Make Up Gallery - Time To Shine - Quick Dry Nail Colour - 25 Purple Reign

It's been a little which since I last talked about a product from Make Up Gallery at Poundland, but I'm back today with a nails of the day from the polish with probably one of the longest names in history.

The name may be a long one but the price certainly isn't - the imaginatively named Purple Reign, is just one of a large number of polishes in the Make Gallery line which is exclusive to Poundland. All of these polishes retail at just £1 and although I'd only tried one of them before this one my first impressions were good, so I thought I'd try another shade.

Lets face it I love any lilac or purple nails polish Purple Reign is one of those dirt, dusky, purple, lilac shades that hold a special place in my heart.

The bottle is pretty basic but it's definitely fit for purpose and this short, but super wide brush is very easy to paint with. The formulation and the coverage was decent but I still needed two coats for a perfect finish. As the name suggests this polish dries super quickly so adding the odd extra coat isn't any hardship, and it dries down to a super glossy finish which is a bonus.

As per usual I tested this polish without a top coat, and the wear time was decent for the price, It didn't chip but I did start to get a bit of tip wear after about 24 hours, again though nothing that a decent top coat wouldn't fix.

I think I said this in my last Make Up Gallery nail polish review (read it here), but I'm going to say it again I've paid a lot more for a polish, and been more disappointed than I am with this one. For the £1 price tag, you really can't go wrong. You get a 10ml bottle of pretty decent polish, that gives you the opportunity to experiment with new shades and new finishes without breaking the bank. I think that this shade is still available but even if it's not your bound to find something that you like. At the moment they have a lot of metallics, glitters and party shades in, and I'm definitely considering picking up Rainbow Sparkle, which is a multi coloured glitter, that reminds me a lot of the iconic OPI shade Rainbow Connection but if you have any recommendations then I'd love hear them in the comments below x

Trimming My Stash - July 2016 Edition - Empties And Mini Reviews

Hey Guys x It's the first of the month and that means that it's empties time again. I've been a busy bee this month sorting out my entire toiletry stash, so I know exactly what I've got and what I need to use up. and what needs to go in the bin. I've moved everything that's been opened and half used into the bathroom and my aim is to use those up before I start on anything new. I really love trying new things but toiletry wise I'm looking forward to rediscovering some old favourites and of using some products up. Speaking of which lets see what beauty items I managed to finish in July.

Primark PS Love Your Skin Oil Balancing Facial Cleansing Wipes For Combination Skin - 25 Wipes
Nivea Daily Essentials Extra Gentle Eye Make Up Remover - 125ml
Easy Nails Fast & Fruity Acetone Free Nails Polish Remover - Peach Fragrance - 50ml
Balance Me Skin Brightening Exfoliating Body Polish - 220g
Fair Squared Vanilla Shower Gel - 10ml
Make Up Gallery Well Polished Cuticle Oil - 10ml
Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel - 100g
OPI Chip Skip Nail Lacquer Chip Preventor - 15ml
Total - 8 Items 

Although I didn't managed to surpass or equal June's total of 14 items, I still pretty pleased to have finished 8 things. Again I've finished a nice variety of products including some body care and some skin care items, and I also managed to finish a few things that have been lingering on for a while.

1. Primark PS Love Your Skin Oil Balancing Facial Cleansing Wipes For Combination Skin - 25 Wipes

Nuff said really, hot, and sticky weather, and lots of swatches to clean means another packet of these bit the dust

2. Nivea Daily Essentials Extra Gentle Eye Make Up Remover - 125ml

It always seems that I'm on the lookout for something beauty wise, and at the moment I'm on the hunt for a good, budge eye make up remover. Gatineau is my brand of choice but it isn't cheap so I'm on the lookout for something a bit cheaper. Recently my local Superdrug had an offer on their Nivea skincare so I picked this eye make up remover and the Nivea Daily Essentials Eye Make Up Remover. I've only managed to use this one so far, and I have to be honest and say that I don't love it. Don't get me wrong this stuff removes even the most hard wearing mascara, and long wear eyeshadow but like a lot of removers it makes my eyes sting and water. I'm going to give the other bottle ago but based on this one I'm not expecting a lot and my search for the perfect eye make up remover goes on.

3. Easy Nails Fast & Fruity Acetone Free Nails Polish Remover - Peach Fragrance - 50ml

This was an emergency purchase many moons ago on the way to a blog event. Three of my nails chipped before I even got on the bus and I needed something quick and easy to take my nail polish off. I bought this pot from Bodycare and an emergency purchase was about all it was good for. If I remember rightly it struggled to take the polish off, the quality of the sponge inside was really poor and it the tub leaked everywhere. I've been using it to remove clear  nail strengthener which was about all it was good for thankfully now though it's dried out and I can bin it. The only plus point was the peach scent - needless to say I won't repurchase!


4. Balance Me Skin Brightening Exfoliating Body Polish - 220g

This was a My Pure review product from way back in 2014 and I loved it. I love a good body scrub and that's exactly what this one is. I love salt and sugar based scrubs and this one is salt based, it was nice and gritty with a moisturising oil and shea butter base, this scrub had a refreshing and revitalising spearmint based scent. It left my skin feeling silky smooth and alive. Fabulous stuff - you can read a full review here. I don't think My Pure sell this in this format now but they have do have do sell a product in a tube that sounds almost identical x


5. Fair Squared Vanilla Shower Gel - 10ml

This was a subtly scented, moisturising shower gel that  was kindly sent and I recently reviewed in one of my Sample Saturday posts x You can read my full review here x

6. Make Up Gallery Well Polished Cuticle Oil - 10ml

This is the second bottle of this Poundland oil that I've finished lately and it probably shows my current obsession with cuticle oil. It makes such a difference to the state of your nails and at the moment I'm applying it numerous times a day. My favourite oil of all time is OPI Avoplex but it's pricey, this was a pretty decent accompaniment to my OPI but my new love is Primark's PS Cuticle Oil. It's the same price as this one and I prefer it so I'll only be buying this one again in an emergency

7. Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel - 100g

What can say about this cult product from Lush that hasn't already been said! Snow Fairy is one of Lush's most popular products of all time. This pink sugary, sweet shower gel, which is packed full of fine glitter is a Christmas limited edition, So come December time me and my fellow Snow Fairy lovers try to stock on as much as we can for the year ahead. I've used it quite sparingly so far this year so I still have another small, and a medium size bottle to use up but come December, I'll definitely be buying more x

8. OPI Chip Skip Nail Lacquer Chip Preventor - 15ml

Ah Chip Skip, one of OPI's most misunderstood products and one of my personal favourites. I have heard so many people referring to this as base coat and then saying it's rubbish! Well that's because it isn't a base coat. If you can't get nail polish or strengtheners to stay on your nails then you need this. Chip Skip is a clear watery liquid that you paint onto your bare nails, it soaks into your nails, and then you apply your base coat and polish on top. What Chip Skip does is remove any of the grease and oils from your nail surface that can lead to your polish peeling and chipping. A lot of people recommend wiping your nails with either alcohol or nail polish remover instead but this product is much easier and less messy to use. I think it's makes a real difference and it's something that I will continue to use. A little goes a very long way and because it isn't a polish, it doesn't go thick or gloopy so you can use it till the very bottom of the bottle.

I'm pretty excited now I've completed my toiletry sort out, to get going, and to get some products used up. I've rediscovered a couple of half finished shower products that I'm going to start with and hopefully I'll manage to work my way through a few more products in August.

I know I mentioned Product 10 Pan in my last empties post, and although I'm not quite ready to start it, it is definitely going to happen next month. I've got a lot of beauty haul posts to go up and then hopefully I'll be able to start Project 10 Pan in September and get some of my make up used up. If you've posted an empties post on either your blog or on your You Tube channel then link me up so I can have a nose x

Poundland Make Up Gallery Feeling Blush Blusher - Candyfloss 2

When I was younger it was a cardinal sin to shop in shops like Poundstretcher and Poundland. It just wasn't done, there used to be a real stigma amongst my peer group at least, about shopping in so called bargain and cheap shops, and god forbid if you mam was spotted with an offending carrier bag!

Looking back now though I completely cringe at the old me, bargain shops are where it's at and I'm so pleased that the majority of people nowadays are bargain hunters like me.

My shop of the moment is Poundland - I'm incapable of going into that shop without spending at least a fiver, There is always something to buy from food and snacks, to stationery, and of course toiletries and cosmetics.

I know there's been a bit of controversy in the past about Poundland and branded make up but towards the end of last year they introduced their own brand, Make Up Gallery. As you would expect every item is just £1 and the range contains everything that any decent make up line should from mascaras, to lip glosses, foundations, cheek products and of course nail polishes.

Being the nail polish junkie that I am I started off simply with just one nail polish Mushroom Magic. You can read my review here but for the price I was impressed, so much so that on my next visit to Poundland I picked up another polish and a couple of make up items.

At the minute I'm in the middle of a real blusher love in, I love the stuff so one of the things that I got was one of the Make Up Gallery Feeling Blush Blushers. As far as I can tell there are just four shades to choose from but they are all in really wearable tones of peach, coral and pink. It was a hard choice but the one I got was 2 Candyfloss.

I'm not sure how accurate the name is, Candyfloss to me means a bright, baby pink, but this shade is a lot warmer, and definitely contains some peachy tones as well as the pink you would expect.

The packaging is quite basic, all clear and black plastic but it does the job and it has quite a sturdy feel. The square powder, blusher inside contains Vitamin E and has a smooth, silky feel, and it's surprisingly pigmented.

It blends really well, and as you can hopefully see it gives my skin a really pretty, natural flush. (ignore the brows there getting sheared tomorrow ;)

I'm going to hold my hands up and say that I was sceptical, For the price I just didn't think that this would be any good but I'll admit it, it really did surprise me. The pigmentation and texture are excellent for the price but it's the colour that I've fallen in love with. This is a real everyday blush shade for me and something that I could wear no matter what the outfit, the make up look or the occasion. It doesn't wear as well as some blushers I've tried but for just £1, reapplying it if I need to isn't any great hardship.

I'm going to Poundland later this week and based on this blusher I'm definitely going to be heading straight to the Make Up Gallery stand, so if you have any recommendations I'd love to hear them x Thanks for reading x

Collective Beauty Haul - Models Own, Benefit, Avon, And More

Hey Guys x I'm back after a couple of days break and I'm back with another haul! I've been a bad girl and despite my promise to rein in on my spending it hasn't really happened. I've had a bad couple of weeks and when that happens I shop, You've already seen some of my most recent clothing and accessories buys but this post is all about beauty.

As well as my Urban Decay Naked Basics 2 Palette I also placed a couple of Make Up Revolution orders, I know, I know but those special offers and new items dragged me in. I'm not actually going to show you what I got in this post instead I'm going to show you the products as I review them starting with some of the new brushes later on this week. Don't worry though I've still got plenty of things to show including a pretty big Avon haul.

The first thing that I got was from one of the sale catalogues - I always have a look through these first - they don't come with every brochure but they are worth a look if you're lucky enough to get one. I normally look at the nail polish but for a change my one sale purchase was a lipstick.

Last year I bought and loved the Color Trend Naughty Or Nice Lipstick in High Society (read my review here). I loved the fact that you got two shades in the one bullet so when I spotted them in the sale I decided to get another one this time in Two Timer.

Apologies that the swatch pictures aren't the best but this lipstick is all about contrasts - one one side you get a subtle, nice nude shade and on the other side you get a bright, naughty red. Both of these lipsticks are still available in the most recent sale brochure and on the website for just £2 each.

My name is Louise and I'm a sucker for a freebie and as a Valentines Day special Avon were giving a away a set of products all packaged in this super sweet, glittery, lip print pvc cosmetic bag.

All you had to do was buy one of the selected lip products - I'm still loving lip crayon, chubby stick type products so I went for one of the Ultra Colour Lip Crayons in Showstopper Pink, an amazing hot pink that will be ideal for summer.

As well as the cosmetic bag you also got a free nail polish and a lip gloss. There were several different options to choose from but thinking pink and trying to look ahead to summer I went for the Ultra Glazewear Lip Gloss in Pink Watermelon and the Nailwear Pro + Nail Enamel in Viva Pink.

I've accumulated a few of these glosses and crayons so I'm going to do a separate review and swatch post for you, and I'm sure that you'll see the nail polish in a summer nails of the day post.

Why can't I stop buying nail polish? Okay Viva Pink was technically a freebie but I couldn't resist ordering one of the Gel Finish Nail Enamel's in Sterling.

What can I say ? It was half price but it is such an unusual colour. It's a beautiful metallic, pewter silver packed full of sparkle. I'm going to hold my hands up and admit that I haven't actually tried the other polish I have in this formula so I don't know what it's like but the colour called to me.

Something else that called to me was the Models Own sale. I'm a regular patron of this almost annual event, and thankfully this year, there didn't seem to be any site crash issues and despite placing my order 3 days in I still managed to get everything that I wanted.

I tried not to go too crazy so I only ended up buying 5 polishes which were from left to right - Chrome Mauve, Chrome Indigo, Diamond Luxe Trillion Taupe, Diamond Luxe Asscher Blue, and Speckled Eggs Swan. Quite restrained I think ha ha but as I say I'm a sucker for an offer.

Another day, another nail polish and on a recent trip to Poundland I couldn't resist picking up another Make Up Gallery nail polish. I was so impressed with my first shade Mushroom Magic (read my review here), it was inevitable that I got another one, this time I went for  a dusky, purple, lilac rather unimaginatively named 25 Purple Rain.

I love my bargains, and at the moment I love my brows. After years of seeing my eyebrows as nothing more than a nuisance at last I'm starting to see them in a new lights and I'm really enjoying trying out some new brow products. My brow hairs are quite long so on occasions I've pulled out the scissors - not always the best thing to do so I got a pair of these from ebay.

Basically what they are is a set of brow scissors and a comb in one courtesy of one of my favourite Korean brands Etude House. Yes you can use nail scissors but the shape of these scissors and the attached comb mean it's both safer and easier to neaten them up and separate the stragglers. I paid just 99p including postage from this seller.

Over the last month or so I've made a few visits to Boots and Superdrug, but generally I've left empty handed. In about 3 or 4 visits I only bought one thing but it was a beauty. A Max Factor Creme Puff Blush in 15 Seductive Pink.

I'm hoping to get a full review of this up at the weekend but you know me and baked blushers - it's love x

Something else that I'm planning to review for you is from a brand that is new to me Doll 10.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record and repeating myself for the billionth time I'm a bit of a QVC addict and one of the reasons why is that I love the fact that they sell so many hard to find beauty brands. Doll 10 is one of those brands, they're a US based brand headed by qualified doctor and former Mrs America, Doris Dalton. Although I've watched several Doll 10 hours I'd never placed but a recent one day one Today's Special Value offer changed all that. For around £31 I got 7 items, including the brands highly rated Hydra Fluid Foundation Drops and the Prescion Foundation Brush, and the BB Drops, as well as a concealer, a lipstick, a lipgloss and the most beautiful Hydra Gel Blush in Amour.

I admit it, I ordered this kit for the blusher - it's a cream, gel texture and it is beautiful -  I know it's probably a new brand for most of you too so I'm going to try and review of much of this kit as I can for you x

Something else that I ordered from QVC was Benefit Puff Off, QVC had the official UK launch of both this and Roller Lash but Puff Off was the thing that I really wanted and so far so good x I'm going to review it properly for you but both me and Mummy Lou are really liking this at the moment. I also got my Roller Lash mini free with Elle magazine so once the hypes died down a bit I might review it as part of my Sample Saturday series x

Phew that was a long and picture heavy post wasn't it x Although I've placed a few orders this week I  promise I'll hold off on the haul posts for a little while and get some reviews done instead ha ha x Thanks for reading and if you have any questions on any of my buys please leave me a comment x

Make Up Gallery - Time To Shine - Quick Dry Nail Colour - 6 Mushroom Magic

Okay the name is a bit of a mouthful but thankfully the price of this polish is much easier to swallow. This polish comes from the Make Up Gallery range that is exclusive to Poundland so surprise, surprise it's just £1 for a 10ml bottle. There are lots of shades to choose from brights, to nudes, and glitters but for my first purchase I went for 6 - Mushroom Magic, which is one of those greige, brown, grey mauve colours.

The polish comes in a Nails Inc, Maybelline Color Show esq cylindrical bottle. The brush itself is quite short, but it's very wide, so I managed to cover all of my nails expect my thumb with just one stroke. It took two coats to achieve this depth of colour and this super glossy finish but like the name suggests the dry time was really quick.

So far so good, but about wear time? Well this polish lasted around 48 hours on my nails before I started to get a little bit of tip wear. For me that's actually pretty good, I'm notoriously hard on polish and I never use a top coat when I'm testing out polish so throw a bit on and who knows how long this would last.

There is always the worry with cheap products that they just won't perform - well this one did and in this case, this polish did exactly what so many expensive ones have failed to do -  It applied well, and it wore well, and the price is just a bonus. I'm really hoping that the rest of the Make Up Gallery polishes are just as good so I'm definitely going to be picking up a few more to try on  my next trip to Poundland. Have you tried any of the Make Up Gallery products? Let me know if you have and I'd love to here your recommendations x