2true Review- The Crystal Coutures

Hello!

I've got the last of my 2true review posts today- I'l be sharing three of the Crystal Couture polishes with you.

Let's start with my favourite from the Crystals- Rio. This golden polish is such a beautiful colour, it's very similar to OPI 'Goldeneye' from the recent Skyfall collection- a very luxurious foil effect. Two normal coats and it's totaly rich and opaque. I loved the application on this, the polish was very easy to control and looked amazing. This is with one coat of Seche Vite just to smooth it out, and stamped with my Konad Q plate. Slyly sneaking in some Christmas with the gold and white birdie combo!



Next up - Ibiza. This is a purple foil with flecks of blue. Out of all the polishes, this grabbed me the least, and is probably the only one I wouldn't buy for myself. It was quite streaky, and dragged quite badly when I painted the second coat (as you can probably see in the pictures). I built up three coats, but I would definitely layer this over a purple base polish in the future, I'm sure that would help with the dragging and the streaking. It's also not as shiny as I would like- this pics are with two coats of Seche Vite and it's still a bit too matte.

And lastly, here's St. Tropez. After struggling with Ibiza, I decided to layer this polish over 2true Soft Grey, and it made all the difference. This is two coats, and it was much easier to apply. The colour is lovely, and there's so many facets to the shimmer, you can see gold, orange, blue and brown when it catches the light. I dotted on some gold polka dots and it really brought the gold base out.

Well that's all folks! Overall, I think this is a really solid collection- good base colours with a fantastic formula, dense glitters, and a few luxurious foils. I would definitely recommend them if you're looking for something a bit different on a budget.

Til next time,

Alice

xXx 

These 2true polishes are available exclusively at Superdrug stores from December- £1.99 each or 3 for £4.99.
http://www.2true.com

Taffy Tips

One of the best things about blogging is meeting some amazing people from all over the world- one of my fave swap buddies is the lovely Whitney. She sent me a surprise package full of polish goodies the other day, as well as some American treats (my obsession with Hersheys knows no bounds!) 

My favourite from the parcel was Taffy by Rainbow Polish, a lovely indie with grey, pink and white glitters suspended in a clear base. I layered it over OPI Sweet Heart and to make it a bit edgier added some black french tips with Wet n Wild Black Creme, topped off with a coat of Seche Vite. The application was a dream- this is just one coat of Taffy, and I pushed it around really easily to get the glitter to go where I wanted it to.

And here's Taffy by itself. I hate that it's pitch black outside by 5pm, it makes it so hard to get decent pictures in natural light!

Alice

xXx 

Coffee Neons

Aloha!

Continuing my neon frenzy, I've got a very bright french manicure to show you today! I've just cut all my nails down as I had a few peelies (after a week of not bothering with maintenance) so am currently looking at my lovely long talons in these pics and quietly weeping over my nubbins!

What I used:

base - Sally Hansen Iced Coffee
thumb - H&M
index- Color Club Jackie Oh!
middle - China Glaze Kiwi Cool-Ada
ring - China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
pinky -  Barry M Blue



artifical light

I love the combination of the simple nude polish and the bright tips- Jackie Oh! proved to be an absolute bitch to photograph though, neons can be so temperamental. It looks quite red but in reality it was hardcore pink.

with flash

artifical light

I briefly did a similar manicure with pastel tips, but it only lasted a few hours as I did someone else's nails and they got wrecked. Once I grow out my nubbins it's first on my list!

Love,

Alice

xXx 

Funky Valentines French

Happy Valentines Day!

Hope you're all being showered with flowers and chocolates. I got diddly squat this morning so I'm sure my trusty boyfriend has them all waiting at home for me for an evening of worship...ahem.

I wanted to do a pink themed one for Valentines Day, but I really didn't fancy a cheesy one, so i thought I'd mix it up a bit. I actually did this mani on Saturday, but it's still going strong. For some reason I never seem to get round to blogging on the weekend. It’s something to do in work, hehe, so technically I get paid to blog ;)

I used OPI I Pink I Love You for the base- four coats of this as it was very very sheer. Inhindsight it’s probably more of a French manicure polish, but it had the prettiest pinky blue sheen when it was in the bottle that I couldn’t resist. Sadly this blue tint didn’t really translate to my nails, which left me feeling slightly robbed. I hate it when polishes look amazing in the bottle and are just normal on your nails!

Then I thought to myself, it’s Saturday night, it’s 9pm, let’s live dangerously. So I added some leopard print with Konad plate m57 and Psyche Pink stamping polish. Look at you all, jealous of my party animal lifestyle…I can sense your envy from here.

I was going to leave it at that, but then I thought that the pink wasn’t quite popping enough (translation- it didn’t look drag queen-y enough for my liking) so I free handed some pink tips using OPI Be A Dahlia Won’t You? From the Nice Stems Collection. Have to say I am SO IN LOVE with this polish. Will be doing a full mani with this beauty soon and I will wax lyrical on it then so I’ll just shut up for now.

I always like to show both hands, as I figure I spent just as much effort on my right hand as I did on my left! Also, the nails on my right hand are better than my left...very strange as my right is my dominant hand. Usually people break more on that one because they use it more. I am an anomaly!

before the pink tips

Love this pink explosion- but it's been three days, which is a record amount of time for me to have a manicure on! 
Also, just want to add please ignore the formatting errors with my blog- for some reason it has started freaking out on me with weird page breaks, spacing,  gaps between photos and putting THESE <> <> <> little arrows of DOOM in random places! Hopefully I’ve got a friend who can fix it for me and it will go back to normal sharpish. I hate it when it looks messy L
Anway, do you guys have an exciting V-Day plans?! And if you've done any special manicures drop me a link :)

Catch you later,

Alice 

xXx

OPI Suede - Here Today Aragon Tomorrow

Ok so I have found a new love. OPI Suede. Where have you been all my life?!

This is three coats of OPI Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow. I love the matte look, and when someone recommended checking out the suede versions I immediately got my arse on the internet to try one out.

The application was gorgeous, completely opaque and smooth with two coats. I did one extra as I've got silk patches on two nails (waging a serious war with the peelies) and they were showing through slightly. That is my ONLY issue with matte polish- any flaws or ridges are super highlighted. In the photo below you can see the ridge of the silk patch on my middle finger. Boo!

Also, they label says that you shouldn't use base coat with them- I ignored this and wore it anyway, it's too dark for me to risk staining. It didn't seem to effect the matte-ness. The other negative is that you can't use lotion with them, as it makes them shiny. For a girl dedicated to her fifty times daily application of lemon cuticle butter, this was HELL ON EARTH. I was sat in work twitching my fingers all day! For that reason alone this mani only lasted a day. *must- moisturise- cuticles*

I wanted to experiment a bit with the matte/ shiny duo effect so I did tips with a clear topcoat. And I adore it, I felt like such a classy bird wearing these! It's really subtle and sophisticated....what's happening to me, dedicated follower of the neon leopard print?! I must be maturing.

Delicious! The only downside of this is that it's now awakened a desperate need to have ALL of the suedes...damn you OPI.

Also, I've got some shiny flakie goodness for you tomorrow...stay tuned.

Alice
xXx

Nails Inc. Polka Tips

Howdy folks!

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend with lots of rest and relation. I have been exceptionally lazy and done NOTHING apart from walk the dog and watch copious amounts of Dexter!

I've got a mani to show you that I did a while ago, when my nails were pretty long. I used Nails Inc. Pembrose Close, and Strawberry Hill on the tips. Regular white polish with a dotting tool and voila! 

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Nails. Inc - Strawberry Hill

Originally I was going to leave the pink tips plain, but then I thought a bit of white would make them pop a little more. I love it, it was so simple to do but made my mani look really different!

ALSO- I have had an extra bit of thrill this weekend as I've just bought a new camera with my birthday money....! Canon S95, so excited for it to turn up this week!

SQUEEEEEEEE!

xXx

Cheater's Guide to Galaxy Nails

Fancy galaxy nails but don’t have the time to do the full mani? Follow my easy three step guide to cheat your way to them!

Step 1- apply magnetic nail polish in a dark colour (I used Nails Inc. Houses of Parliament, a deep purple) which only takes a few minutes extra than a normal mani.

Step 2- layer a glitter over the top- smaller glitters with lots of colours work best, rather than hexo chunks. I used Miss Sporty Sparkle Effects, I love the tiny rainbow glitters in it!

Step 3- add a topcoat to smooth out the glitter (in my case, Seche Vite)

VOILA! Galaxy nails :D The magnetic effect paired with the glitter makes it look like the sky at night. And to give it a funky edge, you can always jazz it up with a French tip or a crackle. For the french tip I used Miss Sporty Turquoise, as I thought it was a good colour to represent a planet! And I used Barry M Crackle Effects in Gold Glitter for my thumb and accent finger.

It might not be as good as the real deal, but I do like me a lazy option!

xXx

indoors

outdoors