Manicure Monday: Essie Gel Couture

Trying a little somethin' new with the old blog photos today - do let me know what you think in the comments. If it's a hit I'll probably alternate this style with the usual flat lays.

Anyway, on with the post. Today I'm talking about yet another gel polish release, this time from Essie. Everytime I go into Boots it's Essie's stand that catches my eye but I only ever really buy anything when there's an offer on as £8 for a single polish is a little expensive for me personally. However, recently I came across the new Gel Couture polish range, which comprises of new twisted style bottles as well as twisted brush stem and super wide brush for ease of application, and I just had to give them a go. You simply pop on the base coat of choice, I picked up 'Looks to Thrill', which is a orange-toned coral shade, and then whack the clear top coat on top. Simples.

I'm a huge fan of the wide brushes on these polishes, they cover the entire nail with ease. The top coat brush in particular is pretty huge!



I needed a couple of coats of the base colour, which is such a gorgeous shade, as it was a little streaky. Two coats did the trick though and it dried super duper fast too, ready for the top coat, which gives it a gloriously shiney finish. Essie claim the gel polishes last up to 14 days but this is really dependent on how often you're using your hands and for what sort of tasks you're using them for. If you were a lady of leisure, unlike myself, I'm sure this would last the full 14 days.

Unfortunately one of my nails started chipping after two days of application. None of the nails lasted even seven days, there was minimal chipping on most of them and on one nail the polish was coming away in great chunks. REALLY disappointing. The point of gel nail polish is to be able to get a gel manicure at home at a fraction of the price, which means it should at least last longer than your average highstreet nail polish. I hadn't even put my nails through their paces either with housework or washing up. By day six I removed all the polish, I actually peeled it all off as it was coming away so easily.

Overall I'm super disappointed with this. The colour is amazing but it just doesn't last, chipping after two days is just not good enough, especially as these polishes are on the more expensive side. It seems like a real waste of money.

Have you tried the new Essie Gel Couture polish? Let me know in the comments what you thought.

Don't forget to let me know in the comments what you think of the new style of photo. Also, don't forget voting in the Bloggers Blog Awards is now open and it would be great if you could vote for me for Best Beauty Blog! You can VOTE HERE

Manicure Monday: Kylie Jenner Sinful Colors Trend Matters Collection

I've never heard of the brand Sinful Colors before. I have of course heard of Kylie Jenner, although I can't say I'm a fan as such. I've been watching the whole lip kit debacle from afar but I'm not a fan of lip products so I wasn't really interested in trying these myself, however nail polish is definitely my bag so thought I'd see how I got on.

I spotted a display of the Trend Matters Collection from Sinful Colors in among all the sickly sweet Youtuber products in Superdrug so decided to pick up two shades. I went for Haute Koffee, a dark coffee/purple shade with a hint of shimmer and the bold pink Miss Klaws. I thought these in particular looked quite pretty and would work well together as well as individually and I was not wrong.



I wasn't a huge fan of the brush on these polishes. These days I expect most brushes to be quite wide/fanned as we all know this makes applying the nail polish so much easier, but brush problems aside, the polish did apply really nicely and dried super speedily. I was interested to see that these dried matte but then I realised the name of the range Trend Matters and had a little chuckle to myself at old clever cloggs Kylie's little play on words.

The colours themselves are really pretty and I only needed two layers of polish for each nail so they weren't too thin and not too thick either.




At £3 each these are on the cheaper side of most high street nail polishes but they lasted a good four days before there was any really bad chipping. On the fourth day I did start the day with very minimal chipping but then I went swimming and this seemed to strip the polish a lot. I didn't use a top coat so this might of helped but I'm more than happy with it lasting four days, I would say that's just as good as any other high street brand.

They are really reasonable and a nice cheaper alternative to some other high street polishes. I just wish the brushes were a little wider!

Have you tried the Kylie Jenner for Sinful Colors Trend Matters collection? Let me know in the comments.

Before you go - voting in the Bloggers Blog Awards is now open and it would be great if you could vote for me for Best Beauty Blog! You can VOTE HERE

Manicure Monday: Colour pop nails from Maybelline Color Show

Back in April I featured Maybelline's Color Show Blushed Nudes polishes and they were a huge hit with me (and you!) so this time while browsing the Maybelline stands in Boots, I decided to go for some bright, fun and funky polishes to create a bit of a 'colour pop' look on my nails. Perfect for summer, even if the sun doesn't come out!

I feel like pink and mint nail polishes always work well together so I picked up two of the Color Show 60 seconds polishes in Roof Terrace (mint green) and NY Princess (pink) and well, I hate to say I told you so but these work brilliantly together. I think the label colours are really true to how they actually come out once on the nail, they're super bright and fun and have a lovely, shiney finish to them.



The application was good, I would have liked more fanned out brushes, but I say that for all polishes without a fanned brush, and I only needed two layers or each polish to get a good coverage. They did dry super quickly. Unfortunately I didn't actually time them (I know I should have) but they were really fast drying, so no annoying hanging around waiting for your nails to dry before you can do anything. I was going about my usual business within a matter of minutes...one minute in fact.



I think these are absolutely perfect for brightening up your mood as well as your nails. I pretty much have a different polish on my nails every week and the thing I enjoy most about nail polish is when you're typing at a computer (I work on a computer all day) and you can see your coloured nails bouncing off the keys, giving you a little flash of colour every now. These are the perfect pick-me-up colours and a great little colour pop for your day.

Have you tried the Maybelline Color Show polishes? What nail polish colours brighten up your day? Let me know in the comments.

Manicure Monday: Barry M Limited Edition Boots Summer 2016 Nail Polish

Here we go again, Barry M putting out yet another new range of polishes, not that I'm complaining! They're releasing so many polishes that I literally cannot keep up, I had no idea these were coming so it was a complete surprise to see them sitting there on the shelves of Boots in all their peachy/nudey goodness.




There are actually four new summer 2016 polishes in the range, two of which are exclusive to Boots and two are exclusive to Superdrug. I definitely think Boots got the better of the two shades. Beachy Keen is a dark nude colour but Golden Sands is the showstopper as it is such a lovely peach shade with a hint of gold shimmer.

These aren't your typical summer colours. When you think of summer polishes you think of the ones I featured last week from Orly, brightly coloured and very out there but these polishes are the complete opposite, yet they've still got a lovely summery vibe.



Beachy Keen applies like a dream as most Barry M polishes do. It has a lovely glossy finish too, while Golden Sands dries matte. You need a couple of layers to build up a nice finish and so you can't see the nail underneath but the finished look is so, so pretty and it catches the light really well. Individually both polishes are gorgeous but together they work so well. They're the perfect alternative summer shades too, ideal if you're going bright with your outfit or bikini and want something a bit more subtle for your nails.

Have you tried the new Barry M Limited Edition Boots Summer 2016 Nail Polish? Let me know in the comments.

Manicure Monday: Orly Pacific Coast Highway Summer 2016

For the past week I feel like my nails have been brighter than the sun! I was recently sent a couple of polishes from the new Orly Pacific Coast Highway Summer 2016 collection, in particular the super bright, almost neon 'Road Trippin' and the pretty purple 'Scenic Route'.

The range actually consists of six polishes in total, a collection of yellow/orange/pinks and purples to reflect the summer time. The polishes come in the normal Orly Lacquer, which I was gifted and which claims to last around three to five days, the Epix Flexible Color, lasting six to 10 days and the Gel FX, which claims to last 10 to 14 days.

Orly isn't a brand I get to try very often but I am really impressed. £10.90 admitedly is a lot more than I would spend on a polish but the bottle sizes are huge and the lids long and slender to ease application. I wasn't keen on the brushes on these polishes though. I have now gotten so used to wide, fanned out brushes, which help distribute the polish more easily that I'm really not used to normal brushes anymore. I found these brushes picked up a lot of excess polish and even after wiping the brush on the rim, more excess polish would make its way down the middle of the brush, blobbing out onto the nail. The yellow in particular, which is always a tricky colour to work with. I always find yellow polishes need quite a few layers to get a good, streak free finish. I probably used around three or four layers of the Orly yellow and it did start chipping in around two days, nothing too dramatic until probably the fourth or fifth day where I was able to peel off an entire nail of polish.

The colour is fantastic though, it's a real pop against the purple as I wore them together. It's so bright and fun that I was able to forgive the extra layers needed as everytime I looked at my nails I just got a sharp hit of summer vibes.

The purple polish is definitely fun and bright too, just not as much as the yellow. It looks fab with the yellow but would also look fab on it's own if you wanted something a little less out there.

Overall I loved wearing these polishes as they really do scream summer. I was a little disappointed with the brush and excess polish but can certainly get over that thanks to the great colour pay off.

Have you tried any of the Orly Pacific Coast Highway Summer 2016 collection?

*This post contains PR samples

Manicure Monday: Barry M Molten Metals

Firstly, a very happy Bank Holiday Monday to you! I hope you're enjoying a relaxing morning!

I am so, so in love with the latest release from Barry M. The brand has tackled metal style polishes in the past with the foil effects polishes but these are definitely a couple of steps up! The range consists of four polishes, a copper, bronze, silver and a gold.

I just had to go for Bronze Bae and Copper Mine, which are both perfect if you want to introduce the bronze/copper trend to your nails as it's a trend that is definitely not going away anytime soon. These polishes are not just plain old metal looking shades, they come with a foil, almost speckled glittery finish, which catches the light so well.

As per usual they applied really nicely. I'm a big fan of the Barry M nail polishe brushes these days, they coat the nails so easily and you can even get away with just one coat of each shade or you can add more to build up the finish. In the photos above I used two coats of polish and I'm really happy with how they look. I found the Bronze Bae shade came out a little lighter than expected but it's still absolutely dreamy looking and don't get me started on Copper Mine, it's just the perfect copper nail polish and I absolutely love it.


The polishes dried super quickly and although they have a glittery/speckled finish, they aren't rough to the touch, which I was expecting. They have a lovely glossy finish too, you could add a top coat if you want but I found there was really no need.

What I'm most impressed with is the staying power of these polishes. I've been wearing them for just under a week and there is still only very minimal chipping. Some nails have no chipping at all. It's quite a contrast to last week's post where the £6 Topshop nail polish chipped within one day. Barry M is a fraction of the price and lasts twice as long so I know which brand I'll be sticking to in the future. You just cannot go wrong with Barry M.

Have you tried the new Barry M Molten Metals polishes? Let me know in the comments.

Manicure Monday: Topshop Denim Nails

I've wanted to get my hands on Topshop's denim nail polish range for a little while but at £6 a bottle, it's a tad on the more expensive side. Recently I was shopping in Bath and I'd just been paid so I decided to treat myself to a couple of bottles.

Denim has been hugely popular recently and as much as I love denim hair it's just not an option for me so denim nails is a cheaper and less dramatic alternative! The range includes denim-esque shades, which are cleverly named after the brand's most popular jeans. I am a huge fan of Topshop jeans, annoyingly it's the only brand of jean that fits me both round the waist and length wise but at £40 a go I'm not exactly splashing out on them.

I picked up two polishes, in Jamie and Hayden, which I felt were the most denim looking of the shades. Jamie is a darker denim, while Hayden is slightly lighter and more blue. The remaining polishes in the range, Mom and Leigh, are quite light and pale. There's also a white shade, Joni, and a purple, Lucas, which aren't particularly denim-like if you ask me.





As I mentioned these were £6 each so pricier than the average high street ones from the likes of Boots and Superdrug. The shades I picked up are really pretty and the perfect denim match. The brush is just an average one, not fanned out like a lot of other polishes out at the moment, but they still applied really nicely. I used two coats for each shade and they dried nice and quickly too, leaving a glossy finish, but unfortunately the lovely glossy finish didn't last long at all. Only until the next day to be exact, which is really disappointing. Brands such as Barry M, whose polishes are £3 or £4, last a lot longer and are often on offer too. For £6 a bottle I was expecting something that lasted a lot longer. After one day there was a little bit of chipping but through the week it just got worse and worse, until a week after application most of the polish was completely gone.

I don't expect any polish to last a week solid with no chipping but I do expect it to last longer than one day without chipping. Although the shades are really pretty the staying power was very disappointing.

Have you tried Topshop's denim nail polish range? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Manicure Monday: Rita Ora for Rimmel London 60 Seconds Super Shine Nail Polish

I can't quite believe that it was 2014 when Rita Ora teamed up with Rimmel London to launch a range of nail polishes. I loved the pretty, girly Lose Your Lingerie shade and then last year I became a big fan of the spring brights range so when I saw that three new shades had been released for spring/summer 2016 I just had to pick them up.

Included in the three new releases are 'Give It Some Welly', which is a light grey, Loosey Goosey Dancing, which is a super bright, almost neon green and Pump Up The Purple, which, you guess it...is purple. The purple and green shades have some Halloween vibes about them but as they're so bright and fun they're perfect for spring/summer too. They work really nicely with the grey too. I guess all three are perfect for any time of year!

Each polish is a base coat, colour and glossy top coat all-in-one. They all have a super shiny finish but the purple and green are a little on the thin side so probably need around three coats to get the desired finish. The one thing I really wasn't keen on was the brushes, I'd prefer them to be much more fanned out. These ones are very cube shaped so the polish runs straight down the middle, glooping onto the nails, which isn't ideal. Once the excess nail polish is removed they do apply really nicely and dry pretty quickly too.

I'm a big fan of these three new releases. They'd all be fab on their own for spring/summer or they all work really nicely worn together too like I have in the above photos. The polishes are pretty hard wearing too, they survived my washing up test and last a good couple of days.

What do you think of the three new shades? Let me know in the comments.

Manicure Monday: Spring Pinks

I was struggling to think of nails to feature this week, I didn't have any new polishes to feature and couldn't find anything new on the shelves in Boots so had to dig into my nail polish collection and pick out some old faves. For this time of year I thought I'd go pretty and pink and so here we are!

It's not often I paint my nails pink in all honesty. I'm not extremely girly but there's something very feminine that I love about having pink nails and mixing up different shades is quite a lot of fun.

I picked up the Barry M polishes pretty recently as they are part of the brand's new Speedy Spring range and Gelly Spring range and even though it's only been a couple of weeks since I first tried them, it's nice to dig them out again, especially when the bright, refreshing shades match the weather a bit better! Both polishes are wonderful to apply and dry pretty quickly too, both leaving behind a super glossy finish.

Last year Freedom Makeup released its Pro Impact Les Nudes Collection and it is still my absolute favourite range of pink shades. The packaging has a bit of a Deborah Lippmann feel to it but at a fraction of the price at just £1 each. They do take a little while to dry but once ready they provide just as good a finish as the Barry M ones so pretty impressive!

After painting my nails with these shades I've realised just how much I love the Collection Field Day shade in Peony. It's a lovely almost Barbie pink shade, which isn't usually my go-to colour but there's something about it that is definitely cheering me up!

Lastly, the Nella Milano polish is actually from an Easter range from last year. It's a really thin polish so needs a couple of coats but it's a lovely extremely light pinky/peach shade. Nella Milano is one of my favourite brands of nail polish. They have such a fab range of colours, one for most moods so I definitely need to get myself some more.

How do you feel about spring pink nails? Let me know in the comments.

Manicure Monday: L'Oreal Paris Color Riche L'Huile Polishes

After a brief break I'm back with some polishes that I've been meaning to feature on the blog for quite a while - the new L'Oreal L'Huile polishes in their new quilted effect bottles. The range includes 22 shades in total but of course I wouldn't be able to purchase them all, however much I want to, so instead I opted for three shades, Cobalt Indecent, Moka Chic and Gris Decadent. I think I must have been in a bad/gloomy mood while shopping as the shades I picked up are all quite dark but still extremely wearable. I have spied the different pink shades available too, which are extremely pretty and perfect for spring.

Cobalt Indecent is a gorgeous almost navy blue, Moka Chic is pretty much what you'd expect, a chocolatey/mocha beige and Gris Decadent is a moody grey!

I bought these three shades on 3 for 2 in Boots. They're £4.99 each, which is a pretty standard price for some of the higher end Boots/Superdrug polishes and I don't mind paying a little bit more when a polish turns out to be as fab as this. Starting from the outside the pretty quilted effect bottle is a new look for L'Oreal and a welcome change. It really gives the polish a bit more of a luxury feel.

I know we shouldn't judge a book by its cover or a nail polish by its bottle in this case but it's so pretty! But onto the important stuff...the polish itself is packed full of precious oils, which L'Oreal have apparently been researching for 10 years and they blend beautifully with intense colour pigmentation, meaning the polishes apply like a dream, dry in no time at all and have a super shiny finish and now I'm not sure if this is just me, but I've found there to be quite a pleasant, almost fizzy scent to the polish once it's dried too.

The brushes on these polishes are lovely too, as they're so wide they apply the polish quite liberally over the nail. You can cover the entire nail in one swoop! I found two coats does the trick and you can go for a top coat if you fancy it but they dry pretty shiny as they are. I found they lasted a good 3 - 4 days before slight chipping began to occur. You could limit this with the top coat I expect but 3 - 4 days wear isn't too bad, it's pretty standard and better than a lot of other polishes.

Personally I'm a big fan of the new look, L'Oreal oil nail polishes and my favourite shade of the three I picked has got to be Cobalt Indecent. I'm definitely going to be picking up a few more shades for my collection, perhaps you'll see them on the blog in the future!

Manicure Monday: Barry M Nail Care Range

Last week's Manicure Monday post, featuring Barry M's new Gelly Spring Collection, went down a treat with you guys so I'm pretty pleased to be bringing you another range from the budget highstreet brand this week. If you've had your head under a rock then you might have missed the release of the new Nail Care range from Barry M. It's a collection of four polishes that aim to have your nails looking in top condition in no time.

Each polish is £3.99 each, but I'm sure they will be on sale/offer in Boots and Superdrug so you can pick up the whole collection at a more purse friendly price. Included in the range is the Super Mani 7-in-1 Treatment, which is a twice weekly basecoat and treatment that aims to encourage growth, strengthen with Keratin, nourish with Argan Oils, promote shine, hydrate with Vitamin E, smooth the nail surface and protect from breakage. If you only buy one of the polishes from the range I would encourage you to get this one because it pretty much does everything you need. I have seen great improvement in my nails since using this polish, after only two to three weeks of use my nails aren't breaking nearly as much as they were before and they definitely feel smoother, when previously they were prone to flaking a fair bit.

Also in the collection is the Iron Mani, which is a nail hardener, working to strengthen, smooth and protect nails from breakage. It does a lot of similar things to the Super Mani but is much more targetted to strengthening, so a great one if you're nails are particularly weak.

Lastly are two polishes, Mani Masks, which camouflage, colour and condition. These two polishes are perfect for when you want to give your nails a little break from vibrant colours. They come in two shades 'Bashful', which is a light pink and 'Birthday Suit', which is a more creamy nude. Using these mean you can have your nails painted without them looking painted as the finish is very natural looking. They give the nails a nice, just manicured look and they're perfect if you're not allowed nail polish at work or at school.

Overall this is a great budget nail care range. You can really pay through the nose for some nail care products but this range has pretty much everything you need. You could even pick up the Super Mani treatment and that would be more than enough to leave your nails in great shape. I have seen a great improvement in my nails so I'd really recommend giving this a try and treating your nails to some TLC every now and then!

Have you tried the new Nail Care Range from Barry M? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

*This post contains PR samples.

Manicure Monday: Barry M Gelly Spring Collection

From L to R: Pink Lemonade, Acai Smoothie, Butterscotch Sundae, Cream Soda





I've been waiting for Barry M's spring offerings to hit shelves for SO long. A few lucky bloggers received them early so I'd been seeing some good reviews and seeing how pretty they were and couldn't wait to get my hands on them. I think I'm officially ready for spring/summer now and I've had enough of the dark winter colours. My nails are well and truely ready for these pretty spring colours as well, they look fab! I just can't stop staring at my nails, the shades are so fresh and bright!

The Gelly Spring Collection is just one of the new ranges to have been released by Barry M recently. It includes four new Gelly shades, Acai Smoothie, which is a dusky pink, Pink Lemonade, which is a really pretty peach/pink, Cream Soda, which is a very pretty off-white and beige/Butterscotch Sundae, which is a gorgeous creamy butterscotch shade and by far my favourite.

As with the other polishes in the Gelly range, these have wide angled brushes to aid application of the polish. The polish also dries really fast, however as these shades are pretty light they do need a couple of coats, which can cause them to chip/smudge a lot easier. I found the Cream Soda and Butterscotch Sundae shades to be slightly thick on application, but I managed to make them work and get a nice finish.

If you've been reading my nail posts for a while now you'll now I usually really put polishes to the test with either the housework or washing up test. You can usually tell if a polish is good or not if it can hold up to potential chipping from dishes and cutlery or harsh chemical sprays. These polishes held up really well under the washing up test, with only very, very slight chipping on one or two nails so I'm super impressed. Once again Barry M have pulled out a fab range from their bag of tricks. The yummy ice-cream/sorbet shades are the perfect pick-me-up on duller days and make me really look forward to spring.

Have you tried the Barry M Gelly Spring Collection? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.