Seventeen Rock Hard Nail Effects – Red

So in case you can’t be bothered to read the rest I’ll cut straight to the chase – I hate this. Really really hate it.

It’s not the texture as such, I don’t mind the new generation of textured polishes, I’m not head over heels, but it doesn’t offend me. However, the texture in this case was a bit uneven, you’ll see on the photos that there are shiny areas where there I couldn’t seem to spread out the graininess. Somehow if it wasn’t bumpy it also wasn’t matte.

I also hate the colour. It’s just called Red and it doesn’t even manage to be that. It leans very orange in a way that stops it from looking as classy as a red manicure usually does and means that it doesn’t match anything.

Hate it. Hate hate hate.

But you know, if anyone fancies giving it a go, I’m more than happy to bung it in the post…

Vintage Cookbook & Cottage Pie

There are few things I love more than old cookery books. I’m talking about ones from the 70s and 80s when food was garishly coloured and anything from beyond these shores was still exotic. So when I found myself with a packet of minced beef and no plan, what was I to do but reach for the Mighty Mince Cookbook!

(Don’t you love my stripy chopping board?!)

The dates in the front of the book show a last pressing of 1984, so we can reasonably assume it had been hanging around my mum and dad’s house since around then. There are huge sections on different types of burgers and meatloaves, but I didn’t feel that either of those hit the spot, so what did I go with..?

Cottage pie!!!

So obviously I’m incapable of following a recipe to the letter, but I did take some inspiration from this one.

Elements I took from the recipe:
Mushrooms – to be honest these would probably have gone in anyway, but I’ve often argued with friends about whether mushrooms have a place in a cottage pie, so I’m pleased to see them in a recipe.
Doing so much of the cooking in the pan – I normally sweat the onions and brown the meat and then chuck it all in the oven for ages, but giving it a good old simmer on the hob speeded up the process no end.
Eggs in the mash – no idea what this was about, but I went with it (although I got bored of whisking, so the whites weren’t quite a peaky as the should have been) and I ended up
with mash that had an element of dumpling about it. Now I like mash and I like dumplings, so really this neither a good or a bad thing, don’t think I’ll bother in future though.

Changes I made:
Worcestershire sauce – I can’t be the only person who simply doesn’t have this in the cupboard as a matter of course? So I chucked in a few herbs instead and all was right with the world.
Beef stock – I kind of did this, but I’m lazy so gravy granules and extra water to make up the liquid. I know that’s not great, but it was yum so I’m happy.
Veg – Again I’m lazy, so any excuse to throw everything in the same dish and save on cooking sides. A few peas went in there, and I had some kale lying around so a bit of that went in too. But no carrots, never carrots.
Cheese – you’ll see that the top of the pie is a bit lumpy, the only cheese I had in the house was feta. Obviously that isn’t really fit for purpose, but I crumbled some on top anyway and I ended up really enjoying the tangy bite it brought.

I got two dinners and two lunches out of this pie and I enjoyed every one of them, so all in all a massive success.

Now lets look at some pictures…

Urban Decay – Cult

I realise that my blog has been quite swatchy of late, but that’s just because I’ve taken the time to sort through some of my stuff and I need to know what I’ve got before I can be ruthless. I now have a pile of things to go on ebay, or perhaps a blog sale if anyone would be interested…?

I have a couple of these vintage Urban Decays, I showed you Twisted here (although I hope you’ll agree that today’s pictures are an improvement on those I was posting just a couple of months ago) and I am completely in love with both these polishes. There are nearly always some UDs on ebay and they tend to go for cheap, so I would definitely recommend that you get in there.

Cult is pretty much a dream in every respect. If I had to put a name on the colour I think I would say sage and it is absolutely rammed with fold shimmer. It did get a little bit brushstrokey on application, but I think that’s because the shimmer had settled a bit in my bottle and was nothing that a good shake couldn’t sort out.

The only real trouble I had was that it did not want to play nice with Seche Vite, but it’s not the only one and really what can you expect from a bottle that’s been hanging around for several years.

So look look look, here is the gorgeousness…

And here’s a close up to try and capture that shimmer…

Barry M – Textured Nail Polish – Atlantic Road

Now then, I’ve been wearing this for a few hours and I still have no idea what I think about it. I know that somewhat defeats the object of writing a blog post, but I’m hoping that posting the pictures will help me make my mind up.

I went along to my local Superdrug where the textured polishes and the new Gelly polishes were 2 for £6, so I picked up a Gelly which I will show you soon and debated about which textured one to get. I had both the blue and the pink in my hands and I figured that I’ve worn so much pink lately that I’d give the blue one a go.

Application was perfect in 2 coats. I’ve read a few bloggers saying they had trouble controlling the flow from brush to nail, but I had no such issues. I did get a bit freaked out by the smooth liquid which only shows its texture as it dries – and it does take a long time to dry, don’t be fooled into thinking that just because it’s started to look rough it’s completely dry, you need to leave it a few moments more.

But what do I think of the finish itself? I’m not averse to some texture, in fact I can’t stop touching it, but I just don’t know if I want my nails to look like an artex ceiling…! Not wearing a top coat is also making me a little befuddled. Maybe I need to sleep on this one and make up my mind in the morning!

Valentines Nails

So I don’t do Valentines Day, and I don’t do freehand art, but I thought I’d have a go at this. Turned out alright I think. Hope everyone had the day they wanted today. x

Vintage Nails Inc – Paris

Now then, today I have a mystery quite literally on my hands…

If you google ‘Nails Inc Paris’ there are lots of reviews and swatches of a purple that came free in a promotion with Diet Coke, but nothing except an expired ebay auction relating to the polish I’m showing you today.

So all I know about this is that it’s in the old Nails Inc bottle with the fingers logo and it’s one of the polishes my mum bought from QVC several years ago that had been living in a drawer until it found its way to me.

Other than that, it’s a dusty rose shimmer that felt sheer on application, but in fact was pretty much opaque after one coat (I know that doesn’t make any sense, but hopefully you’ll know what I mean.) I used two coats for swatching, but I probably didn’t really need to.

This is a beautiful polish, and I’m guessing it’s pretty hard to find, but to be honest it’s not something I would ever wear. I’ve been having a sort through to find some pretties I might be able to get rid of and this falls into that category, however I would love it to go to a good home, so if anyone fancies a swap please let me know…

And onto the pictures, I took quite a few in bright light and not so bright light, trying to properly capture the shimmer. I’m not sure I quite managed it, but hopefully you get the gist.

Zoya – Piper

Look at me trying my long time untrieds!

I thought this might make a good base for some kind of Valentines business, and seeing as there isn’t much swatchiness of it out there I thought I’d do the honours.

Firstly this is horrible to work with; it’s so thin that too much on the brush and it floods the cuticles, too little and it barely covers the nail. Once I’d got used to the formula I think I ended up with three coats, after which I still have some VNL It dries extremely quickly though, so swings and roundabouts…

The colour is actually a very pretty dusty pink and completely unique in my collection. However it makes me look like I’ve died, so this isn’t one I’ll be wearing by itself.

Nude Neon

It’s a little bit quiet around here at the moment, so here’s a quick picture of the manicure I’ve been wearing for the last couple of days. There’s a little bit of chippage now, but that’s one of the great things about nudes, the chips aren’t too noticeable in real life.

So here we’ve got Ciate – My Fair Lady and Pop Beauty – Mandarin. I couldn’t decide what to do, so there’s half a dotted gradient and half blobby spun sugar.

I’ve enjoyed wearing this, it’s made me feel pretty on trend for a change!

Andrea Fulerton – Eva

Really needed a palate cleanser today, so I pulled out one of my oldest untrieds, this gorgeous green from Andrea Fulerton.

I’ve only got a couple of her polishes and I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen them in my local Superdrug lately, so not sure what’s going on there. It’s also hard to find any swatches online, so this is Eva, an emerald cream which applied beautifully in two coats.

Pre Spring Challenge – Day 11 – Beach

Look at me, squeezing in another post before the end of the weekend! I will get this challenge finished eventually…

My beach themed mani is inspired by these beach huts:

The bright colours made me happy, so I’ve transferred them to my nails like so:

I used Sally Hansen – White On as a base for all of them and the others are as follows…

Orange – Leighton Denny – Perfect To Party
Yellow – Milani – Yellow Whiz
Green – Sally Hansen – Grass Slipper
Blue – Sally Hansen – Model Behaviour
Red – Orly – Ma Cherie