My Two 17 Nail Varnishes

I really can't believe that I only have two 17 nail varnishes. I never really seemed to get a lot of make-up from them, even when I was younger. No idea why.

Anyway, I have a pink and I have a black both from my pre-nail polish addiction stage. I actually find it hilarious that it's a pink and black I own - remember when it was cool to pair neon pink and black? lol!

Miami

Miami is a super hot pink with great shine

Nightshade

Nightshade is a black creme but not jet black.

Nail Polish Collection: Breakdown Part 1

Happy Saturday! I hope everybody is enjoying the weekend so far, I'm just back from eating out for lunch, was yummy and a perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Today marks the first in a series of new posts - a more detailed look at my nail varnish collection. Every Saturday for the next few weeks I will put up a post of my nail varnish collection. Some weeks it will be an entire brand, other weeks like today, it is just going to be a collection of random polishes, that I might only have one or two from the same brand. 

If you are interested it my collection overview, you can see it here and if you click the tab at the top of the page entitled 'Nail Polish Collection', you will find a list of all the nail polish and links to any that I already have individual posts on.

The first line-up

The ones I'm showing you today are all singles and duos from any given brand.

Duos: L-R Kiss No Name Pink and No Name White, 17 Miami and Nightshade, Ciaté Wait Until Dark and Mistress, Bourjois Bleu Délave and Violet Laqué.

Singles: L-R W7 Marine Crackle, Nails Inc. Basil Street, Isa Dora Subway Green, Barbara Daly Panache, Claires No Name Purple, Sephora by OPI Metro Chic and Sephora Wanna be a Star.

That's it for this Saturday's nail polish collection breakdown, next one will be posted next Saturday:)

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 30

                                                                            Day 30

Today is going to be my last nail post! I can't believe that we are at the end of the month already and that it is Halloween tomorrow! I have enjoyed doing this challenge so much but I'll expand on that in tomorrow's recap post!

So for today, the final challenge was to be inspired by a tutorial. I decided to use a tutorial given by one of my all-time favourite nail bloggers, Kayla. She first started off as a general beauty blogger but recently changed her domain name to acknowledge that her main focus is now on nails. This girl does epic nail art (and epic hauls and swatches!) so I was delighted when she started doing step by step tutorials of some of her nail art designs. 

The one I chose was of course a Halloween themed one. This is her 'Mummies' nail art design and I love it! Check out her tutorial of it here. 

 

I used

OPI Alpine Snow (Base and Eyes)

Revlon Grey Suede (Sponged over base)

Revlon No Name Gold (Sponged over Grey Suede)

17 Nightshade (Stripes and Eyes)

So that's the last design in the challenge:( But check tomorrows post for the recap and my thoughts on the challenge!

And go check out Kayla! Seriously you won't regret it!

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 28

Day 28

Today's nail challenge is to be Inspired by a Flag. I searched google images for flags and what I initially decided to do was the South African flag but then this one jumped out at me! The Olympics flag! Seeing as the 2012 Olympics are being held in neighboring London next year, I thought it would be a good flag to do.

 

It should have been simple, but this is me haha! Ah it turned out fairly acceptable. It looks decentish from afar and even close-up it's okay albeit the circles are a little bit wonky!

 

I used

OPI Alpine Snow

OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui

GOSH Yellow Doll

17 Nightshade

OPI Jade is the New Black

Rimmel Hot Gossip

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 27

Day 27

Today's post is Inspired by Artwork. I decided to use this painting by Van Gogh as my inspiration.
                             
                                

And this is how mine turned out. Obviously it was never going to be a carbon copy and mine is a bit more.....blobby. Despite this, I quite like this manicure!

 

 I used:

OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui (Base)

Barry M Navy (Sponged over base)

17 Nightshade

GOSH Yellow Doll

31 Day Nail Challenge - Day 25

Day 25

Today's theme is inspired by fashion.

I tried a few of different things, including one which I feel is better suited to tomorrows theme, but none of them were right. So I decided to go with something very simple, the iconic symbol of Chanel. To me on hearing Chanel, it evokes images of elegance and grace. Unfortunately, my nails did not turn out like either!
I was getting very tired and frustrated when I was doing these I just could not get them right. The pictures are my second attempt after my first ones turned out completely buthchered.

The only plus side is that they kind of remind me of bones. Bones can be Halloween themed, right?

 

I used:

OPI Alpine Snow

17 Nightshade

May Favourites

Aussie Lusciously Light Mega Shampoo and Conditioner.
I've used Aussie shampoo a few times (love the 3-minute miracle conditioner!) but I was never overly pushed about it as a shampoo brand in general. Last month sometime, I was in Boots in need of some shampoo and I spied the lusciously light version of the shampoo and conditioner. (It was the first time I had seen it, it could have been available for ages though).
I wasn't really holding out too much hope for it but I love it. It really does make your hair feel a lot lighter. Not only that but it made my hair shiner and healthier too, I believe. I've loved it that much that it's the only shampoo I have used this month, usually I have a few different shampoos and change around between them but I couldn't bear not to use the Aussie ones this month!

Lipstick and Lipgloss Combo - Beehive by 17 and Peony by Revlon Colourburst.
This is my absolute favourite lip combo. It creates a very natural but very pretty day look. It is the combination that I've used the most this month.

Urban Decay Naked Palette
Although I haven't even owned this for a full month, it had to take part in my favourites. It's definitely lived up to the hype for me and I love it!

Paradise perfume by Next 
This was a cheap perfume that I picked up and it is so perfect for summer. A light fruity scent, I've been wearing it the most as I don't have much of my Flowerbomb perfume left and I'm trying to ration it lol!

What have been your favourites this month?

A Mini Haul - Boots and Pennys (Primark)

A little bit of a random haul that I did last week and kept meaning to post but didn't get a chance to. 

                         

From Penny's I got the most gorgeous little white lantern for tea lights. I love having candles burning and this suits my room. It was only €4 and when I got to the till they had a set of 30 tea lights in yellow, greens and blues for only €2.50, always good to have a supply of them:) I don't have a separate photo but you can see them easily enough in the main one. 

Next in Boots I got some E45 hand cream which I like to use at night when I put on my funky white cotton gloves to help hand cream and cuticle cream sink into my hands overnight. I like it because it's a really thick consistency. I also picked up a packet of Perfectil. I've used it before and I find it works and I just want to give my skin a boost before summer.

Boots are having a 3 for 2 on cosmetics at the moment so I decided to use it has an opportunity to pick up some more lip products. I got another Revlon Colourburst lipgloss in Strawberry and it's a beautiful bright pink. 

The main item that I went into Boots for was a 17 lipstick in Beehive. I saw this on Saloule's blog and fell in love with it and just had to get it! It is the perfect 'my lips but better' colour. 

I also got a red because I don't really have any red lipsticks and wanted to try one out. This one is called Hollywood and is what I would call a juicy red. While it is definitely red, it's not a mad bright pillarbox red. It's more sedate. I wore it out last week and I got so many compliments so I will definitely be wearing red lips more often!

L-R Beehive, Hollywood

 

Hollywood

 

Beehive

So that's it for my little haul. I have to go to Dublin tomorrow and as I'm trying to save I really shouldn't be shopping - I mightn't even have time to - but I'll probably make a dash to MAC as the Surf Baby collection is out in the UK and I want to see if it's available here yet. And it is limited edition. Hmmm we'll see what happens.....