Products of the Month - August (and July)

Ok, so originally my Products of the Month for July was meant to have two parts because it was too long for one video. I published the first part here but never got around to doing the second part, so this is Products of the Month for July Part 2 (Franki Returns) and Products of the Month for August all rolled up into one horribly edited little package. Hurray!

Products featured;

Collection 2000 Cream Puff Lip Cream in Powder Puff
Barry M Nail Paint in 318 Peach Melba
Oilatum Natural Repair Face Cream
Benefit Posietint
Schwarzkopf got2b 2 Sexy Collagen Hairspray

I'll be uploading a 'birthday haul' video in the next day or so, so keep an eye out for that. Yes , that's right, two videos BACKTOBACK! I'm a video-making-machine!

Products of the Month - July

Finally, finally uploaded this video to Youtube. I really enjoy vlogging but it is SUCH a faff at times! I actually filmed this right at the beginning of August but when I uploaded it to Youtube it was removed straight away for being too long (by a minute and a half grrr!) - why can't I upload videos that are longer than 15 minutes but other people can??? Anyway, I decided to have a go at editing it down, rather than filming it again so I downloaded some video editing stuff and then spent about five hours editing (would have been so much quicker to just film the video again...) Anyway, here it is, in all its glory... well actually, it's just the first part, I've still to film a second part because I've got loads of lovely products to talk about.

I've never edited a video before so if it's a bit jumpy in places, that'll be why - hopefully it's something I'll get better at...actually hopefully it's something I just won't have to do again because it took far too long.

Products featured;

Topshop Skin Glow in Light
Veet Hair Minimising Body Moisturiser
VO5 Miracle Concentrate
Sanctuary Polishing Hot Cloth Cleanser
Barry M Nail Effects in Pink Fizz

I hope everyone's had a lovely weekend, I've been mainly chilling today, had some time to catch up on returning blog comments and read some blogs, which is nice. As I mentioned in my last post, I went to the Jacques Townhouse yesterday and had such a good laugh, I wish I could have stayed there all evening. I'll do a full blog post about it soon, but if anyone is in/around Liverpool over the next few days, I'd really, really recommend going - you can register for tickets here.

Je voudrais s'il vous plaît - Makeup

[Don't forget to enter my giveaway here to win the Sleek Paraguaya Palette and some secret goodies!]

Clockwise from top left - Sleek True Colour Lipsticks in Papaya Punch and Coral Reef, Topshop Nails in Zenith, Barry M Nail Paints in Peach Melba and Blue Lagoon, Topshop Lipstick in Rapturous, Maybelline Eye Drama Gel Liner, Topshop Cheek Duo in Desert Sun

I mentioned back in April that I had been spending far too much money on unnecessary makeup purchases and had decided to go on a spending ban. It's been nearly two whole months now and I can honestly say, that apart from my Sleek sale items, I haven't bought any new makeup at all. It's killing me. Sadly though, I'm not even close to running out of anything, so the ban looks set to continue for the foreseeable future. Yuck. Such self-restraint is made even more difficult when there happens to be absolutely loads of gorgeous products out at the moment. Not only have Sleek released the new True Colour Lipsticks, but Barry M has brought out two pretty new colours (Peach Melba and Blue Moon) and don't even get me started on the Topshop Sandstorm Collection. I'm in physical pain here, guys.

Ow!

Bought anything pretty lately? Please tell me about it! I need to live vicariously through your makeup purchases!

This is a scheduled post as I'm currently in Lanzarote. La la la!

oh boy oh boy oh boy

This is just a quickie really, just in case you haven't already seen. Something wonderful has happened;

Barry M Instant Nail Effects in Black Magic, Pink Fizz, Blue Print and White Frost, £3.99 each available NOW here

Models Own Smash Up in Yellow, Blue, Purple, Pink, Orange, Turquoise, Silver, White and Black. £6 each, available online from April and at Boots (Black and Silver only) from April 20th

Just THINK of the possibilities! I'm so excited, I just did a little dance of joy. I've definitely got my eye on Smash Up in Turquoise, but to be honest, I want them all.

What do you reckon? Models Own or Barry M? Or both? Which colours are you lusting after?

Marvellous marbling

Colours used - Barry M Nail Paint in Fuchsia and Bright Purple, Models Own Pink Blush, Topshop Stolen Sapphires

In my ongoing quest for crazy-amazing nail art, I decided to give water marbling a try. I'd been meaning to do it for ages, but it looked quite messy and time consuming so I kept putting it off. However, after MJ posted her amazing Topshop-inspired nails, I knew I had to give it a go, so after watching a couple of Youtube tutorials, I got to it.

I think the results look cool, (my favourite is the middle finger of my left hand - look how swirly it is!) but it really is quite a massive faff. There are absolutely loads of tutorials on Youtube, so if you do want to try this for yourself, I'd suggest checking those out, but basically, you take a bowl of water, drip some different colours of nail varnish into it, swirl them around with a toothpick (I actually used one of those mini umbrellas you put into cocktails because we didn't have any toothpicks...) then press your nail onto the surface of the water, so that the design sticks to it.

The most difficult thing about this method is that you have to work really quickly. The nail varnish dries on the surface of the water and forms a kind of film after about a minute, so you can only do one or two nails at a time, then you have to clear the water of any remaining varnish (using a toothpick/cocktail umbrella) and start over with more drops. Also, I found it really tricky to actually get the drops of nail varnish into the water - they just wouldn't drip! I ended up sort of waving the brush over the surface of the water to encourage a drop to fall from it, but in my panic and/or enthusiasm I managed to throw the brush onto my bed, thus resulting in a massive blue splodge on my bedcover. Doh!

Also, as you can imagine, it gets quite messy. You can't really avoid putting your finger into the water, so you end up having to do a lot of clean up afterwards with nail varnish remover. You can wrap sticky tape around your fingers as a guard, but I couldn't be bothered with that because I'm silly.

All in all, I really like the effect, especially because every nail looks different and unique, so I'd say it's definitely worth giving it a try, but only if you've got a lot of time, patience and tape on your hands.

snap CRACKLE pop

As soon as I heard about the new Barry M Instant Nail Effects Nail Paint, I knew I had to get hold of a bottle. In fact, I was so desperate to get my mitts on it, that when I went to Boots to buy it and there wasn't any left on the shelf, I actually opened the little storage draw underneath the display and nabbed the last bottle that was in there (I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to do that). It's basically a magic very clever black nail varnish that cracks and splits when you apply it over another colour, creating a cool, textured effect on your nails. If you want to get a better idea of how it works, there's a video tutorial on the Barry M site that explains how to use it.

It's slightly more tricky to apply than normal polish, as you're not supposed to overlap each stroke; usually, when I apply nail varnish (and I think most people use the same method), I do a stroke down the middle of the nail and then one on either side and they'll usually overlap a bit, because of the size of the brush. However, with this product, if you apply a really thick layer of it, you get less of a cracking effect, so you really need to try not to overlap too much (you can get away with a little bit), as the 'pattern' will look rubbish. Like I said, it is quite tricky; I find it easier to take each stroke slowly. If you're really finding it difficult though, you can also get away with just sort of putting random blobs of it on your nails, rather than trying to do a full layer all over; it splits anyway, so it doesn't matter if it looks a bit messy at first - the overall effect will be the same.
Once it dries, it's completely matte, which looks a bit weird if your base colour is glossy, but you can easily rectify this by either using a glossy topcoat over everything (which is what I've done) or by using a matte base colour (or a matte topcoat). I think either way looks cool.

Base Color - Models Own Coral Reef, Topcoat - Nails Inc Kensington Caviar.

There's only one problem I have with this, but I'm not sure it's something that can really be resolved. I've got absolutely no idea about the science behind this sort of thing, so I don't really understand how the formulation works, but I'm guessing that the reason why it splits and cracks is to do with the fact that it dries REALLY quickly. In fact, as soon as you take the brush out of the bottle, the polish on it starts to dry, which results in the brush becoming a bit lumpy and gloopy, making it even more difficult to apply it to your nails. I'd suggest washing it each time you use it, but to be honest, it's only going to happen again once you take the brush out of the bottle, so there's not much point.

See? Glooptastic...

Despite the tricky application process though, I'm liking this product; I wasn't sure of the effect at first but I've had it on for a couple of days and it's grown on me. I like that it's completely random each time and that it looks a bit grungey. It'd be cool if there was more colours; currently it's only available in black, but I'd love to see a white or nude version. As with all Barry M products, it's super cheap, at only £3.95, and the fact that you can use it over any base colour means that the possibilities are endless for different colour combos. Win!

mental.

This is silly.

Bottom row - Models Own nail polish in Black Magic, Purple Grey, Purple Ash, Becca's Brown, Nude Beige, Grace Green, Feelin' Blue, Pink Blush, Coral Reef and Red Alert.

Middle row - Barry M Nail Paint in Instant Nail Effects: Black Magic, Grey, Bright Purple, Fuchsia, Berry Ice Cream, Strawberry Ice Cream, Pink Flamingo and Mint Green, Nails Inc Kensington Caviar Base Coat and Top Coat, Sleek Nailed Polish in Brownie.

Top row - ASOS Paint by Ciaté in Lily and Chloë, 17 Fast Finish Nail Polish in Catwalk Couture, 17 Lasting Fix Nail Polish in Parma Violet, 17 Fast Finish Nail Polish in Pink Grapefruit, 17 Lasting Fix Nail Polish in Orange Soda, 17 High Gloss Nail Polish in Raspeberry Mocha, Topshop Nails in Stolen Sapphires, Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour in Particuliere.

Around the edges - Random nail art pens that were on sale in Debenhams.

I don't know how this has happened. I'm going to put myself on a ban from buying nail varnish for a while; clearly this obsession is solely to blame for me being skint at the moment.*

*not really. That's down to being on a crap wage :S

Barry

I'm away this weekend, so posting is going to be minimal, still, I'm making a bit of effort by scheduling this and another one for tomorrow. DEDICATION, PEOPLE!

Barry M Nail Paint in Matt White, you make me feel so creative.

Other colours used - 17 Lasting Finish in Baked Cherry and Parma Violet, Barry M Nail Paint in Turquoise, Mint Green and Pink Flamingo. Black detail done with the Topshop felt tip eyeliner.

It's 2am - why am I doing this now?!

Currently wearing

Barry M Nail Paint in Pink Flamingo.

This is the perfect pinky-coral colour - I have a whole box full of nail varnishes but all of them look so boring compared to this, I've been wearing it obsessively for days (and I usually change things up every couple of days). If anyone knows of a lipstick in a similar shade please please tell me of it, I'm really loving coral at the moment.

Also, bit random but I've recently been using graze.com, which is a marvellous site that delivers yummy, natural snacks straight to your door. They have an amazing range of snacks to choose from and if you use this code - 8X1MFPG - you can get your first box for free! Just thought I'd share the love (and for every friend I refer, I get £1 off my next order). I thoroughly recomment the wasapeas, the golden honey nut hazels and the cracked black pepper cashews. YUMMY!