Polka Dot Colour Show

First of all, here is a photo of my uncovered nails. Sorry to scare you all with their nasty bareness but this is probably the longest my nails have ever been - thanks to Nail Envy - and I'm away to nubbin them before my big trip away. So goodbye long yellow nails, and hopefully they will grow back minus the staining. 

Also I'd like to take this opportunity to remind you all about the Fantastic British Nail Bloggers Giveaway, in which you can win a $100 or $50 voucher for a nail e-tailer of your choice - which can be found HERE

Now here's a polish I never expected to like - Maybelline's new Colour Show Polka Dot collection, which is a collection of four colours (green, blue, pink and black) full of spotty sequins to create that perfect speckled egg look that is so bizarrely appealing nowadays. I shrank away from these at first but couldn't resist trying them - and I was pleasantly surprised! I bought the green one and wore it over one coat of a Rimmel green I've had for a while and it was so simple but yet so effective.

The dots spread themselves out evenly, there was not much need for me to place them to cover up bare patches, so application was a dream. Removal was a different story, removing like your usual troublesome glitter, despite me using piCture pOlish's new glitter base which is meant to ease removal (bit disappointed - hoped that would be more effective!) took me about half an hour to remove and I still have to scrape some dots off with the tips of my nails, so not great. 

One downside to this is probably the same downside most polishes like this have, and that is that any dots near the tips can begin to peel away leading to bit sticking out and catching in your clothes, which I wasn't a fan of and which led to early chipping. Shame.

And now , a goodbye. As of this weekend I will be taking off on my trip to Africa to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for charity (my sponsorship link can be found HERE) so I won't be posting for a while - so I will apologise now for the abandoning of my blog. Wish me luck and love to you all - I'll be back before you know it, and with a better tan for my troubles! 

Bathelen x

Herring Some Chevrons

Good evening nail fans! And do I have a lovely polish to show you today :) 

This is I Have A Herring Problem from OPI's Holland collection, which I scooped up at a bargain £4.99 from Fragrance Direct! Now I had a bit of a beef with Fragrance Direct (missing parcel, only a partial refund, etc etc) but this offer was too tempting so I ordered 5 OPIs ... but anyway, onto the polish.

Herring Problem had been on my Lem List for a long time! It's a gorgeous sapphire, almost a faded denim blue with so much glitter in it that it's just beautiful. It has mostly gold and silver flecks which are really obvious in the sunlight but not so much without. 

Application was what I'd expect from OPI - slightly streaky first coat, evens out perfectly after a second and smoothed out with a third for luck! 

After a day or two I decided to add some Chevrons with 17's holo polish. This was a great idea as the holo polish over this blue is stunning! The silver shows pink shimmers and they just blend together seamlessly, will definitely have to try another mani with these two colours :) 

So there we have it - hope you enjoyed this post! Bx

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Glossybox June 2013 - Summer is here!

Good morning! First things first I have actually got over 200 followers! Welcome to you all and I hope you won't be disappointed by my blog :) since joining with the British Nail Bloggers Giveaway (found HERE) I have gone from 47 Bloglovin followers to 234! I can't believe the support this giveaway has been generating and good luck to all of you who have entered!! 

Also you can vote for me for New Blogger of the Month at fingerprints HERE :) I'm never going to win but it's nice to see that some people have voted for me already - thank you! 

So although summer seems to be slipping through our fingers once again up here on the North East coast of Scotland, I have here my June 2013 Summer Looks Glossybox! Although I'm not quite as excited about the contents of this one as I have been it is still a good quality box of goodies and certainly fits in with the summer looks theme, by containing products to enhance your natural beauty instead of make up products. Makes sense, and it contains things I have never tried, but I will always crave more makeup! Onto the reviews ... 

First up we have a wee bottle of Nuxe 'Huile Prodigieuse' or as I prefer to call it, multi tasking body oil. The directions says you can use it on your face to nourish and hydrate, your body to illuminate and on hair for some deep conditioning. So far I have only tried in on my arms (the idea of putting oil on my face just doesn't appeal and I have too much hair for such a little bottle!) and it made my skin glow, emphasising my natural tan (yes- a natural tan in Scotland! I AM lucky ...) and adding subtle glitter. It's nice, a perfect little luxury from a Glossybox but not worth the price tag otherwise. I'll stick to my Body Shop oils.

Full Size Cost (100ml) - £34

Sample Received - 10ml

Next is an upside down photo of my Figs and Rouge 'multi purpose' lip balm in Cherry Blossom. The booklet says that they use it on cuticles, dry skin patches etc but that sounds weird ... I'll stick to using it as lip balm, possibly try it on cuticles if I get desperate! On my lips this add a bit of pink sheen to them but is slightly too tacky to my liking, I hate worrying about getting my hair stuck to my lips!! Shame, it's a lovely product! I will persevere a bit longer to give it the benefit of the doubt.

Full Size Cost (12.5ml) - £5.00

Sample Received - Full Size

Next was either a Helen E eye pencil or eye shimmer. As a lover of eye liner and not so much of eye shadow I was a bit gutted to have got the shimmer instead of the liner. Especially seeing as when I do wear eye shadow it tends to lean towards the darker end of the colour spectrum to align with my emo tendencies a sparkly silver/white powder is SO not up my street. I will try it for a party sometime ... maybe, but don't hold your breath. Shame, I was excited about getting Helen E products as I'd love to have my regular makeup have my name on it! 

Full Size Cost (1.5g) - £5.00

Sample Received - Full Size

Next up was another make up disappointment. I love nail polish, as you can probably tell from the nail polish blog but I like bright colours, glitters, special effects and textures, nail art etc so my mind was most certainly not blown by the unexciting Innocent by MeMeMe. It's a boring neutral/white and is the second boring polish I've received in a Glossybox, as I got Essie Sugar Daddy in my first box. Sugar Daddy was at least a nice pink and filled a gap in my collection as a perfect French Manicure pink, which I used recently in my Nails Inc Mani. This is neither a white or a pink, and I already have a white and a pearl so I remain unexcited by this awkward polish. Sorry.

Full size cost - £5.00

Sample Received - Full Size

Finally, something useful. This is Monu Skincare hydrating moisturiser which claims to prevent early signs of aging, contains SPF to protect from daily sun exposure also claims to blur imperfections and correct skin tone. I have used it daily since I got it and since it's only been a few days am not expecting miracles, but it is a nice light moisturiser if like me you have awkward skin and if it's half as good as it claims to be it'll be a winner.

Full Size Cost (50ml) - £29.95

Sample Received - 10ml

All in all a pretty unexciting Glossybox this month, however I can't complain as for only a tenner a month I can't expect perfection each time! The products are still good quality just don't quite match to my personal taste. 

If this raving review(!) has made you want to try Glossybox you can use my referral by following this LINK

Layla Holo - Coffee Love

Before I start I'd like to take a minute to nag you all to take a minute to vote for me for New Blogger of the Month at Fingerprints, I'd appreciate it ever so :)  - the link can be found HERE

Also a reminder (in case you've been living in a cave and missed it!) that the MASSIVE British Nail Bloggers Giveaway is still live until the end of the month - Giftcards to your choice of e-tailers up for grabs!! Enter HERE and best of luck! 

Today on the blog I have a brand of polish I have never tried before but I imagine I definitely will again! This is Layla, which I got from Sally Magpies in her sale for only £1.50. Their range of holo polishes are gorgeous, and as I've never really tried proper holo polishes that other bloggers go nuts over I thought I might as well.

Coffee Love is a chocolate brown, almost purple brown in some lights, and has an amazing array of colours when the sun hits it! I even painted this in the park while I was sunning myself! Wearing this I FINALLY began to understand other bloggers love for holographic polishes

Critisms, the formula was a little weird, you have to be pretty careful not to go over the bit you just applied until it is properly dry otherwise you get bald patches, however I had a bald patch on my thumb and because of the shine I didn't notice for hours so you can easily get away with it! The other downside is that out of the sun it's just another shimmery polish. It is still lovely just not as special, which is a shame. 

So based on colour, formula and holo-y goodness I'd give this a 7 or 8 out of 10 :) 

Don't forget to have a look at what all the other British Nail Bloggers are up to this week :) 

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British Nail Bloggers host a SUPER GIVEAWAY!

As I may have mentioned I'm a member of a group of British nail bloggers who often do challenges and who share tips and tricks as well as offering support. But now we turn to you, our dedicated readers and offer a fabulous prize in our very first British Nail Bloggers Giveaway!

We have clubbed together to offer a prize totaling $250!!

First prize will be a $100 gift voucher and there will be three second prizes of $50

The vouchers can be used on a wide selection of nail e-tailers giving the winners a perfect opportunity to stock up on all the goodies and treats they can think of! 

Now the details - 

The Giveaway will be open Internationally as there are no postage issues, and will run until  8pm 28th June GBT

You must also be over 18 to enter.
The prize can be redeemed against a online store of the winners choice, including the above stores, Sally Magpies and many other international stores, arrangements will be made by the British Nail Bloggers team.

No mandatory entries but the more blogs you follow the more entries you get! So go on! Follow all of us :) 

Best of luck!  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Nail Inc Lucky Dip and Jazzy French Manicure

You may or may not have realised this, but I am/was a Nails Inc Virgin. I thought the polishes were rather overpriced and no particular colour was screaming out at me to invest in so I just stayed away quite happily. This all changed when I happened upon their lucky dip offer which they seem to run every month or so. Instead of £11 a polish they charge £18 for SEVEN random polishes! Bargain or what?! So although I've been reducing my spending quite drastically recently it would have been a crime not to order them! And here they are:

As you can see, it's a pretty good variety. From left to right: Blenheim Terrence, Lanesborough Place, Sloan Gardens, Mayfair, Phoenix Place, Maida Vale and Justice Walk. I was quite pleased with the variety of colours and finishes and I think I will use all of them, possibly with the exception the Phoenix Place as me and pink polish aren't the best of friends... 

Anyway, I decided I had to try as many of the polishes as possible, and Mayfair was screaming out to be the perfect French Manicure tip so I went with it. I was right - it's pearly cram instead of white making it more natural and less harsh. I covered my French Tips with one coat of Essie Sugar Daddy and allowed to dry before free handing with a striping brush a stripe of Justice Walk, followed by and second stripe of Maida Vale. The glitters are both fabulous, catching the light easily and perfectly complementing the simple but classic french manicure.

I hope you like my take on the classic!