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 

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Simply Ravishing - Nails Of The Day - Sensationail Colour Gel Polish - Ravishing Raisin*

Whilst organising my photos for my upcoming empties catch ups, I found some nail pictures that I hadn't shared with you, so before I start playing catch up again for the zillionth time I thought I'd share a nice, easy to wear gel polish with you.

Like so many of my nail polishes now, I ordered this one online, and despite being able to see a tiny picture of it, given the name Ravishing Raisin, I  assumed that the polish would probably be darker and more purple toned, but as you can see I couldn't have been more wrong.

Sensationail Colour Gel Polish in Ravishing Raisin, is in fact a gorgeous, almost peachy, pinky, nude, with a bit of rose gold, and some almost holographic sparkle thrown in for good measure. 

Whilst I was initially a bit disappointed that it wasn't quite the shade I thought it was, my disappointment quickly faded when I applied it. It's such a pretty shade that's really easy to wear, and will work for any occasion on pretty much any length of nails.

Despite my less than perfect manicure like most Sensationail polishes it was pretty easy to apply, I used their dehydrator, primer, base coat, top coat and lamp, and it took me less than 20 minutes. If you want quite a sheer, paler finish you could just apply one coat, but I've gone for two coats here. The colour does change slightly with every application, so if you want more coverage and a darker finish, or if you have really white tips that can show through some polishes just apply another coat.

The wear time on me was decent compared to about 3 or 4 days with normal polish, I can get a giid 10 days on most nails with polishes like these, and on some nails I can even achieve the full 14 that Sensationail claim. I just tend to redo or touch up the nails that chip or come away and keep it one for the full two weeks before removing it which saves me a lot of time and effort compared to normal polish. I did notice that the finish on the polish dulled down as time went on but you could always add another coat of top coat to keep that shine.

Although this colour wasn't really what I expected it to be I do love it, it's so easy to wear, and it has in fact become one of my most worn shades. Ravishing Raisin is one of Sensationail's original shades so it can be quite hard to find now but it is currently available for less than £6 on Amazon , and for a similar price on eBay. 

Alas my nails aren't anywhere near as nice as this at the moment, so I've brought out the big guns, aka the builder gel, to try and get them nice for Christmas - so fingers crossed that a bit of BIAB, and a ton of cuticle oil does it thing, I'll keep you posted either way ;) Have you made the switch to gel polish yet? I'm pretty new to it and it's definitely a case of trial and error at the moment lol so if you're a fan please let me know what your favourite products and brands for home use are - I'd love to hear your recommendations x 

Thank you as per usual for reading, and thank you so much again for all of your comments and messages on my last post, I really do appreciate it xx

*This Post Contains Added Affiliate Links 

Happy Halloween - A Fail And A Little Nails Of The Day Featuring Born Pretty Gel Color BP-MC02*

I know I keep saying it but this year really has flown by, I find it so hard to believe that it's Halloween already. I'm not the biggest Halloween stan, but I am partial to a pumpkin or two. I can't show you this years carving attempt because it's so terrifying - it was a bit soft to carve so I ended up improvising with a sharp knife and some BBQ skewers, to create a weird plague doctor, bird, bat, mothman hybrid - I don't know about the trick or treaters, but it will definitely scare away the evil spirits - LOL. Anyway the innards of said pumpkin are now bubbling away to create a panful of Delia Smith's Pumpkin & Toasted Sweetcorn Soup (check out the recipe here if you have some spare pumpkin flesh), and the horror exterior is ready for all the little witches and ghosts with their pumpkin pails. 

I got any cute Halloween outfit pics or recipes to share with you this year, so instead I'm sharing a little nails of the day post with you featuring my lovely pumpkin before I attacked it with a sharp knife!

This is the Born Pretty Gel Color in the catchily names shade BP-MC02. I bought this particular colour in a set of Autumn themed shades from Amazon in October of last year, when I was on the hunt for a pumpkin toned orange gel polish.

This isn't bright neon orange by any means it's definitely noticeable but it's a touch more muted, with maybe some yellow tones in it. 

This is a gel polish so you do need either a UV or LED lamp to seal it. I used some nail dehydrator, primer, and then a base coat and applied two coats of polish, and then a coat of top coat sealing under the lamp between every polish layer. I used my Sensationail LED lamp, and I've got to say the instructions were a touch vague - it said to seal for 30-120 seconds, so I went for about 90 seconds for this polish and it seemed to set pretty well.

The finish as you can see is very shiny, but I think that it could also work with a matte top coat. My nails are super short here so it's never the easiest paint job but despite the less than perfect paint job. this was pretty easy to paint with, the brush was fine and the polish was a nice consistency.

As for wear time, it's actually quite hard to judge, having your hands deep in the guts of pumpkin, full of enzymes and fruit acids doesn't do a lot for a manicure, well it didn't do much for mine! By the time I'd finished my carving attempt I'd lost 1 nail on my left hand and 4 on my right! The leaflet that came with the set I got said it could last up to 3 weeks, so who knows. I still think I'll experiment a bit more with timings, and different top and base coats when I use it again to try and see what works the best, but all in all a decent polish, and a nice seasonal shade.

Alas this particular shade is now pretty hard to find, as I say I bought in a kit about this time last year and believe it or not the last one sold out on Amazon earlier this week! However there is currently a set of 6 polishes also available from Amazon for £9.99 that contains a very similar colour. There are loads of very reasonably priced Born Pretty polishes, again including some similar sets and colours available on eBay and obviously direct from Born Pretty.

So whatever you're doing this evening be it trick or treating, sitting with the lights off hiding from said trick or treaters and ignoring the whole thing , having a party or just having a nice night in, I hope you have a very Happy Halloween, and also if you're celebrating a very Happy Diwali x 

*This Post Contains Added Affiliate And Non Affiliate Links

When I'm Feeling Blue - Nails Of The Day - Sensationail Colour Gel Polish - Steel A Kiss*

Hey My Darlings - It's been a while again but I thought I'd ease myself back into the whole blogging thing this Bank Holiday Monday with a little nails of the day post.

I'm not going to lie I actually photographed this manicure a couple of months ago now and it's been sat in my drafts for goodness knows how long but it's too pretty not to share. My nails are currently super short again, but there are some signs of growth there, and when they are long enough to paint and stick under the lamp again, I will more than likely be applying this shade again.

Sensationail Colour Gel Polish in Steel A Kiss is by probably the most used gel polish in my collection, and I'm sure you can see just why I love it.

There are two things that I really love when it comes to nail polish, the colour blue, and sparkles, and this particular shade ticks both of these boxes. This gorgeous almost denim blue shade is crammed full of almost holographic sparkle - I'm probably not showing it in the best light here but wiggle your fingers in strong sunlight, or even a really bright indoor light and watch those sparkles flash! 

Application was a breeze, I used all of the Sensationail prep products and their top and base coat, and a full manicure probably took me less than 20 minutes. The finish is smooth and  super glossy and the wear time as you would expect from a gel polish is excellent - I got nearly 2 and a half weeks out of this particular mani with only minimal tip wear, and a couple of tiny chips.

Obviously the one drawback of gel polishes is the removal but despite the shimmer and sparkle this was pretty easy to remove without any chunky of glitter with both gel polish remover (acetone), and the gel polish remover liquid that looks like nail varnish. Both methods as you would expect are a bit drying on the nails and cuticles but I usually just load up on cuticle oil and hand cream for a few days to counteract any dryness. 

As the Phil Collins song goes "when I'm feeling blue all I have to do is take a look at you, then I'm not so blue" and for me that certainly applies to this nail polish - It just makes me happy every time I wear it and I will definitely be picking up another bottle.

The original Sensationail polishes are quite hard to find now but in my opinion they're worth tracking down. This particular polish the Sensationail Colour Gel Polish in Steel A Kiss, is still available though on Amazon for the pretty bargaintastic price of just £5.96. Obviously you need an LED lamp etc. but if you have all that, for me it's a no brainer x Are you a sparkly polish fan ? Let me know in the comments x 

*This Post Contains 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 - Orly Color Blast - Rose Chrome Foil

Hi Guys x I hope you are all having a nice weekend, It's raining quite heavily here today so I've been keeping cosy and working on a few blog posts starting off with a nails of the day from the Orly Color Blast range.

Although the regular Orly range is still alive and kicking I can't seem to find many of the Color Blast polishes online bar a few on eBay, and Amazon. From what I remember I think that they were originally on sale in Superdrug in the UK, and I actually remember buying this particular shade because my mam saw someone wearing something similar and kept going on about how nice it was.

I don't think Rose Chrome Foil would ever win any awards for the most creative of names but it's certainly pretty accurate. Described as a rose pink metallic foil, it's an almost cool toned rose gold, crammed full of smooth sparkles.

In a slightly different shaped bottle to the other Orly polishes I own, the polishes in the Color Blast have a ribbed, rubber grip style lid for improved application, and a long medium to thin brush, perfect if you have smaller or shorter nails.

I'm not going to lie if you're a polish perfectionist like me, this particular polish will frustrate the hell out of you. You get a fair bit of coverage with the first coat but for full depth of colour you really need two or three. The trouble with it being a smooth foil is that you can see every single mistake, and brush mark. I'm probably wearing about 3 coats here because I kept trying to perfect but try as I might you can still see the odd imperfection. The temptation is to apply one really thick coat but you'd probably wait an age for it to dry and smudge it in the meantime - so if you have a colour like this go slow, apply thin coats and give it a few minutes to try between each one.

If you aren't as much a perfectionist as I am, then all you'll see is a gorgeous, glossy, smooth finish, metallic foil with just a hint of sparkle. Drying time as I say wasn't bad and the wear time was actually even better. After a few days I noticed some minor tip wear, and it was another few days after that before it started to chip. Bear in mind though it's one of those polishes that once it chips you can't just paint over it and touch it up, as I say polishes like this literally show up any imperfections, so it's easier just remove the polish from the offending finger and repaint it.

I don't think that my issues with this polish are really anything to do with the formulation, the bottle or the brush, I always have similar issues with foil and metallic shades it's just the way that the shades translate, and I think that I am just too much of a perfectionist for them. That being said though, if you don't look too close, and fixate on the brush marks, it's actually a very nice, hardwearing polish, that I've actually worn two or three times now, because it literally goes with any outfit; It's sort of a neutral with a sparkly dressed up twist, and Mummy Lou has always commented about how pretty it is when I've worn it (her own nails are too short for polish, and I'm sorry for saying this but she's also a bit of nail biter!). 

As I say I can't find this particular polish anywhere online now but I'm sure most brands will have a similar rose gold metallic in their inventory, and Orly actually have a shade Rage, in their main line that looks similar, if a little pinker, and there us also a colour in the Orly BREATHABLE range, called Fairy Godmother which also looks similar x Let me know your thoughts on this polish and I'll see you soon with an empties post x