GIVEAWAY: Ciaté Mini Mani Manor Advent Calendar 2014

Hello! 

Today I have a very special giveaway to share with you all. Alternative advent calendars have been everywhere this year (hello Yankee Candle please be mine!), especially beauty based calendars and lucky for you I have one to get your hands on right here on my site - the Ciaté Mini Mani Manor! 

The Mini Mani Manor contains 24 mini Ciaté nail polishes, including glitter shades, pearls, sequins and fairisle nail transfers! Plus on the 25th Dec you get a suprise full size Ciaté polish! I bought this with the intention of doing a giveaway with it but have been so so tempted to just 'give' it to myself :P 

So if you want to get your hands on this amazing advent treat then follow the Rafflecopter instructions below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway



The giveaway is up for 2 weeks so you will get it in plenty of time for the Christmas countdown.

Good Luck!
X

Katy Perry OPI Collection - swatches.

News broke last year of OPI teaming up with Katy Perry for a collection of nail lacquers, the only info I could find was 'released in January'. Then, in this months Allure magazine I saw a small ad for it which sent me on my hunt. 

You buy all of the collection (including the 'Shatter' effect polish) separately in full size bottles for about £10.50 each OR you can get a mini's collection which is 3.75ml's of each one (not including the 'Shatter' topcoat but I'm guessing it's exactly like the Barry M one).

As I wanted to try them all I went for the mini's collection, here they are:

Katy Perry OPI mini's collection.
With a banging picture of Katy on the front.

Teenage Dream - A candy pink glittery number.
The One That Got Away - A ruby red with faint glittery hint.

Last Friday Night - A blue glitter.
Not Like the Movies - A green/silver with faint glitter.

This is just another look at Not Like the Movies, it's like a galaxy green/silver kinda colour, it has hints of faint glitter in it. It changes in the light and it's amazing!

Teenage Dream and The One That Got Away - 1st coat.

Last Friday Night and Not Like the Movies - 1st coat.

Teenage Dream and The One That Got Away - 2nd coat.
As you can see they look so much better with a 2nd coat, I actually have TOTGA on now I love it!!

Last Friday Night and Not Like the Movies - 2nd coat.
The picture doesn't do NLTM any justice at all, its amazing!

After trying them all I now want the full bottles of each one! So goodbye money - hello pretty nails!

Other OPI collections include Burlesque and Justin Bieber with their 'Nicole' range (I actually love the look of 2 of them hah!).

What nail polishes are hotting up your nails?

x

Some New Barry M - Reviews and swatches.

Over on Barry M's Facebook on Tuesday there was a special friends code for 30% off any order - ohh how could I say no!?

If it hasn't been VERY apparent (what with all my posts on the subject) I LOVE lipstick! So it would be wrong for me not to pick one up. I've never used Barry M lipstick before (or Lip Paint as they call it) so as a huge nail polish fan of theirs I decided to try:

The colour I picked up was the first I saw, a new colour named 'Pink Ribbon' , the others I kept seeing were nuts things like Robot Blue and that isn't for me!
£4.25 without discount.

Swatch: first one is two layers, second with only one layer.

Here is it on! It's just a plain simple pink which is nice for those days when I'm not into wearing alot of make-up.
It has good lasting power,  I can certainly see why they are called 'paints'

 I'm a huge nail polish fan, especially Barry M, you can't go wrong it's cheap, it lasts and they have so many to chose from. Recently they bought out the 'effects' nail paint, which the world has gone nuts for (including me) but also 2 new A/W shades - 'Dusky Mauve' and 'Indigo'.

I only picked up one, and the one in question is the 'Dusky Mauve'. Apparently this is a dead ringer for the Chanel 'Particuliere' I got it wrong! Paradoxal! I've not tried the Chanel so can't say but plenty of reviews and bloggers claim it is.

As you can see it has a slightly bruised effect with a hint of mauve shimmer.

My room was so dark it was hard to get a good snap of this so:
Without flash

With flash.
You can kinda see the shimmer, it looks alot more purple in these pics, I'd say it's slightly browner.

Have you used any Barry M lip paints? What colours were good?

x

MAC Venomous Villains - review and swatches.

As all of you MAC Cosmetics fans know they recently teamed up with Disney to form the 'Venomous Villains' collection, all of course are limited edition and most of it sold out pretty much as soon as it launched on the website on Monday. 

Luckily I managed to pick up a couple pieces, I would have liked more but my bank account will not allow it right now, so here's what I got:

'Innocence, Beware!' part of the Cruella DeVille range (and personally my fave villain - minus the puppy murder!)
Alot of reviews have been saying how cheap the packaging is but I really love it, especially the outer packaging.

It's a dark pink nude colour in a Creme Sheen - so great for Winter! Nice and creamy so will keep lips moist and last a long time.

With it on (lack of lighting here apologies!)
I really like it, it makes a change form wearing red or pink.

Nail Laquer in 'Formidable!' - part of the Maleficent collection.
It's described as having a 'bruise' look to it which I can totally see.

1 coat - start our a burgundy/plum colour  with a hint of glitter.
it goes on easy, MAC Lacquer's are also 4-free which is good for nails!

2nd coat - alot deeper, more blue with an extra layer of glitter.

3rd coat - more of a purple/blue/green mix, in the light its amazing but hard to capture on a camera.
The glitter is amazing!

What are your favourite items from the VV collection? Did you manage to pick any up?
Also check out the lovely Sammi's blog tomorrow for her pick-ups and reviews :)
x

Eyeko Rain Polish.

Last week Eyeko had 25% off your order, so I snapped up this opportunity and picked up their 'Rain Polish' and a Eyeko Magic Mascara (review coming tomorrow).

First of all I LOVE Eyeko and how they package everything, it came in a cute bag with 2 stickers and a free gift code! 

Rain Polish - For City Nails - £3.50

I really love this colour, it's a blue/grey - basically the colour of a cloudy, rainy city day! 

The polish definitely needs 2 coats but it goes on smooth and easy with a great brush and dries fairly quickly. Next up I really want to try the Eyeko Cosmic Polish and ChiChi Polish.

Also I have a really bad topcoat so I was wandering what your favourite topcoat is so I can give it a try! :)

Hope you all had a great weekend! 

x

New Shoes - Clogs!

This payday I decided i wanted to treat myself to a new bag - that went out the window when i saw these shoes on the Topshop website.

They are a lace-up clog with a thick platform heel and set me back £60.

They are So comfy I can tell these are going to be my winter shoes that I wear with everything, they are so easy to wear in the day too.

They have super cute tassel laces...

...and the best wooden heels, plus studs! We all know I love a stud.

I also teamed them with my cable knit long socks - excuse me looking like a total shorty here but I  had no makeup on and only wanted to get my legs in, I ended up looking like a stump.

My new nail polish from No.7 - Night Silver, matches my socks!

Bought anything new recently?

Also I will be doing a '200 followers' giveaway so spread the word!

x                   

Weekend Nails + Treats!

I didn't have work on Saturday so me and the boyf decided to go charity shopping (I didn't get anything) and spend too much money on American sweets and drinks - Twinkies' are my new favorite treat!

Here were my polka-dot nails for that occasion:

Poolside Blue - No.7

Snow White - Models Own

Then today I had work and conveniently changed my nails for that occasion too:

Barry M - Mint Green

Barry M - Pale Blue

As you can see it's been a relaxed sort of weekend, my mum however popped to Totnes and got me a couple little treats:

Cute Paris postcard.

(I'm going to be there in 3 weeks I'm SO excited!

Rumor has is Madonna is going on the same day - Hey Madge!)

This wonderful pearlescent clam mirror that I've been hankering after for ages.

Thankyou mum!

What did you get upto this weekend?

Don't forget I'm only 15 followers away from a giveaway! Also did you notice my new header? It's great having a boyfriend who is a graphic designer - and no charge at all! :P

x

Happy 4th July, Nails!

So even though I'm stuck living here in the UK, I'm a huge America nerd.

Today being 4th of July, Independence Day, I decided to pay tribute by giving my nails the USA Flag makeover!

Pearlescent White - Accessorize

Red - Barry M

Poolside Blue - No.7

Holographic - GOSH

Happy Independence Day American's!

x

Quick nail post!

I was inspired by the lovely Miss. Indie Cindy Ashleigh post here - http://mayablue123.blogspot.com/2010/06/zebra-nails.html, to do my own take on her Zebra nails.

Here they are!

They look a little shiny here but thats just the 'Sally Hansen' Insta-Dry I used over the top.

Otherwise I used:

- Pearlescent white from Accessorize.

- Pink Grapefruit from 17.

- Black cab by Rimmel I (Heart) 60 seconds.

- Magic star (a translucent glitter) from GOSH.

They look very Tropical and ALOT better than the picture now the speed dry has dried.

Thats all until Sunday! Have a great weekend!

x