Sparkle Like A Unicorn!

Hello unicorns! Hello also to anyone else whose stumbled across my blog today. Today I'm sharing my review of Nails Inc's 'Sparkle Like A Unicorn' duo, which I am very glad to finally have my hands on! It's a set of two gloriously shimmery full sized polishes for £15, which is half the price of one of their normal newer polishes - I think they missed a trick there! It sold out pretty quickly the first time round so I was glad to be able to get some from the second batch.

I tested them out together on both hands so I could see how well they worked as a pair. My thoughts on the individual polishes are below:

Rainbow Wishes - I started with the lovely pearlescent purple, Rainbow Wishes. This is definitely the most unicorn-esque (that's a thing now) of the two shades, and of most nail polish shades to be honest. It was quite sheer to start with but built up well. I'd recommend two to three coats, probably three if you want it opaque.

Dream Dust - Next up is dream dust, a shimmering rose gold. The roseyness depends on  the lighting, in some pictures it looks really quite pink. You can see a bit of bronze/pink shift in the pictures below. I'd say it;s a bit like a pinker version of Cirque Color's ever popular polish, Halcyon. I used two coats for this one.
Colours used: Rainbow Wishes - Nails Inc, Dream Dust - Nails Inc

So in conclusion I of course love them! I look forward to trying some unicorn nail art with them in the future.

Ibiza Meebox Review (June Box 2017)

Hi everyone! I've put the Ibiza Meebox card at the top of this post to avoid any spoilers, but I think I'm too late for that to be an issue now! I can't seem to keep up with blogging at the moment with so much going on (we're buying our first house :D).

So this is the second Meebox I have purchased, the last was around this time last year. I love the themes they do and they have consistently good polishes, I just can't always justify getting them in case of duplicates. This was a little treat before I have to be good to save for moving!

Read on to see what's in June's Ibiza themed Meebox...

Before I even get into the items in the box I just have to compliment the lovely tissue paper! I want it in back or nail polish form!

The polishes:

Models Own - Beach Hut (RRP £4.99) - So starting with my favourite of the polishes, we have the lovely neon orange beach hut. The coverage and consistency on this are great I am really impressed, and the colour is so vibrant. With this and the other polishes I painted them on the swatch sticks over white, but this one probably doesn't even need that.

Zoya - Mirajane (RRP £11.70) - This gorgeous blue is the least neon of the set but goes very well with the neon's and is pretty bold and bright over white. This polish is on the sheer side but covers in two to three coats. Dries fairly matte.

Nails Inc - Claridge Gardens (RRP £15) - This polish is quite sheer so goes best over a white base (such as the neon activator included in this box) and comes out as a lovely bright neon shade. I don't think it could be used on it's own though, possibly but with a lot of layers!

Nails Inc - Neon Activator Mini (RRP £8) - The last polish (pictures shown below) is Nails Inc's neon activator. I had seen this before and thought this isn't a 'neon activator' it's just white polish! I have been very much won over though! This is a strong one coater with a good consistency. It dried matte and makes a perfect base for neons and brights. I'm not sure if I'd pay £8 for a 5ml bottle, but I'm certainly tempted by a full size one.

Non-polish items:

Deco It Designer Nail Decals (RRP £4) - These look like striping tape to use as stencils but are actually for sticking on your nails as part of nail art. I have to say I am so impressed with these. You don't even need to trim them as once they're stuck down firmly on your nail you can just pull them and the excess tape will snap off. Plus I love the shiny ones and they come in a variety of lengths. Will definitely check the website out for more.

NCLA Nail Wraps (RRP £12) - These wraps I haven't tried yet so can't say how good they are but they're certainly pretty! I can't decide whether to use them all at once or as part of nail art with some of the other items in this box.

Below is the nail art I did using all three colours (over the neon activator) and the nail art tape. I love the way these turned out and have had them on for nearly a week. They have such a holiday feel!
So in conclusion I'm definitely happy with this box. I wanted some neon's anyway as I only had one, and I really love the extra's/ non-polish items. Next months theme is birds of paradise which sounds lovely and summery as well. Unfortunately I have to be strict with saving money so won't be getting that one, but I'm sure I'll be back!

Mo You London Inspired Dotty Succulents

Happy Friday everyone! Today I have something summery to show you that reminds me of our mini break from Sunday to Tuesday. It was soo lovely and relaxing, and involved an awful lot of eating!

This nail art is very similar to some Mo You London were sharing when they added the succulent themed plates to their Hipster collection. They version used slightly different images and the dots were just pink. I used the Hipster 18 plate which is perfect for me as my nails are pretty long at the moment. There's so much you can do with this plate and it's very pretty to look at too.

I used a dotting tool for the pink and turquoise dots, and then stamped in black stamping polish, a good quick design to do (compared to most other things I try!)
Colours used: Alpine Snow - OPI, Greenberry - Barry M, Seymour Walk - Nails Inc,Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish

Blue blue mermaid tail nails

Hi everyone! Just a short post today. This is another one I did for the nail addicts collaboration on Instagram. This month the theme was monochrome, using different shades of your favourite colour to create nail art. Small amounts of black or white were also allowed for outlines but I managed to use dark blue for mine.

I used the advanced stamping technique with my Uber Mat to create the pattern (see how here). The image is from the twi-star Bundle Monster mermaid plate. It took a pretty long time to fill in the scales! I also used a white base coat underneath to make the colours stand out.

Head over to @nailaddictscollab to see all the other. designs :)
Colours used: Alpine Snow - OPI, Blue Moon - Barry M, Blueberry - Barry M, Cobalt - Barry M, Cyan - Barry M

Baby Mermaid Monday - Tropical

Hi everyone! Got some very temperature appropriate nails for how hot it's been this week, I hope the weather will last for my days off next week!

This weekend I had a go at some nail art for #BabyMermaidMonday, which is an Instagram hashtag with a monthly theme (always mermaid related of course). Todays theme was pink, orange and yellow, so a very tropical feel. The main colours had to be pink, orange and yellow, but small amounts of other shades (e.g. gold and black like I've used are allowed for detail/outlines).

For the mermaid scales and the fiery mermaid on my thumb nails I used the Bundle Monster twi_star plate, and for the leaf gradient stamping I used Mo You Londons Tropical Plate 10. For the palm tree I created a decal myself on my Uber Mat, using a nail art pen for the outline and filling it with black polish using a dotting tool. I think I should have gone for a slimmer or gold palm tree as the black is a bit overpowering.

For the mermaid on my thumb nails I used the advanced stamping technique (you can see how here). I started with a little bit of ILNP's shimmery topcoat, The Magician. It's not all that clear in the pictures but it worked surprisingly well over these colours and gave the mermaid a warm subtle shimmer. Unfortunately the mermaids hair got a little smooshed as I was in a rush! I did like this nail art though as the gradient went better than usual and I'm enjoying having bright summery colours again!
Colours used: Alpine Snow - OPI, Black Knight - Mo You London, Nail Ar Pen in Black - Barry M Sunshine - Rimmel, W18 - Color Cosmetic, Seymour Walk - Nails Inc, Uptown Glamour - Nails Inc, The Magician - ILNP

Unicorn of the Sea, Narwhal of the Land!

Hi everyone! Got something a bit quirky on my blog, featuring the ever popular unicorn, and the increasingly popular narwhal! I have some adorable socks with narwhals on and the words 'unicorn of the sea', so I used them as inspiration and added unicorns. I've never heard them described as narwhals of the land before but there's a first time for everything!

For the base glitter I used Illyrians Charming on one hand and Nimbus on the other, you can see my review of them here. For all four fingers on my unicorn hand and the index finger on my narwhal hand (definitely going to refer to my hands that way from now on!) I used the advanced stamping technique with my Uber Mat to create decals. You can see a picture tutorial for that process here.

For the remaining three fingers on my narwhal hand and the words on my thumb I created my own decals on my Uber Mat. This was the first time I'd done so and it was surprisingly easy! I used a nail art pen from Barry M to draw the narwhals and write the words on my Uber Mat and went over them a second time to strengthen the opacity of the 'ink'. I then used a dotting tool to colour in the images with nail polish, and once dry. painted a layer of clear polish over the top. Once that was dry I peeled them off my mat and applied them to my nails, covering with a topcoat to blend the image in.

Colours used: Charming - Illyrian, Nimbus - Illyrian, Nail Art Pen in Black - Barry M, White Horse Street - Nails Inc, Alpine Snow - OPI, Soho Silver - Nails Inc, Aria - ILNP, Black Knight - Mo You London I really liked how these turned out, the glitter was lovely, I liked the words and the quirkiness was a good talking point! Let me know what you think :)

Illyrian Polish - First Try

Hello nail people! Today I'm getting back into the spirit of my monthly indie review (I don't really have the space to keep that up anymore - much as I enjoyed buying the polish!) and reviewing a new indie polish brand I've recently tried. The brand is Illyrian and I purchased two pale glitters from Rainbow Connection to try.

First up is Nimbus, a lilac-ish pale purple with flecks of blue and some holographic sparkle. It applies well and the below pictures are just two coats. Some might prefer three but I was surprised how well it covered in two. I like the iridescent sparkle of this one!
The second polish I tried was Charming, a shimmering pale pink with holographic sparkle. Again, this was two coats, though I'd say it was marginally more sheer than Nimbus. I was impressed that I could just paint these on and not sponge them.
I think that's all to say really! They're both lovely and lasted really well. Would definitely buy from this brand again.