Mavala - Elle nail polish

Normally I'm quite traditional with nail colours, favouring deep reds, nudes or blacks, depending on mood and season. I generally like more natural colours on long nails for summer and more dramatic shades on shorter nails for winter. 'Elle' by Mavala is not a colour I'd have gone for before, right now I'm undecided, but I think later in the year ie. A/W I could love this as a less severe alternative to black. Let's see.

In terms of application, this is pretty fool proof. The Mavala brush is flattish and wide enough so I could avoid streaks and the formula seems to be fast drying. This is tempting me to try some other Mavala colours, which strangely enough I never have before. I was always somewhat put off by the smaller bottles. However, considering how many larger bottles have gone to waste and become useless due to going gloopy, I think I may have to rethink this.

Sally Hansen - No More Breaks

My nails have been weaker than normal of late, so I decided to treat them for a week or two with a nail hardener. I purchased Sally Hansen's No More Breaks on ebay, thinking it was a pretty safe bet as the polishes from this brand seem to be fairly good.

The instructions say the hardener can be used alone or as a base coat, so I applied as a base with a nude polish over the top and a top coat. Next day my polish was completely cracked on every nail and the polish was chipping. Thinking this was perhaps a reaction resulting from an unhappy marriage of the two products, I applied the hardener alone the next day. However, the same thing happened, very strange.

Although my nails do feel stronger having used this product, the cracking and chipping are unsightly. Oddly, despite the cracks and chips, the parts that did adhere to the nail were extremely difficult to take off without using a harsh acetone based remover.

I'm always a little suspicious of products purchased on ebay, I mean you just don't know, do you? However, I won't be repurchasing in order to find out. Has anyone out there tried this product before? Has this happened with yours? Let me know, please.

Nail disaster = bring on the gel

Image via WikipediaHaving flirted with DIY acrylic nail kits many years ago, I would not consider myself a complete virgin when it comes to nail treatments. However, due to the toxic smell of those products and the terrible condition they left my nails in when removed, I wouldn't even consider them these days. At least that's what I thought.

Here's the scenario. I've been looking after my nails quite well of late, with twice weekly DIY manicures, rubber gloves when doing housework and regular lashings of hand cream and cuticle oil. They were in pretty good nick. However, disaster struck when I was closing some sliding doors and I managed to achieve a nice big break from the side to the middle of the nail. So what? Well, normally I would just file everything down and start again, but this break was below the end of the nail bed. It wasn't just going to be ugly, but very very painful for the foreseeable future as well. What to do? Repair, I thought. I went to work that day with a plaster over the nail to buy me some time. I tried taping, but no luck. Then I whipped out the superglue, the break was too stubborn. I tried a teabag wrap, it lasted two days.

Today, as a final resort I asked my hairdresser. Long story short, I am now the proud owner of a solitary gel nail. There's no tip, it's shortish and natural looking. No stripper nails here. I must say it feels a bit strange having something foreign on one nail. Break repaired, my plan of action now is to let it grow out. I have no intention of adding the maintenance cost of gel nails to my already extensive list. Perhaps I'll need to buff it down a bit in a few weeks. Obviously, gel is thicker than natural nails and I don't want a huge hump on my thumb, but we'll see how it goes.

If you have any advice, please let me know:-)

China Glaze Ruby Pumps - There's nowhere like home!

My China Glaze polishes arrived in the post yesterday. Naturally, I couldn't wait to try one out and the Ruby Pumps from the 'Wizard of Ooh Ahz' range was too tempting to wait for. I have to say, this is a gorgeous true red, glittery polish. Equally good for manicures or pedicures,pale or dark skin and it's glittery enough to be a bit special, without making nails look like they belong on the ol Christmas tree. From a distance, it looks like a high gloss colour, but up close those little glittery bits catch the light and add a little girly fun.

The quality of the polish seems, so far, to be really quite good. The application was great, 2 coats and a nice opaque coat was achieved. Naturally, this was with base coat and top coat. This is the end of day 2 and not a chip in site and believe me when I say I'm not exactly gentle on my nails -They occasionally double up as household tools.  In my opinion, these polishes were also a bit of a bargain as the size of the bottle is much bigger than with other brands, 14mls or 5 fl ozs to be exact and the consistency seems to be the type that doesn't go gloopy too quickly. If worried about this, I've heard keeping polish in the refrigerator can extend its life. Failing that, there are plenty of thinners available now
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All in all, I am a very satisfied little polish addict:-)

My recent passion for nail polish from China Glaze

Image via Wikipedia
Lately, I've been having a bit of a thing for new polishes. Gone are the days of matte and gloss, limited to reds, pinks and naturals. Now, every colour of the rainbow is available, from Taupe to navy, from shimmer to suede finish. Celebrities flashing their mani billboards with messages a la Lindsy Lohan or slightly more discrete nail jewels have happily embraced a love for all that verges on the tacky.


As you may have guessed, I'm not a huge fan of gaudy nails.  I've always been of the opinion that just because it's a pretty colour, doesn't mean it's appropriate for our paws. Having said that, there are occasions when a girl just wants to have fun and occasionally we can get away with things by making them convincingly ironical.


For any of these purposes and more "China Glaze" seems to be just the ticket. This particular brand is difficult to find in Europe and I have yet to see it in shops or online here. However, I have heard so many bloggers and youtubers raving about this particular brand, I just had to check it out. Online I toddled and found someone on ebay that had the polishes at the right price and wasn't charging an arm and a leg for postage. If you're interested, it was strawberryfieldsforever29.


So, I happily ordered Ruby Pumps and Ravishing Dahling, the first being a sparkly red as per the name and the second being a slightly more sophisticated darker creamy red. Now, perhaps this is a little premature, but I am very impressed. Today is not only a Saturday, but a Saturday on a long weekend and the night before Halloween. Already I have received not only confirmation of my order, but strawberryfieldsforever29 has already sent me a tracking number.


Basically, in all my time of ordering online and  believe me I've been ordering long and frequently from all over the world with large and small companies, this has to be the fastest in processing the order. It took less than 5 hours from point of order to point of dispatch.


Now, I know what your thinking... don't count your chickens etc. etc. I'll let you know when they arrive and I'll review the products separately.  I like to live with them for a few days in order to check out chipping and wear. I'll also let you know how long they took to get here in the end.


Have a Happy Halloween everyone

Love Eyeko?

Image by dhinivh via Flickr
After spotting a brand called Eyeko during an evening's browsing, I decided to check them out. To my delight I discovered they provide free postage in the EU. Now, the product I was particularly interested in trying was the 3 in 1 eyecream. It's descibed as a three in one MOISTURISER, HIGHLIGHTER & EYE CREAM, but from most of the reviews I read it was mainly rated as a highlighting cream. Then, when I thought things couldn't get any better than free postage, they offered a free gift with purchases over £10/€12/$15. That was it.... I simply couldn't resist and having heard of a particularly nice nail varnish from their range, I threw caution to the wind. I ordered the 3 in 1 cream, the nail varnish, which is called Vampira, and finally some strawberry Fat Balm.


So, I took my time when choosing these products and there were some nice little blogs on the website. Apparently, they have 'Ambassadors', who write blogs for them or promote their products, and in return receive a commission when customers use their promotion codes during purchase. There is a plus side to this, in that when a code is used you can receive a free gift. However, I was not going to trust their opinion alone, so I went online and searched and searched some more. Generally, the reviews for the cream were good. The reviews I found were for the original version, not the tinted or extra glow versions of the same product. This was €9. I chose the nail varnish because at  €4, it was a bargain. The choices were limited in terms of colour, in my opinion at least. Most were very young and trendy blues, greens etc. I generally like a neutral french polish base colour, or a nice deep red to black shade. Vampira is a black with very subtle red glitter, which is barely noticeable, but gives the shade a little warmth and depth. Perfect for Halloween and suitable for work I reasoned. Finally, I chose the strawberry Fat Balm, again after some research, it was recommended on Eyeko's website as being good for giving just a hint of colour. This was €4.


My package arrived just a few days after ordering, 3 I think. I ripped open the package and decided to use the cream straight away. I've been using it since, this is now day 3 and I am as yet, undecided. Different people have suggested using it different ways, which as a highlighter is not unusual. Honestly, as someone that is accustomed to using a shimmer eyeshadow (NYX) as a highlighter on cheekbones and brow bone, this is a little too  subtle. I can barely tell it's even there and I am not someone that likes the plastic look either. Now, at this point I should point out that the company website suggests using on naked skin, yes without makeup (the horror). I could not do that, so have tried using in the above mentioned places under foundation and then dabbing a little on over foundation again. I am still not convinced, but shall continue to experiment for a few days on that one. However, I have found it is good for under the eyes. I tend to get those little blue/purple under eye shadows (I have very pale skin) and this seems to work well for brightening them just enough that foundation and a tiny amount of concealer can be more effective. For this I have used it under foundation, but will experiment over as well.


The Vampira nail varnish turned out to be a lovely colour and after being applied 2 days ago with base coat and top coat, has yet to chip. This, as any lover of dark polishes will know, is unusual among varnishes of any price range.  The only downside to this particular polish is that the colour is not completely opaque, even with 2 coats. Now, that may change as the varnish thickens a little after opening, but I do like my dark colours to be perfectly opaque when they should be.


Finally, the Fat Balm, really I bought this as an item to get the price over €13 in order to get the nail varnish as my free gift. Well, it turned out to be my favorite of the products. This is a nice moisturizing balm, and the colour is gorgeous. It's sheer, but definitely there and very very flattering to the lips. It gives them a nice fresh and natural healthy look.  It's so much cheaper than wearing lipstick and to be honest, with the amount of coffee etc. I drink during the day, it's quite a saving. It's got just the right amount of subtle sheen and shimmer. A winner!

To sum up, I found the prices for these products were very reasonable, particularly when the free delivery was taken into account. The packaging is cute, so much so that it seems to be aimed at a very young market. However, there are some products and colours I love just as much now as I did 10 years ago and I refuse to be pigeon holed in my spending. The range is limited, but I believe this is a new brand to the market and therefore, the range may expand readily in the future. The delivery was probably the fastest I have had yet from any company in the UK, quite impressive actually. Overall, I'm pretty happy without being broke after my little purchases and am looking forward to figuring out the perfect usage for my 3 in 1 cream. Judging by the enormous size of the tub, I'll have plenty to practise with.