Zoya Destiny

As you may have heard I have a major love for textured polish, with my favourite being Dahlia Pixie Dust by Zoya or the Tiffany Case Liquid Sand, both of which have had raving reviews on this blog! So I invested in another Pixie Dust this time from Zoya's summer collection, and it just wasn't the same. Maybe it was the colour I didn't take to, or maybe I applied it too thickly but it just didn't have the understated beauty of Dahlia and it didn't last nearly as long.

Destiny, as I said, is one of six brightly coloured Pixie Dusts from Zoya's summer collection.  It is a lovely coral red with gold shimmer and reminded me of OPI's Jinx, so I bought this instead of the Liquid Sand. It is a nice colour, but maybe it just didn't suit me, as I'm not totally blown away by this. 

Application was again jelly based with gritty particles, but maybe I applied it took thickly as it just stayed squishy, it didn't dry. Even two hours later I managed to take off half my thumb in one gentle swoosh, so I was very unimpressed. Also the next day it chipped off (maybe because I was out in the rain all day so nails were inside wet gloves for a few hours, which may have softened it) but I found that I wasn't bothered by the chipping as was more than happy to have an excuse to remove it! I also didn't think that it had dried as smooth (weird choice of word for a texture polish I know!) as Dahlia did, it was uneven and lumpy instead of having the fine grainy finish.

So to sum up - my love for Pixie Dust is starting to fade. I will try this again and will always have a place in my heart for Dahlia but this just didn't live up to what I admit were high expectations! 

OPI Matte Top Coat Review and Orly Dotticure

Now it's been a while since I did some good old fashioned nail art, and I admit that I've missed it! Before I started my blog all I did was nail art, but since beginning blogging I've discovered so many brands of nail polish that I've grown more fond of swatching stunning new polishes like Tiffany Case that I've noticed myself moving away from exciting and complex designs, which is a shame as my technique is a hundred times better than it was when I did nail art before, and I'm using better quality products! 

Anyway, I have been looking for a long time at a stunning dotticure (is that right?) that I saw once on Nuthin But A Nail Thing (link HERE and I hope she doesn't mind me using her as inspiration!) and have wanted to try something similar, I have also had Orly Pixy Stix lying around unused for a few months and OPI Matte Top Coat for a few weeks so I thought I would combine them all - here's the result

Orly Pixy Stix is a bubblegum pink that applies quite nicely. A little streaky the first coat it evens out easily and has the lovely shine to it that I've come to expect from Orly cremes. It is easy to build up if you do make a mistake in the second coat, you can add a third or a fourth thick coat and it's still even and glossy. I'm glad to say that I'm a fan of Pixy Stix and I hardly ever wear pink polish! 

I started just with big black dots underlined with smaller ones, I thought if I did it a little bit at a time it would stop me from going overboard and ruining it! 

I then added smaller white dots inside the black ones and a line of small white and black dots underneath. I was SO please with how it turned out! 

I then added OPI Matte Top Coat. This is my first matte top coat and I've been so excited to try it but had no idea what to expect!! It dried matte super fast - you could literally see it change before your eyes, and it dried to feel a little like a chalkboard. Wear time for the matte coat was fabulous, I did these nails last Wednesday, it is now Monday and I'm still wearing them! Only minor chips and some tip wear but I'm impressed that it lasted this long. One issue from the top coat was that after a few days I began to see dark fractures in my polish, like it was cracking or slowly shrinking (I've put some pics at the end of the post) and I was wondering if anyone else experienced the same thing. Although nobody else noticed it so it must just be my fussy blogger eyes! 

Right Hand

More pictures below :) 

OPI Liquid Sand - Honey Ryder

Good morning folks, today I have the second of the Bond Girls Liquid Sand collection by OPI - Honey Ryder. This one isn't nearly as special as Tiffany Case (which,while being beautiful stains your fingers like nothing on this earth!) however is still a lovely polish to wear.

Honey Ryder (the famous white bikini wearing bimbo from Dr No) is a super shiny golden liquid sand, it lacks the glitter which made Tiffany Case so shiny but has a smoother finish and application wise is opaque in near enough two coats.  Other than that I don't have a huge amount to say about this polish, I really like it but I'm not jumping up and down excited. I imagine it'll be a great shade to wear on the beach on holiday though, the gold glinting in the sun and would really complement a tan! 

Onto the photos:

OPI Liquid Sand - Tiffany Case

Apologies for the total lack of posts, I was planning on beginning to blog more regularly now that I have finished university, put once I put on this polish I didn't want to take it off! this is day four and I still love it! I was also planning on saving this polish for a post of liquid sands and textured polish in general but this is so pretty is deserves it's own post with it's own little rave review :)  Those of you who follow me on Instagram would have  already seen me flashing this polish earlier in the week.

I order Tiffany Case and Honey Ryder from the Bond Girls liquid sand OPI collection along with two Zoya Pixie Dusts from Nail Polish Direct last week - just before the backlash about them stealing other bloggers images began (otherwise I may have avoided them!). As well as offending the blogger community by infringing various Intellectual Property rights (I did an exam on this literally last week) they have now hiked up the prices so instead of the £7.95 I paid for these liquid sands they are now £9.95 and the Zoyas have gone from £10.45 to £11.45 making ebay once again the cheapest option for Zoya fans. Unimpressed. 

Anyway, onto the polish! This is the first liquid sand I have tried but as you may have gathered from previous Zoya and Barry M posts I am already a firm fan of textured polishes! I think it's just such an easy way to have a beautiful and interesting manicure :) 

Tiffany Case is one of six liquid sands released as part of OPI's new Bond Girls collection, which I have been ridiculously excited about and feel I have been very restrained in only buying two polishes! I will probably buy the mini collection at some point though :) I am a HUGE Bond fan and have always looked up to *some* of the Bond girls. I like Tiffany Case cause she's pretty badass and cares more about getting her diamonds than waiting around for James to save her! This is a beautiful light blue with almost a teal sheen to it, it is sparkly and has big reflective glitter discs which makes it dazzle in the sun. As I said I've had this on since Tuesday and still no chips or dents, with only VERY minor tip wear on my two index fingers which is leading me towards removing Dorothy Who from the top of my list of favourite polishes and replacing it with this. Similar colours, similar glitter except one falls off my nails in about a day and the other is textures and lasts all week! I am very much in love with this polish!! 

And now for the pictures! The bottom two I took in the sun while walking home so are a bit blurry but it means you can see all of the sparkly goodness! 

And there we are! Enjoy your weekend lovelies and wish me luck - I am running my first ever 10K on Sunday and am terrified! Bx

Glossybox May 2013 (Spoilers Ahead!)

Now I wasn't planning on doing a regular Glossybox post but after this arrived I was just so excited I wanted to share it again :) but if you guys don't want to read about this then just comment below and I'll keep my box under wraps in future! 

Now I was impressed by the prompt delivery for one - I got an email on Friday saying it was dispatched and it arrived safe on Monday morning - what more can a girl ask for! 

It's Glossybox's second birthday so there was a bit of a 2 theme in the wrapping - I thought it was gorgeous! 

and here are all my goodies - four full sized samples, a small sample and a random free git! 

First up is the primer sample by Beautiful Movements Cosmetics - okay it's a pretty small sample but seeing as it's only about a third of the size of my fullsize Maybelline gel primer I can't complain much. Apparantly this can be used as primer or mixed with foundation to give an 'airbrush effect' or mixed with eyeshadow/bronzer for a 'creme effect' and so on. I will experiment and update!

Full size cost (20g): £20

Sample size: 2.5g

Nail polish! I may not have heard of the brand but that doesn't mean I'm not excited about receiving another full size nail polish in my GB. This is a gorgeous tealy blue colour by a brand called Headline Colours which I'm sure I will swatch and review soon :) 

Full size cost (10ml): £9

Sample Received: Full Size

Next up an eyeliner. I'm rather chuffed with this as I almost bought it in Boots two weeks ago but they were sold out! It's a super easy to use liquid eyeliner which stays on longer than the usual kohl pencils and has a nice long nib for smooth sweeps.

Full size cost (6ml): £2.99

Sample Received: Full Size

Now this I am intrigued about having never used Shine Spray before. This Awapuhi Wild ginger spray claims to hydrate, protect and nourish hair as well as making it glossy all day. Again I will have to experiment with this but if it works it will be some sort of God send spray!

Full size cost (125ml): £18.95

Sample Received: Full Size!

Finally, a mascara. I would never say no to a mascara - I love it! This is a waterproof, long wearing mascara called Fairy Lashes by Jelly Pong Pong and it is super light to wear - no feeling like you have false lashes on after too many sweeps on the ol' lashes (happens to me all the time!)

Full Size cost: £15

Sample Received: Full Size

and finally a wee pressie. This is a super handy idea, I actually keep and old FCUK set of these inside my purse at all times for those nail emergencies. What it is, is like a matchbook you would get in a hotel but instead of matches it has mini emery boards! Great idea, every girl should have one on them ;) 

Yes, I'm aware it's upside down .. it's not like that on my phone, honest! 

so that is May's Glossybox : £10 for the box for four full size samples worth a massive £45.94, plus a sample and a emery board set. I think it's fair to say I'm happy as nail polish and eye makeup is my downfall :) 

As ever, if anyone is suddenly inspired to order a Glossybox, do so here via my refer a friend link ( thanks to those who have used it already!): http://www.glossybox.co.uk/referal?CI=MTE2NTg0 

thanks for reading - B x

Ask a British Nail Blogger : Oldest Polish In Your Stash

So I recently joined the Facebook Group British Nail Bloggers who regularly do a 'Ask A British Nail Blogger' challenge. This weeks is rather tricky for me, and asks what the oldest polish in our collection is. 

Now some of you may know this, but before starting my blog I had really only been into nail polish for around 8 months, so very nearly a year now! Before then I wasn't allowed to wear nail polish in my various student supermarket jobs so I tended not to bother. I do remember way back when I was around 14 I had a metallic turquoise from Avon which made me feel so rock n roll and I wore it so often haha! Such a drastic change to my opinion on polish now! 

When I got into nail polish last year I went into Superdrug and bought the basics: A Rimmel Red and Turquoise, Barry M gold glitterish, and two Andrea Fullerton nail art pens in silver and black. I did so much nail art with these basic supplies and slowly my polish stash began to grow with items from Boots, Superdrug and Asda. How times have changed.

Towards the end of last year I got into reading blogs a lot more regularly. I had read some in passing for nail art ideas and tutorials (the Nailasaurous was always the one I ended up coming back to - even though I didn't realise it was the same blog!) but before then I had no idea of the scale of the nail blogger community and neither had I heard if the professional brands. Slowly I became more envious of these interesting brands and their fabulous names and I looked into it. In January I treated myself to my first ever batch of China Glazes in a job lot on ebay, as well as the two colours I decided I wanted to be my welcome mat into the world of professional polish - Ruby Pumps and Dorothy Who. 

Here is my first China Glaze batch: Thataway, Tantalise Me, Grape Juice, Towel Boy Toy and Afterglow. 

I've come a long way since I bought these polishes, starting a blog not long after this to chart my progress and my ever growing stash and also so that I could meet people who would also get as excited about a China Glaze delivery as I do. And for this reason I want to thank all of you - my regular readers and followers, the ladies in the BNB group and the bloggers who have continued to inspire me! I would not still be writing this without the encouragement I began receiving almost immediately! You are all fabulous. 

Bathelen x

VOTE FOR BATHELEN! Glammed Up Gouda Gouda Two Shoes

Exciting news!! I'm in the running for this months New Blogger of the Month with Fingerprints! Basically they promote new nail art bloggers and everyone else gets to vote for their favourite. It would be so amazing to win but having seen some of the other entries I'm worried that I'm still a bit too novice. Hopefully though people will want to take a look and like the blog long enough to say hi, so hello to all of you who came here from Fingerprints! 

If you would like to vote for me, or of course, any of the other lovelies who have entered then just follow this link. http://leavemyfingerprint.com/2013/05/01/new-blogger-of-the-month-may/

So I finally decided to actually begin an OPI collection. OPI is probably my favourite brand but I've only really used their minis and only owned two full size polishes! But after seeing them for £3.99 on Fragrance Direct (get on it ladies!) I decided to get some more :) as part of the spree I ordered Gouda Gouda Two Shoes, I have a Herring Problem, Don't Mess With OPI and Red Lights Ahead .. Where?, along with Sally Hansen Buttercup for £1.99! 

Gouda Gouda Two Shoes, from the Holland collection, is one that you would never buy without seeing swatches or it in person but it is hot-damn beautiful! It goes from a rosy-pink to a mid-brown to shimmery gold all under one light! Although I will admit to being a tad disappointed as the gold shimmer was much more visible in the bottle that on the nail. the formula and application was a dream, took three coats but only because when I held up my hand against the light I could see light from behind the nail (does that make sense?)

I decided to bling up the mani as I was attending a charity ball on the Friday and was wearing a dusky pink/nude dress for the occassion. I added a half moon of Orly's Halo to the base of each nail, similar to what I did with Coachella Dweller as I always thought that that was a simple and glam mani.

The bottom two pics I took outside to try and show the shimmer of the GoudaGouda and the sparkly goodness of Halo. Finally I was SO impressed with OPI's staying power, as with me China Glaze will chip in 24-48 hours which is a pain in the fingertips if you ask me, however this mani was applied on Thursday and was still (other than some tip wear) damn near perfect on Tuesday when I removed it, but there was a chip due to some bad application by me on my right hand. Well done OPI!