Changing Your Nail Polish - Festive Edition

For my first nail post of 2014 I thought I'd take a little look back at some of the nail polishes and nail looks that I wore over the festive period.

This polish has to be one of the most beautiful colours and finishes that I have in my collection. I am a huge fan of holographic nail polishes and this beautiful green - Dragon by a england is by far one of the best.

A beautiful bright, deep green is absolutely full of smooth holographic sparkle, that twinkles and dazzles in the light. I've done my best here but no picture will ever do this colour or finish justice.

Amazing isn't it! I love everything about this polish and I've decided that in 2014 I will definitely add some more a-england polishes to my collection

As festive as it is on its own, I decided to pimp it up a bit and add a few Santa and stocking nail stickers which I bought ages ago from Viva La Nails. Nail stickers are probably one of the easiest forms of nail art simply peel of the sticker from the sheet, position them on the nail and then pop some top coat on to seal it - simples.

You can't get anymore Christmassy than bright red nails - I'm not always the biggest lover of the red nail though so I went for something different - a darker more pearly red courtesy of Révérence de Bastien.

Whilst I'd heard of pedicurist Bastien Gonzalez I wasn't aware that he had his own products line until I received a couple of bits in some of 2013 Birchbox boxes. The imaginatively titled No. 13 is a beautifully deep slightly shimmery polish that is dermatologically tested and 3 free.

This is such a glamorous and classic colour that looks amazing at any time of year, but I couldn't resist a little fiddle and again I used some nail stickers on some accent nails, this time these cute little Christmas trees that I picked up in a recent Poundland haul.

On to Christmas Day itself I had all of these plans about the fancy nails that I was going to create to match my festive outfit

I was thinking a lovely deep navy covered in white snowflakes, but I never managed it, lack of time and wrist pains meant that I just ended up with plain navy blue nails.

I say plain navy blue but that isn't quite true Avon Nailwear Pro + Nail Enamel in Stunning Cobalt is actually shot through with lots of sparkle. It isn't as sparkly or obvious as I would have liked but  it still gives the nail a lovely finish..

The final festive nail look I want to show you is something that I wore at the weekend for New Years tea at my Godparents - Again I wanted to coordinate my nails with my outfit and in particular this top which is actually navy blue trimmed with silver sequins.

So again I started off with a basic navy blue polish - this one is aptly named, deep midnight blue, Play Til' Midnight by OPI.

I could have left it plain but to make it really match my top - I decided to add a sparkly, chunky, silver glitter tip using Barbara Daly bd nail polish in Spellbound*

So they were just some of the nail looks that I wore over the festive period x If you have any questions on any of the polishes or any of the nail stickers please leave me a comment x You may have noticed that my nails are a little bit longer than what they were, well in the next week or so I'm going to do a full review / rave of the system that I've been using  - Dr Lewinns Renunail. Just a hint - this stuff has worked where so many products have failed! so stay following to read my thoughts xx See you soon xx

(*bd Barbara Daly Make Up Nail Polish In Spellbound Was Provided For Review / Promotional Purposes)

The Rest Of November's Haulage

Hey lovelys
I mentioned in my monthly summary post that I was waiting for a few parcels, and things that I'd ordered in November, everything is just about here now so I thought I'd show you what I got :)
First up a something from the lovely Lottie's blog sale - check her out if you haven't already, her blog sales are the best :)

Benefit Cha Cha Tint - along the same lines as Benetint and Posey Tint, this is in a lovely peach / mango colour, I wasn't sure at first but Mummy Lou tried it and it looked so nice on her :) I also got a gorgeous turquoise ring but it was a bit too big so I've passed it on to someone who will get more use out of it x Thanks Lottie xx

Next up Avon, I've got into this brand again in a big way - well it helps when your next door neighbour is an Avon rep :) The thing I'm loving at the moment from Avon is nail polish

From the Nailwear Pro line, this one is called Sequined Turquoise, I think I already have something similar but it is gorgeous, so sparkly and glittery

Apart from a little something for my Christmas giveaway I also got on of these

Yes I know it looks like some sort of dead creature but it is in fact a fake hair piece, I've been eyeing up similar ones from Ken Paves on QVC but the prices put me off, this was only £3.99 so it was worth the gamble.

Next a little something from ebay -Yes it's another shrug / kimono / bolero thing, this time in mocha and orange.

This is exactly the same as the first one I got from BooHoo apart from the colour and the fact that the BooHoo tag is replaced with a one from a brand called Evita, and guess what it was cheaper too!!

Next up a little QVC purchase and something I'd been after long, long time - the famous L'Occitane Almond Shower Oil

Now you now me I hate the smell of marzipan, even the thought of Lush Snowcake has me running for the hills!! L'Occitane Sweet Almond Liquid Soap is even a step too far for me, so I'd always been put off trying this, but 4 easy pays, and free delivery meant it was hard to refuse. The smell is actually nothing like marzipan, it had a fresh, almost fruity fragrance and I can't wait to give it a go, I'm going to do a full review of it on my blog for you, such is the hype surrounding it.

Next up a few nail things, from Viva La Nails, they had a pretty good Black Friday offer so I took advantage, and got a few things for pressies and a few bits for me :), well it would have been wrong not to ;) - First up some of their nail wraps

Nail wraps are huge at the minute aren't they with new types coming on to the market all the time, but these ones from Viva La Nails are a bit different, there actually water decals. You soak them in water than apply them to the nails. I can't wait to give these a go, I've got a huge post planned looking at and reviewing a lot of the different types of nail wraps on the market, including Nail Rocks, Myleene Klass, Incoco, and of course these ones, so keep an eye out for that at the start of 2012 :)

I also got some super cute flower nail stickers, which you can hopefully see more of in the next week or so in my Changing Your Nail Polish post on Nail Stickers, apologies that this is going to be up a bit later than I planned but I've had some serious nail snappage over the last week or so :( Oh and the little pointy thing is a dotting tool, which you can also use to help pick up gemstones and the like, this will be really useful for the rest of the posts in the series, hint, hint ;)


I also started the process of purchasing a few things in November including my Sigma flat definer brush which hasn't came yet , and this

Yes I got the Chanel BuyAPowa deal -  the smokey eye quad, it's so beautifully wrapped, that I can't bear to open at the moment so I'm going to stick it under the Christmas tree, with a tag that reads To Louise, From Your Evil Alter Ego, LouLou - fitting me thinks :)
So that was the remnants of a very naughty November, has December started in the same vein or have I been a good girl, well I'm already drafting another haul post so make your own minds up ;) Any questions please leave me a comment x

Viva La Nails Black and White Sticker Strips

If you have been reading my blog for a little while now, you'll have noticed I've been doing a few reviews of Viva La Nails products, one of the products I tested was some individual nail stickers - little flowers in my case. One of the other products I was sent was some black and white crystal detail sticker strips shaped like little hearts.
These work on the same principle s the previous stickers I reviewed - all you do is peel them from the backing sheet and stick them to your nails, and then apply a coat of top coat.

I decided to used these strips to emphasise the tips of my nails over Models Own Lilac Dream. First of I cut the strips into sections just a tiny bit bigger than my nails, I then stuck them down and trimmed the edges - this was a bit fiddly especially on my right hand but Mummy LouLou stepped in to help. I then put a coat of Jessica Brilliance top coat over the finished design. I did find that I need to use more than one coat of top coat which I also had to reapply more often with this design especially on the edges of the strips where I had trimmed them, I don't know why this was maybe I has tampered with the sticky whilst trimming them, or whether it's because they are on the ends of my fingers and experienced more wear, I don't know but I don't think it detracts from the overall look which is think is quirky but sophisticated - what do you think?





I was sent these stickers for review purposes but this hasn't altered my opinion in any way. The product featured here is Black Stickers NSB23 which is available from Viva La Nails for £1.95 - many other designs and colours are available. I've actually purchased some more stickers and water decals from Viva La Nails - I won't be doing a post on it but I will be doing a You Tube video so don't forget to check out my channel, and expect to see some more design in future NOTD posts :) My last Viva La Nails post will be a review of crystals, beads,sequins and cotton pieces so don't forget to keep checking back xx Any questions please let me know xx

A Review of Viva La Nails Water Decals

I was excited to received some water decals in my recent package from Viva Nails but at the same time I was filled with trepidation. My previous experience with water decals to be honest wasn't positive - the gist is you cut out your design from your sheet and soak it in hot water until the design peels away, you then position it on your nails and put topcoat over the top (I used Pro Strong or Jessica). This video from Viva La Nails You Tube channel demonstrates it better than I can

My previous experience of water decals always ended in disaster - either they wouldn't peel off properly or they were too fragile and split before I could get them on my nails. These ones from Viva La Nails were the complete opposite.
I received two sheets of floral water decals one a pale blue rose design

and the other a pink floral design.

The first think I noticed with these is how easily the design came off the sheet, a couple of seconds in warm water and it came right away in the one piece -it was also sturdy enough to be able to move it around without it breaking



I mainly used these as accents on my thumb nails - some of the designs are a little bit large for shorter or smaller nails but here are some of the looks I tried - apologies that my nail suddenly goes shorter I had some breakage issues :( x
The blue tones ones worked really well on both pale blues, mint greens and turquoises - here I used OPI What's With The Cattitude

Boots 17 Mint Choc Chip

The pink ones went with most colours including bright pink, corals such as this Boots 17 Pink Grapefruit

as well as softer pinks such as Essie Luscious Lips


I really liked these and whilst they are a little fiddlier than the stickers the quality makes them really easy to use and you can create a huge impact or you can create something a lot more subtle. I have even ordered some more to play with and they came in 3 days which was great. These water decal designs and many others are available from Viva La Nails for £1.95 a sheet.

As you know I was sent quite a few bits from Viva La Nails. I am however only going to be doing another 3 reviews for you in -black stickers, crystals and cotton pieces I'll integrate some of the other bits such a sequins, pearl beads etc into those. I've since found put that I can't use the shells on my natural nails so they are going to go in my craft stash ;)

(These products were provided for review purposes - this has in no way altered my opinion)