Dazzle Dry - Nail Stories "Blue Fantasy" Collaboration Shade and Mystery Winter 2013 Collection

Hi everyone! Today's post is really special to me as I've had to keep it a secret since early summer. But it's finally being launched today and time to share with you that I've been chosen as one of the bloggers for Dazzle Dry's Winter 2013 Collaboration project. I also have swatches of the other polishes in the collection and which blogger created which shade.

About the polish:
When I was first approached by Dazzle Dry, I was really flattered to be chosen as one of the 5 bloggers to create a shade. It didn't take me long to decide on an electric blue as it's obviously one of my favourite colours.
However, I wanted to add a little extra something to it and it wasn't until my husband showed me some galaxy pictures which he obsesses over in his free time that I saw some amazing colour combos and it struck me! I wanted a vivid blue with small particles of pink shimmer swirling across the entire nail.

Without further ado, here are the beautiful shades the other ladies created:

Artic Sunset by Anutka from wackylaki. A striking white with silver/gold shifting shimmer.

Tiger Lily - a hot pink packed with iridescent shimmer that shifts beautifully. By Jen from The Nail Polish Project.

Moxie - a deep purple based multichrome. It shifts from copper to fuchsia to gold depending on the lighting. By Robin Moses

Feisty - a deep burgundy with pink and silver shimmer. By Rina from Simply Rins.

Dragonfly - a dark forest green shimmer/ foil polish. The duochrome in this one is gorgeous as well, it shifts from teal to gold.

The majority of these polish dry slightly matte because of Dazzle's Dry's super quick dry and Vegan formulas but the colours really come alive with a topcoat!

Availability:
The Dazzle Dry Winter 2013 Collection will be available to purchase from their website www.dazzledry.com or www.dazzledry.co.uk for UK buyers.

*The products featured in this post were sent to me for review.

Pretty in Plum (Nicole by OPI)

This is what I've been wearing on my nails for the past few days.
From bottle shots, this red toned purple shimmer seemed to be the one I would like the least from the Selena Gomez collection. However, I really like the way it's so vivid in person which adds a bit of warmth to this autumnal weather.

Nicole by OPI polishes are available at Superdrug stores nationwide and retail for £7.99.

For more information, visit nicolebyopi.com, follow on twitter @NicoleByOPI and become a Facebook fan.

 

*The product featured  in this post was sent to me for review.

 

Cheeky Chat Me Up Nail Paint - Moss-Behaving & KPT Green Awakening

Today I have a very special polish to show you. I loved everything about this polish from the word go! If you haven't heard of the brand "Cheeky" before, you have most probably heard of Cowshed!

"Introducing Cowshed's naughty little sister, Cheeky: the new brand promising to re-write the beauty rules!"

During October, Cheeky is launching a collection of 21 nail paints, 14 body care freshly scented products, hair care, cosmetics and opening a new parlour in Shoreditch which will cater to all things nails and hair. Apparently, if you go in for a 20 minute file and paint, they will offer you a bottle of Chat Me Up Nail Paint worth £7 to take home with you.

Here is a swatch of Moss Behaving, a dark forest green. The formula on this was perfection, I can't fault anything about it! Completely opaque in one coat although I used two just because I always have to use at least two coats of polish when doing my nails. If you like green polish, this one is for you!

Check out urcheeky.com for more details. They are also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

This morning, I remembered that I still had some topper polishes to swatch and one of them would go brilliantly over dark green. I added a coat of Polished by KPT - Green Awakening, a shifting topcoat that shows copper, gold, green and the tiniest hint of teal. Also looks beautiful swatched over black.

You can purchase Polished by KPT directly from Katherine's Big Cartel website, (US & Canada shipping) but they are now also available at Shoppe Eclectic and Harlow & Co. In addition to polish, Katherine also sells beautiful polish jewellery.

*The products featured  in this post were sent to me for review.

Autumnal Colours - 2true Fast Dry Shade 12

Autumn is well and truly under way here. We've had strong gusts of wind and it's been raining all day! It gets dark really early as well which I hate! So I chose this shade to wear over the weekend! Wouldn't want to be all bright and perky now would we?!

This is two coats of 2true Fast Dry Colour Quick Shade 12. A greige creme which is actually more true to colour in the second picture, with a hint of brown undertones, my lighting was a bit off.

The formula on this polish wasn't as good as the last 2true polish I showed you here a couple of weeks ago. It becomes goopy very fast and doesn't apply as well. It's supposed to be a fast dry polish but that wasn't really the case.

*The product featured  in this post was sent to me for review.

Crisp White Sparkle

You know those days when you just want a really clean mani but you don't just want to throw on a nude polish? Today is one of those days for me and the colour I always go to for a clean and crisp mani is of course white!

I rarely wear white polish on it's own anymore because for some reason, I always end up using it as a base for nail art or stamping but I do love the look of a good opaque and streak free white.

This is 2 coats of Sally Hansen White On topped with a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust for some pretty and understated sparkle. I wish I could sprinkle Fairy Dust over everything!

A close up of the sparkle which is quite visible in person as well:

Autumnal Colours - 2true Glossywear Shade 54

Isn't it really annoying when you come across a shade of polish that you actually really like and they have no name, only a shade number? That's how I feel about 2true Glossywear Shade No. 54, such a perfect Autumn shade with no name!

It's a really pretty deep sapphire blue shade with great opacity (2 coats here). The bottle says "up to 5 day wear" which is very true as it's the fifth day I've been wearing it and there's only minor tip wear on my right thumb. I'm really impressed with this polish - no fuss to apply and it's only £1.99 from Superdrug.

*The product featured  in this post was sent to me for review.

Aubrey Organics - Blue Green Algae with Grape Seed Extract - 3 Step Skincare

Today's post is something a little different to what you are used to seeing on my blog.

Always on the quest to find the perfect skincare routine, and now being pregnant too, I started using Aubrey Organics 3 Step Skincare System 3 months ago. Up until now, I've always used quite harsh products like Clearasil on my blemished skin but to be honest they didn't make my skin any better and still broke me out.

I searched the Internet for all natural, organic and cruelty free products but a lot of products which claim to be "natural" are actually packed with chemicals and toxic ingredients which I can't even pronounce. The ones that weren't, cost an arm and a leg which to be honest I wasn't willing to pay after having spent a small fortune on expensive skincare products that I ended up not using.

That's when I came across Aubrey Organics products on Amazon. I noticed that they also had a website and sold in the UK. I chose to go for their older line of products that come in these not-so-fancy bottles. If you go on their website now, it seems that they have re-formulated some of their skincare range as well as packaging.

Here is what I got:

Blue Green Algae Range (Combination/ Oily Skin):

• Facial Cleansing Lotion (118ml) - This is the first time using a face wash that doesn't strip all the oils and over dry my skin. Having had oily skin all my life, I used to think that only if my skin was "pulling" would it be squeaky clean. Now that's not the case as all I was doing was striping all it's natural oils which would make it produce even more oil. This product doesn't really wash off all your make up because it's so mild so you'd still need to use an alcohol free wipe prior to cleansing with this.

• Facial Toner (237ml) - I can't get over how gentle this toner is on my skin. Maybe that's because the toner I used before was so harsh that it would actually burn my skin a little whilst I was applying it. This toner makes my face feel so refreshed and silky.

• Moisturising Cream (118ml) - I was really impressed by the size of this bottle. I usually pay £9.15 for a pot of 30ml drugstore moisturiser and this is a 118ml bottle. It's going to last me way after the cleanser and toner have finished. The first time I used it, I was a bit taken aback by how rich and creamy it is considering it's a moisturiser for combination to oily skin and also by the very strong and overpowering scent, which I still can't get used to. However, I try to remember that it's made with natural oils (jojoba, Shea butter, evening primrose oil, soybean oil, etc), thus the rich and creamy feeling and the strong smell is quite natural and flowery, not "chemically".To my surprise, my oily skin skin seems to soak it right up. It just took me a while getting used to not having completely dry and matte skin like I've been used to for years.

• Soothing Mask (118ml) - I really like this mask although it's not the best clay mask I've tried. It's creamy and feels slightly self warming when applied to the face, it doesn't dry on like your usual clay masks. I leave it on for about 15 minutes and when I rinse it off, my skin feels clean and hydrated but in a dewy way. I haven't had any breakouts at all since I started using this mask but I guess the other products in the range may be helping with that too.

• Lip Balm - They send you a free lip balm when you spend £30. I love this lip balm although I have a drawer full of them. As this one is made from all natural products, it's the only one I would wear overnight, plus it contains no SPF so it's probably more suited for overnight anyway. I wake up with supple and moisturised lips in the morning.

The cleanser and toner are nearly finished and although I would gladly re-purchase the majority of these products, I tend to get quite bored if I keep to the same skincare routine for a long period of time. So I've already been eyeing up a few more products I'd like to incorporate into my skincare routine.

What is your skincare routine? Do you change every so often or do you like to stick to the same products for a very long time?

NOPI - Selena Polka Dots & Bows

Today I'm sporting some polka dots and bows on my nails, a cute combo I can never resist. I used Nicole by OPI  - Selena from the Spring 2013 Selena Gomez collection as a base. It's a very pretty peachy pink, exactly the type of colour I'd go for. The only thing letting this polish down is the formula. I found it to be very streaky and I needed 3 coats to cover up patches, I don't know if that was just my bottle.

The bow is made up of black and silver loose pieces of hex glitter and for the polka dots I used Barry M Black and a doting tool.

Here are the other Selena Gomez collection polishes I received. More manis to follow:

 

Nicole by OPI polishes are now available at Superdrug stores nationwide and retail for £7.99.

For more information, visit nicolebyopi.com, follow on twitter @NicoleByOPI and become a Facebook fan.

 

Autumnal Colours - Nubar Hieroglyphys Purple

Well, it's safe to say that Autumn is well and truly under way here in the UK. It's been raining on and off all this week and apparently we are having the first storm of Autumn today. I've had to bring out the wellies, the umbrella and the rain coats already!

Needless to say, I was in no mood for bright or pastel colours on my nails this week so I dug out this perfect transitional colour which isn't extremely dark but is dark enough to suit this weather.

This is 2 coats of Nubar Hieroglyphys Purple, a bright berry purple colour. It looks slightly brighter in the second picture as I was having trouble with my lighting! These kind of purples are quite elegant in my opinion, I'm loving this polish. What do you think of it?

Polished by KPT - Plumeria and Fluorescein

Today I have two more Polished by KPT polishes to share with you. A thermal and a bright neon glow polish. Let's get right into the swatches!

Plumeria is a pink holographic thermal. It shifts from a very light baby pink, almost a clear silvery colour when warm, to a bright berry pink when cold. You can see how it transitions in the photos below. This is 3 coats on it's own.

Fluorescein is a neon green jelly packed with scattered holo that glows under UV light. It's a little on the sheer side, the pictures are 2 coats and there is still vnl. You would probably need 3 coats or to wear undies for full coverage.

You can purchase Polished by KPT directly from Katherine's Big Cartel website, (US & Canada shipping) but they are now also available at Shoppe Eclectic and Harlow & Co. In addition to polish, Katherine also sells beautiful polish jewellery.

*The product featured  in this post was sent to me for review.