Life updates.

01. with my friend jade at a firework display. // 02. cocktails at TGIs. // 03. really want these glasses, might get them for christmas! // 04. onesie lovin' // 05. it's acceptable to wear my christmas jumper again, yay! // 06. november glossybox. // 07. dress down day at work. // 08. cosy christmas socks. // 09. dairy milk oreo mmm. // 10. train journey! // 11. all wrapped up. // 12. warehouse project. // 13. dinner with friends. // 14. models own indian ocean. // 15. breaking dawn at midnight, fangirl alert! // 16. nail pamper session.

Sally Hansen.

I've tried a few different Sally Hansen products and i think they can be really hit and miss. Some things I've tried i have really liked, and some have been awful. I thought I'd talk about a couple of products I didn't like.. first of all the 'No chip' Acrylic top coat. This has to be one of the worst top coats I've ever used! I was counting on it being chip resistant, but it actually seems to make my nail varnish chip more when i wear this? It's weird! i've given it a few chances now and it's so disappointing. I think i paid around £6.00 for this so I was a bit gutted that it doesn't seem to work, and doesn't do what it claims. It does give a really nice finish when it's first applied (super shiny), but it really does seem to make my nails chip more than usual!? Secondly, the cuticle massage cream. I found this pretty disappointing too. it was quite hard so it wasn't really like a cream if that makes sense? I found it hard to actually 'massage' into my cuticles as it was quite hard and almost felt rubbery. However it does smell gorgeous (it contains apricot oil)! I suppose it did make my cuticles feel softer, but i've definitely tried better cuticle treatments so I don't think it's anything to write home about!

Don't get me wrong, I've tried other Sally hansen products in the past and really liked them; for example the Diamond strength shine top coat. This top coat actually did help to prevent chipping and made my nails really shiny. Has anyone else been disappointed with Sally Hansen products? I think they can be very hit and miss judging by my experience! Some of the products seem overpriced and don't seem to work, yet some of them are worth the money and do work well. I'd be interested to hear about other people's experiences with this brand! let me know in a comment.

Revlon calcium gel nail hardener.

I got this Revlon calcium gel nail hardener a couple of months back. My nails were in terrible condition at the time as I'd had acrylics done, and once i took them off my nails were all weak and peeling. I love how acrylics look at time but i don't personally think it's worth ruining my nails, I like my nails to be as healthy and strong as possible! So anyway, i was looking for a nail hardener of some sort and spotted this in Boots for £6.49, which i didn't think was too bad for this type of nail treatment compared to some other brands. it's kind of a creamy white colour in the bottle but comes out clear on the nails.

I tend to use this as my base coat pretty much every time I paint my nails.. and i can honestly say i have noticed an improvement in the strength of my nails. I've grown them for the past few weeks and they have grown quite long, whereas usually one of them will end up breaking or peeling, and then I have to cut them all down to the same length. But they have been in really good condition recently so I think this nail hardener has helped. Usually a couple of my nails will end up peeling and they haven't at all. overall I'd recommend this as a base coat. It's not too pricey and it seems to have improved the strength and texture of my nails. 

Things I've been loving lately.

I've been obsessed with essie nail polishes recently and this bright pink one 'I am strong' has been my favourite so far! I've been wearing it at every opportunity! i can't wait to get my hands on more colours from the essie range.

I'm absolutely in love with my leopard print cardigan from Internacionale (can't seem to find a link on the website).. anyway I've been wearing it daily. literally think I've worn it every single day since getting it! This one from Lavish alice looks really nice too I like that it's grey whereas my other one is beige and brown. I can never get enough of leopard print.. i know some people might think it's tacky but I love it.

This week i've been listening non stop to Taylor swift's new album 'Red'. (definitely listening to it even as i write this post..) I absolutely love it and she is perfection. that is all! My favourite tracks on the album so far are 'I knew you were trouble' and 'begin again'. what are your favourite tracks if you've been listening to it lately?

I blogged about this Mavala double lash a few weeks ago (view post here), I absolutely swear by it now and use it every single day.. can't recommend it enough, it's improved the length and thickness of my eyelashes so much. they are in better condition than they've ever been! I usually tend to wear this in the day time as well as overnight, some days if I don't feel like wearing lots of eye makeup.

Also, a little personal update... I got offered a job today! I'm so so so happy about it, I've been looking for months since finishing uni in june! It's with a marketing company :) and i start on monday! I will keep you all updated about how it goes!

Essie case study.

I'm really starting to grow a liking to Essie nail polishes! I will hopefully build up a big collection over time, i only have 5 so far! I couldn't believe it when i found out they were only £1.99 on Fragrance direct! an absolute BARGAIN considering they are £7.99 in Boots. I ordered 'ballet slippers' which is a lovely pale, nude pink and is the Essie colour I have been lusting after for ages! and then I also ordered 'case study' which is pictured above. I love nude colours but this is different to other nude colours I have, it's darker and almost a kind of khaki colour.. which is not something I'd usually expect to like but i do love this colour! I think it's perfect for autumn too. I really like the colours I've tried so far and I do like essie polishes.. they look really pigmented after two coats and tend to last quite a while without chipping. However i don't think I would be willing to spend £7.99 on just one as I think that's a lot for one nail varnish when there are so many cheaper alternatives! So yeah, anyone thinking of trying out Essie polishes check out the link above as there's a good few to choose from at only £1.99 you can't really go wrong :)

October wishlist

I thought I'd do a wishlist of some things I've been wanting recently and hope to get my hands on soon! I've been stuck indoors the past couple of days because I'm ill.. this obviously results in browsing the internet for things I can't afford!

Links for all the products provided below.

1. Now that we're heading into winter I really want some snuggly winter clothes! So the first thing on my wishlist is this adorable animal hat! I saw this in tesco a few weeks ago and it was only £4.99 i think! Whereas it's available at Urban outfitters for about triple that price.. and they are practically the exact same hat!

2. I'm desperate to get a fur coat in the next month or so ready for winter. Something like this one from House of Fraser would be ideal, but it's way out of my price range so I will have to look around.. I think fur coats are amazing as they're so cosy but still look great. 

3. I've been wanting to get my hands on OPI nail envy for a while, so hopefully I'll buy it in the next few weeks! My nails are in terrible condition ever since i last had acrylics on so hopefully something like this will help their texture and stop them from breaking so easily! I've heard a lot of good things about this product so far so fingers crossed. 

4. I'm still kind of obsessed with crosses.. So i think this ring from Dorothy Perkins is really cute. I don't tend to wear rings that often and I don't have any like this one so I think it would be a nice addition to my jewellery collection. I think it would look great with quite a plain outfit!

5. I've been searching for an everyday bag for a while now and I really like this one. I think the colour is perfect for Autumn and i really like the studs! It's not a bad price either only £30. only negative is that I'd prefer the studs to be a different colour, maybe grey / bronze? as I think the gold looks a bit tacky. 

6. Finally the last thing I've been wanting for a while is the perfect black peplum top! Obviously this style of top is everywhere at the moment, I really want a black one as I think it will go with so much and you can create so many different looks with it.. It will be such a staple item. I really like the look of this one from Bank because of the spiked studding detail, it makes the top look a lot more expensive i think and sets it apart from all the other peplum tops.. But I still think it is plain / classic enough to be worn a lot. 

Insta-Updates

This is a little summary of what I've been up to the past week or so!

From top left corner; 1. Bubble baths on rainy days 2. New essie purchases 3. Food at wetaherspoons mm 4. Cocktail out with the girls 5. The cutest little cat hat! 6. Dessert also at weatherspoons 7. This month's Glossybox 8. Snuggly jumper and coffee 9. Bubble bath and my current read 10. Boyfriend's cat 11. Studded bracelet 12. Night out with the girls 13. Rainy afternoon 14. Leopard print cross nail transfers 15. Costa (it was disgusting...but it looks pretty at least) 16. My top three glitter polishes - see previous post for full review!

Top 3 Glitter nail polishes

Rimmel London rock your colour Glitter top coat in 'Disco Gold' - £4.59 Boots 

Models Own glitter polish in 'Pink Fizz' - £5.00 -link

Technic Nail varnish in 'Carnival' - 99p Bodycare -Alternative link

I thought I would do a post on my favourite glitter nail polishes, and these made the top three! I'll start with the Rimmel glitter top coat. This is the newest glitter polish in my collection, but I can definitely say it's my favourite! It's quite subtle compared to most glitters, however you can build up the amount by applying an extra coat or two. I love the mix of gold and silver sparkles, it's different from other glitter polishes I've tried. I think it goes with pretty much any colour, which makes it the perfect top coat. I've used it as my top coat pretty much constantly since buying it! Defnitely recommend this one!

Now, the Models own glitter polish. I wanted this exact colour for so long, but it seemed to have been discontinued in shops (I'm not sure if it's back again now?), anyway i ended up buying it on ebay and it cost me about £8.00 which is quite steep as they're supposed to be £5.00 but I paid it because I really wanted it. I really love this colour, but it's honestly the hardest nail polish to remove EVER. I remember spending about 40 minutes trying to remove it once, and I think even then I resorted to picking bits off. This is something that really bugs me about glitter polishes; this is also something that stops me from wearing this particular polish as much as I'd like because it's such a bitch to remove! But as far as the actual colour itself, I love it!

Finally, Technic 'Carnival'. I heard a lot about this earlier this year, as it's a dupe for OPI's Rainbow connection. I wasn't willing to pay £14+ for that so when I saw this Technic version for only 99p I immediately grabbed about six bottles! I love this polish, it goes so well with almost any colour, although I think it looks best with either dark colours like navy or black, or nude colours! I won't go into too much detail about this one as Ive mentioned it previously, and I'm sure a lot of you have already heard a lot about it! But it's definitely one of my favourites, i love how bright and multicoloured it is and it looks great on! Right I think thats enough now, this is probably the longest post I've done! What are your favourite glitter nail polishes? I'd love to hear some recommendations as I'm always looking to try more!

Updated Review - Bourjois nail polish remover

After reviewing this product a couple of weeks back (view post here), I decided to write another post as I've used it quite a bit more now. I'm really not getting the hype around this. I thought I'd give it a chance and use it a few more times but I'm just not impressed at all... I've gone back to using normal nail polish remover and cotton wool pads and I feel that they do a more thorough job. The Bourjois stuff is all right I suppose, if you dip each finger in about three seperate times each and twist for about ten seconds each time. I guess this is about the same amount of time it takes to use cotton wool pads but I'm just really not feeling it. The 'one second' thing is definitely false advertising! It also doesn't seem to remove glitter nail varnish very well at all for me, however I know some people have said that it does. I definitely wouldn't buy this again, not understanding the hype really!

Bourjois 'magic' nail polish remover

I've heard so many people mention this product in the past couple of months and I have been meaning to try it for so long! I change my nail varnish every couple of days so a product like this is definitely handy, as it's much faster than using nail varnish remover and cotton wool etc! Bourjois 'magic nail polish remover'  claims to remove nail polish in one second; from my experience I think this is a little optimistic, as it takes a couple of times before nail polish is fully removed. When I used this to remove glitter nail polish, it took even longer which I was quite disappointed with, as I'd seen reviews saying it removed glitter polish really easily (which can usually be a nightmare to remove!). I don't think the product should claim to remove nail polish in 'one second' as it's not really accurate. 

Despite this, I'm definitely a fan, and it generally is a lot faster at removing nail polish than using cotton wool. I do however get the feeling it's going to dry out quite quickly so I'm not sure how long it's going to last. Anyone that's tried it, how long has yours lasted? The one thing I really like about this product is that it removes all traces of nail varnish from around the edges of the nail, cuticles, etc, which can sometimes be a problem for me, and I end up with little bits of colour left on! It's also really moisturising to the nails, and leaves quite a nice scent which you wouldn't get with a normal nail polish remover (vanilla and red berry)! So overall, my opinion on this product is kind of mixed. I do like it but I'm not sure i will purchase it again, because at £4.99, although it's not mega expensive, it's a lot more than a standard bottle of nail varnish and a pack of cotton wool pads!

Glossybox.

This month, I decided to sign up to Glossybox. I had been contemplating signing up for a while now after hearing about glossybox through other people's blogs / twitter etc! I'm so happy i decided to, as i absolutely love my first box! I'm sure I won't always be quite as happy with what I recieve in my boxes but this month has definitely pleased me. I was really happy to receive a 'Lipcote' as I have wanted to try this product for years! Also, i absolutely adore the 'nail brightener' it stops my nails from looking dull / yellow and just makes them look so much brighter and healthier! I think Glossybox is a good way of trying out new products, and despite the argument that I have more than enough beauty products and I don't really need the majority of the things I will receive, I think its definitely worth the £10 per box. The only product in the box I wasn't particularly enthralled about it the eye shadow, I can't really see myself using it as I already have a palette I use daily, and none of these colours appeal to me that much anyway. 

Union Jack nails.

Union Jack glue on false nails - Primark £1.00

I spotted these in Primark last week and grabbed them straightaway to try as they were only £1.00! They were not the best quality but I kept them on for around 3 days. I was still impressed as I wouldnt expect high quality when only paying a pound. The glue that comes with the nails is very high strength and similar to glues I have used with previous glue on nails. This helped them to stay on and over the course of three days they never started to feel loose. The only problem was that they were not very thick quality, therefore became a little bendy and feel like they might break. Overall, for the price, I was impressed. There are 24 nails in the box so I will be able to wear them again too, definitely worth £1! I got a lot of compliments when wearing them and people couldnt believe they were from Primark! What do you think of them? :)

Sparkles.

Revlon nail enamel - £1.75 Ruby slipper & Silver belle

My flatmate has had this Revlon nail enamel in the 'rock star' shade for a while now and I always find myself using it.. It adds a bit of sparkle to any nail colour and i always find it a nice alternative to plain block colour. I'm really into glittery nails at the moment so I thought it was about time i got my own as i have been using hers for ages! I decided to get the plain silver glitter (silver belle)  and the red / silver glitter (ruby slipper). I ordered them here and they're only £1.75 each which i think is pretty good for a nail varnish considering the price of most standard nail enamels. There is also quite a variety of colour to choose from on the website, glitter and non-glitter, check it out! I would really recommend these nail enamels, for the price i think they are high quality and they last ages. They're also not too hard to remove which can tend to be a problem with glitter nail polishes.

Technic carnival glitter nail polish.

I've been lusting after OPI Rainbow Connection nail varnish for a while now. I'm obsessed with glitter polishes, I absolutely love them and I tend to wear a silver glitter over most colours i wear recently. I just think my nails look way more girly and sparkly that way :)

I didn't really fancy forking out £12.00+ for the OPI polish and i noticed people had compared this Technic polish in 'carnival' as a dupe. I think it really does look almost identical. I spotted this for about £5.00 on ebay recently and was thinking about buying it.. However i was shopping today and spotted this polish in a shop called Bodycare (for those who haven't heard of it, it generally sells beauty products / makeup at reduced prices). This polish was only 99p which i was amazed at so i grabbed 2 straight away! I can't believe i found it for such a cheap price and I'm so glad I didn't fork out for the OPI one now. I do really like OPI polishes but i find they are overpriced when you can get similar nail polishes at a fraction of the price. I've just tried out this glitter polish over a nude / grey colour nail varnish and it goes really well, so impressed with it!

Nails inc. 'basil street'.

I was in tesco today and I spotted Glamour magazine and noticed that you got a free Nails inc. nail varnish with this month's issue! I'm a sucker for nail varnishes especially nude colours at the moment so couldn't resist getting this lovely nude shade 'basil street'! 

I love colours like this as they're just easy to wear and just to do quickly if you're in a rush. Also I'm not supposed to wear nail varnish for work but I can usually get away with nude colours like this so I think it will be perfect to wear for work :-) I really like Nails inc. varnishes actually they apply really easily and smooth and I like their range of nude/pastel colours. I also have a pale pink polish by them and I love it!

Just a little post really, mainly to let people know about the free gift with Glamour if you haven't already spotted it! 

:-) jess xxx