My Nail Varnish Storage

I have been meaning to blog about my nail varnish storage for moooonths. I recently realised that I manage to leave a trail of nail varnishes behind me. I knew I had a lot but it wasn't until I sat down and counted them all that I had the sickening realisation that I owned just a few short of 100 nail polishes. No girl, needs 100 nail polishes. Not even the nail bars I used to frequent had 100 nail polishes! Always keen for a mini spring clean (my makeup drawers are calling me- they're in one hell of a state) I thought I had better sort through my varnishes as there is no way that I wear all of them or will ever want to wear some of them again.

Above you can see the before, during, and after pictures. I streamlined my collection and put lots aside to go on to new homes, be put in the bin, or to be sent to Give and Makeup. These included the majority of my Barry M, all of my 17 (they chip too quickly), prehistoric MUA, gooey GOSH and Rimmel, plus excess coral varnishes from Nails Inc. (I had 6 corals. All the same. Girl got problems)

The storage:
The shelves are from the Ribba range that you can buy from Ikea for around the £5-£8 mark. I bought these shelves a year ago when I was shopping with my mum and instantly knew they were perfect for nail varnishes. 
I didn't put too much thought into how I would organise the ones that made the cut, I just sorted them by brand. Top shelf, front row I put my Illamasqua beauties, O.P.I, No.7, Nars, Dior, Rococo, Jessica, China Glaze and Orly. Behind the front row I put some odd glitter polishes and unbranded ones, and some nail wraps.
Second shelf I put my Essie's, Models Own, L'oreal Colour Riche, GOSH (including the original Holographic polish which I couldn't bring myself to get rid of), and all of the mini Ciate from my advent calendar. Behind these I popped any spare base and top coats and the one Barry M the made the final line up ('Mushroom' incase you were wondering.)

Already I feel a little more organised and have made it my aim to sort one section out each week. Now my nail stash is sorted I fear it may be time to move onto lip products..I dread to think how many of them I own! Would you be interested in seeing more spring clean/storage posts?

New In! Illamasqua 'Speckle' Nail Varnish

Illamasqua 'Speckled' Nail Varnish, £14.50 for 10ml. (Limited Edition)

Attention nail polish addicts! There are some new kids on the block, released today as part of Illamasqua's new spring collection named 'I'mperfection' these limited edition pastel shades seem to be a perfect ode to upcoming spring with their 'speckled egg' type finish. I think the finish of them is so unique in their matte glitter type effect and I am a sucker for lilac so had to have this one. The baby blue comes a close second though. I might have to buy it.

I found that one coat was very watery, with two coats it intensifies and the layers of speckles build up. Pictured above is three coats and a top coat to make them shiny. I think that the effect is pretty exciting as I haven't really seen anything like it before. I love that the finish is quite muted, it's a way of wearing decorative nails but with a more mature or sophisticated edge in comparison to outlandish glitter designs (though there ain't nowt wrong that either.) 

The speckled and irregular finish of these fit into the 'I'mperfection' campaign perfectly with Illamasqua encouraging us to embrace our perceived  flaws and make them a feature to be proud of, whether it be freckles or a birthmark. I've got a couple of other bits from this collection, would you be interested in seeing them?

Will you buy one of these polishes? Do you love the finish of them as much as I do?

P.S. Please excuse my horrible looking short nails. But I couldn't wait for them to grow back before I showed you!

Summer cupcake NOTD!

Technic 'Carnival' available here for £2.05 for 12ml.

Illamasqua 'Loella' available here for £13.50 for 15ml.

Not one for nail art particularly but like a true magpie anything with glitter and I'm attracted to it! A few weeks ago when my bargainous Technic 'Carnival' glitter topcoat arrived through the post I rushed to my bedroom to pick out the perfect base colour. For the ultimate girly, party nail it had to be paired with Illamasqua's nail varnish in 'Loella'. It's a perfect candy pink with subtle pearl sheen, however the formula of this is gloopy, streaky and takes a long time to dry which is a shame, (however the colour is so gorgeous that I'm never really put off.)

The pictures show (base coat), two layers of 'Loella', two coats of 'Carnival' and a coat of Sally Hansen Mega Shine top coat.

My favourite beauty products....for feet!!

The last couple of years have been a time where I've become more and more aware of how important it really is to take care of your feet!! Having always had jobs where I'm on my feet all day, and always seemed to have had a penchant for silly shoes that ruin my feet I noticed them detiorating and thought it was time to take care of them properly. I was never one to wear those £2 Primark flats but I do wear better quality shoes nowadays, which probably helps, too.

Ped Egg Professional (You can buy this from JML stockists such as Boots or Debenhams for £10)

My mum introduced me to these and she swears by them. It's quite gruesome to describe but it's essentially a piece of egg shaped plastic that you hold, in it clips a miniature silver grate, that you use to rub along any rough areas of the feet. It gently removes any dead skin, rough skin, hard skin etc that is on the foot which makes them smoother, and a bit more aesthetically pleasing!! You can remove the grate to bin any dead skin that has collected underneath, and then you can wash it with warm soapy water to prevent any future infections, cross contamination, or general old manky skin collecting in the grate. It's a pretty cool contraption I think, it's quite relaxing to use and it really does work (I find it's best used after showering as the skin it softer then). I try to use it once a week.

Scholl Party Feet Beauty Cream 

I've got to say, this thick cream softens and nourishes the skin on my feet so well. It's heavily scented with papaya which is fine (but it also means I sometimes associate the smell of YSL lip glosses to my foot cream, as the smells aren't that dissimilar!) but I kind of wish it was a bit sweeter/vanillary, but it is nice and fresh. It soaks in fairly quickly as it is non greasy, and is really hydrating. I bought this from Boots but can't find it on the website, it was a reasonable price (I'd say under a fiver) and I chose it because Scholl seemed to be the leaders in footcare and foot knowledge!!

Nail clippers

These are from that 'Miss Pedicure' range that you can buy in Boots stores. For the cheap price I found these are really good quality clippers that do the job really well! They're quite large which means that they often cover the entire nail in one clip, they've remained sharp since I've had them and the pink parts are made of rubber which makes it easier to grip them aswell.

Nail Polish

This one is pretty obvious, but I really can't bare the sight of unpainted toe nails! For me, some colours are a complete no no- I don't like dark, gothic colours on the feet, but nor do I like true nudes either. I always opt for bright, feminine colours; pinks, reds, or shimmer polishes. A bit of colour on the feet instantly brightens them up and makes them look more cared for. Here are a few of my favourite colours for toenails;

Left to Right; Illamasqua 'Whack', Nails Inc 'Instyle Coral', Barry M '308 Berry' and Rimmel London '415 Instyle Coral'

 --Apparently I really love 'Instyle Coral' shades for my toes!!

Happy feet :-)

 

Do you use any of these, or have any products you'd recommend? What colours do you like to paint your toenails?

 

Illamasqua Review #4

Illamasqua Rubber Finish Nail Varnish in Faux Pas, £13.50 for 15ml.

One of four shades available in the Illamasqua rubber finish nail varnishes has made it into my collection. And I love it, NFNV (New Fave Nail Varnish).

These were released in the launch of the Theatre of the Nameless collection which took my breath away in terms of it's inspiration and beauty in the campaign. Faux Pas is described as a Blue Violet, it reminds me of a midnight purple shade and is striking, stunning and sophisticated.

Left; Without Flash. Right; With

The formula is almost gel- like in consistency, it glides on so smoothly and dries in good time to a matte 'rubber' finish. Unfortunately it chips a little bit but not enough to annoy me or put me off...I love it and here you certainly pay for the quality and an exceptionally unique finish.