Man it's been hot this weekend, whilst we haven't had quite the temperatures that some of you have had in the South of the UK, it's still been pretty warm and sticky here in my little part of Co Durham, so in honour of summer making all be it a small appearance I decided to paint my nails in a lovely, bright, summery pink.
Super Cute In Pink is a shade from top nail brand OPI's first collaboration with the cat you all know and love, Hello Kitty, although I'm sure I actually read somewhere that she isn't supposed to be a cat? what the hell sorcery is that? Anyways this colour was released as part of a limited collection back in early 2016, and seeing as I love both OPI and Hello Kitty I went on to buy most of the collection. This particular shade was part of a duo that I bought from QVC UK, and you can read my original haul post here.
Super Cute In Pink is a gorgeous cool, almost berry purple toned pink. It comes packaged in the trademark OPI bottle, which has a plastic, Hello Kitty design, sleeve around the lid. As with all newer OPI polishes it comes with their famous pro wide brush, which makes painting a breeze,
The first coat was a little bit streaky and sheer, but a second coat did the trick on most nails, with only the odd longer nail needing an extra coat to completely cover up the white tips. The polish dried quite quickly though leaving a lovely glossy finish, and unusually for a lot of cream polishes, virtually no brush marks.
For whatever reason I don't have much luck with nail polish staying on my nails, so I tend to rely on a decent top coat whenever I want my polish to last. When I'm actually reviewing a polish though like this one, in order to really test the wear time I never use a top coat. The majority of polishes start chipping within 24-48 hours, but surprisingly enough this when stuck around for a good four or five days before it started to chip off. I didn't do anything different, I washed, I cooked and cleaned, and used cuticle oil, hand cream, and hand sanitiser and by and large it stayed put.
I really love OPI as a brand, and this polish shows why, despite being a few years old now the quality is superb, the colour is really pretty and wearable, and it's got Hello Kitty heads on the bottle - love!
As I say though, this polish was a limited edition and part of the 2016 Hello Kitty collaboration, so it's incredibly hard to find now - I've had a little look on eBay and I found a few bottles in sets and a few bottles in the gel formulation so it is out there, you might just need to spend some time hunting it down. As pretty as it is though I don't think the colour is that original so there may be something else on the market that's similar and easier to find. Did you any polishes from either of the OPI Hello Kitty collections? Let me know x
I know I promised you a couple of reviews this week but I hope you'll forgive me if I end the week with two different posts instead. If you regularly read my blog or follow me on Instagram and twitter, you'll know that it's my birthday tomorrow :) - Despite the fact that I'm feeling a bit mehhh about my birthday this year I don't need any excuses to spend time with my friends and family so last night me and my bestie headed out and went to a local Greek restaurant for a meal. I've posted a few pics on my Instagram but suffice to say I really enjoyed it and spending time with good friends really is priceless.
I'm normally rushing around and stressing before I go out but yesterday was a bit different, I headed to the hairdressers, for a long overdue hair cut and once I got home I had plenty of time to do my nails, perfect my make up, and get dressed. Unusually for me though I also had plenty of time to take a few outfit and nail pictures so today I have a nails of the day post for you,and tomorrow I have a treat for you - a very rare outfit post!
Although I'm not a one for rules when it comes to nail polish or anything else come to think of it, yesterday I decided to match my nails to my outfit, and coordinate my nails with one of the numerous colours in my dress.
You'll have to wait until tomorrow to see all of the dress, but the colour I decide to go for was one of the OPI Hello Kitty shades - My Twin Mimmy.
This colour definitely isn't one for the faint hearted - it's a bright, warm yellow tone, that's just a touch cooler than a true mustard.
I'm not going to lie, with this on, the application wasn't the best, I don't know whether it's because this was just a mini 3.75ml bottle, or whether it was down to the formulation but I really struggled to apply it neatly.
The polish itself seemed quite thick but at the same time the application was quite streaky, I ended up painting about 3 coats on each nail, and close up some of the nails still look quite streaky and uneven. Thankfully it dried quite quickly but this manicure still took way longer than I would have liked and I wasn't that impressed with the final look.
As well as the application issues I'm also not convinced that this colour does anything for my skin tone. Yellow is a pretty hard colour to wear and I think that this particular shade would look way better with a tan than what it does on my pasty skin. All in all I'm pretty pleased that I only ended up buying the mini, although it matches the print on my dress perfectly, My Twin Mimmy just doesn't do it for me - shame. Are you a fan of yellow nail polish? Let me know x
Isn't it always the way? the minute your nails start to grow, one snaps, so you need to file them all down and start again. That's what happened to me last week, so annoying but I thought I'd take advantage of my little short nails and paint them in gorgeous dark colour.
I don't know why but I love the look of dark polishes like this one on short nails. Obviously from the OPI Hello Kitty collection, Never Have Too Mani Friends, is a deep glossy black, if you want a goth, metal look then this is perfect, but for me a black, glossy nail can be quite sophisticated.
Like most OPI polishes, this one applies perfectly, the wide brush covers the nails in just one or two stripes, and this particular shade was pretty much perfect after one coat, but as per usual I've gone with two.
What impressed me most about this colour, was the glossy finish. It has super, shiny almost wet look finish, without the use of a top coat. Black nails aren't for everyone but I love the look and it also makes a perfect base for nail art or general nail play ;) x Are you a fan of black nail polishes? I'd love to hear your thoughts x
Despite the hideous lighting and my short stubby nails I couldn't resist having a play with some of my new OPI Hello Kitty colours. I have some many colours from the collection now that it was difficult to choose which one to go for first but I decided to got for the proper girlie pink shade, Look At My Bow!
I had to take these pictures in artificial light so the colour is a little bit off. In real life Look At My Bow! is a warmer, much more vibrant, girlie pink, it's the sort of colour you would imagine Hello Kitty wearing on her claws, and keeping with the toy and character theme this colour just screams Barbie day wear.
The texture was a little bit thick and the first coat was a bit streaky, but like the majority of polishes in the OPI range, this one is pretty self levelling, and two carefully applied coats was enough for full coverage.
I think that this is a perfect colour for Spring and Summer, and it's one of those colours that works particularly well with a suntan or on darker skin. What do you think of Look At My Bow? Leave me a comment and let me know x
Hey, hey it's Friday - welcome to the weekend! Although weekends don't mean as much as they used to for me - they are a perfect excuse for some serious family time and at the moment I need that x I've had another rubbishy week so I did what I always do when I'm feeling stressed I bought something. I'm trying to save a bit of money this year, so I'm trying to cut down on the shopping sometimes you just need a treat so I ordered a Lola Rose bracelet from QVC and I got this kit from ASOS.
Yup, another Hello Kitty for OPI kit :) I'm a huge fan of the OPI mini kits and this one had been on my radar since I first saw it. The kit contains 5 x 3.75ml OPI nail lacquers, and a free double ended OPI and Hello Kitty branded nail art tool.
Packaged in a plastic storage tube, the red double ended tool features a small metal dotting tool on one end, and a thin striping brush on the other end. As much as I love nail art I'm normally, pretty lazy when it comes to my nails, a quick paint job is usually all I manage, but I have an awful lot of nail art tools, and embellishments, so hopefully 2016 will be the year when I finally start to express my creative side.
The kit contains 5 of the Hello Kitty colours, including 4 shades that are available in the full size and one shade that is exclusive to this kit.
First the two palest shades - on the left is the exclusive shade Milk Bottle, which as the name would suggest is a creamy, milky, white, and on the right Let's Be Friends, a creamy, very pale almost French pink.
The next 3 shades are perfect for creating a German or a Belgian flag, or any bright comic book look, on the left is the black shade, Never Have Too Mani Friends! in the middle is the bright apple, red, 5 Apples Tall, and on the right is the bright, creamy yellow, My Twin Mimmy.
As with the previous kits the pigmentation is excellent and it only took on average 2 coats to achieve full coverage all be it on a plastic nail
If you read my previous Hello Kitty For OPI post (read it here), then you'll know that I already have 3 of these colours in the full size, never mind the kit was still will worth it for the exclusive colour and of course the super bright, My Twin Mimmy, I love yellow but it's definitely not a colour that I would wear everyday so the mini is the perfect way of having a colour for those days when you want a super bright nail.
All of the colours in this kit work perfectly together so this is a great kit if you want to to try OPI or if you want to try a little bit of nail art. I've seen this kit for sale at a few different price points but ASOS is definitely the cheapest at £19.95 if your interested x Have you tried any of the Hello Kitty For OPI kits yet?
I love nail polish an awful lot, in fact you could even argue that I'm a bit of polish collector. I have well over a hundred bottles and still I can't resist adding to my already pretty extensive collection. I have a lot of different brands, at a lot of different price point, but one of my favourite brands and one of the first professional brands that I ever tried, is OPI.
99 times out of a 100 I'm impressed with their polishes they wear well, they apply easily, and the polishes last forever, some of mine are over 10 years old and they are still as good as new. Something else that I love about them are their collaborations and product tie ins. Based in Hollywood there are the brand of choice for celebrities, characters, film studios, and big brands.
Late last year rumours started to fly around the beauty world about a new OPI collaboration with probably the most famous feline of all time, no I don't mean Grumpy Cat, although I would love to see that, I mean Hello Kitty.
Yes I'm one of those sadults that has a obsession with Hello Kitty, so when I saw the first pictures of the collection I wanted it all. The collection comprises of 12 normal shades and the matching Gel Colours, and several special edition full sized and mini kits, all named after things linked to that little white feline.
Although the collection had already been available in the UK for a couple of days, some of it premiered on QVC a week past Friday. I was sneaky though, I didn't know whether I'd be home from hospital in time so I'd already had a little look on the QVC UK website to see what was available.
This kit immediately caught my eye due to the full sizes and the sheer value for money, so Mummy Lou, aka the tooth fairy, decided to buy me if for being brave at hospital - I told you I was a sadult ;)
For what I gather this kit is now exclusive to QVC in the UK, and I certainly haven't seen it anywhere else. The colours are available elsewhere but the packaging is just available at QVC now and as well as the polishes this kit is all about the packaging.
This collectors edition kit comes in a solid, cardboard box with a magnetic fastening, and contains 6 full size OPI nail lacquers from the Hello Kitty collection.
What makes this kit special and truly one for the collector, is the inside of the box. It comes with a cardboard stand, and 3 specially designed backdrops, one side in colour and one side in black and white for you to colour in.
Full instructions are supplied and all you do is put them into the box in a certain way and it creates an almost pop up, puppet theatre type look.
Ridiculously cute, and really unusual and you get your 6 full sized polishes. Each of the full sized polishes in the Hello Kitty collection are characterised by a Hello Kitty design lid, unfortunately this is a sticker rather than a printed lid but they are still very cute.
The collection predictably is very pink themed but you also get a few stand out colours like those that appear in the cartoons and of course on the toys, stationery, bedding and anything else that you can think of.
The shades that you get are from left to right - Kitty White, a pearlised, shimmery white, Let's Be Friends, a pale, creamy pink almost French shade, Look At My Bow, a brighter baby pink, and Starry Eyed For Dear Daniel, a full coverage pink / purple glitter. It also contains 5 Apples Tall, a real apple red, and Never Have To Mani Friends, a dark, black shade.
I've swatched these on a nail wheel so you can get an idea of what they would look like on the nails. As you can see the coverage is excellent with all of the shades. Ever the palest pink Let's Be Friends only needs around 3 thin coats for full coverage. This kit contains a nice assortment of shades that will cover a wide variety of occasions and take you from day to night. Throw in the limited edition collectors packaging and this kit for me is a must have, it's also great value for money. The OPI 6 Piece Hello Kitty Limited Edition Lacquer Collection is currently available from QVC UK for the special price of just £31.32 plus £4.95, not bad considering each bottle would be £12.50.
As much as I love this kit and believe me I do, it didn't contain the two shades that I'd really set my heart on so I had another look and last Monday another couple of sets came online, including a couple of gift packaged duos.
Thankfully one of the duos contained exactly the two colour that I wanted so I decided to treat myself to the Bright duo which contained full 15ml sizes of both Super Cute In Pink, a bright bubblegum pink, and My Pal Joey, a lovely creamy blue shade.
Alas neither of these colours are showing up as that true, My Pal Joey is a much more of an electric blue than it's appearing here, and Super Cute In Pink is a lot less purple than it's appearing here. I thought it might be similar to Essie Splash Of Grenadine but in reality it much pinker and much brighter. Both of these are great summer colours, and since they are both cream polishes, the pigmentation and coverage is first class.
I probably could have got these a little bit cheaper if I'd looked harder but at £18.00 plus £3.95 postage, the OPI 2 Piece Hello Kitty Nailcare Collection in Bright still works out slightly cheaper than full retail price.
There are a couple of other kits on the QVC website and elsewhere, and whilst I am debating whether or not to get the minis kit, purely for the dotting tool and My Twin Mimmy, I'm pretty happy with buying most of the collection :) My nails are quite short at the moment but as soon as I get a bit more length on them I'll start doing a few nails of the day posts, if you have any questions in the meantime though leave me a comment and let me know xx
Hi Guys x Apologies for the slight delay but it's now time to announce the winner of my Hello Kitty Elvis Stationery Set giveaway x
There are obviously a lot of Hello Kitty and Elvis Presley fans out there because I had nearly 600 entries but unfortunately there can only be one winner and that winner which was picked randomly by Rafflecopter is....
Congratulations Jess x I've sent you an email so if you can get back to me asap I'd be really grateful. If you weren't lucky enough to win this time don't worry - my Nails Inc giveaway is still live, and I may have a little festive giveaway launching next week - I'm not telling you what you can win yet but I'll give you a clue - initials CT ;) Keep following, follow if you aren't already and I'll see you on Monday with a haul post xx
As much as I love buying clothes and beauty products at the moment I'm really enjoying buying and choosing things for the home and more specifically things for my bedroom. Because of my ME and Fibromyalgia even the simplest task like reorganising and tidying my room seems to take a lifetime, At last though I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and although I still have a few things to do before I move onto my craft room / office, it's time to start buying pretties.
My bedroom really is my sanctuary - I want it to be cosy, and comfortable and I want it to smell nice, hence my obsession with candles, and room fragrance.
I love Yankee Candles but in my room I want quick, and easy fragrance and whilst I still burn candles, I really love wax melts for speed and for intensity. The last time I was in the Metro Centres I went to one of my favourite Yankee retailers Collectables and bought a few melts / tarts. I got one of my all time favourite Lemon Lavender, and a few more seasonal fragrances, Christmas Memories and my current my have fragrance Pain Au Raisin.
I'm a huge fan of Christmas fragrance and whilst Yankee always do some amazing spicy and foodie fragrances, my favourite Christmas fragrance is actually Next's Festive Spice. It's the perfect mix of spices, orange and red fruits, and I always stock up while I can.
This time round I got one of the Festive Spice Fragranced Candle Jars which £6 and one of the Next 70ml Festive Spice Fragranced Diffusers which was £6.50.
As much as I love proper candles, you can't leave lit candles unattended, and sometimes with pets they just aren't suitable. Although I haven't really started on my office / craft room yet I though that this Set of 3 Festive Spice Flameless Candles would be ideal for my festive windowsill.
For just £16 you get three substantial wax candles, which are fragranced with the Festive Spice scent. They are battery operated and they come with a remote control, with 2 different timer settings and you can also alter the appearance of the flame. We have flameless candles all over the house and they're are safer, and cleaner way of enjoying candle light, but unlike the rest of them, these ones have a bit of fragrance.
I'm all about mood lighting at the moment, I love candles, tea lights and fairy lights and for a while now I've been trying to embrace the LED star light trend but I haven't had much look. I never managed to get my hands on the Primark one and the only other ones I could find with around £60. that was until I saw this one from Studio for just £14.99.
I wasn't expecting much for the price but this is actually really nice for the price. It's battery operated and made out of a sturdy cream, coated metal, and it features 10 warm LED lights. I was going to hang it on the wall but I've tried it in a few places and I like it best on top of my Muji make up storage.
As well as my star light, several strands of fairy lights, a lava lamp, and some lanterns I also have a set of twig lights, that I originally bought in Primark, which have been quite happily living in a tall lilac vase from Asda. Louise is a clumsy person though and a couple of months ago I broke this vase - sad times :( Since then though I've been looking for a replacement without much look - they were either too small or the necks weren't wide enough for the battery packs. Eventually though I found what I was looking for in this gorgeous silver, mercury glass vase that I got from B&M Bargains.
I'm not sure how much this was but I think it was around £6.99 - £7.99 which isn't the cheap for B&M, but it's definitely worth the money and it's something that you would probably pay way more for elsewhere. The picture below isn't the best but it looks so pretty with the lights reflecting through it.
I love my bargains and I got another lighting piece from another bargain tastic store, Home Bargains.
I'd wanted a one of these for the longest time, but when I first saw them they weren't that cheap. This one was only a couple of pounds and it came with batteries.
I only picked up another one of Mason Drinking Jars, which was on special at just £1. I already have a Kilner one but it didn't comes with a lid so I was happy to add this one to my collection :) I would really love the shot glass versions of these so if you know where I can get some please leave me a comment and let me know x
Ever since I was a tiny tot I've loved stationery and over the last month or so I've become obsessed with it all over again, and I can't seem to stop buying pretty notebooks and office bits. The first stationery item that I got was this notebook from Home Bargains.
I love the black and gold combination and what's not to love about polka dots. Again this one was just a few pounds and I believe they also sell one in a black and gold chevron design. I love my polka dots so I also got this pocket sized brown, craft style notebook, with tiny gold polka dots from BHS. This should have been £5 but I got 20% off.
In the picture you can also see a lovely Orla Kiely Stem Print notebook that I got from TK Maxx. It was £6.99 was is pretty pricey for a plain notebook, but it should about £14 so I still want bargain hunting credit ;)
One of the highlights of going back to school or university after the Christmas or summer holidays was getting a new pencil case, I must of owned dozens over the years, but although I don't have as much use for them as a once did I had to get this one from ASOS.
Eat Sleep Blog Repeat really needs to be my mantra but sometimes real life gets in the way ;) This comes from a brand called James & Friends which I'm lead to believe is Jim Chapman's range. I think I might use it in my newly sorted office but it is big enough to be used as a make up bag so we'll see.
Poundland is one of those shops where you go in for one thing and come out with about a dozen. If you follow me on Instagram, you've probably already seen this cute stationery set.
Yes I know I'm an adult but come on Hello Kitty as Elvis what is not to love. For just a pound you got 2 pens, 3 pencils, 3 erasers, a pencil sharpener, a ruler and a metal pencil tin :) You all seemed to love it on my Instagram and a few of you couldn't find it so I went back and bought another one to giveaway :) All you need to do is be a follow of my blog and fill in the Raflecopter form below before the 1st December 2015. This giveaway is open worldwide so if you're a Hello Kitty or an Elvis Presley fan get entering x
As well as my Hello Kitty bargain, I also managed to pick up an adult colouring book. I love the idea of these to promote mindfulness and relaxation but I really can't justify some of the prices. This Natural Wonders Colour Art For Everyone book contains a variety of beautiful and intricate floral patterns and for just a £1 I'm looking forward to trying to giving it a go.
The minute that Halloween is over, out comes the Christmas things, and Poundland as per usual have a pretty substantial festive selection. This item though doesn't scream Christmas.
There seem to be a lot of these inspirational type signs mixed in with Poundland's Chritmas offerings this year, in both wood and ceramic. These three ceramic hearts come suspensed on a red ribbon, and feature the words " Live Laugh Love" in a red type. I don't think these have to be for Christmas so I'll be displaying them all year round.
Speaking of love, I am the typical crazy cat lady, I don't mind the stereotype at all and there is nothing in life that can't be improved by putting a picture of a cat on it.
This luck black cat from the H&M Divided line is in fact a sticky tape dispenser. Sticky tape annoys the hell out of my but dispensing if from this little guy will hopeful make my Christmas wrapping less of a chore.
Cats seem to a pretty popular motif at the moment and I also got this mug from H&M, which is covered in a montage of cat pictures and features the phrase "You've Cat To Be Kitten Me Right Meow". Slightly cheesy but the perfect pressie for a cat lover.
The final thing that I'm going to show you in this rather large haul, is another item that I was inspired to purchase after looking at instagram pictures, reading blogs. and reading tweets.
Deliciously Ella by Ella Woodward is probably the perfect cookery book for me, it's full of healthy vegan, gluten and sugar free recipes, that sound and look amazing. I'm still trying to eat healthily at the moment but I'm taking a break from the diet thing for a little while x I'll explain why in a post on Monday but as soon as I can I'm going to be working my way through all the recipes in this book, and I already have the sequel on my Amazon wishlist x
I know there was quite a few items in this haul for you to contemplate, so I've an accompanying You Tube video so you can have a better look at your leisure. You can find the video below or via my You Tube channel here x
If you have any questions on anything that I've bought please leave me a comment and of course don't forget to enter my Hello Kitty giveaway x
