Nails of the Day: Barry M Nail Paint - Passion Fruit

Love love love my new polish by Barry M in Passion Fruit - its my favourite coral red colour perfect for summer. This was bought as a present for me along with some other nail bits and bridal magazines by the girls at work while I was ill. This was a really thoughtful gift - one of them must have been in hospital to know - as you're not allowed flowers anymore, and after nine days in bed my nails had gone absolutely crazy and I was desperate to tidy them up! The bride magazine also had a "How to pick the perfect dress guide" which was ultra thoughtful too as I'd missed my first appointment to try on dresses while in hospital.

Now anything coral is my go to summer colour - looks fantastic on fingers and toes, aind despite only costing £2.99 this Barry M polish has a great high gloss finish, looking good after the two coats I applied in the photos. Compared to other more expensive polishes, I would mark this down for the brush - its very small so personally found it more difficult to apply, but for the low price tag I accept this.

Especially as I realised this is the perfect dupe for one of my favourite polishes - its virtually identical to OPI Cajun Shrimp, so a real bargain for the price!

You can buy Barry M products in Boots and Superdrug. This is the first time I've tried a Barry M polish but I'm definitely going to go and see what other colours they do!

Lindsey

Nails of the Day: Dreamy

Photos 1-3 in natural light, Photo 4 inside under spotlights

I popped into Superdrug at the weekend as I was running extremely low on my Fashionista concealer and was pleased to find they had loads of offers on. Not only did I get the concealer half price for £3 they also had nail varnish available at 2 for £6. This is a great deal when they are usually £5 each!

I'vI love my usual pinks, corals and reds but have recently been experimenting with different colours (you can check out a gorgeous turquoise Maybelline varnish review here  and I have an amazing orange from OPI coming soon!).

I picked up shade 4 Dreamy instantly - there was just something about this colour that was very different - a gorgeous creamy blue toned purple. For a value high street brand I was very pleased with the application - the brush and the varnish were easy to work with although I did find it streaked quite easily if you used too many brush strokes so it was best to apply quickly and boldly. I have three coats on in the pictures above but you could definitely just put on two.

I've worn this varnish all week at my office and had two compliments on both how nice and how different the colour is. I loved that I can still look professional in a massively corporate world but incorporate a bit of my own personality into my daily look.

I can see me wearing this colour throughout Autumn/Winter but also being perfect into Spring - definitely worth buying now if you the deal is still on,

Do you like the colour?

Lindsey 

Nails of the Day: Turquoise Lagoon

I normally play it pretty safe when it comes to nail colour - reds, corals, purples, browns - I'm not sure why, I just think I avoid looking like I'm a 13 year old with badly painted nails, but there is such a great selection of more interesting varnish shades out there at the moment that when I saw this colour I thought I'd try something different.

I'd had my eye on a gorgeous light blue Deborah Lippman varnish but I'm trying to reign in the spending so had a look Superdrug and came across a little beauty by Maybelline called Turquoise Lagoon. It truly is turquoise as it really depends on the light as to how blue or green this colour looks.

This took 3 coats before I got a coverage I was happy with as it does apply fairly translucent and streaky on the first 2 coats. I found the brush good  and it felt like it was better quality than a £4.09 drug store product.

This varnish is in their Express Finish 40 second range, but I still used Sally Hansen Inst-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat. I'd been looking to buy Seche Vite as I'm usually really impatient when it comes to waiting for my nails to dry but then I saw the Sally Hansen product reduced by £1 to £3.99 and thought it was worth a try. This top coat is brilliant - dries nails in 30 seconds as it claims and kept my nails chip free for about 5 days - this could be a combination of the quick drying Maybelline formula though.

Its essential you wear a base coat with this varnish - I didn't and after having 3 coats on for a week when I removed it I have been left with a natural griege tone... nice!

I loved wearing a different colour on my nails, especially with a bright top that I wore to the Olympics last Sunday... I felt like it represented by personality better and put me in a good mood just looking at them! Ha! I'll definitely be going back to Maybelline to see what other colours I like.

Operation Nails SOS - The Results

About five months ago I started to trial a nail strengthener, nail/cuticle oil and hand cream to see if I could repair my badly damaged nails and restore them to a healthy condition. Over this time I think I've given them a fair chance to work and have really put them to the test given the previous state of my nails. You can see the original post here and an update after the first week here, but here's a reminder of what they looked like back in February...

And here are my nails now...



I will be posting this Nails of the Day shortly...

You can find the OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips post here from June

As you can see I had an issue with weak, brittle nails that easily split and peeled, and I suffered with a problem of my thumb nails breaking very far down the nail on a regular basis. It may have taken longer than I expected to get results but its been well worth it in the end.

In my quest for the perfect nail I was testing the following products; Duri Rejuvacote nail strengthener, Elemis Exotic Frangipani Moisture Melt and finally, Aveeno hand cream.

The Verdict
In short, I absolutely love all of these products. Independently they are fantastic - from smell, texture to functionality.

Aveeno hand cream - as far as hand creams go, this ticks the boxes for me. Non-greasy,  rich enough to tackle my dry skin but quickly absorbed and light feeling. It is paraben free and unscented but still manages to smell nice. This is a great drugstore product (retails for around £5 for 75ml) but there is currently an offer on at Boots for £3.40. I would definitely repurchase.

Elemis Exotic Frangipani Moisture Melt - This is a multifunctional oil that I was told was great on nails and cuticles and this really feels like an indulgent home treatment product. You need to warm the bottle (not directly) in order to melt the oil - hence the name - and I do this by standing it in a small bowl of boiling water for about 30 seconds. The result, a warm, fabulous smelling oil - think sweet almond and vanilla massage oil - that when rubbed over nails and cuticles really moisturises and softens and helps manage the hard skin (that i bite from time to time) around my nails. This is an expensive product to just use as a nail treatment - retails at £29.70 for 100ml, however as this can be used for body and hair as well it is a good investment. If the price tag still seems too high, then you could always do what I did and get a smaller bottle as part of the regular offers that Elemis run such as pick five travel size products when you buy two full size.

Duri Rejuvacote - I think the most important thing I have to say about this product is that IT ACTUALLY WORKS. My nail health as improved vastly over the course of this trial and I now experience zero splitting or peeling. Obviously I still have some breakages, but my nails are no longer dry and brittle. I went for a manicure recently and even the beautician I see regularly comented how good my nails looked! The downside to the product is that it does peel off quite easily = after applying a coat every day or most days, once it starts to peel it looks really bad, but I would say this is a small price to pay for overall improved nails. Unfortunately the nail treatment has to be applied to completely dry nails meaning that it does not bind with the nail if you use hand cream or an oil at the same time, so its best to have a morning and evening routine so you can use all the products. Also the bottle went a bit gunky before I'd completely finished it so it was too thick to apply, however I will be repurchasing this product. If you were only going to buy one product out of the three I would recommend it to be this one - I bought mine off Amazon for about £10.

I am so happy, however I do still suffer with the severe breakage of my thumb nails only. As previously mentioned, this happens very far down the nail and is very painful and has occured twice since I started using these products.

So what next?
I will be repurchasing Duri Rejuvacote to continue looking after my nails, but first I am going to try another product. The lovely team over at Mavala, a beauty company that specialises in nail care, hosted a live Q and A session on Twitter (@MavalaUK) where you could pose your nail problems to their expert team. I contacted them with a question about my thumb nail breaking issue and they explained that I may have damaged the nail matrix (where the nail cells are formed) which means it has a weak point. This damage can be permanent but they suggested I try their Nailactan product which works on the matrix to produce healthier cells. They have sent me a sample which I am going to use until it runs out and of course I will report back! In the meantime if you wish to find out more about Mavala products you can visit their website http://www.mavala.co.uk/

Have you tried any of these products or which ones do you use in your nail care routine?

Lindsey

Nails of the Day: Kiss Me On My Tulips

There's something about choosing the colour nail varnish for my holiday that completely captures the excitement and hopefulness of the pre-getaway build up for me.

This year was no exception, having had no more than a couple of days away, let alone a good stint on a beach since last July, I was completely ready for my latest trip to Ibiza.

Now for the last few years I've always been drawn back to a coral varnish but when I saw this shade from the new OPI Holland Collection Spring/Summer 2012 I knew this was the one for me.

Inspired when I saw my friend Amy jet off to Marbs with a pink manicure, I didn't hesitate to buy Kiss Me On My Tulips. This was the perfect colour I was looking for to take me from bronzed goddess by the pool (ha!) into a glam party look for the evening - this was great as it was striking but without being gaudy or tacky.

Not only am I happy with the colour, but this varnish has lasted brilliantly. It lasted six days without chipping on my fingers - that's with Nailtiques step 1 as a base and top coat, and its been two weeks on my toes and still going strong.

I've given my nails a few days break and I'll definitely be re-doing them ready to jet off to Marbs with the girls tomorrow. Kiss Me On My Tulips - great shade, long lasting - the perfect holiday varnish!

What colour will you be painting your nails for your holiday?

Lindsey

Nails of the Day - Road House Blues

I've not done a Nail of the Day post since I started my mission to rescue my nails back from bad Winter health... but finally I'm not to embarrassed to share the state of my nails with the world!

I know pastels are in for Spring/Summer but I'm off out tonight with the girls and this colour will look fab with the outfit I've chosen (hopefully will get this up in a separate post if I can manage to get some decent photos later).

Road House Blues is from OPI's Autumn 2011 Touring America collection and is a gorgeous dark midnight blue - I'd say it almost looks black when I'm inside but once the light catches it you can really pick out the rich blue. Its creamy, really glossy and goes opaque easily after two coats.

Now usually I'm not a fan of any varnish that's too dark or blue-ish as it doesn't seem to work with my skin tone and I find it makes me look pale and brings out the blue in the veins on my hands. Having said that, I absolutely love this colour from OPI... the finished result is like a luxurious, creamy inky blue and looks amazing in natural daylight.

In fact I love OPI full stop - I find it easier to apply than other brands, the quality of the varnish and the shape of the brush means even though I'm a bit cack handed, I've managed to get two coats of this dark colour on without making a complete mess of it. 

What do you think of the colour? Would you wear it?

Lindsey