Models Own 50% Off Sale Haul

Unless you've been under a rock / nowhere near social media for the past fortnight, then you should know that Models Own have recently been heavily campaigning to reach 250,000 Facebook likes to trigger the start of a huge 50% off sale. Well, they made it. I was there on the site with my basket full at 10am ready to check out (eager beaver) and surprise surprise the website did crash from the huge amount of traffic, but thankfully 90 minutes of refreshing later and my order was successfully completed with my new shades on their way to me. 

It's quite apparent that shimmer and sparkles were on the brain when I made this order, because with the exception of one pastel shade, all the rest that I ordered have a very glitzy vibe. Here's what I ordered, for £2.50 a bottle: 

Apple Pie - Fruit Pastel (scented)

As much as I prefer neons, brights and glitters, I couldn't resist ordering this pretty pastel green. More of a soft minty green I'm sure this will be a popular spring/summer shade. The new(ish) fruit pastel range polishes are actually scented, and this one is supposed to smell like apple pie. As much as I'm sure it's inappropriate to encourage the sniffing of nail varnish.... it does have a faint apple-y whiff. I've got the Banana Split (yellow) polish from this range and I hated it, but I'm hoping for better things with Apple Pie. Despite the random numbers(?) printed onto the side of the bottle, it seems to have been a good choice!

Mystic Mauve - Champagne/Shimmer

Such an underrated nail shade - why have I never heard anybody harping on about Mystic Mauve before? It's gorgeous! Definitely my favourite shade from the whole bunch, this champagne shimmer polish is completely smooth and untextured (i.e. it's not a glitter polish), but it sparkles, shimmers and shines like nothing else. In a perfect lilacy-pink shade this is going to be a Valentine's Day essential. 

Purple Haze - Glitter

Continuing with the glitter love, I ordered Purple Haze as an extension of my love for the blue glitter: Bluebelle. The same type of texture of finish, Purple Haze is a deep and rich purple tone as a slight variation to the deep blue shade. I could probably take or leave this shade, because even though yes it is very pretty, but it doesn't stand out to me as anything particularly special or eye catching ..and I'm sure I already have a polish identical to this one hiding somewhere.

Juicy Jules - Glitter

One that I've been after for ages, is glitter polish Juicy Jules. When the light hits it, it goes disco ball crazy. It's so pretty! I know it'll be a bitch to take off, as all glitter polishes are, but I know for certain I'll get so much wear out of this shade - you can get never go wrong with silver sparkles!

Glitter Mini Pack: Scarlet Sparkle, Emerald City, Bluebelle (£8.00 £4.00 for 3)

There's two packs of these glitter minis because I thought they were too perfect to pass up being just £4 and I thought I'd include one in a giveaway - I'm currently compiling some bits and pieces for a (maybe 3,000 follower) celebratory giveaway to thank my readers for all their support. The small sizes are perfect and although it is a kinda Christmassy themed colour range, they're still gorgeous and Bluebelle is one of my top favourites for winter nails so it needs to be shared! Scarlet Sparkle is amazing because the glitter particles are suspended in a red tinted varnish as opposed to clear, so there's no need to use a base coat and it looks amazing worn alone. 

Coral Glaze* and Naked Glow*- New: HyperGel 

I didn't actually order these two new HyperGel shades, they were sent to me as a press sample release, but as they arrived at the same time as my order I thought I'd include them in this post anyway. Currently these brand new Hyper-Gel varnishes are on pre-release in the 50% off sale for just £2.50, but they'll be properly re-released and become readily available from 12th February (at £5 a bottle). They're supposed to be gel effect varnishes, without the need to be cured under a UV lamp (think Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine and Bourjois 1 Second Gel). I'll do a full post on these two closer to their proper release date, but I think Coral Glaze is set to be a summer hit!

If you don't think that I exercised self-restraint this time around, then take a sneak peek at my order from the last time Models Own held a 50% off sale (when they reached 100,000 Facebook likes) and I went crazy ordering 14 nail varnishes here.

I'm happy with all of my purchases, especially Mystic Mauve, and I hope that I've maybe inspired you to take a little look at the Models Own Sale in their few remaining hours and maybe given you an idea of some shades to pick. Some of my general Models Own favourites are: Naked Shimmer, Northern Lights, Bluebelle, Hedonist, and Bora Bora - Check them out!

Use code HALFPRICE for 50% off.

Sale ends Tuesday 4th Feb (Midnight GMT)

www.modelsownit.com

Thanks for reading! ♥

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Monthly Favourites | December

Hello good folks, and a Happy New Year to all of you! I hope 2014 is good to you all and brings you the best. I'm not writing a resolutions post because I just have general aspirations for the year to kick start being the best version of me that I can possibly be. I love the idea of starting afresh and really working on improving everything that you can with a clean state and nothing from the past to hold you back. I've set a couple of wheels into motion to tick boxes on what I want to achieve this year, and hopefully the rest will fall into place. 

Sorry to be holding onto the past for just one more day and still banging on about December 2013, but I just wanted to make sure that I stuck with my ritual of a monthly favourites round up - I've not missed a single one yet! Also, at the weekend I'll be putting up a Best of Beauty 2013 post summarising all of my favourites from the past 12 months. 

Oh, and as for a great start for me, I was using some new lights for this post but accidentally knocked one over and smashed one of them before I'd finished, which is why the Benefit pictures look a bit different (one light down!) - Plus, I'm gutted because the lights were brand new and this was the first time I'd used them. I couldn't even finish one little blog post without being a clumsy buffoon and breaking one :( 

Moving on to what I've been loving in December.. Lots of iddy diddy minis, plenty of Benefit and a healthy splash of glitter! 

Benefit The Pore-Fessional Primer

A cult make up item and one of Benefit's bestsellers, the Pore-Fessional Primer is a real face changer. Sometimes it doesn't seem like much because it isn't the kind of 'look at her she's wearing Pore-Fessional' kind of product, it more of a 'look how much less smooth, refined and perfect my skin looks when I'm not wearing Pore-Fessional!'. It has a thick, silicone texture and is flesh coloured too, used on the face before foundation application to help create a silk-like base for foundation to grip to and minimise the appearance of pores. I don't wear this every day, but on the days that I do.. it really is a good  make up day!

Benefit 'That Gal' Primer

Another mini primer from Benefit, but That Gal is more of a softer cream texture than the silicone Pore-Fessional and has the purpose of brightening the complexion, instead of the main aim to smooth out pores and make make-up last longer. I don't see any extra longevity in my make up when I use this, but it does add an extra boost and glow to the skin - especially when things can get a little dull and sallow with winter weather. Think of it as an all over liquid highlight, for underneath foundation. 

Benefit Watt's Up! Highlighter 

Continuing with the highlighting (and Benefit) theme, Watt's Up! is a cream highlighter stick in a gold champagne colour to add a subtle, but gorgeous sheen to the tops of cheekbones. Plus, let's just all take a moment to appreciate how adorable this is in mini size! It's no bigger than my little finger! I definitely would not hesitate to buy this in the full size once this runs out because it's so easy to use and I often just apply straight to my cheek from the bullet, gently blend with my fingers and good to go!

The Body Shop Vanilla Bliss Hand Cream

Being The Body Shop's #1 fan, I had to include one of their limited edition Christmas products - Vanilla hand cream, mmm! This makes your hands smell like cake all day long and it's just so good! It's a cocoa butter based hand cream so it's really rich and creamy, and it's only sticky if you apply too much but it really does help to soothe any chapped or sore skin as well as maintaining the comfort of your hands - nothing worse than having dried out hands when it's cold :( The 30ml travel size is so convenient for slipping into a bag and I'm sure these only cost about £3.00 too! 

Models Own Southern Lights Nail Varnish*

Soo, fifth mini product in a row; I don't have a minis issue I swear! *innocent face*. This glitter nail varnish was sent to me in a trio called 'All That Glitters' and also contains 'Pink Fizz' and 'Blizzard', but Southern Lights was the stand out favourite. Last year, it was all about 'Northern Lights' for me (the same nail varnish but pink toned, whereas this is blue toned), and for 2013 I've been adoring Southern Lights. It's such a magical glitter polish with the irridescent sparkles added on top of the already high intensity glitter particles. It's so eye catching and I always get compliments on my nails when I wear this.

Maybelline Baby Lips Lip Balm in Cherry Me

Babyyyyy Lippppppps - The hype of the century! I've tried a couple of these but my favourite of the bunch has got to be Cherry Me, mainly for the colour of it's tint. It's a sheer wash of pink red but it has a glossy finish, so for minimal make up days or days when you'll be on the go and need the quickest touch up possible then this tinted lip balm has you covered. Instead of just wearing nothing on the lips, or a clear balm, this one brings the tiniest amount of colour to the face to look just about natural, but still very pretty. Extra bonus is that this one tastes and smells just like Cherry Drops - mmmm!

 

I know that December isn't typically a month for testing and trying out new things so these are just a couple of little bits that have stood out to me as being reached for frequently. Like most people, I was completely swept off my feet last month with having one trip away for my birthday, 3 major uni deadlines, a long weekend in New York and then 'bam' Christmas hits, blink and it's New Year.. then before you know it, here we are in January! I can't believe it flies by just like that..

Anyway, I hope you all had a good 2013 and that 2014 has some good things in store for you!

What were you loving over the past few weeks?

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Who Ever Has Enough Nail Varnishes? | Summer Colours Haul

Could 16 new nail varnishes in one week be considered a little bit over the top? To some people, maybe the answer would be 'yes'. But for me, it's perfectly normal and acceptable. Everybody has those little things they like to treat themselves to.. whether it's a pint in the pub on a Saturday, a McDonalds meal on a Friday, or a Starbucks coffee on the way to work, it's those little indulgences that you don't 'need', but they make you happy. My indulgence, my treat, my 'thing that makes me happy' is buying myself a new bottle of nail varnish. Or a lipstick. Hmm, looking at my dressing table it would appear that I 'make myself happy' maybe a tad too often - oops! Here's a little break down of what shades have been added to my collection recently: 

 

(I ordered this from Boots online and it arrived filthy! - Yuck!)

 

Models Own

- Ice Neon Collection:
Toxic Apple, Luis Lemon, Pink Punch, Pukka Purple, Bubblegum and a Top Coat (not swatched)

It would be a lie for me to pretend that I bought these myself; I won them in a giveaway on The Love Cats Inc blog last week and I have already done a full post covering this collection that you can see here. The only one that I have worn so far is Luis Lemon that you can see on my nails in some of the pictures. I found it to be a little bit garish so I toned it down with a glitter gradient on top. (Also every time I look down at my nails it reminds me of the bright highlighter that has covered my revision notes and quotes from tort law just run screaming through my head - I need to take this off!)

- Hed Kandi Collection:
Hedonist and Bora Bora (new)

I've had my eye on Hedonist for what feels like a lifetime and it's the perfect summer colour! It's very similar to the shade Coral Reef but it's a lot more neon and it's super bright! It looks even more neon than some of the shades in the actually neon collection! It's love. Bora Bora is a newly released shade from Models Own and as soon as I saw Lily Melrose's swatches of this one I knew it had to be mine. Its a very densely packed glitter with super fine gold particles that would look gorgeous layered up on it's own, or as a top coat to another colour. 

- Scented Fruit Pastel Range:
Banana Split

A range that was released very shortly after the Ice Neon collection that sparked a big 'neon v pastel' debate was these novelty 'scented' varnishes. I'm definitely a neon girl, but I couldn't resist trying one of these.. but unfortunately I hate the colour of it; a really washed out pale yellow and I can't say it smells all that much like bananas either - such a let down!

Barry M
- Gelly Hi-Shine:

Blueberry, Papaya and Grapefruit

I'm convinced that Barry M are going to take over the world with these nail varnishes. No, really. They're so ridiculously popular it's crazy! But with good reason - they're only £3.99 / 2 for £6 and give the best coverage EVER - one coat for a super thick and opaque coverage over the nail with a super glossy finish and lasts for up to a week without chipping at all. Barry M are seriously onto a winner. Grapefruit could quite possibly be my favourite shade from this whole bundle - it. is. gorgeous.

MUA

Bold Blue, Lush Lilac, Pistachio Ice Cream and Amaretto Crush

These blatant rip offs of Essie's iconic packaging cost a measly £1.00 a bottle and come in some pretty cute colours with equally as adorable names. I found the colour pay off to be pretty sheer when I was creating this nail wheel and I found I needed about 4 coats to build up any sort of good coverage, but when they cost £1 are you going to moan about that? I'm going to give these a proper trial in the next few weeks and do a full post just dedicated to these so we can see if that £1 is really worth spending on these.

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New: Models Own Ice Neon Collection

My lucky streak continued last week as I ended up being one of the winners of a double Models Own giveaway over at The Love Cats Inc. blog and bagged myself a full set of the new Models Own Ice Neon collection. The Love Cats Inc. is one of my favourite blogs and I'd been planning on getting my mitts on a few of these shades anyway, so imagine my excitement when I found out that I'd won! It made my whole month, so thank you Helen! (Everybody go and look at her blog). 

The collection consists of five brand new intensely pigmented and super bright neon shades (they are a lot brighter than they look here); Left to right - Toxic Apple, Luis Lemon, Pukka Purple, Bubblegum, and Pink Punch ..and if you buy the whole set together there's a top coat thrown in there too. When I say 'brand new', the shades 'Toxic Apple' and 'Pink Punch' do actually already exist, but imagine those shades 5x brighter and super fluorescent!

These shades are right up my street as I'm a huge fan of brightly coloured nails, and even though my collection already has plenty of super bright pinks and oranges in it, all of these are welcomed with open arms and make all the other shades look so dull in comparison. Models Own advises to keep these bottles in the fridge to maintain their fluro colour for longer (think keeping glow sticks in the freezer to keep them glowing!), but I'm not too sold on that idea - it's probably just a sales gimmick, plus I don't think that my Dad would be too happy with pink nail varnish chilling next to his beers and the milk! So, they're sitting pretty on my dressing table and I'm not too worried about their brightness fading with them not being kept really cold. 

These are all absolutely perfect for the S/S season this year and I'm more than happy to hop right onto the neon loving train; especially with the pinks and yellows. They add such a nice 'pop' of colour to any otherwise quite plain outfit and bright nails is such a simple and subtle way to join in with the trend.

 

Here are swatches from the 5 shades available in the collection:

 

The shades: all of the above swatches are shown with one coat of colour. The finish isn't exactly 'matte', but it isn't a high gloss either. You can see that some of the shades applied a little streaky with just one coat, so a 2nd would be best, and some were a little more sheer than other.. I'm looking at you Toxic Apple. The brightest, and my favourite, is the yellow: Luis Lemon, and my least favourite is the purple: Pukka Purple, mainly because it's not as 'neon' as the others and is quite a dark shade too. However, this one did have the best application and applied fully opaque in just one coat. Bubblegum and Pink Punch appear to be quite similar shades and sometimes my camera doesn't pick up the full potential of the shades; but Bubblegum is the shade that is pink, pink and pink. Very bright and true Barbie pink, whereas (misleadingly), Pink Punch is more of an orange/coral toned pink in the bottle, but when I applied it onto my nails it looked like neon orange! Confusing, but it's still amazing. A little head's up that this shade of Pink Punch is very similar to 'Hedonist' from the Hed Kandi collection.

Models Own Ice Neon Collection are available from Boots and the Models Own website now for £5.00 each, or £20.00 for all 5 colours plus a topcoat.

Which one's your favourite?

 Thanks again to Helen for running the giveaway for these!

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My Favourite Nude / Neutral Nail Varnishes

Hey girls!

Nude nails seem to be the 'next big thing' at the moment, and in my eyes it's a trend well worth falling for. They look effortlessly chic and sophisticated, compliment any skin tone, go with any outfit for any occasion and are the simplest way to make your nails look polished and perfectly manicured with the added bonus that they are a lot more forgiving when it comes to visible chips!

Nudes can come in a variety of shades and tones so I have picked out my top 6 to show to you all. There's an even mix of pink tones, brown tones (I'm gonna call it brown, if you want to called it 'coffee' or something like that then feel free), milky pales and slightly darker and more shimmery shade too. Chosen from a range of brands and a mixture of price ranges, hopefully there is something for everybody in this bundle!

Essie - 'Fiji' £7.99. When I was at the Essie stand in Boots trying to choose my first ever shade from them it was a toss up between Fiji and Ballet Slippers, two very similar shades, and by pure random choice I walked to the till with Fiji. Fiji is an 'off white' shade with the slightest hint of pink to it; almost like a white top that's been put in the wash with a red sock! It looks amazing next to deeply tanned skin and it the best way to rock 'almost white' nails without it being too trashy or intense because of the pinky hue to it.

Barry M - 'Lychee' £3.99. Ahhh, Barry M. Their reformulated nail paints to give a 'gel nail' finish are seriously impressive. At less than £4 a bottle I'm going to be stocking up on every colour they've got. One coat for full opacity, almost a week without chips and a high shine finish this is something that you need in your collection. Plus it is the 'perfect nude' shade as it's not too pink and not too yellow so in theory should suit everyone, right? Nude nails winner: Lychee.

Ciate - 'Cutie Pie' £9.00. I love this shade from Ciate as it is a really, really sheer 'barely there' pink tone that works as what I'd called more of a 'tinted clear nail varnish' rather than a colour. It's not one for everybody but if you don't like your nails to be fully naked but don't really like just wearing a clear top coat then this is a lovely alternative.

Ciate - 'Cookies and Cream' £9.00. Serious dupe alert with this and 'Lychee'! I had no idea how similar they were until I held the bottles next to each other. The shade is a little bit lighter and apart from the price tag that's the only difference that there really is! Ciate polishes last for days and days without chips, but then again so do the Barry M Gelly nails; it more or less just depends on whether you want to be a brand snob or not. If you like this shade you won't be losing anything by buying Lychee instead - just take your pick!

Models Own - 'Utopia' £5.00. Quite a well known polish from Models Own, 'Utopia' is a really, really pale lilac shade and looks lovely for a light wash of pinky colour over the nails. At just £5 for 14ml of good quality varnish Models Own are one of the best value brands and I'd always recommend them.

Models Own - 'Naked Shimmer' £5.00. This is a personal favourite of mine; not just in the nude nail stakes, but out of my whole collection of nail varnishes this one comes out on top. You can see me wearing it here and ahh it's just beautiful! It's a beige toned nude with a slight pink undertone and a gorgeous golden shimmer running through it to give it a little bit more dimension.

I hope that you all enjoyed this post and that you're enjoying nude nails too!

I would say that my personal favourite is 'Naked Shimmer', but if I was to recommend one to somebody wanting to try out their first nude nail varnish then I would say to go for 'Lychee' - only £3.99 too so you can't go wrong!

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