Gelish Street Beat Collection [Partial] Review + Swatches

Hey everyone! Hope you've all had a lovely week, I've been on the countdown to my holiday all week and it's finally here! I fly tonight and I can't wait to be sitting by the pool tomorrow not having to think about anything else. I feel like I haven't switched off in a while so I'm hoping I'll be able to unwind. I have of course prepared some posts for you whilst I'm away, I couldn't just leave you all hanging could I? You'll probably get more posts than usual actually because I've actually scheduled them. I feel like I should do this more often because often in the evenings I'm too tired after work to prepare a post and then I get really behind. Does anyone else schedule their posts a week ahead? Does it work?

Today I've got a review of the stunning Gelish - Street Beat Collection* for you. There are actually six polishes in the collection, and I have 3 of them to show you today. In addition to the three I have, there's also a yellow (Street Credible), a neon pink (B-Girl Style) and a fuchsia (Tag, You're It). It's such a fun and bright collection, and it was a perfect release as their summer collection. I couldn't resist choosing one of them for my toes for my holiday (read after the jump to see what colour I chose), as I absolutely love these shades. I was interested to try the yellow too, as it's quite an unusual shade for Gelish, but having read reviews of how sheer it is I think I got a good selection with these three. Full review is after the jump.

Essie Spring 2016 Collection Review + Swatches

Hey everyone! Hope you're having a lovely weekend so far. The European Championships are on, which means I'm being roped into watching a lot of football with my boyfriend. Or alternatively, it means I have a lot more time to do nails because I don't want to sit and watch TV! I never watch football, but there's something about international football that's slightly more exciting, and I do end up getting sucked in even when I hate to. 

Today I'm reviewing the Essie Spring 2016 collection*, I wanted to include this with my post about the Rankin event but I thought it would make the post too long. I've already shown the collection in this nail art, but I wanted to show the colours individually too. This is the first full Essie collection I've reviewed, and I hope it's not the last, but I was very impressed. I don't own many Essie shades, I don't have the need to buy many new polishes (as you can imagine) so apart from my trusty bottle of Essie - Beyond Cozy which I bought ages ago, I only have one or two others. This collection consists of some 'typical' spring shades, but also some darker shades that make the collections lightly unusual. 

All That Jazz - The Proposal Collection Review + Swatches

Today I have a review of the All That Jazz -The Proposal Collection*. You will have seen me use their base coat throughout my manicures as it's one of my favourites, so although All That Jazz isn't that new to my blog, this is the first time I've done a full length review of the products. For those of you who aren't aware, All That Jazz is a sister company of the UK base of Gelish: Nail Harmony UK. It's named after Jazz Smedley, the daughter of Nail Harmony UK bosses Georgie and Jason Smedley, and her face often features on the promotional images for the products. All of these polishes are matches to actual Gelish colours, which is great for those untrained in gel/those who can't afford gel. Jazz is soon to be married, so I believe this collection is inspired by her engagement. The collection consists of two cremes, and two glitter toppers, each which match the respective creme. I love how this collection works so well together, and I was really impressed with the quality of them too. Read after the jump for my full review.

Tutorial Tuesday: Starfish Nail Art for Barry M

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've posted a 'tutorial tuesday' post so I thought it was about time. Hopefully whilst you're reading this I'm sunning myself by the pool, or eating lots of all inclusive food. I can't wait! I've never been on an all inclusive holiday before so hopefully I'm enjoying it. Today's tutorial is for these cute starfish nails, they're much simpler than I'd usually go for but I ended up really liking them. The steps will be after the jump.

Barry M - Sunset Daylight Curing Collection Summer 2015 Swatches and Review

Hey everyone! Today I have my review of the gorgeous new Barry M Sunset Daylight Curing collection*, which are claimed to (as the name suggests) 'cure' in daylight. They are supposed to be harder and last longer than regular nail polish, but they are still removed the same. Alongside curing in natural daylight, these polishes also cure under regular artificial lighting. Which is good for night owls like me! They also contain the new wider brush that was seen in the recent Speedy Quick Dry collection. Normally I'm not a fan of wide brushes but I honestly love these, it just makes application so much easier.

The collection consists of seven new colours and a matching topcoat. The polishes do not work without the topcoat, and the topcoat cannot be used to make other polishes (outside the range) cure in daylight. I wasn't sure what to expect from this collection, for me they would either be a complete failure or something completely new and brilliant. I'm happy to report that I think they're the latter. Whilst there isn't a great colour selection in my opinion, all of these polishes dry quickly (and they really are dry, not just touch dry), and they're all great for nail art. In fact you'll see quite a few of them as bases for nail art in the next few weeks. The speed that they dry at makes it a lot better to use them as a base colour as the polish doesn't drag.

Review Week, Day 4: Nicole by OPI Summer 2014 Collection Swatches

Hey everyone! Day 2 of review week is going to be short but sweet as I'm going out tonight. Today I'm showing you the new Nicole by OPI summer releases. They're a bit of an odd mix but I actually really like how they look together! There are 3 cremes and one glitter and the glitter works well over any of them, but I'm just going to show you over 2. 

Review Week, Day 1: OPI - Brazil Collection 2014 Swatches

Hey everyone! I realised the other day that I didn't post a single review in August, which is a first in a very long time. However, it wasn't because I didn't have anything to post, I just kind of ... forgot. I did all the reviews and the pictures have been left unedited in folders on my computer and I completely forgot that I hadn't posted them. So this week, it's time to edit them, finally, and bring them to the blog, there's a lot of exciting stuff to see so I'm going to be doing a review week. I am working full time (as in 7 days a week) at the moment so I might end up missing a day, but I'll just post two reviews the next day if that's the case. I'll be posting twice tomorrow because I've got my monthly favourites to show you as well.

Today's I have three polishes from the OPI - Brazil collection to show you: Live, Love, Carnaval* (which I showed you in my monthly favourites here), Red Hot Rio* and OPI Scores a Goal!*. This is a slightly older OPI collection, as it was released a few months ago, but it contains some really gorgeous shades that are definitely worth having a look at if you havent already (although, have you been living under a rock not to have seen them?).

Coral Bees for Avon

Hey everyone! Today's nails are some cute bees I did at the request of Avon. I love bee nails, they stand out a lot and they look pretty cool too. I had more compliments wearing these than I have had for a long time, which I was surprised about, because to me they're a bit too simple. Anyway, rather than the usual baby blue base that tends to be used for these nails, I decided to do a coral base instead, because why the hell not? Coral is a great colour for spring and summer, and I haven't used it in a while, so here we go!

The base for these nails was Avon - Coral Reef, then I used Avon - Lemon Sugar for the bee with black and white acrylic paint, all topped off with a coat of Seche Vite

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

China Glaze Happy Holiglaze Christmas Collection 2013 Swatches and Review - Part 1

Hey everyone! Today I'm going to be showing you the gorgeous China Glaze Happy Holiglaze collection. There are 12 polishes altogether in the collection so I decided to split it in to two parts so that you don't get overloaded with pictures. The first part is the 5 foils, and I also included the one textured polish of the collection. The second part will be with all the glitters of the collection, which I'll post in the next few days, so make sure to keep an eye out. Full post will be after the jump!

New Barry M Gelly Nail Paint 2013 swatches and review

Hey everyone! As promised, I have a review of the new Barry M gelly nail varnishes to show you today. I was SO excited to receive these for review. I'm sure many of you have realised by now that Barry M is my number one love over any other brand, so I'm completely in awe that I'm now a blogger for them! Anyway, they have released 4 new gelly nail varnishes to add to the 9 that they released last year. I haven't tried any of them, but from what I've heard the only thing different is the colours, which I must say I absolutely LOVE. Swatches and information after the jump.