Nearly But Not Quite Nails // July 2019

So instead of calling them nail fails, like I have been every month, I decided to call it something else because they weren't really "fails" but rather looks I just felt 'meh' about and didn't feel they deserved their own post, so in the interest of open-ness here is some nail art I've done that isn't great but it isn't wow either. It's more "you tried."

#1 // Antique Berries

Oh man this was so long ago. I did this on the 14th March and I kept meant to post it but never did. The stamping is clean, the colours go nice together but it's just lacklustre. Nothing pops out but damn those Barry M Liquid Chrome polishes stamp like heaven. These photos make miss my old set-up so bad though :(

#2 // Pink Marble

Hot off the heels of Stone Goals, I did another smooshing look but this time adding in some pink. Again, I really wanted to post this but it was so similar and looking back now I feel like the pink was too dark. I think this would've benefited from some gold veins and maybe a succulent or two. I do like this look though and once my lightboxes are back in place in a week I'll try and film the whole smooshing process because it creates perfect marble nails, every time.

Also, how hard am I squeezing the rose quartz? My thumb is almost yellow lol.

#3 // Pink Quartz

This look came about after watching this video by the very talented twi_star where she used sharpies and a sheer as hell OPI shade to achieve perfect Quartz nails. I am nowhere near the level of twi_star however I did buy a sheer as hell OPI shade because of this video to practice doing rose quartz nails. Instead of using sharpies mixed with rubbing alchohol though I just used acrylic paint and I think I got the layering effect right with all the layers of the sheer polish between the veins, but the pink is just too pink and the edges are a bit of a mess where the polish wasn't applied neatly. Then in an attempt to be @lieve_91, I added some gold shimmer and rose gold striping tape.

#4 // Hydration

If you were wondering where this months Look Fantastic nails were...well here they are. *one person slow clapping*. I really don't like this look, it just didn't turn out how I saw it in my head in the slightest. It's boring and the lighting is terrible. The accent finger was a water decal and I now wish I had done the entire hand using the water decals. The stamping is supposed to be banana leaves and an ombre of colours from mint to white and green but it all just merged together to become this boring mass of lines.

And with that I've finally got four folders that I can remove from my pending folder to make way for fresh new stuff. Hope you enjoyed this random assortment of nails, see you next month for the next lot (because there will definitely be more...)

Bathroom Tiles 2 // Green Mermaid Scale Nails

Remember way back in the early days of the blog when I did a post called Bathroom Tiles? No me neither, I had to remind myself lol. Well it can be found here, and it was some basic stamping on a white polish. This is some basic stamping on a green polish. I switched things up.

I did this look a month ago and I've been umming and ahhing other whether or not to post it because it's not great but it's not awful. It is it not however what I set out to do. 

I saw these fantastic tiles on Pinterest (where else?) and I love the wash of color and various shades of green and set about to recreate it. This was the result.

I really tried but my nail art skills are severely lacking. I tried smooshing with several different greens and a white but the Kure Bazaar just overpowered everything and it doesn't have that variation/watercolour feel to it. It still pretty though just a bit bland.

So I tried to add the darker greens via handpainting...it did not go well.

What even is this? It looks like I splashed some sewage water on top of my nails. I probably should've used acrylic paint instead of nail polish. Then I became more unsatisfied because there was still no depth and my clean white lines had been ruined. So I thought "frick it" and stuck a holo top coat on top.

I don't feel it salvaged it but I now know where I went wrong so hopefully when I attempt this again I'll get that beautiful wash of colour...the greens need to be darker as well. From afar though it kinda looks like the image, I'll just make sure to have people view my nails from three feet away when I do this type of mani again.

Polishes/Tools Used:
- Kure Bazaar // Hope (emerald green)

- Born Pretty Stamping Polish // #4 (white)
- Born Pretty Stamping Polish // #333 (Mint)
- Barry M Nail Paint // Diamond Glitter (scattered holo)

- Born Pretty // BP-109 Plate

NAIL CARE: My Current Nail Care/Manicure Routine 2019

So here is a post on my current manicure routine that I do every Sunday. It's taken me a while to get into a rhythm and find products that I like, as well as a nail shape that I feel suits me. Nail shape is extremely personal and I've tried long, super short, square and almond but I feel like I've finally found my groove with my short (but not too short) oval nails. 

Here is a photo pre-manicure:

Eurgh. This was also after completely re-arranging my room so that I can fit in my light boxes as I'm going home for a couple days soon and I'd like to bring them back with me so I can take photos at night again. Houseshares...cheap yet annoying. My hands took a battering whilst moving the bookcase too and from the same position as I couldn't make up my mind (I eventually decided on the new position).

So, to start off I always give my hands a wash then apply a light, oil-free moisturiser. My current favourite is the OPI Avojuice that I got in a previous Mani & Lola box. 

Afterwards, I then sort out the cuticle, cut away any hang-nails and push back the nail fold if needed. I get quite bad cuticles however, I've never really had much of a nail fold so I don't really have anything to push back and for me it can get a little painful sometimes so I try not to mess with that area too much. All nails are different, so do what feels comfortable for you. Before I do this though I apply some Cuticle eraser; I've been enjoying the CND Cuticle eraser lately but I also use the Sally Hansen one.

I only leave on the cuticle eraser for about 5 minutes whilst I'm doing the work as it "dissolves" the cuticle (which is dead skin) but it can't differentiate between live and dead cells so it can dry out the living tissue if used too much or left on. I also either use a soft silicone pusher or an orange stick...those metal ones scare the bejeesus outta me. Also, that silcone pusher was part of a 7 piece pack from Born Pretty that cost £1.70; amazing quality for the price.

Now it's cutting time but only if it's the last week of the month (otherwise I skip to the last step). To get the perfect length, I cut with the back of my hand facing me and then let the scissors rest gently on the pads of my fingertips. This leaves enough nail to allow for filing without them going too short...perhaps I should've filmed this. It would've been easier to explain. I also use a metal filer as I've tried glass ones but I just find them to be too bulky and inefficient. We don't talk about the paper ones.

Once I'm done with those stages, I use a little acetone to remove any remaining cuticle eraser. I always use the moisture-rich polish remover from Cutex as it leaves your nails hydrated and smelling like marzipan; win-win.

To finish, I use some cuticle oil to add some moisture back. I will admit, I poo-pood the CND RescueRXx when I first got it in Mani & Lola however it's become my favourite cuticle oil and I literally can't live without it. It smells like candyfloss and hydrates my nails beautifully without too much oily-ness. It's worth every penny.

And that's it! Look at them now compared to before:

Such mani, much cure, very nail. Wow. It's taken me a long time to get to this stage. Before I got into doing my nails a year ago I just use to cut them whenever I felt they were annoying me and that was it. No oils, no specific shape. In fact they would be all different lengths due to some being chipped and cracked and it makes me shudder to think I use to leave my nails in that horrible dry state. It's also fun to take 30 minutes in the evening and just spend it pampering my nails instead of trying to do some nail art. 

Thanks for reading this mammoth post and I'll see you in the next one (hopefully, that won't be a mammoth post...unless it's a FabFitFun unboxing)

Beauty Box Review // Look Fantastic July 2019

For the first year of my sub I never really liked Look Fantastic and seriously considered quitting; however I then stopped wearing makeup and focused more on skincare and now I really love the box and get annoyed when it includes makeup. I've enjoyed using all the products in this months box and I'm looking forward to next months; even if it does include a makeup brush but I can use that dust off glitter when doing my nails so it's all good.

Elemis // Hydra-Balance Day Cream

20ml Travel Size - RRP £19.10

I love Elemis products but they're way out of my price range so I always love receiving them in boxes. My favourite so far has been the pro-collegen marine cream (that stuff works miracles) and the Peptide night serum (it smells like pudding). This is the only product in the box I haven't used yet as I still haven't used up the Emma Hardie moisturiser from the last box (or was it May?? I can't remember). I'm looking forward to using this.

Vitamasques // Gold Eye Pads

1 Sachet Full Size - RRP £5.99

I'm surprised that one pack is full size for £6 as this was nice but I don't feel it's worth £6. After using my eyes didn't look any different but the eye area felt moisturised. I feel like this is one of those products where you have to continuously use them to see the benefits and I just don't have that kind of money.

Aromatherapy Associates // Revive Body Gel

40ml Travel Size - RRP £12 

I was super excited to see this because I love the bath & shower oils from AA; they just smell amazing and this smells just like the Revive shower oil and so I slathered it all over my body fresh out of the shower and loved the cool, refreshing feeling. After five minutes though my skin began to itch and feel incredibly tight. This is not a moisturiser and I had to apply my normal Body Shop body butter afterwards and I lost the great smell. On their website they say you can use this directly over tights which is weird but I think this is meant more as a mood lifter that you apply to pulse points. It smells amazing and I think 40ml is a great size if applying sparingly but too small for a full body moisturiser.

Glov // On-the-go Hydro Cleanser

1 Mitt Full Size - RRP £11.90

I have about 7 of those Magi-tone wipe cloths and they just don't work for me. I see these types of products like face wipes; they just drag the skin and don't remove all the dirt. This is just a microfiber cloth; there is nothing special about it. I like the mitt shape more than the standard cloth and I like using this to remove face masks or left over bits of my face scrub. I wouldn't pay £12 for this though when you can buy microfiber cloths for like a quid.

Eyeko // Fat Eye Stick (Gilt)

4g Full Size - RRP £15

These are now completely sold out on Eyeko and Look Fantastic (who were selling 3 shades for £15) so I have a feeling they are discontinued. It's ok. I used it a couple of times but like I said; I don't really wear makeup anymore. I used this as an eyeliner and then smudged it for a smoky eye effect and it was relatively easy to use. I wouldn't purchase it though as it creases easily and the shade kind of looks like dirt.

Naobay // Illuminating Micellar Water

200ml Full Size - RRP £9.25

Finally a Naobay product in the box again! This is perhaps my favourite product this month as it smells like fruity heaven. Honestly they need to make a drink of this product. I used to be obsessed with micellar water and went through the Garnier one like water but then I became a fan of the Korean 2 step cleansing method and I don't have any use for it anymore but I've been using this just to refresh my face in the morning and it's just lovely. I have nothing but good words about this product. It's just a shame that Naobay is so difficult to get hold of the UK.

// Box Value
// 6 Items // 4 Full Size // 2 Travel Size
// £58.24 Estimated Worth

A great box this month with interesting and varied products and not one sample size in sight! Please take note Birchbox, you are after all the same price...I'm not sure if I would buy anything from this box but it was nice to try out. The micellar water I'm torn on though because it smells and feels so good but £10 is a lot for a face refresher. I've decanted it into a spray bottle to take on the go with me as well to use it up. I have no complaints this month though which is a rarity! 

Look Fantastic Beauty Box

Monthly - £15

3 Months - £14.50

6 Months - £13.75

12 Months - £13

All options are billed monthly and include P&P

psst.. the sneak peak for August is the Luxie 737 Tapered Highlighter brush wirth £26.50. I have a few luxie brushes and they're quite nice.

Beauty Box Review // Birchbox July 2019

Deary deary me. What a sad sorry box we have this month. If I was less than impressed last month, July's box did nothing to help alleviate those sentiments. It's a shame as there were some good products that you could've received but I feel as though I got the duds. I would've loved the glamglow cream, the percy and reed fragrance and lumene skin tint but no. I got an 11ml sample of body lotion and a pillow spray that smells like paxo stuffing.

The box as always is cute though and I got some good nails out of it, but I'm seriously having to evaluate if I should be spending £12.95 a month to get nail art inspiration.

Floss Beauty // My Everyday Eyeshadow in Tokyo

Full Size - RRP £12.50

I actually forgot to choose what shade I wanted but I wasn't bothered either way as they were extremely similar with being a champagne nude and the other a soft coral. I ended up with Tokyo which is a pink champagne shade. It's shimmer to the extreme and I've also been using it as a highlighter. It is genuinely a lovely shade with great pigmentation. I tend to just apply it with my fingers and then use some orange shades from the ABH Soft Glam palette with it. I'm very surprised as this is my favourite item in the box, but that's not saying much as the other items aren't exactly great. This is also another item that is exclusive to Birchbox...most of their fullsize items for the past few months now have been exclusives from brands I've never heard of. 

Marcelle // Xtension Plus Curl Mascara

4.5ml  Sample Size - RRP £7.67 (based on £14.50 for 8.5ml)

I had high hopes for this as I'm completely in love with the Marcelle BB cream (it's my holy grail BB cream) but it falls short. I do like that it has a small curved wand making it easier to get into the corners but the formula itself does almost nothing. I can see some slight lengthening but for the most part two coats doesn't really do much. It's no Ciaté Wonderwand or Too Faced Better Than Sex. There isn't any clumping though so it's got that going for it.

This Works // Deep Sleep Pillow Spray

5ml Travel Size - RRP £6

I think I've recived this about 10 times now and I'm sick of it. I've had it in Glossybox, Look Fantastic, Pink Parcel, Powder Box, Latest In Beauty...every beauty box subscription I've had, this has been in it at some point. I'm dreading the moment we get a full size version in FabFitFun...I know it will happen. Anyway, I hate this stuff. It's not relaxing; it smells like cooked chicken. It just makes me hungry and then I get annoyed because it's bedtime and I can't eat anything. I'm just sick of seeing it in boxes and I want them to give it a rest.

Palmer's // Coconut Oil Body Lotion

11ml Sample - RRP £0.15 (based on £5.49 for 400ml)

I actually can't believe this is in here. This should have been an extra item not an item in the box. It even says on the back of the sample "compliments of palmer's" meaning that it's a free sample. If this had been a 50 or 100ml sample I wouldn't have been as angry but 11ml? This didn't even cover my entire body. I have nothing against Palmer's because I love their products; they're great quality for a fantastic price and this moisturiser is no exception but I'm extremely disappointed in Birchbox for sending this as an item. On their insta they're defending it by saying they "love sending out trial sizes for discovery" but literally everyone in the UK knows what Palmer's is. If you've ever been in a Superdrug or Boots, you know Palmer's. Their cocoa butter moisturiser is one of the best smelling moisturisers in the world. This sample size was pretty pathetic though; especially given that the full size of 400ml is only £5.49.

Percy & Reed // Oh So Smooth Frizz Fixer

50ml Travel Size - RRP £7.00

Eh, this is ok. I generally like Percy & Reed hair care products and this smells nice. It's also nice to have an actually decent sized sample as well. I used this on my graduation to try and keep my hair in check as it was a particularly humid day and it went well. I didn't notice my hair getting any bigger and it kept it smelling nice. The only problem is that your supposed to brush this through dry hair and well I have semi-afro hair; once it's dry you don't brush it or it turns into a complete birds nest so I'll never really be able to tell if it works properly or not. 

// Box Contents

// 1 Full Size, 2 Travel Sizes, 2 Samples

// £33.32 Estimated Box Worth

This box was not the best and it hasn't helped in my wavering decision to cancel this subscription. I think I'm going to leave it one more month but if it doesn't improve it's going to go; even if I love the boxes because it's £12.95 that I could be spending on nail polish. I get that it's supposed to be a sample box but if the Feel Unique Pick 'n' Mix can offer better stuff for £3.95 and Look Fantastic can offer infinitely better items than I don't know why this one can't do better. The samples have just been too tiny and I'm sick of all the 'exclusive' brands.

Birchbox

P&P £2.95

Monthly - £10

6 Months - £60

12 Months - £110

pssst...the sneak peak for next month is the balanceme Hyaluronic Plumping Mist Spray that will be in every box. I got a 10ml sample from LIB once and the photo is showing an even smaller sample; why am I not surprised?

Born Unicorn // Birchbox July 2019 Nails

Whew man, this month is just flying by. It doesn't help that my new 9 to 5 day job is well a 9-5 day job. I don't know what it is but I just have zero time to do anything. My alarm goes off at 7, I get home at 6 and then I'm in bed by 10. At my old job I used to work 10pm-6am and I had so much time. I would go to bed at 7am, get up at 2 and then have the entire day. This is only the second time I've managed to do my nails all month :( I was really hoping to complete the Clairestelle8 challenge this month as well but hopefully I'll get into a rhythm soon.

Anyway, onto this months Birchbox nails with photos using my shiny new graduation lens:

ooooo ahhhhhhh, look at the shiny holo detail! I'm so happy that I can finally take beautiful close-up shots of my nails. The lighting may be a little yellow for these and I tried my best to correct it but holo is best under small LED lighting and my lamp is not daylight toned like my light boxes are.

I really want to do this again but with a multi-pastel ombre underneath instead like on the leaflet that comes with the box. I also really love how the accent nail turned out with the negative space/holo ombre and stars. I want to do that again on all my nails.

Polishes/Tools Used:-

- A-England // King's Road (soft lilac/grey holo)
- OPI // Tinker?Thinker?Winker? (silver holo)
- OPI // Alpine Snow (white)

- MoYou London // Olive Tree
- MoYou London Plates // Scandi 10, Princess 11

STAMPING PLATES: Nicole Diary 090 Plate

Oh this is such a pretty plate; perfect for space and ethereal looking designs. I especially loved the looks they created themselves with the space pattern in the background and the white images stamped on top:

Clearly that was photoshopped but I'm wondering how I could recreate it. I think an ombre background with some reverse stamping going on. Or even creating some custom decals to stick on. Instead I was itching to use the watercolour polishes in some sort of design. I especially love the moonflower design on the top right followed closely by the geometric mountains and trees on the bottom right.

For this look I used just the standard black Born Pretty stamping polish and for the most part all the designs lifted well which is a first for a Nicole Diary plate. They're cheap for a reason but damn those designs are cute. It's currently on offer at £1.20 and well worth it. I've just bought most of the most new Nicole Diary stuff as it's hella cute. They've just released these new large rectangular ones with marble and palm trees on them and another with dragons, mountains and desert scenes. I seriously have a problem with stamping plates; I just can't stop buying them.

I will say I need to start applying polish closer to the base of the nail. I also have a little to much fun doing clean up and most of the time it looks like the design has grown out.

Nicole Diary 090

NAIL FAILS #3 // 2Smooshed4U

My god man, June was not a good month for nail art. I see the art I want to do in my head and then what comes out on my nails just isn't it. For example, the above look was supposed to be sort of a lieve91 style look (her nail art is just #goals for me) and it just looks awful. I loved the dark green leaf nails and I painted over the other nails for this post earlier in June. I also hand painted those leaves and well I'm no van gogh. I have bought some new brushes specifically for nail art though at £7 a brush so hopefully my skills will start to improve.

This look I did trying to practice drag marble and applying custom decals. I really don't know what they do to get the lines so neat when cutting off the excess. This photo is deceiving because it looked awful irl. There were also spots where it wouldn't lie flat and on the pinkie the polish separated and urgh. 

OK, so there is nothing inherently wrong with this look but it just doesn't feel worthy of it's own post or an insta slot. I do love that A-England polish though. It's Maxim from the recent 'Return to Manderley' collection. 

And that's it for this month, there were a few others but I didn't even take photos of them. The acetone was just whipped out straight away instead. 

Blog Update // Moving Time!

No, I'm not dead, I was just moving to middle of fricking nowhere, seriously:

I was born and raised (and lived most of my life) in a small town called Blackpool, which is on the north west coast of England. Because it's a seaside town and has a few historical landmarks we're quite the tourist destination with lots of things crammed into one tiny space. I could walk to the beach, drive ten minutes to the centre of town and everything was pretty handy but it still felt spacious with the sea on one side and then countryside on the other....now I'm just surrounded by all countryside and it's good thing I can drive because I ain't going nowhere without a car (the beach is three hours away). I guess I had to do the adult thing of moving for a job at some point though and it is my dream job so I will just have to deal with all the spiders. I swear they're grouping up to kill me in the night or something.

I also graduate next week and my dad got me a new lens for my camera so I can finally do beautiful macro shots of nail art like so:

I'm still trying to figure out the lighting (especially for holo) and it's even harder now as I've moved into a flatshare so I only have my bedroom to store everything. Before I had a dedicated room for photography with all my lightboxes set up and the desk ready to be dressed up for photoshoots. Now I feel like I'm living the true student life that I never actually lived because I didn't move away for uni. But hopefully it's only for a year whilst I save up for a house deposit. 

It's very strange to be here though. I dropped out of school when I was 18 so I never finished my A-Levels and as such, I've been working minimum wage jobs for the past 10 years. There was nothing particularly wrong with them but I couldn't go anywhere, or move up. Everyone wants you to have a degree or some kind of qualification. I got very comfortable in my old job as well (I was there for 9 years in total) and now I'm a software engineer at Microsoft. I feel like someone made a mistake when they hired me lol. For anyone who is reading this though, it's never too late to change your life and get a fresh start. I can't believe how fast 3 years have gone and I finally have qualifications and a job I could only dream about having as a kid. I thought to be a software engineer you had to be some sort of hacker like in the movies and programming since you were born; but I had never programmed anything before my course and now it's my job.

This blog will not be forgotten though. If anything I'm just becoming more obsessed with nail art and after I'm settled I'm seriously thinking of getting a license to be a nail technician so I can have clients on the weekends. 

But anyway, I'll get some posts scheduled from art I did before the move and then new nail art is on the horizon!