Blend Collective Hydrating Hand and Body Lotion Review

If I get something new through the post,I get very excited. I didn't even read the packaging properly before I whipped out this Blend Collective product and slapped it on my hands..and my arms...and my legs..and my....well you get the idea! Feeling a bit guilty for using a hand cream all over my body, I sat down to write this review and realised - it's only a bloody hand AND body lotion! I didn't read the "body" part and continued to slap it on all over as a hand cream, intent on giving you my fantastic "tip" of using it as a multi-purpose product! Well it has certainly proved its worth in that department and I absolutely adore it, here's why:

It is completely non-greasy and soaks in extremely quickly, with a really light, citrussy fragrance of Sicilian lemon, may chang (whatever that is), myrtle (moaning myrtle?) and lime (I know what a lime is! SCORE!) that Blend Collective describes as "enlivening" and "invigorating" - LUSH!

Blend Collective Hand and Body Lotion is 99% natural, with the ingredients used occurring naturally in the organically sourced essential oils. It feels so luxurious and you can really tell its such high quality.

RRP £19.00 for 200ml

For me, this lotion is perfect for the hands because it soaks in quickly while providing excellent hydration - especially on the nail beds, my cuticles are feeling lovely! It's not really one for those on a budget, but as a treat or gift it really is SUCH a nice product.

I would definitely recommend Blend Collective Hydrating Hand and Body Lotion, here's that familiar face again...

Hope you're all having a great week!

Revlon Facets of Fuscia

This polish has been out for while, but I only recently decided to purchase it - I love glitter polishes but rarely wear them because I change my nails so often and glitters are an absolute PAIN to remove! Revlon Facets of Fuchsia looked too lovely to pass up though! Revlon seem to be making a habit out of duping Deborah Lippmann polishes, with Facets of Fuchsia widely regarded as a dupe for Bad Romance, and their recent release Revlon Whimsical bearing an uncoincidental resemblance to Deborah Lippmann's Glitter in the Air!

Although I realise it must be irritating (to say the least) to large luxury polish brands to have their colours duped, I am glad that the Revlon equivalents are available because they are a fraction of the price - it makes them more accessible to everyone! On one hand, I wish Revlon would stop doing it, to save Deborah Lippmann's brand integrity, but on the other hand LOTS OF PINK GLITTER ON MY NAILS THAT DIDN'T BREAK MY BANK! My head says "no" and my heart says "GIMME!". It is a case of extreme inner turmoil, I tell you, I am a mess.

This is 3 coats of Revlon Facets of Fuchsia, a black jelly base with pink glitter of different sizes:

 I added a Matte Top Coat which gives an interesting effect! Let me know what you think on the comments - I know there is a lot of buzz about duping in the polish community at the moment, where do you stand? Is it worth twice the money to support luxury brands and stand up for intellectual property rights? Or should big polish brands expect to be copied and are you glad to have an affordable equivalent that you may not usually have access to?

And what do you think of Facets of Fuchsia, I suppose, forgetting the politics of it all!

Boots 17 Glisten Nail Art with Fimo Cane Butterflies.

This is the final polish that I bought from the new Boots 17 Spring collection and it's a pinky orangey shimmer called Glisten. I think I prefer how it looks in the bottle more than on my fingers, but it is really pretty in the light. Pink at some angles and shimmery peach at others, it has a really soft and feminine look to it!

I hadn't cracked out the fimo cane in, literally, months so I thought I'd give them a go! I added some yellow fimo cane butterflies from BornPretty.com to the corner of each nail - very simple nail art today! Simply cut a very thin slice of fimo cane with a craft knife and use nail glue to keep it in place! Very spring inspired!

Thanks everyone! Let me know what you think on the comments! Out of Mellow Yellow, Juicy and Glisten, which has been your favourite?

Also did anyone pick up this month's Glamour magazine with the free Percy and Reed haircare?! My hair feels INCREDIBLE! I'd definitely recommend!

Boots 17 Juicy - Fruity Nail Art!

I have another of the Boots 17 spring polishes to show you today! It is a bright, lime green with micro-shimmer. I was tempted to do some floral nail art, but thought I would honour the name of the polish and do something Juicy!

This is 3 coats of Boots 17 Juicy - it goes on a bit sheer but the colour builds nicely and the shimmer looks lush, I don't usually like shimmer! I added some apples using Barry M red, Barry M Mushroom and Barry M Spring Green

You can click to enlarge the photos and see the shimmer!

I used a dotting tool to create the details and Claire's White Nail Art Pen to add the shine! I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite.

What are you tinking to the 17 Spring Collection so far? Is this BRIGHT green something you would wear? Let me know what you think in the comments!

Don't forget you can follow me on twitter for instant updates on blog post and my silly, old life.

Pin this post to your pinterest board!! :D

Easter Nail Art Tutorial - Cadbury's Mini Eggs!

This design was suggested to me by my best friend Sara - as soon as she said it, I knew it had to be done, if only as an expansion on the Cadbury's Chocolate Manicure! I worked tirelessly on a tutorial for it so you can all do it yourselves at home :D I know it's a bit early for Easter Manicures, but it's that time of year where Mini Eggs hit the shops an I love them! I don't know if you can get them in the US, but FIND THEM. THEY ARE LIKE EASTER-TIME CRACK.

This will also be part review for Boots 17 new nail polishes which I picked up last week. I chose 3 of them - Mellow Yellow, Glisten and Juicy. They're really fresh, bright spring/summer colours so I really couldn't resist. First up is Mellow Yellow, a gorgeous mid-tone yellow with gold micro-shimmer. It's beaaautiful.

The application of Mellow Yellow was lovely, this is two coats and there is no visible nail line (VNL). It's glossy and dries relatively quickly. From experience, 17 polishes go thick and unusable rather quickly so invest in a polish thinner like Seche Restore if you want to keep this bad boy for more than a few months.

The perfect yellow for a mini eggs packet, I hear you say? Yes, it is. Tutorial time!

1. Start with your yellow base and take a chocolate-brown polish like Barry M Mushroom. Draw large ovals in a sporadic pattern across the nail. This is the outline of the eggs!

                        
2. Take a selection of pastel coloured polishes. I chose American Apparel Office (green), Collection 2000 Candyfloss (pink), Natural Collection White and Collection 2000 Angel Wings (purple/grey). Paint over your brown ovals with the pastel shades, but leave a small brown outline.

3. Time to add some brown speckles to the eggs! Take a dotting tool (or a toothpick if you don't have one!) and take a small bead of your brown polish on the end. dab this gently onto your pastel eggs.

4. Take a purple polish or purple Nail Art Pen. This step is much easier to do when you have the control of a Nail Art Pen, but if you have a steady hand then go for it with a small brush. Write the words "Mini Eggs" in the Cadbury's font on your thumb. This is optional, you could always just draw more Mini Eggs!

5. Add a topcoat to protect your design from wear and tear and to make it super glossy. I used Seche Vite.

6. Stand back and admire your Cadbury's Mini Egg Easter Nail Art!

I added Claire's Matte Topcoat over the top to achieve that powdery look and feel that mini eggs have.

There you are! Cadbury's Mini Egg nails, perfect for Easter! If you've given up chocolate for lent then a) I don't know how you live b) You can enjoy chocolate in an alternative way!

As always, if you follow my tutorial I would love to see it so pleeease let me know!

I hope you have fabulous weekends!

Motel Rocks Feather Print - Nail Art Tutorial

It's that time of the week where I show you a manicure tutorial inspired by a Motel Rocks print! As you may know, I am the resident Nail Artist at Motel Rocks Blog and will be creating nail art tutorial for all of you lovely people based on their stunning prints! Their clothes are amaaaaaze, what's more is they've opened a US online shop and store in LA! International Hotness!

This tutorial is for Motel's Feather Print, which looks so chic on the nail! It's also really easy to do at home with only a few simple tools - if you have a go I'd love to see it! Tweet at me y'all! Or spread the love on Pinterest!

remember you can click to enlarge! :D

Click HERE for the full tutorial for these feathery nails! Thanks to Motel Rocks for hosting the tutorial!

Let me know what you think on the comments!

Scaly Fingers - Barry M Croc Nail Effects

Sorry for leaving you all lonely for a week...

You'll all be thrilled to know, I'm sure, that I spent my weekend pretty much immersed in nail polish and therefore have lots and lots of new manicures to show you! I picked up Barry M's Croc Nail Effects the other day, but wasn't really expecting to like the results. I thought it would be too subtle and a poor alternative to the crackle effects - I was proved wrong, however, and I actually really like the effect it has given!

You apply the polish just like a crackle polish, with the thickness of the layer determining the type of crackle you get. the thinner the layer, the smaller the cracks, the thicker the layer the bigger the cracks (within reason - don't go plooping loads of it onto your nail, it will just get messy!) I started with a base of Barry M Gold Foil Effects, and found the Croc Effect worked better over a "touch dry" base, rather than a completely dry coat! I applied a medium coat and it took about 2 minutes to crack fully, leaving tiny vein-like cracks in the black polish - just like crocodile skin!

index finger - moments after Barry M Croc Nail Effects application

Barry M Croc Effects 2 minutes after application

This polish also dries shiny (as opposed to the matte crackles), so this is with no topcoat. i'm two days later and I have to say it has worn pretty well, considering it's just 2 thinnish layers of polish! Nice one Barry M! As I said, I wasn't really expecting to like this effect all that much and it is very subtle to the naked eye, but its really grown on me and I've ended up loving my scaly fingers! Mmmm scaaallyyyy.



A different kind of scaly, crocodile fingers

Thanks everyone, let me know what you think on the comments!

(Did I make up the word "plooping"? I'm pretty sure I did. I'm Captain Dictionary, over here.)