Christmas Gift Guide 2018

Sit tight folks, it's a long post today. For the first time ever I bring you my Christmas Gift Guide! 

There is a wide variety of products in here, for those who love a bit of elegance, or for those who want to do gel nails at home (or remove them), or those looking to bring a bit of extra sparkle to their Christmas. I hope you like the products I have chosen to show you, I hope there is something in here for all nail lovers. 

Dainty pink flowers

Hey everyone! Sorry for the radio silence recently, blogging had to take a bit of a back seat while we were having our kitchen fitted, but now it's sorted I'm back and I've got quite a lot coming up for you!

To start with I've got these simple pink flowers, These were just a quick design I did on a Sunday evening so that I'd have something to wear to work in the week and I really loved how they turned out. 

Essie Winter 2017 Collection review + swatches

I feel like an idiot, this post has been sat fully written in my drafts for more than two months, and I was under the impression that I'd posted it! It's a bit delayed, but it's such a beautiful collection I wanted to post it anyway. So here's my review of the Essie Winter 2017 Collection*. 

Barry M Frosted Cupcakes Collection - Review and Swatches

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I did a review of a full collection but I loved the Barry M Frosted Cupcakes Collection* so much that I felt they deserved their own review. I'm a bit slow on getting it uploaded, but I still wanted to show you these gorgeous polishes. There are 4 in the collection, one of which you will have already seen on my blog with these nails, but I think they'd all make gorgeous bases for nail art. They're lovely subtle colours but the specks really work with the colours to create a lovely collection. I also love the names of the polishes, they feel very English and cutesy and they fit the collection too. It's nice to find some names that actually slightly make sense because I do feel that brands get carried away sometimes when naming polishes!

Earl Grey* is a lovely muted grey, this was 2 easy coats without topcoat and as you can see they're smooth and shiny without topcoat, not textured at all. 

Strawberries and Cream* is a gorgeous baby pink. This is the shade I used for my frosted daisy nails, and I absolutely love this colour. This was 2 easy coats without topcoat and it dried fast and shiny. 

Marshmallow* is a slightly off-white colour. This was 3 easy coats without topcoat, again it dried fast and shiny, and wasn't textured at all. 

Blue Velvet* is a beautiful baby blue. This was 3 thin coats. I have used this in some nail art but I'm not 100% sure I like the design so whether or not it will see the light of day still remains to be seen. Shown without topcoat but it dried fast and shiny. 

What do you think? Have you tried any of the collection? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

*Some of the products in this post were provided to me for review but all opinions are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way

All That Jazz - Homecoming Collection Review + Swatches

Hey everyone! I'm baaaaackk. I know two weeks isn't a super long time, but for me it's been ages, this is probably the longest I've not posted. I've always said I'd never take an unannounced break but unfortunately sometimes life gets in the way, and it's got in the way big time recently. I've not even painted my nails for 3 weeks, nevermind had the energy to post. But as I've said before, my blog is my escape and I need to make time for it and make time for me, so here I am. It's taken me 2 days to write this blogpost but I'm forcing myself to type it now before I go to sleep, and hopefully now I'll be motivated to be posting again. 

Unfortunately due to my unscheduled break I am slightly behind with posts, so today I've got a review of the stunning All That Jazz - The Homecoming Collection*. The collection is one of five different wedding inspired collections created to celebrate Jazz (the namesake of the brand) getting married. Each collection is named after a part of the wedding process, so there's The Proposal, The Bridal Party, The Honeymoon, The Homecoming and Happily Ever After. All the shades in the collections are perfect dupes for Gelish shades in nail lacquer form. I've already reviewed The Proposal here, and you can also see some nail art with The Bridal Party here. The Homecoming* has some stunning shades which are absolutely perfect for autumn. Full review after the jump

Models Own Dare To Bare Collection Skittle Nail Art

Hey everyone! Hope you're all having a lovely week so far, I'm in countdown mode for my holiday now so I can't wait for the week to finish. Although I go away on Sunday, I've not yet sorted anything, which is making me feel slightly stressed! It'll be so nice to get away and to not have to think about anything for a while, I haven't had more than a 4 day weekend since last June so I desperately need this time off, and apparently it's 32 degrees in Majorca at the moment so let's hope it stays that way. 

Anyway, today's nails are a skittle of the 5 new Models Own Hypergels from the Dare to Bare collection* . I thought that it was very handy (see what I did there, ba dum tss) that there were 5, as it meant that I could show you them all in one go. These are actually my first Hypergels from Models Own and I was definitely impressed with them as a first time user. I can really tell the difference between the regular polishes and these, largely due to the application as it's much easier. I always love a good nude design or shade, so 5 in one collection is the dream and they all work really well together, perfect for a skittle mani. Full details after the jump.

Tweexy Nail Polish Holders

Hey everyone! I'm glad to be able to sit down and concentrate, I've been doing a charity fast today for work and I've never been so hungry, and I've really struggled to concentrate today. I have so much more respect for those who do Ramadan now, I couldn't do it for a whole month, a day was hard enough! But I did it, I wasn't expecting to but I did and I'm pretty proud of myself, because all I do is eat usually. 

Today's post is about Tweexy* nail polish holders, designed to keep your polish bottle in place and make it easy to access whilst you paint your nails. Tweexy* is the original nail polish holder, and whilst there have been many copycats since, their design was perfected over two years to fit all bottles and fingers, and is guaranteed for 10 years. So whilst they may seem a little bit pricier than their copycats, it's because they're of a much higher quality. Full post after the jump

Tweexy* is designed to fit every nail bottle shape. I tried it with multiple different shapes and sizes and they all fit and stayed in place. You can also move your fingers without fear of the bottle falling out as the rubber grips the bottle.

I decided the best way to show you my thoughts would be do a pros and cons of Tweexy holders:

Pros:

- Stays steady whilst you paint your nails

- Doesn't pop out/stays very stable in the holder

- Ideal for people who paint their nails with their hand steady

- Adjusters on the side so you can simply lift away without smudging your nails

- Easy access to the nail polish

Cons:

- I felt like I was breathing in the polish a lot more because it was closer to my face (I get very close to my nails when I'm painting them)

- I usually hold my hand in ridiculous ways when I paint my nails so I found it hard to paint them neatly. However, this is just a matter of personal preference so for many people this wouldn't be a problem

Overall the only cons were really down to my own personal weird ways of painting my nails, rather than any issues with the product itself, so I was pretty impressed.

I decided to test it with Orly - Road Trippin* because I liked how the bright yellow contrasted with the turquoise, but also because Orly bottles are quite large and I wanted to test whether it held it, which it did.

I also created a boomerang video of me wearing my Tweexy which I'll be posting on my Instagram.

You can find Tweexy on Amazon for £14.95 + Free Postage

What do you think? Do you want to try out, or have you already tried out, Tweexy? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

*The products in this post were provided to me for review but all opinions are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way

A England Russian Soul Collection Review + Swatches

Hey everyone! I hope you've all had a lovely weekend. This weekend was my younger sister's birthday and father's day so it's been quite a busy one for me, but it's been nice to spend some time with my family. Today I've got a review of the gorgeous new A-England Russian Soul collection*. The collection consists of 5 majestic holographic glitters ranging from silver to navy, which are described as being inspired by 'Russian music and dance', and all of which are absolutely stunning. I'm still quite new to A-England but the polishes absolutely blow me away every time. Full review 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. 

Essie Gel Couture #essiexrankin

Hey everyone! This weekend in the UK was a bank holiday weekend, I know it was also Memorial Day weekend in the U.S. so I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Without sounding like I'm starting a pity party, I had the worst weekend. My car was smashed up with a hammer, I got food poisoning and my camera charger blew my electrics and set off my house alarm. They say bad things come in threes, that's a big enough three for me. Nevertheless, my nails have been a welcome distraction, and I've been writing up some blog posts to try and get ahead a bit.

Today's post is about my day at the #essiexrankin event a couple of weeks ago. I was kindly invited by Essie to join the event to promote their new Gel Couture range, and have my portrait done by the one and only Rankin. I'm still pinching myself that it actually happened, it was such an amazing opportunity, and one I definitely won't forget in a hurry. 

I was given the chance to pick out a shade from the Gel Couture range to highlight in my picture, this is the shade I chose, called Spiked With Style:

OPI New Orleans Collection Review + Swatches

This post has been a very long time coming. I've had my swatches done for ages, but then I couldn't find the time to edit them, and when I'd edited them I couldn't find the time to write the post on them. So here I am, finally sitting down and writing a post on them. Let me start by saying that I love this collection, with the exception of a couple of polishes that I haven't actually featured here I love every single polish (so a whole 10 colours, although I could only fit nine in my collage image), and so it's definitely not a reflection on the polishes that it's taken me so long to write this. Just ... sometimes life gets in the way. And it especially gets in the way of a super long review (which in my book is anything more than 6 polishes). 

The OPI New Orleans Collection* was released for Spring 2016 (it's still spring so technically I'm not even late) and is typical of their yearly collections named after a place, or even sometimes twice yearly (correct me if I'm wrong?). I know very little about New Orleans, but I do know I like these polishes, there are so many fun shades in here. Whilst they're not all 100% unique, they're great for summer and great for nail art. I have actually been using these in nail art for months so you will have seen them popping up here and there. 

A England - Whispering Waves and Sparks Divine Duo Review + Swatches

Hey everyone! Today I have the last couple of A-England polishes I mentioned in my last review to show you. I've got tonnes of great stuff to show you at the moment, both nail art and reviews, that it's hard to find the time to put it all out there and as a result I just panic and it gets delayed even more. I always have a tendency to get less done when I have more to do, does that make sense to anyone else? Anyway, these two gorgeous polishes are the latest additions to A-England's Heavenly Quotes collection. You will have seen Sparks Divine in my last post, and so I'm sure you've already seen what a stunning shade it is. As these, and the previous polishes I showed you, are my first A-England polishes, I don't own any of the other polishes in this collection so I cannot attest for their quality. However, these are definitely worth picking up, and if these are anything to go by I'm sure the rest of the collection are great too! Read on after the jump for my full review. As with my last A-England posts, I've done 'inside' shots with my lightbox as the full five-finger shots, and natural daylight shots for the other pictures to show the differences. 

Barry M Spring/Summer 2016 Speedy Quick Dry Collection Review and Swatches

Hey everyone! Today I've got a long-overdue review of the Barry M - Speedy Quick Dry collection* for Spring/Summer 2016. I actually swatched these within the first few days of their release but with the move I just haven't had a chance to sit down and edit the pictures, so today I made sure to make some time to edit, and these were first on my list. Pastels are always my favourite, so this collection of four light pastel shades was always going to have my heart, and they've got the usual great formula of Barry M polishes to match. Read more after the jump to see my full thoughts

OPI Hello Kitty Collection Review and Swatches

Hey everyone! I'm so happy to have made it to the end of my week of reviews, whilst I've loved showcasing so many polishes to you this week, it's been quite tiring to stay up every night editing and posting. Especially when I'm only on my second week in my new job so I'm mentally drained (although I love it so it's worth it). I'm also really proud of myself for managing to post every day, it's been a long time since I successfully did that so it's good to know I still have it in me. 

Anyway, the final review for this week is the OPI Hello Kitty Collection*. I know this has been out for a while now but I still wanted to show you my swatches because it's such a gorgeous and cute collection (especially those bottle caps!). OPI really haven't disappointed with recent collections, and this is no exception. I received the pinks half of the collection, although there are 12 in total, as the other half are only being released for salons in the UK so were not released to bloggers (I may have shed a tear when I realised I wasn't getting the vibrant yellow that is My Twin Mimmy). But, this half of the collection are flawless, and are definitely worth purchasing if you haven't already (you can never have enough pinks/polish anyway).

Tami Polish Scottish Showcase Collection Review and Swatches

Hey everyone! I've had such a hectic day today that I've barely had a chance to look at my phone and catch up with emails. I'm really getting stuck into my new job, which I'm loving so far, but there's a lot to do and I want to show I can do it! Somehow I've still managed to post 4 days in a row, I'm not going to pretend that my time management skills have suddenly become miraculously better, as it's actually half 11 and I need to go to sleep! But nonetheless I'm still happy with myself

Today's review is another new brand to me, this time in the form of Tami Polish. Tami are a new Scottish brand, and this, the Scottish Showcase Collection*, is their first release. I must admit it's so far so good for me, as these polishes are pretty much flawless as you'll see below. I can't wait to see more of what they're releasing. You can buy them individually for £9 or you can buy the whole collection for £21 here. I don't think they're too unfairly price for what you're getting and for 10ml bottles.

Soigne Winter 2015 Collection Swatches and Review

Hey everyone! Day three of review week and I've reviewing the Soigne Winter Collection. These are unfortunately all sold out on their website, showing how popular they have been. Soigne were a brand I hadn't really heard of before this, but they are a French luxury brand who create 5-free polishes. So when I was contacted by Soigne asking me to review their winter collection, I jumped at the chance to try such a luxury brand.  I was really impressed with these as I reviewed them, although they do have a hefty price tag on them (£11 each), which may put some people off. Yet, the quality does show, so it's more of a matter of whether you can afford them rather than if they're worth it.

Barry M Autumn/Winter 2015 Speedy Quick Dry Swatches and Review

Hey everyone! Day two of my week of reviews, so far so good with posting but we'll see how it continues. Today is the Autumn/Winter Barry M Speedy Dry Collection*. Just like with yesterday's post I've actually had these sitting on my laptop since October but I've just had writers block when it comes to typing up the post. I've struggled to even start writing it tonight but I'm forcing myself. I think I just need to get over the hump I've created in my head for reviews and then I'll be fine. 

These four polishes were added to the Speedy Quick Dry collection, whilst they are indeed autumnal, I can see them being used into summer. Especially the red, Dead Heat*. They, like the rest of the collection, use a wider brush than Barry M's original designs did, which makes for easy application. As they do indeed dry quickly, this wide brush helps to prevent smears. I've been really impressed with the Speedy polishes so far and these are no exception. 

Barry M - Glitter Gelly Autumn/Winter 2015 Collection

Hey everyone! I've got so many reviews to show you, some of which I've had on my computer for months, but I just never get around to posting them. So this week I'm going to try and force myself to do a week of reviews. I used to regularly do 'review week' but I haven't done for well over a year, maybe even two. It may take me 2 weeks, it may take me a week and a half, but I really want to get these reviews out there. I've had these on my laptop since the 25th October, which is just ridiculous. I feel some kind of writers block when it comes to reviews recently and this is me forcing myself out of that rut.

So, day one is the Barry M Glitter Gellies* which were released in October last year, I went to the release for these and I was super excited to review them when I saw them. They very much lived up to my imaginations and I wish that my camera had captured more of their true beauty. These are the first glitters in the gelly range and I love that Barry M have done something a little different with them. It's worth noting that unlike the gelly collections before them, these bottles contain the new wide brush that many new Barry M colours seem to be sporting,

November Favourites

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I posted any monthly favourites. I actually meant to post these as my October favourites but I completely forgot I'd taken the pictures until it was too late. There were a few products I wanted to showcase for this month but they can wait for now and these are still really great products and I still wanted to showcase them for you. The products in the months favourites are:

Barry M - Get Up & Glow* and Super Natural Eyeshadow* Palettes 

OPI - Nail Envy Strength + Colour polishes*

Gelish - Tan My Hide*

Barry M - Midnight Gelly Collection* 

Palmers - Coconut Oil Hand Cream*

Crazy Peace Nail Art for Avon

 Hey everyone! I'm not really sure how I feel about these nails, it's one of those designs that just didn't turn out as I pictured in my head. I had to wear these for a week so I had a lot of time to contemplate whether I liked them or not and I still couldn't decide. Weirdly, I did get quite a lot of compliments whilst I was wearing them, but that might just be because they're very bright and a lot more noticeable. I suppose they're not too bad, I'm happy with the design execution but I think they're just a bit garish.