My Nail Painting Essentials

Since growing my nails I've been an avid nail painter and I'm constantly rocking a new shade of pop of colour on my tips, so I thought I'd share my tips for the best finish I can get without seeing an expert!

1. Remove existing colour. I tend to use a nourishing nail polish remover as most tend to be very harsh and I have naturally pretty weak nails, so I try to keep the harsh products down to a minimum.

2. File and Prep. I then give my hands a wash in cold water and a mild soap, and use a nail brush to get rid of any dirt under my nails (yuck). I then file any sharp edges to keep them looking neat.

3. I then use the Rimmel Nail Rescue Nail Nurse which is a nail hardening treatment/base coat which stops splitting, it's a fab budget option!

4. Colour! This is where I apply two coats of any colour which takes my fancy, I'm a massive fan of Essie, Barry M (currently the Quick Dry range, but also the Gelly Hi Shine range), Models Own, anything! But currently, I'm currently rocking this bright fuchsia from Kiko which was only £1 would you believe! My favourite all time polish which is constantly on my nails from September-March is Essie's Bahama Mama a wonderful burgundy (pictured), and a classic. 

5. My current favourite top coat is a new release from Barry M (I think) named Gelly Hi Shine Plumpy Top Coat which gives a lovely shine and dries pretty quickly too! 

6. To quickly dry my nails I use a few spritzes of the Avon Nail Experts Liquid Freeze Quick Dry Nail Spray which stops that initial tackiness, and although greasy, does a wonderful job. I then run my hands under cold water which gets rid of the greasiness and also hardens my polish.

So there you have it! The whole routine only takes about 20 minutes which isn't bad considering all the steps. I'm going for a shellac manicure and cream tea on Wednesday so I'm taking my camera to document the day with my Mum and Granny, I'm really excited and can't wait to see what shellac is like! 

favourite nude polishes

Apologies for the yuckiness of the skin around the nails and the red tinge to my fingers!

Slowly my nail polish collection is growing, especially as I've finally grown my nails and although they are not at the length I want them, they are slowly getting there and are presentable enough to do this little post for you!

During this 'inbetween' winter/spring stage I never really know what to go for, I'm fed up of deep reds and burgundy's but it's not quite pastel weather - this is where nudes come in! Although perfect for any time of year, I feel like they just fit in right now. So I thought I would choose my top 5 from my collection and share them with you.

(L to R)

Model's Own 'Nude Beige' (standard beige)

Barry M Gelly 'Lychee' (soft ivory)

Ciaté 'Ivory Queen' (peachy nude)

Essie 'Tea and Crumpets' (more of a pink nude rather than how it has photographed here)

Essie 'Delicacy' (a pearl iridescent)

All of these brands have fantastic polishes which last for a considerable amount of time with the right top coat and there's something to suit everyone's budget. I love the formula's of all of them and the drying time isn't too long either. 

I'm currently rocking 'Lychee' by Barry M which is a firm favourite of mine, plus adds the effects that my nails are longer than they are due to a light polish, rather than a dark berry tone which is an added bonus for me!

I can't wait for my nails to be that bit longer for spring and then I can donne the pastels, I'm dying for some colour to brighten up my look!

Which nail polish make is your favourite? Are you still wearing dark berry shades, clinging onto the festivity or have you opted for something a bit lighter now we are (hopefully) moving into spring?

New Buys #1

So I finally paid off my £300 debt with my grandma (she kindly leant me the money to buy an iPad, so I have been paying her back for months) and now I'm getting money on a weekly basis, I can't stop spending!
As always, I went straight to Superdrug to browse and buy some makeup products that I'd seen other bbloggers, particularly Stef and Sara who are my absolute favourites. I suggest you check them out, Sarah also has a YouTube channel which is where I learnt skills to fine tune my makeup routine!

So the first product I saw Stef using which caught my eye, is an eyebrow pencil with a comb on the lid by Rimmel.

The shade I bought was "002 Hazel" but there are shades to suit everyone's shade of hair. The retail price was only £2.99 which I feel is an absolute bargain, particularly for me as I needed a comb and a pencil to help make the tail of my brows more precise and Rimmel have created this handy all-in-one.

The second product I bought is something I came across on the Superdrug website when I was having a browse for a new eye shadow palette as I'm yet to find one that I love. I have recently been lusting after the Naked palette (isn't everyone?!) but I simply cannot afford it at the minute so I was looking for something of a similar style and I think I have found it and for just a fraction of the price! The reviews on the Superdrug website featured people saying the colours were similar to the Naked palette and for £4 (yes, £4!) I thought I had nothing to lose.

I present the MUA 'undressed' palette.

Some colours are shimmery where others are matte which I love as I'm fed up of wearing shimmery colours everyday and on occasion, fancy something more nude. I tried this palette for the first time today and am really impressed. The colours are pretty pigmented and the different shades are a wonderful change to my previous everyday eye shadows. I used this video by Sara to do my makeup today, she uses the Naked palette so I used the colours I thought were most similar and the finished makeup looked almost the same, but still looked lovely (I thought so anyway!) and obviously people wouldn't know that I hadn't used the Naked palette, eheh! So as you can tell, I'm really loving this product and would recommend it to anyone, plus it's so cheap that even people on a limited budget can afford it and create so many great eye looks.

In addition to the MUA palette, I bought a single pressed eyeshadow, a deeper matter brown which didn't feature in the palette; for just £1. 

Again, this shade is a good addition to the 'Undressed' palette and for only £1, you can't go wrong!

Last, but certainly not least, a lipstick from Barry M. I've been after a bright red lipstick for a while and after buying a few that looked red on the packaging but were more pink when applied to the lips, I have finally found the right shade! Hurrah! Ideally, I would buy a MAC lipstick, but due to a budget at the minute, I shopped around for a cheaper alternative and good old Barry M sorted me out with the shade 'Pillarbox Red'. 

The lipsticks from Barry M are very pigmented which I love and smooth onto the lips very easily. Unfortunately if you have dry or cracked lips, any imperfections show up where the lipstick hasn't got into the cracks, but as long as you keep you lips soft using Vaseline or other lip balm, then these lipsticks are great. I always feel that the swatches on the stand are very accurate to what the actual product looks like and for only £4.49 they are good value for money. 

So, that concludes the products I bought the other day and I hope you found my reviews useful. Please have a look at the girls blogs I mentioned above as they are two that I check for updates on a daily basis, and love the content they post! 

Please become a member of my blog (You can do this on the right) and feel free to comment if you have used any of these products, recommend any other products or even feedback on what content I post; I would really appreciate it. (You can even comment anonymously if you wish.)

I have also made a new twitter account specifically for this blog: @bonjourkatie_, follow me to be updated with everything to do this blog and give suggestions on what to post.

Thank you to the people who view my blog, and I hope you'll continue reading.