Models Own 'Grape Juice'

Hello all,

After what I felt was a disaster yesterday wearing Nails Inc. 'Elizabeth Street', I decided to scrub it off and try a polish I bought around Easter time when Boots had a 3 for 2 on everything in the cosmetics section. Since I heard so many good things about the brand, I decided to buy two with my third selection being a lip felt tip (essentially). This particular colour was my 'wildcard'. I knew I wanted a glitter (Models Own 'Southern Lights') and after 45 minutes (yes, I took THAT long) I decided to go with 'Grape Juice' - one of the brands new lines they had brought in for the spring.

Their selling point was that they were 'scented' and all had the theme of fruit. The others were Apple Pie (green), Blueberry Muffin (blue), Banana Split (yellow) and Strawberry Tart (pink). I chose the 'Grape Juice' one because a) I love the artificial smell of grapes and b) the pastel lilac was unusual yet still very feminine.

I was very excited to try this at the time as I had heard many good things about this brand. So what did I think when I tried it on again today?

Models Own 'Grape Juice'

Well, I did feel quite disappointed in the results. The brushes of this brand are not to my taste. I much prefer a wider brush that covers the nail in one stroke (like Essie, Rimmel, Bourjois etc) rather than having to do lots of little strokes. Having to apply the polish this way seems to make application streaky and produces a lot of bald spots. However, in the picture above I have only applied two layers as I had little patience with the dragging.

It also seemed to take forever to dry completely. Even after ten minutes of application it smudged very easily to the point that I was fed up and have taken it off.

It is a shame as the polish does have some very good points. It does smell great. It does smell of artificial grapes (like the scented pens I used as a kid). I think it lasts a long time too (from what I remember when I first wore it). Another plus point for it is you do get 14ml for £5. This is relatively cheap for a bigger bottle of varnish.

For those of you that have the patience to work with thinner brushes and a thicker formula, I would give it ago. If you are like me and prefer the stress free application of a wider brush and thinner formula, give this a miss.

Am I the only one who finds this product hard to work with? Or are there any tips I could be given to get the best out of this varnish?

Let me know :)

xxxxx

Nails Inc 'Elizabeth Street'

Hello Beauty Fans!

I hope you are all having a fine day. I have decided to swatch something different to O.P.I. today (although I was very tempted) and try some Nails Inc which I had not worn for a while.  I got four Nails Inc polishes just before Christmas which came with the December issue of Glamour Magazine. This worked out about £2 a polish and the first one I grabbed was Elizabeth Street. Elizabeth Street is a very pale pink for those who like to play it safe or would like something for a French Manicure. It is also very sheer and is difficult to become completely opaque.

When I first used it I thought it was amazing. It felt like it look a while to chip and the application seemed very smooth and streak free. But how do I feel about it now?

Nails Inc. 'Elizabeth Street'

Well, it's not quite as beautiful and stress free as I remember. As you can see from the bottle in the picture, I have used a lot of the lacquer and therefore this may have made the formula gloopier. When painting my nails it felt as if each coat was thicker and streakier than the last. When dry, it feels quite plastic-y and has a very 'cheap' feel to it. I also noticed that it dented easier while drying and drying time took a looooong while. I am just not feeling this polish as much as I did at Christmas time.

I'm not sure whether this is because the polish just isn't that good, the length of time I've owned this has affected its formula or whether I'm being hard on Nails Inc because I have since found a love in O.P.I.

Buying this for £2 (including the magazine) made this worth buying. However, I would not buy this full price from the shop (£11 for poor quality after a few months? No thank you...). I would rather spend 50p more and buy superior O.P.I. quality.

What do you lot think of Nails Inc.? Have I just got a rubbish bottle of polish? Or do you think that Nails Inc. are overpriced?

xxxxx

P.S.: I promise I do not promote O.P.I. for a living :)

O.P.I. 'San Tan-tonio'

Hello all!

I hope you have all been enjoying the Bank Holiday Weekend (UK residents) :) This weekend I had some real retail therapy getting some great bargains from Debenhams and Sainsbury's (to name a couple). But this post is dedicated to a beautiful nail colour I own by OPI called 'San Tan-tonio'.

I acquired 'San Tan-tonio' very cheaply, actually. Glamour magazine had an offer on for three issues of the magazine with two OPI nail polishes all for £1. Now I know a lot of people on HotUKDeals went nuts for this promotion and anyone that loves nail polish really did miss out if they didn't snap up this deal! It was like they were giving them away.

Anyway, 'San Tan-tonio' was part of a Texas collection OPI released a couple of years ago. The best way to describe this colour is a milky brown or honey coloured. My boyfriend describes it as looking like 'milky tea' and thinks it looks great. I have had many compliments from wearing this colour.

O.P.I. San Tan-tonio

When I received this as my free gift from Glamour, I thought I would not like wearing the colour very much considering Brown is my least favourite colour ever. However, when I put it on I felt very grown-up and sophisticated wearing this and feel this would be inoffensive to wear in a work environment. In my personal opinion, I feel this colour will work best at Autumn time (for those across the globe, I mean 'Fall'). I did love wearing  this honey colour polish with my Navy wool coat as the two colours compliment each other perfectly.

This lacquer has a cream finish and the formula of this was perfect: great consistency and had heavily pigmented. The picture above has two coats of polish on. Longevity is also what you expect from O.P.I. with only slight tip wear after five days.

What do you think? Have you got this lacquer? Even better, did you get to claim the deal by Glamour?

xxxxx

OPI 'I have a Herring Problem'

Hello all!

My first review and swatch will be of OPI's 'I have a Herring Problem'. Now recently after hearing so much about how great OPI was, I had to get some! And after I saw on Fragrance Direct that they had bottles for £3.99 I knew I was claiming a bargain. So my mum and I decided to put in a joint order. One of the colours I received in my order was 'I have a Herring Problem'. Unfortunately for me this is one of the colours my mum had treated herself to but we tend to swap and change! This colour is blue that has a slight green hue to it. This is not a creme, it has a lovely silver shimmer to it.

OPI 'I have a Herring Problem'

I really loved this colour more than I thought would. At first I thought it would be a bit 'blue' for my skin tone (since I'm quite pale). However it seemed to suit me and I loved wearing it while wearing jeans as I felt very co-ordinated. This was quite a pigmented lacquer and only took two coats to be fully opaque. I also wore really well with only tip wear after 4 days. I did not wait for it to chip because I fancied wearing something different.

I'm really quite jealous that this one actually belongs to my mum!

What do you think? Do you love this nail polish as much as me?

xxxx 

New Blog!

Hello people of blogger!

I have started a new blog to show what I buy beauty wise since I seem not to be able to resist buying different products at the moment.

I LOVE nail varnish currently and enjoy sampling perfumes. Although I may feature other things too.

My first post is coming soon!

xxxx