Nails for the weekend ♥

Heylooo, hope everyone is well, and the horrible rain and floods haven't affected you too much. Depressing isn't it? We were meant to be going on holiday this Wednesday, but unfortunately we have had to cancel due to work being busy etc, so it's moved to September now. I bet it's gonna be so worth the wait!

So tonight we are going to see Marina and the Diamonds for the third time! I am super excited and I've seen she has been coming out after the gigs have ended so we are going to hang around and aim to meet her! I'd love to get her autograph on me somewhere, and may have it tattooed! Sad? Maybe, but I like to think of tattoos as building a story of your life. I think Kat Von D said it once, and it's a mantra I like to stick to so maybe I could justify it! I don't know, might not happen yet. Anywho.

I have done my nails for the weekend now, and they are actually pretty rubbish but I haven't got any nail polish remover with me so I can't redo it, oh well. I have a lilac on the nails, which took two coats (see products in last picture), and then drew a diamond with a black nail art pen, filled it in with glitter and then drew the diamond lines in. Bit of a fail, but it can just be worked out as a little diamond! Also I drew a little heart on my thumbnail as Marina always has a heart on her face, which I shall also be doing!

I don't think nail art is particularly my forte! It's the effort that counts though, isn't it?

Here are the products used. Ciate Nail Varnish in Purple Sherbet, which I absolutely love! OPI Glitter polish in Servin' Up Sparkle, and Models Own Nail art pen in Black. The Ciate Polish was free in Marie Claire and the consistency, drying time and finish are all brilliant, and I definitely think I'll be purchasing more Ciate polishes in the future!

Right, I better go and pick up 200 false nails that have just fell out their box into my handbag. Major fail. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Ciao for now XxX

Nails for the weekend ♥

Bonjour Mes Amis! It's Fridayyyy! Wahooo! The Jubilee is fast approaching, and I must admit I am feeling rather patriotic with all the Union Jacks everywhere. Despite the current status of our country, we are lucky to be able to celebrate something like this to bring everyone together. Anyway, my nails today couldn't be any less patriotic, but they will be changed in time for the Jubilee party I am going to!

I fancied a change, and something funky for the weekend so I decided to go for a blue leopard print.

The products I used were:

Primark's own brand sky blue colour - available in a pack of four pastel shades.

China Glaze Liquid Crystal.

Models Own Black Nail art pen.

I've never done any nail art before, only regular painting so I thought I'd give it a go!

I used two coats of the blue Primark polish which is quick drying, but does start to gloop up in the bottle with the lid off for a bit, so be wary of that if you have it. Then I used the pen tip of the nail art pen to create the 'leopard' black lines. Make sure these are dry before continuing. I then got an eyeliner brush and dipped it in the Liquid Crystal polish to fill in the gaps, when this was dry I just went over the glitter that had gone over the black lines with the nail art pen. Finish with your favourite clear top coat, or leave bare for textured glitter.

Please excuse bitten fingers! Terrible habit!

I'm quite pleased at how this looks for my first attempt! Will have to get practising to perfect this and do some different designs. What's your manicure for the weekend or Jubilee?

Have a great one! Ciao for now XxX

Beauty UK Birmingham NEC 2012 ♥

Howdy! Hope you are all well! As you may or may not know, I took a little venture to the NEC in Birmingham this weekend to the Beauty UK show. I had been once before a few years ago, but never really knew much of what I was on about then. Now I am so into make up and beauty, that I was unbelievably excited to go, and see what they had to offer.

Beauty UK is a trade only show, but if you register and put down what you do, it enables you free ticket entry into the show OR you can go on the day and pay ten pounds. I don't think they are too fussed about whether you have a company or not - at the end of the day they want to sell their products. It is more targeted at salons, and spas, but there are a few goodies for the general public like me! This year we found it was very much nail art based, as opposed to make up, which is OK because I am getting more and more into nail colours and I wanted to get me some O.P.I! And so I did.

These are the nail varnishes I picked up which are:

* Liquid Crystal - China Glaze *I'm not Lion - China Glaze * Servin' Up Sparkle - OPI * Significant Other Colour - OPI * Sure Shot - Essie

I LOVE all of these colours, and after I saw Louise's video on Sprinkle of Glitter with the Essie polish on it, I instantly loved it and so it was sold to moi! I think my fave out of all of them has to be Significant Other Colour which is the lilac duotone from OPI, it is stunning!

Significant Other Colour on the nails, with Servin' Up Sparkle on the accent nail. Sorry about the little claw thing going on here, dunno what that is all about! But hey ho, you get the idea!

I was also pretty excited for NYX too, as you can't get many of their products easily here in the UK so I made sure I got some! You can order online HERE but I hate paying for shipping because it just annoys me!

Firstly there are two Striper Polishes which aren't NYX but I just happened to photograph it all together. They are from a brand called Stripe Rite and they are the really thin brushes for nail art detail, and I got those in a Purple glitter and a gold, those were 99p!

For the NYX products then, I got 4 of the jumbo eye pencils in 'Cottage Cheese' (what a name, urgh!), 'Purple', 'Pacific' and 'Peacock'. I've never used any NYX products before so I will be sure to review them on a Thursday Thoughties post soon! Then there is the Matte Lipstick in 'Shocking Pink', a roll on shimmer in 'Purple', a lipgloss in 'Dolly Pink', Glitter powder in 'Luxurious Lavender', Cream blush in 'Hot Pink' and a Concealer in a jar in 'Light'. Phewwww take a breath! 

Check out the coolio China Glaze bag too! Although it is a more nail orientated show, I really do recommend trying to get tickets because it is free, and is a nice day out - maybe not for your purse though, certainly not for mine!

Lastly, just a few pieces from Peggy Sage. I had not heard of this brand before, but a lot of people were at it so I thought I might as well try a few bits. I got a new lip brush and a new liner brush as I was in need of those, a black eyeliner and a bright pink lip liner to go with the NYX lippy that I purchased. Then my friend Sarah who I was with spotted these gorgeous nail stickers with the Eiffel tower on! I'm mad about anything Eiffel tower, so these are perfect! She's a good'un! 

Finally, this is the make up I wore for the day! I'm not going to go into too much detail because I think I have bored you for long enough! But if you would like a post on what I used and how to do it, just let me know!

I also documented the day by video, so click play if you want to see more. It is super shaky so sorry about that, but maybe better than nout!

Did any of you go to Beauty UK? Or would you fancy going next year? Tell me your thoughts!

Ciao for now XxX

Cypriot make up! ♥

Hellooo! As you my know, I went to Cyprus last week, and whilst I was there I wanted to see if there were any cosmetics over there that you can't get in the UK. It's always nice to get something different, however if it is a really great product, it will have to be used sparingly or give me an excuse to go back! 

We found a large supermarket type place in Ayia Napa, which is where I found the cosmetics that I am going to talk about here. They were all unbelievably reasonably priced, and actually great quality products. I can't quite believe the bargains.

To begin, this little beauty was a set of 6 Nail Polishes, for a whole three euros. About £2.30. I know, absolute bargain right? As you would think, my initial thoughts were; 'well they are gonna be a 3 coat disaster', but for the money I thought I would give them a go anyway! The brand name is 'Caerphilly Professional Nail Lacquer', and you also get a whopping 20ml of Polish in these beauties, whereas Barry M for example are half that. I love the packaging, big chunky bottles with a metallic pink lid, and there are some great colours. Here I have a flouro pink, shimmer red, shimmer navy/black, clear topcoat, glitter pink and a glossy white. They were three euros collectively by the way, not each.

Here is an example of the glittery pink nail varnish, and this is a one coat wonder! Hoorahh! It also dries super quick! I really had an absolute bargain with these and wish I had bought more to pass on, or to do as a giveaway. Next time I go I am sure to do so! I did try to find the products online or on Ebay but I can't seem to find them, so if anyone has come across these before, leave a comment! I love getting your comments and will always get back to you.

This was another nail polish I got in a pharmacy in Protaras. This was more expensive than all those nail varnishes above put together! However, I did find this first and it was a brand I hadn't heard of so I thought I would give it a go. For five euros (around £4.15), this is a glitter and polkadot topcoat. It is by S.H.C and is really pretty. I am yet to try it as a polkadot topcoat, to try and get all the black dots out of it is going to be a fun task, but as a glitter topcoat I wouldn't say it is anything special, but nice enough!

 

These are a set of lippies I found in the same supermarket as the above nail polish. Found in Cyprus but made in china, as per. So, this was a pack of 12 lipsticks, all reds, pinks and brown shades and this also cost 3 euros for all 12! Again, I thought they are going to have little, if no pigmentation and will need reapplying constantly. I was wrong yet again! The swatch (which is pink not orange) should tell you all you need to know. This brand is called 'Fate of Flower' and is enriched with vitamin E. Nice!

And now for the ultimate bargain. I am loving different eyeshadow palettes at the minute, and always am looking to add to my ever-growing collection. Also in the Ayia Napa supermarkets, I found these eyeshadow palettes. There were three palettes to choose from, so I got all three. I wish I had got more now! These were a shocking 2.60 euros! They are some of the most pigmented shimmer eyeshadows I have seen, and you get quite a lot of product in each section! The name is 'Oumeidie', and I actually felt like I should have paid more as it was such a steal. The colours are beautiful and you can get other sets from this company on Ebay, I had a look for you guys! They are all around the £4.00 mark on there. I am going to do a few make up looks with these soon, just to prove the unbelievable pigmentation for the dosh! This was the bold and brights palette.

Here is the more neutral, natural and highlight palette.

And here is a pastel and khaki palette. They also come with Mahoosive mirrors, and a little applicator.

This was one light stroke in the palette with my finger, and swatched on my hand and that is how bold they are. I would definitely recommend this brand and would certainly re-purchase. So if any of you are heading out to Cyprus, I wouldn't bother looking in the Pharmacies, have a hunt around the supermarkets! There are bargains to be had!

Ciao for now! XxX