Autumn Berries

Autumn is my favourite season. I love the crisp, fresh air, the cold but not unbearably freezing weather, the leaves turning beautiful browns and reds, conkers, Autumn fashion and of course Autumn cosmetics.
As soon as the season comes around I get so excited to whip out the berry lipsticks, nail varnish and when I'm feel adventurous the berry toned eyeshadows (think MAC Cranberry....*swoon*).

Berry lipsticks are my favourite. I'm a huge lover of a smokey eye and nude lip, but something about a berry toned lips makes me so happy. I instantly feel put together, confident and a lot more seasonal. I have a few lipsticks in this category, but I've whittled it down to 1 high end and 1 drugstore favourite.

Autumn Nails Comeback

Autumn is here! My favourite time of year…cold, crisp days, the beautiful autumnal colours the trees go, fallen leaves, scarves, layers, boots, and Autumn nail colours!
Darker nail polishes are definitely my thing, I'm not a fan of pastel or nude shades, so when A/W comes back around I get very excited.

My favourite Autumnal nail polish at the moment is by Avon, and it's in the shade Cherry Jubilee (£6).
This nail polish is named very well, as the colour certainly reminds me of those gorgeously dark red cherries (now I'm hungry). The shade is just amazing, and looks really nice against my pale skin in the colder seasons. The formulation is also a winner for me! I think I've mentioned before on my blog that I'm extremely fussy with nail polish, and there's a lot of factors that I like to be spot on.
The consistency of this nail polish is pretty great, it's not gloopy and thick, but it's not watery. Two coats is the perfect amount - it'll give you an almost gel like effect and a really deep colour. Drying time is another area this product wins in, it'll only take a couple of minutes for the polish to dry completely.
It's also very chip resistant, I'd actually say that this nail product is probably the one that lasts the longest on my nails with no chips, and no peeling. Yipeeee!
The brush isn't the thickest, but nor is it ridiculously thin, so I can't give it a thumbs down for that.
Basically, the Avon Nailwear Pro is an all round winner for me!

InStyle Freebie - June 2014

Who doesn't love a magazine freebie? There's often some really great ones out there, especially at this time of year. I recently got the June issue of InStyle magazine, and with it you get a FREE nails inc. nail varnish, which normally retail for £11…the magazine is £3.90, what a bargain!

Nails Inc always do really amazing link ups with magazine, and this is no exception. With your InStyle magazine you can get 1 of 3 new and limited edition Nails Inc. shades from their Brazilian Collection, there's Sao Paulo Streets which is a light grey/beige shade, Sugarloaf Sunset which is a gorgeous bright pink and then there's the one I opted for, Copacabana Coral which is the most beautiful orangey red.

Copacabana Coral is a perfect colour for summer, it's bright and cheerful and also goes with a lot of different colours, which I always take into consideration as I hate painting my nails all the time.
I'm quite fussy when it comes to nail varnish, you'll know that if you read this post, but Nails Inc. have really impressed me. The consistency of the polish isn't running, but isn't gloopy either - you could get away with one coat, but I always like to do two. The brush is a nice size, and the colour lasts a long time on the nails before it chips. The only downside is it's not the fattest drying, but I can get over that. Oh, one more bonus, it's so shiny! Ahhhh, pretty.
This shade really is stunning, I adore it and feel like I'll be sporting it all Summer.

I would highly recommend going to the shops to pick up InStyle with one of the three Nails Inc. polishes. InStyle is a great magazine too, the June issue has got some good interviews in it, great fashion features, beauty tips for summer and more.

What's the best magazine freebie

you've ever got?

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Maybelline Color Show Nail Polish | Review

I don't often buy nail varnish, and when I do I almost always go for Rimmel because they're cheap, but brilliant quality with the best brush ever. However, I was in Boots looking for some neutral shades and none from the Rimmel line took my fancy, so I went over to the Maybelline stand after hearing good things about their nail varnishes and I picked up two shades from the Color Show collection.
I'm quite fussy with nail varnish, there's lots of things I look for as I'm impatient waiting for them to dry (anyone else always suddenly find loads of things to do just as they finish painting their nails?!), the formulation has to be the perfect consistency i.e. not runny but not gloopy, and the brush can't be too thin. So, does Maybelline Color Show get the thumbs up from me?

The shades I chose were Love This Sweater, which is a pink/mauve nude shade and Cool touch which is a bluey grey. I thought these shades would be really lovely for Spring time, and they'd go with almost anything.
I really like the packaging…it's simple but there's something about it that makes it feel nice, and not cheap. I prefer it to Rimmel, but the preferences don't extend any more than that.
The brush is quite thin, it's not the thinnest I've seen but not so thick you can do your nail with 1 or 2 swipes, which is annoying.
The formulation is fairly watery, by no means do I like gloopy nail varnish but I do like it thick enough that I could get away with doing one coat if I'm in a hurry. With Maybelline I need at least two coats, but I normally opt for three, otherwise the colour looks too sheer.
Drying time, which is another thing I find important, is not terrible but not anything amazing either. I left it about 3-4 minutes between coats, and that was long enough.
The wear is better than expected considering the fairly thin consistency, normally nail varnish chips within a couple of days on me, this one lasted about 3 or 4…that's with a base coat but no top coat.

Overall I don't think I would repurchase this brand of nail varnish again…I'm glad I bought the two polishes because I really do like the shades, but the formulation doesn't cut it, however for the price of £2.99 I didn't expect anything outstanding.

What's your favourite brand of nail polish?

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Tanya Burr - Lips and Nails

Tanya Burr - beauty blogger and YouTube star has just released a line of lip glosses and nail varnishes with eye CANDY. I for one am very excited about this!

As Tanya trained to be a makeup artist, specialises in the beauty business and knows all there is to know about makeup products I have faith that her products, in particular the lip glosses, will be amazing. I know Tanya has been working on this line for ages and I'm certain she wouldn't have released the products unless she was more than happy with them, so I'm expecting high quality glosses and varnishes from her line!

Let's start with the glosses - there are 12 in the line, with a beautiful selection of colours from bright red to pink to more natural shades. Six have shimmer in them and six do not, which I'm thankful for as I'm not a fan of shimmery glosses. They're being priced at £6.99 - a very reasonable price. I can't wait to try some out, Afternoon Tea, Chic and Lets Travel The World are top of my wish list (I know, I know, the names are too cute).

(photo via @TanyaBurr on twitter)

There are 10 shades in the nail varnish range, there are some gorgeous pastel colours in there that would be perfect for spring and some darker shades too. These are priced at £5.99.

The colours that catch my eye are Little Duck - a gorgeous pastel green, Riding Hood - a dark vampey red and New York Night - a dark brown. Again, how amazing are the names? I love how Tanya has given them proper names, I think it really adds to the product.

The packaging for both the lip glosses and the nail varnishes are gorgeous, simple but classy and pretty. I normally don't like it when there's a signature written across a product packaging butt Tanya's is super pretty, with a little heart, I adore it.
Tanya Burr's products are available to buy NOW at Feel Unique and they'll be available from other beauty websites and on the highstreet soon!

I can' wait to try Tanya's new products, especially the lip glosses!

What product have you got your eye on?

x

The Autumn/Winter Nail

Happy November!
We're well into Autumn now and Winter is just around the corner. During these seasons I change up my nail colours, so I thought I'd share my top 5 Autumn/Winter nail varnishes with you.

L-R Avon Cherry Jubilee, Rimmel Lycra Pro Beige Babe, Studio London Cloudburst,
Studio London Mink, Eye Candy London All Night Long

Autumn/Winter nail colours tend to be a lot darker, and cold shades.

L-R Avon Cherry Jubilee, Rimmel Lycra Pro Beige Babe, Studio London Cloudburst,
Studio London Mink, Eye Candy London All Night Long

My personal favourite of the 5 is Avon's nail wear pro in Cherry Jubilee, it's a gorgeous deep red that's almost burgundy coloured. This shade is the varnish I wear most often in the colder months, and goes with the majority of my outfits. I also find it looks really lovely against paler skin tones. This varnish also lasts well, and dries super fast! You definitely need more than one coat though.
The second nail varnish is Rimmel's Lycra Pro in Beige Babe. I really love the colour of this, it's a browny beige that looks lovely on. I love the applicator because it's nice and thick. Rimmel claims this lasts up to 10 days but I found it only lasted about 3 days on my nails.
The third one along is by Studio London, it came in a set, and it's called Cloudburst. Cloudburst is a lovely navy almost black shade. Navy seems to be very 'in' on nails at the moment so this is really lovely. I also like that it looks black in some light, blue in others, and sometimes grey.
The fourth nail varnish is also by Studio London and came from the same set, this one's called Mink. I don't know quite how to describe the shade, but I'd say it's mauve. It looks very pretty on and it's a great choice if you don't like going too dark on your nails. I love the Studio London nail varnishes, they dry super fast and last a long time on the nails. Only complaint is the small brush applicator.
My last choice is a classic black. Everyone needs a black nail varnish! This one is my favourite and it's called All Night Long by Eye Candy London…I don't see much about this brand, but I got this in Sainsburys and think it's great! The colour lasts a week on my nails and it dries amazingly quickly, which is always good.

What's your favourite nail colour for 

the colder months?