coat to smooth it out. No clean up. None required. That is not usual for me at all! So yeah, two thumbs up from me!

The blurry sparklies! <3

Oh my, it's beautiful, isn't it? I've had so many compliments wearing this. So many. For someone who doesn't often 'do' green, this is a huge win!

The fourth thing I love: their service. The order was placed at 5am, Thursday 18th of July. It arrived at my home on Wednesday 24th of July. (I got it on the 25th as there was no one home to sign for the parcel.)
Let's just take a moment to appreciate the fact that it took less than a week for these to work their way to the UK from Australia! Bloody fabulous! (Don't get me started on the UK Amazon seller who took 26 days to post a book to me... grrrr.)

So what do we think? I think Pretty Serious have just rekindled my love for glitters. I'm not even going to moan about removal. I can't wait to wear the next one... stay tuned to see for yourself!

Love Charlotte x

My Weekend Nails!

Hi Everyone!

I hope you have had a chance to enjoy some of the sunshine we've had over the last few days! We went to visit the Newlyweds last night for a barbecue and to see their beautiful wedding photos! We stayed out until the sun was hidden behind the houses, and then watched a lovely slide show! It was so fun to remember all of the things we did that day! And, I have to say, my sister made the MOST beautiful bride. Stunning. So jealous!! Haha!

Anyway, I actually painted my nails on Saturday morning after throwing a minor hissy fit with the nails I had been doing. I had a lovely lilac gradient pretty much finished, when I knocked a nail. Smudge.

I repaired it, and then knocked another one. Smudge.

I repaired that, and knocked the final one. Smudge. Off it came.That remains a mani for another day - perhaps when I have more time and patience!

After it all, I'm kinda glad that that did happens. I mean, they say everything happens for a reason, don't they? And in this situation, I think I had the smudgies so that I could find this beautiful combination.

This is Sally Hansen Eel Skin (my favourite grey polish!) and the stunning OPI DS Coronation (a birthday gift from the lovely Beth)! I already have a couple of mini Coronation bottles, as the full size ones seem to be discontinued, and if they had ever run out, I probably would have cried. Yes, actual tears. Beth (fairy-glam mother and granter of wishes) managed to find me a surprise full size bottle for my birthday! Is she awesome, or what?

Anyway, lets have a look!

 

These first few shots show my nails in natural lighting, which shows the beautiful pale grey base, and the almost speckled effect Coronation leaves over the top. You can also see the slightest hint of the holographic effect of the polish. Pretty!

I also needed a few shots with the flash too, just to show how gorgeous the scattered holo is in the light. I love how this switches so elegantly from being a grey mani, to one that is full of colour! A beautiful transition!

What do you think of this combination? Do you share my love of all things holo?

I know I certainly loved it enough to keep it on all weekend. The only question I have left, is what should I put on my nails now? This is a tough act to follow...

Thanks for reading,

Love Charlotte x

Essie - Sexy Divide

Hi Everyone,

It would appear that I have fallen for another brand of polishes. I am cheating on China Glaze. And OPI. And, well lots of other brands that I have been loving for a while now. What can I say, I'm a loving girl!

Beth - fairy glam-mother,  blogger, and fellow polish fiend - has been telling me for ages now that Essie polishes are awesome.

They're expensive, I said - I can get a China Glaze for that.

She rolled her eyes at me, and told me again that I should try them. She loves them, so I probably would too.

If there's one thing you should know about Beth, she is ALWAYS right. I can't think of a time where she was wrong. I wish I could... only joking... But seriously, the girl knows things.

When the latest lot of mail came from Boots (Double Advantage points... WOOO!) I noticed that they had three for two on all cosmetics. You know where this is going, right?

If I was going to buy some Essie polishes, I was going to do it whilst they were on offer... and had double points!

I had been lusting after Essie Chinchilly for a while. When I first started reading blogs, it was everywhere and I guess it just stuck in my head. I really wanted to look at the Mirror Metallics range too, but the Essie stand in my local Boots is tiny, so no go there. I got my Chinchilly, Beach Bum Blu and this.... Sexy Divide.

It's a deep, rich Cadbury's-esque purple, which is very very shiny. I don't think I have a polish which is quite as glassy as this one. My nails were like stained glass windows, rich, and full of glossy colour. When the light hits them... WOW!

The purple shows up little flecks of blue and red, but has an almost blackened base to it. It's certainly very sexy, as the name suggests.

The formula is beautiful. In fact, with just one stroke of the rather lovely brush, I knew I was converted. This is just two coats. Sadly, my only issue is that after one day I had quite a bit of tip wear and a few little chips. After two days - even after tip repair, I had bigger chips - and that evening, cooking with olive oil led me to have some rather nasty peeling. But still, it's not like I normally wear polishes for that long. I can forgive that.

So, where do I sign for the Essie fan club. I want my membership!

What are your favourite Essie polishes? Let me know!

Love Charlotte x

Nails and Tales Favourites: Barry M Gold Foil

Hi Everyone,

Today I would like to share with you, one of my favourite polishes for nail art and colour manicures. Barry M's Gold Foil has been around for a while now, but it is one of my firm favourites.

It's a metallic finish, which despite having a few brush marks, dries to a lovely bright golden colour. It's a very versatile shade too, which will look great all year round - I have used it for Christmas manicures, and worn it with a tan in the Summer. The formula dries very quickly, and looks great in two coats - one is normally enough, but an extra one for luck never hurt anyone!

I find that this polish is also fantastic when used with a dotting tool too, like in this nail art example.

I have quite a considerable collection of Barry M polishes now, but this is definitely the best for me! It's the only Gold colour I go back to time after time, and recommend it to anyone!

It normally retails for around £3.99, which is an absolute steal. It can be found in Boots, Superdrug and Asda, as well as in various online retailers.

Do you have any trusty nail art polishes? Any recommendations??

Let me know!

Happy polishing,

Love Charlotte x

Color Club Sugar Plum Fairy over No.7 Lucky Lilac

Hi Everyone!

Here's another one from my vault of the unposted. I really ought to have shared this one sooner, it was such a pleasing manicure!

After how pleased I was with using my Color Club Candy Cane over a solid base colour, I wanted to try it with my lusted polish, Color Club's Sugar Plum Fairy . Words can not describe how much I loved this combination - the lilac base really brings out the best of Sugar Plum Fairy. I kept this on for three whole days. That is unheard of for me. Three days?!

Words might not describe my adoration well enough, but they do say that a picture says a thousand words...

I guess that's 10,000 words for you!

Happy polishing - let me know if there are any other combinations that make you go squee!

Love Charlotte x

Oh YES! Holographic Nails!!

Hi Everyone!

A few weeks ago, I celebrated my birthday. I'm in my 20's - that's as close as you will get to my real age! And like the dutiful husband he is, the Mr. purchased some wonderful nail polish for me.

So what if I picked them out and pointed at them until he ordered them...? He did it - that's the mani main thing!!

These are my objects of desire and nail lust. Layla Holographic - available from simply occasions - who are currently the only UK stockists.

This is how they arrived. Look!!

 

The first time you order the Layla polishes, you get a free nail file and buffer - to remove all the ridges from your nails.

But what I really loved is the attention to detail in the packaging.

The little bag, the teal crepe paper and the holographic flower sticker! It's just pretty - and it tells me that Simply Occasions is run by someone who takes pride in their work. I like!

Anyway, now the important stuff.

I happily introduce you to Layla Mercury Twilight. The was four quick and easy coats. On first application, I got this horrible sinking feeling - there was no holo! My inner diva started to get all worked up - and let me tell you , that is NOT pretty. But as it started to dry, you could see the holo effect creep across the nail. Happy!!!

This beauty is called Mermaid Spell - I LOVE that name. If I was going to be a mermaid for a day, I would choose a tail in this colour. It's blue, green, pink and orange all at once.
Again, this is about four coats - this time over a white base. I was hoping that the white base reduced the need for so many coats, but for me it didn't. I am not a fan of VNL, and will happily layer on polish to try and avoid it.

I have many many polishes. Many. But these have risen to the top of my favourites tree. The wear is not fantastic, I had minor wear and tear within hours - but they are beautiful. Really stunning. And who can resist nail porn like this? I can't!

So thank you to the Mr. for buying me these treasures.

And thank you to everyone else who bought me polish for my birthday! Those polishes will be getting blog space soon!!

Thanks for reading - now go get your own Holo polishes - these are MINE!!

Charlotte x