Nail Of The Day – Ciate What The Shell & Stamping With MoYou London Mexico 04

Hi there! Happy Tuesday! I’ve got a short Nail Of The Day post for you today.

For this mani I painted my nails with Ciaté What The Shell (2 coats). This is a nice dark purple polish. For some reason it looks blue in the photo… however, it really is purple!

For the images I used my MoYou London Mexico 04 stamping plate.

The silver polish I stamped with is Nails Inc. South Kensington. This is a “foil effect” polish which looks remarkably bad when used as an actual nail polish. But it’s highly pigmented, so it’s perfect for stamping! I’ll move this one into my stamping stash!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – MUA White Wash, Rimmel 60 Seconds 622 Boy You’re So Fine, Orly Basket Case & Nails Inc. Bow Street (Nail Fail)

Hi there! Today’s post is about another mani I wanted to do for the A-Z Nail Art Challenge. However, the mani didn’t really ‘work’.

For this mani I painted my nails with MUA White Wash (white base), Orly Basket Case (pink base) and Rimmel 60 Seconds 622 Oh Boy You’re So Fine (milky purple).

The glitter topper is Nails Inc. Bow Street.

I also did some stamping, and I used my QA 88 stamping plate, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri 370 Uptempo Plum, and Essence’s White Stamping Polish (which, unfortunately, has been discontinued).

I think this mani is not very special, and it’s definitely not one of my favourites. It was just about OK for a weekend. Feel free to comment if you want to. And thanks for reading! 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Battle Of The Base Coats – Nails Inc. Caviar Base Coat vs. MakeUp Gallery Well Polished Nail Hardener

Hi there! Today’s post is about 2 base coats I bought a few months ago. I’ve never reviewed a base coat or a top coat before. However, since I bought and tested these base coats at the same time (well, almost), I thought I might as well just do a product comparison. 🙂

Let’s start with Nails Inc.’s Caviar Base Coat! This product claims to be nourishing, smoothing and anti-staining. But it does the exact opposite! First of all, this base coat made my nails feel brittle. As soon as the base coat had dried, my nails felt like they lost their natural flexibility. Scary!

I also didn’t find this base coat to be smoothing. I had to apply 2 layers of base coat but that didn’t help. Actually, applying 2 layers of this base coat was the worst thing I could do because the base coat has a strong red tint which didn’t go well with the colour polish I applied on top of it.

When I took off my mani a few days later, I noticed that the base coat did stain my nails. However, a pinkish stain isn’t the end of the world. But I also noticed that the top layer of my nails seemed to start to peel. I was quite shocked because this only happened to me once before – back then I tortured my nails with acetone-free nail polish remover…

To sum it up – I found Nails Inc.’s Caviar Base Coat to be awful. I took the 2 bottles (yes, I bought 2 bottles) back to Poundland where I exchanged them for 2 clear Rimmel polishes. 🙂

I picked up Poundland’s Makeup Gallery Well Polished Nail Hardener for 50p (closing down sale). I didn’t know if it was any good, and I had no expectations. So I was happy when it turned out that this nail hardener makes quite a difference to my nails. It doesn’t have any lasting effect, so when I take off my mani, my nails are super soft again. But I’m glad this product doesn’t make unrealistic promises. And I really like how strong my nails feel when I’m wearing this nail hardener instead of a base coat or a regular clear polish.

Now let me compare the prices. I paid £1 for the Nails Inc. Caviar Base Coat and 50p for the nail hardenener from Poundland. However, the Nail Hardener is usually £1 (which is excellent value), and the Caviar Base Coat – which has been repackaged but otherwise seems to be the same product – is £15 (I just checked Nails Inc.’s web site). Wow! The difference in prices is almost comical! I know I will buy Poundland’s nail hardener again, but I wouldn’t buy Nails Inc.’s Caviar Base Coat again even if it were 15p! 😀

Well, the winner of this comparison is – obviously – Poundland’s Makeup Gallery Well Polished Nail Hardener! Try it yourself, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Haul! New Products – Primark, Poundworld, Poundland, Boots, Wilko, Home Bargains, M&S

Hi there! I’ve done a little shopping this month. I haven’t gone nuts, I promise. But I picked up quite a few bargains. So let me show you what I bought!

I bought 4 PS… Facial Cleansing Sponge duo packs. That’s 8 sponges for £4. The reason I stocked up is because I’ve been using one of these sponges for a few weeks now – and I love it! I also bought 2 more PS… Konjac Sponges. That’s £3 for 2 konjac sponges.

It appears that Superdrug has given up on selling reasonably priced konjac sponges which is their loss, really. They also discontinued a few other fantastic products, so I haven’t done much Superdrug shopping lately. So yeah, it really is their loss! Anyhoo, those PS… sponges are from Primark!

I don’t think I’ve ever left my local Poundworld store empty-handed. Poundworld and Bargain Buys (which is part of the Poundworld family) have awesome nail products. I bought a cute Nails Inc. glitter topper (RRP £13), a Revlon Base Coat (RRP £6.49) and a J Lo exclusive collection L’Oréal polish (RRP £4.99). I paid £1 per polish – that’s £3 in total for these 3 polishes.

I picked up 4 new Montagne Jeunesse masks – Relaxing Spa Mud Mask, Candyfloss Scrub, Sea Splash Peel Off and Blueberry Blast Mud Masque. These masks seem to be exclusive to Primark, and they were 90p each. This adds up to £3.60 for 4 face masks.

Sukin’s Purifying Facial Masque is normally £11.95 at Boots. Thanks to a Save 1/3 offer it was £7.97. However, I didn’t spend any money, I paid with points!

I picked up 3 more Montagne Jeunesse face masks (they’re £1 each at Boots). However, these were on a 3 for 2 promotion, so I paid £2 (I paid with points for these products as well!) for these 3 face masks. I also went to Poundland where I found this Imperial Leather Foamy Banana shower cream – I paid £1 for it.

I bought these 10 Essence Colour Boost nail polishes – these are supposed to be one-coaters, so I bought them all to find out if they stamp on a black base. Well, if they stamp, they’re the cheapest quality stamping polishes out there (£1.80 each). If they don’t stamp, they don’t.

I got myself 2 more Essence Out Of Space Stories nail polishes (£2 each) and 4 Essence Glamaxy top coats (£2 each). Why 4? This is a flakie topper! All in all, I paid £30 for these 16 Essence nail polishes.

When I went to Home Bargains the other day I picked up 3 promising products. Creightons Charcoal Deep Cleansing Scrub and Creightons Charcoal Detoxifying Clay Mask were 79p each, I believe (sorry, I lost the receipt). I also picked up a strawberry-flavoured kids’ toothpaste. Yes, I bought it because of the Twilight Sparkle image!

Then I went to a different Primark store where I picked up a My Little Pony Lip Balm duo for £1.50, a My Little Pony Body Mist (100ml) for £2, and another Montagne Jeunesse Sunburst Sauna mask. On the way back home I swung by Marks & Spencer – and I bought a 100ml Monotheme Il Libro Degli Agrumi Pompelmo fragrance for £22.

Have you tried any of these products? Have you done any shopping recently? Feel free to get in touch. And thanks for stopping by!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Nails Inc. Chelsea & Stamping With Pueen 93 And Orly Snowcone

Hi there! After two skin care posts I thought it’s time for a nail post again. 🙂

For this mani I painted my nails with Nails Inc. Chelsea. This polish is a very dark black cherry shade. It’s almost black. And I can’t blame people for thinking Chelsea is a black polish.

Since the dark colour started to bore me just minutes after I’d painted my nails, I decided to stamp again.

I chose Pueen’s 93 stamping plate (from Pueen’s Buffet Leisure collection), and I opted for a large floral image which I stamped on with the most wonderful (light) blue non-stamping polish that stamps perfectly – Orly Snowcone. It’s a gorgeous polish, isn’t it?

I’m very happy with this mani. I just love the blue images – the floral pattern is pretty and the blue polish looks so fresh! Do you agree? Feel free to let me know what you think. 🙂 And thanks for reading!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Poundland & Bargain Store Beauty Haul

Hi there! When I went to back to Poundland the other day, I felt like I hit the jackpot. I found Nails Inc. polishes for £1 each! I got Old Bond Street, Hampstead Gardens, Royal Arcade, Gatwick and Chelsea.

Not too long ago Nails Inc. came up with new bottle designs – so the ‘old’ bottles have to go now. Nails Inc. polishes are usually more than £10 each (I’d never spend that much money on a mediocre polish). So thank you, Nails Inc., for redoing your bottle design and for letting people buy your old polishes for less than 10% of the normal price! 🙂

I also bought more hand cream (which I don’t really need more of at the moment) and a small eyeshadow trio. I got Vaseline’s Intensive Care Hand Cream + Anti-Bac. And I picked up a Collection Work The Colour Eyeshadow Trio in 2 Naughty n Nude. And I couldn’t resist when I saw another promising hand cream – I Love… Raspberry & Blackberry Hand Cream. Another £3 (in total) well spent at Poundland.

I’ve never used any TRESemmé products (commitment issues – their bottles are too big). But I picked up a regular-sized Renewal Hair & Scalp Deep Conditioning Masque. I’m looking forward to trying it! And I also bought a Pantene Pro-V Nutri-Plus Youth Protect Rejuvenating Intensive Conditioner. So that’s two more products for £2 in total.

Last but not least – I also went to B&M Bargains. Generally I prefer Home Bargains (they’re cheaper), but every now and then I swing by the local B&M to see what they’ve got. I picked up a limited edition shower gel and two Gliss hair care products which I haven’t had before. Original Source’s Hibiscus & Pomegranate Tea Shower sounds really lush. And I’ll soon find out how Gliss’ Satin Relax Shampoo & Conditioner pan out. I spent £3 in total for these three products.

I’m super happy with the bargains. 🙂 I spent £13 in total and I got so many products! My husband isn’t happy that our toiletries stash is growing again (yeah, I’m working on it…), but he appreciates that we’ll never run out of toiletries and that everything in our stash was half price or less. 🙂

Did you pick up any bargains lately? Have you tried any of the products I bought? Feel free to let me know in the comments. And thanks for stopping by!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Nails Inc. Baker Stret & Claire’s All Sorts

Hi there! Since I’ve done two nail posts since Monday, I decided this week would be nail week. 🙂 And I hope you’re enjoying nail week as much as I do!

So for this mani I dug out one of the more interesting glitter toppers I have. But let’s start from the beginning.

At first I painted my nails with Nails Inc.’s Baker Street (2 coats), a beautiful medium blue that really pops.

Then I painted on one coat of glitter topper. This one’s called All Sorts and it’s from Claire’s Accessories. This glitter topper features lime green, yellow and pink glitter in different shapes and sizes. Btw, I love the yellow squares the most!

I think this mani came out wonderful. The colours pop and it looks fun. If I were a rock star, this is the kind of mani I’d wear all the time! 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde