Pool Party // NCLA Nail Wraps Review

I received these a while ago in the Pool Party Meebox and since it's summer I've decided that I need to do something with them.

I'm not great with decals of any kind and these ones haven't even been produced properly! They've  been printed off to the side so a quarter of the design has been left out and the black outlines have ended up on the nail design...talk about quality control. NCLA products aren't cheap either. This particular design isn't sold anymore but they're $10 each (I don't even want to know how much shipping + import is) or £10.95 to buy from UK stores. That's an insane amount of money. I might have to try and recreate these nails using plastic wrap or something.

These nail wraps were a bit bent as well from being stored in the too small Meebox and the packaging was ripped...not off to great start. There is also a mini cardboard emery board included to file off excess product. You get 4 of each size, apart from the largest which only has 2. I suppose in theory this means you can get 4 looks out of this set. When you compare that to a salon visit, I guess £10.95 isn't bad.

I started off with a base coat and then started off with my little finger. I thought the smallest size would fit no problem, however due to how it's been cut, it actually misses a good 2mm off my nail and includes the black line and then white area around the cutout.

The nail wrap was also very sticky and because of this is actually pulled my base coat off from the nail and just came off entirely in place. They don't curve well so unless your nails are completely flat; you're gonna have a bad time.

The thumb was the worst as the wraps are super rounded at the cuticle end and the nail beds on my thumbs are square so they don't fit properly at all. 

Overall, it honestly looks like a 5 year has glued bits of paper to my nails. Filing the bits of paper off does absolutely nothing except make it look worse; like the paper has been submerged in water and has flaked off. If anything you'll just start filing your own nails.

I applied a top coat thinking it would solve all my problems but now my problems are just glossy...Sounds like most things in my life.

1/10, would not recommend. They do have some nice looking wraps on their website though that I might recreate. But these are too thick (even though they are described as ultra thin) and sticky and you can't smooth them out properly. I noticed on their website they've applied them to flatter false nails and the model is wearing the false nails. Obviously it's going to be much better applying them to false nails as you don't have to deal with awkward hand positions and nail beds getting in the way. Let's just say between these and the tropical holo nail stickers; I've been put off nail stickers....I still have a few more to review though that I bought off eBay...*le sigh*

Meebox // Donuts Edition

And it's finally time for the unboxing of my final Meebox that I bought in October when they were having a sale. I was super excited for this one due to the creamy pastel shades and indie brands. I'm loving the discovery of Deco Miami! Let's have a closer look at the products shall we?

Kure Bazaar // Cappucino
RRP £15

Collection: ??

Release Date: ??

This uses the same thin brush that old Essie shades used to have and I don't like it. It's just so hard to get a good swipe and prevent flooding. I am happy to have received this shade though as when I was researching the "Hope" shade I got in this years Sunday Times LIB box, this was the shade I wanted the most when I saw the shade range. The shade itself is a little darker than whats in the bottle and under bright light it goes even darker which is strange. But it is the perfect shade to create some donuts with. I'm wearing two coats in the swatch with no top coat.

Little Ondine // Ripple
RRP (no longer sold, was £11)

Collection: ??

Release Date: ??

My first time using this did not go well as I used it on top of my peel off base coat (as usual) and it started instantly cracking and splitting (see the second photo). After some research it turns out this brand uses a water-based, peel off formula made from resin and many other nail artist use them as a peel off basecoat. Little Ondine says all their polishes are odourless and surprisingly, there isn't really much of a scent. This one smells a little minty but I'm not sure if that's just my brain making it up because of the mint colour.

I'm actually really interested in this brand, however it doesn't seem to be available in the UK anymore and their twitter account stop posting a year ago. In the US though it still seems to be thriving which is a shame.

As for the polish, I don't think the formula holds up well over time. Normal polishes don't really go off, but the "peel off" part of this polish has caused it to become lumpy and dry with those PVA glue-like chunks. It's also streaky and needs several coats but the lumps never go away. It does peel really easily in the exact same way as my PVA-based peel off which just makes wonder if this is the exact same product but with colouring.

I'm wearing three coats with no top coat.

Deco Miami // Cake
RRP (not sold in the UK, $6 in US)

Collection: ??

Release Date: ??

I think this is my favourite polish in the box; it's just so cute! I love interesting and unique bottle designs and now I want more of them but they're kind of hard to get hold of in the UK. The shade itself is perfect though and makes me look beautifully tan. I almost can't believe how well it matches my skin tone. Instead of being a bright hot pink this is a neon peach/pink pastel that dries quite quickly to a satin finish. You do need at least three coats though as it is very streaky.

After perusing their website, they do ship to the UK, but shipping varies on the weight and then there's tax and import fees so it will end up being an expensive order. But they do have some seriously amazing shades.

NCLA // Sivan Ayla Donut Wraps
No longer sold (was £11.95)

After some research I discovered this was part of a range in a collab with someone called Sivan Ayla. I think she's a vlogger/lifestyle influencer but anyway it was released in 2017 and full of neutral skin tones and donuts. I feel these wraps look a little "kid-like" for such an elegant collection. I probably won't use them as me and wraps don't mix well.

Miss Cat Nails // Nail Art Pearls
No longer sold (was £1.99)

Another item that probably will never be used mainly because things stuck to my nails annoy me. They just catch on everything. Also, these are tiny and I don't have the patience to glue lots of little pink beads to my nails. Some other reviews said they got champagne coloured ones and I think I would've preferred them.

Art Club (by Color Club) // Nail Art Pen in White
RRP £4.99

I was really excited when I saw this (even if the metal tube bit scratched me when taking the lid off). Then I used it. If you're doing stripes and nothing else this is fantastic but I found it ridiculously hard to draw shapes with. The polish itself is lovely and opaque however I would use an actual brush to do more detailed looks with it. I found that huge blobs would run straight down the brush at random intervals and flood the nail. It's also hard to clean up and leaves white streaks on you skin making it look dry and flaky. When researching this product, this appears to be quite an old bottle as well and whereas nail polish doesn't really go off, this doesn't feel like proper nail polish and I think it may have gone off. Good idea, shame about the execution.

// Verdict

This was one of the boxes I wanted the most when I first discovered Meebox and I think if I had received it back in March 2018 I would be estactic however, I feel some of the products have lost their shine and the only one I'm really happy about is the Deco Miami polish; I have got to get me some more of those. For £15 though, I'm not going to flip any tables.

When Meebox stopped doing monthly boxes last December they said they were going to reduce their boxes to quarterly to give them more time to collaborate with indie brands. However, it's now December and the last box they released was the Atlantis edition back in March so I have a feeling that sadly, they may have stopped doing boxes. It's a shame because there really was no other sub like this one. 

Meebox // Pool Party Edition

Eurgh, I miss Meebox. I wish they would bring back their monthly subscription as it was so much fun and I completely missed it. Last month they had a huge sale and every box was 50% off so I indulged in two that I've been after ever since I saw them.

This Pool Party edition was the August 2018 box and features 8 full size items from polishes to stamping plates and nail wraps. This is what I love about Meebox; they feature diverse and interesting products to  create a truly themed box that will get the juices flowing. Maniology's Mani x Me is almost there but it's only 1 brand and doesn't feature glitter or other nail art tools and Mani & Lola just feature moisturisers and the same rotation of polish brands.

Puck A Fairy // A-England

RRP £11

Collection: Shakespeare's Fairies

Release Date: April 2018

What can I say, it's A-England and they knock it out of the park when it comes to luxurious holos. This is a perfect shade to include in a pool party box as its chock full of glitter and holo pieces and dries with a super hi-shine finish. This is a shade I currently don't have in my A-England collection and I'm so happy I have it now because it's absolutely beautiful. Puck A Fairy is a bright aquamarine one coat wonder that surprisingly stamps quite well on top of light colours. I think I may have to invest in the rest of the collection now...

Dragon Fruit // Barry M

RRP £3.99

Collection: Gelly Hi-Shine

Release Date: Spring 2013

Oh man, I actually remember when they first released this collection and everyone at work was obsessed with it because of the amazing pastel colour range and high shine finish. My first shade was Blueberry and I think it could be classed as vintage now seeing as how I bought it back in 2012. This one has a little bit of shimmer in it, but it's extremely subtle. This is a true jelly with no streaks and you can use 1 coat for more of a sheer look or build it up for a shiny gel-like look. I love the shade, it's pink but not hot pink and pairs well with the other box items. I'm wearing 2 coats and it did take a long time to dry but I just leave it and watch a YouTube video for 30 mins and then I'm done.

Eternally Emerald // IZ Beauty

RRP (no longer sold, was £6)

Collection: Crystal Vision

Release Date: Spring 2018

It's always nice to discover a new brand however it appears that this brand no longer exists which is a shame. This is almost a one-coater and has a similar formula to A-England polishes. It's also a holo and in the shade it looks a bit "meh" but when the light hits it...damn. You can't overwork this shade though and you need to make sure the brush is loaded up because if you keep going over it, it starts to streak and separate.

Forget Me Not // IZ Beauty
RRP (no longer sold, was £6)

Collection: Blooming Beautiful
Release Date: Spring 2017

This is a nice pastel lilac creme that I'm pretty sure I have somewhere. It reminds me a lot of the shades in the 2018 Wanderlust collection by Cuccio. It needs at least two shades to achieve full opacity and is quite hard to apply. I found it didn't spread as nice as Eternally Emerald but it looks good in photos.

Other Items

The box also included some pool nail wraps, hexagon 'glitter' (it's actually just paper), a double ended stamp pen and a small stamping plate. I really appreciated the variety however I would've preferred some actual glitter instead of confetti of Which Meebox have labelled as worth 98p but it has 75p written on it...

I actually already have one of the double ended stamp tools by Born Pretty and I used it once and found it a bit useless as the stamp is super small and not see through (I prefer the clear ones now) and the sponge end can only be used once if your not using paint that can be washed out. The nail wraps are nice but, I'll be honest, I rarely use wraps.

// Verdict

Overall I really enjoyed this collection and I'm super happy I decided to add it to my collection. The holo shades really are something else and I've already managed to make one easy look that looks super cool. I think they could've picked a better stamping plate as I only really like the scales and drinks, everything else looks a bit cheap and weird but the polishes more than make up for it.

Unfortunately this box is now sold out however you can go forth and purchase some of the shades or put your own Pool Party box together using this as inspiration!

Under The Basic Sea // Mint & Pink Mermaid Nails

I told you I couldn't resist putting a load of stamping designs on it! I tried to do some reverse stamping as well and ruined my pinkie and the middle finger *le sigh*. I just received one of the new Born Pretty Sea World plates that I ordered early last month and I had to do something with it. I think mermaid nails are some of my favourite designs to do but I may invest in one of the new MoYou London plates which have them coloured in already for you because clearly I need more practice.

How I did it:-

The ombre was done in this post, but basically it was a 1 layer Crush in Lake Como followed by 4 sponged layers of Crush & Lake. I then used the BP-109 plate for the scale pattern and coloured some scales in using Golden Hour and Stop, Shop & Roll. The other designs came from the Sea World S001 plate with the same two shades. When reverse stamping, you might need to apply a layer of top coat on your nail before you stamp as you could end up ruining it (like I did on the pinkie...urgh).

Polishes/Tools Used:-

- Cuccio Colour // Crush In Lake Como (sheer pink creme)

- Zoya // Lake (sheer mint creme)
- Ciaté Gelology // Golden Hour (metallic rose gold)
- Morgan Taylor // Shop, Stop & Roll (teal multi-shift shimmer)

- Revlon // Quick Dry Top Coat

- Barry M // Plumpy Top Coat
- Born Pretty Stamping Plate // BP-109
- Born Pretty Stamping Plate // Sea World S001

Meebox January 2018 Namaste Edit // Nail Subscription Box

No, that's not a typo in the title (although let's admit it, we've all been doing that for the past few days 😏), this is my very first Meebox and it was their 'Namaste' edit which was originally released back in January 2018. I actually received this box at the beginning of December as they had a sale for Black Friday and I'd been eyeing this box for a while...

I was a little upset though because by the time I discovered Meebox they had just ended their subscription service after around 2 years. Now they bring out a new edit every quarter with previous boxes available to purchase. Every box is now a one-off (and I noticed it's more expensive than the old subscription) but I couldn't resist the lure of those pretty pastel shades any longer and caved.

I actually really love this box; it's got a nice mix of everything and if I wasn't subbed to 5 other subscriptions I would probably start ordering one a month until I owned all the edits. But at £30 a pop

So yeah, maybe I won't 😂. Anyway, let's get into the edit shall we??

We have three full sized polishes in:

- Cuccio Colour // Crush In Lake Como (sheer pink creme) 13ml £4.95

- Nailberry L'Oxygéné // Stone (dark grey creme) 15ml £14.50

- Zoya // Lake (sheer mint creme) 15ml £9.95

I adore Cuccio and since diving into the world of nail polish outside of Boots & Superdrug, they have become one of my favourite brands. Crush in Lake Como is a beautiful shade but very similar to OPI Sweet Memories and It's a Girl. You need around 3/4 layers but it gives off that clear gel look. 

Nailberry is brand that I've been seeing around but the prices kind of put me off because you hardly ever see these on offer. I love the bottle shape as well and like Orly this polish is said to be 'breathable'. I have no idea what companies mean by this because nails are well dead; they're like hair strands but it's all apothecary looking and I have a thing for the apothecary aesthetics (it's how Kiehl's keeps stealing my money...). I haven't used this shade yet but it's a true dark grey and I think it will work perfectly for some basic marble nails.

Then last we have classic mint creme from Zoya. Like Nailberry this is an expensive brand but it appears to be a regular in like every nail box ever so I've already racked up quite a few (and I may have bought a few in the NPD boxing day sale...). I'm not a big fan of the bottle shape but I'll let it slide for this shade because it's my favourite Zoya shade I've received so far and the most versatile.

Looks I've done using these polishes:

- Lake Crush // Mint & Pink Ombre

- Christmas Doiles // Icicles & Snowflakes
- Under The Basic Sea // Mint & Pink Mermaid Nails
- Serene Forest // Pink & Green Forest Scene
- Wedding // #Clairestelle8 Valentines Challenge

Up next in the nail care section, we also have another three products:

- Leighton Denny // Hydra Flex Serum (12ml - £12)

- Cuccio Naturalé // Butter in Lemongrass & Lavender (42g - £5.95ish)

- Soap Dodger // Cuticle Balm (20g - £3.50)

At first I thought the Leighton Denny serum was a polish and when I unscrewed the cap and saw no brush on the end; just a snapped off piece of plastic I was like

Then I quickly realised that I am an idiot because I took off both lids and this is a pump action bottle. Not much is said about this serum. On the bottle is says "treatment for dry and brittle nails" which to me sounds like a nail strengthener which make your nails dry and brittle from repeated use....on their website though they describe it as a "moisturising treatment to boost moisture levels and leave a protective film over the nail". I will say it does feel moisturising and absorbs quickly with no shine. This is great to use in photos to keep the skin from looking crusty but not shiny. It also has this strange 'remedial' scent to it, kind of like Angostura Bitters. A great find though and I've been enjoying it.

Next up is some body butter and boy do I love me some body butter and it's Cuccio as well. Win win. Now, I can't find this particular scent for sale anywhere reputable however NailPolishDirect sell this size in some other scents for £5.95 so I'm gonna go with that. This is a rich and greasy butter that I like using before bed as otherwise fingerprints will be left everywhere. It has a light floral scent which is nice for once as I'm not a big fan of floral because they just assault your nose. This doesn't, it's more like someone a meter away walked past you with some flowers. 

And then we have the spearmint balm from Soap Dodger. I had never heard of this brand but loved this balm so much after the first use that I went straight on the website on the packaging which took me to 'Ard As Nails. I have to say that brand name in the voice of Jason Statham as well. Whilst there I ordered some of their cuticle oil and two polishes which will be swatched on here soon. I love this balm though. It smells beautiful, it's great value and it's homemade in the UK. 

And then last we received some scissors:

- The Vintage Cosmetic Company // Nail Scissors (£7.50, currently on sale for £4.50)

I'm always on the look out now for 'tiny Russian scissors' (thanks Cristine) and these are some nice rose gold scissors but they're not tiny enough for my liking. They are sharp though and actually cut through things which sounds like I'm joking but they're are a lot of nail scissors out there that can't do the simplest of things.

//------------------------------------------------------------------------//

Cost £30

7 Items

Estimated Worth - £58.35

Whew! And that's it! What a long post. I didn't think I'd write that much about it. I really enjoyed this box though and it hurts that they no longer have a subscription service as they really seem to try and include a lot of indie brands and interesting nail art items. I love Mani & Lola however they don't seem to stray from Zoya and other 'mainstream' brands all that often. Also, it was nice to receive quite a few nail care items and tools. Other Meebox's include stamping plates and nail wraps; I like that they mix it up. Another little thing is that they add swatch sticks so you can see the colours straight away. It's a nice little touch.

Please check them out. Each box is £30 (although a couple are £35) and that includes p&p. On their website they state that they ship to the US but it's an extra £15. 

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