Shellac Manicure: Review ♥

Hey beauts,

So I'm currently off work ill and as I've not left my bed all day, I needed a bit of cheering up (there is NOTHING good on tv in the day) so I thought a little post about my current Shellac mani would be a good way to take my mind off being poorly.

I've had a pretty busy couple of weeks, what with my graduation and then a wedding and an awards ceremony, so I obviously wanted my nails to look as perfect as possible. I was tempted to get acrylics again, but they really ruined my nails in summer so I opted for a Shellac manicure instead. I had french tips done for my graduation and was really pleased with how they looked....however, the day after my graduation, the polish started to peel away from the sides on both my index fingers which was so disappointing as they were supposed to last up to three weeks

I went back to the salon and they said that it shouldn't have happened and the UV light which they put them under to dry might not have set them properly down the sides of the nail beds so I went back and had them done free of charge. The second time I had them done I had them painted a full colour instead of french tips as the beautician said this would be stronger, so I went for black nails and a silver accent nail with tiny black gems to go with the two dresses  I was wearing for the wedding and awards evening.

Here is the picture I instagrammed straight after having them done so my cuticles are still a bit oily...

This time they've lasted perfectly and even when I've knocked them or scraped them they haven't even chipped, which is amazing because usually no matter how many top and bottom coats I apply to my nail polish it still chips within a day. They're still beautifully shiny and smooth which I love because I find that normal polish usually goes quite dull after a while and I can't see them chipping anytime soon, they're definitely as strong as they should be this time. I paid £30 for the manicure, which is quite expensive but it does take about an hour and they last up to three weeks so in my opinion it is worth it if you've got some pennies to splash or you have a nice event to look forward to.

I'd definitely recommend them to anyone considering having something a little bit different on their nails, there are some gorgeous festive colours like red and gold glitter which I definitely fancy trying after this. They also protect your nails unlike having gel or acrylic nails put on as you get given a cuticle oil to massage on daily which protects the nail underneath and doesn't result in ridges or thin nails like acrylics. Although they don't add length, it doesn't matter because short nails look just as glamourous as long talons would. All in all I'm really happy with them now I've got a colour on and I can't wait to try out the different range of colours.

Have you ever had a Shellac manicure? What do you think of my nails?

Love 

x

Impress Nails: Review ♥

Hey beauties,

I was thinking of what better way to start posting again than with a good old review of a product I recently tried out. Throughout the summer I had gel nails with a white tip, so that I could paint them when I liked or go for the simple and classy french mani look for the rest of the time. Obviously as they started growing out they looked a mess and my plan was to just keep getting them done, until my last few pennies had to go on other holiday essentials like clothes and I couldn't afford. As my nails were in such terrible condition from being gelled and filed until they were almost non-existent, I needed something to glam them back up again, so I tried out Impress Nails.

I'd heard a lot about this brand on the internet and had wanted to try them at the start of summer but I couldn't because of my gel nails, so as a much cheaper alternative (£8.99 compared to £25 for new gels!) I got them for my holiday to Spain. I applied them the day that I left for the airport and they were SO easy to apply, all you have to do is choose the appropriate size, peel back a sticker and press on to the nail and voila! Beautiful nails! The ones I chose were in the colour 'Lovestruck' and were so cute and girly, perfect for a summer holiday, but Boots, where I bought them had so many different colours and styles it was actually quite hard to choose.

This is the photo I instagrammed from the airport! Impress Nails - Lovestruck - £8.99

In terms of staying power, this is where I had a few problems...because of my gel nails, some of my nails ended up quite uneven on the surface, with quite big ridges in them so sadly the nails didn't stick very well to those. I think it was one thumb and one index finger that had the biggest problem and came a bit loose. The rest of the nails stuck so well though and when it came to taking them off after losing a couple, they were quite tough to get off, even after travelling all day and washing my hands numerous times. So overall, I was really impressed with the staying power to say it's just a sticky back and no glue is required. It was only my nails which made them loose, nothing to do with the product itself.

I'd definitely buy these nails again, and I'm patiently waiting for my nails to grow properly and the ridges to grow out, I'm thinking the rich, red colour 'Tweetheart' for the autumn and winter months!

What do you think of this speedy manicure? Have you ever tried Impress Nails?

Love

x

Nail Rock Nail Wraps ♥

Helloo lovelies,

Last night I went to Liverpool for a night out to celebrate a belated birthday for me and an early birthday for my housemate and just for general fun times in a different city than Chester with my lovely uni housemates. We stayed in a lovely apartment that we found for a real bargain and got all dressed up and hit Concert Square. I'd been looking at nail wraps for a while but not really known whether to try them out incase they weren't very good. but considering it was a night out, I thought I'd go for it. I chose the gold and black Cheetah print style as I'm a bit obsessed with animal prints at the moment and got them for £6.50 in Outfit. I LOVE them! They're actually really easy to apply..just choose the one that most fits your nail, place it on and apply pressure around nail to make it stick and file down to the length of your nail and done! Simple. They really glammed up my outfit and looked like I'd gone to lots of time and effort to have them done professionally. I teamed them a couple of gold rings and bracelets from Topshop and Miss Selfridge and was ready to go.  I'm so keen to get different patterns now and I try out different looks! Here's how they looked last night...

I'd definitely recommend them to anyone who wants to try something different with their nails :)

x

Manicure me...♥

So yesterday I thought I'd treat myself to a bit of relaxation time after stressing over all of my upcoming deadlines at Uni and have a night off working to just watch some good TV and give myself a nice new manicure to make me feel fresh and pretty again. Doing my nails always helps de-stress me and I just been rocking a dark purple colour so this time I went for a light colour which my friend was using as I thought it would make my hands look girly, yet clean and soft looking. I didn't actually realise before I started using it that it's really just a base coat, but it's in a lovely pastel pink shade so works really well as an all over colour and gets me in the mood for the SS'12 pastel trends! The No7 'base coat' glides on really well and I did two coats just because I felt I wanted it to look a little more pinky, but one coat would have been just as nice if I didn't have time to do both. At around £7 a bottle I suppose it's quite pricey for a base coat but when it applies well and you can use it as both a full colour or a base it's justifiable. Heres how it looks on the nails...

No7 'So Smooth Base Coat' 

What do you do to relax and what are your go to shades?  

x

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