Four Ways to Rock Sparkle this New Years

Four Ways to Wear Sparkle

With New Years Eve right around the corner I wanted to share with you four simple ways to add a touch of sparkle to any outfit, so whether your partying the night away or opting for a cosy night in as you've consumed your weight in mince pies, cheese, party food and chocolate over the festive season, (me in a nutshell!) then have no fear, I've got you covered...

1. CASUAL SWEATER - H&M

2. CHOKER - Accessorize

3. BAG - Primark

4. NAILS - Artistic Crazed and Ciate Glitter All the Way

Maybelline SuperStay 7 Days Gel Nail Color Review & Photos - Metallic Silks

Maybelline Super Stay Gel Nail Color - Metallic Silks

With the nail market now shifting over to 7 day wear nail polish that works and wears like a gel without the need for a light, we are now spoilt for choice from not only the premium brands but from the drugstore too.

Maybelline recently released three new metallic shades to their Super Stay Gel Nail Color collection which are perfectly on trend for the up and coming party season, so here's my thoughts.

Price
These retail for a respectable £4.49 for 10ml of product and the new Metallic Silk additions consist of three shades including, Silver Satin, Golden Thread and Rose Veil.

Packaging
The packaging is simple but striking with the title and colours doing all the talking. The brush itself has a short flat tip which makes the polish apply with ease.

Application
These metallic shades are so opaque that you can get away with one coat if your short for time. I also love the fact these glide on effortlessly and streak free too.

Maybelline Super Stay Gel Nail Color in Silver Satin

Maybelline Super Stay Gel Nail Color in Golden Thread

Maybelline Super Stay Gel Nail Color in Rose Veil



Longevity

The Super Stay range claims to last 7 days providing you use a top coat and for me I'm lucky if I get two days ample wear from a polish as my nails are not the best right now. However I have to say these performed amazingly as they wore so well throughout the week and I only got a few minor chips on day six and honestly I was so impressed considering these polishes are under £5!

Overall Thoughts

Overall these were a Super Stay hit! I loved the shades as they are totally on trend for the party season and the quality of these for the price makes them a perfect addition to any party look. But for me the one thing that stood out the most was the longevity aspect, I was so super impressed by this that I even wore the Rose Gold shade two weeks in a row as I knew I wouldn't have to worry about checking they hadn't chipped every 5 minutes! So if your budget won't quite stretch to a new top or dress for the party season, then why not treat yourself to a metallic nail polish instead to stand out from the crowd.

 I award the Maybelline SuperStay 7 Days Gel Metallic Silks Nail Color 4.8 out of 5

*These were sent to me but as always all opinions are me own.

Essie Gel Couture Review & Photos

Essie Gel Couture

Essie has always been one of my favourite nail brands because of their amazing on trend colour selection and staying power, so when I heard that they had just released their own version of the two step gel, no light formula, I squealed with excitement! The Essie Gel Couture range consists of an amazing 42 shades, as well as a gel topcoat to seal in your colour. I just picked up the one shade to try out, so here's my thoughts.

Price
This is a two step method, so you would need to purchase the top coat as well as your chosen shades for the system to work properly. Both the colours and top coat retail for £9.99 each, which is a bit more expensive than your average drugstore nail polish and especially if your having to buy both the colour and top coat together, but this is a gel system, that claims to last.

Packaging
I love the new bottles for the Gel Couture range as they are unique, elegant and classy, and compared to the original bottles, these still identify as Essie, but with a twist! Inside the brush is short and flat and the base is twisted to allow for ease of application and an even coverage.

Application
On the How To video it advises that no base coat is needed, but on the Essie website it does mention using a base. Personally having tested this out I would recommend using a simple base coat, as it protects your nail plate and also helps the colour glide on that little be easier if you have ridged nails. When I first tested this out I didn't use a base coat as I wanted to see how this would wear without, upon application the colour glides on really nicely because of the flat, short brush and the shade I picked, Zip Me Up was opaque in two coats and dried semi-matte.

I choose this mint shade as I thought it looked very similar to the iconic Mint Candy Apple, except this shade is shot with a pretty iridescence through it. The top coat had a thick, plump consistency and glided on nicely too. This dried relatively quickly but not as quick as the Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat, although it did have a lovely shine to it.

Essie Zip Me Up

Longevity
The Gel Couture system states that this can last up to 14 days, now this is a big claim for a gel polish that doesn't cure under light and out of all the two step gel polish systems I've tried, none are yet to beat my regular salon formula gel cured polish.

I tried this twice without a base coat and I have mentioned recently in a video that my nails are not the best at the moment, so an ordinary manicure tends to only last two days and three if I'm lucky and that's with prepping the nail and using a base and top coat. So overall I defiantly don't think this would of lasted two weeks on me, but I really did get a good five days wear, before I started to notice wear on the tips and slight chipping on the 6th and 7th day, so for my nails that is pretty impressive.

The top coat helped keep the colour shiny, but I think by the end of the week I was ready to take the colour off as it didn't look as polished to when I had first applied this.

Overall Thoughts
This two step gel system from Essie is not a ground-breaking, new to the market concept, but this does claim to last up to two weeks, which is a brave statement to make considering this doesn't cure under a light. For me this lasted around five days before I started to have slight wear and chipping, but I do think this is still pretty impressive considering my manicure is lucky if it lasts two days!

Yes the price is slightly higher than your regular drugstore nail polish and you do have to invest in the top coat too, but overall the Essie Gel Couture range has a remarkable colour selection, perfect packaging, easy application and a durable top coat, which makes this accessible range a winner in my books. I do want to try a wider selection of shades, so I will keep you updated.

I award the Essie Gel Couture range 4.3 out of 5

O.P.I Infinite Shine Review and Photos

O.P.I Infinite Shine

Long wearing gel like polishes are everywhere right now, as they claim to bridge the gap between ordinary nail polish and gel polish. This hybrid formula has a high shine finish, lasts longer than regular polish, dry's quickly and involves either two or three steps to achieve the gel like appearance. I have already tested out a few from the drugstore including Barry M and Revlon, but I was keen to see what the premium brands had to offer within this market. O.P.I has been one of my favourite brands for years now, so I thought I would give their Infinite Shine version a go first, here's my thoughts.

Price
To get the most from this system it's advised you purchase the base and top coat too. Both the base, top and colour all retail for £13.95 each for the usual 15ml of polish. A regular bottle of O.P.I lacquer retails for £12.50, so not a huge difference in price, which is good, it's just a shame you have to pay out another £27.90 just to be able to use the three step system properly. But once you have the base and top that should last you a good while and it's a lot cheaper than getting a gel manicure.

Packaging
The packaging is the same as the original lacquers, the only difference is the title and silver top. They also tell you on the front of the bottle which is step 1, 2 & 3. The Infinite Shine colour collection comes in 30 shades ranging from blues to green and reds to taupe's.

At the moment these only come in a crème formula, but hopefully in the future they will release some shimmers and duo chromes. I picked up four of the shades from left to right in, Set in Stone, Raisin' the Bar, From Here to Eternity and It Never Ends.

Application
To apply you start with a thin layer of the base coat, known as the 'prime', you then apply two thin layers of the coloured lacquer, it's then advised you wait two minutes before you apply your top coat, know as the 'gloss', this dried pretty quickly, which was great. These lacquers are beautifully pigmented and are really opaque in just one coat, so it's up to you whether you think you need the 2nd coat. I did apply the two coats of colour as per the instructions.

Longevity
Although these had a glossy finish and went on beautifully, unfortunately the shine didn't last the 10 days as mentioned on the box. I also had chipping on a few nails on day 3 which was a shame. I also found that if you did accidently knock your nails, they did chip easily and by day 6 my nails didn't look the best so I decided to take it off.

Overall Thoughts

For me this system sounds appealing, as everyone loves a glossy gel like nail, that lasts, but also takes away the hassle of using a light to cure, as well as a having to soak off the colour. Now don't get me wrong I loved the colour selection, opaque formula and the fact it dry's pretty quickly, it was just unfortunate the longevity and shine factor let it down. I have normal polishes that have better durability than these, which is a real shame considering I'm a big fan of O.P.I. But as I do love these colours I purchased, I will see how well they work with a normal base and top coat as I do know they work well on top of gel extensions and acrylics, I will keep you posted!

 

So if you have a special occasion or a holiday booked and your after a gel like polish, that has a glossy, long-wearing finish, I would recommend going to the salon and having gel nails instead, as they are more likely to withstand the test of time.

 

I award O.P.I Infinite Shine 3.6 out of 5



Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy Longwear Nail Enamel Review and Photos

Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy Longwear Nail Enamel

Following on from my review of the Barry M Sunset polish, I wanted to try a few more of these gel like nail polishes to decide whether these are actually worth the hype. Next up, the Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy Longwear Nail Enamel and Diamond Top Coat. This version claims to deliver longevity and a gel finish, so here's my thoughts.

Price
Both the colour and top coat retail for £6.99 each for 11.7ml, which is a little bit more expensive than your regular drugstore nail polish. The collection consists of 30 stunning, wearable shades, as well as the diamond top coat.

Packaging
The packaging is the same as the rest of the colourstay family. I do like this packaging as it looks sleek and sophisticated, I also like the handle as it's long and lean, so it's easy to grip. The brush consists of two small brushes put together to create one long, thin brush for easy application.

Application

I decided on the colour 440 Wild Card, which was the most stunning bright cobalt blue. The colour is supposed to also act as the base coat as well. This was easy to apply and was opaque in two coats, but if you where in a rush you could get away with one. The only thing I didn't like was the overpowering, toxic smell, of course nail polish isn't the nicest smelling, but this was pretty overwhelming. The top coat went on lovely and shiny, but this really didn't dry all that quickly and I ended up with in-prints on my nails from my bed sheets, as I usually paint my nail right before bedtime.

Longevity
I had this on from Wednesday to Sunday, so five days in total. I only really got three good days of wear, before I started to get chipping on the tips and because of the top coat not drying well, it really didn't help in keeping my manicure long-wearing and nice looking.

Overall Thoughts
Overall this for me doesn't come near to the longevity and durability of a salon gel manicure. The colour I choose is stunning and the shade selection overall is great, but the strong smell, longevity and poor top coat let this system down overall. With so many exceptional fast drying, high gloss top coats on the market this gel envy version really doesn't compare. I would use this colour again in the future, but I defiantly would use a base coat and also my good old Seche Vite Dry Fast Top coat instead, to hopefully provide a more long-wearing manicure.

I award the Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy Longwear Nail Enamel 2.7 out of 5