New Blog!

As some of you may have noticed, things have been silent on here but quite a while now which was because I was setting up new website lipsandtips.co.uk , there's still a lot of nail posts on there but now they're combined with some more make-uppy posts. Hope you'll take a look!

NOTD - Sally Hansen 'Arm Candy' and OPI 'Which Witch?'

So, as i said in my recent post on Nicole by OPI's 'Do Good...Feel Good', here in the UK at the moment, we're kind of getting all four seasons in one day most of the time. I wanted to create a  manicure that could go with whatever I wanted to wear and not look silly with whatever the weather was doing.

My jazzed up neutral nail look, using Sally Hansen 'Arm Candy' and OPI 'Which Witch?'

I decided that a light milky pink was probably the way to go for a nice, neutral nail look, but I wanted to make it a little more interesting by adding some kind of glitter. Looking through my stash, I came across 'Which Witch?' from the recent OPI Oz The Great and Powerful collection. This is the only glitter of the 3 within the collection that I actually liked, small silver glitter with some bigger round pieces of holo glitter, perhaps not too unique but very pretty all the same.

Close up of the pretty holo glitter in 'Which Witch?'

 So theres my manicure, I quite like the way that it turned out, perhaps more girly and sweet than i'd usually go for, but I think that it can be nice to change things up every now and again. It was certainly more interesting than just wearing just another neutral nail shade on its own.

(Left-Right) OPI 'Which Witch?' and Sally Hansen 'Arm Candy'

I actually got quite a few compliments of my nails on the day when I wore this, which very rarely happens, I suppose everybody loves a jazzed up neutral look.

Illamasqua 'Raindrops'

This nail purchase was entirely motivated by Christine at Temptalia, who has really raved about this polish, and I have to say that after trying it, I really do understand why.This is my first try of Illamasqua polish and I found the formula to be quite good, although from what I've heard, that might not be consistent throughout their whole nail range.

Illamasqua 'Raindrops'

Illamasqua describes raindrops as a sheer light grey which I think is a pretty accurate description although I think I'd class it as bluey grey rather than just grey. Its a really pretty polish that I think gives the nails a kind of faded look which is really nice and surprisingly versatile because its not bright and doesn't make too much of a statement.

Illamasqua 'Raindrops' under bright light where you can see the subtle sparkle

I think that this is a much more sophisticated take on a blue polish, more so than a pastel blue or turquoise kind of shade. I'm more likely to wear this kind of shade in the autumn and winter than spring and summer because it is that little bit more muted which I tend to favour when the sun isn't shining as much.

3 thin coats of Illamasqua 'Raindrops'

I find the formula to be quite nice, as I said earlier. The polish does apply very sheerly but it is marketed as a sheer polish and this sheerness gives it a lightness that makes it look very fresh and pretty. Having said that, I did have to use 3 very thin coats to get the desired effect but because the coats were so thin they dried really quickly anyway. I also really liked that despite having to use 3 coats, the subtle sparkle wasn't entirely eaten up by the base colour.

 Close up of 'Raindrops' where you can see a tiny bit of the subtle sparkle

I really do love this polish and know that i'll be getting a lot of wear out of it when the weather starts to cool down a little. Have you tried 'Raindrops' or any of Illamasqua's other polishes?

Essie 'Tart Deco'

Hello there summer, nice to see you again, your visits are always far too fleeting, stay a little longer this time, won't you? It's finally hot here in the UK, keeping my fingers crossed that it stays like this for a little while longer. One of my go-to warm weather polishes is Essie's Tart Deco - a bright pastel peachy pink.

Essie 'Tart Deco'

In the bottle this looks very similar to Barry M Peach Melba but applies to the nails much, much brighter. This polish looks very different under different lights, it's definitely more orange based than pink based and in some lights it just looks like a pure light, creamy orange.

2 coats of Essie 'Tart Deco' with OPI 'Rapidry Top Coat'

I'm not gonna lie, the formula isn't fantastic, the first coat can look quite streaky and to make it opaque and vibrant, I find 3 coats to be the best way forward. This is a polish that requires  quite a bit of patience, but if this is the kind of colour that you love and you have the time, it does look really quite striking on the nails.

'Tart Deco' under natural light

I feel like this colour would look good on quite a few different skintones, bright colours tend to make my hands look a bit dirty or dead, but this one didn't actually do that too much. I think this polish would definitely look great on quite dark skintones. This polish really doesn't get enough love from me, but when you live somewhere where it rains as much it does here, neon pastel peach isn't always the best way foward.

'Tart Deco' under bright light

What are summer of your favourite polish colours for spring and summer?

Nicole by OPI 'Do Good...Feel Good'

Firstly, let me just start this post by saying how excited I am that Superdrug now stocks Nicole by OPI; it's a brand that i've tried before when i've been in the states but until now it's been fairly hard to locate within the UK. I may have gone a little (read: a LOT) crazy because of pure excitement and i'm just starting to try out some of the little beauties that I picked up...first up 'Do Good...Feel Good'.

Nicole by OPI 'Do Good...Feel Good'

'Do Good...Feel Good' is a very light, milky pink that seems to compliment every look I try and put it with. It's almost jelly like in its finish which gives it a lovely soft look. This slight sheerness also stops it from being too stark on the fingernails which I think makes it very sophisticated and more versatile than something like Essie's 'Fiji' which is more opaque.

4 thin coats of 'Do Good...Feel Good' topped with Seche Vite fast dry top coat

Like I said, the formula of this polish is quite sheer, and as with other sheer baby pink polishes, this one has a tendency to streak a little bit, especially with the first coat, after a few coats though it was fine. To get the look that I have in these pictures, I used 4 thin coats which was a bit of a pain, but on the upside it dried pretty darn quickly and seems to be holding up quite well without chipping or wear.

'Do Good...Feel Good' under bright light

I feel like this is the perfect kind of shade for the crazy weather we're having in the UK right now; it's cloudy,  it's sunny, it's windy, it's cold, it's warm.....and that's all within the space of an hour. I just feel like this is the perfect go with anything nail, I think it's a great colour for those who want to rock neutral nails but just can't seem to make beige-y nudes (Essie 'Sand Tropez'....i'm looking at you) work for them.

What do you think? Are you guys excited to hit up the Nicole by OPI stand at Superdrug?

NOTD from the OPI Euro Centrale Collection

Le sigh, the weather has taken a turn for the worse again here in the UK, but I suppose we did get the standard annual week of nice weather, I should be used to it by now. With this dip in the weather I didn't feel like sporting pretty spring and summer shades, cue OPI's Euro Centrale collection.

2 coats of OPI 'I saw...U saw...We saw...Warsaw'

'I saw...U saw...We saw...Warsaw' is a dark, cool toned navy polish, very inky and pretty. Formula was pretty good, 2 coats for opacity and it dried to a pretty shiny finish. This shade will probably get a lot of love from me in autumn and winter. What I would say is definitely wear a good base coat because this colour is so rich and pigmented that I can imagine it really staining the nails without one.

Accent nail has 2 coats of OPI 'Polka.com' glitter

I wanted to add something fun so I did a glitter accent nail using 'Polka.com' which is also from the OPI Euro Centrale collection. Very unique, at least in my collection, and the perfect little pop of colour. This is 2 coats over 'I saw...U saw...We saw...Warsaw' because this is in no way a full coverage glitter, I can imagine it taking 4 or 5 coats to get full nail coverage with this one.

(L-R) OPI 'I saw...U saw...We saw...Warsaw'; OPI 'Polka.com'

All in all, I like this manicure a lot. My uni exams are all done and dusted now so I'm going to be getting back into posting much more again, hooray!

My Top 10 Spring Nail Picks

I’m Back! Things have been fairly crazy for the past few months and I just haven’t been able to find the time to post. Now that the uni year is winding down and summer is fast approaching I hope to be able to start to posting much more again. I’m jumping back in with some of my spring favourites for this year. This year I’ve been thoroughly sucked in by conventionally spring-y pastel shades, but i've been mixing in a few of my brights that have been thoroughly neglected over the cold months.

Revlon 'Sheer Sunburst'

I do have to admit that this polish takes a fair amount of work, and I didn't actually see the word sheer in the title before I purchased it, I just saw it and thought DUPE FOR CHANEL HOLIDAY! MUST BUY! As far as the colour goes it is actually fairly close to Holiday but it has a different finish because this polish is obviously much more sheer. It takes three careful coats but if you’re patient enough then this does give a really beautiful finish, quite squishy looking.

Butter London 'Trout Pout'

This is the perfect light pinky coral shade and I love it, I already know that it will be on my nails a lot throughout spring and summer. A bonus is the lovely butter London formula, it applies like a dream and dries to a lovely glossy finish, this is probably my fave polish for spring and summer and I can’t see anything taking its place any time soon. I have a post on this from last summer that you can read here.

Essie 'Ballet Slippers'

I wear this on rare days when I want my nails to look neat and polished but I don’t really want them to be a noticeable colour. This is just the most beautiful very light, milky pink that applies to the nails very sheerly and just leaves them looking very clean and sophisticated, I know a lot of people like to use this as the base for an at-home French manicure. I never really had too much of a problem with the thin Essie brush but for this polish I definitely prefer the thicker brush that's on the polishes in the Boots/Superdrug diffusion line, gives a much smoother and cleaner finish.

Butter London 'Fiver'

This polish has replaced Essie’s mint candy apple as my favourite light minty greeny blue!  (I’m just fabulous at descriptions, aren’t I?). This is a little lighter than mint candy apple, and with a tiny bit less green, I just find that this looks a little bit more chic on the nails, like a more grown up approach to a seafoam nail polish. Again, this has an awesome formula that's opaque and ready to go in 2 coats.

OPI 'If You Moust, You Moust'

This came out last year in the vintage Minnie Mouse collection and to be honest I bought it, used it once and then it kind of just got lost in the shuffle and shoved to the back of a drawer until I was re-organizing my collection about a month ago and came across it. Lovely bright pastel pink with blue undertones, I find that it can be more forgiving then pinks with more yellowy undertones which can sometimes make pale skin look a bit funny.

Bourjois 'Adore-Bleu'; 2 coats of 'Adore-Bleu' in direct sunlight

This is the prettiest pastel blue that I’ve found as yet and the formula is pretty nice. I loved ‘Bikini so teeny’ from Essie’s summer collection last year, which was a similar shade of blue but I found the formula to be quite streaky and hard to work with so I’m glad to have found an alternative. This is what i've got on my nails right now for some of the first really sunny days here in the UK and I just love the way it looks.

Sinful Colours 'Boom Boom!'

This is not really a conventional spring colour, but the weather is heating up and I think it looks really nice in the warmer weather. It’s a darker bright pink that has some purple in it, very pretty and very flattering, think it would probably look great on all skin tones as well. I was ecited to see that they had started to sell sinful colours in boots, and for only £1.99 a bottle, I may have squealed a little. I’m very impressed with the formula as well, over all I’m a very happy camper!

Chanel 'Fracas'; Look at the subtle but beautiful shimmer when the light hits it!

As a very pale person, this is about as bright as I can go without the colour making my hands look dirty. I’ve worn this quite a bit already (although I think I’ll wear it the most during summer, I’m thinking it’ll be an almost permanent fixture on my toes!) and just find it to be the most lovely bright but not too bright pink with a tiny bit of a sheen. Good formula too, which I’m glad of considering the high price point!

Bourjois 'Amande défilé'

This is the only colour that I really have like this in my collection, I have so many light minty greens that have quite a bit of blue in them but this is my only pastel green that's more yellow based. I liked it a lot, I like this new Bourjois formula too, this isn’t quite as easy to handle as the blue but its not too hard, especially considering pastel crème polishes can be notoriously difficult. This looks very fresh on my nails.

Essie 'Cute as a Button'

I got this polish towards the end of last summer so I didn’t really get a chance to wear it much before I started wearing darker, more vampy colours for autumn and winter. A friend was looking through my stash and re-discovered it and I’m so glad that she did! This is a lovely darker pinky coral that happens to be really flattering on my skin tone (or at least I think it is) and just makes me think of warmer months. The formula isn’t the best that I’ve ever come across as it can be a little streaky but if you’re careful then it should be fine.

Nail of The Day - Essie 'Bahama Mama' and 'Shine of The Times'

After seeing Fleurdeforce's post on autumn nails I decided to try out a similar effect on my own nails, and I must say I really loved the result. The combination of these 2 polishes, it kind of reminds me of fire or something, perhaps not the most sophisticated look but more fun than just the burgundy colour by itself.

2 coats of Essie 'Bahama Mama' and 1 coat of Essie 'Shine of the Times'

2 coats of Essie 'Bahama Mama' and 1 coat of Essie 'Shine of the Times'

I really love how 'Shine of the Times' changes the look of any polish that you put it on top of and instantly makes your nails just that little bit more interesting, although I do way prefer it on top of darker  polishes rather than bright colours. Very pretty, I like it a lot.

2 coats of Essie 'Bahama Mama' and 1 coat of Essie 'Shine of the Times'

2 coats of Essie 'Bahama Mama' and 1 coat of Essie 'Shine of the Times'

I'll be putting this look away for a little while in favour of some more spring colours (A little early? Perhaps...but oh well) but I do really like it, are you putting away your wintery shades yet?