Heatwave // Look Fantastic August 2019 Nails

Not the greatest box art I've ever done but still way better than last months Look Fantastic offering. I was completely inspired by the red sand/orange sunset combo and set about to recreate that. The sea foam on my middle and ring fingers are actually from the Nicole Diary marble plate and I placed it strategically to look like waves as I don't actually have a stamp like that...over 100 plates and only a few with waves on them. Looks like I need to buy more.

I was also very happy to finally do the ombre of H&M colours that I wanted to do when I first got them and mentioned here when I swatched them. They blend so beautifully together and the dark burnt orange stamps really well on light colours. I'll have to use that in a future design.

Polishes/Tools Used:-

- Cuccio // Flirt (white)
- H&M // Cantaloupe (mustard), The Heat is on (orange), Sun on Clay (burnt orange), 
- A-England // Camelot (black)
- Avon Gel Shine // Top Coat

- Harunouta //L080 Plate
- Nicole Diary // 076 Plate

Mani & Lola July 2019 // Nail Subscription Box

I am soooo late with this one. This came in the post the day after I left home last month and I had forgotten to change my address because I thought it would arrive whilst I was back so I only just got it last week when I went home. Suffice to say I've now changed my address so everything should start to be on time again. It was so hard as well seeing all the beautiful bright shades that came in July's box and it was just sat there all lonely. Let's start off with the neon shade.

Love at First Skate // Artistic Colour Revolution

15ml Full Size - RRP £8.95

Collection: A New Skate of Mind

Release Date: Summer 2017

This surprised me as I was expecting a gloopy thick polish but it's actually quite sheer (but not streaky) and very bright. You could use this to layer designs while still having a neon mani; I'm impressed. This is a hot pink Barbie shade though and will be perfect for summer flamingo nails. It also dries spectaularly fast. I'd say that this needs between 2/3 coats depending on how thick you apply your layers; I'm wearing two layers.

Flirt // Cuccio

13ml Full Size - RRP £4.95

Collection: Coquette

Release Date: Spring 2019

Yes a Cuccio shade, and a white! It's hard to do a good white and Cuccio tried but this isn't the greatest white shade I have. I'm still yet to come across the perfect white that doesn't have any streaks but Essie Blanc is pretty close. The first coat of this is super streaky and the formula is quite thick as well. The second coat is ultra gloopy and I've not had to do this much clean up in a while. It was just not nice to apply. I think this is the first time I've been disappointed with a Cuccio polish.

Dance Party 'Teal Dawn // OPI

15ml Full Size - RRP £8.95

Collection: The Neon Collection

Release Date: Summer 2019

This is a fantastic blue shade and it goes so well with the white. I really love another shade in this collection called "Pump up the Volume" and it's this super bright neon yellow/green. In fact I love the whole collection. It's also nice to see it's the regular formula as I'm not a big fan of the Infinite Shine (and I don't use gel). This shade is stunning though and quite possibly my new favourite blue shade I own. It has a silk finish, so not quite matte but not glossy. It also dries incredibly fast. I'm wearing two coats as 1 is still sheer but I love this shade. It's my favourite in the box.

Believe or Leave // Nails Inc

14ml Full Size - RRP £10

Collection: I Believe In Unicorns

Release Date: Summer 2017

Nails Inc briefly brought back this set for £30 for a while but now it's gone. I already have quite a few shades from it now and we just got another shade a few boxes back. I feel like this shade would've been nicer in a spring box though and we received another bright shade. That said it is a nice pale lavender shade and I don't actually have a shade quite like this in my collection. The closest is H&M Wild Lilac but that's a bit warmer. This needs at least two coats but applies like a dream. Not a bad shade at all.

Cuticle Oil + // Orly

9ml Full Size - RRP £7.85

Apparently this has won the Beauty Bible Anti Age award? The scent is bloody awful though. It could just be me as it's this chemical orange and cherry but it reminds me of this orange medicine I used to take as a kid and that stuff was revolting and always made me feel sick...yeah this stuff smells exactly like that. Great memories. I do like that this isn't as oily as some pure cuticle oils and it absorbs rather quickly. I eventually added up adding some of my own essential oils to it to try and mask the orange smell but to no avail. I'm not sure if I will use this up.

// Box Totals //

5 Items - All Full Size

Estimated Value - £40.70

// Verdict

Finally, a pretty perfect summer box. Even though the white wasn't the best formula it will definitely be useful for smooshing and drag marble. Oooo maybe that should be my first look with all the polishes; a drag marble with all the shades. I'm very excited for next month though, I'm hoping there are some burnt orange/green shades for autumn. I can finally do some looks using my new Uberchic lovely leaves plates!

Mani & Lola

Monthly - £20

3 Months - £62.85

6 Months - £113.70

12 Months - £203.40

£2.95 p&p every month

Beauty Box Review // Look Fantastic August 2019

An early box review! I was also very lucky as I went home for two days and this box was due to arrive on Monday but it came Saturday so I didn't have to wait to go home again to get it. I love the bright orange shade this month and I think I'll have to do something with the Kiss My Peach duo I just got. But onto the products.

Luxie // 737 Tapered Highlighter Brush
Full Size - RRP £27

This is a nice brush. It's sturdy, beautifully made and soft. I don't use it on my face but I use it on my nails to brush off excess glitter and it works like a charm. Great item to start off with even if it is grossly overpriced.

BellaPierre // Heatwave Highlighting Palette
Full Size - RRP £????

Seeing as how this has been made exclusively for the Look Fantastic beauty box, it doesn't actually have an RRP because you can't buy it. I wouldn't have minded if it was a quality product but this thing is awful. There is barely any pigment, it's just chunky glitter pieces. This is the type of product you would find in a bargain bin for £1. It's even in that cheap plastic packaging. Even Barry M palettes come in the cardboard packing which looks nicer and is kinder to the environment. LF are stating this is worth £30....sure Jan.

James Read // 1 Hour Glow Mask Face & Body
25ml Sample - RRP £3.75 (based on £30 for 200ml)

I'm not the biggest fan of James Read products, the spray for the face made me break out in spots and I feel this would do the same. I've gotten into a good routine with skincare products and I'm not sure where this would fall as is not a moisturiser or serum so I would use it on top but then it feelds like there would be too many products...I'll give it a go on the weekends as I don't think I have the strength to go into work with an orange face if it goes wrong.

Natura // Herb Infused Sheet Mask
1 Sheet Full Size - RRP £4.95

I've had one of these before in a Pink Parcel and it was a nice sheet mask. But sheet masks are all the same, they all hydrate and that's it. I've gone through so many different ones and I can't honestly say one of them has made a meaningful impact. I like using them but they're not worth £4.95 for one.

Doucce // Luscious Lip Stain in 'Holiday Getaway'
1.75ml Sample - RRP £6.12 (based on £21 for 6ml)

The full size of this also comes with gloss so you can wear matte or glossy lips but I've tried wearing this and it's not for me. I think this is probably the worst shade they have. It's this dark orange/peach/coral thing and it looks awful. I just think the whole matte lip trend is over in general. I was never a big fan and it makes your lips crusty in real life (we all know that front camera blurs...) This dries to a powdery matte finish that still transfers but does remove quite easy with some micellar water. Not a great product overall though.

Rituals // The Ritual of Holi Body Cream
100ml Full Size - RRP £6.90

And last is my favourite product in the box. When I started receiving Rituals products several years ago in boxes I hated them. The scents were just awful, but their latest ones like the Ayurveda and Holi smell so good. I love this body cream and I'll be buying it as soon as I run out. It makes my skin feel so good and it layers well with my body oil and my skin has never looked better. And that's after using the Sol De Janiero Bum Bum cream for a month. That stuff is £44 and this £7 cream has beaten it hands down. If only  Rituals had a similar scent. I just wish this stuff came in a 200ml size but it is more than worth £7 for 100ml.

// Box Value

// 6 Items // 4 Full Size // 2 Sample Sizes

// £48.72 Estimated Worth

Not as good as last month and the estimated value is quite low for an LF box but the "exclusive" highlighter has a stupid made up price of £29.99. Yeah no. This was a nice box for August though where the summer nights are starting to get darker (sad face) it's just a shame a few of the products were a bit lacklustre. But I love that Rituals cream so all in all, I'm pretty happy this month.

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 September is a Molton Brown Shower Gel in Orange and Bergamot. I'm pretty sure they had a Molton Brown shower gel for their birthday edition last year as well. If they have the Eve Lom Cleanser it's obvious that they do the exact same box every year. Look out for a Mane & Tail hand cream and Parma Violets as well.

STAMPING PLATES: MoYou London Henna 11

Oh damnn this is a cute as plate! The designs on it kind of remind me of Sailor Moon style moon crescents and now I can't stop pointing my fingers to the sky in an effort to summon moon tiara magic.

If I could choose a super power I honestly think it would be the sailor moon transformation sequence. But anyway, I love the intricate designs featured on this plate and how they are perfect for smaller nails. I feel like the triangular ones are supposed to be placed at the bottom of the nail, not the top as they aren't quite big enough but I appreciate that the designs are more for shorter nails. There are too many plates out there with big-ass designs on them.

I also love the teeny-tiny palm tree in the oval pattern; that will come in handy as my freehand skills are atrocious.

As you can see I didn't really have much difficulty picking the designs up but it all depends on your stamper and polish. I started off using the MoYou London XL clear stamper and White Knight polish (which is £7.99) and I just could not get a clean stamp. It was actually starting to piss me off.

The next day I tried again but with the MoYou crystal clear rectangular stamper and Born Pretty white polish and then I had no problems. MoYou polishes are so wishy washy. I honestly don't know how they get such clean prints on their videos, they must do hundreds of takes.

I can't really say I've seen a plate quite like this just yet. Born Pretty released a moon flower plate a while ago but the amount of variety on the plate is pretty unique. I have a feeling Born Pretty will come out with something similar very soon though; they always do. Be aware though that MoYou have stopped restocking plates now so once they go; they're gone forever. I'll have to keep trolling eBay for one of the Artist plates.

MoYou London Henna 11 Plate

SWATCHES: Nails Inc // Kiss My Peach Duo

I have been wanting this duo for so long and then I found a brand new set on eBay going for £7, how could I refuse? I love peach shades, they go so well with my skintone and I'm always reaching for a peach blusher and peach eyeshadow, plus I love peaches. A lot of people don't like the skin on peaches but I find it oddly satisfying cause it feels like velvet that you can eat...that's a weird sentence. So you can imagine how I happy I was that the box it comes in also has that velvet-like fuzz. Adorbs.

Peach Tease // Light Pastel Peach

I'm not sure which colour I love more. Can I pick both?

This pastel peach shade is ready in two coats and perfect for spring and summer. This is also one of those magic shades that make you look more tan. This will also be a great polish for sunset mani's and I'm already cooking up a look with both of these.

Hot Fuzz // Coral Peach

A great film and a great nail polish. I have an almost vintage Avon shade sort of similar to this called Orange Creamsicle, which is a bit darker but they're both that playful summer shade that remind me of icepops. This one needs at least two coats and it's such a cute shade.

// Verdict

I think this is one of the best duo's (if not the best) Nails Inc have ever done. These shades have been perfectly curated and will suit anyone. At £15, I think £7.50 is reasonable for each shade as these ones are actually of high quality. I've had a few Nails Inc duo sets and I've been completely unimpressed by them unlike this one.

Apparently this one is supposed to be peach scented? It just smells like nail polish to me but it is slightly less nose-curdling...that said, I've gotten so used to the smell, I miss it sometimes...maybe that's a sign I should take a break. Never.

Overall, if you're gonna get a Nails Inc duo, it has to be this one. The shades are universal and good enough to wear on their own which is high praise coming from someone who will do their nails up to three times a day.