Winter Nails

Like with my lipsticks, in winter I love finding and rekindling my love for dark, wintery nails. For me, winter calls for deep, classic shades (and perhaps a little glitter for Christmas!), which is why I've put together this list of my top five favourite nail polishes for the colder months.

Kate Spade Nails Inc. Nail Polish in 'New York Noir' (no link available)

This nail polish was a little treat from December's Glamour Magazine. Shock horror, I don't have a really good black nail polish, which is why I chose this one out of the four that were available! Black nails say instant class for me - simple but definitely not boring.

Essie Nail Polish in 'Sole Mate'
A perfect dark plum shade, Essie's Sole Mate has made its way straight into my favourite nail polishes. As with all Essie polishes, it goes on like a dream with its wide brush, and you only need a maximum of two coats for complete opaqueness. Definitely one I'd recommend - give it a try!

Rimmel Salon PRO Nail Polish in 'Celebrity Bash'
If you're looking for a perfect dark red shade to match your 'Hollywood Glamour' look this Christmas, I've found the one for you. The Rimmel nail polishes have really got it going on, they apply so evenly and the shade range is so vast! If you haven't given these polishes a go yet, do it - you won't be disappointed!

Essie Nail Polish in 'After School Boy Blazer'
A bit of a mouthful to say for a nail polish shade, but this one is definitely one of my firm favourites. It's a gorgeous navy blue with a slight purple tinge - something a little different and yet classic at the same time. This nail polish has been raved about in the beauty blogging world for a few months now and rightly so - this may just be my favourite nail polish of them all!

ORLY Nail Polish in 'Hairband'
Another free gift, this time in December's Cosmopolitan, and I literally can't put into words how much I love this nail polish. I'm always a bit dubious about trying glitter nail polishes, but this one has really changed my mind. It's beautiful and Christmassy, and could be worn on its own or layered on top of a coloured polish to really show off some festive nails!

What are your favourite nail polishes at this time of year? Let me know!

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Summer Nails under £5!

During the winter months, I'm like most ladies - I love a good classy dark nail (burgundy being my colour of choice). But when summer rolls around, the bright colours start to appear out of my box of nail polishes - yes I have a box - as I think it looks a lot more summery, and a little cuter too! Today, I'm going to share with you my favourite summertime nail polish shades - all £5 and less!

Barry M Nail Polish in NP305 Pink Flamingo - £2.99

My first favourite is this gorgeous pink from Barry M. In my younger years, say 15-17, I was obsessed with Barry M nail polishes and I build up quite a collection! The good thing about these polishes is that they're super cheap, and the colour range is incredible. The only thing I would say though, if you're used to a thicker/wider brush from the likes of Models Own/Essie, you might find this a little hard to apply, as the brush is really thin. However! If you get it right, it's definitely worth it - Pink Flamingo has been my new best friend!

Rimmel London 60 Seconds Nail Polish in Funtime Fuschia - £3.69

My next favourite is this gorgeous fuschia from Rimmel. I adore bright, bold nail colours in the summertime and this fits the bill perfectly! The brush is a lot wider than the Barry M one, which makes application a whole lot easier, and the colour is amazing - I only needed one coat to get the colour above! Rimmel claim this dries in 60 seconds and usually I'm a little dubious about trusting that - there have been times in the past where I've painted my nails with a '60 second' nail polish and I've ended up getting it all over everything! However, this lives up to it - quick-drying and a gorgeous colour, what's not to love?

Models Own Hed Kandi Nail Polish in Beach Party - £5

This is a nail polish that everybody seems to love. I've seen tons of reviews on this, and no one seems to have a bad thing to say about it! It is the most gorgeous fluorescent orange colour - and I mean fluorescent. It's so bright, I think it might actually glow in the dark. I can't get over how lovely it is though! Like all the Models Own polishes, they go on effortlessly, and the colour is incredible - the colour above is after one coat. I've always loved Models Own polishes, and this is no exception!

Colourpop Turquoise Nail Polish - £1.99 (no link, sorry!)

I remember picking this nail polish up AGES ago. During my younger teen years, I'd buy all my nail polishes from New Look, just because that's what all my friends did, so I did too. It's a lovely turquoise colour, which I absolutely love during the summer - summery and beachy all in one! I'm not sure if New Look still do these nail polishes, but they've always been really inexpensive and in super cute colours - if you can find them, try at least one!

Seventeen Lasting Fix Nail Polish in 'Tropical Island' - £2.99

This may just be my favourite colour of all, it's a beautiful coral/peachy colour, which, like the name suggests, reminds you of being on a beach somewhere... Pina Colada optional. Unlike the others, this requires two coats to get to the colour shown above, but to me that doesn't matter - the colour is so lovely, I'd paint and paint and paint to be able to wear it! It has a little bit of sparkle in it, not so much it's obvious, but it gives a little bit of shimmer that makes it even more summery - a definite winner from me!

Have you got any favourite summer nail polishes? What are your favourite shades in the warmer months?

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Pretty Names, Pretty Polishes

Rimmel Salon Pro Nail Polishes - £4.49 each

   (L-R) Reggae Splash, Soul Session, Navy Seal

Nail polishes are slowly but surely becoming a weekly purchase for me. I don't think there's been a single time I've been into Boots in the past six months when I haven't spent ages at the nail polish displays, lusting after all the colours and then eventually buying at least one.

I'd never really ventured into the Rimmel range for nail polishes before; Essie and Models Own seem to have everything covered usually but once I saw this range from Rimmel and Kate Moss, I knew I'd have to have a cheeky look. There are 32 shades in all, ranging from Punk Rock (a purpley/grey) to Reggae Splash (pictured above, an in-your-face peachy/orange), so there are plenty of colours to choose from.

I wanted to try out SO many colours, but the three pictured above caught my eye straight away. Reggae Splash is, as I've said, a gorgeous peachy/orange, perfect for a statement in the summer months, Soul Session is a toned down neutral colour, great for a 'I've had my nails done but I don't want it to be too obvious' look, and Navy Seal is a beautiful purpley/blue colour, which I think could go with any outfit or make-up.

The brush is pretty big, meaning it holds a lot of polish and, with the Navy Seal colour, you can get away with just one coat. With the other two, I'd recommend a second coat, so that there are no lighter patches and the vibrant colours come through. Rimmel claim the nail polish can stay chip-free for upto 10 days, which is definitely true! I had mine on for eight days without a single chip, and I am super happy with that - it means I don't have to keep touching them up all the time, a real time saver.

Overall, I'm really happy with these nail polishes. I'm currently eyeing up Brit Pop, which is an amazing sky blue, one I really want to try out for summer!

Have you tried any Rimmel polishes? What did you think?

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On Red Alert

Models Own Nail Polish in Red Alert - £5

Ever since I first discovered Models Own nail polishes last year, I seem to have gained quite a collection of them. It seems to me that every time I shop in Boots, I end up leaving with at least one new Models Own shade - maybe not very good for my bank balance, but definitely exciting! I get super excited over new nail polishes, especially Models Own ones, as I love spending my time doing my nails.

The shade I chose a couple of weeks ago was Red Alert. I'd been looking for a red nail polish for a while, but every one I'd seen had been either too much of a maroon colour, or too orangey/pinky. So, of course, on a spur of the moment trip to Boots (these have become quite frequent recently, no wonder I run out of money so easily!), I went over to the Models Own section and had a little looksie. Red Alert caught my eye straight away, I was in love! So I snapped it up, took it home and of course, tried it out straight away.

As with all Models Own polishes I've tried so far, the consistency of the polish is great. You can get away with one coat of it, although I prefer to use two just to make the colour a bit bolder. This means you don't have to use tons of the polish too, so it lasts for a long time - I'm starting to see the Models Own polishes as an investment rather than an impulse buy now! The brush that Models Own uses in their polishes is one of the best ones I've used - it holds a lot of colour, meaning that you don't have to dip it in dozens of times to make sure your nails are fully coated. I've always found their brushes make it really easy to apply the polish too, as they don't leave streaks on your nails and the colour always looks really even.

Even after trying out so many of their polishes, I'm still on the lookout for more - and I'm super excited about their new Splash Collection, so so pretty!

Which are your favourite Models Own nail polish shades? Let me know!

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Review: Broadway Real Life

Broadway Real Life Natural Nails - £4.40

Models Own Nail Polish in Dream Stream - £5

I stumbled across the Broadway Real Life Natural Nails when I was in Boots a few months ago, I was fed up of having short, boring nails and my sister having long, gorgeous nails which she could paint whenever she wanted and make them look beautiful.

So I thought I'd take the plunge and invest in some nails, and I am incredibly happy that I did! When you buy the nails at first, they are practically see-through and you can paint them whatever colour you like (I opted for Dream Stream from Models Own), which I think is so useful because it means you can choose rather than buying the pre-painted nails which, in my experience, tend to look a little tacky.

As long as you have an acetone-free nail polish remover, you can take the nail polish off when you want to change it too, so you can paint them another colour - another amazing factor of these nails!

The only downside to these nails is the fact that I had to file them down so they didn't look silly on my hands. I have really small hands, and even though I bought the short versions of these nails, I still had to file them down quite a bit. However, once you're done with that, they look lovely on, and I was getting a few compliments on how pretty they looked - result!

Have you ever used artificial nails? Which ones were your favourites?

Nail Polish Wishlist

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6

If you know me well, you'll know I love pretty nails. I've been doing a lot of nosing for new nail colour shades recently because a lot of my shades are quite dark and wintery, like burgundy and navy.

My favourite brand of nail polish at the moment is Models Own. Unlike many other nail polishes that I've used which have been quite thin and difficult to apply (I always get it on my fingers instead of my nails, damnit), Models Own seems to be the opposite of this - I don't have to apply it several times for it to be prominent, and the brush is a good shape so I'm not making a mess of my hands every time!

I haven't tried Essie polishes before, but I think after hearing so many positive reviews (I'm yet to hear a negative one!) I may have to give them a go. My favourite shade has to be A Crewed Interest, it's quite a cute peachy shade, which I thought would be perfect to brighten up my nails for spring.

My top wish for February is the Dior Nail Lacquer, this shade (Nirvana) is just incredible! Although, I'm not sure I can justify spending £18 on a nail polish - maybe this one will be staying a wish for a little while yet.

What are your favourite nail polish shades? Are there any brands I should check out? Let me know!