The 10 Day Beauty Challenge: Day 4

First of all, apologies to any people who have been anticipating the rest of this challenge (not that I suppose any of you were!), but it just happened to slip my mind on the blogging front. Never mind - I'm back to it and presenting to you Day 4: 7 polishes.

Rather than just listing 7 polishes that I adore, I thought I'd split it into 4 that I love, and 3 that I wish I'd never bought, and here they are:

4 Favourites:

O.P.I.'s Nail Lacquer in 'Gold Shatter':
This product really did live up to the hype. After disappointment with previous crackle effects varnishes from other brands, I wasn't too keen on buying any more, but after receiving this as a gift I couldn't resist trying it out. The formula is incredibly smooth, which had been an issue I'd found with other brands, and I have no complaints at all!

Nicole by O.P.I. for the Kardashian Kolor range in 'Rainbow in the S-Kylie':
This was my first ever O.P.I. purchase, and it was absolutely the beginning of a new nail obsession. I had been lusting after all thing O.P.I. after seeing them all over my favourite beauty blogs, and last year I finally gave in and bought one! This was definitely worth the money, and I wear it to any occasion that calls for glitter nails!

No. 7's Stay Perfect Nail Colour in 'Disco Nights':
An old favourite of mine, bought with the brilliant £5 No. 7 vouchers that Boots seem to always be giving away! I love this polish as the brush is just wide enough to only need two swipes to cover the nail, and like most metallic polishes, it is incredibly fast to dry. One coat of this polish is usually dry in less than 40 seconds, ideal for a fast touch up!

Seche Vite:
Another product that is found all over beauty blogs. I toyed with buying this for a long time because of the expensive (for me, any way) price tag, but when I saw it on Buya Powa (co-buying website) I joined the co-buy straight away. It definitely lives up to all the good reviews, and will even keep gems/diamantés on my nails for up to 8 days!

3 Regrets:

Barry M Nail Effects Nail Paint in '316':
What a disappointment. The first time I came across these nail effects polishes was on the stands of Barry M, so I immediately purchased them. I just found the formula to be incredibly sticky and gloopy, and very hard to apply, which didn't bode well for the nail effect. It also took an age to dry on my nails, leading to a lot of unwanted smudges.

Models Own Nail Polish in 'Thunder & Lightening':
I bought this one online, and so couldn't see a proper swatch of it, but it was not at all what I expected. As my first Models Own polish I was very disappointed, and won't be buying from them again  any time soon. I first found the title very misleading, as I imagined 'Thunder & Lightening' to be multi-coloured micro glitter within a black polish, but this polish is brown, which I definitely didn't want. The formula is also very thin and weak, and so unless the polish is only used as a top coat to add sparkle, it takes around 4 coats to become opaque - one of my biggest pet peeves!

E.L.F.'s Matte Finisher Nail Polish:
I've already written a less than glowing review on this product here, simply because it doesn't deliver. It doesn't make your polish matte, particularly, and the effect even wears off with time. I definitely need to invest in a higher end matte polish as I never use this one.

What are your favourite nail polishes and biggest regrets?

Pearl Drops Beauty Sleep: A Review

As an average human, my teeth don't quite have that Hollywood glean that I sometimes desire, and as an average human with a student loan and just a weekend job, I can't afford that Hollywood smile just yet. In the mean time however, I have decided to opt for the high street alternative, and try Pearl Drops Beauty Sleep serum. 

Pearl Drops Beauty Sleep Serum (20ml): Asda £2

I had previously used the Pearl Drops Daily Shine toothpaste as I managed to snag it for something ridiculous like 40p in a Superdrug sale, but after that ran out I didn't fancy paying more than double the price for the same product again, so I did some browsing. This particular product caught my eye as it's an overnight serum that you rub onto your teeth and gums, and then just leave it to do it's magic. The words "overnight" and "serum" automatically convinced my little brain that it should be good, so I bought it without hesitation.

Once I got it home and tried it out though, I wasn't so sure about it. The product comes out as a pearlescent gel, and the packaging instructs you to rub it onto your teeth and gums with your finger, and leave on for at least 30 minutes, but ideally overnight; I've been opting for the overnight option. As far as the quality of the product goes, I don't like it. Once applied, the gel has a very strange drying effect, which makes it feel like you've just rubbed chalk over your teeth - not at all pleasant. The product also didn't come with any kind of retainer, nor does it instruct you to use one, but I'd definitely say to get your hands on one for trying this out as the drying effect (which I presume is meant to stop it from easily rubbing off) also induces the mouth to water, creating an altogether very unpleasant contrast of very dry teeth and a very wet mouth. 

I've not noticed any changes in the shade of my teeth after a week of use, but I don't expect any obvious changes until I've used it for at least another week so I guess we'll see about that side of things!

Have you used this product before, or something similar? What were your opinions of it?

Autumn Lips: Revlon's Balm Stain in 'Crush'

Autumn is by far my favourite season. In my opinion, the best fashion, and make up and nail polish colours always come out for Autumn. This year I am determined to find the perfect lipstick in a deep plum colour. Now, I haven't found my dream product just yet, but until I do I bought the second best thing from Revlon - their Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in the shade 'Crush'.

I've already reviewed another of these balm stains here, and know that I completely love these products. They're incredibly moisturising, and people might be surprised to know that they actually have a mint scent.

I have absolutely fallen in love with this colour, and you can also build it up for a richer pigmentation. This product retails for £7.99 from Superdrug.

What is your signature colour for this Autumn?

Halloween Outfit Inspiration: My Attempts

Those that know me well, will know that I *love* Halloween. I love any festivity that involves people cracking out the fancy dress and embracing something so fun! As I'm a big fan of making my own Halloween costumes (as of the past 2 Halloweens), I thought I'd share with you some of my ventures into ideas I've used, and people/things that I have previously dressed up as for Halloween. You'll have to excuse some of the poor camera work on these images as they're all from my personal collection, and I didn't take them with the thought that I'd ever use them on here!

Rag Doll

In 2009, my friend and I decided to go for a children's toy theme. After um-ing and ah-ing over ridiculous amounts of toy costumes that weren't at all feasible, we finally settled on the Rag Doll. This one was super easy and fun; I bought a floral shift dress (New Look), some matching ribbons from the local haberdashery, and some children's frilly school socks teamed with a low-heel court shoe. My favourite part of this costume was the make up! I shamelessly got the rosiest pink lipstick I could find in my make up stash and drew huge, round dolly cheeks on myself.

Nurse

This one doesn't need so much talking about, we all know that the slutty nurse costume comes out at Halloween. This costume was actually for a Fetish-themed night at my student union, but it's fancy dress so I had to include it (c/o my local fancy dress shop)! My favourite part is always going to be the sheer, white heart-print tights (Primark) - I think they're adorable!

Zombie Schoolgirl 

I had to include a picture of my outfit and make-up for this one as this was the first Halloween that I dabbled in fake blood. If you follow me on Twitter you'll probably recognise the "Dewaaa" from my Twitter handle, as it's just a nickname I picked up in secondary school - I couldn't think of a decent fictional school name, so just named one after yours truly and created a simple crest logo. All was done free-hand on a basic vest top (H&M) and using felt tips. I even used the school skirt that actually saw me through school! Team that with some Poundland face paints and seriously back-combed hair, and you've got yourself a Zombie Schoolgirl.

Dead Barbie

As you can see, I fell in love with using fake blood, so even though I went as Barbie for last Halloween, it of course had to be Dead Barbie. I simply copied the Barbie design from an image on my laptop onto a basic vest top (Primark) using a pink highlighter, and outlined it using a gold glitter liquid eye liner (student supplies!), and the skirt is from ASOS. I followed a Michelle Phan make up tutorial to get the Barbie look around my eyes (sorry there's no close up), but you can watch that video here.

Sugar Skull Skeleton

So far this year I have only gone out once, and dressed up as a Sugar Skull Skeleton. If you follow Topshop on Twitter you will have seen them posting tonnes of pictures of different variations of this face paint design. I simply applied white face paint with a make up sponge for the base, and black face paint with a gel liner brush for the finer details. For my outfit I wore a white lace buttoned crop top (Primark) and my disco pant dupes (Boohoo).

I hope I've given some of you some inspiration for some last-minute Halloween outfits, all of these were left to about 2 days before Halloween/the event!

Mallzee: Join the Revolution!

If you (like me) were born before the ongoing technological age that we now live in, I'd imagine that you still feel impressed by the new advances that are happening every day. Now, today I am presenting to you another advancement - one that I'm sure us blogging type will appreciate very much, and it's called Mallzee. As you will know from reading previous posts, I am an absolute online shopping addict. Even when I know I have absolutely no funds to my name, I still can't resist browsing page after page of clothes, shoes, bags, make up - pretty much anything that is sold online! So when I was contacted by Mallzee to raise awareness of their upcoming website launch, I was happy to get involved.

In their own words: "Mallzee is all about creating a new experience for shopping online. Users create their own personalized shopping mall (Mallzee) by picking their favourite brands and stores. Our fancy software then finds products matching their personal style and showcases them in their Mallzee!" There is also opportunities to earn money whenever someone else purchases something from your Mallzee! Not only this, but Mallzee also integrates a very social role in online shopping by adding Facebook chat, polls and the ability to browse what your friends have been perusing whilst on the site, all as additional features. 

As this is a very new website that is still yet to launch fully, (before I was told otherwise) I would have doubted the types of retail stores that you would encounter on Mallzee, but there are already over 200 brands signed up, including the likes of Urban Outfitters and New Look! 

Mallzee is set to launch later this year, and to sign up for the pre-launch (and to receive email updates about the website's progress) all you have to do is go to www.Mallzee.com and enter your email address. As an extra added incentive, everyone that signs up to the website will be added into a £100 ($155) prize draw, what more could you want?!

Let me know if you sign up, you'll soon be able to browse my wishlists and chat about fashion in a much more direct way :)

E.L.F. Mineral Booster: A Review

I mentioned in my August Haul post that I had recently taken advantage of a very generous E.L.F. offer, and bought myself a number of things. One of these products was the large Mineral Booster facial powder (£5) in shade 'sheer', as I had seen many incredible reviews from beauty bloggers across the internet. With regards to day-to-day make up, I usually opt for my Maybelline or Garnier BB Cream, which are very good, but tend to leave a shine finish, so I bought this product to combat that.

When I first opened the package, I was initially disappointed with the product as it doesn't come with any means of applying it. I hadn't anticipated this, and as a girl who has never used setting powder before, I also had to go out and buy a powder brush before I could use it. However, now I am over that minor setback, I cannot sing this product's praises enough. It is incredibly sheer, so at no point have I ever experienced the unwanted chalky finish, and although the product looks incredibly pigmented in the pot, it actually goes on to be completely translucent. It doesn't push your make up to look over-done, it simply absorbs the shine to leave a matte finish on the face.

With this product I have been using the Real Techniques powder brush (review post on that soon!) which I absolutely adore, so of course my amazing results with this product could also be partly down to it being applied with an incredible brush!

Have you tried this product? How did you get on?

Cutex Nourishing Nail Polish Remover: A Review

Although I am currently on a much tighter budget for my third year being a student, I am still a girl in need of essentials! As a self-confessed nail polish addict, one of those essentials is of course nail polish remover. I have never branched out to high-end polish removers, and only buy them from my high street Superdrug or Boots, staying in a budget of around £2 to £4. Now, I always always buy from Cutex as they are just amazingly affordable and great value for money, but I have never tried this Nourishing Remover for Weak Nails. 

Cutex Nourishing Nail Polish Remover for weak nails (200ml): Superdrug  £2.15

I was intrigued when I first saw it in Superdrug because as you can only just tell, the liquid is opaque and milky, rather than translucent. When I got it home and used it for the first time the surprises just kept on coming because although it's not mentioned on the bottle, the product is scented. Now, I don't know if I've just missed an entire movement of scented polish removers, but this is certainly news to me! It smells gorgeous - it still has that chemical hint, but it is mostly disguised by a beautiful scent of shea and cocoa butter. 

For those of you who want a welcome change from the standard nail polish removers I would highly recommend this product, especially if you want beautiful smelling nails!