Seventeen (17) Rock Hard Nail Effects Review

Last Saturday afternoon, after a morning of hill walking and running, followed by spending 50 minutes of my precious time on the phone to Orange, I became bored, in need of a plan. Time was getting on... So, I decided to drive to Westfield Merry Hill, on a lone adventure to 'browse' shops, NO SPENDING!

(As you can already tell, I failed!).

The centre was open 'til 7pm, so after just over an hours drive, I arrived with an hour and a half left to 'browse'. I went to Boots, to admire all the lovely make-up and noticed that Seventeen (formerly 17) have released their own version of textured nail polish, Rock Hard Nail Effects.

I recently reviewed one of Barry M's new textured polishes, which was great. The difference with Seventeen's offering is that they are more dark, edgy, rock chick shades, as opose to Barry M's pretty spring/summer girly shades.

I had to own one, or two...

I stood there a while, deciding between black and grey (there is also red and navy but they didn't appeal to me), before realising that there was an offer. Oh, an offer. Now I must buy both! Such has been the situation with the previous 4 nail polishes that I purchased recently. Sucker for an offer.

I had just under £10 of Advantage Points, hoorah! This made a guilt-free purchase.

£3.99 each, or buy 1 get 1 half price. So I paid £5.98 of points for both.

Here's some photos of both shades:

Seventeen Rock Hard Nail Effects - amazing!

This polish is perfect, creating eye-catching, edgy, dark, rock chick, gothic nails.

The polish feels more gritty than Barry M's Textured Nail Paint, but in a good way. You can also tell it is grittier. The end result is more matte than Barry M.

Just as the bottle says 'Matte textured nails in just 2 coats!'

Application is great, so smooth to apply, fast and only 2 coats required!!

Strangely, when I was applying the polish, it had a scent different to normal nail polish, quite a pleasant scent...

More photos:

I'm really loving the whole textured nail thing and think that it will be big news this year!

It's great that more purse-friendly brands like Seventeen and Barry M are releasing them, as a cheaper but equally as good version of more high-end brands offerings.

What do you think of textured nails?

An update for anyone who read my Barry M Textured Nail Paint review - the polish was fine to remove, I was pleasantly surprised. I did worry it might be a nightmare, like glitters are but no, all good :)

Seventeen's textured polishes are also pretty easy to remove, as I took the black off last night to try the grey!

Seventeen Rock Hard Nail Effects are available now on Boots website and instore.

xXx

Barry M Gelly Nail Paint 'Greenberry'

In my last blog post, I reviewed one of my 2 new Barry M nail polishes, Atlantic Road Textured Nail Paint and now I bring you the second polish, Greenberry Gelly Nail Paint.

Greenberry is one of 4 new Gelly shades, all four of which are perfect spring/summer shades, just like the new Textured Nail Paints.

2 coats, fantastic application and a lovely smooth glossy finish.

I am IN LOVE with this shade. Seriously, it is the most beautiful green/turquoise! Bring on the summer!

I already have one polish from the first collection of Gelly Nail Paints, Pomegranate, which I got when they first came out. I'm not overly fussed on the shade and wish I'd got a different one but again, as with this one, it is a great product.

I love the 4 new shades, they are gorgeous. Dragon Fruit (Pink), Papaya (Coral), Lychee (Nude) and Greenberry (green).

I originally planned to buy Lychee but when I saw Greenberry in store, I had to have it! I will most probably buy Lychee very soon. Dragon Fruit is lovely but I have many pink polishes and rarely wear pink. Papaya is pretty but looks quite like a couple of polishes that I already have (H&M Minnie Mouse and No7 Spice look similar).

There are still a couple of shades that I would like from the old Gelly collection too.

Really, if I had the money, I would buy every Barry M nail polish (and pretty much every other Barry M product...). Oh, a girl can dream!

Boots currently have an offer of buy 2 save £1, so I got both for £6.98.

Barry M's new Gelly and Textured Nail Paints are available now in Boots, Superdrug and online at www.barrym.com

Have you tried the new Barry M Gelly polishes?

To add to these 2 new polishes and my growing collection/obsession...yesterday evening I went to Merry Hill, as I was bored so decided to browse shops...I ended up making a few purchases and 2 of those being more nail polishes. Oh dear! Keep tuned for reviews on those very soon :)

xXx

Barry M Textured Nail Paint 'Atlantic Road'

When I heard that Barry M were releasing some textured nail polishes, I was very excited! I love that Barry M are always thinking of and bringing out new products. Barry M is a brand that I have loved for so long, their products are always great and their prices remain cheap!

I almost purchased one of Nails Inc's Concrete nail polishes during my Boxing Day spree in Liverpool but did not want to part with that much money on a product that I may not like, so Barry M is a great alternative.

Barry M Textured Nail Paints were released in Superdrug last week (13th Feb) and in Boots yesterday (20th Feb) - so I made a lunch break trip to Boots, of course!

The shades are great for summer, with Atlantic Road (blue - as in this review), Ridley Road (mint green), Kingsland Road (light pink) and Station Road (yellow).
The names come from famous haunts where Mr Barry Mero began his early working days in the markets of South and East London - what a great idea.

Originally, I planned to get Ridley Road, but in store, Atlantic Road stood out more. I like Kingsland Road but I have so many pink polishes and rarely wear pink. Station Road, I tried to find cool but it just isn't working for me. It's a very umm shade. I'm not sure if I like it or not really. Yellow nail polish...

The shades remind me of Barry M's Ice Cream collection.

Application was easy. I used 3 coats. 2 coats was good, but the third coat added that extra bit of texture.

At first I was not overly blown away, I painted my nails last night and only did 2 coats to begin with...but once adding a third coat this morning and seeing the polish in the daylight, I LOVE IT!

What I did notice (which you can see in my last photo) is that the third coat that I did last night (thumb nail) doesn't look as textured as the other nails (that I painted today). I think that the start of the polish isn't great but once you have used it a little, it is more gritty/textured. Perfect!

The polish has a glossy finish, which seems weird with a textured, rather gritty polish but it works and really adds something.

When I say gritty, don't think this leaves nails rough, it doesn't. It leaves a very soft gritty texture on the nails.

You know a nail polish is good when a stranger compliments it! The salad girl in Subway today noticed them through the glass and said she loved the shade and asked what it is.

This really is a fantastic polish.

(Note - I haven't tried removing it yet...)

I may have to purchase some of the other shades...

I have bought a fair few nail polishes already this year but hey, a girl can never have TOO many nail polishes :)

Barry M Textured Nail Paints are available in Boots, Superdrug and online at www.barrym.com

I purchased mine from Boots, they have a deal on, save £1 when you buy 2 Barry M Nail Paints.

I'll be blogging about my other new Barry M polish in the next couple of days. It's one of the new Gelly shades :)

Have you tried textured nail polish?

What do you think of textured nails?

In other, non-nail related news, I have booked a night in a hotel in Edinburgh! Yay :) 4 weeks time, I'll finally be venturing in to Scotland! Exciting times. I have so many adventures planned over the next month, I can't wait.

xXx

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo Review

I'm sure this must be the millionth blog review of La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo.

Yes, the must-have skincare product, that is fast flying off the shelves.

Last year, I was contacted by the lovely Steph, who introduced me to the brand, as well as the product. Steph had previously sent me Vichy Normaderm 3-in-1 Cleanser to try out.  You can read my review on that here.

I will admit, I had never heard of La Roche-Posay or Vichy until Steph contacted me.  So I was excited to try these out, especially after reading about them, they seemed ideal for my problem skin and I looked forward to trying brands that I would not have thought to try before.

I have a few other La Roche-Posay products and some Vichy purifying toner, which I will also be reviewing very soon.

On to Effaclar Duo.

Fantastic!

This product really does work miracles for my skin.  My skin is rather oily but can also be slightly dry at times.  I have always had issues with the odd spot here and there, which I hoped would have gone by the age of 25 but it would appear not.

I find that when I use Effaclar Duo, it really helps. My spots calm down and clear up and my skin feels great. My pores are minimised and my skin is left feeling great. I focus on my T-Zone when applying Effaclar Duo. For some reason, the creases of my nose sting a little when I get the product in them, so I try to avoid putting it in the creases now. This isn't a problem with the product, just my silly nose!

Along with the many others, I would highly recommend Effaclar Duo.

The price is a little high, at £13 from Boots but this is a 40ml tube that does last a long time. I still have a lot left and I have had this since September last year! You may be able to find it slightly cheaper, have a look around online, or for offers in stores.

Have you tried La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo?

On the subject of skincare, I have JUST finished my Vichy Normaderm 3-in-1 Cleanser...

I received this in July 2012!!!

You can read my review on Vichy's Normaderm 3-in-1 here.

I will be posting more La Roche-Posay reviews, along with the other Vichy product review very soon, so keep a look out for those.

Next time you are in Boots, check out Vichy and La Roche-Posay, they really are great brands.

xXx

 Disclaimer: I was sent this product to try out, as it was suitable for my problematic skin. All opinions are 100% honest.

Illamasqua I'mperfection Speckled Nail Polish 'Scarce'

 

 

On Sunday, I ventured to Birmingham on one of my lone adventures.

Illamasqua were hosting a Beauty School Drop-in at their UK stores, so I decided to pop along to Illamasqua in Selfridges, Birmingham Bullring.

More about that later... (I'll do a separate post, otherwise this will be a HUGE post!)

This is my first Illamasqua nail polish but will not be my last. I am so impressed with this polish and can't name a single problem. The price is rather high, this isn't really a problem though. I am used to buying nail polishes from drugstore brands, my favourite being Barry M, of which most polishes have forever stayed at the very amazing price of £2.99 each! So, at £14.50, Illamasqua's polishes are quite a bit pricier but SO worth it.

Scarce is a speckled polish from the new I'mperfection (I'm perfection/imperfection...clever right?) collection. I love what the brand represents and think that this collection in particular is brilliant. There is so much that I want, in particular the Blush Duo, Lover & Hussy and the Blush Up Brush.

From the Illamasqua website:

Stand up and show the world what makes you perfectly,
imperfect. We want you to highlight the features other
brands encourage you to cover up. Because life isn't
about finding yourself, life is about celebrating
who you really are.

I had been admiring the speckled nail polishes online (there are 4 other shades of speckled polish available) before my trip to Birmingham but had planned to not spend any money that day.

After the Beauty School Drop-in, I had a browse and swatched some products. I painted the speckled polishes on top of my black polish. I left empty handed but couldn't stop looking at my Scarce nail and thinking how cool it looked on top of black polish. About 2 minutes before the shops closed, I rushed back to Illamasqua and purchased Scarce! I fail at not spending. But I just had to!

 The Review:

I did 2 coats of Scarce, which is plenty.

Application was fantastic.

The finish is fab and the polish looks just like Cadbury's Mini Eggs!

Wear is too good. I've had this polish on since Sunday night (it's now Friday), so 5 nights, 5 days and still not a single chip! My nails look as good as they did Sunday night. It is very rare for me to wear a polish for more than 1 day, as I get bored/have new polishes to try/want to use different polishes etc but I decided to keep this on all week, as I like it so much, but also to test out how long it lasts.

Overall, I am so so impressed and in love with Illamasqua Scarce and would highly recommend.

(just be warned - you will crave Mini Eggs!)

I've purchased quite a few Illamasqua products recently, the brand is amazing and definitely my favourite non-drugstore make-up brand. So, I'll be blogging about more of those products very soon, including the blush that I have fallen in total love with!

The I'mperfection collection is available now, in stores and online.

xXx