Custom polish: Qarth

Here is my second custom polish, called 'Qarth'. 

You may have read my previous custom polish post where I used a BelláPierre shimmer pot to jazz up a boring polish.

I have since obtained another BellaPierre shade in 'Deja Vous', which is a pink glitter shade.

Gorgeous!

So, off I went again to find an unused polish that I could play around with.

I found an Orly mini polish, 'Sheer Peche' - which is, as you may have guessed from the name, a sheer peach colour. 

Here's two coats of Sheer Peche swatched on paper - and it is very sheer. Only really useful for a french manicure, which I never wear! So, this was the polish I chose to customise.

I used the same method as last time: I cut about two inches off the end of a drinking straw and scooped the powder into the polish bottle. I used about three small scoops then gave it good shake, rattle and roll. I then added two more scoops and gave it a few more gentle shakes until the shimmer had dispersed evenly. Here is the result (apologies as the photos really don't do this justice!):

Rose of Qarth in bottle

Qarth, two coats swatched on paper

I ended up with a lovely rose-gold metallic glittery beauty! You can't really see the metallic effect in the photo but it's very strong.

As with my last custom polish, the BelláPierre shimmer made the texture of the polish fabulous. It's really creamy and goes on beautifully without streaking. It's almost opaque after two coats but it's not too thick and dries fast enough to apply three coats if you wanted to.

I love the metallic effect of this polish but I am partial to (obsessed with) glitter too, so I thought I would try a similar-toned textured polish over the top to see how it looked... and it got even better!

Qarth topped with Barry M 'Princess'

A coat of Barry M 'Princess' textured polish compliments this beautifully as it shares the same rose gold tone. The photo doesn't do this justice, the sparkle on this is something else!

I am also going to try mixing this shade of BelláPierre into lipgloss and blusher as it'd be a great shade for that. If successful I will post it up for you to see.

I hope you like 'Qarth' and if you come across some BelláPierre shimmers, why not give this a go? :)

Love, Sarah NailsfromNothing xx

Nail haul/NotD: Models Own Speckled Eggs 'Magpie'

Here is my nail haul/Nail of the Day for today. They just arrived in the post and I was so excited to see them! 
I bought three shades from the Models Own Speckled Eggs collection. It's Easter soon so it's the perfect time of year for these :)

I just love the look of this collection.

I bought 'Dove' (pink), 'Duck' (blue) and 'Magpie' (green). I'm not too keen on the yellow and lilac shades as they really don't suit my skin tone.

My haul - 3x Speckled Egg polishes and Nails Inc 'Royal Court'

I bought the Speckled Egg polishes at Superdrug whilst they had a 3 for 2 offer on Models Own, so I got the three polishes for £10. Bargain! They are 14ml polishes too which is a great size for the price.

I swapped the Nails Inc polish with a lady from a Facebook swaps group I'm a member of. It's a shade I haven't seen before from Nails Inc (I thought I already had all their blue shades!) so I'm excited to try it out.

Today, I decided to wear Magpie from the Speckled Eggs collection as this one was the one that I was most looking forward to trying. Here is Magpie on my nails:

Base coat: OPI Nail Envy (one coat)

Polish: Model's Own Speckled Eggs 'Magpie' (three coats)

Top coat: Seche Vite (one coat)

This was taken before tidy-up so apologies if it's a little messy.

These polishes aren't opaque with one coat and after two thin coats I could still see my natural nail colour underneath, so I went for three coats.

Luckily I found that they dried quite quickly and a coat of Seche Vite really helped with drying time.

One strange thing I noticed is that this polish got gloopy FAST. On the first couple of nails it was fine but it started to go really sticky and stringy - not what I would expect from a brand new polish that I'd just opened. The little strings were tiny - like hairs - and almost messed my manicure up.

I've never experienced this texture of polish before so it's not my neatest manicure! I did mix some Seche Restore into the polish after I'd finished painting my nails with it to thin it out a little, which helped.

Even though it was gloopy it wasn't too difficult to use, but certainly it wasn't the easiest. However, the speckles apply really easily and evenly and I didn't have to 'place' them.

The finished result is not totally smooth on the nail but maybe this was because I applied three coats.

Despite the strange formula I absolutely adore this polish and I can't wait to try the other colours. It makes me want to eat Mini Eggs!

What do you think of this range? Has anyone else experienced problems with the consistency of this polish?

Love, Sarah NailsfromNothing :) xx

Eyeliners: Smudgers or Non-Budgers?

I was bored so I thought I'd do swatches of my eyeliners to show you the shades, pigmentation and finish :)

I also did a smudge test to help determine the durability, and separate the smudgers from the non-budgers!

I swatched 15 eyeliners, mostly pencil but a couple of gel liners too. Here they are:

1) The Green People Anti-Age (City Grey)

2) Teeez Mysterious Crystal (Onyx Black)

3) Avon Glimmerstick Diamonds (Black Ice)

4) Barry M Waterproof (Bold Black) 

5) Soap & Glory Smoulder Kohl Waterproof (Super Black)

6) Soap & Glory Smoulder Kohl Waterproof (Coffee Bean)

7) Mac Fluidline Gel (Macroviolet)

8) Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama Gel (Black)

9) Maybelline Master Kajal (Pitch Black)

10) MUA Intense Glitter (Jade Jewel)

11) MUA Intense Colour (Forest Green)

12) Daniel Sandler Velvet Waterproof (Aqua)

13) Soap & Glory Smoulder Kohl Waterproof (Blue My Mind)

14) Soap & Glory Smoulder Kohl Waterproof (Aquabat)

15) Soap & Glory Smoulder Kohl Waterproof (Grapevine)

10-15 minutes after swatching the eyeliners (onto a dry hand) I carried out a smudge test. 

This involved rubbing each liner with a dry fingertip quite vigorously.

Smudge test results:

Smudgers:

1) Green People

5) Soap & Glory (Super Black)

9) Maybelline Kajal

10) MUA

11) MUA

Non-budgers:

2) Teeez

3) Avon

4) Barry M

6) Soap & Glory (Brown)

7) Mac Gel

8) Maybelline Gel

12) Daniel Sandler

Smudged slightly:

13) Soap & Glory (Blue My Mind)

14) Soap & Glory (Aquabat)

15) Soap & Glory (Grapevine)

Not only did the gel liners not smudge but they also didn't fade whilst most of the others did. The Daniel Sandler liner also had great staying power.

However, even after using all of these on my eyes, I still haven't managed to find an eyeliner that stays on my waterline all day without either wearing off or smudging down at the inner corner of my eye!

Does anyone have any recommendations for the best eyeliners to use on the waterline?

Love, Sarah NailsfromNothing xx

Glossybox February 2014

After last month's very poor box, I was hoping that Glossybox would redeem themselves with their February box. After all, it was Valentine's month!

So, did they? Let's find out...

Glossybox February 2014 - Valentine Edition promo photo

Just look at that box design! It's absolutely gorgeous! Instead of the usual pink box we have a special Valentine's Day themed box - a black box with lovely pink and red kisses all over it. 

Glossbox design (with spoiler!) ;)

Now, the box is amazing, but what about the contents?

My box

In the box this month we have the usual five items; three full sized products, one large sample and one small sample.

We also have a little Valentine's treat, too :)

Nougat London Sparkling Body Shimmer 'Cherry Blossom' 100ml (sample)

A lot of people didn't like this product. It does look extremely shimmery in the bottle and I can understand that sparkles aren't to everyone's taste.

Although I haven't covered myself in it (body lotion, yawn... can someone put it on for me whilst I sleep?) I did swatch it on my hand. It smells lovely, and when applying you can't see any shimmer but when it's dried it leaves behind a nice sparkle to your skin.

This sample is a decent sized product and although I won't use it often it's nice to have.

Worth £5.60 (full size £14.00 for 250ml)

Ciate Paint Pot 'Kiss Chase' (full size)

When I saw that we would be getting a full-sized Ciate Paint Pot in our boxes this month I squealed with delight.

This was the product I was most looking forward to, however, as a bit of a polish fanatic with over 200 polishes, I was understandably a little anxious that I'd get a duplicate colour to one I already had... but... that bottle design and bow! Ahhhh who am I kidding, I wouldn't have even minded a dupe :)

When I opened my box I couldn't have been happier. This colour is PERFECT for me and I don't already have one like it! Woohoo!

It's gorgeous in the bottle and gorgeous on the nails. Great brush and formula and wears well. 

I just love it.

RRP £9.00

Eldora False Lashes B202 (full size)

When I saw the box spoilers I was also excited to receive a new set of false lashes, as I love to wear them.

On the promo picture the lashes looked exactly like the type I like and suit; however, when I opened my box I was kind of disappointed to see that they were just lashes for the corners of my eyes and not a full strip.

I have tried this type before and they really don't suit me, quite gutted that I only got half of a set of lashes but I ended up swapping them with someone for another pair which I love :)

RRP £4.25

Maybelline Big Eyes mascara (full size)

This mascara is a double-ended mascara. At one end there is a normal-sized mascara brush, and at the other end is a tiny brush designed for your bottom lashes.

Now, I'm quite lucky to have really long and nice bottom eyelashes (why can't the top ones be the same?!) so a normal mascara brush works just fine for me. I do think this would be useful for ladies with very short/hard to reach bottom lashes because you have a bit more control over the brush. I'm not keen on either brush to be honest but I'll save it for when I eventually run out of mascara (I have 4 different unused ones from various beauty boxes!).

RRP £8.99

Giovanni Eco Chic Ultra-Moist hair care samples (3 sachets)

Giovanni Eco-Chic Hair Care is a range I haven't heard of before. Apparently it's very popular over in the States. The packaging looks really nice and I'm glad they sent me the moisture set. I haven't actually used these yet but I will update this post when I do.

Usually when I receive sachets, especially of hair stuff, I'm a bit "meh". However, on reading other blogger's reviews on this (which are very positive), I am now looking forward to trying them out :)

Worth approx. £0.70 for the set (based on full-sized product cost per ml)

Extra treat!

Lindt Lindor Treat Bar 38g

It's always nice to receive an extra treat, especially chocolate! And oh what a treat this was.

Melt in the mouth, although it didn't stay in my mouth very long - I ate it that fast I don't even think I chewed it! Very well-received, thanks Glossybox :)

RRP £0.80 per bar

Cost/value for money

Box cost = £10 + £2.95 P&P

Box value = approx £29

Verdict

This box is just fantastic; after a rubbish January box, this is much more like it :)

Had the eyelashes been a better pair it would have been perfect! I hope March's box is as good as this one...

Love, Sarah NailsfromNothing xx

My first custom nail polish: 'The Iron Islands'

Today I made my very first custom polish!

I have the BelláPierre Shimmer Powder pot in 'Whesek'.

At first, I thought these shimmer pots were just eyeshadows - then I found out that they could be mixed into lipgloss, blusher, nail polishes etc.

Now, the shade 'Whesek' isn't really a colour that I can mix with a lip gloss or blusher, because it's a dark silver/grey. 

So, off I went to check my nail polish collection, to see if I could find anything suitable to mix it with.

I found the Barry M 'Grey Cream' polish, which is a slightly blue-tinged cream grey. I have never used it as it is almost a dupe of a Nails Inc polish (The Thames), which I prefer the formula of, so I wasn't too bothered if I made a mess of it.

Mixing was easy. I made a little mess of the dining table as the powder is so fine it floats away, but it's nothing that I can't easily wipe off :)

I don't have a tiny funnel so I improvised and cut about two inches off the end of a drinking straw. I then used the piece of straw to scoop up some powder and drop straight into the polish bottle. 

As the polish bottle was pretty full, I used three small scoops, gave the bottle a bit of a shake, then added another two small scoops. The fact that Barry M polishes have little steel balls in the bottles made this much easier to mix.

After a final shake, here is the result...

From a plain grey to a lovely sparkly metallic silver-grey! 

The powder dispersed perfectly and evenly throughout the bottle and, to my surprise, actually improved the formula considerably.

Before it was a little streaky after one coat, and a bit see-through. Now, after only one coat, it's totally opaque and goes on like a dream!

I did add a few drops of Seche Restore to smooth the formula out a little, just so it wouldn't be too thick.

Here's what it looks like on the nail:

Apologies for the fuzzy photo!

I love it! I have named it 'The Iron Islands' :) 

I definitely recommend using the BelláPierre powders in nail polish, they are really fine so blend in brilliantly, and they have so many gorgeous colours in their range!

I hope you like my first attempt at a custom polish, it was so easy :)

Love, Sarah NailsfromNothing xx

MUA and Sleek i-Divine eyeshadow palette comparison

Here is a comparison of the Sleek i-Divine and MUA eyeshadow palettes.

Both are affordable but good-quality makeup brands. I have five of each brand's palettes and I will be discussing the differences and similarities in price, shade range and more.

The packaging

The Sleek palettes come in a lovely box and the palette itself has a nice smooth matte black finish. They also have a large mirror inside the lid. For this reason, you can't see inside them so I have to open a few to find the one I'm looking for. This wins in the looks department but not practicality. 

The MUA palettes do not come boxed. They are black and shiny, with the exception of 'Undress Me Too' which is white. This seems a bit odd!

They have a clear lid instead of a mirror, so you can see the colours through the top and easily spot the one you want. The packaging does look cheaper on the MUA palettes, but I don't mind this too much. I am quite happy to substitute the mirror - which I won't use - for the ability to quickly find the palette I need.

MUA  - 1

Sleek - 0

Shade range

Both palettes include 12 round eyeshadows, which are exactly the same size, and a double-ended sponge applicator. 

I bought mostly nude palettes from MUA as they had more of them, whereas I bought the Sleek palettes which had more blues/greens/purples in them.

The three nude MUA palettes contain very similar shades. The Sleek range is more varied and the shades within each palette are not too similar.

Mua has ten palettes in this range whereas Sleek has fifteen.

MUA  - 0

Sleek - 1

Application

The shadows from both brands apply exactly the same. The shimmers are soft and buttery and have great pigmentation.

There are more matte shadows in the Sleek range which are harder to work with, on the contrast the MUA range contains more of the shimmer shadows which are much easier to blend. 

MUA  - 1 

Sleek - 0

Price

Sleek palettes cost £7.99 each.

MUA palettes are only £4 each.

They are far too similar to jusify the price difference!

MUA  - 1

Sleek - 0

Any dupes?

Here are two very similar palettes from the two brands.

On top we have Sleek's 'Original' and on the bottom we have MUA's 'Glitter Ball':

Next, Sleek's 'Au Natural' (I don't own this) and MUA's 'Undress Me Too':

As you can see, quite a few of the shades in these two 'dupes' are strikingly similar. They are both lovely so I can't pick a winner here.

Where to buy

MUA is sold at Superdrug and the MUA online store. Superdrug sometimes have 3 for 2/buy one get one half price offers on certain brands but I haven't seen any offers on the MUA range yet.

Sleek is sold at Superdug, Boots and the Sleek online store. The Sleek palettes are included in the 3 for 2 deal at Boots - and you also get Advantage Card points too - but the MUA palettes still work out to be cheaper. 

Verdict

Mua   - 3/4

Sleek - 1/4

MUA is the winner :)

I hope you enjoyed the comparison!

I love both of these brands but I really recommend the MUA palettes, they are a clear winner for me.

Love, Sarah NailfromNothing xx

MUA Eyeshadow Palettes

Here is my collection of MUA eyeshadow palettes...

All five palettes

'Undress Me Too'

'Undressed'

'Starry Night'

'Glitter Ball'

'Heaven and Earth'

As you can see, they are very similar to the Sleek i-Divine palettes from my last post. I'm actually going to do a comparison of the two sets in a separate post where I will be comparing price, shades, pigment and application. 

Shades

There are ten different palettes in this range. The others are called 'Poptastic', 'Pretty Pastels', 'Dusk Til Dawn', 'Glamour Days' and 'Glamour Nights'. Some of these weren't available when I placed my order, otherwise I would have bought more ;)

The palettes each contain 12 different shades - a mixture of mattes and shimmers, but predominantly shimmers.

The 'Undressed', 'Undress Me Too' and 'Heaven and Earth' contain very similar-looking shades but when I swatched them on my hand I could easily tell the difference. Between these three palettes I have all the nude colours I'll ever need!

Application

The shimmer shadows are highly pigmented and apply really well. They go on as smooth as butter and blend easily. I always use proper eyeshadow brushes and not the spongey applicators they include as they are pretty useless.

The matte shadows are a bit more chalky and harder to blend, but I have found that with most eyeshadows. Luckily there aren't many in these sets (I much prefer a bit of sparkly anyway!) 

I always use a primer underneath my eyeshadow to make the colour stronger, and the primer helps prevent creasing and makes them last longer, too. Currently I am using the Benefit 'Stay Don't Stray' from this month's Birchbox.

Dupes?

A lot of people have been comparing some of these palettes to the Urban Decay Naked palettes. Whilst I do not own any of the Naked range, mostly due to the price, I have seen a lot of pictures and blog comparisons and I have to say they look very similar!

'Undressed' and 'Undress Me Too' are the most similar to the Naked palettes and many other bloggers have noticed this. Even the names have the same ring to them ;)

Price

They retail for £4 each which I think is a bargain! Compare that to the Naked palette at £37 for the same amount of eyeshadow, and you'll see why I chose to buy these instead :) I managed to get five palettes for almost half the price of a Naked palette. Granted, the Naked palettes come with an eyeshadow brush too but I have loads of those anyway.

Verdict 

I'm all about finding affordable but good quality makeup and I'm so glad I bought these. You really can't go wrong for £4 each!

I bought mine from Superdrug but you can also purchase them from the MUA online store.

Huge thumbs up for these palettes!

Love, Sarah NailsfromNothing xx

Sleek i-Divine Eyeshadow Palettes

I recently bought some Sleek eyeshadow palettes which I'd like to show you :)

I haven't worn eyeshadow for years (apart from on a very rare night out/party). I usually just wear black mascara and eyeshadow, but I thought it was time for a bit of colour.

I saw some reviews on a few good quality affordable palettes so I thought I'd update my collection and start wearing it again :)

This is what I bought today:

'Storm'

'Original'

'Vintage Romance'

'Oh So Special'

'Bad Girl'

I find the texture great, the mattes are good but the shimmer shades are fabulous. I bought a nice mixture of nudes, bright and dark colours. Most will suit my skin tone but I will probably avoid some of the matte colours, like the peach and yellow shades from the Oh So Special palette.

I hate using the included sponge brushes, I find them totally useless - a good range of eyeshadow brushes is essential for the best effect. I really wish they would put a proper brush in with these palettes instead of the sponge!

These palettes cost £7.99 each. I bought them from Boots (online) where they were part of the 3 for 2 offer. I also bought a Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner (below, £7.99) so I got two of the five palettes free :)

Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel eyeliner

The total cost of my purchase was £31.97. Delivery to store was free.

I have also just bought some MUA palettes - which were half the price of the Sleek palettes - so I will post some pictures and comparisons soon :)

What do you think of the Sleek eyeshadow palettes?

Love, Sarah NailsfromNothing xx