Viva La Nails

Hi everyone, hope you are all okay. Sorry for being away for a few days, I was staying at my boyfriend's house  for his birthday and for some chill out time away from work.

This is a little view on an online store I'd been eyeing up for a while called Viva La Nails. They sell all sorts of nail products for both professional technicians and at home use. They have so many things that I've wanted to try so I decided to place an order. I also received their press pack containing some nail stickers and water decals, both of which I'd been curious about.

Here is what they sent me:

As you can see, there are some really nice designs there. My favourite is the one on the far right which is a water decal sheet. The others are all stickers. I've tried out one of the sticker sheets so far and the water decal sheet. When I use the others, I will post some pictures of what I use them for.

The stickers are quite tiny and a bit fiddly to pick up with fingers so a pair of tweezers or some sort of pointy object such as a cocktail stick to pick them up with is essential and it will also help to place them more accurately. I found that the sticky on the back of the stickers was not particularly strong so a topcoat is needed to get them to stick longer - having said that, it does allow them to be repositioned before adding topcoat. I think they need a bit of practise when applying them to yourself too because I had a few come off because I hadn't stuck them down properly so the edges lifted. It would be so much easier to apply them to another person. They may even work better with something like a gel coat over them if you do nails professionally. But as always, practise makes perfect so hopefully I will find the next sticker manicure easier now that I know what was wrong with my application.

Here is what I did with them:

I used a base of Nicole by OPI Kimpletely in Love (from the Kardashian Kolor collection).
Then I used three stickers on each nail to create a french tip shape.
Lastly I sealed it all with topcoat.

The other manicure I did used the water decals. You get two full manicures worth on the sheet (20 designs) in different sizes to fit your nails. I loved these, they were so easy to use and I really enjoyed applying them. All you need to do is cut around the design, place it into a little bowl of water, remove the backing and place it on the nail. They are repositional if you carefully do so before they dry. Then I sealed it all with topcoat. They lasted really well and I ended up taking them off when I was bored of it. I'm sure they would have lasted a few more days too.

What I used:
Butter London Lady Muck as the base colour.
One decal on each nail.
Seche Vite to seal and prolong the wear.

Overall I think they are really fun products to play with and incorporate into nail art, especially the fantastic water decals. The packs do not have instructions on them but they can be found on the Viva La Nails website.

Viva La Nails, themselves were really good with my order. It arrived quickly and I was happy with everything there. The website is really good and easy to browse. I also like the instructional videos and ideas that are given for the products. I will definitely be ordering from them again.

Nail art stickers can be purchased here.

Water decals can be purchased here.

Jennifer xx


* These products were press samples for review purposes. All opinions are my own from my own experiences testing the products.

Wishlist Wednesday - Vol 2

Here are a few things that have caught my eye this week.

1. Nails Inc 4 Piece Neon Collection. £23.73 QVC UK. I've been liking the neon trend at the moment, especially mixing it with neutrals. I thought these were such nice neon tones and would be great for the Summer. The price is good too considering Nails Inc normally retail for £11 each.

2. Nail Rock Zebra Print Nail Wraps. £6.50 Topshop. Ever since these started coming out I've wanted to try them. They are quite expensive for a single use however so I never have. These look really nice, maybe I will try them for a special occasion.

3. Peep Toe Flats. £9.99 H&M. I've been waiting for the peep toes to make an appearance in the shops again, I really like them. I much prefer them to sandals in the Summer. I also really like metallic shoes, they go with a lot of things really well. These come in 6 colours.

4. Bobbi Brown Natural Brow Shaper & Hair Touch Up. £14.50 Bobbi Brown. I've seen Pixiwoo use this quite a few times to give a bit more colour and shape to eyebrows and it looks really good and natural.

5. Max Factor Colour Effect Flipstick. £6.49 (will be £8.49) Superdrug. These look really fun to have a play around with. There are a few colour combinations to choose from. They are quite reasonably priced too.

Jennifer xx

Purple Zebra Print Nails

I haven't done stamping for a while so decided to pull it out again. I used one of the Color Club Foiled collection to stamp with, they are amazing to use for this because they are so opaque. I really liked wearing this, I will have to do something like it again soon.

More pictures below

Glossybox March 2012 - Harrods Edition

I always look at posts about Beauty Boxes and I'm always intrigued by them. I've never taken the plunge until now because this box looked so promising being a special collaboration with Harrods. I was not disappointed. So what did I get in mine?

First up, the moisturising contents:

SK-II Skin Signature Moisturiser deluxe sample. This is an anti-ageing cream, which at 22, I'm not sure I need to use yet but I will probably give it a go and see how it's moisturising benefits go. It is sooooo damn expensive to purchase however, I would never pay that much for a cream. This sample contains 15ml of product. The full size contains 80g and costs £127.

Clarins Extra-Firming Body Cream. This body cream has actually won a Cosmopolitan award for Best Body Firming Potion so I will be interested in finding out how well it works on areas such as my upper legs which are a little wobbly and could do with a little help. The full size retails at £39.50 which again, for me is far too much to pay for a body cream. This sample contains 30ml of product and the full size contains 200ml. This sample is worth £5.93.

Next the cleansing products:

Shu Uemura Cleansing Beauty Oil. I was a bit disappointed at this due to the tiny size of it, only 4ml worth in a little sachet. I thought it would be quite easy to go to a counter and pick up a tester of this there. Still this is enough for one use and to find out how well the product cleanses. The full size contains 150ml of product and costs £28. This sample is worth 75p.

Molton Brown Vitamin A, B and C Bath and Shower Gel. I've never really looked at Molton Brown products, the stores always look so nice and upmarket but I've never been into one. Not sure why because this smells so good. It is citrussy but has a green herbal undertone in it which I really like. A full size bottle costs £18 for 300ml of product. This sample contains 50ml so is worth £3.

Now onto the makeup/fragrance

Valentino Valentina EDP. I'd seen this advertised in magazines and thought the bottle was really nice. The perfume also smelt good. It says it has notes of bergamot, alba truffle, amalfi orange blossom, wild strawberry, cedarwoods and amber. Unfortunately it didn't last very long on my skin. The perfume retails at £71 for 100ml. This sample contained 1.5ml so was worth £2.11 Again, this is a sample that you could get at a counter.

Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara. I've been wanting to try one of the Hypnose mascara as they always look so impressive. I'm glad I got this in my box and it is a good size to take away on holiday or weekend trips. The full size costs £21 for 6.4ml and this sample contains 2ml which is worth around £6.50

Overall, I think this was quite a good box. It contained some lovely products to try. The full contents work out to around £18 without the SK-II cream (which I am unable to work out a price for due to the millilitres/gram measurements. Glossybox costs £10 a month plus £2.95 shipping. I look forward to the next box and hopefully I wont be disappointed.

Jennifer x

50 Follower Giveaway WINNER!

Drum roll please.....................

And the winner is....

RUTH!

Thanks to everyone who entered. Ruth, you should have an email from me now - if not, please let me know.

Just so you all know, I will be doing more giveaways in the future, not sure when yet but there will definitely be one for 100 followers so if you want it quicker, get subbing!

Jennifer x

Candy Yum Yum FOTD

I wore this for one day last week. I really love this lipstick, it is so smooth and long lasting. Unfortunately it was a limited edition but I was lucky enough to get hold of it before it sold out. BUT it might be coming back in the MAC By Request collection which you can vote for now at MAC By Request and you can do one vote each day so if you want it back, GO VOTE.

What I'm wearing:
Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation in Beige
Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer in Light
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Plus
MAC Amber Lights Eyeshadow
MAC Superslick Liquid Liner (black)
MUFE Smokey Lash Mascara (I will have to review this because I'm not a big fan)
Collection 2000 Clear Mascara through my eyebrows
MAC Florida Cremeblend Blush
MAC Candy Yum Yum Lipstick

Jennifer x

Ruby Red Glitter

So after I got fed up with the pearls on my nails after only a day and ended up picking them off, I was left with lumps of missing nail polish where they were. I was too lazy to repaint them completely so I put another coat of the red (Eyeko Saucy Polish) and added a layer of Deborah Lippmann Ruby Red Slippers. I loved this, it was so sparkly and pretty.

Here are some more pictures.

What do you think?

Jennifer x

Wishlist Wednesday Vol. 1

I thought I would start a new posting series on Wednesdays with a few products that I have seen and liked the look of. These are the products I've seen this week.

1. L'Occitane Delice de Fleurs EDT. £29.00 QVC UK. I have the shower gel in this scent and it is delicious.

2. Neom Vanilla Sandalwood Travel Candle. £13 Neom Luxury Organics. I've heard a lot of good things about Neom candles but they are are soooooo expensive but this one sounds really nice. The travel sized candles are much cheaper too.

3. Druzy Quartz Sterling Silver Round Studs. £27.72 QVC UK. I think these are just so pretty but they are also quite edgy at the same time. They come in three colours but I like the one pictured. I think they would go with a lot of outfits really nicely and could be worn casually or dressed up.

4. L'Occitane Almond Shower Oil and Milk Veil. £34.14 QVC UK. The almond range from L'Occitane smells delicious. I have very dry skin so the oil appeals to me but it isn't an oily oil... yeah that makes sense right? It actually foams when it hits the water to make a luxurious shower wash or bubble bath. Then the Milk Veil is a light but nourishing lotion to apply over your whole body afterwards. It sounds soooo good!

5. Happy Mother's Day. £28.95 Lush. I'm not a mum but I still think this looks really nice and I'd quite like one myself. The contents are all bath products and they include some limited edition Mother's Day products too. I really like the tin and it would make great storage when all the products have been used.

Don't forget to enter!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway, it ends tomorrow (Wednesday 14th March) at midnight GMT.

Click here to view the details and enter.

Jennifer x

Vintage Red Inspired Nail Art

I used to wear red nail polish a lot, I hadn't worn it in a long time so I felt it was time to wear it again. I wanted to something a bit different with it so added some nail pearls. I think it looks like old vintage pearl necklaces.

I didn't keep it on for long because the pearls were bugging me and a couple came off so I removed the rest.

Products used:
OPI Nail Envy
Eyeko Saucy Polish (2 coats)
Seche Vite
Nail Pearls
Another coat of Seche Vite to seal in the pearls.

Edit: I wrongly listed this red as Leighton Denny Indulgence but I've just remembered that it wasn't and I actually used Eyeko Saucy Polish - which I think is now discontinued. You could use any red however.

Jennifer x

MAC Shop Cook Lip Colours

This is just a quick post to show you a few of the lip colours from MAC's Shop Cook collection.

Lipsticks:
I picked up one shade from this collection - Watch Me Simmer. I also already had Innocence Beware and Runway Red from previous collections.

Runway Red swatches and a review can be found here.

Watch Me Simmer - such a gorgeously pigmented and smooth creamy lipstick. It is one of the must haves from the collection. It will be repromoted in a later collection this year.

Sorry about the appalling application, I did these swatches in a hurry.

Innocence Beware - a nice light pink nude which is quite flattering but can also be dabbed on if it looks too stark or to take the tone of your natural lip colour down a bit.

Kissable Lip Colours. I was really glad these came back, I was able to get the colours I wanted which I didn't get last time they were out. They are such a nice product, they apply really easily. You can read my review of when they came out last time here. It also includes the other colours which came out before.

Top: So Vain, Bottom: Woo Me

So Vain

Woo Me

Did you buy any lip products from the collection?

Jennifer x

Goodbye Google Friend Connect

Since the beginning of March, Google Friend Connect has been disabled on many blogs which are not on the Blogger platform. This includes Wordpress and others. These blogs are now seeing a massive decrease in traffic which is such a shame. They have also lost a lot of followers. Some of these blogs might be your favourites - or even your own. I'm lucky because my blog is hosted by Blogger so this has not affected me directly but there are blogs missing from my Google Dashboard which I have has to re subscribe to through another format. It is very annoying and why Google have done this is beyond me.

Please help these blogs but checking your reading list for any non Blogger blogs which may be missing and follow them through an alternate means. You can use:

Bloglovin
Facebook (if they use it)
Twitter (if they use it)
Hello Cotton
email subscriptions
Google Reader
RRS
and possibly others which I don't know of.

Also, if you are a blog owner who uses another platform other than Blogger, this will explain why you may be experiencing less traffic. Make sure you sign up to the twitter list that Lipglossiping and Liloo have created so others can see that you have been dumped by GFC and hopefully your readers will come back.

The best thing that everyone can do is the get the word out so that hopefully nobody gets left in the lurch.

You can read more about it at these blogs:
Lipglossiping
Le Petit Jardin de Liloo

Jennifer x

It's giveaway time! - CLOSED!

Hi everyone! I wanted to do my first giveaway to thank you all for following my blog and making 50 followers. It is a small amount compared to some blogs but I am really pleased to have achieved that, so thank you.

This is only a small giveaway. I wanted to get some of my favourite drugstore products which are things I use a lot, if not every day. Hopefully, whoever wins this will enjoy them as much as me.

So, the winner will receive...

1 tube of Blistex Intensive Moisturiser - a lip healing cream which does an amazing job at fixing dry and chapped lips, an essential for cold weather.

1 sachet of Montagne Jeunesse Chocolate Masque - a chocolate face mask to deep cleanse and clear pores. It is also moisturising. (I've not actually used this one, I normally go for their nourishing masks as my skin is very dry but I chose this one because it is suitable for normal, dry and t-zone skin so hopefully that means most of you).

1 tube of Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer (in the colour of your choice - choose from fair, light, medium or deep). This is my go to concealer for my dark circles, it sets too so it shouldn't crease. I will buy this once I know which shade the winner has chosen.

You will NOT receive this tube - this one is mine.
I will buy a brand new tube to send to the winner.

Please choose your shade of concealer: On the left is LIGHT, on the right is MEDIUM.
If you are lighter than pictured, choose FAIR, if you are darker than pictured, choose DEEP.
For reference, I wear light. 

and finally...

1 bottle of Max Factor Fantasy Fire nail polish. Yep, the elusive shade which has become so popular among the beauty community and is also a UK (I think) exclusive.

Rules:

• You MUST be a follower of my blog through Google Friend Connect.
• You MUST leave a comment on this post to let me know that you want to be entered.
• For an extra entry, you can leave a link to this post on your blog. If you do, please leave your blog link in your comment here.
• Please make sure that you select the shade of concealer you wish to receive if you win. Choose either Fair/Light/Medium/Deep
• Please leave your email address in the comment so that I can contact you if you win. I DO NOT use Twitter or Facebook so can only contact you through email.

This giveaway will be open for 1 week and will close on Wednesday 14th March at midnight GMT. Entries made after this time and date will not be included in the draw.

The winner will be selected by random.org to make it the fairest choice possible.

This giveaway is open WORLDWIDE. This prize will not be sent with any insurance or tracking but I will get a receipt as proof of postage if you wish to see it afterwards.



Good luck everyone!

Jennifer xx

Leighton Denny Castaway Collection Available NOW!

Image from www.leightondenny.com

Leighton Denny's latest collection from Spring/Summer 2012 is out now! Go to leightondenny.com to order yours. Until tomorrow, the whole collection (all 6 shades) is available at a special price of £55, normal price is £11 each. Obviously, I've ordered mine :)

Leighton Denny is probably my favourite nail brand, the colours are effortless to apply and are very hard wearing. His treatments are lovely and his Crystal Nail File and Quatro Buffer are absolute essentials to me, my nails would be a mess without them.

Go to Leighton's Facebook page to view the promotional images and the colours applied, they are all beautiful. I especially love the look of the purple and blue!

Day out in Hastings

On Saturday (3rd March), the boyfriend and I went for a day out in Hastings, on the coast of East Sussex. The weather wasn't at it's best but it brightened up later in the day.

First we went to the Blue Reef Aquarium, they have some lovely fish in there. It was really hard to take decent photos though due to the lighting and not being allowed to use flash photography. I need to learn more about my camera to get better photos in darker places in future. The fish were so quick too, every time I snapped, the fish had darted off!

After the Aquarium we went to the arcades and spent ages playing on the 2p machines. We won lots of prizes in them! We've never won prizes on them before so were quite excited.

Then we went to the Smugglers Caves which are situated in the cliffs. It was such a trek to get up there, the steps are quite steep and there are an awful lot of them. I don't know how the people who live up there do it... they must be very fit compared to me lol! Anyway, the caves are where people used to smuggle goods into the country because of the high taxes which made things so expensive at the time. They were much later used as an air raid shelter during WW2 and they also used to hold Jazz shows in there. It was quite interesting and worth the struggle to get up there. The views from the top of the cliff were really nice too.

After that, we headed off to the shops for a bit before going back to catch the train. It was a great day and I want to go back for another visit, there are a lot of things to do in Hastings.

Martin wouldn't let me go on the Merry-go-round, he said I would look like a child :(

This is from the sea front and the cliff in the background has a lift to take you up.

Here is the lift that takes you up the cliff.

There are a lot of fishing boats

A ray in the aquarium was feeding off of the glass

I think this is a plaice, they hide in the sand

Can you see the teeth?

Sea anemones

SHARK!

This fish does crazy things to the camera

Lion Fish

NEMO!

Hi! - Hastings Beach

The view from the cliff

Smugglers Caves

This is a mysterious engraving inside the caves which nobody knows who put it there.

Have any of you been to Hastings before?

Jennifer x