Moving

I'm moving away from blogger *GASP*

I am just moving over to wordpress though, so all is not lost!

You can find me here >> http://lonelynightforcrocodiles.wordpress.com/

Jesse's Girl Nail Polish in Cupcake Frosting

Wait, what? I'm posting?

Yes, I am. I came to such a great epiphany that I needed to post!

I can't wear pink nail polish to save my life. I tried! God knows I've tried. I wore this manicure for 3 days, hence the tip wear, but I just hated it on me.

Cupcake Frosting by Jesse's Girl

The pink is a nice pink. I like it on its own as a colour, but on my nails the almost neon pink just revolted me. It made my hands look orange, and I just couldn't deal with it, so I finally cracked and took it off about 5 minutes ago.

The polish itself is a dream. I like how the brush is quite a bit smaller than usual polishes (I have ridiculously short nail beds) and the formula is smooth and creamy. No cuticle drag, nothing, it's lovely to work with (which is why I'm glad I have 4 other shades), but this colour I think will have to go to my 10 year old sister.

This whole review sounds so negative, but I need to stress. I just don't like this colour. The polish is great in all other aspects. I just can't wear this colour.

I paid for this, I believe it was 65 pence from Cosmetic Kingdom. I will always recommend buying from there because the service is great, postage is always fast, and it's free if you spend over £10!

Exams turn me into a nail biter.

Nail polish was Models Own Golden Green (like that's a huge advertisement for them :P)

 Anyway. I generally do well in exams, but that doesn't make me any less stressy about them. For instance, I have an exam this week, and it's only worth 10% of my grade for one module (I take 4 a year) and I'm so nervous it's ridiculous. It's also the subject I do best in, which is even more infuriating.

Well... That was a pointless post, glad I shared :)

Wink

New NOTD, from Collection 2000 Hot Looks Nail Polish in Wink

With and without flash. It actually photographed better with flash; it brought out the deep bronze more. It's annoying, because it's so beautiful in the bottle, with gold shimmer and swirls, but it hardly translates on the nail. Never mind!

NOTD Barry M and NYC

This NOTD is inspired (lol what) by the ridiculous amount of sunshine I've had over the last few days, but also my reluctance to let go of winter.

Barry M's Berry Ice Cream, with NYC's Nail Glossies in 241 The Barry M is gorgeous, and applies really easily, the only downside is that it's so dupeable it's crazy; but it's inexpensive, so that makes up for it. The NYC one is very sheer, hence using it as a top coat. I really don't have the patience to build it up to around the 4-5 coats it needs to become totally opaque, and that's because it takes a while to dry too.

Show off and Metallic Petrol

Again, I found myself using the H&M polishes.

Show Off from Collection 2000 and Metallic Petrol from H&M on the ring finger, with flash

Without flash

Show Off is a beautiful mid bright blue with shimmer, it reminds me a lot of the Ocean Breeze colour from Revlon, or Hypnotic Turquoise by Miss Sporty. My bottle's getting old, so I need to think the formula down, but it's still gorgeous.
Metallic Petrol isn't a petrol colour, at least, it isn't to me. It's a denim. A deep, denim blue that's slightly metallic with tiny silver shimmer/glitter. It dries to a slightly satin finish, so a top coat is needed.

More H&M

Another NOTD with H&M? On a roll~

This is a grey colour from Primark with 2 coats of Spark Me Up from the last post.

I absolutely adore this combination, and I've found that the glitter coat really builds up well. They're both fast drying, and I love it. The grey Primark nail polish came from a holiday set, there were 4 mini nail polishes. The polish isn't the greatest formula I've used, but it's by no means the worst. I would definitely recommend a top coat, and this polish seems to hate bottom coats.

This was with just one coat of Spark Me Up

H&M Polishes

I didn't post the swatches of the H&M polishes like I said I would, but here, have three at once!

Pink Me Up (that you can kind of see), with Dark Hot Red and Spark Me Up on the ring finger.

The polishes are thinner than say Barry M, but I find that that makes them easier to work with. The Spark Me Up though, well, it's a glitter top coat, and it's amazing. It's not as fantastic as the Miss Sporty one I raved about, it doesn't have the holographic-ness, but it does have a lovely mix of red, blue and silver glitter.
Dark Hot Red does what it says on the tin, and is a rich deep red, and Pink Me Up was my least favourite as a pale pink with a slight gold sheen to it. It just takes ages to layer up to full opacity, this was 5 coats and I could still see a nail line.

Available in H&M stores.

Notd with a gif, wtf

So! I have a new polish...

Sparkle Touch polish from Miss Sporty. Nothing exciting right? Well let's go all blurry for a second and see if the holographic gorgeousness can come out a little more.

Oh there's no words to describe how happy I was when I found this. It's a clear polish base with holographic small glitter and larger blue glitters, and it looks fantastic over all colours (my favourite being greens and greys). It does feel a little grainy after application, but that's remedied by a top coat.

This is Sparkle Touch over Barry M's Black

This is under tungsten lighting, and I think my white balance is a little off :/
Unfortunately, a static photograph doesn't really help with demonstration of the awesome glitteryness, so I had a brainwave.

Now, I've been lurking tumblr since about late December, and I've been making GIFs left right and center, and I thought to myself, well, I could show you the holographic-ness without a video~ So here, have a highly awkward, and really quickly made GIF showing you the glitter :)

Stage Fright

Why hello there random post.

So, I am somewhat of a musical genius, I'll have you know.

Actually that's BS, I can play several instruments, but I'm goddawful at composition. ANYWAY. I used to play in a band (before you get excited, it was a military band) so you'd think that I'm ok playing to crowds, which I am. When I'm drumming along, and I have about 6 other drummers to back me up.

I've also been in school choirs, etc. I remember when I was in year 6, I had finally grown enough confidence to audition for a solo, but I was so scared that I sang, but when I sang it came out high pitched and so quiet you couldn't hear it. I remember being laughed at, but my teacher was all "At least she had the nerve to come up and try." That didn't help.

As a result, I've not been able to play for anyone since, and my singing voice is naturally really quiet now, I suppose to blend in with the rest of the people singing. When I'm on my own though, I can up the volume, and what I hear sounds good (doesn't it sound that way for us all?). That's what the problem is with living with a housemate. I can play guitar for her no problem, but when it comes to singing, I flail.

I thought she had gone out today, into town, so I was all yes. I can do this. I can pretend I'm on stage with Mumford & Sons/Laura Marling, and I'll be amazing. I'll make my own banter, possibly about musical kidnapping, and I'll play. Which I did. I played my own set of Alas I Cannot Swim, Below My Feet, and finished with Ghosts. No banter. I wasn't feeling it. Then I realise that my guitar needs a quick tune up, so I turn to get my tuner, and I turn back and BAM. Kaylie's standing in my door frame.

Oh shit.

Maybelline 24hr Colour Tattoo... Or some sequence of those words.

Time for a mini review!

I've been lusting after these ever since I saw them pop up on the blogs and youtube. There were three colours I knew I needed, and they were (US names) Pomegrante Punk, Bad to the Bronze, and Tough as Taupe. Needless to say I was a little confused when confronted with the European names.

I got my hands on these lovelies. Unfortunately, the Pomegrante colour wasn't available in my Superdrug (there was not even a little section for that colour in the stand, perhaps they're not for Europe?)

On and On Bronze, Permanent Taupe, and Immortal Charcoal

And of course, because these came from Superdrug, they had that annoying security sticker that refused to come off in one swift peeling action, so they have little bits of sticker still on the sides. Never mind.
Anyway. The pots feel nice and weighty, I was actually surprised when I picked them up, the only problem I have with this packaging, is that it's hard to tell how much product is in the pot, because if you turn it upside down, it looks like there's a decent amount in there, but if you turn it to the side, it looks... Like there's nothing in there.

Top to bottom: Permanent Taupe, Immortal Charcoal, On and On Bronze

The consistency of these is absolutely gorgeous, if a little odd. It's gel, definitely gel, not a cream, which I find exquisite. They feel soft, I was worried that they'd feel greasy, but it's not grease, it's definitely gel like. They apply fantastically pigmented, and just glide on (I've only swatched with a finger).

With and without flash. (click to make bigger)

Permanent Taupe is a tricky colour. When applied, it's a lot darker than in the pot, and you're left with a deep slate grey taupe concoction. It's gorgeous, matte, and very everyday.
On and On Bronze is a bright, metallic bronze. It's very shiny, and looks like all of those gorgeous creamy bronze eyeliner pencils. I love this colour.
Immortal Charcoal reminds me a lot of Urban Decay's Cream Eyeshadow in Mushroom. A graphite grey with subdued shimmer.

They don't want to move once they're set, and I've swatched these on the inside of my wrist, and my wrist has been brushing my keyboard of my laptop, and they haven't budged at all, so it'll probably take some moving to get them going.

These are available for £4.99 from Superdrug (but it's not online as of 15th March), I've not seen it in Boots, but I just breezed through today on my search for ibuprofen. Also, Superdrug are doing 3 for 2 on Maybelline cosmetics, so I managed to get those three for £9.98, fantastic! I really want to pick up the Pomegrante colour if I can find it, so fingers crossed!

notd

Really quick NOTD to last until I put up the review of the 3 Maybelline 24hr Colour Tattoos I managed to get my hands on today in Superdrug :)

2true Crystal Nail Polish in Shade 3,Mysterious Turquoise

This colour is a teal/green, but my camera has problems picking up greens, and this was done with the flash, late at night. Below is a better photo, taken with me hanging out of my kitchen window to get decent light.

This is three coats of polish, no top coat. Excuse the dry as hell skin.

This colour is a sheer, but not jelly, deep green based polish with green and blue microglitter in the polish. The microglitter kind of reminds me of the finish that was in Models Own Pinky Brown. It's not grainy though, but it does take a little more effort to get it off the nail once it's on. I don't usually keep my nail polish on for more than two days (I already have changed it and this was on my nails yesterday) so I couldn't tell you how long this lasts. I did however bake like a madman once this had dried, and it stood up to that; I only took it off because I felt like the huge shimmer/jewel effect wasn't apt for the glorious spring days we've been having here lately :D

Available from Superdrug stores or online.

Bootie Babe

Bootie Babe Nail Polishes!

These are ridiculously fun polishes, the bottles, and the colours. They come in 12 colours, and as of 12th March, there are fragrances now!

Bootie Babe Cosmetics can be purchased here. They do international shipping, and for the sake of UK customers, I ordered three (and got one free) and with the shipping, I believe I paid $18, which was $4 for each polish and $6 for shipping.

Now here's where there's a slight discrepancy with their pricing. On the site now, it says that the polishes are $9, but when I add one to my cart, it says $4. Just bear that in mind.

The three I have (I gave one to my aunt as a gift) are Slinky Pinky, Brink of Pink and Hella Baloo

I'm going to start with Slinky Pinky, because this one was the one I had the most trouble with. First off, the brush was slightly defective, and instead of being round like the others, it was twisted slightly, which meant that that polish dragged when it was being applied, and made application slightly awkward. The formula is quite nice and thick, but combined with the brush, it was a nightmare. I solved this by using a different brush though and it applied beautifully.






Above is how the polish applied with its own brush, and below is the brush. As you can see, it was twisted.

All in all, Slinky Pink is a soft pale pink, with a slight silver pearl running through it. This is the only one I have that is pearly the other two are creme finishes. As I have said the formulation is comfortably thick, and when used with a normal brush, it applies wonderfully.

Brink of Pink is in your face neon pink. It's a gorgeous colour, and like most neons though, I find it needs a top coat to keep the glossiness up, and it needs two coats, although again it has a nice thick formula. The brush was much better here, and this colour would look absolutely gorgeous with a tan.

And by no means least, my favourite, Hella Baloo.

Hella Baloo is a bright primary blue, and off the bat, it reminds me of Barry M's Cyan. I love this colour, the formulation (it's a little thinner than the others) and it's pretty much opaque in one coat. This is two coats for added glossiness.

These are all fast drying polishes, with Hella Baloo being the quickest to dry. They last pretty well on my nails to, averaging around 3 days before chipping and significant tip wear. I must admit, I'm surprised they're so good, I was just buying them for the cute bottles, but for them to be so good, I'm extra pleased!

Nail polish haul

So, on my travels to my mum's house, I stopped in H&M and decided that I needed their new mini nail polishes.

You buy a box with three polishes in, and I think there are just the two boxes available. The colours left to right are: Metallic Grey, Metallic Blue, Spark Me Up, Dark Hot Red, Beige, and Pink Me Up

I'll do a swatchfest of these and have them up by the end of the week (hopefully). My nails haven't been in the best shape since the new year. I started playing guitar again, so the nails on my left hand died, and then when I was working with the rifles at work a couple snapped on my right hand, so I'm trying to get them pretty again. Also, the winter hasn't been kind to my skin, so the skin around my nails looks pretty horrific. I'm fine with wearing the colours normally, but when posting swatch pictures, it's kinda embarrassing :/

Also! I have my hands on two Bootie Babe Nail Polishes. I ordered three and got an extra one free! I ordered Slinky Pinky (light pastel pink), Hella Baloo (bright primary blue), Lilac Lunatic (soft lilac) and the free one was Brink of Pink (neon pink).

Again, a post will be up hopefully for the end of the week, maybe into next :)