Finally, I think I have perfected the marble look and it's all thanks to smooshing! I'm definitely going to film this look soon and maybe use a brighter gold shade but it works! It's no lie, I'm totally basic and obsessed with marble and rose gold. I blame it on Pinterest. There's just something about marble nails as well; it's so elegant and expensive looking.
So smooshing is pretty easy. You just blob on white on a silicone mat, drop some of your chosen colours onto the white and then lightly drag the design a little using the tip of an orange stick or really fine dotting tool, then pick up the design using a stamper. I like to let it dry on the stamper a little bit so it doesn't smoosh more as you stamp. Make sure to use liquid latex as well for easy clean up.
I still can't believe I found this Ciaté shade in TK Maxx for £2.99. I bought two it's that pretty. They've had some really great Ciaté shades in there lately.
I can't believe it, I have a full A-England collection upon it's release. At £28 for all 4 though I couldn't exactly say no because holy hell, these are some unbelievably beautiful polishes. They're an amazing collection of purple/pink hues with a flaming holo and I can't stop staring at them. I saw Camden Town for the first time and just knew I had to have it in my collection.
I really wanted the British Subcultures collection released at the same time as well but I had to make a decision; I can't have all the polish, well not yet anyway.
Kings Road // Grey Beige with Flaming Holo
Sort of an off silver with lilac, pink and neutral tones, this is a soft shade that will make the perfect background for floral double stamp mani's; I can already see it now with my the new Botanical plates from MoYou London.
I also really like the lilac shift. It's kind of like Kalinka in that respect but that's a little darker and definitely more grey than this one. As with practically 90% of A-England this is ready in 1 coat and it actually dries quite fast, within about 2-3 minutes which is new for A-England as they take an age to dry. Perhaps I'll be able to do some ombre's with this collection.
Carnaby Street // Beige Pink with Flaming Holo
Urgh, this shade, I have no words; it's stunning. I love soft pink shades and this shade is perfect for casual occasions but then the light hits it and hello holo. The holo chunks in this one are also a lot larger than Kings Road and so it's very shiny and glittery. This is such an elegant shade.
Covent Garden // Coral Pink with Flaming Holo
I almost thought this was a salmon pink. It's very similar to a shade from the China Glaze OMG flashback collection; it does suit my skintone wonderfully though. This one is a little streakier than the other but if you take your time and don't drag the polish by doing too many strokes you can achieve a flawless mani in one coat.
Camden Town // Dark Terracotta with Flaming Holo
I'd say this is more purple than terracotta but that's what it's officially described as. Either way this is my favourite as it's perfect. It's very similar to Maxim from the Return to Manderley collection but it's ever so slightly darker. The holo on this one though is spectacular as the colours just seem so much more vibrant and defined.
// Verdict
Another amazing and beautiful collection from A-England who knock it out of the park every time. I don't think anyone can do pigmented holo polishes quite like AE and make them look so refined and delicate. Out of all the shades I recommend Camden Town the most followed by Carnaby Street. A must buy.
Ah June's box is here! And it's like they heard my request for some brighter summery colours after last month as some beautiful bright hues were included. The Zoya shade is particularly stunning. This months box is a great all-rounder with even some new ranges included! Lets get straight into it.
If you prefer to watch unboxings, check out the video below, it even includes swatches. Or you can keep on reading for the text version :)
Great for those on the go, these wipes are formulated without acetone. And whereas I've not had a great experience with acetone free remover these wipes definitely changed my mind: clearly I've just not tried actually good acetone free remover. These wipes have actually shocked me. I loaded up my other hand with a basecoat, all the colours from this box plus an A-England & an all glitter polish and it removed everything in under 5 minutes. I'd watch the video for the results. Plus there was no scent apart from subtle lavender every now and then. My fingers were left moisturised (although the tell-tale remove white marks appeared once the liquid from the wipe evaporated but it was no where near as bad as pure acetone). I wish they did this formula in a bottle but they only have normal acetone free remover which doesn't appear to be the same. I'd highly recommend these if you need to remove your polish on the go and don't want to lug a nail bag around with you.
Described by Zoya as a "shimmering cobalt blue", I think this is a great polish to include in a summer box. When I first saw the sneak peak I instantly thought of what Cody Ko refers to as "blue-ass water" and I now want to do some pool/ocean mani's with it. This is a seriously sparkly shade that needs at least 2 coats for added depth. I don't know if I'd wear it by itself but I think it would go perfectly with white and some palm leaves. Unfortunately you don't get that purple shift you see in the bottle but the shade is still stunning by itself. I think I like it even more with the Cuccio matte top coat though as it gives it a silk finish and feels more tropical; I love it.
Oh man I'm so happy to see a shade from this collection. I would've preferred Seriously Celsius which is this beautiful olive/yellow green shade but I love anything Cuccio so this is very welcome. This is a bright bold dark purple that needs at least two coats. I'm not sure what I would use it with yet but it does match my skintone quite nicely and it mattes well.
This is a super bright one coat wonder. This is a beautiful deep coral and looks even better matte. It annoys me that Mavala only sell in 5ml sizes as I think they cost a bit too much for the size; especially considering you can pick up 13ml Cuccio for £5.95. Even Barry M and H&M are 8ml/10ml sizes and they cost £3.99 or less and are just as good formula wise. I do like the shade though and it applies nicely so I'll let them off.
OK, I am seriously impressed by this matte top coat. I've been collecting various brands in the hopes of doing a comparison video and the best one I had found so far is the Barry M one however, it takes a while to dry and sometimes causes the polish to bubble. This one dries almost instantly leaving the polish smooth. However, if it weren't for the fact that I read an amazon review stating that it left white spots in their mani, I would've just thought it was a fluke. I used this with each polish in this box and at least one had a white spot that developed after a few minutes. For me it's not such a big problem but if you're using this for clients it's a big no-no.
// Box Totals //
5 Items - All Full Size
Estimated Value - £43.05
// Verdict
Last month I found the two shades included to be too similar and frankly a little boring for spring and hoped that this months would include some bright tropical summery shades; I got exactly what I wanted. Whereas there are no greens or yellows, we did get three super bright polishes that all apply beautifully and a matte top coat to create those essential matte summer looks. I think River by Zoya and the OPI wipes are by far my favourite products this month.
Next month I hope we get some brushes or tools as I haven't really seen any in the box, like a good angular brush for clean-up or to practice the one-stroke technique with (i'm getting better...very slowly) along with a a vibrant leaf green. It'd be nice to see a stamping plate however, I have so many I feel I'd already have anything they include...maybe I should stop buying stamping plates...lol that will never happen.
Ah this box! It's so cute and it's given me so many ideas for mani's. I had such a hard time trying to decide on just a couple of things to do. I eventually decided on making the sunsets the feature but I may do another look attempting to recreate all the little notes (it may require some freehand painting, but practice makes perfect...)
The sunset scenes were an ombre of four different shades; Bohemian Rhapsody, Cool Cucumber, Raindrop and then the aptly names Catch The Sunset for the pop of pink. I've been wanting to use the mountain stamps from this Haranouta plate for so long as well. It almost looks photo realistic...from a distance with no glasses on. The palm tree were then from Summer Vibes 3. I then used Tropical 36 for the other two nails with the shades First Kiss and Dream Holiday (the plane is from BP 124 though).
I just love sunset mani's though. The hint of green I added almost helps it look space like as well. I toyed with doing some freehand painting to include little post-it notes and other details seen on the box but I'm going to have to practice my painting more. Plus I just ordered some proper nail art brushes off Nail Art UK from Mitty so perhaps it'll be a little easier.
Polishes/Tools Used:-
- Sally Hansen Colour Therapy // Well, Well, Well (slight off white)
- Jessica // Bohemian Rhapsody (dark denim blue)
- Sally Hansen Colour Therapy // Cool Cucumber (dark forest green)
- NYC In a New York Minute // Raindrop (pastel blue)
- Cutex Care + Colour // Catch The Sunset (coral pink)
- MoYou London // First Kiss (pale pink), Dream Holiday (cerulean),
- Born Pretty // 3 (black)
- Barry M Hi-Shine // Plumpy Top Coat
- MoYou London Plate // Tropical 36, Summervibes 03
- Harunouta Plate // 17
- Born Pretty Plate // BP-124
Oh man this months Birchbox is so unbelievably cute. I love the colours, the scrapbook vibes and the whole 'adventure' theme just makes me want to go on holiday. This is based off the new 'Memories' collection from Paperchase and I took a peek at the collection...it's amazing. To be honest I would've preferred a box full of that collection than what I actually received.
I guess it's not too bad but, face wipes? Really? The box does fit a travel theme though with all the mini sizes but I'm just not overly excited.
If you prefer watching unboxings; check out the video! Otherwise keep on scrolling for the text version:
This is not worth £20. It's $20 on their US site which is about £15; I still wouldn't pay that for this thing. It's strange how often I see this brand in Pink Parcel, Look Fantastic and Birchbox yet it's extremely difficult to get hold of in the UK. Why advertise here? Anyway, I'm getting sick of choosing red or plum lip shades from Birchbox now. Why can't they feature a nice nude? I went for the plum as I hate wearing red lipstick and it's ok as an all over lip colour and makes my eyes look brighter but I would never wear it by itself. Instead I mix it will some lip balm and wear it as a light tint which looks much better in my opinion.
This isn't even the travel size, it's a sample and there is barely any product inside it. I don't know why they couldn't have included the actual travel size which is sold by Benefit for £11 as it's only 0.5g more. For something described as 'neutral' as well I find it to be a warm and red looking on my skintone but I did like the natural look it gave my brows. If I could find an actual neutral shade I would probably purchase this.
This is such a cop-out product to receive in a beauty box. I don't mind it femfresh wipes in my Pink Parcel because that makes sense but if you're going to include wipes at least make it the full size pack because they don't cost more than about £5 anyway. The pack of 30 is only £3.99 so why skimp on us Birchbox? I would never use face wipes to remove my makeup anyway so these will get used as hand wipes or to wipe down surfaces but there are too many reviews online saying these wipes left their faces red, burning and itchy. Yikes.
I already have another 30ml tube of this thanks to Look Fantastic a couple of months ago and I still haven't used it. I always buy self-tan products with the intention of being bronzed but then get put off by the having to exfoliate first, tan with mits, thoroughly wash hands so I don't end up with tan hands and then try not mess up bedding...I have never heard of this brand and apparently it's Australia's no.1 tanning brand; I thought that was Bondi Sands? Or do they just pay influencers more? Anyway, I do prefer gradual tan products more than wham-bam-now-your-tan products so I will try my best to give this a go. It does smell really good; it's slightly sweet and feels moisturising. I was surprised to see that it's just a white cream. Perhaps I'll actually like it?
And last is a tiny shampoo sample. It does smell incredibly good though and I kind of like mint in my shampoos as makes my scalp feel all tingly. I will let this one off though as it's a clarifying shampoo, so I'd only use this about once a month so this sample will last me a good 3/4 months. I hope this is a really good shampoo because £8 is a great price for clarifying shampoo.
// Box Contents
// 1 Full Size, 1 Travel Size, 3 Samples
// £32.98 Estimated Box Worth
If we took away the £20 RRP of the Laritzy lipstick all of the other samples would literally cost the price of the box. I honestly do not believe that lipstick is wrth £20 and my Feel Unique Pick'n'Mix ended up as a better beauty box this month and that only costs £3.95. This has been the first month in almost 2 years where I've seriously thought about cancelling but I love the box designs and even though they send out tiny samples, they do send out some strange products that I've ended up loving. If the Benefit Brow was full size instead, the shampoo was a 50ml sample and the MineTan was 70/100ml sample then this would have been a fantastic box as I actually quite like most of the products. I just don't know why I'm paying £13 for tiny samples though.
I feel like I already have this shade but I don't know where it is lol. It looks suspiciously like an OPI one. H&M shades already remind me of a lot of OPI polishes so perhaps that's where they get their inpso from. This is a great shimmery pink shade for all your flamingo needs (my flamingo stamping plate just arrived so that's gonna get used with this as some point). I'm wearing two coats as the first is a bit see through.
Sunseeker // Gold Glitter/Shimmer
The glittery chunks in this shade are a bit to large for it to be a true shimmer but it's very nice and doesn't need many coats. I really like this shade; it's kind of a brassy gold/yellow but for once it doesn't bother me. I think this would go nice with some green shades and a palm leaf mani. At first I thought this was exactly the same as Nefertiti from a previous swatch post but this one is much warmer and yellow.
Cantaloupe // Mustard Creme
This is basically the creme version of Haute Heat in the same collection and I much prefer it. The shimmer version isn't one of my favourite shades. For me this is a great summer shade and it will go nicely with the other cremes The Heat is On and Sun on Clay. I can see a perfect orange sunset ombre with those 3.
I will say though that this shade really stains your nails. I had it on for a day using a peel off basecoat and when I took it off it looked like I had a 90-a-day smoking habit. I couldn't believe how yellow they were.
Stamping Abilities (I swear I took pictures of these but then lost them....whoops)
Sunseeker is very weak and I'd only use it to add a glitter top to certain parts of designs. Sonho Tropical does well with detail but is quite sheer and probably better on top of white. Cantaloupe does well though. I don't think it would be as pigmented on top of darker colours.
Well this was a bit of a surprise mani. I tried to do some freehand painting with different coloured nails and it didn't turn out so well. I'll bundle it in with this months Nail Fail post. I did this look on the thumb and pinkie and loved how it turned out so much I replaced the other nails.
I need to get my hands on some better stamping polishes as the newer Born Pretty polishes just aren't as pigmented as the old small rectangle ones. I really love the base colour though. I just picked it up from TK Maxx the other day for only £2.99. It's an inky dark green 1 coat wonder. Thanks to the stamping this is one easy mani and I successfully recreated it on my other hand so my hands are actually matching for the first time in over a year.
Polishes/Tools Used:-
- NailsInc // Girls Got Goals (dark forest green)
- MoYou London // Little Pickle (bright green)
- Born Pretty // Leo (blue/gold metallic), Galactic Centre (blue/green metallic), #12 (green), The Noon Sunshine (bright pastel green),
- Avon Mark. // Gel Shine Top Coat
- MoYou London Plate // Tropical 36 & 37
