A Jolt of Pink Volt!

Today I have a VERY pink pink for you!

This is the gloriously cheap and cheerful Pink Volt by Maybelline, part of the Megawatt Superstay Gel polish. It’s not every day you find such an intense pink.

This polish is thick in the best kind of way, easy to work with and applies easily with the wide brush. It is super pigmented so you could easily wear with one coat. I gave it two but only because I’m fussy and could still sort of see nail line if I held it up against the light. They aren’t kidding when they call it Megawatt Gel either, I’ve never personally had gel nails, but this has an almost cartoonish level of shine, a permanent white reflection of shine down every nail which didn’t fade.

Pink Volt fairly held it’s own in the wear and tear category too, lasting a full week (I only removed it because I’m impatient and wanted to try something new) and I only re-tipped one nail because it’s a weak nail and bent.

To summarise, I was very impressed with this polish, perhaps coming from such a massive brand like Maybelline I shouldn’t be so surprised but when I got it on 3 for 2 in Boots it hardly broke the bank to add a heavily pigmented, hard wearing super-pink to my collection.

Bx

 

Moyra - Gravity

Warning: the following post contains a LOT of pictures of a very shiny polish. Little description will be needed. 

Just a little picture-heavy warning for you, but how else to review such a pretty holo polish!! I don't often wear holo polishes as I find when not in direct sunlight they can be, well, boring! This was not the case with Gravity! 

I should go back to the beginning. Moyra UK is a Eurpoean brand who sell lovely polishes for incredibly reasonable prices! They are just starting up, so why not head over to their facebook page and give them a like https://www.facebook.com/moyrauk

 In May, they very kindly got in touch with the British Nail Bloggers offering us a special discount (with no obligation to review, I should point out). As I've not been too hot on my blogging lately I have only got around to showing you this now. 

Gravity is a dusty pink holo polish which has the look of a shimmering glitter in the shade and full blown holo in even a small amount of sunlight - which is all we get in Scotland! When the holo kicks in it picks up every colour on the spectrum and throws all kinds of crazy shapes! Check out the pictures below if you don't believe me ;) 

Moyra polishes cost around £3.50 and can be found on their Facebook page or at http://www.moyra-shop.co.uk/

Bx 

Barry M Princess

Hi all, today I have a Barry M textured polish for you, the pretty-in-pink Princess.

Barry M textured polishes are pretty decent, as long as you give each coat a minute or two to dry it applies very easily without being too sharp around the edges once dried. Princess had a rather gritty finish, instead of the smoother but lumpy finishes. (I know those two words together makes little sense, hopefully you know what I mean!)

Princess reminds me more of the Zoya pixie dusts as it is just so sparkly, packed full of golden glitter. It is definitely aptly named, the girly pink with gold shimmer is perfect for the little princess in all of us! It shines gold even without direct sunlight too which is always a plus. fitting with Barry M's usual standards the quality was high and the wear was long, I probably wore this a week with no problems to report. 

I did think this would be a bit of a dupe for OPI Pussy Galore, but it's a lot more special, instead of just pink with a small amount of shimmer Princess is as much gold as it is pink as I hope you can see from the pictures, and I'd definitely chose this budget option over the OPI.

Bx

Lizzie by piCture pOlish

I am so excited about this post, as I’m showcasing probably my favourite polish that I’ve worn this year.

This is the beautiful Lizzie by piCture pOlish. There are not enough pictures to capture the beauty of this polish. Based on everyone’s favourite classic heroine, Lizzie Bennet from Pride and Prejudice, I was already pretty excited about this polish (call me sad but I love polish based on my favourite things) but once I applied it I fell in love.

Lizzie is a surprise holo, and with a little help from PP’s signature formula it sparkles in every light. In case you haven’t tried a piCture pOlish before (or seen me rave about how wonderful they are) they have a formula for glitter polishes which doesn’t actually contain glitter particles! This means that it applies smoothly on the nail and removes super easily. It also has the effect of making the polish look really deep, like a pool of glitter. With Lizzie, when it catches the sunlight it comes alive with all the colours of the rainbow.

The wear on this was amazing, I’ve been wearing Lizzie for nine+ days and although there is a little of understandable tip wear there has been zero chipping, I am very impressed. This is another thing that makes PP worth buying, they are a little expensive to get here in the UK, usually around £11.50 each from Sally Magpie, but when you get such a great formula which lasts well over a week I see no cause for complaint! Lizzie was a rare treat to myself and worth every penny!

Does anyone have a favourite piCture pOlish they would care to recommend for my next treat?

Bx

British Nail Bloggers - Purple Week

Recently the British Nail Bloggers have been running Colour Me Crazy themed weeks and this week is purple!

Fortunately for me I was already wearing a stunning purple so it was easy to add some simple purple nail art.

The base mani is the very lovely Lizzie by piCture pOlish – but more on this polish to come shortly on the blog.

For the nail art I decided to do this sort of half flower shape that I’ve seen in my hours of trawling through Google images, and I was amazed to discover that it is a lot easier than it looks! My flowers may not be as refined or elaborate as some but I did them in five minutes with very little issue, so these are a perfect way to spice up a mani as well as looking quite impressive!

Technique:

I used a short, square tip nail art brush with China Glaze Jungle Queen from the On Safari collection and drew three, rough triangle-like shapes started at the edge of my nail. I then used a Barry M nail art pen in black to neaten up the edges, making them a bit more petal shaped and with the flicky tips. The white was using a Models Own nail art striper.

I will definitely be trying this technique again with different colours and maybe a load of glitter! I’d also love to see if any of you have tried it for the first time.

See below for the other British Nail Bloggers contributions to purple week :)

Bx

An InLinkz Link-up

World cup nails with NailsXO!

Allez les bleus!

Emily over at NailsXO has organised this great competition where we each create a nail art based on a country taking part in this year's football world cup! I got France :) I'll admit I wasn't feeling hugely imaginative but I like the simplicity of my Allez Les Bleu 'French' mani, French tips done in the colours of the French flag. I used OPI Red lights ahead ... where?,  China Glaze white on white and Bettina nail enamel indigo with Models Own gold nail art pen.

Hope you like them! Go over to NailsXO now to see the other entrants :) Bx

Zoya goes down a 'Storm' (boom boom)

Hi all, hope you all had a lovely weekend! I'm scheduling this post for Sunday as I'll be running a 10K in Aberdeen to raise money for Cancer Research UK that day - so wish me luck! 

today I have some swatches of Zoya Storm. I was SO. EXCITED. when I got my hands on this, I've wanted it for ages! However I was left a little cold. don't get me wrong, this is a stunning polish! It;s a nice thick black full of holo silver glitter particles which catch the light even indoors. But despite it's beauty I had a few issues with the polish iteself. Application was thick and heavy (which is why my hands are a mess in the pictures, I can only apologise!) and I'm thinking I might even add a drop of thinner before trying to wear it again. But wait, there is more! I don't know if you've picked up on this but Zoya's are very difficult to get in the UK, average cost new is around £10 GBP, and if you live in the UK you can't even order from the Zoya website! So all this means that I was more than a little disappointed when this started chipping. I was getting great big clumps coming off after 12 hours of wear! I reapplied patiently but every time I was getting chips. So frustrating! So that was my experience - stunning but doesn't last long, not worth the hassle to apply or the cost to buy it I'm afraid! 

Bx