How To Get Studded Nails!

Hi!

 

I'm by no means the best at nail art...a combination of me being clumsy and also impatient usually renders my nails smudged and messy.

 

However you can still try, right? :)

 

 

I spotted these 17 Deconstructed Nail Studs on sale in Boots and from the moment I saw them I knew I couldn't leave without them!

I love the packaging too!

 

 

 

 

 

These studs are pretty tiny to be careful not to knock the little pot over!

 

 

 

1)

First I applied a clear base coat to my nails to stop them staining.

 

2)

I put on one coat of a dark charcoal colour with slight shimmer. You could either use grey or black which would both look great with these studs so its up to you! The colour I used as from the Nail Parade collection from The Colour Workshop that I got ages ago.

 

 

3)

 

When you put on the second coat of polish, apply the nail studs whilst the polish is still wet. I've found the best way to do this is to press them into your finger and then lightly dab the nail to apply them. If they need moving slightly or pressing in further then you can use tweezers or a cuticle stick.

 

 

 

 

4)

Finally, add a clear coloured coat of nail polish over the top to seal the studs and help them last longer on your nails!

 

I'm SUPER happy with the finished result...it looks so edgy and cool and I absolutely love it. I will definitely be using these all the time in the future!

 

The nails studs from 17 are about £4 and in my opinion worth every penny - they did a great job with these!

 

What do you think of studded nails? Let me know in the comments below!

 

Thanks for reading!

Libby x

*REVIEW* Sleek Vintage Romance Palette

Hi!

 

It's no secret that I adore the Sleek eyeshadow palettes...I actually have 7 of them and I have no intention of stopping there! :)

 

 

I love the packaging that these palettes come in - they're very sturdy and (as their brand name would suggest) sleek. They also stack very easily and take up minimal space.

 

These costs £7.99 and I was recently thrilled (possibly a little more thrilled than is rational) that there is now Sleek in Boots stores as well as Superdrug! :D:D:D

 

 

There are 12 shades in this palette: 6 metallic shades, 2 shimmer, 3 sparkle shades and 1 matte.

 

I have to say straight away that I love the mix of shadows in this palette in terms of shades. I love these deep, sultry shadows that can create a smokey look but because of the pinks/purples they still look glamorous and have some colour.

 

The texture of the metallic is (as usual with Sleek) great; they're buttery, smooth and pigmented. A few other shades are a little dry and need perhaps a touch more work to get them looking true to pan but there isn't a dud shade in here. I can honestly say there is no shade here that doesn't work well for me.

 

I'll break up the shades into groups of four as it makes them a little easier to photograph and swatch!

 

 

 

These are the first four shades.

 

From top:

 

Pretty In Paris:

 Metallic, frosty pale silver colour.

This has good pigmentation and whilst it is too much for me to use as a brow highlight it works really well on the inner corner.

 

Meet in Madrid:

Metallic yellow/orange gold.

 I'm SUCH a sucker for gold colours. Again, great pigmentation. This reminds me of UD's Half Baked apart from it has more orange undertones. I love using golds and this has been used quite a few times already.

 

A Vow In Venice:

Shimmery deep plum colour. I'd say this is a shimmer as opposed to metallic because it isn't as intense, yet it is still pretty and works well for a plum smoky eye. The pigmentation isn't perhaps as amazing as the first two but is still very good.

 

Marry In Monte Carlo:

Dark, frosted burgundy/dark fuscia. This (along with the other frosted shades) has pretty stunning pigmentation. This looks so pretty packed on the lid!

 

Here are the second group of 4!

 

 

 

From top:

 

Court in Cannes:

Medium metallic brown/taupe.

I love these types of shades as theyre great for a traditional simple neutral look. This again has great pigmentation and looks so pretty on the middle of the lid.

 

 

Lust In LA:

This is more cool toned that Court In Cannes but with the same metallic/frosty finish and same great pigmentation. I sometimes can see very subtle hints of olive in this shade but that could be my imagination playing tricks on me.

 

 

Honeymoon In Hollywood:

This is a rich berry shade with some silver sparkle. I was impressed because despite the slightly drier finish I found that the pigmentation was great.

 

Bliss In Barcelona:

Frosty, metallic medium purple. This seems to show up with almost a blueish reflex sometimes and reminds me of UD's Psychedelic Sister and also a little bit of Blue Bus but this has a far less obvious blue base. In the pan this looks a lot more purple than in the swatch above.

 

Here are the last 4 shades!

 

 

 

I took the photos for these swatches sideways as it seemed to work a little better this way.

 

From top/right

 

Romance In Rome:

This does remind me of the last shade but although this looks dark in the pan this is a lot more blue. It looks like a dark purple but this does have a similar blue reflex to the previous shade but it is more prominent.

 

Propose In Prague:

This is the only matte shade in this palette and it is an uncommon shade. It's a warm, orange toned mid brown shade and is quite interesting. I think this shade is useful for blending purposes even if I don't use it on it's own that much. The pigmentation is decent but it can be a little on the chalky side.

 

Forever In Florence:

This is a deep plum/burgundy which has some sparkle in it. The texture is again a little dry but the pigmentation is good. This looks quite a bit brighter and lighter than it is in the pan.

 

Love In London:

This is one of my favourites: it is a matte black but with a lovely sparkle to it. The pigmentation is really good and this is such a useful shade for adding into the crease to darken.

 

 

So there are all the shades! I have to say that I'm really happy with this palette and I'm sure I'll use this palette a lot. You can create quite a variety of looks ranging from golden/taupe looks to deep plums. Something that is interesting is that quite a few of the colours look quite different when swatched compared to how they look in the pan, but all the colours are beautiful.

 

As mentioned earlier, there isn't a bad shade in this palette!

 

Have you tried this palette yet?

Thanks so much for reading!

Libby x

Bourjois Paris 1001 Lashes Mascara

Hi!

 

My review to day is of the Bourjois Paris mascara that I showed recently in a haul.

As far as I can tell from looking online, this retails for about £3 although I don't think I've seen it really in many stores.

 

 

This has a rubber wand which I really like as I prefer them to bristle brushes...I find that they separate my lashes more.

 

 

I did try to take before and after photos for this but I struggled with the lighting...the photos don't look very clear so I thought I'd leave them out!

 

Basically although this does volumise my lashes quite well it does clump easily. The formula is pretty wet and quite sticky which I don't like too much as I prefer drier formulas.

The wand definitely helps with stopping it clumping  ( I don't want to think about how much clumping there would be if the want wasn't so good) but I still find my lashes are quite hard and stiff after applying this.

 

Another thing I've noticed is that the wand feels a little...scratchy? It's hard to describe but when putting it on my lashes the wand is quite spiky and its not too hard to accidently poke yourself in the eye...and it hurts.

Maybe I'm just clumsy! :P

 

I think overall it's a decent mascara and I'll probably use it till it either dries up, or I get bored and find something else I prefer!

 

Thanks for reading!

Libby x

 

 

 

Sleek Series: 5 Looks With The Sleek Acid Palette

Hi!

 

I was looking through my Sleek palettes the other day and decided that I needed to remember to get more use out of them!

I thought I'd do a little series of posts where I do 5 different looks with each of the palettes.

I shuffled them and the first one I picked up was coincidentally the newest addition to my Sleek eye shadow palettes, the Acid palette. This is such a fun palette to experiment with!

 

 

 

 

Here are the 3 looks!

 

 

Look 1:

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is probably my favourite...I love the mix of bright colours and the black to add smokiness in the outer corner.

 

Colours used:

 

Matte Black (crease)

Neon Pink (Middle third)

Neon yellow (Inner third)

Shimmery Lighter Blue (inner half of bottom lashline)

Matte White (highlight)

Shimmer Darker Blue  (outer half of bottom Lashline)

 

I then finished with black eyeliner and mascara.

 

Look 2:

 

 

 

 

 

I decided to go for more blues/greens in this look.

 

Colours used:

 

Neon Green (inner third)

Shimmery Silver (outer third)

Shimmery dark blue (crease)

Matte White (highlight)

 

Again, black liner and mascara were then added!

 

Look 3:

 

 

 

 

 

This was quite a bright look that isn't too wearble but fun to try out :)

 

Colours Used:

 

Neon Orange (Inner third)

Shimmery Blue (Crease)

Neon Green (waterline over NYX eyeshadow base)

Matte Black (lower lashline)

 

I then added mascara.

 

Look 4:

 

 

 

 

 

This look is very...pink. :)

 

Colours Used:

 

Neon Pink (inner half)

Deeper Pink (outer half)

Black (crease)

Matte White (highlight)

+ Black liner.

 

This is really bright which is so easy to do when you have a palette that is as bold and bright as this is! :)

 

Look 5:

 

 

 

 

 This look to me just screams "acid". This bright green actually looks really cool and I actually really like this look!

 

Colours Used:

 

Neon Green (Inner half)

Moss Green (Outer half)

Black (Crease)

Neon Yellow (Inner corner near tearduct)

White (highlight)

Neon Green (used over NYX eyeshadow base on the waterline)

Shimmery blue (smudged on bottom + top lashines)

 

Bonus:

 

I decided to include this as a "bonus" as its very close to the first look...however I substituted the black for the matte dark pink and discovered that you can actually make it look surprisingly different...this is pretty much the same as the first look but even brighter.

 

 

 

 

Colours used:

 

Matte Dark Pink (crease)

Neon Pink (middle third)

Neon Orange (blending middle third and inner third)

Neon Yellow (Inner third)

Shimmery Light Blue (bottom lashline)

Matte Black (Top lashline)

 

 

So there you go!

These types of posts do take a little while to put together but they're very fun to do and it means that I can get the most out of the shadows that I have..

Eventaully I will get one of these posts done for each of the 6 palettes that I have from Sleek so keep a look out if you're interested! :)

 

Thanks so much for reading!
Libby x

 

*REVIEW* NYX Single Shadows (Asphalt, Fahrenheit & Eucalyptus)

Hi!

 

Today I thought I'd do a review of the new NYX shadows I got in a recent haul.

 

I got 3 new colours this time but I also have 3 other shadows which you can see HERE in another review if you're interested.

 

I tried to get colours that I don't normally get and ones that I didn't have dupes of already in my collection..hence why this seems to be a slightly random collection of shades!

I'll have swatches at the end of this post.

 

1) Fahrenheit

 

 

This is one of my favourites.

This is a deep shimmery pink colour that would almost be a wine red if it was a little deeper.

This is quite soft and is pigmented but you have to be a bit careful of fallout.

There is a little shimmer but not a huge amount which makes it a good shade to wear in the crease for an everyday look instead of using neutrals.

I think this is very close to MAC's Expensive Pink colour. I don't have that colour myself but I thought of it immediately when I swatched this and I've seen online several people have been comparing it so I think this is a good dupe for that and a lot cheaper!

 

2) Eucalyptus

 

 

This is an unsual colour...It's almost a grey colour but with some shimmer.

I've found this very useful for blending purposes (for example softening black shades) but not so useful on it's own. It's a little too dirty to use as a highlight for me.

Probably the least useful colour I got however the colour payoff is good.

This seems slightly harder in texture.

 

 

3) Asphalt

 

 

 

This is a really interesting colour and my other favourite.

It's coming across more brown on camera but it's almost orange in person with little specs of gold sparkle in it.

This is a really pretty colour for making blue eyes pop and works well worked in with other bronzes and golds.

Again, the colour payoff is great.

 

 

The top is Eucalyptus, the second down is Asphalt and the bottom is Fahrenheit.

 

Generally I'm really happy with these colours! Eucalyptus is the only colour that maybe isn't so useful to have but it would still work out great for a smokey eye.

I'm really happy again with the quality from NYX and all these shadows are only about £4.50 each which is great.

 

Thanks so much for reading!

Libby x

Small Beauty Haul!

Hi!

 

Today I just wanted to show you a few things I picked up actually a while ago..I just forgot to post about them and the photo for it just sat in the depths of my laptop files.

 

 

I got the Boots Essential Nail Polish Remover because it's only £1 and it works well! I don't notice any difference at all when I use anything more expensive and so I just get this one now. :)

 

I also just picked up some plain black hairbands from Boots too...all my hairbands have mysteriously disappeared recently. I suspect my cat.

 

I got 3 nail polishes from Miss Sporty...I will show these in more detail soon! Annoyingly they didn't put the proper full names on the bottles, only on the display (it annoys me to NO END when companies do that...WHY do they deliberately make it difficult to know which shade you have? How hard is it to put the name on the bottle...ok rant over. ).

The dark blue shade is 510 I think, the light teal colour is 060 and the gorgeous duo chrome purple is 040.

 

I ran out of my usual Aussie Luscious Long Spray Leave in Conditioner which I always use to detangle and condition my hair after washing so I decided to try the Miracle Recharger one instead which promises to make hair shinier. I have noticed that I think it actually has been working!

 

My hair has been damaged recently and I think that the hairbrush I was using to brush my hair whilst it was still damp was causing some of that damage so I decided to try a wide toothed comb instead which was recommended for brushing out hair with minimal damage.

This Mark Hill one was only £4 and it works really well! Really impressed with it so far.

 

Anyway that's it! I'll probably show the nail polishes in posts soon!

 

Thanks so much for reading - I really appreciate it! :)

Libby x

 

NOTD: Beetle Wings

Hi!

 

Haven't done a nail of the day for ages so I thought I'd post this one as I'm in love with this colour at the moment..

I got a couple of polishes from Miss Sporty recently and I got this one which I believe is called Beetle Wings. It's from a duo-chrome nail polish collection that they released called Metal Flip I think (?) .

This one kind of reminds me of the Accessorize polish in Aztec (which you can see HERE) and I'm such a sucker for this kind of thing.

 

 

 

 

 

Look how pretty.

It's pretty much impossible to get a good picture of this on the actual nails so I kind of gave up.. :P

It shows up pretty much how you see it in the bottle.

The duo-chrome is beautiful, it shows purple, gold, green, bronze, blue and even a little pink in some lights...

 

I didn't get any of the other Metal Flip colours because they didn't catch my eye as much as this one did but I did get 2 other polishes just from their normal nail polish line which I'll end up showing you at some point.

 

Thanks for reading!

Libby x