Ciaté Corrupted Neon Manicure

A few weeks back now, I was invited by the lovely ladies at Ciaté down to the Selfridges beauty hall to try out their new Corrupted Neon Manicure. Of course, being the sort of person who is absolutely terrible at painting their nails, I jumped at the chance.

The new Corrupted Neon set is a three part kit that is designed to give you awesome looking nails, with incredible ease. I've never been any good at nail art, so this automatically appeals to me as it's a super easy way to get exciting looking nails without loads of fuss. It contains a nail colour, a matching glitter, and a neon topcoat, which makes your nails glow under a blacklight (pretty cool, huh?).

On the day, the girls tried out the coral set on me, and they gave me the pink set to take home and play with, and it really is super easy. I just put one coat of colour on each nail, and then when I do the second coat, pour glitter onto any nails that I'd like to have sparkle whilst the paint is still wet. I didn't put the top coat over the glitter, as I found it kind of dulled down the sparkle, but they last pretty well anyway.

Ciaté is a brand I often overlook when nail polish shopping, and I'm not really sure why, since I have quite a few of their polishes, and they are all excellent quality. I'm definitely going to look a little closer in the future! 

In terms of quick and easy, fun looking manicure kits, there's no one quite like them!

What do you think of the neon nails look?

*Corrupted Neon Manicure kit was gifted to me by Ciaté

Rimmel Polish Pickin'

As I mentioned in this post, as far as I'm concerned at the moment, Rimmel can do no wrong. I love the Wake Me Up foundation, I use the matching concealer every day, the Stay Matte powder is my favourite, I love the entire Scandaleyes range, and the Kate Moss Lippies are fantastic. 

I had a big clear out of all my polishes recently, I'm moving in with my boyfriend and am becoming pretty ruthless in the streamlining of my beauty products. I noticed during this that a large portion of my polish picks were Rimmel, and I wasn't willing to part with a single one, so I thought I'd break it down for you.

I <3 Lasting Finish: And boy do they mean it. The most resistant of the bunch, these picks usually last a massive seven days before chipping, in fact, I've known them last ten. They aren't the quickest to dry, but they generally need only one coat. My favourites are Double Decker Red, your standard bold red, Black Cab, pretty self explanatory, and Pear Drop, a super shimmery turquoisey green colour.

60 Second: When I'm running late but need a little polish love, normally before work/an event, these are the ones I reach for. One coat of these and a layer of Seche Vite will slow you down no more than four minutes. Rose Libertine is my favourite, a dusky rose pink, but I also have Caramel Cupcake,  my go-to nude. 

Salon Pro Lycra Flex: My favourite formula of the bunch. A hefty bottle, thick, gel-like formula, with hi shine finish with or without a topcoat. Even wider, flatter brush than the previous two (which are still wide and flat). An addictive colour range, so far I'm proud owner of Grape Sorbet, a lighter than light shimmer berry purple, Romantic, a slightly pinker pale pastel than my beloved Essie Fiji, Disco Fever, a bold pink purple and Hip Hop, an orange toned read reminiscent of Chanel's Holiday. But rest assured that the rest of the collection will make it into my grubby, swatch stained mitts sooner than you think.

What do you think about Rimmel Polishes?

Rimmel With Kate Moss Salon Pro Nail Lacquer

I won't insult your intelligence by suggesting that I haven't had my eye on these since they were announced. I'm obsessed with the Kate lipsticks, so I expected to fall in love with these too. As always, I was right ;)

Under the eagle eye of my boyfriend, who was telling me I was allowed "No more than one, you've got soooooo many nail polishes, why does it matter," I had to whittle it down to just one polish to take home. At under a fiver each they're cheap as chips, so realistically I think I should have been allowed three!

I flirted with Grape Sorbet, a beautiful pearlescent pale pinky purple, that is unlike anything I own, but as my boyfriend pointed out, it wasn't very me either. Then I had a little dalliance with Hip Hop, a shade which is probably the closest match to Chanel's Holiday, without going to the Chanel counter and blowing a tonne of money. Jazz Funk was considered, but I have a few very similar colours. Then I spotted this one, Disco Fever, abandoned on the wrong side of the Rimmel display, looking all alone and forlorn, so I just had to have it. 

This is possibly my personality in a bottle. This shade is just so me, I love it! It's a gorgeous pink toned purple with a hint of shimmer.

I love the Rimmel 60 Second polishes, and the formula of these is even better. The brush is bigger too, very wide and flat, it's perfect. I can't say much in terms of chipping, since I top everything with Seche Vite, so it's basically stuck for life.

My boyfriend has now left London for four weeks, so maybe if I were to accidentally bring home a few more, he'd never find out? 

What do you think of Rimmel polishes?

The Primark Polish

Since the boy has decided it's time for me to tighten the purse strings a little, I've had to think  a little outside the box (read; Selfridges beauty hall) when it comes to getting my beauty fix. This week has seen me delve into the beauty section that my friend Melisa would cringe if she new about. Namely (deep breath) Primark and Poundland.

And actually, I found a few gems, one of them being this cute nail polish set from Primark. At £2 for four polishes, I was expecting lumpy, gooey, streaky, petrol scented shite, to be quite frank, but to say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement.

Firstly, I really like the colours, there's a glitter polish, made up of little turquoise glitter, with a few bigger chunks thrown in for good measure, which you can layer up for full coverage, or top off another colour with one coat, for just a hint of sparkle. The other three colours nicely fill a blue/green gap in my collection. There's one purple toned, lilac blue, a true greeny mint, and a lovely cornflower blue. All four colour go together really well, if you fancy mixing it up a bit, and it's the perfect set for someone who is a little less knowledgeable when it comes to polish pushing.

As far as formula goes, for fifty pence a polish, it's nothing to turn your nose up at. Less streaky than any Barry M offering I've tried, and looks great after two coats, they're pretty damn good.

Just goes to show, you don't have to spend a fortune to get good products. I won't be giving up my Essie, Butter London or Chanel anytime soon though.

Have you tried anything from the beauty section in Primark?

Maybelline Colour Show Polka Dots

 From left to right, Maybelline Colour Show Polka Dots in Shooting Stars, Maybelline Colour Show Polka Dots in Shooting Stars on H&M Blue My Mind, H&M Blue My Mind

From left to right, Maybelline Colour Show Polka Dots in Speckled Pink, Maybelline Colour Show Polka Dots in Speckled Pink on Barry M Gelly Hi Shine in Dragon Fruit, Barry M Gelly Hi Shine in Dragon Fruit

The high street has been going mad for nail art in the last year, and the latest trend they've swooped in on was inspired by the Illamasqua speckled nail paints. Now I'm not one for expensive high-end polishes, so these new Maybelline releases were right up my street. Retailing at a mere £2.99 each they are made up of different sized black and white matte speckles, suspended in polish. Whilst the polish is quite sheer, you can wear these on their own, or you can layer them on a similar base colour to really make them pop. I love these, I've been wearing them just on one accent nail, and on every finger, they're a super easy way to make your nails look a little more interesting!

What do you think of the speckled nail look?