Polish round up – Brown and Gold

You may have noticed an increased effort on my part to stop spending recently. It’s going pretty well. The last cosmetics I bought were a little Sleek haul on the 27^th December. If I can get to the end of December without parting with any more pennies it’ll be a big achievement. Long story short I’m focusing on paying off some student debt. Anyhoo boring stuff over, as part of my ‘enjoy what you have’ project I wanted to go through and have a look at what nail polish I already have in an effort to dissuade myself from going out and buying any more similar colours. These are the browns and gold’s I’ve accumulated. First with flash and then without. 

From left to righ we have; Diamond Cosmetics Yukon Gold, Orly Rage, L’Oréal 395, Collection 2000 Foxy, Little Rose (got this in Thailand, no idea what it’s called), OPI Sand In My Suit, Barry M Dusky Mauve, China Glaze Ingrid, Barry M Chocolate Brown, Nails Inc Jermyn Street, Barry M Mushroom, Essie Mink Muffs. 

All of these are 2-3 coats with no top coat. The purple shimmer in Dusky Mauve isn’t as apparent here as it is in real life, trust me it is there really. Some of these colours are very similar too however none are exact dupes of each other. Oh and please excuse the cat fluff in the back ground. That rug was literally washed 24 hours before those pics were taken but madam decided it needed to be fluffy again.  I hope this is useful in comparing some of the more popular brownish shades out there. Any other colours you’d like to see a roundup of? 

*Sadly I bought all of these myself apart from Jermyn Street which was free in a magazine*

Heads up! Glamour Freebies

Just a quick note to say that the UK Glamour mag comes with a free Nails inc polish this month. They should normally cost £11 I think but Glamour is only £2. Bargain! I would have put a picture of the magazine up too but I seem to have abandoned it at an office somewhere in Scotland. Anyhoo I chose the lovely nude/ greige Jermyn Street. There are other shades available but they didn’t appeal x

*I bought this*

Collection Overview – Nail Polish

I recently shifted all my polish from a drawer that was getting too heavy to open to a shelf. Now since I took these pictures I have a sold a few bottles and some are still available for sale here. I’m aware it’s a silly amount but hey, it’s not as bad as some! I haven’t named everything because honestly I haven’t had time!

And my nail arts bits and bobs. 

How do you store your polish? X

*All bought by me or received as gifts* 

OPI Nail Envy

*First section written on 26th June*
The drama of my horrible nails is well documented in here. I love doing NOTD posts but recently my nails have been too disgusting to inflict them on the world. Over the last two months I have finished exams, started a new job, gotten married and graduated. Ordinarily I never bite my nails however when I’m stressed I have no idea I’m doing it. That disgusting habit, along with damage from false nails, means currently I have thin flaky horrid nubbins. This picture is not for the faint of heart.

Ew. Having tried Nail Dr (it was ok, no miracle worker) and many other cheaper options I have finally caved and shelled out the £18 for OPI Nail Envy. They have a variety of different formulas catering for different nail ailments. Brittle, thin, peeling, soft nails. This was a problem. I’m D – all of the above. So I went with the original formula. It’s a milky colour in the bottle but goes on clear and glossy.
The instructions say to paint 2 layers on and then add a layer every 2 days. At the end of the week take it all off and start again. It dries very quickly (quicker than normal OPI polishes) so it isn’t a huge chore to keep topping it up.

After two weeks of religious use these were the results. Better isn’t it?
I’ve been filing my nails quite a lot to get rid of the damaged parts. My nails generally grow pretty fast so the damaged nail from the fake plastic wedding nails has now reached half way up the nail bed. I reckon another 3-4 weeks and it will be totally grown out.

They aren’t peeling which is amazing considering how flaky they normally are. They are still thin and flexible but I suppose they will be until the damage has grown out. All in all I’m impressed. Again it isn’t a miracle worker but it has worked better than anything else I have tried. I still think £18 is a bit steep but I’m prepared to buy another bottle once I get through this one. As a result stay tuned for some more NOTD posts! Xx

*I bought the above product with my own money. I always give my honest opinion of a product. For further info see my disclaimer in the menu on the left*

A return to Nail Art courtesy of Born Pretty Store

You may have noticed that this is a full time makeup blog, part time nail blog. I go through phases where I paint my nails daily and then a few months where I don’t bother at all. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been getting back into it. The folks at Born Pretty Store were kind enough to send me an image stamping plate, along with stamper and scraper, to review for you. They sell nail art amongst other things. They are based in Singapore I believe and shipping to the UK took approximately 12 days which was pretty good! 

I received plate M77 which has some pretty lace, bow and feather designs on it. For those who haven’t done nail art stamping before here is a quick how to guide. 

1.      1.  I use a cosmetic sponge soaked in nail polish remover to wipe everything off so make sure you have one standing by.

2.     2.   Blob some polish (specialist stamping polish tends to work better than regular polish I find) onto your desired design and scrape off the excess using the scraper.

3.    3.    Roll the stamper over the image.

4.    4.    Roll the stamper over you nail. This quicker you go the better chance you have of the whole design transferring properly.

5.      5.  Wipe everything off on the sponge quickly or you will end up with a mess!

I’m a little out of practice but I’ve included some attempts on a nail wheel so you can see the results. What I love about nail art stamping is the level of detail you can achieve in such a short amount of time. The images transfer really well. I do recommend always popping a top coat on so the design lasts. 

The cost of the plates varies from $2.99 if you buy one getting cheaper the more you buy. Expect more NOTD posts in the near future! X P.S. if you look on the right of this page you will find a 10% off code xx

*The above products were provided free for review purposes. This does not affect my review, I am always honest. I do not receive any compensation if you click the links above, they are not affiliate links*

Boots 17 offer/ Haul

I do love a good bargain! At the moment at Boots when you spend £6 on their 17 brand products you get this adorable little nautical tin, eyeshadow in Viva Diva, mini eyeliner in azure and Fast Finish polish in Knockout Red.



Aren’t they sweet! The shadow is surprisingly good quality. It has a lovely metallic sheen that flashes gold. It is soft and not at all chalky. The pencil is a little hard but the deep blue is gorgeous so I will definitely use it. The polish is a true bright red that will be spending much of the summer on my toes methinks. I think my small collection of Dazzle Dusts might be going to live in the tin... The eyeshadow is on the bottom, pencil on the top.

I spent a little more than the obligatory £6. I honestly never ever look at the 17 stand. Even as a teen I was more drawn to the No.7 stuff... old before my time? But at the prices I decided it was definitely time to give it a go. I got Shine On lipstick in Bonbon for £3.99, a lip pencil in Rose Blush for £2.49 and the crowning glory (in my opinion) the Blush and Glow highlighter/blush duo in Peaches and Cream (£3.69).


Working from left to right here we have the lippie, a neutral pinkie toffee colour that I probably won’t wear till autumn. It’s a touch drying but lasts fine, nothing a bit of lip balm can’t sort. Then the pencil which again is a bit hard and does drag on my lips. It’s a good match for Bonbon and will go well with any slightly darker neutral lipstick. Then we have Peaches and Cream which looks just as yummy as it sounds. The highlighter side is a lovely shade of ivory with a gold sheen when it catches the light. The blush looks fairly dark in the pan but on it’s a warm reddish coral with the same gold sheen. It isn’t in any way glittery but it certainly isn’t matte. Both blend fairly well though they are just the teeniest bit chalky. Nonetheless it is a gorgeous, practical and handy little pot of loveliness. If you want to pick something up from 17 this would definitely be the thing I would recommend first.

Hope everyone is well! xx

The Nail Doctor – Rescue me 10 day nail strengthening system

As I have previously mentioned I am on a mission to cultivate long, strong, healthy nails. Part of this involves finding a nail strengthener that will stop the little buggers from peeling and splitting, this is more difficult than it sounds. There are a myriad of products on the market and many of them simply do not work for me. Many swear by Sally Hansen, I find that it peels off my nails within a day. Collection 2000 offering of a 2in1 calcium hardener was nice and cheap but did nothing for my nails. It was time to call in the experts. Faced with a choice between the most likely candidates, OPI Nail Envy, Nail Tek 2 or The Nail Doctor, the choice was pretty clear. It’s a faff for me to get hold of Nail Tek and OPI Nail Envy is £18 bloody quid as opposed the £8 for the Nail Doctor. Sold!

The Nail Doctor product range is really quite extensive with a solution available to every conceivable nail affliction. Better yet they are three free. Word on the blogosphere (yes, I said blogosphere and I was only half joking) is that chemicals such as formaldehyde in strengtheners actually make nails more brittle. For my first purchase I chose the Rescue me 10 day nail strengthening system designed for thinning, peeling and splitting nails. For your pennies you get two rather dinky bottles (4.4ml each), a Toughen Up extra strength basecoat and Rock On nail hardener. I’ve been wearing these layered with coloured polish (if they aren’t coloured I start chewing...) and changing the polish every 2 days.

At first I wasn’t convinced but now after 10 applications I can report back some significant improvements. For starters when I’m wearing these my nails are less bendy. They are still more flexible than most but it is definetly better than before. It hasn’t worked miracles though. My nails are still peeling but it is less marked than before. They have started to grow and are now strong enough for me to have started filing the damaged ends off. With any luck within a couple of month the worst of it will be gone and replaced with something resembling normal, healthy nails.

Would I repurchase? I already have the Nail Doctor Sudden Strength Nail Growth Treatment and Strengthener ready and waiting. I’m still tempted to try OPI Nail Envy because I’ve heard such good things. Any one tried it? What did you think?