You're a Gem // Birchbox April 2019 Nails

This months Birchbox was a stunning design, but these nails just don't do it justice. I'm definitely going to have to revisit this design once I become a better nail artist because they're ok but they don't really look like the box. I used nail polish mixed with acetone and I really couldn't get that watercolour look this time. I'm going to invest in some acrylic paint though and hopefully I'll be able to get that look without ruining the base coat (and it'll be less harsh on my nails...)

The contents of the box were nowhere near as interesting as the design though this month and I felt they were a little lacklustre. I don't mind receiving body lotion and conditioner but not in such tiny samples. One month we got a 20ml conditioner and I used it in one go (my hair is down to my butt though lol).

Anyway, here are the nails!

I'm not completely unhappy but I'm not super stoked either. I just feel like they could be so much better. To be honest I should've had some new polishes by now but Born Pretty took 2 weeks to dispatch for some reason. These polishes are designed specifially to create that dreamy watercolour/marble look and I got the pink and blue especially to do some basic bitch rose quartz and serenity nails (I will never get over that pairing, it was the best).

How I did it:-

I started off with 2 coats of Blanc and then 2 layers of top coat and let them dry for a good 20 minutes. I then placed small drops of the other colours into a palette and every time I went to use them I dipped my brush in acetone, then dipped it in the polish, then dipped it back in acetone again. I'm not the best at this yet and I really couldn't get that perfect bleed as it would start to remove the other colour. I then applied a layer of top coat and then brushed on some gold streaks before ending it with a matte top coat.

Polishes/Tools Used:- (forgot to take a photo sorry!)
- Essie // Blanc (white)

- NYC Expert Last // Fresh Blue (primary blue)

- OPI // Strawberry Margarita (hot pink)
- NYC In A New York Minute // Lincoln Square Lavender (dark dusty pink)
- Ciaté // Fly Away (lavender)
- Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine// Blueberry (pastel blue)
- OPI // Lavendare to find Courage (pastel pink)
- Born Pretty Polish // #1 (gold)

Raw Beauty // Look Fantastic April 2019

What's this? The Look Fantastic box up early??? Well I've got a lot of stuff on later this month so I thought I'd take a day out to get some posts scheduled. I was a bit unsure of what to do with the box initially (although it's one of my favourite designs to date; every box should be like this). Then I saw the magazine and knew I had to do a cute leaf print on paper look.

The box itself was a little lacklustre. I would've preferred a conditioner over shampoo but the lipstick shade is quite nice for once. I thought it was a bright red but it's this nice rusty/copper/rose shade. The serum, mask and moisturiser will get used straight away but the bath salts will go into my storage box for the special day that I finally can afford a place with a bathroom big enough for a bath lol.

Surprisingly I couldn't match the shade of the box as I only have 3 brown shades...for shame. Guess I need to buy more. I stuck a matte top coat on as well but I'm glad I took photos before that as it really ruined it.

How I did it:-
I started off with 2 layers of Loom Mates then stamped on the white squares. Well, they're actually rectangles that I painted over to make them blindingly white. I can't freehand for shit. I then used the silver and a line from Holy Shapes to outline the 'paper'. Then using a multi-tude of greens (and a purple) I stamped on the leaves using the Overprint and Tropical plates.

Polishes/Tools Used:-
- Cuccio Colour // Loom Mates (light brown)

- Avon Gel Finish// Créme Brulee (light nude)

- Born Pretty Polish // #4 (white), #2 (silver), #12 (green), #379 (pastel yellow), #3 (black)
- MoYou London Polish // Olive Tree (pastel olive), Orchid Chic (purple)
- Born Pretty Warm Tea Series // WT01 Melody of Music Box (mustard green)
- Revlon // Quick Dry Top Coat
- Born Pretty Plate // Overprint L002
- Nicole Diary Plate // ND-038
- MoYou London Plate // Tropical 35

SPOTLIGHT SWATCH: Kure Bazaar // Hope

Spring is finally upon us! That's why I chose this beautiful teal green shade to go in my Latest In Beauty Style Awards box. There were quite a few other nail polish options to choose from but they were either red or coral red so I went for this (y'all know how I feel about red polish).

The Style Awards box is now one of my favourite times of year. It started last year and it's a special one-off curation of crazy insane products. You can pick 6 for £30 this year and all the products are items nominated in the The Sunday Times Style Awards. Most of my items were full size including an SPF face cream that retails at £92...yep. I love this box.

As this is a swatch post though, I'll chat about this polish first before a quick note about the other products.

Kure Bazaar // Hope

This lovely palm leaf shade is perfect for upcoming palm leaf mani's (shocker). I don't have a green shade quite like this and I'm always looking to expand on my green collection. This shade is very runny and I was a bit shocked as I'm used to just loading up the brush. Don't do that with this one or it'll flood. Clean up was simple enough but it does stain the cuticle area and my brushes are now bright green. Not even my pure acetone got rid of the stains on my brush. So make sure you wear this with a peel off basecoat or a really good base as it will stain the nail really bad after a days wear.

Even though it's quite a thin consistancy it stamps really well. Just load up the plate and perfect palm leaves. It isn't all that great on dark polishes but it works really well on top of white. I was very surprised.

I had never heard of this brand before but they are a french brand that aim to make sure their polishes are made up of 85% natural resources. Their website just says that all their polishes are "non-toxic" but no specific term such as 3-Free. I'm assuming they are at least 3-Free though as I can't smell any of that pesky Formaldehyde (John & Ginger state that they are 10-Free though). They have some beautiful colours though; especially in the pink/orange range, it's a shame they're £15 each though (that's more than my fav Nailberry!). They're also not stocked on any 'mainstream' websites but Lovelula, John & Ginger and Naturismo stock them in the UK.

//Other Products

As for the other products, here was my 'haul'

- Isle of Paradise Medium Self-Tanning Water (200ml Full Size - £18.95)

- Lumene Invisible Illumination Watercolour Blush in Coral Bloom (15ml Full Size - £22.50)

- CND SolarOil Nail & Cuticle Care Pen (2.5ml Full Size - £9.99, a review is coming soon!)

- NaturaBissé Diamond White Oil Free Brilliant Sun Protection (30ml Full Size - £92...I know right?)

- Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in Pillow Talk (1g Sample Size - £6.85 based on full size)

So including the polish I got a £165 box for £30. Not to shabby. LIB is a great subscription though in general as their contents are full size more often than not.

Latest In Beauty Style Awards Box

STAMPING PLATES: MoYou London // Botanical 3 & 4

So, I'm gonna change things up a bit and start doing some plate reviews because I have like almost a hundred and I need to start using them....also, these just came out (29th March). MoYou had been teasing on their insta that they would have some new plates coming out soon to replace Flower Power 23, which has been out of stock for ages. I don't think they're going to remake it. In fact nearly all of their Flower Power plates are sold out. 

So in this new Botanical range there are four plates:

With their new £6.99 price tag. Personally, I think they should've kept them at £5.99 as the size of the plates hasn't increased. Also, their shipping is ridiculous at a standard £3.99 for any order (that doesn't contain nail polish, then you have to £5.80...). So one plate comes to a total of £10.98. That's extortionate; and I'm part of the problem because I paid it. I bought 3 & 4 on the launch day because I've noticed new collections are selling out very fast and MoYou said they are not restocking plates anymore. I didn't buy them on a whim, I really had to think about it and look to see if I could get similar elsewhere and I think B4 is quite unique though and worth buying.

I didn't get plates 1 & 2 because there are so many plates just like them. The Mother Nature, Kitty and Doodles collections are virtually the same as Botanical 1 and I have 3 Harunouta Plates (that sell for around £1.50) exactly like Botanical 2. I love overprint plates so B3 I had to purchase as it has some lovely and unique succulent prints on it with all the lovely shading and the insect prints on B4 had me hooked straight away. I have some curtains that I bought from Ikea years ago with these exact designs and every time I look at it I want to do my nails like that; and now I can! I can already see the design in black on top of an A-England polish.

I really loved this design that MoYou did to promote the plate and I decided to do something similar;

The designs are all from Botanical 3. I'm yet to do a design using B4 (but it's coming, that plate has become one of my favourites). The Zig Zag stripes are from one of their Tropical Plates...I have far too many of them.

Botanical Collection

MATCH THAT MANI // Kitsch Blush-Mauve Hair Ties

So, because I love stealing designs from life, I'm starting a new section called "match that mani" to well, match that mani to life and eventually I'm hoping to start doing videos as well (if I ever finish this degree lol). First up we have these hair ties from Kitsch because god damn if they don't look cute and who doesn't love a simple ombre mani?

The colour match isn't great...clearly a sign I need to buy more polish. I wanted to do a little more than just a simple ombre...who knows I may end up stamping on top...I can never resist.

I almost don't even want to use these they're so cute. I chose them in my Latest In Beauty box for March and they had a set of black/grey as well but I loved these ones the most. I was hoping they wouldn't sell out by my next order date so I could get both but they did.

I kind of like the simplicity of the look though. I normally don't wear just polish on its own on my 'main' hand. The colours remind me of Neapolitan ice cream. Oh I should put ice cream stamps on it....don't ruin it girl...

Ok it didn't ruin it and it looks hella cute.

Bless, this stamping plate was also the first one I ever bought. I stuck a matte top coat on as well and the colour match is much better now as well. I also didn't use a white stamping polish...oh no I used OPI Alpine Snow which, as I discovered in this post, is one of the greatest white stamping polishes ever! It's weak as hell painted on but stamping is perfect. I also love how it doesn't smudge under a matte top coat.

Polishes/Tools Used:-
- Ciaté // Prima Ballerina (grey/mauve)

- Cuccio Colour// I Wonder Where (light grey)

- MoYou London Polish // Teenage Blush (dark pink)
- MoYou London Polish // One and Only (light pink)
- Jessica // Tease (pale pink)
- OPI // Alpine Snow (white)
- Barry M // Matte Top Coat
- Born Pretty Plate // BP-L076