A Very, Very Late Festive Nails Of The Day Featuring Sensational Disco Fever, And A Lesson Learnt!!!*

Sometimes I wonder why I bother? This post should have gone live at Christmas, but we all know what happened there, then I promised you it way back in March but again life got in the way again, and do you know what it just keeps getting in the way again, and again. I've got a little update post coming later this week but in the meantime here's a little nails of the day that I shot way back in December.

Over the last couple of years my nails have pretty much gone to hell, accurate reflections of my health I guess, but after scouring social media for nail growth tips I decided to give the whole BIAB, builder gel in a bottle thing a try. Basically builder gel is a thicker form of gel polish that can help support the growth of natural nails. I bought the stuff and started using it as both a sort of second base layer, and as a polish in it's own right, and gradually my nails started to grow. 

Not super long by any stretch of the imagination but long enough to showcase a bit of colour and a tiny bit of easy nail art. My plan was to wear two different gel shades in December, a fabulous emerald green glitter for the big day itself, and this fabulous Sensationail Color Gel Polish in the shade of Disco Fever for the start of the month.

Disco Fever is a fabulous metallic silver with an almost holographic sparkle. These pictures really don't do it justice. 

I must admit the coverage wasn't the best. It took 3 coats on top of a layer of base coat and a layer of builder gel, and it still looks slightly sheer in some of these pictures. 

It's such a pretty shade though it's much of a neutral silver, rather than a bright, metallic silver if you know what I mean and of course I love anything with sparkle and holographic nail polishes really are my thing!

I think this final picture probably shows it off at it's best (excuse the dry cuticles!) the smoothness, and gloss of the polish, and of course the fabulous sparkle. 

This polish certainly did it's thing for the for the first week or so of December, but for my festive cinema trip with one of my besties I thought they need a little bit of extra sparkle.

I do love me a nail sticker, and these silver snowflakes, added a festive twist to a my super sparkly mani and they also helped to detract from a weeks visible nail growth! Being silver on silver the effect was quite subtle (less so in real life though) but I still think it looked super pretty.

Being a gel polish the wear time was pretty good, I did add an extra coat of top coat when I added the nail stickers but after two weeks there were only a few tiny tiny chips, and a tiny bit of tip wear. The plan as I said earlier was to remove them on Christmas Eve and to do a new set in a gorgeous emerald sparkly green ahead of the big day but like so many plans I've made over the years it went quickly down the drain.

Instead I ended up with a horrible flu bug, and a hacking cough, being upright was hard enough let alone inhaling a load of chemicals so I left then be, with vague plan to remove them when I felt well enough. December ended and January began and still the lurgy continued, my nails just weren't a priority. They were grown out, chipped, a few had already peeled off and I bet you can guess what happened next? I did the worst thing I could possibly do and I picked and peeled the rest off.

Predictably my nails were shot- lifting, splinter hemmorhages, breaking and ultimately peeling off - the photos below show my nails on the 15th February this year, and even though I took these pictures when the bleeding and worst of the redness had subsided they weren't a pretty sight!

My immediate priority was to baby them, and give them some love so I bought some tea tree nail oil, and started to take care of them, with love, oil, and moisture. It's been a long journey, I'm talking one step forward, two steps back territory. 

I've tried lots of different products, and whilst I still have a long to go to achieve the length that you can see in this Tik Tok (follow me on Tik Tok if you haven't already) they are much healthier, and I'm starting to see some growth in fact I even painted them for my birthday, with my old favourite Milani 3D Holographic Nail Lacquer in 512 Cyberspace.

As I say still a long way to go length wise but at least I have something to work with - I've been taking pictures for months now monitoring my progress so when they've reached a level I'm happy with I'll be sharing an update post, showing time lapses and giving more info on some of the products that I've used and that I would recommend x In the meantime though I have definitely learned my lesson don't pick off your gel polish, take it off properly and respect those nails. Honestly this is nothing against the polish just my 'method' of removal, Disco Fever like a lot of Sensationail polish  is quite hard to find now but there are a few available on eBay if you fancy giving it a try. If you have any questions or any nail growth tips please leave me a comment below x Thanks as per usual for sticking with me and I'll see you soon with an update and life lately post x 

*This Post Contains Added Affiliate And Non Affiliate Links

A Little Update And An Easter Themed Nails Of The Day From Sensationail*

Hi Guys x I hope you’ve all had a lovely long weekend, and if you’ve been celebrating Easter I hope you haven’t eaten too much chocolate ;) I definitely have and it’s been much needed! The last month or so has being pretty rubbish in LouLouLand. Almost exactly a month ago I woke up and the left side of my face was completely swollen, I looked as though my face and lips had been pumped up with filler, leaving my eye just a slit! A call to 111 lead to an out of hours dental appointment and as it turned out two courses of antibiotics which were to put it mildly horrible. Thankfully the gum swelling went down and I’m currently like so many people in the UK trying to find a NHS dentist after without my knowledge my own dentist removed me from their list after I had (justifiably) to cancel two appointments in a row #fuming. Anyways my mum has been too well either and another one of my relatives is now seriously ill - it’s safe to say that 2024 has been a pretty horrid year so far and it’s showing no signs that it’s going to get any better :( 

I’m still not feeling 100% but I thought I’d try and cheer myself up by sharing a little nails of the day with you. My nails have been pretty awful for a long while but I’ve recently been trying out a product that seems to be making a difference.

To celebrate the official start of summer time, and the little bit of spring sunshine that we’ve had over the weekend (although it seems to have disappeared today for some reason!) I decided to go for a lovely pastel, creamy lilac shade, the Sensationail Colour Gel Polish in Heirloom Lilac. 

Since I actually started using my gel polishes and my Sensationail kit, I keep asking myself why I didn’t start using it sooner, I find it takes about the same time as normal manicure minus the dry time. It lasts longer and it’s much more hard wearing than normal nail polish. The only down side is the removal but I can live with that 

The coverage is also superb, this is just two coats and whilst my application isn’t exactly of a professional standard, it’s so easy to apply and it looks decent.

As nice as it is on its own though I couldn’t resist giving this polish a bit of an Easter twist with some Shein nail stickers.

Nail stickers are great for livening up a tired or less than perfect manicure, and you can be as subtle or as over the top as you like.

With flowers, bunnies, carrots and sheep, it’s like Easter threw up on these nails and I love them, a touch childish maybe but so fun. I just cleanse the polished nail and the stick the sticker before applying a coat of top coat and sealing it under the lamp. You do need to apply another top coat layer every other day to keep it sealed in and to keep your mani looking fresh but it’s worth it.

As I say I got these particular stickers from Shein, who have an amazing selection of nail art bits but you can find nail stickers at various online retailers including eBay and Amazon. Sensationail polishes are getting harder to find now but there are a few bottles of Heirloom Lilac to be found on eBay.

Are you a fan of more subtle nail art or do you subscribe to my philosophy of more is more? Let me know in the comments and I’ll hopefully see you soon with another post xx 

*This Post Contains Affiliate Links 

Autumn Nails With Sensationail Gel Polish In Macchiato And Some Easy Nail Art *

Hey Everyone - Happy Thursday! I hope you're all having another good week. As I said in my last post I seem to lurch from mini crisis to minis crisis, and this week has been no different! Being 'clinically vulnerable' I had both of my booster jabs on Tuesday and as a result I've felt pretty bleugh, and then my Internet went down for two days, which resulted in an Open Reach visit! Great fun I'm sure you'll agree but I'm back now with a little nails of the day post.

I haven't posted many pictures of my nails for what seems like an age now but that doesn't mean that I haven't been wearing polish. My nails haven't been great for a long time, so I didn't really feel like sharing but rightly or wrongly lately I've predominantly been using gel polish.

I got the Sensationail Deluxe Gel Starter Kit a few Christmas's ago now and I've added a few of their polishes, and a few from other brands to my collection, and I have to say I'm a bit of a convert.

Yes, it's a bit of a pain to remove (I would recommend this stuff though) and my nails are in slightly drier and flakier than they were, but they're growing, and gel polish last way longer on my nails then just every other normal polish and top coat that I've tried.

This shade Macchiato was one of the two shades that came in my starter kit. It's a real basic colour, and one that every person should have in their nail polish collection. It's just that perfect neutral, nude beige mannequin hands colour.

Like most of the gel polishes that I've used the coverage was fantastic. After my primer and dehydrator, I just applied one thin coat of base coat, then two thin coats of polish, followed by a thin coat of top coat and voila super shiny nails.

My nails aren't that amazing by hand model standards, my cuticles are a bit dry and flakey, and I do have a habit of of applying a bit too much polish, and flooding my cuticles, but I hope you can see just what a real staple a colour like this is. You can wear it to the office, on a night out or on the school run and your nails will just look perfect and polished. As nice as it is though, dare I say some people might argue that it's just a touch boring! The good thing about shades like this though are that they make great base colours for a bit of nail art.

Although I am practising, I'm not that arty so a lot of my nail art attempts leave a bit to be desired, something that takes very little practise or skill to use though are nail stickers. Just peel them carefully off the sheet, apply them to dry, or 'cured' nails, gently press them down, apply a top coat and you're done.

These Autumnal themed sticker are from Shein, and whilst I think i could have played with the placement and the application, and obviously the base colour, these nails took minutes to do, and I think they've really added an extra dimension to an all be it quite basic, and simple polish.

They may not be perfect but I love playing with nail bits, and that's what it should be all about having fun with nails and make up, and I am pretty pleased with how they turned out. There are definitely a few application flaws out there, and if you look carefully you may spot the odd cat hair or three, because this little one decided that he wanted to get in on the action - cats who would have them?

This particular bottle of Macchiato is the mini size that came in my starter kit bu the full 7.39ml size is available from both eBay and Nail Polish Direct for around £10. If you want to try the Sensationail system for yourself then there are various starter kits on the market, which contain an LED lamp, and all the things that you need to do your own at home gel manicure. The starter kits are available in several configurations at several different price points from various retailers including eBay and Amazon, and as I say my nail stickers are from Shein, where they were around £1 for 2 sheets. You can also get a wide range of similar fall / Autumn themed nail stickers from eBay.

Are you a fan of nail art or gel nail polishes? If you are then I would love your recommendations for gel nails polish brands, particularly if you can recommend a top and base coat, so please leave me a comment and let me know you favourites.

*This Post Contains Automatic Affiliate, Added Affiliate And Non Affiliate Links

Nails Of The Day - Nails Inc - Elizabeth Street

If there is one thing that I probably don't need any more of it's nail polishes, I probably have enough to stock several nail salons, but throwing all logic out of the window it's something that I can't seem to stop buying, throw Christmas into the equation and I've probably acquired about 15 nails polishes in the last 2 months alone - I think I have a problem!

So I guess it makes some sort of sense that I've decided (natural nails depending that is) to start sharing regular nails of the days with you again, What probably is a little bit stranger though is that the polish in my previous NOTD post (Nails Inc - Victoria - read it here if you haven't already) and the polish in this post are almost vintage models!

This is another one of my original Nails Inc polishes - Elizabeth Street, like Victoria has pretty much been around since Day 1, and again it's easy to see why it's probably as popular now as it ever was.

Elizabeth Street is a perfect creamy, natural nude shade. If you've been lucky enough to have a French Manicure at one of Nails Inc's many nails bars, then this is one of the shades, that they could have used. Team it up with a shade like Whitehall for a full on French look or wear it on it's own for a clean, fresh, classic natural nail look.

If you're a Nails Inc historian or aficionado then you'll know that again this is one of their very early bottles, so no wide, curved brush here. The original Nails Inc polishes had quite a thin brush, it takes a little bit longer to paint with admittedly but if your nails are shorter,  then it does make it a tiny bit neater, especially if like me you aren't the best nail painter!

After the first coat it was a bit streaky and you could definitely still see the colour of my nail bed and nail tip through the polish. Apply one coat really well though and you would a very natural nude pink shade, aka your own nails but better, build it up like I have though and you get more of the true, cream, nude shade. The density and coverage improves with every coat, so depending on how well you apply it and your nails, it could take 3 or more coats for full blank out coverage. As you long as you apply thin coats though it should dry quite quickly, and  even given the age of my bottle I didn't have too many problems with drying time.

For speed in theses photographs I'm only wearing two coats, but to be honest on some nails I probably could have done with 3 coats because it does look a bit streaky. This is one of those colours that in theory should be easy to paint but as you can see it's not! I'm going to hold me hands up and say that this isn't the neatest manicure that I've ever done, but I do think that the pale colour has at least a little bit to do with it, for some reason it seems to show up every imperfection especially around the cuticle area - all I can say is just don't look too close ;) Never mind at least it made up for it's less than perfect finish with wear time, because you can't really see any chips I managed to get nearly a week out of this without a top coat, which is almost completely unheard of for me, 

Despite the odd flaw here and there this is a really easy to wear colour, it's a proper neutral, that's perfect for any nail length, it is a true classic, and there is literally nowhere that you couldn't wear this colour. As I say it's perfect on its own and as part of a French Manicure but given its very neutral tone, and its ability to almost white out / blank out your nails, it like Victoria, makes the perfect base for all of those fabulous glittery, holographic, and iridescent top coats. If you read my Nails Inc INC.redible Cosmic Girl post before Christmas (check it out here x), then you may have already seen this shade topped with the fabulous colour shifting Cosmic Girl, to give it an amazing transformation from safe, classic, neutral, to sparkly wonderfulness!

Elizabeth Street is one of those must have shades, and even if you think it's a bit boring, and a bit safe, get it and have a play with it, it's such a versatile colour that you won't be disappointed - look even Tallulah likes it! Nails Inc - Elizabeth Street in it's new and funky packaging is readily available at Nails Inc concessions, nails bars, and online x 

Get Your Glow On INC.redible You Glow Girl Cosmic Blur Gift Set

Well there are last minute Christmas gift ideas, and there are last minute Christmas gift ideas - Can you believe that there is just one shopping day to go before the big day? I'm still in denial if I'm being honest, it's ages away and you feel as though you have all the time in the world to get things done, then wham it's nearly here and your to do list is still way longer than you would have liked - argh!

At least though I don't have to brave the shops tomorrow, my shopping is done and it's all wrapped and ready, if though you are looking for a gift for the beauty lover or party animal in your life then this kit from Nails Inc is a great last minute option. Not only that but if you're heading to any late Christmas or New Year parties, and you want a bit of sparkle to go with your outfit, then this could be a perfect pressie for yourself.

Now Nails Inc are obviously famous for their nail polishes, nail treatments, and their nail bars but did you know that they've now branched out into skin care and make up, with a range of face masks and cosmetic products. I actually reviewed one of their Christmas gift sets last year which contained both a face mask, and a lipstick (read it here), and I have to say I was pretty impressed with the lipstick, but somehow I never really got round to trying anything else from their INC.redible range, but what do you know? beauty products are like buses, you don't try something and then somehow you end up trying two things in pretty quick succession. I going to talk a little bit more about another INC.redible products in tomorrows post but first I'm going to talk about a kit that contains everything that you need to get your glow on!

Packaged in an amazing silver, holographic cardboard pouch the Nails Inc / INC.redible You Glow Girl Cosmic Blur Gift Set, contains two fabulous coordinating products, a full size Nails Inc nail polish, and a mini INC.redible Jelly Highlighter.

I've been a fan of Nails Inc nail polishes for the longest time, the quality is excellent but probably the main reason why I love them is that they are so innovative, as well as coming up with some really unusual colours, and scientific formulations, they also regularly bring out new polish textures and finishes. I'm a huge fan of their glitters, and iridescent polishes and of course their holographic shades, and the minute I saw this shade, I knew that I had to give it a go.

Nails Inc Nail Polish in Cosmic Blur, is probably one of the most fabulous shades that I've ever seen. At first glance in the bottle it just looks like a sort or pearlised white, but move the bottle around in your hands, or give your hands a little bit of a wiggle and it turns into an iridescent, multi coloured shimmer and sparkle fest.

Equipped with the familiar Nails Inc easy to grip cap, and their fabulous slightly curved wide brush it is a dream to apply even on my little stubby nails, it dries quickly, feels smooth and it looks super glossy. I'm not doing this colour justice on my little stubs, but here are two coats onto just base coated nails.

With Flash

Natural Light 

Now if you ignore the state of the nails themselves and focus purely on the amazingness of the colour I'm sure that you'll agree that it is super pretty. Depending on the lighting and movement it can change from an almost invisible nude to an explosion of multicoloured flashes. As I say this is just two coats on top of a base coat, and it looks fine as it is and to be honest since I want something super simple, this might be my Christmas Day manicure, because it's quite sheer though Cosmic Blur makes an amazing top coat, instantly transforming any colour in an instant x I thought I'd try it out on two shades at the opposite end of the colour spectrum, completely different shades, a dark and a light, but still classic and wearable shades, the classic dark berry red of Nails Inc Victoria and, the perfect French nude of Nails Inc Elizabeth Street.

Nails Inc - Victoria

With Flash

Natural Light

Nails Inc - Elizabeth Street 

With Flash

Natural Light 

Again, ignore the nails and cuticles and focus on the pretties x Both of these nails colours look fab in their own right, and I'll be showcasing both of them in their own individual blog posts in the new year, but add a couple of coats of Cosmic Blur and you've gone from chic and classy, to blingy and, well cosmic in minutes ! I've applied two coats here for a full on look, but you can be a bit subtle and apply one coat for a little less sparkle.

Cosmic Blur is definitely one of those polishes that you can experiment with, you apply it over different shades, try a bit of nail art, and stare it in different lights to absorb it's real beauty. My pictures haven't done it justice at all, it's a gorgeous shade, and perfect from transforming your nails from desk to dance floor in a matter of minutes. I've searched the internet high and low and the only place that I can find this shade is in this kit. Nails Inc polishes normally retail between £11 and £15 and since the kit is only £15 it's already a bargain even without the other item.

I remember in my teenage years and in my early twenties (and maybe even later than that ) playing with glitter gels; They are perfect for the party season but they aren't for everyone, they can be a bit out there, so if you fancy a bit of shimmer rather than full glitter though then then INC'redible You Glow Girl Iridescent Jelly in _Cosmic Blur is perfect!

The little pot really does contain a bit of magic, open it open and you're greeted with a slightly unassuming looking, white jelly like substance. 

As with it's name sake nail polish though, wiggle the pot or spread a small amount on your skin and oomph! ultra violet, colour flipping shimmer and sparkle!!

The jelly itself feels smooth to the touch and definitely isn't glittery or scratchy, this is iridescent shimmer not glitter. I haven't had a chance to try this properly yet but you can use it just about anywhere, from your eyes, to your cheeks, lips and even on your shoulders.  It adds a gorgeous, iridescent glow, without any chunky glitter or fallout.

This isn't a full sized pot but it's a good size and it would definitely last you the party season and maybe even beyond that depending on how generous you were with your application. The full 9.35g retails at around £10.

This sparkly set retails at £15 which as I say is excellent when you consider the usual price for a full size Nails Inc polish. This kit is available from most Nails Inc concessions and retailers including the Nails Inc website, and John Lewis, and I think it would make a lovely treat either for yourself or for someone else x Are you a shimmer fan? or do you like out and out glitter? or even both? Let me know in the comments x