Nails Of The Day - OPI - Hello Kitty - Super Cute In Pink

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 

Trimming My Stash - April 2020 Edition - Empties And Mini Reviews*

Before I start on another round of Glossybox unboxings and reviews, I thought I'd get my empties update, so today I'm sharing my April beauty empties with you.

Beauty Pro CBD Oil Infused Mask - 1 x 22ml Sheet Mask

Starskin Dreamkiss Plumping & Hydrating Bio-Cellulose Lip Mask - 1 x 5g Mask

Elemis Skin Nourishing Hand And Nail Lotion - 100ml

OPI Avoplex Nail And Cuticle Replenishing Oil - 15ml

Cussons Carex Fun Edition Caring Hand Wash Antibacterial - Love Hearts - 250ml
The Body Shop Juicy Pear Exfoliating Sugar Body Scrub - 50ml
Simple Kind To Skin Eye Make Up Remover - 125ml
Femfresh Daily Intimate Wash - 250ml**

Total - 8 Items

After a pretty indifferent start to 2020 Trimming My Stash wise, April was a much better month all round, and I managed to finish 8 items. I didn't manage to finish anything overly exciting, but it was a nice mix of essentials, and basics, with a few a few pampering products thrown in for good measure.

1. Beauty Pro CBD Oil Infused Mask - 1 x 22ml Sheet Mask

The first item that I finished was a sheet mask from mask specialist Beauty Pro, that I received in the January 2020 edition of Glossybox UK. You can read a full review of this mask in my original unboxing post that you can find here. This mask is one of Beauty Pro's newest editions, and it's completely plant based. I really loved this one it had a lovely, slightly herbal, lavender scent, and I loved how fresh and clean it made my skin feel. 

It's one of the nicest products that I've tried from Beauty Pro and it's something that I would definitely consider using again. The price varies between £4.95 - £5.95 and it's available from various retailers including directly from Beauty Pro, and Look Fantastic.

2. Starskin Dreamkiss Plumping & Hydrating Bio-Cellulose Lip Mask - 1 x 5g Mask

Next up another pampering product, and another item from Glossybox. This is another mask but this time it's a lip mask from another mask specialist, Starskin. This cruelty free lip mask is designed to be hydrating, and to help increase the volume of the lips. You can read a full review in my February 2020 Glossybox unboxing post that you can read here.  

Despite not seeing a great deal of difference volume wise, I love the hydrating effect and it was a really nice treat for the lips, and something that I would definitely consider repurchasing. These Starskin lip masks come in a pack of 2, and retail at around £8.50 from various retailers including Look Fantastic and Feel Unique.

3. Elemis Skin Nourishing Hand And Nail Lotion - 100ml

I don't know about you, but my hands are pretty dry at the moment. All of the constant washing, using anti- bad gels, and a lack of fresh air all means that I'm trying to give my hands an extra bit of TLC.

I think that this product was part of a gift set, that my mam originally bought from QVC UK, which included some Skin Nourishing body products and some hand care items including the hand wash that I featured in my December 2019 Trimming My Stash post, that you can read here :)

From the popular Skin Nourishing range this lovely hand cream was really moisturising and hydrating but without being too heavy or sticky. Containing camellia, cotton seed, and starflower, it had a lovely soft floral, almost baby powder type scent, that worked perfectly at bed time teamed up with a pair of cotton gloves for an extra boost.

Like the hand wash, I think that this hand cream was either a limited edition or it was exclusive to the set that it originally came in, because I can't find anywhere online. You can still get a few products from the Skin Nourishing range, including the famous milk bath, the shower cream, and a body cream, which is basically a thicker, and more luxurious version of the hand cream, from various retailers including John Lewis, Debenhams and QVC UK.

4. OPI Avoplex Nail And Cuticle Replenishing Oil - 15ml

Next up another product that was designed to combat dry hands and nails, OPI's classic Avoplex cuticle oil. Containing avocado, grapeseed, sunflower, sesame, and kukui nut oils, this is one of the best products that I've ever used on my hands and nails. Lately though I've abandoned it in favour of some cheaper options, but I recently rediscovered this half used bottle, and I decided to use it up.

Despite its almost cult status, OPI have actually discontinued the original Avoplex formulation, and replaced it with the new Pro Spa Nail And Cuticle Oil.  The bottle looks the same, and apparently it smells the same, but the ingredients do seem to be slightly different.

I definitely think that I'll try the new version at some point but the £18.20 price tag does put me off a little bit, especially when I am seeing decent results from cheaper products. If you've tried it then I'd love to hear your thoughts on it before I open my purse? Let me know in the comments your thoughts good and bad x 

5. Cussons Carex Fun Edition Caring Hand Wash Antibacterial - Love Hearts - 250ml

There seems to be a bit of a glut of hand and nail care products in this post and here's another one, and this time it's a hand wash. 

Whilst we always use a hand wash in the kitchen, my mam has a pretty strong relationship with the humble bar of soap, so that's we tend to use in the bathroom, only switching it up for a liquid soap at Christmas or when we have visitors. Like a lot of people though for hygiene reasons at the moment we've started using hand wash in the bathroom as well, and since I was the one that actually bought this product I thought that it deserved a mention in my April empties post.

Part of Carex's 'Fun' range, this is part of Carex's collaboration with tuck shop sweet giant Swizzels, which has seen a wide range of sweetie themed hand washes, shower gels, and hand sanitisers. I picked up this hand wash after trying the Love Hearts themed hand gel in the September 2019 edition of Glossybox UK (You can read my review here).

As well as all of the obvious hygiene reasons, I love the smell of this hand wash, it smells similar to the hand sanitiser, but the lack of alcohol gives it a sweeter, less harsh, fruity scent. It has a gentle foam, and it cleanses the hands without leaving them feeling dry or stripped. I would definitely consider repurchasing this particular fragrance in the future but at the moment when it comes to hand wash at the moment, it's a case of what you can get, and you really can't be too choosy. If you do fancy tracking this down though the price does seem to vary depending on where you buy it, Poundland and Asda sell it for a £1 compared to Superdrug who currently charge around £1.89 for it - hmm.

6. The Body Shop Juicy Pear Exfoliating Sugar Body Scrub - 50ml

I talked about this product in my last empties post (you can read it here). This is a mini pot that I got in Christmas gift set from The Body Shop. As I said in my previous post this is a lovely sugar based body exfoliator with a lovely sweet, yet tart fruity pear scent. I still have a full sized pot of this left and a few other bits in the same scent so I can enjoy this, in my opinion, all year round scent for a little bit longer.

7. Simple Kind To Skin Eye Make Up Remover - 125ml

Next up, my current favourite eye make up remover (find out why here). It took me a long time to find something that worked, and that didn't irritate my eyes. Throw in the fact that this product is pretty affordable too, at around £3.79 or less a bottle, and it's a winner in my eyes ;)

I've actually run out of this now so I'm going to try and use up a few of the other products in my stash but I will definitely be repurchasing this in the future.

8. Femfresh Daily Intimate Wash - 250ml**

As as Brit I'm pretty accustomed to whinging about the weather, so I hope you'll excuse me for you've guessed it whinging about the weather. Whilst it'd definitely cooler than yesterday, I'm sitting writing this post with the windows wide open, and I'm still sweating like a banshee, in fact as soon as I publish this post I'm going to go for a nice refreshing, tepid shower to freshen up my bits. My shower is full of all different types of shower products that I'll happily use and slosh all over my body, but you do have to be a bit careful with some of them.

I try and keep products that are really, really scented, or that contain shimmer, glitter or sparkles away from my intimate bits, and instead I'll use a specialist product. I'm not a huge fan of the advertising strategy for a lot of products like this because they always seem to want to convince women that they smell unclean or abnormal, which is quite frankly ridiculous, but as long as you don't over use them I think that certain feminine hygiene items, can play a part in your regular beauty and hygiene routine.

Quite a while ago now I was sent a whole load of Femfresh products to try and I've gradually been working my way through them. This Daily Intimate wash is hypoallergenic,  and dermatologically and gynaecologically tested. Containing moisturising aloe vera extract, it's gentle enough use every day, and it's designed to help maintain a healthy pH balance. The product itself is a colourless gel, which produces a very gentle, light foam when mixed with water. It has a very subtle fresh scent, and it doesn't leave the skin dry or irritated.

I used to pretty against feminine products like this but now like I said I think they have their place and their uses especially at that time of the month. The packaging on the entire Femfresh range seems to have changed since I was sent this, but they still have a Daily Intimate wash which sounds almost identical to this one, and looks pretty much the same. This product retails at around £2.99 from various retailers including Boots, Superdrug, independent chemists and supermarkets.

So after a fairly indifferent start to 2020 Trimming My Stash wise, April turned out to be a pretty decent month, I've got to say May isn't looking the great but I think I might manage to finish another product before the month ends tomorrow but we'll see x Either way I'll update with you my May totals in a week or so, and if you have any questions or comments on any of the products that I've mentioned then leave me your thoughts below and I'll see you in a few days with my thoughts on the March 2020 edition of Glossybox UK and a little giveaway ;) x

*This Post Contains Both Affiliate And Non Affiliate Links
**Press Sample

A Spring Like Nails Of The Day - OPI Polly Want A Lacquer?

Hi Guys x I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend, if you were celebrating. I found it all a bit surreal if I'm being honest, every day at the moment seems like the one before, and being unable to see friends and family, the only thing that made it seem any different was a chocolate egg or three. Seeing as the weather is so nice and spring like at the moment I decided to break up the unboxing catch up posts by sharing a little spring like nails of the day with you.

Being poorly, an increase in hand washing and of course liberal applications of hand sanitiser, have all meant that my hands and nails aren't in the best of shapes at the moment but it's surprising what a difference an application of pretty  nail colour can make to even the shortest of nails.

Officially described as a "lovely lavender" Polly Want A Lacquer? from OPI's 2017 Spring / Summer's Fiji collection, is a beautiful lilac shade. It's quite a pale one but in real it's a tiny touch more vibrant than my pictures show.

Although cream formulations are probably one of the most popular finishes, they can be a bit of a nightmare to apply. Thanks to their signature pro wide brush this polish applies with ease but like with a lot of cream polishes the first coat was thin and streaky, but after a couple of coats full coverage was achieved on most nails with only a couple requiring a third coat.

If the polish is decent I really don't mind having to apply a couple of coats, and this one dried pretty quickly so it wasn't too much of a problem. It dried down to a lovely glossy finish, but look closely and you can still see the odd brush stroke,  which often one of the downsides of pale, cream nail polishes, not matter what the brand or the price point.

I'm notoriously rough on my nail polish, and in the current circumstances even more so. To try this out properly I didn't apply a top coat, and I subjected it to showers, hand washing and sanitising, and cooking, so it was no surprise that I saw a bit of tip wear after around 36 hours, annoying but nothing that gentler treatment and a good top coat wouldn't fix.

I haven't worn nail polish for a little while now and I have to say that this pretty shade really lifted my spirits, I love lilacs and purples anyway, but there was just something so simple, and fresh about this pretty pastel shade, that made me feel a bit more positive about things. Although it was originally released in 2017 this nail polish is still available from a variety of retailers including direct from OPI, and from Nail Polish Direct. It has a RRP of £13.90 for this 15ml size but like with all things it pays you to shop around a bit, and if it takes your fancy it's also available in OPI's Infinite Shine, and Gel polish formulations. It might be a bit of a cliche but are you fan of pastel colours for Spring ? Let me know in the comments x

Nails Of The Day - OPI Infinite Shine 2 Gel Lacquer - Show Us Your Tips

To break a few samey type of catch up posts, I thought I'd throw in a little nails of the day post for you. A lot of my nails of the day post so far this year have been re shoots, and have a featured a few polishes that you may have seen before, this one is a relatively new one, I'm not sure how long I've had but it's definitely one of my newer additions.

When it comes to nail polish, OPI are definitely one of my favourite brand, they move with the trends, they're always introducing new formula's, and I don't know how they don't but always seem to create new and fresh colours. Now this polish is the first OPI lacquer that I've tried in their Infinite Shine formulation. Basically this is OPI's gel effect nail polish line. They promise an HD gel like formulation, that lasts up to 10 days, but without the fuss of an LED or UV light, or with all of that soaking and time that it takes to remove a real manicure.

The shade is the quirky named, slightly double entendre ridden "Show Us Your Tips" and it's a shade that was originally release as part of 2016 New Orleans collection. Officially described as a periwinkle shimmer, it's a gorgeous, blue, lilac shade, packed full of silver sparkle, it was actually quite a hard colour to capture, in real life it's a touch less blue and bit more lilac, but like any polish with sparkle, there is a slight amount of colour shift.

Despite the fact that the formulation is slightly different the iconic, and much copied OPI bottle remains the same, only instead of the traditional black textured cap, you have a smooth, mirrored silver top. The bottle contains the familiar Pro Wide blush - I'm a huge fan of this brush, it's so easy to paint with, if you have thin nails like I do, one stripe is usually enough.

I was expecting this polish to be a bit thicker than normal but that wasn't the case. The first coat was quite patchy, as was the second on some nails so I needed 3 coats to achieve the finish that you can see here. The formulation dried fairly quickly so I had no problem with applying multiple coats.

Even though it includes a lot of sparkle, it has a super smooth feel, and an ultra glossy finish. Normal OPI's are usually pretty glossy but this seemed to have a bit of extra shine. Unfortunately the up to10 day wear claim didn't really pan out. Admittedly I am pretty harsh on my polishes, but I only managed around 3 to 4 days without a top coat, which about the same a regular OPI colour.

Despite that though I'm still pretty pleased with this polish, although I didn't experience much of a difference in way wear time, I definitely saw a slight difference in the shine and the finish. I'm not sure I'd buy this formulation ahead of OPI's original and iconic polish but I would definitely consider trying it again. As I say this shade was part of the 2016 New Orleans collection but it's still widely available in both the original formulation (which I also own in a mini), and in the Infinite Shine formula. The full 15ml size of OPI Infinite Shine Show Us Your Tips retails at £14.50 direct from OPI but it's worth shopping around as I have seen it cheaper elsewhere x Are you a fan of this shade? Let me know in the comments x

Nails Of The Day - OPI Coalmates - Holiday 2017

So my nails aren't any longer than they were just over a week but I've got another dark colour to show so in my opinion the length doesn't really matter.

Coalmates is another shade from OPI's 2017 Holiday Collection, Love OPI XOXO. and whilst at first glance the colour in the bottle might appear to be dark and un-festive, in reality it's anything but.

Again none of my photographs will ever do this polish justice so do yourself a favour and pick this one up before it's gone for good.

OPI Coalmates is a beautiful metallic, deep charcoal grey, with is crammed full of multi coloured sparkle, in certain lights it looks almost black, and in others it's almost a silver, pewter shade. It's looking a touch blue these pics but I think the camera is just picking up on all of that fabulous blue sparkle.

Application was a breeze, the first coat was a touch streaky but two coats was enough to achieve full on, glossy, sparkly, smooth perfection.The wear time was also excellent and I managed a good 4 days without a top coat, and because it's just sparkle and not glitter it was also pretty easy to remove.

I know dark polishes aren't for everyone but even if you don't like them, you definitely need a shade like Coalmates in your life. I honestly can't fault it, compared to Feel The Chemistree (read my review here) the application was easy peasy and the colour is truly beautiful. The dark metallic, charcoal, pewter shade, looks incredibly sophisticated on the nails, and the subtle multi coloured sparkle adds just hint of holiday magic. For me this polish is pretty unique I've been wracking my brains to see if I own anything similar and I can honestly say that I don't think I do. I do have a couple of previous charcoal, and black shades from previous OPI Holiday Collections but I don't think any of them have both the metallic and the multi coloured sparkles. I'm definitely going to have a root through my epic nail polish collection and see if I can come up with anything but I'd love to know if you've got a similar colour in your nail polish collection or if you've seen anything similar on the high street - Let me know if you have x

OPI Holiday 2017 - Nails Of The Day - Feel The Chemis-tree

Well I hope you're all warm and cosy on this December evening, unlike a lot of the UK we haven't got any snow but it's been stuck in the minuses all day and it's freezing! I don't know whether it's down the plummeting temperatures, the fact that the central heating is ramped up to the max or my own failing body but my nails are (to put it mildly!) crap at the moment! They are so dry and brittle and they're refusing to grow - grrr!

Never mind, some nail polishes do actually look better on a shorter nail, or at least that's what I'm trying to convince myself anyways. No but seriously, darker shades can look very sophisticated on  shorter nail, and a case in point is this shade from OPI's 2017 Holiday Collection - XOXO.

Excuse the not so good paint job and the short not so chic, chubby nails and try to imagine what this beautiful shade looks like on nicer nails.

Feel The Chemis-tree is a gorgeous metallic plum, purple that is shot through with gold or is copper? shimmer. It's not quite as bright as it looks here, it's a lot more plummy in the flesh, and although the shimmer is visible in certain lights, it isn't that noticeable in the majority of my pictures or in real life.

As I say this isn't the neatest manicure that I've ever done, and that's not only down to my short, chubby nails tips. For some reason I really struggled to paint this polish neatly, it was quite gloopy but at the same time it was quite runny! It took two coats to achieve this level of colour and shine. It did take a little while to dry as well which in my experience is quite unusual for an OPI lacquer.

Something else that was unusual was the relatively short wear time, I got my first chip within 24 hours :( The one plus with that is that it was pretty easy to remove. Since the shimmer element is so fine you don't ending fighting with a ton of glitter on your nails

I know my pictures don't do this polish any justice at all but I can assure you that it is beautiful in the flesh, even more so when you catch it in the right light and see the shimmer. The colour is beautiful but for me and unusually for OPI the formula just didn't cut it. I'm really hoping that my experience is just a one off and more down to my own shoddy nails and painting skills, than the polish itself. If you've tried this colour I'd love to know your thoughts, so let me know your experiences in the comments. OPI Feel The Chemis-tree is a limited edition polish and retails at around £12.95 for a 15ml bottle. To be honest though I very rarely pay full price for my OPI colours so I would definitely advise that you shop around a bit as you can usually save a little bit on the RRP if your prepared to hunt around x

Nails Of The Day - OPI Cozu-Melted In The Sun - Redone

So very tired, is probably the best way to describe my mood today - I had a lovely night out last night celebrating my Auntie and Uncles' Golden Wedding Anniversary, it's weird but I find socialising very tiring so I've spent most of the day napping.

Instead of the recipe that I had planned to post today, I'm going to share a re-hashed nails of the day with you. Thanks to Photobucket, this was another one of the posts that I had to re shoot, but when I came to do it, it was so badly written that I thought I'd just completely rewrite it.

The polish itself is one from one my favourite polish brands, OPI. From the OPI Classics range, that showcases some of the OPI's most popular colours, Cozu-Melted In The Sun, is officially described as a shimmery, beige pink but I think that it's way more than that.

Packed full of shimmer and glitter, it almost seems to absorb the light, sometimes, it looks very bronze toned, some times it looks quite pink, and on other occasions it almost looks like rose gold, or metallic peach.

Considering all of the shimmer and glitter, this polish isn't the thickest so you need at least a couple of coats, to achieve a full on smooth and solid, glossy finish.

As the name suggests this polish would be great with a tan but don't think about this shade as just a summer colour though, it's in the OPI Classics range for a reason, the colour could easily work with some of the browns and tans that are so prevalent in the autumn months and of the course the sparkle makes it ideal for the festive season. Do you like Cozu-Melted In The Sun? Let me know x

Nails Of The Day - OPI What's With The Cattitude?

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I last posted where on earth has the time gone! Technically you could argue that I've been a bad blogger for not posting but that isn't strictly true, I've uploaded a few You Tube videos, I've taken lots of photographs and I'm working on some upcoming posts, and I've been reshooting pictures and updating some of my older nails on the day posts.

I mentioned my issues with Photobucket in my previous post, and over the last couple of weeks I've been starting to redo some of my older nail polish and recipe posts, it's definitely a work in progress but thankfully most of the posts just need new pictures and a tiny bit of a rewrite - this particular one though needed a bit more work so I decided just to scrap the original and start it from scratch.

I originally shared a nails of the day featuring OPI What's With The Cattitude way back in 2010. The colour I believe was a limited edition release that came out with the OPI's Shrek Forever After collection.

Made in OPI's famous cream formulation, What's With The Cattitude? is a beautiful pastel blue shade with just a hint of turquoise. Like a lot of cream formulations, and white based colours, this one did have a tendency to streak , so I needed three applications to achieve full coverage on some nails. As a result it took a little bit longer to dry but it was worth the wait for the super glossy, long lasting finish.

This colour is perfect for the spring, and summer months, and it's a must have if you have a tan. This polish won't be the easiest one to track down now unfortunately but you can usually find something similar if you shop around. I haven't worn this shade for years, but now thanks to Photobucket (grrr) I've rediscovered it, and I've realised exactly why I bought it, and why I used to love it so much? Are you a fan of pastel blue nails? Let me know x