Ciate Mini Mani Month in Twilight 072

Tonight I've got yet another Ciate Mini Mani Month polish to show you. This is Twilight 072. It's a dark creme full of gold sparkles. I'm ignoring the obvious vampire based comparisons, because that's just not my thing, but I wonder if that was what Ciate were thinking of. Either way, very nice polish. This is two coats. It's not too bad to paint with, but as with all dark polish, you need to be really careful.

Ooh, free Kindle shot. I didn't notice that.

What do you think of Twilight?

Nails Inc Victoria and Albert Christmas Jumper nails!

So, here are my Christmas themed nails! Anyone who knows me knows I am a little bit of a Scrooge (okay, a lot) but I do like these tacky Christmas Jumper nails...

It could be that Victoria and Albert is one of my favourite red polishes, it could be that I like jumpers...who knows, but they don't bring out the Grinch in me, so it's okay.

It's two coats of Nails Inc Victoria and Albert (which by the way is SO nice to paint with!) with Konad M79 special white polish. 

The Nails Inc polish is available HERE at QVC. I could buy all of these happily!


Happy Christmas!

Ciate Mini Mani Month in

Another lovely colour from Ciate - This is Glass Slipper used as an accent nail, along with No7 Stay Perfect Sing the Blues. I couldn't face a whole 10 nails worth of glitter (it has to be very special for that!) so I went with an accent. This glitter is a bit thin for application on it's own but was fine in one coat over another polish.

Just enough sparkle :) This is two coats of Sing the Blues and Seche Vite (of which I desperately need a new bottle - mental note)

What do you think?

Ciate Mini Mani Month Vintage 018

Tonight I have another Ciate Mini Mani Month polish to show you. I really like this one! It's called Vintage.

Now, whilst I really like the colour, I didn't like the application much. Ciate is normally lovely, but this one was tricky. When Ciate call them 'Paint Pots', this is what they mean. Thick, emulsion like, gloop. Not self-levelling at all and it goes patchy straight away on the first coat. But I got there in the end!

What do you think? Is the colour worth the hassle of the horrible formula?

Mavala Rouge Rubis 385

Tonight I'd like to show you the first Mavala polish I've ever used! It came with my Latest In Beauty advent calendar, and I decided to wear it for my work Christmas party, because it's suitably festive and sparkly!

The best part about it, for me, was the fact that this is two coats, with NO layering! To be honest, one coat even looked good. This is perfect glitter. The thing I hate most in the world of nail polish is opening a gorgeous looking bottle of glitter and finding that it's basically clear, watery polish with glitter sprinkled in. Pah. Not Mavala. This is gorgeous red polish with glitter in it! Perfect. It's made me want to invest in more Mavala!


Have you tried any Mavala polish?

Ciate Mini Mani Month Cutie Pie 026

The polish that was behind the door of the Ciate Mini Mani Month calendar was one that begged to be stamped over!

It's been a while since I used any of my Konad stuff so here's what I came up with...

Cutie Pie is a very sheer cream. It's too sheer to wear on it's own, in my opinion, so I'm glad I stamped over it. This is Konad plate M71. I love the lace pattern, it's very pretty and striking.


What do you think?

Ciate Mini Mani Month Day 2 - Dangerous Affair and Day 5 - Cabaret

Just a quick one...I'm officially useless, I can't keep up with swatching every day!

So, here are days 2 and 5 of the Ciate Mini Mani Month!

The top picture is three coats of Dangerous Affair 013 - you know I love a classic red and this one is beautiful.

The second picture is three coats of Caberet 046, a fairly muted sort of purple. It's nice but not outstanding.

Both are with Seche Vite topcoat.


So I guess I need to amend my statement...I'll do my best to swatch the polishes as they come, but I'll probably end up doing the ones I like best ;)

Ciaté Mini Mani Month Day One!

Finally it's December! I got to open the first door of the Ciaté Mini Mani Month calendar that my husband bought me!


If you haven't seen it, the Mini Mani Month is an advent style calendar with mini nail polishes behind each door - what an amazing idea!

What's inside...

As you can see, today's door concealed a beautiful pink polish. This shade is called Cupcake Queen 011 and it's lovely. Fairly sheer, this polish took three coats to cover the nail line. It's pictured with a topcoat of Seche Vite. Lovely. I really lovely Ciate minis. The brush is not much different from a full size polish, and the Ciate formulas are so smooth.

I already can't wait for tomorrow! I can't promise that I'll swatch on time, but I'll do my best to show you the calendar each day!

Oh, and because I'm a spoilt girl, I was also lucky enough to purchase a Latest In Beauty advent calendar (you can still purchase it here) and look what I got in it this morning:

 

It's a little bottle of Mavala Rouge Rubis polish that's been made into a tree ornament! I love it! Christmas/holiday time should always be full of nail polish! I'm quite excited, because I've never tried a Mavala polish. It's a very holiday appropriate red glitter that I'm looking forward to wearing.

What do you think? Did you get a lovely advent calendar?

Deborah Lippmann Razzle Dazzle over Nails Inc Queensgate Mews

Here are tonight's nails...after struggling to foil off a Mirrorball glitter polish, guess what I went and put straight on...

Beautiful though, huh? It's two coats of Nails Inc Queensgate Mews, a deep red, with one coat of Deborah Lippmann Razzle Dazzle on top. As always, basecoat is Essie Trillionails and topcoat is Seche Vite.

There are so many Deborah Lippmann polishes I would love to try. This is the only polish I have, and I really love it. It's like ruby slippers...


What do you think?

Nails Inc, Models Own - Lazy Blogger! Also, La Roche-Posay

Wow I've been rubbish at blogging recently! I'd like to say that I've been busy doing amazing things, but I can't think of any (unless you count making forts out of the incredible huge box our new bed came in, more of which later...)

Anyway, I'm back, and as usual I have a few different manis to show you!

Nails Inc Chalk Farm with Models Own Freak Out!

Nails Inc Henrietta Street

Exposed in Mystic with Nails Inc Electric Lane accent

Nails Inc Berkeley Square with Butter London The Black Knight tips

Oh...and me in the box ;)

So, there's a catchup of all the nails I've worn recently. I promise to try and be good and upload as I go. You'll be pleased to see that I've shared a picture of me in the box too. Seriously, it's better than the bed!


Also, recently I've been using La Roche-Posay skincare as my skin has a bad time every winter (I was designed for warmer climes, without doubt) and it's really very good. Just thought I'd mention in in case you happen to be reading and suffering from the same problems as me - oily forehead and dry cheeks are the issue. Also, some really painful spots. I've been using La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo as well as their toner and Micellar water, and I've just ordered Effaclar K. So far, so good. My skin is calmer and smoother, and the spots have stopped flaring up. It's a big deal for me, as I have always had very good skin in the past, but now I've reached the grand age of 28, something has changed!


The recommendation came from Ruth Crilly at A Model Recommends, so I'm very thankful to her!


The only other thing I wanted to mention was that I'm very excited to start opening my Ciate Mini Mani Month calendar soon! I'll be blogging it as I go.


That's all for now - if anyone is interested in more details on the skincare, or the polish, just leave a comment below! Thanks for reading.

Nails Inc Motcomb Street

Tonight I used Nails Inc Motcomb Street. It was another Lucky Dip polish and I really like it.

This is two coats, over Essie Trillionails basecoat, under a coat of Seche Vite topcoat. It's the darkest of midnight blues, so dark that it looks black until you see it in good light. I was intending to stamp over this, but I had one of those stamping attempts where you mess up a single nail about a million times, so I gave up and left it as it is. It's kinda nice though, so shiny...


What do you think? Are you a fan of dark polish?

Rimmel London Lycra Pro in Desire

Tonight I have one of the polishes that I was given for my birthday to show you. It's Rimmel London Lycra Pro in shade 393 Desire. I love this colour, it's similar to Nails Inc Heddon Street, I think. The only thing is, I'm really not keen on the 'Maxi Brush'. It's as though they assume that we all have really wide nail beds! Mine are actually very narrow so I have to paint so carefully. I like to paint my nails in three stripes, centre first, but this brush is so wide and flat it gets the whole nail in one go. I've never had to clean up after painting my nails, but this one really needs a steady hand! I'd prefer a standard brush. That aside, the polish is lovely, and if you were careful it could be a one coater. This is two, though, because I'm just so used to doing it.

As always, this is over Essie Trillionails basecoat, with a coat of Seche Vite topcoat.


So, what do you think?

Nails Inc St Pancras, Heddon Street, Prince Albert Road, plus galaxy nails!

I have many manicures to show you! I've been lazy and not blogging much recently, but the nails always get done! I'm on a bit of a Nails Inc kick at the moment, having purchased a Lucky Dip from their WEBSITE again.


Here they are:

Nails Inc Heddon Street

Above: Nails Inc Heddon Street. This is one that I've shown you before, but I love it! It's so shiny and lovely. 2 coats.

Nails Inc Prince Albert Road

Above: Nails Inc Prince Albert Road. I just got this polish as part of a Nails Inc Lucky Dip. It's very hard to photograph but really nice. I would describe it as a dark purple with very fine silver particles. This is 2 coats.

Nails Inc St Pancras

Above: Nails Inc St Pancras. Another Lucky Dip polish. One of 'those' reds. Just perfect. Smooth, shiny and classic. 2 coats here.

Above: A third take on galaxy nails. These are a bit more muted than some of the ones that I've done before. I don't like them as much, but I guess they're okay. I might try some totally different colours next time. They don't take long at all, but they're quite effective. I was thinking about doing a tutorial, actually.

As always, these manicures all use a basecoat of Essie Trillionails, and a topcoat of Seche Vite.

So that's me caught up with the last few days worth of nails. I post them as I go on my Instagram (@shepaintshernails) but I should definitely try harder to blog them!


(Oh, and finally...hi Emma! Thanks for always reading.xx)

Barry M Berry Ice Cream with Konad Q1 Stars

Just a nice easy Konad Q1 stamp to show you.

I used a base of Essie Trillionails. Then 3 coats of Barry M Berry Ice Cream, stamped with black Konad special polish plate Q1. Topcoat was Seche Vite, as always. The idea for this mani came from my lovely sister Kim. I sometimes struggle to think of ideas, I'm not the most artistic of people...

In other news, I have just purchased a Lancome Artliner to try, anyone interested in makeup reviews?

Exposed Déjà Vu, Barry M Aqua, W7 Cerise Pink, Nails Inc Piccadilly Circus, Ciaté Mini Mani Month

Two recent nail looks to show you tonight. The first is one that I wore a few days ago:

This is Exposed DéjàVu (2 coats) with Barry M Aqua Glitter as the accent nail. I really love this Barry M glitter. Oh, and Seche Vite topcoat of course. It reminds me of mermaids. It's also not too bad to remove! The Exposed polish is good too. They're about £2.99 but really very good for the price. 'Long lasting' is not something that bothers me particularly, I don't wear any one polish for more than 2-3 days, but range of colours and consistency is very important to me. Exposed are great.


Next are the nails I just did and am trying not to smudge as I type:

This is Nails Inc Piccadilly (1 coat!! One!) with 2 coats of w7 (I have never heard of this brand before) in Cerise Pink on top. (again, Seche Vite topcoat) The pictures really don't do this polish justice. It's a beautifully shimmery, sparkly jelly. Too thin for wearing on it's own (unless you love doing about 6 coats) but lovely for layering up. I love layering. People often ask me what the polish I'm wearing is called, and look a bit baffled when I tell them two or three names for what appears to be one colour, but I love making different combinations.


Anyway, what do you think? Pink or blue?


Oh! I almost forgot! My husband bought me the Ciaté Mini Mani Month advent calendar from Selfridges!!

You can just see it peeping through the lovely spotty paper! I can't wait until December to start opening it. I will be doing a mini blog post each day and swatching as much as I can!

The calendar is still in stock, priced at £38 plus p&p - buy it from Selfridges online HERE

Ciaté Mini Mani Month advent calendar

Nails Inc Chalk Farm, Models Own Indian Ocean

I felt like doing a bit of stamping last night, so here's what I came up with:

What I used:

• Essie Trillionails basecoat
• Nails Inc Chalk Farm (2 coats)
• Models Own Indian Ocean (2 coats)
• Silver Konad M57 leopard
• Seche Vite topcoat

I quite like it. The silver Konad polish is really subtle, and I still love Indian Ocean for layering.

What do you think?

Ciaté Pom Pom

This is Ciaté Pom Pom and I love it! It's one of the extra items I received in my Selfridges Beauty Box. It's a bright, classic red which leans toward the orange side. The thing I like best about it is the application - it goes on like a dream, so smoothly. The picture is two coats with one coat of Seche Vite.

What I used:

• Essie Trillionails basecoat
• Ciaté Pom Pom (2 coats)
• Seche Vite topcoat

Beautiful, right? I've asked my husband for the Ciaté Mini Mani Month calendar set for Christmas/late birthday present...so I might have a few more of these lovely minis to use soon.

What do you think? Will you splash out £38 on the Calendar?

Boots No7 Cheeky Chops and Models Own Mirrorball Hot Stuff

Two very different styles to show you tonight! The first is bright and summery:

This is Boots No7 Cheeky Chops with Models Own Mirrorball in Hot Stuff on the ring finger and Nails Inc Culford Gardens dots! I'm a big fan of the Boots No7 polishes, particularly when I've got one of the £5 No7 vouchers Boots give out so often! This colour is bright and lovely, and nice in two coats.


Next up is what I'm wearing right now. A much darker mani, but with added sparkle. I was hoping for a starry sky effect, but it doesn't beat my favourite Galaxy nails (HERE):

 

These ones are Barry M Navy with Revlon Stunning pieces picked out and put on separately! I also dotted white first to make the 'stars' stand out! I really love this blue polish, it's so shiny even before topcoat.


Which are your favourite?

Models Own Mirrorball Freak Out!

Okay, this is my new favourite from the Models Own Mirrorball Collection (yes, I'll probably say that about each one)

Accent nail only tonight, taking off a full glitter mani every night is more than my heart (or nails) can bear. But doesn't it look pretty?! The Nails Inc polish base is a duochrome so it's a lovely combination of purples and blues in general.

What I used:

• Essie Trillionails basecoat
• Nails Inc Garrick Street (3 coats)
• Models Own Freak Out! from the Mirrorball Collection
• Seche Vite topcoat

So what do you think of this one? Definitely my favourite...

Models Own Mirrorball Boogie Nights

Here's the next Mirrorball Collection polish! This one is called Boogie Nights and I like it even better than the last!

This is layered over Nails Inc Montrose Place, and I love it! It's so sparkly and multicoloured, and application is pretty easy because of the new gel like finish.

Models Own even used the picture above on their Facebook page! (Click the link!) Thanks Models Inc!

What I used:

• Essie Trillionails basecoat
• Nails Inc Montrose Place (2 coats)
• Models Own Mirrorball Collection in Boogie Nights (2 coats)
• Seche Vite topcoat

You can buy the Mirrorball Collection on the Models Own website HERE for a bargainous £20, or each polish separately for £5 a piece. They really are worth it. I've had so many compliments today.


What do you think?

Models Own Mirrorball Dancing Queen

So, here is the first of the Models Own Mirrorball Collection! My husband picked Dancing Queen for me to try first. I put it over Nails Inc Emerald Street because I felt like having proper green nails tonight!

It's kinda lovely. As usual, it's impossible to show the glitter properly in a photo, but there are all sorts of colours going on! It goes on very smoothly, suspended in a clear base, and isn't too tricky to place - I just brushed this on, no dabbing or selective placement.


I'm not looking forward to removing it though!

What I used:

• Essie Trillionails basecoat
• Nails Inc Emerald Street (2 coats)
• Models Own Dancing Queen (1 coat)
• Seche Vite topcoat

I think it would also look amazing with a few coats for really spangly nails, but I like it like this too.

What do you think? Which one should I try next?

Models Own Mirrorball Collection sneak peek!

Sorry about the awful picture! I was excited!

Look what arrived! Models Own Mirrorball Collection. They look beautiful in the bottle, I'll be swatching tomorrow!

Barry M Peach Melba with Konad skulls

Here are some quick Konad nails that I did, I love this Konad stamp and this Barry M colour!

What I used:

• Essie Trillionails basecoat
• Barry M Peach Melba (3 coats)
• Konad M28 Skull and Crossbones with black Konad special polish
• Seche Vite topcoat

What do you think? I love Barry M polishes, this one was a bit streaky but worth three coats!

Nails Inc Berkeley Square and Models Own Purple Haze

Because I'm slightly addicted to sponged glitter tipped nails, here are some that I just did...

What I used:

• Essie Trillionails basecoat
• Nails Inc Berkeley Square (2 coats)
• Models Own Purple Haze (sponged)
• Seche Vite topcoat (this took two coats to be smooth!)

What do you think? I promise to lay off the sponged tips soon. Maybe.

Barry M Berry Icecream and Models Own Indian Ocean

Tonight I went for a simple design. This is Barry M Berry Icecream with Models Own Indian Ocean sponged tips. It's tricky to photograph, as always!

What I used:

• Essie Trillionails basecoat
• Barry M Berry Icecream (3 coats)
• Models Own Indian Ocean sponged on tips
• Seche Vite topcoat

I also noticed I'm very close to 100 followers here! I never expected to have so many followers after less than a year - thank you all. I also have a staggering 1645 on my Instagram account @shepaintshernails - I can't believe it! Definitely thinking about another giveaway...