MANICURE MONDAY 04

CIATE MINI MANI MONTH EDITION

December was a good month for nails for me. I couldn't afford the Ciate Mini Manor, but TK Maxx had the Ciate Mini Mani Month for the bargain price of £19.99. This meant I could have the nail varnish advent calender of my dreams, and paint my nails lots of lovely colours, right up until Christmas. Plus each window hid a lovely little message, either fun or inspirational.

Some of the cute daily quotes.

The 5ml nail varishes really brightened up my days, giving me that little extra boost as I coped with the holiday anxiety - painting my nails as a treat to myself for getting through the day. I'm yet to try the world famous Ciate Caviar Manicure (I didn't trust myself to get them everywhere), but I did try the glitter and sequins, and loved them. I have some shades left to try, but the ones I have tried thus far I have loved - they go on very smooth and dry with a durable finish.

Loveliness of 'Snowflake' and 'Boudoir'

'Amazing Gracie with 'Boudoir' and the candy pink of 'Hoopla'.

'Main Stage' and 'Candy Floss' look great together, whilst 'Pillow Fight' is a star on it's own.

A little bit of sparkle added to 'Chinchilla' and 'Tweed & Tails'

The dark and sultry 'Starlet' and the shining star of 'Fit for a Queen'.

I would love to see some more manicures for nail inspiration, so please leave me links to your posts.

Gems x

MANICURE MONDAY 03

Sorry I have been so quiet this week, work has been very busy and there is a special person in my life that has needed me more than the blog. So I have been a bit neglectful of the blog, but I feel like my time has been spend in the right place.

I can't believe it is Manicure Monday again already, and the 1st of December to boot, how fast does time go - it is true what they say, when you hit 30 everything becomes a blur. Anyway, back to mani Monday and for this week things have went all magnetic with Sally Hansen.

I have never tried a magnetic polish before as I wasn't convinced they would work, but when I saw this Sally Hansen lovely in Poundland, well there was no reason not to buy it. A few seconds of holding the magnet over the wet polish and a cool wavy design is revealed, absolutely genius! And I have to say it is one of the most durable polishes, ever - I wore it for 4 days, without even a single chip, I am seriously impressed. I urge you all to give it a try.

And how about this for an added bonus, it goes perfectly with my gunmetal faux leather dress from Hybrid which I won in a competition. I plan of rocking them both of Christmas day - it is definitely a day for metallics, even if I will surely fall asleep open mouthed, shortly after the dinner. I will at least look good doing it.

What is on your nails on this Manicure Monday?

Gems x

MANICURE MONDAY 01

Those that know me, or follow me on Instagram, will know that I am obsessed with all things nails. The thing is I hardly ever create blog posts about my manicure efforts, eventhough there is barely a day that goes by without me painting my nails (and half my fingers in the process) or popping on some fabulous falsies.

Well, when I picked up this Barry M Silk Polish in Forest, I knew it was blog worthy, as it is bloody beautiful. It applies super smoothly, as you would expect from any Barry M polish and just two thin coats is enough to give a saturated coverage. It dries to a beautiful semi-matte finish, almost like a candy shell, it is just lovely and feels so nice on the nails.

Forest is ther prefect shade for the festive party season with it's deep green metallic shade and subtle glitter flecks that sparkle when they catch the light. I wore the polish like this for a few days, but then the polish started to chip on the ends after washing a mountain of dishes. But I wasn't ready to say goodbye to forest. So I covered the chips with  some silver from Maybelline Color Show and a top coat and the result was dazzling.

My success with Forest has resulted in me lusting over many gorgeous winter shade from Barry M, I am such a nail varnish addict...

1) Silk Effects in Meadow.
2) Chameleon Effect in Blue.
3) `The Royal Textured Glitter Collection in Gold Majesty
4) Nail Paint in Silvery Lilac.
5) Nail Paint in Racing Green.
6) Nail Paint in Raspberry.
7) Nail Paint in Gold Mine.

I hope you liked my first Manicure Monday, there will be plenty more to come as I bought myself a Ciate advent calender from TK Maxx for the bargain prince of £19.99 - it feels like December will never get here. It appears to have sold out online, but if you are lucky you might be able to nab one in store.

Any wintery nail shades you would reccommend?

Gems x

ELEGANT TOUCH HOUSE OF HOLLAND - COLLECTION III

Any regular reader of this blog will know that I am a huge fan of quirky nails, but don't have the skills to create nail art myself. Too clumsly and very shaky handed, a single coat of polish is usually all I can manage, before the un-coordinated part of me takes over and makes me flail polish all over the place. So to get the mani's of my dreams, I always head to Elegant Touch to get some of the most original flase nails and nail products out there.

Easy to apply and easy to love, their glue false nails are my go to beauty product when I need a bit of a boost, and I am particularly fond of the House of Holland collection, for something extra fun. I was so delighted when Collection III with House of Holland was re;eased recently, and I am tempted to say it could be the finest collection yet. Full of bold colours, modern shapes and on-trend designs, the collection is a nail art lovers dream.

I just had to try the gorgeous stilletto Ombre Ombre nails, I knew I just had to get them on my fingers as soon as possible. I mean how lovely are they, plus I am obsessed with all things ombre - giving the dip dye look to my hair was one of the best thing I have ever done. Of course I need ombre nails to match and I love how these nails are clear at the bottom to give an authentic effect.

Well, I think you can guess, it was love at first stick...

All trimmed for working and still fabulous!!

The whole House of Holland III collection has my fingers itching to have them, here are my absolute faves from the rest of the collection...

1.) Ghetto Gold
2.) Neon Nibs
3) Glitter Stars

Prices range from £7.99 to £8.99 and for a cool manicure that is going to last for a week, I think that is a bargain.

What is your favourite from the collection?

Gems x
*Nails provided by Elegant Touch for the purpose of this review, all opinions are my own.