NOTD China Glaze Crackle Glaze - Broken Hearted

with flash

Today's Nail of the Day is China Glaze Crackle Glaze - Broken Hearted. It is a hot pink crackle glaze so I decided to pick a neon colour to go with it.

I picked the semi shimmer neon China Glaze called Towel Boy Toy from the Poolside collection. As you can see the colours clash to make the nails really eye-catching.

Towel Boy Toy

Natural light

with Flash

This is number 2 of the 6 out of the crackle glaze collection that I have blogged about and as I said before there is not a lot of stock in the UK at the moment so if you want it you will have to hunt it down. I still have a couple of this pink one and a couple of the crushed candy left so please get in touch if you want any.

Carmex Cherry Lip Balm Pot

I love Carmex!! I have a pot on my desk, a pot in my bag and an emergency tube in my weekend bag. It is one of my must have "hero products".

Hero products are products you can always rely on and when you run out you will buy it again.

Not only does Carmex make your lips soft you can also use it as an emergency sunscreen (like I did at a festival to save my nose and cheeks) It also has antiseptic properties so any spots or cold sores (yuck!) Can be treated straight away.

Carmex currently comes in
Original - which has a menthol smell to it and gives a slight tingly feel to your lips when you apply it. (please note original is not an spf )
Cherry - My fave which has a yummy cherry smell and flavour.
Mint - Which is minty and also tingly.
Strawberry- Really lush sweetie smell of strawberry.

I would recommend Carmex to anyone! It really softens my lips and if they are very dry it definitely soothes them.

Carmex is available online at Asos.com for £2.50 plus p&p or Topshop £3.00 p&p and Idealhairandbeauty.com £1.56 plus p&p

NotD Trendy Nail Wrap - Dark Knight

Trendy Nail Wraps - Dark Knight

Todays nail of the day is from the archives and they are my nails from my works christmas party.
I applied a set of Trendy Nail Wraps, which are an adhesive foil that shrinks with heat to your nail. They last around 2 weeks.  As they are a foil they have a chrome/mirror finish which catch the light and really catch peoples eyes. Trendy nail wraps also come in "pro cut" style which are used during the application of false nails for exciting nail tips.

I have used a lot of trendy nail wraps and they do last, but if you do leave them on for for the whole two weeks they seem to make your nails a little thin. To avoid this I usually just wear them for a night out and then for a couple of days after.

Trendy nails are available from http://trendynailsuk.com/ for £5.49 inc p&p

NotD China Glaze Flying Dragon (neon)

Todays Nail of the Day is Flying Dragon by China Glaze. It is a neon purple with micro blue and red glitter. It dries with a matt finish and it is also quite grainy due to the micro glitter, but a quick coat of top coat fixes that.

Natural Light

As you can see below Flying Dragon is from the 2008 Ink collection, I have some of the collection so I will put some swatches up another day.   

No topcoat

Topcoat

In 2008 China Glaze released the Ink Collection it was a combination of 6 neons from the previous wow collections and six new neons.



The 6 new colours are:

• Blue Sparrow - Sky blue with micro blue glitter.
• Celtic Sun -neon yellow with a slight green tone.
• Japanese Koi - a rich neon orange with reddy undertone.
• Rose Among Thorns - a rosey pink/red colour.
• Scared Heart - Dusty creamy red.
• Flying Dragon - Hot neon purple with micro blue and red glitter. 

As this collection came out in 2008 it is not available in most shops, I got my bottle from an ebayer in Los Angeles for about £8.

I just did a quick search on ebay and 2 available here on ebay   for £8.50 inc p&p

NOTD China Glaze Crackle Glaze - Crushed Candy

If you are a regular reader of my blog you will remember I told you about the new China Glaze Crackle Glaze. Well on Wednesday it hit the UK shores and on Thursday I had a large parcel delivered! Excited was not the word.

I had ordered a 6 of each colour and to be honest that was a mistake. All of the stock has now been spoken for except a couple of the Crushed Candy (teal) and some of the Broken Hearted (pink) I have even seen bottles for sale on ebay for £17.99! I have phone the UK stockists and it will not be available until June. So if you really want some now buy it while you can.

Thankfully or naughtily I have one of each of the colours and I will do my best to quickly Blog about each colour.

natural light

Today's colour is Crushed Candy which is a light blue teal colour I decided to try it over China glaze Flying dragon which is a purple with micro blue glitter in it.

inside

As you can see the colours work really well together and the crackle effect splits really well. It finishes with a matt effect so I have applied a topcoat.









If you want any Crushed Candy or Broken Hearted please email me at schliz@btinternet.com they are £5.99 a bottle plus vat.

Notd: Nubar - Knight's Armor

Knights Armor

Yesterday  I painted my nails pink for valentines with the idea of doing some nice nail art but I had forgotten that I left my red and white nail paints at my friends last Saturday. So it was a bit of a failure! Plan B is to paint my nails for the My chemical Romance concert I'm going to tomorrow. My first idea was just plain black but when I saw the Nubar colour Knight's Armor I knew it was a winner.

As you can see it is a black paint crammed with silver glitter, it takes two coats and the end effect is very glam rock.  

Bye bye long nails

p.s you may notice the nail on my little finger is tiny :( I had a major breakage so have had to trim all my nails. So short nails are in - until they grow back.

Notd: Nubar - Hot Pink

As it is valentines I thought it was time to paint my nails pink. Nubar have a nice neon pink called Hot Pink. I do plan to do some red hearts / nail art over the top and if it turns out pretty I will post some pictures.

Wella Professional Care Enrich - Shampoo & Conditioner

Recently Wella has revamped their care range, previously called "lifetex", it has be relaunch as Wella Professional Care. Along with the change in name the idea behind the products have too. 
Wella now have the matra "Discover high performance hair care that you SEE, TOUCH, and SENSE." .


Now I'm not 100% sure about that as I know that the old range Lifetex was mediocre at best. It did have some amazing stand out products such as the amazing self heating hair mask, but most of it was just slightly better than non salon brands. 


Anyway to help promote the launch I was sent a very generous sample display pack. Inside was quite a few different things but I choose to try the Enrich shampoo and conditioner -This rich moisturising shampoo leaves coarse, unruly hair irresistibly smooth. With silk extract.


I did speak to a hairdresser who said that she really loved this shampoo, so I was looking forward to nice soft shiny hair. 


The shampoo and conditioner have the same light fragrance it is pleasant smell but they don't smell yummy like some ranges.  The shampoo is quite runny and does not lather up into a rich foam, but it does seem to clean very well. Maybe a bit too well as rather than enriching my hair it felt like washing my hair with fairy liquid (yes I have done this, but thats a long story) it seemed to strip my hair.  I quickly moved on to the conditioner hoping it would restore some life into my hair. The conditioner is thicker than the shampoo and has a creamy texture. I left it on my hair for 3 mins and rinsed. It left my hair feeling a little better than after the shampoo but not the super soft hair I was expecting.   


I dried my hair to see the overall condition and I was disappointed although my hair is clean and feels smooth to touch it also feels dry. I am going to have to use some leave in conditioner to fix it.


I am going to try some of the rest of the range and hopefully it will be better. I was going to give you the details of where to buy this product but I was so disappointed in it's performance I feel it is best not to.

NOTD: Orly - Glitz & Glamour

If you read my last post you will know I am going out tonight for my friends birthday. It is fancy dress and I am going as the brilliant She-ra. So as her outfit contains lots of gold I thought I'd paint my nails to match. The colour I went with was Orly's Glitz and Glamour from the christmas 2010 collection Tis the Season.

As you can see it is a very yellow/ orange gold colour. I'm not sure it is a colour I would wear on its own, but as it is so intense and glittery It will be idea for some future nail art projects!

I only had to apply one coat, which is ideal and I think it would look great under a crackle glaze. 

Gelicure Hybrid Gel Polish Review

Copyright © 2010 Palms Extra

I recently got the opportunity to sample Nubar's new Hybrid Gel Polish - Gelicure.  It has only just been shipped into the country so I was a very lucky girl. Gelicure currently comes in 24 varied colours from the neon Hot Pink to the classic pillar box red Vampire Red.  It can be used on natural nails and nail extensions  and also can be used for long lasting nail art.

So the application was very simple and very similar to the Gelac.
To begin with the nails are prepped and primed then the Gelicure basecoat  is thinly applied and cured for 2 minutes. The the Gelicure colour is applied in two coats and each is cured for 2 minutes. I got to choose my own colour this time and I went for Aubergine. Aubergine is a dark purple with mirco blue glitter flakes which gives it a nice shimmer.

Aubergine Gelicure 1 week later.

The Gelicure system is finished off with a high shine top coat which is also cured for just 2 minutes.

The application of the Gelicure was quite simple and the colour was very rich. I had been wearing it for 9 days and I have had a few compliments on the colour and it did not chip or scratch unlike the Gelac.

I had to remove the Gelicure as I was going out in fancy dress and wanted gold nails to go with my costume.
The removal was easy I wrap an acetone soaked pad around my nails and wrapped in foil and left to process for 10 mins.

After 10 minutes I removed the foil and the Gelicure had lifted clean off the nail leaving no residue. The condition of my nails were the same as when I applied it. I was a bit worried they may have weakened the way they do after false nails but they were fine.

Removal 

 
Overall I would say I prefer the Gelicure system to the Gelac, as it has a shorter cure time and went for longer without chipping. The choice of colours are great and they do intend to bring out another 24 very soon! I do love how they are dry instantly and it takes away the worry of pesky smudges.
But I know I'm a sucker for a pretty colour, so don't fear I will not turn my back on standard nail polishes and I will continue to review as much as I can x


Gelicure is available from www.palmsextra.com and www.idealhairandbeauty.com

Fish Pedicure Treatment Review




http://blondeinthecity.co.uk/ 's feet © Simon Wicks

  Ever since I heard about the Fish Pedicure treatment I have wanted one. Whilst talking to a customer I found out that a local salon, Strands, was offering a "Bring a Friend for FREE" promotion. It was an opportunity not to be missed. So on Saturday my friend and I had a date with 190 black garra rufa fish.

The idea behind it actually comes from Turkey, even though most people think it is a tradition started in China or Japan. In Turkey the fish live in large outdoor pools at Turkish spas and are used after Turkish baths.

So we arrived at Strands and we were taken upstairs to their beauty area. They offer nail extensions, spray tans and upright sunbeds. We then sat down in some very big and very comfy leather chairs and instructed to remove our shoes and socks. The beauty therapist whose name I cannot remember (sorry!) then used hot towels to cleanse our feet. The tank was a very large rectangle shape with a padded bench over it. We then had to climb on to a padded bench via a little padded box and dangle our feet into the tank.



one of our pictures!



 To begin with it felt like being tickled by tiny little people, but about 2 minutes I started to relax and it then felt like fizzy bubbles or tiny little vibrations. The fish do not all swarm instantly to your feet they they seem to just slowly appear to grow in numbers and if you keep still and don't disturb them they do group quicker. We had 30 minutes in the tank and whilst the fish were doing their work we were offered a cup of tea or coffee. Sitting still for half an hour my not sound great, but with the fizzy fish sensation and the trickling water sounds it is a nice relaxing experience. We tried to take some photos of the treatment, but as we could only take the pictures from above they came out a bit distorted. 

When our time was up the therapist dried off our feet and after moving back to the comfortable chairs massaged in an Aveda foot butter into our feet and lower legs.  



Overall it was a really unusual experience which I would do as a treat again. My friend has already booked in for a second appointment as she enjoyed it that much. Now I must say I did not really have any issues with my feet before I had the pedicure so I cannot say how much dead skin the fish removed, but my feet did feel smoother after the treatment. I would recommend it to anyone except really squeamish people.



as I said I had my treatment at :

Strands 

3 Clover Way
Spalding
Lincolnshire
PE11 3GD
United Kingdom
 01775768999  
They are offering Bring a friend for FREE until the end of February 2011 and the treatment costs £20.

If you are not near the beautiful market town of Spalding then you could always try looking on Wahanda.com they are a brilliant site that offer deals and discount vouchers on hair and beauty treatments across the UK.