Pictured are the shades: Forever Glam, and Snow White
. . . then you need to try out the Max Factor Glossfinity nail polishes. I'm not very good with nail polish whatsoever, so I need a quick drying, opaque, long lasting kinda deal when it comes to nail polishes otherwise they tend to get on my nerves, I'm sure you can imagine the struggle. The Max Factor Glossfinity nail polishes fulfil all my requirements and are quite possibly some of the best nail polish formulas I have ever tried. They claim to take 10 minutes to dry, and I verified this as I was about to film a makeup tutorial but I realised I had forgotten to paint my nails, so I decided to paint them and it lived up to the claim and was properly dry within 10 minutes. Super glossy nails that last 5-7 days, dry quickly and to an even finish? It's a winner from me, and it's going to take a lot of restraint not to buy the rest of the collection.
I have to tell you something, it's been eating me up inside but I need to come out with it, and I hope we can see past this together - I don't like the Barry M Gelly Nail Polish. Okay, I said it, and I'm sure you're now judging me pretty harshly as these are otherwise known as some of the greatest nail polishes in the world of beauty. I feel I should mention that I only tried out one, but I can't see how the formulation would be massively different between shades.
Anyway, since trying out the Barry M Gelly nail polish, I have been on the lookout for a glossy, gel, pigmented nail polish without spending extortionate amounts, by which I meant £5 or more (hey, we're going through a recession don't judge my cheapskate-ness wise spending).
After trying out various Essence products (which I've reviewed here and here), I came to the conclusion that Essence was amazing value for money and so when I saw they sold nail polishes I knew I had to try one, especially as they are gel nail polishes.
The shade I picked up is 113 - do you speak love? I feel I should inform you that the number and the shade name isn't clear, you need to look at where the barcode is and it's in small writing, however I am glad they had a proper shade name rather than just a number. I refuse to have my beauty products reduced to numbers. It's a beautiful autumnal burgundy red so it's perfect for Autumn and Winter but I think red is generally the type of colour that you can wear all year round.
I really love the packaging, it reminds me of Bourjois nail polishes because the lid is the same colour as the nail polish which also makes it easy to pick it out of a bunch. The brush is also amazing for application, it's wide so it covers the whole nail in one swift stroke - that's also the amount you need to get an opaque colour, just one swift stroke. You can go over with a second layer for longevity perhaps but I think it's fine with just a base coat and one layer. I've found that it lasts about a week before chipping really badly as in it has to be done a week later at the very latest otherwise your nails are going to look a bit tatty and not nice. My favourite thing about this product has to be the fact that it dries so quickly for a gel nail polish, this was the problem I had with Barry M. With Barry M, my nails would be tacky for hours whereas with Essence my nails are fully dry in under 10 minutes, I'm sure it is even less than that but I paint my nails slowly otherwise I mess it up to such a large extent.
Overall, I love love love this product and I will definitely be trying out other shades. I find it hard to believe that such a high quality product only costed £1.60 from Wilkinsons.
Just over a month ago, I heard that Wilkinsons had introduced a make-up brand called Essence and I was interested from the start as I've always gone for the most inexpensive best value products concerning make-up, skin care and clothes. I took a gander on the Wilkinsons website first and foremost so I could find out what sort of products I would be most interested in trying, and the first thing that caught my eye was their nail polish range and in particular their nail hardening products because I have wanted to purchase the Sally Hansen nail hardening products for a long time but I couldn't bring myself to spend that much - hence I decided to try out the Essence Studio Nails Hardening Nail Base.
The one thing that puts me off from wearing nail polish in general is the thought of it chipping quickly because I hate chipped nail polish and I always have a compulsion to remove it straight away even if it has only chipped after a day or two, that's why finding a good nail base was important to me. Furthermore, my nails are fairly brittle so this means my nail polish is more susceptible to chipping so this is why I needed a nail base that would harden my nails more than just prevent staining. This product was only £1.80 so it wasn't a massive loss at all.
Whilst it looks glue-like in consistency and colour, I can assure that it is a very good nail polish. It dries clear and quickly, and makes my nails feel instantly stronger and it has now become a necessity when painting my nails. It makes my nail polish (the one on top of the base coat) last at least twice as long as it usually would as well when I'm wearing it so it is well worth the money.
I can honestly say I have no negative things to say about this product, it will definitely be a repeat purchase. Considering it was under £2.00 as well, I am pretty chuffed to have discovered this product.
I recently went shopping with my friend Isabella (she has been inactive on blogger for a while but she said she is planning on making a comeback and possible showing what she bought so please do go over and follow her) and picked up a lot of things from Primark, I also went shopping a couple of other times and bought a few bits and bobs so I put it together in a youtube video which you'll find below.
As promised, I have pictures of a couple of the outfits, two of the nail polishes, a sneak peak of what Isabella bought and close ups of some of the other item, also there are some things I've bought since filming the haul so I thought I'd throw those in here too.
These are the nail polishes I bought. From left to right: Seaside, Rose Hip, Pearl
This picture includes the nail polish Isabella bought as well, it's one of the chameleon nail paints but I'm not sure of the colour
From left to right: Baby lips SPF20 and Collection Mardi Gras strawberry lipbalm
These were both bought by Isabella: an MUA lip liner and a Kate lipstick (both were under £5 I believe)
This is mine, it is the Collection lasting perfection concealer in warm medium
This is also mine, this is a P.S love primark brow pencil in the colour medium
These are mine and Isabella's sunglasses, I bought the pair at the top and she bought the other ones, they were all £2
These were Isabella's: a Watermelon scented candle and a Vanilla one, they both had a strong scent and were under £2
These were Isabella's, they're a collection of gold hoop earrings ranging in size, and this was £1
This was Isabella's, I've used Argan Oil before and it made my hair very soft, I'm not sure whether she's gotten round to using it yet though
This is the Rimmel 25 hour foundation, as you can see it's not very thick and it's not very thin and I think that's good as it's buildable - I got this in the colour True Nude which has pinky undertones but seems to suit my skin tone, and it stays on all day and gives my skin a natural look
This is what the Pearl nail polish looks like on, it's matte but shimmery which is nice - plus it dried so much quicker than the gelly one!
I apologize for the mirror selfie, taking a nice photo on an iPhone is almost impossible without either another person or doing a mirror selfie
Kimono - Primark
Shirt - Primark
Skirt - Forever 21
Tights - Primark
Ponyo necklace - Etsy
Sigh, another mirror selfie..
Shirt - Primark
Skirt - Forever 21
Tights - Primark
Ponyo necklace - Etsy
The packing of the things I ordered on etsy was too cute not to include...
The Harry Potter Marauder's Map one can be ordered here
They're both from the same seller so the postage was cheaper, they're both of good quality and arrived quickly too!!
This is what the Rose Hip nail polish looked like on, honestly I'm a bit annoyed with it. It stayed tacky for ages because it took so long to try.. although it did come out quite shiny but I didn't keep it on for very long as the tackiness upset me too much
Another mirror selfie...
Shirt - Primark
Skirt - Forever 21
Tights - Primark
I bought this a while ago at the Who shop in Upton park, it was only a pound and there's a mini museum in the shop too which is a must-see for any whovian (although it took a long time to get there and there's not much else to do in the area unless you go over to the Stratford Westfield, but I still enjoyed it)
