Two new acquisitions for summer...

I thought I'd just do a post to show you two of my favourite new purchases that I've got for the summer months and know I'll be wearing a lot!

White canvas Converse Allstars; I bought these from Office but they're available in lot's of shoe retailers. I wore Converse when I was a young teenager, back in the day when the more beat up and muddy they were, the better! These ones I want to keep as fresh as possible, for as long as possible! Oh how the tables have turned. They fit my feet so comfortably, Vans rip my feet to shreds with their round toes and I think I'm inbetween sizes in those. I like to wear these with jeans, but they're also going to look cool with dresses when it's summery outside again, especially my grey marl midi dress.

Dior sunglasses; my boyfriend bought me these as a present last week, I love them so much and know that I'll never need to buy another pair while I've got these. I've never owned an expensive pair of sunglasses but I think Ben took pity on me because every year I've dragged him around the shops to buy a pair, only to complain about them a week later that they were either too big for my face (I have a little face)/gave me a headache/etc etc and I tried these on and it was love at first sight. They frame my face well, and fit me perfectly, no more headaches or horrible sunglasses marks for me, hooray! Thankyou Ben!

What items are you looking forward to wearing this season? 

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NEW IN! Dior Scented Nail Lacquer #NOTD

Dior Nail Lacquer 'Waterlily' £18.

I think these were released on Friday (forgive me if I'm wrong) as part of the Limited Edition Spring Collection 'Garden Party.'

As with all Dior nail varnishes, the packaging, and the brush to apply the polish with are excellent quality and pretty smart. The brush is wide and firm which makes application a dream. 

'Garden Party' contains two scented nail varnishes, Waterlily and Forget Me Not. Of course the names tie in with the garden theme, and the 'intoxicating rose scent' does too.

 Waterlily is a fresh, soft aqua green colour. It's too deep to be deemed a pastel shade, and the dried finish is a very subtle soft focus pearl- not matte or sheen particularly. I do like this colour but imagine the lilac Forget Me Not colour will be more of a popular sell!

I must say, the scent isn't immediate and you cannot smell it in the bottle (you'll just get a big 'ole whiff of nail varnish smell instead!- I did warn you!). The scent develops after drying and if I'm honest, me, my friend and my boyfriend (don't worry he didn't wear the polish!) were all hard pushed to smell anything there. There was a really faint floral smell, but it is in no way 'intoxicating' as Dior describe it and unless you want to go around all day smelling your fingers then don't let the scented varnishes trick you into purchase!- It is a little disappointing! By the second day of wear any fragrance that was there has faded.

Despite the lack of scent, the varnish itself is a lovely one. High quality, good drying time and excellent application brush.

Have you bought anything from Garden Party yet?

Dior Review #1 Rock Coat

Dior Rock Coat Nail Polish, available for between £14-£18 for 10ml

My friend Makeda sent this to me a few of weeks ago to test out and review for this 'ere blog. I was pretty chuffed to get this really, as much as I have always loved nail varnish I don't really branch out to high end brands like Dior etc because I would normally choose to spend the money on makeup from brands such as these. However, chuffed to have this in my collection!

Rock Coat is a top coat to be used on the shade of your choice, though I imagine this would work best on darker shades- a smokey nude nail doesn't seem very appealing! Dior claim that Rock Coat 'sets and speed dries' nail varnish, that it 'coats the varnish with a veil of smoky lacquer extending wear and increasing shine' for a 'sensual and enigmatic' finish, - 'citing! 

The image below shows the Rock Coat used on a clear basecoat;

I chose to use Rimmel London Professional Finish nail varnish in 420 Aqua Cool as my 'underneath' colour because I find it a bit too pastel/bright for this time of year when I prefer deeper colours on my nails. While I'm on the subject I'll say that I really think these Rimmel Pro Finish varnishes are amazing for the price; both formula and the application brush. They apply evenly and don't take long to dry at all, plus they come in quite good colours. This is the colour on my nails;

 I applied two coats of Aqua Cool (only takes two coats to create a completely opaque finish) and then put one coat of Rock Coat on top. The Dior brush is great, it's quite large, flat with firm fibres that allow precise application. There's a slight angle point at the end to help getting into any hard to reach corners, two brushstrokes and the nail is covered- dreamy.

I love the results, I was pleasently surprised because I wasn't expecting much of a change really! It dries within a minute or two and the finish is so smooth and so glossy. It has achieved the 'smokey' look it was meant to, but it has also added depth, almost a 3d finish and looks so unique and gorgeous.

 All in all, I'm really pleased I now have this in my collection, I think I have been converted to higher end nail varnish (great news for my future bank balance) because the experience using it was so much more enjoyable than with cheaper brands; a perfect smooth finish and dries quickly (and properly!). With cheaper polishes I have at times sat there for far too long, applying layers and waiting for them to dry inbetween only to pick something up half an hour later and smudging occurring. Not with Dior Rock Coat, oh no. I'm looking forward to trying this on more colours and to using it more, painting my nails was becoming such an inconvenience for me, but this only took about 5 minutes altogether, which is a bit better ;-)

Do you like the effect Rock Coat gives? What other high end varnishes have impressed you?