Nail Art Style

I also bought a matte topcoat during my Ulta trip, and couldn't resist testing it with my Zoya Tomoko. I like the juxtaposition of glitter and matte. So I decided to do a review in a review! 

To use Essie Matte About You, you just skip the top coat, then apply a coat of it over any polish. I applied it over Zoya Tomoko to matte the strong glitter. It made the glitter pretty matte, but left some of the sheen. I think it came out really nice. It's a bit hard to tell in the pictures, but it really toned down the glitter, and let the beautiful champagne color, and interesting texture, stand out. It almost looks like a liquid sand polish.

I have so many design ideas for this matte polish! I'm so glad I bought it. As I mentioned in my recent haul post, I've been hunting for a nice matte top coat for ages now, and finally the hunt is over!

Matte About You is a milky color, with a thick jelly-like formula. It doesn't create a matte finish instantly, it slowly turns matte after a few seconds. While it was so hard to skip my top coat, I really love the matte effect.

The only problem is that the nails with the matte top coat chipped much more than the nails with my regular Revlon top coat. They chipped after only a couple hours! But it's worth it to have the effect. But, if it continues to chip easily, I may have to find a different brand. Time will tell!

Thanks for reading! To read my previous Swatch & Reviews, click here.

Vähän kukkia pimeyden keskelle. Tässä lakkauksessa on pohjana kaksi helppoa kerrosta, kaunista metsänvihreää, Zoya Hunter -lakkaa*. Nämä Zoyan syyskokoelman lakat eivät kyllä lakkaa ihastuttamasta! Todella kaunis tumma ja hiukan murrettu vihreä sävy. Ainakin omaa silmää miellyttää. :) 

Koristelin Hunter-lakan Adeninalta saaduilla ruususiirtokuvilla (kai nuo ovat ruusuja?) ja kimaltavilla vaaleankeltaisilla "koukeroilla". Koukerot ja satunnaiset pilkut tein keltaisella Zoya Piafilla, ohutta nail art -sivellintä apuna käyttäen. Piaf taas on tämän vuoden kevätkokoelmasta, jonka ostin turvaan kauneusmessuilta. Oli tarkoitus laittaa kaikkien kukkien keskelle pienet pilkut Piaffilla, mutta se näköjään vähän unohtui, heh... Lopuksi kaiken päälle kerrokset Inm Out the Door pikakuivattavaa päällyslakkaa ja tämä aikas helposti toteutettava lakkaus oli siinä. :) 

...Pitää muuten muistaa hankkia lisää jotain hyvää pikakuivattavaa jostain. Alkaa olla kaikki Seche Vite varastotkin käytetty loppuun. Mitkä muuten ovat teidän luottopikakuivattajanne ja mistä ne hankitte? :)

Hey everyone! I'm so excited to show you today's post, because I have a review of the absolutely gorgeous Butter LONDON Colour Clash collection. It's been a few months since I reviewed any Butter London polishes, and I'd almost forgotten how consistently amazing they are. I must admit I'm surprised that this is an autumn/winter collection, as they're very bright and colourful, and would probably be more suited to a summer collection. Nevertheless, I must admit I'm glad for a bit of brightness in amongst all the browns of autumn. The full review will be after the jump otherwise it may end up a bit long!

First up we have Giddy Kipper*, which is what can only be described as a 'blurple', or the more technical term, indigo. Unfortunately my camera failed to recognise that and decided it was just plain blue instead. Butter LONDON describe this as an 'opaque indigo shimmer', which works quite well, because in my mind shimmers aren't usually that opaque, and this certainly is. This was 2 very easy coats, no topcoat.

Next is Cotton Buds*, and I'm just going to say it straight out, this is the best white ever. Application is so easy, and it was completely opaque in just 2 coats. This is without topcoat. I love this so much!

Next is Silly Billy*, an 'opaque, fire orange creme' as Butter London describes. I love this colour, but I found application to be a bit tricky. I definitely would not call this polish a creme, it's more like a jelly. This was 3 coats without topcoat

Hey everyone! How are you all? I'm so excited to have a week off uni! Although, I have 2 essays to write, so maybe it's not so much a week off, but at least I get to see my family and friends for a bit. Anyway, today I have a review of the Original Rio Professional Nail Art Kit. The kit includes 8 colours: white, red, yellow, blue, black, dark green, silver and a metallic pink. It also comes with a bag of rhinestones, a pot of gold glitter, a full bodied brush, an instruction book, and a step-by-step DVD. As you can see the box is full to the brim with stuff, so you're definitely getting a lot for your money. I decided to just review the pens, but perhaps one day I'll use the rest too! I decided it would be better to review each pen separately and then I'll give my overall views at the end.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

If you're interested in buying this set you can find it on their website here although the pink seems to have become purple. You can also find them on Facebook here 

Alice

Today I decided to break away from my busy schedule of sitting and drinking Dunkin' Donuts eggnog latte's, to bring you yet another Skoshbox review! If you are not sure what Skoshbox is, check out my first review (here), where I go into further detail. But basically it's a monthly subscription box that sends me snacks and candy from Japan.

Now let's see what I got this month! -Like always, I made my mother and brother try everything too, so I will share their thoughts and feelings also.-

This month's box was pretty good. Nothing was really broken upon delivery, and most of the snacks were pretty tasty. I say most because of one unpleasant surprise snack I was not keen on trying. - Hint, it's the gold wrapped one in the above picture.-

First up is Pretz Salad: Biscuit sticks lightly dusted with seasoning.

Pretty good. It has a very zesty salad dressing flavor, with the texture of a cracker. I liked the savory flavor. They look like thin crunchy french fries. I don't think I could eat them everyday, but they would be a good "once in a while" snack.

Sakuma Drops: The iconic hard candy that's featured in "Grave of the Fireflies".

I have no clue what "Grave of the Fireflies" is, but the candy tasted like cough drops. They are also oddly sticky, they stuck to my teeth -Ew.-. They had a slightly fruity scent, but I could not pinpoint what kind of fruit. No flavor at all. Just bleh. Also my flavor processing was hindered at this point because I had just tried the item in the gold wrapper I mentioned earlier, and I was still a bit shaken up...

I hated the soda pops, so I had no faith in this lollipop being good. Frankly it tasted like a cough drop -Again, do they think I have a cold or something?-, with no fruit flavor what-so-ever. Only my brother liked this one.

Yes, yes Skoshbox I was freaked out! Of course I received the eel flavor...bleh... The second I opened the package all I could smell was the strong scent of dead fish. Disgusting. I was quite nauseated. I tried the smallest bit and it nearly brought up my lunch. -Sorry for being too descriptive, but no words can explain how gross this was to me.- My mother wasn't having it, and would not even try it. I don't blame her... My brother ate it, and said he thought it wasn't bad... NO.

I love Skoshbox's Senbei crackers, and I love frosting, so this was an obvious win. It still had the slight salad dressing flavor of the past senbei crackers, just mixed with frosting. Weird yes, but super yummy. I loved the mix of sweet and tangy. It's like if you mixed Italian dressing with toaster strudel frosting... OK, it sounds gross, but I swear it was delicious. Everyone involved was a fan.

While the package creeped me out - Why is there a disembodied face on it?-, it was pretty good. I loved the scent of strawberry. and the wafer texture was nice. My mother and brother thought it tasted like a less artificial strawberry Poptart. But to me, the strawberry flavor was more similar to a strawberry milkshake.

 I received the grape flavor. I am not a fan of gummy candy, but I gave it a shot... I am still not a fan of gummy candy... It smelled like kid's grape flavored cough syrup, and I couldn't get past the odd mushy texture. My brother loved them, of course. My mother wouldn't try them, and again, I do not blame her. -She has good judgement.- 

The second I read chocolate, I knew I would like this one. And, what do you know?! I loved it. It tasted like those Pinwheel dessert snacks. And the cake was very similar in texture to a Hostess cake. Everyone loved it, but I feel it is just too similar to desserts I can get in the states to be too interested in it. I want to try snacks I Can't get in the states!

I unfortunately cannot share my snarky comments for this item, because I did not receive it! So I will never know if I would have liked it or not. But frankly, seeing that I am not a big fan of "jelly" candy, -Jelly nail polish on the other hand? Yes please!- I would say probably not...

And finally, my stationary gift!

I love the cute little animals on the cover. -I love packages in Japan! Everything is so colorful, with cute little characters on it.- But the instructions on the back were impossible! It was like I was trying to build a laser or something! But if you follow me on Istagram - Link on the right.- Then you saw I have already showed off a crane I made using the paper - Thanks YouTube!-.

All in all, I think while I have had better boxes in the past, this box was really good, and I enjoyed most of the snacks and candy I was given. Just next time, I will skip over anything with the word eel in it...

Thanks for reading! To check out my previous Skoshbox reviews, click here.

If I had to pick a favorite snack from this month's box, I'd pick the Bisco Snack, I love the strawberry milkshake flavor. What snack would you like to try from this month's box? Let me know in the comments below!

Hi guys. Tonight I'm going to the relaunch party of Zara in Manchester, so I really wanted to create a striking, sparkly design that's easy enough to replicate on my Cinderella hand. I'm a bit of a sucker for coordination as well, so I wanted my mani to match my new bag. If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you probably know that I turned 24 on the 3rd November, and I received the most beautiful handbag from my long-suffering boyfriend. I'll show you it at the end of this post! Anyway, I took inspiration from the wonderful One Nail To Rule Them All and created my own version of her Rose Curtain manicure, swapping the florals for leopard print. Oooh, I should probably also mention that Mum and Dad got me a camera for my birthday too - it's the Panasonic Lumix DMC-XS1 and it's bloody marvellous. Hopefully you will be able to tell the difference between the following photos and my previous iPhone pictures!

No. 7 'Beanie'

No. 7 'Gold Glitter'

Models Own 'Bare Beauty'

Barry M black nail art pen

Essie 'Good To Go'

Essie 'Matte About You'

I used 'Beanie' as a base, and applied two coats to each nail. It's pretty much identical to Sinful Colors 'Mushroom', but I prefer the No. 7 version as it reaches opacity much more quickly. Once dry, I topped my index finger and ring finger nails with a gold glitter top coat. I'd never tried No. 7 glitters before receiving a few for my birthday (I should probably stop mentioning my birthday), but I'm really impressed and won't hesitate to repurchase. They're the perfect mixture of large and tiny glitter pieces, and they apply extremely smoothly without the need for any placement.

Hey everyone! Today I have a brand new tutorial tuesday for you, this time for some cute little glittery jellyfish. Don't forget to check out the tutorials tab at the top of my blog to see my previous tutorials! I've wanted to do jellyfish for ages, and I was really tempted to do them with needle dragging but I was in one of those 'it will probably fail so I wont even try' moods, and I'm quite glad because I like how these turned out. Perhaps I'll try needle dragging some time in the future instead. I'm starting to run out of ideas for tutorials, what would you'd like to see on future tuesdays? I only have a couple more tutorials left to post before I need to make some new ones, so any suggestions are welcome. Just don't ask for Christmas tutorials, I'm one of those spoil sports who doesn't even like the mention of Christmas before December begins. Anyway, the rest of the post will be after the jump! I've seen a few of you saying that you prefer it that way, as you can scroll through my blog much easier

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice