A Little Nail Haul Featuring Models Own, Miss Beauty And Leighton Denny

Have you ever had one of those days where you just want to pull the duvet over your head and hide? Well, I'm having one of those weeks! Mummy Lou hasn't been well, one of the cats hasn't been well and I'm not feeling particularly great myself! It never rains but it pours at times but you just need to plod on through it. Needless to say this weeks blog planning has gone out of the window but I thought it was best to get a post up rather than leave you with nothing, so apologies for the lack of variety but it's another haul post x

Although I haven't posted a nails of the day post for a while, nail polish is one of my real loves . I don't always have the best of nails but just seeing that flash of colour can make me happy. As well as being one of my loves, I guess you could say that nail polish is a bit of an addiction for me. I have an IKEA Helmer full to the brim and I still can't resist buying more.

I never need an excuse to buy nail polish but give me a special offer and I'm there! On a recent trip to the Metro Centre, I just so happened to walk past the Models Own Bottle Shop - Models Own are noted for their special offers and the offer of the day was any 5 items for £20, well it would have been wrong not to indulge, so I made a little purchase.

After a lot of deliberation I ended up going for four colours. The first two polishes came from the Sweet Shop range. These are scented polished that are themed around traditional sweets. On the left you can see NP215 - Fizzy Cola, an almost brown, taupe which is shot through with sparkle, and on the right is NP213 - Rhubarb and Custard - a gorgeous, deep, raspberry red, again shot through with gold sparkle. Both of these polishes supposedly smell like the sweeties that they represent when they're dry, I haven't tried them yet but I'll let you know what I think when I do.

The next colours that I bought come from the Models Own Hyper Gel line. These slightly thicker polishes supposedly have that gel manicure finish and wear time without the use of a UV or an LED light. In these colours  I went for two very contrasting shades - one bright and one neutral. On the left you can see SG031 - Tropical Green, which is a really vibrant lime green and on the right is SG027- Paradise Pink, which is a white based, pale pink with a hint of lilac.

To complete the offer I also got something from their make up line which I'll show you in a future post, but when I got to the till, the assistant started telling me about the Hyper Gel Gel Effect Top Coat. This wasn't included in the offer but she said it made the Hyper Gel colours last even longer and it turned any other shade into a Gel Effect Polish. I'm lazy when it comes to top coat but I decided to give this one a go anyway.

I also got a little free gift with purchase at the till, which was a mini nail buffer. I have so many of these but I can never find one when I need one, so this one was gratefully received.

Next up a couple of budget purchases from the new Miss Beauty London range at Poundworld. I've only seen a couple of videos on this range and to be honest its launch largely passed me be but on a recent visit to Poundworld I decided to have a little look. I'm going to be honest and say I was pretty underwhelmed when it came to the make up, nothing really grabbed me so I decided to try a couple of their nail colours instead.

They seemed to have two main polish ranges, a gel line, and  normal polish line, so I decided to try one of each. On the left you can see the Miss Beauty London Gel colour in 10 Lavender Dream, which is a gorgeous creamy, vibrant lilac, and on the right you can see the Miss Beauty London Nail Colour in 374 Tiffany, which as the name suggests is that perfect mint green, turquoise blue.

Again I haven't tried these but I'll let you know what I think of them when I do, for just £1 each they were worth trying.

The final nail item I want to show you is a magazine freebie from this month's Bazaar magazine. They regularly do tie up's with Leighton Denny. and in this months issue you can claim a free full sized Leighton Denny Nail Lacquer.

There are several to choose from ranging from deep reds, to lilac but the colour I went for was another one of those Tiffany blue shades, Morning Dew. It's a lot warmer and lot more bluey than the Miss Beauty one so I think I can justify the £4 or so that the magazine costs. Bazaar is probably one of the priciest monthly magazines out there but since the polishes are usually £11 each, it isn't a bad price to pay to try a designer nail brand.

I'm currently waiting for my little stubby nails to grow up a bit and then regular nails of the day posts will resume. As well as featuring all of the polishes in this post, and some other polishes in my collection, I'm also going to be showing you the prettiest OPI kit, and a couple of colours, which I also have to give away, so if you like nails then stick around for more nails of the days and some reviews x

New CID Cosmetics - I-Polish - Pink Macaroon - Nails Of The Day

Unlike so many of my peers I've never been a typical pink girl, and whilst I still don't own a lot of out and out, pink clothing pieces when it comes to make up and nails it's a completely different story. I love pink lipstick, I adore pink blusher and when it comes to summer, hot pink is one of my go to nail colours.

Although I've tried a few products from British cosmetic and makeover brand New CID Cosmetics, I wasn't that familiar with their nail polish line - Recently though Cosmopolitan magazine came with a free bottle so I couldn't resist picking up a copy and giving it a go.

New CID Cosmetics I-Polish in Pink Macaroon, is a bright almost neon, fuchsia pink, with a cream finish that's perfect for this time of year - My pictures really aren't doing this justice it's hot, hot, hot in real life.

Application was good, the long, thin brush was easy to use, and the formula is self levelling and quick drying, 

Overall I'm pretty impressed with my first New CID Cosmetics nail experience but if you want to buy this shade I'm afraid you're out of luck! I've had a look online and I can't find this colour anywhere. I think that this must have either been a discontinued line or something that was produced especially for the magazine cover mount. New CID Cosmetics do still produce the I-Polish range, but the packaging is slightly different and the bottle contain the familiar lights that the brand is so famous for. The 3 free polishes come in a wide range of "safe", wearable shades and retail at £10 from the New CID Cosmetics website for a 15ml bottle. Not the cheapest of polished but I don't think it's bad for a salon branded, good quality polish. Have you tried any polishes from this brand before?

A Small Nail Polish And Nail Art Haul

If you're a regular reader of my little place on the internet you'll know that I used post nails of the day posts quite regularly. Although I've never had the longest nails out there I love changing my polish and showcasing all of my different shades, brands and textures. Lately though my nails have been too rubbish to paint let alone photograph!

Never mind  though after a few months of short, split, and peeling nails I eventually have some little stubs to paint again. My secret? Dr Lewinns Renunail, lots of cuticle oil (including something new which I've been loving) and lots and lots of hand cream. So to celebrate my now all be it short, but neater nails I've been buying some new polishes and some nail art bits.

Every time I do a haul at the moment I seem to buy something from Poundland and this one is no different. I'm a huge, huge fan of nail art and I seem to spend a lot of time lately looking at Instagram and Pintrest to pick up some ideas for when my nails grow back, so I decided to get a few nail art bits from Poundland's own Allura range.

The first thing that I got were some Nail Art Tools, these are basically 4 double ended dotting tools. Each tool comes with a swirled, plastic handle, and every rounded metal tip is a different size so you can make different sized dots. You can also use these for picking up gems, decals and crystals.

I also got a pack of 7 Nail Art Brushes. You get a wide variety of brushes that you can use for striping, freehand and detail work. You also get a fan brush to create a fanned or feather effect. I've seen a single nail, fan brush priced at £2 so this kit is great value.

As well as the tool the Allura range also includes a variety of fake nails, nails stickers and gem wheels. I've already got a gem wheel and a few tubs and packets of crystals and sequins but I couldn't resist this fruit decal wheel.

I've already got a few fruit decals that I got from Nail Rock, but these ones are a bit thinner which I actually prefer. You get a wide variety of thin slice of plastic fruit including dragon fruit, kiwis, apples, limes and oranges. You also a miniature nail file and an orange stick to help with application.

Sticking with nail art I also bought some gold nail foil from Avon. Years and years ago I was obsessed with nail foils. QVC used to features a brand called Special FX, that sold all different sorts of nail art kits including lots and lots of foils. The idea is pretty simple you paint your nails as normal, then you paint you nails with the special glue and when it goes clear you press the foil sheets against your nails. You can either cover the whole nail or you can draw designs or just place random splodges of glue to create different looks, I recently picked up some more foils and glue from Essence but with this one from Avon you just apply it on top of wet polish. I'll let you know how I get one with it x I'm planning on just using it for maybe an accent nail or for a bit of freehand work.

As well as the foil I also got a few nail polishes including another one of the Stardust colours from the sale brochure.

I love these polishes, these have an almost demi matte finish and they're packed full of sparkle. This shade is Cherry Dazzler and it's a lovely red packed full of gold glitter. These shades really are for people who like sparkle with a twist.

These Stardust polishes do occasionally pop up in the sale catalogues and if I can I'll definitely be trying to pick up a few more shades. If you can't manage to get your hands on these though the new Avon Magic Effects Mineral Crush polishes are very similar -how do I know? Well I bought one and on the left of these pictures you can see Topaz, a pale, turquoise blue packed full of tonal and silver sparkle.

From the new range I also picked up one of the Magic Effects Fringe polishes in Jacquard Metal. These are basically topcoats that give a sort of feather effect. This one has a clear bases and is crammed full of thin strands of gold and teal blue glitter. I think that would look fab over a plain gold polish or even a paler blue or turquoise.

I have quite an addictive personality and I'm very addicted to buying nail polish, I just love looking at row upon row of pretty colours, and a month or so ago my dreams came true when Models Own opened their first North East bottle shop in the Metro Centre, near to where I live.

I love, love, love the look of these little nail polish bottle shaped stores, and I was like a child in a sweet shop when I popped into the shop on opening day. The polishes are organised by colour and you have the opportunity to swatch till your hearts content. Although I was tempted to buy everything I was good and only got two polishes.

On the left you can see one of their Scented Polishes in NP152 Grape Juice. This is a lovely pale, pastel lilac that has a subtle scent of grape bubblegum :) I also got one of their Colour Chrome Polishes in NP239 Chrome Silver. I'm a bit funny with foils and metallics and brush stokes, but when one of the lovely assistants swatched it, IT looked pretty good, so I thought I'd give it a go. Since it was their first day I also got a little branded, hand mirror as a gift with purchase x

The final polish that I've picked up lately was a magazine freebie. A month or so ago Cosmopolitan magazine had a free New CID Cosmetics I Polish on the cover. There was a couple to choose from but I went for a hot, summery pink perfect for toes, Pink Macaroon.

This issue isn't on sale any more but if your a fan of magazine freebies then you might want to check out the new issue of UK InStyle, which is on sale today and includes a free full sized Nails Inc polish. There are four shades to choose from and the shade names are all themed around 80's pop and rock anthems.

If you want to listen to my talking about this haul in more detail please have a little watch of my latest You Tube video, and if you subscribe don't forget your entitled to an extras entry in my NARS giveaway x



Thanks for reading and if you have any questions or any suggestions  as to what to do with my nail art bits, then please let me know x