Lemon and Lime - Models Own Polishes

My birthday was in January and I was gifted these two lovely polishes by my friend Fiona over at The Beauty Fiend.  They are both quite out there and although I adore them I probably would not have picked them off the shelf, I would have probably went for something pink and glittery.  That's one of the best things about gifts - getting something you love that would not normally have picked for yourself.

I have been trying to wear yellow nail polish unsuccessfully for the last couple of years.  I tried normal yellow when The Dark Knight came out and I've tried Lemon Ice Cream by Barry M, due my pale skin tone I looked somewhat diseased.  But, at last I have found a yellow that works for me.  The gold tones in Sunkissed by Models Own doesn't look too bad against my skin tone and it is such a fabulous colour.  I loved my nails when I had this polish on, it works as an accessory.  It might be too in your face for some people but I would suggest giving it a try - you never know.  

Green is my colour, and I own a lot of green nail polish but this is one shade I didn't have.  In the photo it looks lime but it a little lighter than traditional lime but not a mint green either.  As the name suggests it is the colour of Endame beans, a lovely smooth green.  Bright but not neon.  This will be my staple colour come spring, if Scotland ever get spring.

As always Models Own polishes have great holding power.  I haven't come across a bad one yet.

What will your spring nail colour be?

The Wah Nails Book of Nail Art

An inspirational birthday present from the 'other Victoria' of Victoria Sponge Pease Pudding - check her blog out.  She makes fabulous cakes.  I miss her cakes...pfft, and her face.  She lives in Aberdeen so I don't see her half as much as I would like to but an adventure to Granite City is definitely on the cards in the near future.  

What in the wah is Wah?

Wah nails started as an independent nail art boutique in London with a blog dedicated to all the different nail designs created in the store, but it has now branched out into Topshop on Oxford Street.  If only I had realised when I was visiting London last week.  I love nail art, and loathe the original french manicure or more so plain nails.  Nail art gives us a means of expressing our individuality and style, and unlike fashion it doesn't matter what size you are or where you bought your clothes.  

Although I have just stated that I love nail art, which would suggest that I am a practiser of this art - I am not.  Well, not regularly.  I have attempted glitter, two tone, the odd kitch design but only when I have been granted the patience to do so.  I am not a patient person, waiting for my nails to dry can be a chore for me.  However this year I am going to branch out and try new designs - we will see if my nail art techniques progress with practice or if I am best sticking to getting my nails done professionally.

The book gives step by step instructions, information on tools, and tips as to how to get your nails in the perfect condition before and after. WAH have also teamed up with Models Own with their own range of tools - http://wah-nails.com/store.  There are 25 different examples of nail art for you to attempt at home.   Illustrated below is the candy stripes design which I attempted.  The book is beautifully illustrated and each model comes with a personal story.  Hip is how I would describe this book, hip and professionally cool.

Here is my first attempt at the simple striped look and due to the stripes slightly warped nature I have named them 'Burtonesque Stripes'.  I know they are far from perfect, and I didn't pick the easiest of colours to attempt stripes with.  Next time I will be using a darker base colour for the stripes and trying to draw the stripes with the nail brush rather than the pen. Leopard print next?  I have been meaning to try them for a while...

Christmas Inspired Nails

It's that time of year again when I can wear green and glittery nail polish and not feel like a drag queen version of the Wicked Witch. Christmas, of course.

Green is predominately my colour, you know how everyone has a colour? What's yours?  I do rock green nails throughout the year but it feels a little bit more acceptable during this season.  It doesn't seem so out there, which is nice sometimes.

My friend Fiona over at The Beauty Fiend  won like a million nail polishes from Models Own a couple of months back and this is one of the ones that she gifted me with - told you green was my colour.

Green Tea: It looks like a teal green shade in the photo above but it really is more of a cross in the middle of teal and emerald. I am working in John Lewis at the moment and it is quite close to the John Lewis green - don't know if I am going to get away with having green nails at work but we will see. It has a matte finish to it, which if I am being honest I don't love, even though I love the colour. The last time I wore this I found the matte finish meant it chipped really easy, so it might not even last until work on Saturday.

I decided this Christmas that gold was going to be my primary nail colour - every year I pick a colour. Last year was reds.  I came up with the following nail creation on a whim and I utterly adore it.  I had planned to buy the Barry M gold glitter polish but I think this might do the job.

Buried Treasure by Collection 2000 with Models Own Ibiza Mix on top: I have been plugging Ibiza Mix since the spring and I'm still not bored of it, it's so versatile. The specs of blue, gold and pinkish glitter are fabulous and really catch the eye.  They also remind me of multicoloured Christmas lights and the typical colours of Christmas baubles - like tiny little baubles on your nails. 

Does anyone know of any other good glitter nail polishes, in warm tones?

Hope everyone is having fun Christmas shopping.

Victoria.

xx

Halloween Ghostly Nails

Come Halloween even the most girlie of girls wants a little touch of Halloween horror in her life, and nails are a quick and effective way to do this - without having to dig out the white face paint and fake blood.  Which I find the horror really lays in scrubbing the stuff off the next day.

I have seen a lot of great Halloween inspired nail art on the blog scene over the last couple of weeks, but I am no nail artist - I can paint my nails without making too much of a mess but when it comes to getting arty with a nail pen, I struggle. But I thought I would give ghost nails a go (if it is your blog that I got this idea from let me know and I will tag you - I can't remember where I seen it).

My ghost's do look more Pac-man ghosts than terrifying supernatural ghosts but they are quite cute, regardless.  When I was trying this out I actually done the ghosts pink and black as a test run, as I had the intentions of doing it again with grey polish but I start work on Monday - hence the edited photo's.

To get this look:

1. Chose your base colour for the ghosts and paint your nails as you usually would.
2. Wait to dry - seriously, wait.
3. Use black nail art pen (I use Models Own) to draw the points at the tip of the nail, to create the outline of the ghost. You can actually see this better in the first photo. I used the brush of the nail art pen rather than the actual pen but I feel it would work better with the pen - more steady.
4. Dot two white dots using either dotting tools or free hand - I used free-hand.
5. Use the nail art pen to place the pupils - this time you need to use the pen end.

I found the layers of polish took quite a while to dry, so you might want to watch a film or something whilst you do this, as not to be tempted to do something that will smudge the polish.

What are your favourite Halloween nail art designs this year?

Giveaway Goodies and What Else is Coming Up

Aloha,

I am just getting back into the swing of my normal boring life, after returning from my two week journalism placement at The Wigtown Book Festival and I have lots of blogging to catch up on.

Before I left for Wigtown I won The Beauty Fiend 100 follower give away (Fiona is actually my friend so it was a bit weird for me to have won the prize but she honestly done the giveaway fairly - it must have been fate for me to win).  Fiona (the jammy dodger that she is) also won a chunk of stuff from Models Own that week so she threw in a couple of other goodies that I would like - mainly green things.

There will be a separate blog post reviewing the giveaway prizes.

Other Beauty Reviews:

• Maybelline 24 Hour Super Stay Foundation
• Elf - Fuchsia Fusion Blusher
• Top Shop - Cream to Powder Blusher in High-Five. 
• Superdrug - Dry Shampoo Haul.
• Mac - Marilyn Monroe - Lipstick in Charmed I'm Sure. 
• Ghostly Nails
• Wigtown Soap Company - Peppermint and Pumice Soap

Non- Beauty Related Post's: 

• Tahir Shah - Timbuctu and The Future of Publishing.
• Frankenweenie - Review.
• Good to Films to Watch in the Run up to Halloween.
• A Review of Blink Box.
• An Introduction to Asylum Playing Cards.
• City-living versus Country-living.

I am also on the look out for a new face powder as my beloved Maybelline Dream Matte Powder has been discontinued.  I like a powder that comes in a compact, is no more than £10.00, and is suitable for very pale skin - any suggestions?

Victoria

Models Own - Magenta Divine - Pink Glitter Polish

After months of writing my dissertation I decided I would treat myself to some new nail polish.  I have been eyeing up the Models Own nail polishes ever since my friend Fiona reviewed their polishes on her blog. (I wrote this blog post in May but forgot to take photo's of the nails before taking the polish off). 


I'm a sucker for glitter nail polish.  It just makes me super happy to find a hot pink glitter polish for every so often I like to dive into gothic barbie mode.   

As you can see from it is a bottle it is a polish designed in Barbie's dreams but unlike the Ibiza Mix reviewed previously this polish is more similar to the Barry M polishes as it covers the whole base coat and makes the nail fully glittery. Who say's this is a bad thing though?


I teamed Magenta Divine with Wellington Street by Nails Inc.

Which resulted in this:  

P:S I have five fingers I am just crap at taking photo's. 

I would say this polish has a greater stay than the Ibiza Mix as I managed to keep the polish on for over week with only having to touch up the tips once.

My experience with Models Own polishes has been delightful so far and I would recommend giving their polishes a try despite them being a little bit more expensive than some other brands. 

5/5

Models Own Hed Kandi Ibiza Mix on Victoria by Nails Inc

A girl can never have too many nail-polishes well that is what I tell myself.  My post-dissertation spending spree involved buying two Models Own nail-polishes since they were 2 for £8 or £5 for one - seemed a shame to not buy too.

I have been in the market for a while for a nice basic glitter nail-polish so when my magpie eyes seen the Hed Kandi Ibiza Mix polish from Models Own I knew it had to be mine.

I would find myself going into Boots after work to look at and then deciding that I couldn't validate spending £8 on nail polish but my dissertation provided me with an excuse.

As you can see its a nice multi-coloured glitter with golds, blues, greens and a slight hint of lilac.  The glitter pieces are not equally shaped so the bigger pieces catch the eye.  Different from the typical glitter polishes that cover the whole nail - with this polish you can still see the base polish.

 Here it is modelled by my flatmate Victoria of Victoria Sponge Pease Pudding on Victoria from Nails Inc - whole lot of Victoria going on here but in my biased opinion that is never a bad thing.

When I first bought the polish I tried it on a coral polish and it was all a bit too much and the harshness of the coral overpowered the glitter.  It definitely works better on darker polishes.  I have been wearing it on a dark teal green and it works really well on that and it works well on the dark reds like Victoria by Nails Inc. No.7 and Collection 2000 do a colour very similar and cheaper to Victoria.

The polish its self has good lasting power and does not chip too easily but does take a little while to dry and I would advise on doing two coats but allowing one to fully dry first before applying the second coat other wise it just becomes gloopy. 

Models Own have a variety of glitter polishes at the moment and I prefer them to the Barry M glitter polishes.  I will next be reviewing Magenta Divine on Wellington Street by Nails Inc.