NOTD - 2 True Crystal Polish Shade 3

Well looky here, we have a so called 'drug store' polish on my blog! As you may tell I don't do these often but recently had a polish splurge and some offers in Superdrug tempted me!

This is the amazingly named Shade 3 by 2 True and is limited edition so not sure how long this is available for. 

This is a real sparkler, the photos do not do it justice! I would also like to point out that these pictures were taken on day 7, yep SEVEN and only minimal tipwear and my next confession is that I was too lazy to do a topcoat, so not only did it last this long before I got bored, it lasted that long on its lonesome!

This polish is a teal base with teal, turquoise and lilac micro glitter, which I just couldn't photograph!

Just amazing!

2 True polishes are £1.99 each from Superdrug, or 3 for £5 and when I bought mine I got a free polish from there permanent range for free too but not sure that is still on!

I can't wait to try the other two crystal polishes I got!

Me, my weight and I!

of my weight that is! I have become a bit stuck, I go between eating rubbish and barely eating depending on my mood. I managed a solitary Zumba class since the holidays started and now my instructor is off until the kids go back anyway! Last week I stepped on the scales and was 15st 13.5lb, so close to going back into the 16's! Scared me a bit as I don't want to get back to there. So cut back a bit and as pleased when the scales showed 15st 10.5lb. But I know I can do better, I have devised a fitness plan I can do while the small people are off school and I have taken some measurements as well as my weight so even on the days the scales don't shift I can check those too. My mum is back to bike riding so 3 or 4 times a week, once the kids go back, I am dragging her with me to the woods and she can cycle and I can run, I love running and want to get back into it. Coupled with Zumba and some light weights plus a healthier attitude to food and I will start shifting weight again I will also be using this website http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ as its really good for keeping track of things and its FREE!

Cheap find! Pound shop version of.....

Bourjois 1 Second polish remover! I have yet to try that as I remove polish so much I just buy a cheap bottle of remover from Sainsbury's and £6 on a remover when I can get polish, well, the polish wins!

So I frequent my towns new Poundshop after finding a couple of Sally Hansen gems so go in after a restock, one day this caught my eye!

As some of you know removing glitter can be a pain, even if it is over a base coat, 2 coats of regular polish and a topcoat so I really did test this to its full potential!

Now, being a bit cheap it stunk to high heaven and the sponge was a bit meh! 

Wrong finger for the last shot but this is basically what you do, you put your finger in, leave it a few seconds, and as the name says, twist and pull!

Overall I am pretty impressed! I will say that I did have to kind of smoosh my nails round the sides to lift off the glitter properly and some nails took a few seconds of keeping them in the pot but it worked as well as my foil method! 

If removing glitter you will need to wash your hands thoroughly as the glitter in the pot transferred to my fingers haha!

For £1 this is a bit of a gem and one I will stock up on again!

Check your Poundshops (the official one!) and see what make-up gems you can find!

NOTD- Extending a lovely manicure!

Well, this is my first go of kind of gradient nails, these are nowhere near as good as the gradients I have seen with block colours! 

But I loved A Englands Lady Of The Lake so much that when I got tip wear I really didn't want to take it off so decided to add some glitter, then thought I would try gradient!

The gradient is lower than I wanted as I didn't find the best way to do this until my second hand so I went back and did it again! I used China Glaze Prism for the tips and it was so thick that the nest way for the gradient effect was to do it from the tips and drag down so the glitter disperses down the nail

This was my favourite nail! Rubbish shot as it was on my right hand and camera skills with my left hand are not my forte!

Excuse my ravaged skin, can't seem to find any cream or oil to help!

A England polishes are available from http://a-england.co.uk/ and China Glaze from http://www.amazon.co.uk/China-Glaze-Prismatic-Glitters-Holographic/dp/B0071JE27A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345330010&sr=8-1

This was a great way to extend my mani, even if it was a pickle to remove, but that is all to be revealed in my next post......

A Little Bit of Fun!

Hello! As its the summer holidays here I thought I would do a little fun post! Emmy is not allowed nail polish at school (quite right!) so when it is the holidays she is always on at me to do her nails, so here is Emmy getting her nails did! After her mani/pedi she had to sit still for a fair while, not easy when you are 5!

Matching mummy and Emmy pedi! Done with A England Tristam

Matching A England Lady Of The Lake mani!

Also thought I would show you my new improved storage system, I moved all my recipe books to make room! 

Top from left to right is Drug Store brands, Color Club and Leighton Denny (the square bottles fit great!) Chona Glaze, Ciate, Orly, Zoya, Nails Inc, A England, Funky Fingers and Finger paints and the last box is purely OPI!

Bottom row left to right, mini's of all sorts of brands, treatments inc topcoats, base coats, cuticle oil, drying drops and sparkly topcoats, last box is for files, cuticle sticks and bits and bobs :)

It works very well but can't wait to get proper storage when I move!

NOTD A England - Lady Of The Lake

Hello! Today's nail comes courtesy of A England, had been wanting to try these for a while so when a fab promotion came about I decided to get a couple!

This is the beautiful Lady Of The Lake, I only did a mani the day before but that was promptly removed to try this gorgeous shade!

This is a gorgeous purple with a subtle holographic shimmer, it is insanely beautiful and I had it on until I got tip wear then did a glitter gradient over the tipwear so I could keep it on longer!

The application was effortless, 2 coats for full opacity and the holo effect was not dulled by the topcoat

The next two pictures show the holo well, look and drool

Overall this will definitely not be my last purchase, I have 8 in my wishlist! Uh oh!

Lady Of the Lake is £9 and available from http://a-england.co.uk/

NOTD OPI - DS Bold

Morning lovely followers! I would say thank goodness it's the weekend but being a stay at home mum, and it being the summer holidays the days all meld into one!

Today I have another polish from the much loved and rather expensive OPI Designer Series!

This here is Bold, a red polish with red and silver glitter, when I say glitter I mean this is loaded with the stuff!

On my skin tone I felt this pulled pink rather than red but that may also be the silver glitter making it less of a full on red

This truly sparkles in the sun, in fact it sparkles all the time but in the sun it really is a glitter bomb!

Application was so so, the glitter made it drag so had to load the brush quite well, I also had to run my finger across the free edge of my nail to clear the poky bits of glitter hanging off the end!

Removal wasn't too bad, the tin foil method had it off in 5 minutes per hand but I did have to scrape off a few stubborn bits of glitter that refused to budge otherwise!

I got this with my much loved Magic polish from the lovely http://www.buyapowa.com/ but honestly I would not pay £16.75 a bottle for this on its own. I thought that compared to some of the other amazing DS shades that this seemed to feel more like a regular OPI polish!

Bold is available from http://www.lenawhite.co.uk/store/designer-series/bold