Weekend mani #12

Ever since I first clapped eyes on the L'oreal confetti topcoat, I knew one day, it would be mine! Today is that very happy day!

Amazing how something as simple as black and white dots can really 'make' a mani.

For this weekends Mani I have used O.P.I Nail envy matte base coat, two coats of Ciate 'The Glossip' and a smattering of the L'oreal topcoat confetti.  

This is my first ever Ciate polish and it was actually one that my boss got in a Glossybox that she said she would never use, yippee! It looks like a peachy coral in the bottle but is much more red on the nails, with more of an orange undertone.  It reminded me alot of the Barry M polish I posted about here. 

           

It was a really easy polish to apply, I did this by candlelight the night before and haven't done any clean up, the formula was just right.  The brush itself was a good size, not too thin and the bottle is just the cutest with the little bow.  All in all, I was very impressed by this polish and the orange-y, red-dy and peachy tones in the colour has me looking at my nails all the time!

I should also mention that it is a creme formula and very glossy, I have no topcoat on at all and after 24 hours - no chips!!!!

I then went ahead and added my confetti.  Its weird, I would never think of black and confetti in the same grouping but it works! 

This is a really easy way to jazz up your mani without requiring any crazy good nail art skills yo!

It contains various sizes of matte black and white dots, it's a very grown-up 'non-glitter' effect and the monochrome is just an all round, timeless winner! I detected a very, very subtle silver glitter suspended in the clear base ( I think that's why the flash didn't like it so much) but super tiny particles so they don't really detract from the dots. 

I used two coats of the confetti although I just dabbed on the second coat in any bald spots that appeared after the first coat.  The formula wasn't thick and the dots were pretty easy to maneuver to where you wanted them to be. The brush was a good size too.  

I ended up adding the confetti to my thumbs too as I didn't think just one nail would be enough!

I really like this combo and am very impressed with the application of the Ciate and of the effect of the Confetti.  Both are now enemies of my bank account! I will definately be trying out the confetti over a wide range of colours too, I may have to make a confetti collage! 

Have you tried the Confetti Topcoat?

If you have, which colour did you try it over?

Hugs,

Jodi 

xxx

Weekend Mani #10

I'm going to be completely honest with you, this is technically not this weekends mani. *recoils at the gasps of horror* 

I had a day off during the week and had some polish on that wasn't OPI and so I thought I would use it for the purpose of this post. 

This is Nails Inc. Old Park Lane £11, Debenhams often do 10% off fragrance and beauty and you used to be able to get free delivery when using the code SHBC. 

This is marketed as a metallic champagne shimmer polish.  It is very opaque, I only applied one coat and got full opacity.  A a result of this I did find the formula quite thick and with the metallic finish, I found it difficult to get it streak free.  

In no light did it look like champagne to me!  It was more of a coppery bronze but it had hints of mauve and red in there too. 

I ended up taking it off on the way to work and so I tried to take pics of it in natural daylight, forgetting that it is Aberdeen in October and natural daylight is pretty scarce now! 

I had tried to do a glitter accent on this but it just didn't work, because there was hints of so many colours in this polish, it was difficult to match a glitter to it.  This is L'oreal's sequin explosion which I posted about here.

I think this polish would look good if you were going on holiday or had some colour to your skin but personally, I didn't like it on me.  Having saying that, as it is so opaque, I reckon this would be good for stamping.  I do have some plates that I have yet to use so I may try a christmassy mani with this.

In the picture above, you can see where I had a problem with streaking. Metallic polishes aren't something I usually wear, so it is a formula I'm not used to working with.  

I got this in a Nails Inc. Lucky dip where they offer you six polishes for about £18 or so, so if you are just getting into polish, it's a great way to try a few for a bargain price. I can;t see this on their website but I think the lucky dips are their way of clearing out old stock.  

How do you feel about metallic polishes?

Have you ever tried the Nails Inc Lucky Dip?

Hugs,

Jodi 

xxx

Impromptu presents - the best kind!

My mama was away for a wee city break to lovely Edinburgh two weeks ago and she came back with pressies for me - so cute and so unexpected!

She bought me a top from next which is charcoal with a slightly dipped hem and some sparkly bits on the shoulder area, it's really cute and comes in a huge six different colours, here, I really like the prune one which is about the only ever time I will say anything nice about prunes! Bleugh! Anyhoo, I digress...

She also got me a supercute packet of Cath Kidston tissues (available in stores for about 85p), I will never ever use these, I think I have a pack of pink poodle tissues in my drawer from about 7 years ago, some things are just too cute to use! If I'm being honest, I don't find novelty tissues particularly absorbent, no use if your nose is beating Hussein Bolt's personal best!

She also bought me L'oreal Colour Riche Nail Polish in Sequin Explosion - it is rather beautiful!

My mama is a cheeky monkey though as I had swatched this in Boots a few days before and she really liked it, I think this might make up part of her holiday nails mani! 

This polish is not available anywhere online at the moment but you should be able to pick some up in the stores. 

I think this is one of those polishes that deserve a separate review over a few different colours, I love it though, the colours are just gorgeous, almost jewel-like.

All in all, turns out being 29 still doesn't mean you're too old for presents!

How do you feel about the L'oreal confettin range of topcoats?

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx