Friday 29 August 2014

PR - Illamasqua Once Collection

Happy Friday everyone! Today is a little bit different on the blog, as I will be sharing the press release for the new collection from Illamasqua - Once.
Normally, I wouldn't share make-up press releases and I edit them to just show the nail colours. (Other make-up / beauty press goes on my other blog itshollykins.blogspot.co.uk) However, I just had to share this one, not because everything is so pretty, but because of THAT nail colour!

Once collection by Illamasqua is available TODAY from Illamasqua stores and Illamasqua.com!

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If anyone needs me I'll be refreshing Illamasqua.com until the collection launches :-) 

Have a fabulous weekend everyone,

WN x

Wednesday 27 August 2014

Neon Sponged Nail Art!

Did anyone else completely forget that It's Wednesday today? Not that I'm complaining about having Monday off... but it puts me off! 

Anyway, today I have a bit of fun nail art (sort of) to share with you today. I've been feeling neons quite a lot recently so I thought why not put them all on my nails. Granted, they're more brights than neons, but I still enjoy them :-)

For this mani I used Illamasqua Rare (yellow) and Gamma (orange), Models Own Toxic Apple (green), Nails Inc Hertford Street (pink) and tipped them off with Barry M Black Nail Art Pen. 



To create the look, I sponged on each colour individually with a section of make-up sponge that I held in tweezers to make it easier to grip. 

When I had all four colours on the nail, I went back over the edges, mixing the colours to try and make the colours fade into each other more smoothly.

I finished off the look with the black tips and a top coat. This one is from Sparkly-nails.co.uk. I really like this one, however it takes the standard amount of drying time, but if you've got time, it's great! To be honest I mostly use it for blogging :-)

I added Models Own Jack Frost to my pinkie, but  decided I didn't like it so I didn't put it on any other nails!

Hope you're all having a great week :-)

WN x

Monday 25 August 2014

Dotticure using Essie

Good afternoon everyone! I hope you're all doing great :)

Today I pulled out a couple of old Essie favourites and did a simple dotticure. I haven't done one for a while and forgotten how much I like the design and how fun it is to do.

For this mani I used Maximillian Strasse Her and Bobbing For Baubles - 



You can check out Essie at Beautybay.com.

Have a wonderful day!

WN x

Friday 22 August 2014

NARS Ruffian

I just can't stop it with this design!

Today, I have yet another ruffian mani this time using THESE Nars polishes.



I love the colour combination for this look, I think the silver accent gives a classic red nail a fun twist.

You can check out the full Nars range at Narscosmetics.co.uk.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

WN x

Tuesday 19 August 2014

Yves Rocher Rose - Glossybox August '14

This months Glossybox celebrates their three year anniversary, and one of the awesome products in Augusts box is this perfectly matched pink nail polish from Yves Rocher. 

Swatches of Yves Rocher Rose are two coats of polish with a base and top coat - 




As usual this Yves Rocher colour is a lovely smooth formula and opaque in two coats. You all know I really like the Yves Rocher colours, so to get this as a bonus birthday product from Glossybox was a welcome surprise!

Get your August Glossybox while you can!

Yves Rocher nail polishes are £3.60 at Yves-rocher.co.uk.

Have a great week!

WN x

Sunday 17 August 2014

Swatches - NARS Amarapura + Paros

*Press Samples*

I'm very excited to finally be sharing these swatches with you guys today! About 10 days ago, I got the most awesome nail mail from Nars :-) 
Nars have recently re-launched their entire nail polish line, which is super exciting! They are re-formulated, re-packaged and amazing.
I only own one other Nars polish and it's almost three years old, but even then I was impressed and things have only got better!

The generous folk at Nars sent me two colours; Amarapura (silver) and Paros (red), so please enjoy the swatches, as I enjoyed wearing them so much!



Nars polishes now have a separate cap and brush. I love that detail as I never found the square shaped lid very easy to work with but the new design is great.


Amarapura - Silver chrome, I used two coats and didn't add a top coat as I love the finish without one.



Paros - Deep, brown toned red. Two coats topped with SV.



As well as the packaging, the brush is new too. It is now a flat brush instead of the round one like before. I found this so easy to use. I do prefer this type of brush anyway, and it applies so smoothly and it covers the whole nails so quickly.

Nars Nail Polishes are £15 each available online at Narscosmetics.co.uk.

Hope you're all having an awesome weekend!

WN x

Wednesday 13 August 2014

Swatches - Anna Sui for Asos

Its Wednesday again! Today I have some swatches to share of two polishes from the Anna Sui for Asos collection. These colours are exclusive to Asos and I don't know about you, but when I see the word exclusive I feel like I must own them!

The colours I bought are #17 Dark Grey and #111 Peppermint.


Georgeous packaging!




Dark grey is a lovely smoky purple creme. It is darker than it shows in the pictures, but you can definitely still see the purple tone in real life. This swatch is with two coats.



Peppermint is a lovely sky blue. I think this creme is gorgeous but this took three coats and it still wasn't 100% smooth :-(

I love the look of the packaging, but it isn't the easiest to use! It just feels weird in the hand, and I felt like I couldn't get a decent grip of the brush.

Anna Sui for Asos polishes are priced from £9 available exclusively at Asos.com.

WN x

Monday 11 August 2014

Swatches - Yves Rocher Watercolour Blue, Turquoise Blue and Sea Green

I told you it would be a swatch-fest this week!

The first polishes I've chosen to share are some new Summer colours from Yves Rocher.
I was fist introduced to Yves Rocher ages ago via Glossybox who included one of their lipsticks in one of the boxes. I loved it, so I thought I'd check them out and I like to go back and check out their new nail colours every so often. You also receive awesome free gifts with your orders, which I love! 

I bought three colours this time round, the first is #55 Watercolour Blue - 




Watercolour Blue is a lovely Cornfolwer blue creme, with a slightly purple undertone. A lovely polish, but not so lovely to phtotgraph! These pics are slightly edited to make the colour more true to life, that's why my hands look so pink!

The second is #56 Turquoise Blue -



Turquoise Blue is just a straight up turquoise creme and I love it!

And finally is #66 Sea Green - 



Sea Green is a beautiful pastel green creme with a slight blue undertone. Definitely my favourite of the three colours.

All swatches are two coats of colour with a base and top coat.

One of my favourite things about Yves Rocher is their little 3ml bottles because I know I might actually finish them! However, this is also one of least favourite things as the brush is so small. It takes a few dips of polish to cover the nail, leaving a streaky and uneven finish. It's not too bad with a top coat, but still slightly noticeable I think.

I think they are great Summer colours and they only cost me £1.95 each :-)

You can check them out at Yves-rocher.co.uk.

WN x

Friday 8 August 2014

You Ruffian.

I'm trying something new again!

Since I gave it a try on Wednesday and I found it easier than I thought I would, I thought I'd give the ruffian manicure a proper run out.

I love the way these came out and I love the 'ruffian' effect! I don't know why I haven't tried this before, I just presume everything is too hard! But I was pleasantly surprised this time. It doesn't always work out that way, but you don't know unless you try :-)

Motivational speech out the way, I used Orly - Boho Bonnet (light blue) Nyx - Trout (dark blue) and Sinful Colors - Frenzy (glitter)



I'm super happy with my efforts here :-) I started with Boho Bonnet, then just free-handed Trout over the top. I am honestly amazed at how easy I found this design! But then I always find these the most effective looks, simple but with maximum impact. According to the internet, the design was created by CND for the Ruffian NYFW show in 2010, and ever since then it's been known as the 'ruffian' mani. Awesome.

Hope you enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!!

WN x

Wednesday 6 August 2014

Models Own 'Kitchen Sink' Manicure!

Happy Wednesday polish peeps!!

I've been a bit stuck for ideas recently so I thought doing a bit of everything might help the creative juices to flow. So I picked out a few Models Own polishes and had a go and a few designs :)

Today's 'kitchen sink' mani uses:

Bora Bora (gold, fine glitter) and Hedonist (bright red) - both from the Hed Kandi Collection;
Banana Split (pastel yellow) - Fruit Pastel Collection;
Emerald City (green glitter) - Glitter Collection;
and Jack Frost (flakie) - Wonderland Collection.



I think my favourite is the polka dots, I like the combintaion of layering the gold over the yellow. I also had fun trying out the 'ruffian' look (index finger), which I actually found much easier than anticipated! 

All Models Own polishes are £4.99 each available at Modelsownit.com.

WN x

Monday 4 August 2014

Trying the Dry Brush technique

Hello everyone!

It's Monday and it's time to post :)

Today I've tried a technique that I've seen floating about the community for a little while and finally thought I should give it a whirl.

For the Dry Brush mani, you need to make sure that you literally have as little polish as physically possible. It feels weird at first, but once you get your head round doing this, it comes out just fine.

Here's my attempt - 




I'm pretty happy with how these came out and I found them really easy to do. So easy in fact that I even did my right hand! I know.

I love the finish and I'm looking forward to trying out the Dry Brush mani with different colour ways :)

I used Barry M White for the base. I used Chanel Blue Boy, Nails Inc. Hertford Street and Barry M Black on top, then topped the design off with my SV.

See you all Wednesday!

WN x

Friday 1 August 2014

Nude X Neon

I've gone and got the neon out again!

I wanted to play with the contrast of a nude beige and neons. I finally settled on Chanel Beige  and Models Own Beach Party from the Hed Kandi Collection.

The design I tried is just a simple nude base with the neon cross accent. 



To get the look I used striping tape to mark out the cross shape then painted the base colour. When I removed the tape, I used the lines as a guide for where to paint the crosses.

Honestly, I'm not happy with the result. My nails always turn out different to what I see in my head. But I think I know where I went wrong, so as long as I learn from it, it's ok! I won't beat myself up too much :-)

I hope you enjoy, and have a fabulous weekend everyone!

WN x