A couple of Spring Nail Designs

Sometimes it is nice to just experiment and practise on a nail wheel instead of having to do all of your own nails.

Base colours used: blue = China Glaze For Audrey, pastel pink = OPI Princesses Rule. All other colours are from Rio nail pens.

Jennifer

A couple of makeup looks

I found these photos on my computer of some previous makeup looks that I have worn and never posted so I thought I'd put them up now anyway. I can remember what I'm wearing in these however.

The top one is the kind of makeup I wear a lot and the bottom one is what I tend to go for when I want to wear more colour on my eyes.

Jennifer xx

Candeo Colors - Jellybean

I am loving these indie nail polish brands at the moment. They have made such amazing and unique creations. Today I have a polish from Candeo Colors called Jellybean.

This is an amazing and unique nail polish. How many of you have seen anything else like it? It is made up of some smaller glitter in shades of lime green and pink with larger hexagonal pink turquoise and purple glitters. All of these are suspended in a pastel yellow base. It is just perfect for Spring time. It reminds me of Easter actually although it is fine to wear it during any time you want. It doesn't remind me much of jellybeans as I think of much brighter colours but it does look like the speckled varieties that you can get.

The formula is brilliant. The glitter is suspended really nicely so it isn't a struggle to apply it. I'm wearing two coats in the pictures which achieved full coverage, no base colour needed which I love. I really like the labels too, the chameleon is really sweet.

More photos of it below...

Playing with topcoats

L-R: Models Own Ibiza Mix, Leighton Denny Angel Dust, China Glaze Techno. Base colour Leighton Denny Inkjet.

Jennifer xx

Glossybox April 2012

A lot of people seem to be saying the same thing about the delivery of this box, it took such a long time for them to send it... not to mention that they took money way before they dispatched it. I wasn't happy about that and I don't think it is very professional.

Anyway, Aprils box is the natural edition. It contains environmentally friendly products which are natural or mostly natural all contained in a recyclable box and packaging. When I initially saw other people's boxes I wasn't that impressed but when I got mine, I liked it much better fortunately.

My box contained:

Ayuuri Natural Sandalwood Body Wash.
Glossybox description: 'The Ayuuri Natural skincare range is based on fruit, plant and flower extracts that have long been used in India to enhance skin's natural beauty.'

I'm not really that familiar with sandalwood, I'm not entirely sure how it smells. This smells quite soapy really, it has some sweetness and and underlying woodiness which I assume is the sandalwood. It's nice and is quite unisex. It isn't a strong scent either and I am happy with it. Other people received the coconut scented body wash but I'm glad I got this one instead as coconut is not a favourite of mine. This bottle is 200ml so is a substantial size. It seems it is a full size product according to the website pictures which also show the same volume but state that they are 235g in the description. It retails at £4.95.

Available at www.ayuuri.co.uk

Caudalie Vinosource SOS Thirst-Quenching Serum
Glossybox description: 'This newly-launched ultra-concentrated serum is extremely natural and plant-based, ensuring your skin never lacks moisture.'

I'm quite intrigued to try this, I have quite dry skin which I often have problems with. After I've used this for a while I will do a review on it. I'm hoping for good results. I love the packaging and the range looks beautiful. It sounds so high-tech compared to what I am used to using so I'm interested in looking at the range after testing this product out. This is 1/3 of the full size, containing 10ml of product compared to 30ml in the full size pump. A really good size to try out the product properly rather than piddling around with a stupid little pot which will only last 1-2 days and not give you any idea of how it is going to really work. The full size retails at £29 so this sample is worth around £9.66!

Available at www.caudalie.com/uk/ and feelunique.com

Inika Cosmetics Certified Organic Eye Liner in 06 Coco
Glossybox description: 'A rich and creamy consistency unparallelled in the world of natural liners.'

I've never used a natural eye liner so I can't compare the consistency to others but it is a soft creamy liner which isn't too creamy. It can be used for precision but it does smudge so might be best to use on the waterline or for smudgy eye liner or just a little definition between the lashes. I don't think it will work that well for creating strong cat liner flicks and it also might need to be set with some eye shadow to make it longer lasting. I like the colour, other people got black or a navy but I'm glad I got a brown which is dark. I don't like light brown liners as I have such dark hair and lashes that I just find they aren't dark enough to work on me. The full size retails at £11.75.

Available at http://inikacosmetics.co.uk/

Kai Perfume Oil
Glossybox description: 'Our intoxicating signature perfume oil fragranced with Kai's light, intoxicating blend of gardenia wrapped in white exotics.'

I'm not really interested in this fragrance at all. It is white floral and I'm not really a fan of those sorts of scents. It isn't as strong as most white florals I've smelt though. It wont be something that I will be buying in the future and the price is so high for the amount that you get. The full size holds 3.6ml and retails for £41! So expensive!

Available at http://www.cultbeauty.co.uk

Figs & Rouge Balm for lips, face and body in Rambling Rose
Glossybox description: '100% Pure, 100% Natural & 100% Organic Multipurpose balm. Excellent for Soothing & Naturally Hydrating dry Lips & Skin.'

I got the Rambling Rose scented balm and it is rather strong smelling, really similar to Turkish delight. There were other scents in the boxes which I would have preferred but it is the luck of the draw with Glossybox. The balm has a strange texture, I was expecting it to be harder than it is. It is quite soft and slightly gritty. I've tried it on my lips and I don't find it that moisturising on my lips. I get very dry lips and especially at the moment when I've got a cold. This balm just isn't enough for me and the scent is quite off putting around my mouth. I don't mind strong rose in the bath or perfume/skincare but not so much around my mouth apart from a select few lip products which aren't that strong. I do like the vintage style packaging though.

Available at feelunique.com

Did you get Glossybox this month? What did you think of yours?

Jennifer xx

Black and white glitter nail polish

Hi everyone, long time no blogging... I know... bad Jennifer. Anyway, time for a kick up the backside and a new post.

I have noticed a few indie polish brands coming out with glitter top coats which are made up of black and white  glitter. They are not sparkly glitters but still look really really nice. They can be worn over any colour to change how it looks completely and it also gives it nice texture. I've had my eyes on these polishes for a while but it is just so hard to get hold of them as they are made in limited quantities and sell out so fast! I saw a post on Kellie Gonzo's blog - Also Known As (go check it out, it is a great blog) where she showed Nubar's Polka Dot polishes. One is a black glitter containing teeny black glitter and larger hexagonal glitter and the other is a white version. I think they're really nice versatile topcoats and I'm glad I've got them although they've not killed my lemming for Lynnderella's Connect The Dots... Check out Chalkboard Nails for fantastic swatches of it.

I used one coat of them each together for this manicure over the top of China Glaze Aquadelic from the ElectroPop collection.

I purchased the bottles of Nubar Polka Dots from Beautybay for £6.95 each.

Jennifer xx

Pretty and Polished Swing

Today I have a special polish to show you, it is from an indie brand called Pretty and Polished which you can find on Etsy. The brand is owned by Chelsea and she has designed some amazingly gorgeous nail colours which are very unique compared to the mass market brands such as OPI etc. I have been waiting for her shop to reopen for ages and two weeks ago she opened again. I was very excited and stayed up late (Pretty and Polished is based in the US) to place an order so I didn't miss out. I ordered 8 of her mini sized lacquers and they arrived a few days ago. They are absolute stunners, I am so pleased with them. So far, I've only used one which I am showing today, it is called Swing.

Description from Pretty and Polished:

It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing!

This is one Du-Wop of a polish! A red jelly base is home to different sizes of black, white, and silver glitter.

I think it is lovely. It is so different from other colours out there and I love the squishy jelly base. One of my colleagues said it reminded her of a trifle - she thought it looked like raspberry jelly with fruit in it. I've seen quite a lot of nail blogs creating what they call a jelly sandwich where they've used a jelly type polish and sandwiched some glitter between the layers. Swing is like an instant jelly sandwich manicure in a bottle.

The application wasn't as good as I'd have liked. It is quite a runny polish compared to most glitter polishes and the glitter slipped off the brush a lot. I found that putting the bottle upside down for a few minutes beforehand helped to get the glitter to the top so it was easier to get it out with the brush. It is best to do a coat and then scoop the glitter with the brush and dab it on with the second/third coats. I am wearing three coats here and there was no nail line visible.

A bottle of Swing costs $4.75 and contains 7ml of product. They can be purchased on the Pretty and Polished Etsy store here. Currently, Chelsea has no stock available but she says that she is hoping to restock on Sunday.

Jennifer xx