Sensationail Starter Kit

Hola Dalimoos,

As you know I am an avid nail polish fiend and my biggest bugbear is nail varnish chips and for some reason nail varnish chips so easily on me.  I know it doesn't help with the constant washing of hands and an active "home life" but to chip within an hour of painting gets to me.  The thing is I absolutely love doing my nails I just wish I could appreciate my efforts for longer!

So when just before Christmas the Sensationail Starter Kit was Boots' star buy I had to have it.  I got my other half to buy it for me for Christmas.  Now obviously I had to wait until Christmas to get it!

I got the sugar plum starter kit.  The kit came with:

• Two nail polishes:  Sugar Plum and Tag me Taupe
• Gel Cleanser
• Gel primer
• Gel base & top coat
• 1 pack of 12 lint-free wipes
• double sided nail buffer
• manicure stick
• removal tool
• LED lamp 
• £3 off voucher towards a new nail polish.

On Christmas morning I opened the box and started straight away.  It came with easy to read instructions including pictures so there was no going wrong!  I decided to stay festive and use the Sugar Plum nail polish which was a pinky/purple red colour.

It was so easy it seemed like I was doing something wrong.  My nails were completely done and dry within I would say 5 minutes.

The day after boxing day I decided I wanted to add to the "collection" and bought Blue Yonder and I used my £3 off voucher.

 I didn't leave the Sugar Plum on long enough to test out the longevity of it as I was over excited!  So I removed the Sugar Plum and painted my nails with Blue Yonder.

A week exactly worth of growth

The following Friday speaking with someone on twitter I tweeted them the above picture showing them that it had held up brilliantly after a whole week.  Not a chip in sight.  It didn't even dawn on me until that conversation how well it had held up.

On Saturday I decided to change up the colour again.  The slight nail growth showing at the top and started to bother me.

Below I will show you how I got the varnish off and how I used the lamp:

I first used the double sided nail file to file the top layer of gel off my nails, this makes it easier for the remover to work its magic.

Sensationail do a removal kit which I haven't purchased (yet!) and decided to do a bit of a DIY foil removal.  I put acetone nail polish remover on a cotton pad and put the pad over my nail and then wrapped it in foil.  I left it for about 5-10 minutes and then used the removal tool to peel the varnish away from the nails.  I had to scrap a little bit but I don't know if that is the remover I was using or whether I hadn't left it on long enough.

(sorry forgot to photograph then next couple of instructions)

I lightly buffed my natural nail with the softer side of the file and then washed my hands.  I used a lint-free cloth with some gel cleanser on it to clean my nails.

I apply a coat of the gel primer and you need to leave this to air-dry (not sure why!).  Once this has dried you apply your first coat of gel top coat and cure it under the lamp for 30 seconds.

You then apply your first coat of your colour.  I decided to use the other colour in my kit and that was taupe tulips.  You cure this for 60 seconds.  Then apply a second coat of the polish and cure for another 60 seconds.  NB:  What I like about this lamp is after 30 seconds it beeps and you can do your other hand after 60 seconds the lamp turns off completely.

Then you need to protect the nail by using another layer of the base/top coat and cure your nails for the last 30 seconds.

Once you have done this you have one final step to do and that is use some more gel cleanser to wipe over your nails (I used the same lint-free cloth) to remove any moisture layer and tada your nails are done and dry as a bone!

finished nails

The biggest tip I can give to you when doing your nails is less is more.  You really need to be careful about putting too much product on as you don't want to get it on your skin or over your cuticles as it sets rock hard and you cannot pick it off no matter how much you try!

The only negative thing I can say are the prices for the individual nail polishes.  Boots are selling them for £15. However you can get them direct from Sensationails' website for £12.50.  I am gutted I have just found out about the polishes being cheaper on the website because I bought Blue Yonder from boots, I know I got the £3 off but still how can you sell it for a higher price?? But worse still if you are in the US you can buy the nail polishes for a mere $10 which makes it roughly £6 a bottle!  I did have a rant on twitter about the cost difference in the US to the UK and they did tweet back explaining that import costs, custom fees and VAT hikes the prices up so I suppose they're not really able to keep it at the price of their US counterparts!

That little rant aside, I absolutely love this product and have been looking at their website for some new colours.  They have a deal at the moment that you can get 12 polishes for the price of 8 (£100) which works out about £8 a bottle which is personally  more affordable, it is just paying the £100 up front...I don't know what to do.  Should I or Shouldn't I buy some more colours.....oh what to do?!

The starter kit is now full price (£69).  You can still get them from Boots or direct from the Sensationail website.

 Anyway my lovelies, until next time.

Ciao for now xxx

Haul: nail varnish

Hola Dalimoos

I was in superdrug the other day as I needed to get some cotton wool pads and 'came across' the make up aisle! I wasn't going to buy anything, that was until the sparkle dazzled me!!

Now I don't know if it is just me but December is a sparkly month and I go crazy for glitter and when I saw these I had to pick them up!

I have a couple of big nights planned this month and these fake press on nails are so divine I couldn't walk past without putting them in my basket*

 L-R: foil flash, woven skyline and knitted gold (Maybelline) Frosted Plum (GOSH)

I also picked up 3 maybelline nail varnishes from the brocades collection.  I was intrigued by the last one from GOSH as it is a matte glitter and is such a pretty colour I can't wait to see what the effect is on my nail being a matte glitter and all!

*since purchasing the fake nails I can say they are a disappointment.  These are press on which isn't too bad but you need to stick the press on pads to the fake nail yourself which is just too much bother before a big night!  They don't stay in for more than five minutes before they ping off!  I won't be using the other pack :(

Anyway my lovelies, until next time 

Ciao for now xx

NOTW: Hanging onto Summer

Hola Dalimoo's,

I know we're in September now and Summer has technically gone, but I couldn't let these nails go without showing them!  They are technically a summer nail but I would rock these any time of the year as they make me happy...

These are the ladybird nails.  I was looking through the #nailart on instagram the other night and came across different variations of ladybird nails and these are so damn cute that I had to recreate them.  I used Rimmel's Double decker red, OPI's Alpine Snow and Barry M's nail art pen in black. 

This design I saw on Pinterest...OMG to digress a little, is anyone else addicted to Pinterest?  I have had to have a detox from it as I would wittle HOURS and I mean hours just looking and re-pinning, and looking and re-pinning and looking........

For these nails I used again Rimmel Double Decker red all over the nail, I used Barry M lime green on the tip, then used a nail brush to do vertical lines with Barry M Spring green once that was dry I used Barry M's nail art pen in white and used the black Barry M nail art pen to do 3 lines to imitate seeds!  It was a pretty easy design to do and I loved it.

*before I sign off I would like to say that I cannot remember who these original designs are from and I am by no means taking them as my own and from now on I will remember to write down the names etc so I can give them props as credit is deserved where credit is deserved.

Anywho my lovelies...

Ciao for now

NOTD...

Hola Dalimoos,

I love experimenting with nail art, and I recently did this nail art after watching MissJenFabulous on YouTube, she does great nail art tutorials as well as beauty so would definitely say go over and have a butchers at her channel!

It was such an easy nail art to do.  If you do not have dotting tools just use a tooth-pic or even straighten a kirby grip (bobby pin) and use the top of that.  But if you do like doing art and would like to buy some for yourself then you can find them really cheaply on ebay.

I decided I would use the pastel theme for this nail design.  The varnishes I used were L-R: Barry M Mint Green, Barry M Blueberry Ice cream, Barry M Berry Ice cream, Barry M Strawberry Ice cream, Barry M Lemon Ice cream and OPI's Alpine Snow.

I painted all my fingers with OPI Alpine Snow.   

excuse the finishing I hadn't got my q-tip to the edges yet!

Then with the dotting tools I used two different sizes so the spots were various sizes and I used half of one colour on part of my nail and half of another and just blended the spots so there wasn't a harsh line. 

I hope I was able to explain myself properly and you are able to follow it.  But seriously it is so easy I think just looking at the pictures alone without my babble you would probably be able to do this yourself!!!

Anyway my lovelies, I hope you enjoyed the post and until next time....

ciao for now  xxx

NOTW...

Hola Dalimoo's,

As time goes on you will come to realise that nails are my weakness!  I love painting my nails and sometimes I play around with nail art!

So here is another short post of the nails I have been wearing this week - enjoy x

The start of the week I decided to go pastel and used Barry M mint ice cream and Barry M blueberry ice cream.  I had two statement nails but switched it up on both nails.









I felt quite patriotic when I chose this combination. I used the Barry M's limited edition in vintage red and Navy Blue.  Both colours together just remind me  of the GB flag!!










I do love Barry M nail polishes and I probably have more Barry M nail polishes in my collection than any other.  I personally find that their formulations are never the same and its very hit and miss for Barry M!


The last polish of the week is one I have only just purchased from MUA.  Is it me or are these polish bottles very similar to a certain other nail polish brand???  This is Amaretto Crush and is a nude-pink colour.  It is a very pretty creamy colour, it needed 3 coats to become opaque enough for me, but I did like it so much that I have just taken it off and re-done it!







Hope you enjoyed the post.  Let me know if you would like to see my Barry M collection in a future post?

Anyway ciao for now my lovelies...

NOTW...

Hola Dalimoo's,

Nail polish is my (not so) secret love, I have more nail varnish than make up in my collection.

I thought I would do a post on my nails of the last few days instead of doing separate posts of all the nail changes I have done.

Nail one of the week was China Glaze Sun Worshipper.  This is an extremely bright orangey-yellow.  The downside of this polish is its pretty watery so i needed to put on around 3 to 4 coats to make it opaque and it chipped the very next day.

Nail two was Barry M's Neon Green.  I thought I would stick with the bright/fluorescent theme of the day before!  This was opaque in just two coats and if you are like me and love neon colours this is true to colour!  This did last a couple of days before it started to chip.

Nail three and the final nail in this post is my newest polish in my collection Revlon Moon Candy in 280 Orbit, its a deep purple colour with purple irridescent glitter, on the nails the glitter looks more bluey.  I absolutely love the application of this nail polish.  I only needed one coat of the main colour and a couple of coats for the glittery flecks.  I put this on last night so I am unsure at the moment of the staying power.  I am hoping it lasts for at   least a couple of days before I need to change the polish again.


So these are the polishes I have used in the last four days.

Ciao for now my lovelies

xxx

NOTD

Hola Dalimoo's,

I love doing my nails.  Whilst I was on maternity last year and my son was tiny I would change my nail polish and try do art designs practically every other day but now I'm back at work and I have a 5 year old and a "nearly" 2 year old I just don't have the time these days to change my polish or to experiment with different designs that often so I look out for nail polishes that technically do that for you!

There has been hype recently about feather nails and obviously I needed to get on that band wagon.  I bought two from Invogue, Parakeet (blue, orange and yellow flecks) and Sunset (peach and white flecks) from superdrug ages ago but have not used them so thought I would try one out last night.  I chose 'Sunset' and teamed it with Barry M's Peach Melba.

I don't know if its me and how I am applying the feather nail polish but this does not remind me of feathers nor does it have a feather effect it just looks like sprinkles you would put on a cupcake.  So to say the least I was quite disappointed.

To make matters worse my nails chipped so badly this morning and I had only got in and out of the shower. To be honest I don't know if it was Barry M's polish as I find they chip pretty bad but that's a whole different blog post!

Anywho my lovelies this isn't the first trend/hype I have got myself into a tiss about and have regretted and it sure wont be the last!  Please tell me what nail 'trends'/'hypes' that have you got you all in a wobble and you ended up regretting?

Ciao for now xx