Models Own 'One Night Stand' Mirror Manicure

Hello everyone and welcome to my post about a polish I have been SO excited about!

If truth be told, It was actually Ciate who first started advertising their mirror manicure a few months ago, and I was adamant that I would be first in line to get my hands on one. Whilst they kept teasing it on social media, release dates weren't being confirmed and I was getting really impatient.

Suddenly one day on instagram, Models Own annouced that they had formulated their own mirror manicure and it would be coming out on the following Friday! Perfect. I even wrote the date in my diary so I could snap it up as soon as it was released.

After purchasing the Models Own polish, a few minutes after the release, Ciate then dropped the bomb that THEIR mirror manicure would also be released the same day! Maybe some kind of embargo was droppped?

I would love to get the Ciate mirror manicure to see if they are similar or if one is better than the other, however the Ciate polish has sold out and they have not said when they will be getting it back in so for now, I will just show you the Models Own mirror manicure.

After that slight ramble, lets go through what I actually ordered.

The Mirror manicure called 'One Night Stand' is £14.99 and it comes as two parts. 

I haven't tried the metal polish without the 2 in 1 base and top coat so not sure if this step is vital to the final look, however it must have some kind of property to keep the metal coat in place. The base coat looks quite milky, but it does dry very fast. You have to wait for the base to be completely dry before you add the actual mirror polish which literally looks like melted silver. 

Putting on the metal coat is really easy and you get full coverage from one coat. It is best not to overlay the coats as you starts to get a slightly stripey look, but it looks so amazing as you put it on!

Once this layer is done, you are a little scared to put on the milky coat again as it looks so amazing straight away! The milky coat does dry clear so make sure you add it to make your mirror manicure last.

And the final look...

This just looks so amazing and it really does reflect like a mirror! Here it is in natural light which looks best and then with flash on in the image below.

So after just a couple of days wear, there are a couple of downsides already! 

Firstly, the top coat really does keep the shine to the nail so make sure you apply. It does state that after 6 hours the shine will fade, and I find it peels.

Whilst it is actually still pretty reflective, you can definitly see where the top coat has peeled.

The other down side is this polish does chip quite easily especially at the tips of the nails.

I did a quick black outline of the nails to combat this and think it looks pretty industrial.

Other than that, it is safe to say that this manicure looks amazing!

As a little free gift with the mirror polish, Models Own threw in a free metallic eyeshadow which I had a little play with over the weekend.

The eyeshaow is a paste consistency and you mix it in the dish with the primer to get a sort of liquid metal cream which you can apply with a brush.

I had a little play around with my baby sis and went for quite a dramatic cut crease and this was the final look.

Find the link to the Models Own Mirror Manicure here

Banana Nails

Hi everyone! As it is only 2 short weeks until I go on my travels, I thought some tropical, summery nails would be in order. I saw these banana nails on Instagram a while ago, and thought they were really cute.

I used the Model's own scented polish (banana scented of course!) as the base. After wearing the Victoria Beckham £25 a pot polishes which lasted for ages, these £5 polishes chipped only hours after painting them which proves paying more does count! Anyway, I used my nail art pen for the skins, and then outlined with a black pen too.

Hope you like! I will try and do as many posts as I can squeeze in before I go!

December Birchbox

Apologies for the long delay in Birchbox posts, but I am finally getting round to review my December Birchbox! This Sophia Webster box was so pretty and made my eyes gleam when I saw the (granted very fake and printed) gems on top. There really is something about shiny things that grab a girls attention.

Inside were lots of lovely goodies that came in handy over the Christmas period, plus a cute little leopard print zipped case that can hold a little lipstick in your handbag.

So here is what was inside...

Electric Hair London Shampoo

This shampoo by 'Electric Hair London' smelt really lovely, like coconut. It lathered nicely in my hair and felt like it was really moisturising, which is good as it's a hydrating shampoo! It has meadow foam and sugar beet extracts which aim to add shine to dried out hair, and add a weightless finish. I liked this shampoo and felt it gave a healthy boost to my hair.

Models Own Velvet Glitter

'Models Own' are a brand I can always rely on the love the products, and this is no exception because I am so so impressed with this nail varnish! These 'velvet' polishes are glittery but come in coloured polish rather than a clear coat most glitters come in, so one coat will leave a glittered matte finish that is ready to go. You get the same (if not better) finish to a glitter effect but with one coat. A brilliant time saving product that looks great! Also perfect for the imminent Valentines say!

Ilcsi Rose Petal Gel Mask

I have never heard of this brand before, and by the looks of the packaging, I think it may be a Hungarian company, or at least get its ingredients from Hungary. In the pot, this mask smells mainly of almonds strangely, but with a hint of rose. It smelt really delicious and leaves bits of rose petal on your face when its on. It recommends leaving it on for 15 mins, in which time the mask goes semi hard. After washing it off, my skin felt soft and smooth, but still a little tight. It was a bit of a chore making sure all the rose petals were off so I probably wouldn't buy this product, although I love trying international products. 

Benefit High Beam

This is one if those products that you never thought you needed until you've used it. I actually saw a friend wearing this before I tried it, and it highlighted her cheekbones perfectly and added a really

pretty glow to her skin. Once I saw this, I rushed to try it and haven't stopped using it in my makeup routine since. You just draw on the areas you want highlighted and tap in to the skin to blend.

Eyeko Eye Stick

I was slightly skeptical about this product. I loved the Eyeko eye liner pen but something about putting a big black crayon on my eye lid instantly makes me thinks panda eyes. Sure enough I tried it though, and was impressed at how easy it was to blend and create a smokey eye effect. It also claims you can use it above the eye which I did, and again was shocked at how un-crayola like it looked. It's better for a smudgey eyeliner on the lid, think Kate Moss' makeup-from-the-night-before-but-still-look-effotlessly-cool look. I wouldn't even attempt a cat flick with the chubiness of the stick though, and for me, it doesn't go quite near the lash line as I'd have liked. However you can get quite a neat look, be it smokier than usual. Personally I wouldn't buy the product just because I love liquid eyeliners to much for precision, and when it comes to a smokey eye, I prefer to blend with a brush rather than fingers, as I feel like I'm rubbing and stretching the eye lid skin which is quite delicate, and I don't want it to sag anytime soon. If you prefer a quick way to achieve the smokier look though, or want a handbag sized quick fix from day to night look, this is a good thing to have.

Trilogy Rosehip Oil

This oil is a really lovely treatment to pop on overnight if you feel your skin needs some TLC. Trilogy is a brand I've wanted to try for a while now, and this organic rose hip oil has a dry oil finish so it doesn't leave your face feeling greasy like some other facial oils. It's not great to massage with, but to pop on your face without the worry of a greasy pillow, it's great. The other thing I like about this which may seem a bit weird, is the fact that it has no smell to it. Some rose products can be really overpowering and have that dusty rose smell to it but this is a scentless. Rose is a great ingredient to help hydrate and to also calm and soothe.

Have you tried any of these products before?

Day 17: French Tip

Sorry I am a day late with this post!

For day 17 of the Calfiornails nail art challenge, the prompt was french tip. I thought I would take the time to actually do something a bit more traditional as I never do anything like that... NAAAAT it's the summer I can't be that boring. I did actually do a traditional french manicure but I only did the white to make my neon colours pop more.

For this manicure, I used 'Barry M' Lychee for the base colour, and then used my model's own neon colours for the bright tips. I saw this manicure on Pinterest ages ago and thought it was understatedly cool.

Manicures with an interesting twist like this are perfect for summer. Sorry it is a short post!

Palm Tree Sunset Nails

Hello everyone! today I am posting about some nail art that I am actually pretty proud of. It's been a while since I've looked at some nail art I've done and thought 'that looks pretty good'. Maybe I've been going for more ambitious designs such as my Glasto tie dye nails. 

Anyway! these are actually pretty simple to do, all you need are the items below plus a white base colour and a sponge.

You will probably be surprised to hear that this is actually the first bottle of acetone I have ever bought, which is pretty shocking as a nail art lover. I think as it is very strong I've always been a little bit scared of using it as it is designed to completely remove false and gel nails, but it is fantastic to clean up around the edges of nails which is essential after any gradient manicure (If you look back at any gradient I've blogged about before my clean up is always very minimal).

The two colours I chose for my gradient were 'Strawberry' and 'Peach Melba' by Barry M. They are very thin pastel colours and actually quite difficult to gradient with. I ended up just painting the two colours on the nail and then dabbing  in between to merge them which is a bit of a cheat way to gradient, and is probably why I didn't get a perfect fade from one colour to the other. The formula of the polishes were just too thin though. Using a thicker polish is easier as the sponge picks it up better.

As my gradient wasn't as flawless as I wanted, I decided to add some silhouette palm trees to give it a sunset summer vibe. I just used the striper brush side to my Model's own nail art pen, and added some thinner swipes along the leaves to give it a more realistic plant effect. I'm not going away on holiday this year so these nails will have to be my retreat! Hope you like them!

Tie Dye Nails

Hi everyone, as you may or may or not have known, I was at Glastonbury festival over the weekend hence my absence from the old blog. Now I am back, my nails are a state, my hair has been dried and bleached from the sun, and I have mud engrained in my pores. I had an amazing time though and would go back in a second! Before I went, I wanted to do some hippy inspired tie dye nails, as I have seen a few popping up on Pinterest and Instagram pages.

First, I painted my nails white to let the neon colours I wanted to use, really pop. I then went and got my Models Own neon collection, which you can read about in more detail here. Starting from the centre, I dotted each colour into a swirl, not being to neat to give the Tie Dye effect. I then went back and did another layer of each colour. It took quite a long time and I am not 100% happy with the way it came out so think I will try another technique next time.

As these were especially for Glastonbury, I decided to add some lettering onto the nails, which I posted up on my Instagram. I'm not going to post it so you HAVE to go to my instagram to see it. Whilst your there you may as well give it a follow :)

http://instagram.com/whatalooker

Christmas Nails 3!

Sorry I have been so rubbish at posting this month, I am sure you have all been just as busy as me, and working in retail means you spend pretty much every hour in store in the run up to Christmas. A few days ago I did these nails! I think you'll agree they are pretty cute and festive. All the nail art was done free hand using Models's Own nail pens.

The green statement nail was done using the glitter effect from my Ciate Emerald collection which I reviewed a while ago. I highly suggest checking it out if you haven't already here.

I hope you all have the most fantastic Christmas! I shall be back very soon with lots of new products. Enjoy your day and relax!

Love Steph x

Mexican Candy Skulls

I'm so sorry it has been so long since I've posted, I have had a busy week! Anyway, I posted a picture on my social media sites (see links in the side bar on the right) at the beginning of the week of my Mexican candy skull nails. I didn't quite want Halloween to end just yet as I didn't get to dress up this year. So here they are!

Funnily enough just before I posted theses nails, Wah Nails actually posted the same nail art with the same caption so I promise I didn't copy! The nail art design is however from the Wah Nails Downtown girls book which I am steadily making my way through in terms of mimicking the designs.

The great thing about these nails is that they are actually really easy to achieve but they look really effective!

All you will need is some white polish and nail art pens. 

I used Barry M white and models own nail art pens in hot pink, pastel green, black and gold.

 The only new thing I used in this nail art is the fimo canes that my wonderful friend and fellow nail art lover Lucy gave me. They are little tubes with a pattern that you slice off to use. I like this idea as you can re use them over and over, and they're a sort of rubber consistency. For this design, I think I cut the slices to thick so the candy eyes didn't stay on for as long as I had hoped. I'd suggest using a very sharp knife or scalpel to get the width perfect.

I simply painted the base white and stuck on the eyes. With the black nail art pen I drew and upside down heart for the nose, then outlined the teeth. After that is done, you can get creative with colours. In the Wah Nails book they also used stick on gems for the glittery bits but I just dotted with the gold nail art pen. 

These are not as perfect as I want them yet so I will be sure to do them again in the future. Keep your eyes peeled!

Halloween Nails 2

I thought I would try somthing really fun for these nails. When I reviewed the Ciate Emerald Collection, I said that with the crushed velvet, I would try a fluff effect. This sparked the idea of doing monster nails for Halloween. As I was doing real 3D fur, I thought I should add to the madness of these nails and add some 3D eyes aswell.

The base coat was 'Speed Dial' by Ciate again

The green dots were done with 'Ditch the Heels' by Ciate

The claws were done with 'Lychee' from the Barry M Gelly collection.

All detailing was done with black and white nail art pens.

For the 'fur' effect I painted on a clear coat and sprinkled over the velvet and cleaned up with the brush.

The eyes were applied onto the wet clear coat too, and I bought these from Hobbycraft for £1.00 for a pack of 100.

The googly eyes didn't stay on too long but they are good fun so I'll forgive them! Let me know what you think of these nails!

Cupcake Nails

I am totally in love with the British TV series 'The Great British Bake Off'. I love tuning in every Tuesday to see what yummy treats the contestants will come up with, and this week I decided to do some creative cupcakes too... on my nails.

I'm so upset that when applying my topcoat, I smudged the 'B' standing for 'Great British Bake Off'. I tried to amend it by adding a rolling pin to make it look like it had been flattened but it just didn't look good! Anyway, much like nail art, baking can be tricky and unpredictable too, so I think it adds a little something to it!

I used 'Barry M' 'Strawberry' as a base coat, and the sprinkles were done with my 'Barry M' confetti effects in 'Marshmallow' (it is a complete coincidence that these polishes are named after potential cup cake components)

The cupcake cases were done with pastel purple and green nail art pens by Models Own.
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I used a dotting tool to create the cherry on top, with 'Barry M' 'Bright Red'.
All detailing and highlighting was done with white and black nail art pens by Models Own.

 Tune in every Tuesday on BBC2 to watch the bake off!