NOTD - Heart Nail Art

Another NOTD! I have been doing a lot of these lately because I have come to realise how many polishes I own that rarely get used! It is tricky because I can't wear nail polish to school so most of the time I decide that it is too hard to apply it solely for the weekend!

As many of you probably know, I love my pink and red polishes so I thought I would use them up a little more.

I am absolutely hopeless at nail art but I managed to paint a shape that sort of looks like a heart on my thumbnail and I was very proud!

I don't love this NOTD, mainly because it is so childish and girly, but I love each of the polishes I used on their own. 

NOTD - Speckly nails!

I saw this NOTD on Tram's blog Beauty with the Beautifool and I liked it so much I decided to give it a shot.

I achieved this using two Ulta polishes - French Pink and Watermelon - and used the nail polish brushes to make the dots.

NOTD - Fruity French Nail

Created using Ulta Nail Polish in Watermelon and Face of Australia Pastel Nail polish in Would you like some orange sherbet?

Monthly Favourites - December

We are at the end of yet another month, but more strangely...the end of the whole year. Can you believe that 2012 is in fact over, and that tomorrow morning we will have entered 2013?! For me this is an incredibly strange feeling but I am really looking forward to the year to come, or rather saying goodbye to this year which has certainly had its ups and downs.Anyhow, I hope you have a fun night celebrating the new year!

Back to the point of the story, it's time for a monthly favourites post! Here are the products I turned to in December.

Face: In place of my Maybelline Dream Matte Powder I used my Face of Australia pressed powder. Initially the reason for doing so was because this is a little darker that my Maybelline one and therefore subtly warms up my face, ready for summer. I really like the finish it gives to my skin.

Lips: For lips there was no denying that my Revlon Just Bitten Kissable balm stain had to be included in this post because I have been using it so regularly. Even though the minty scent is really off-putting, I have really grown to love the shade (Smitten), but most of all the unbelievable lasting power this has. Amazing!

Eyes: This was a bit of a surprise product for me because I really don't like eyeliner pencils. I had this Face of Australia Eye Definer pencil in Charcoal lying around and my friend picked it up and used it. I loved the effect it gave her and decided to make it work for me. I love the smokey grey effect it gives although it can tug a little during application. I must write a review on this soon!

Nails: Without a doubt my most used nail product for this month was my Ulta3 polish in Watermelon. I cannot love this colour any more, it is just gorgeous.

Other: For the other category is a pair of earrings, terribly plain, simple ones that I have worn every day. They are black with a gold rim around the edge and seem to go with everything. I think I picked them up for about four or so dollars at Diva, so it was definitely a bargain!

Top 3 Tuesday - Nail Polish

Time for another 'Top 3 Tuesday!'

This week I rounded up my top three nail polishes. This was actually really quite easy as I have been into reds for soooo long now, and there were two stand out red polishes from my collection. I don't wear nail polish all that often, but when I do, these three polishes are the ones that I always go for, and one of this is always on my toes!

1. Ulta 3 Polish in Pink Colada
I've mentioned this polish quite a few times on my blog, but I have never actually completed a full review. This is my favourite polish ever, and it cost me only $2.50! It is an amazing formula, incredibly beautiful shade and is nice and quick drying. It lasts a while on my nails, is glossy and pretty much has no faults. I love this polish!

*This polish is part of my 1 year giveaway, enter here if you are interested!*

2. Essence Colour and Go Polish in Better Late than Never
This beautiful polish is a very, very similar shade to Pink Colada, just slightly more warm toned. This formula is great and I love that it really does dry in record time. It comes in the more adorable little bottle and costs $2.55. Once again, a cheap red polish that I am completely in love with!

3. Australis Nail Colour in Dusk
I'm probably cheating a bit with this polish here since it is discontinued, but I just had to include it because it is so gorgeous. This golden, bronze toned 'dusk' colour is incredible on the nails. It is a subtle metallic touch that is just beautiful. It is slightly streaky and does require about three coats, but it is so worth it!

Close but not close enough...

This week's 'close but not close enough' pick goes to another Ulta Polish in Watermelon. I really love this colour but with my recent obsession with reds I just haven't found myself wearing it as often. Whilst it is a beautiful colour it doesn't match with everything I wear, so that is the reason it didn't make it into my top 3.

CLOSED - Giveaway - Australis, Bourjois, NP Set, Maybelline, Revlon, Face of Australia, Ulta

Now I'm not going to get all emotional or anything, but I have been blogging for a year exactly today, and what a year it has been! When I first started I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I crashed my way into beauty and flopped my way into blogging, stumbled and tripped up for months before I finally regained my balance and began to make sense of what I was doing. A year later I've still got a lot to learn but I am loving every moment.

As a part of the celebrations I thought it was only fair if I held a giveaway. It is international. Please bear with me as this is my first time I've held a giveaway and I haven't got much idea of what I am doing. I did my best at selecting interesting products that I thought most people would be able to use.


The Australis palette featured is mine, obviously you will get
a new one! I just wanted to show you the shades.


The prize I am giving away is as follows:
Bourjois Eyeshadow in shade 08
Australis Nudist Eyeshadow Palette
Maybelline Baby lips in Cherry
Maybelline Makeup travel bag
Ulta Polish in Pink Colada
Revlon Colourstay Eyeshadow Quad 05 Blushed Wines
Face of Australia lipstick in Lychee Crush
Napolean Perdis Set Mascara and lipgloss trio








I have put links to each of these (if I have reviewed them on my blog) in case you wish to get more of an idea of the product.


The rules for this giveaway are:
- You must be a follower of my blog (one entry)
- You can earn an additional three entries if you make a post about this giveaway, including a photo and linking this post
- You can earn an additional two entries if you put a written notice/picture (including a link) about this giveaway in your blog's sidebar
- Anyone under 18 must gain parental permission prior to entering this giveaway
- This is an international giveaway
- Unfortunately I will not be able to replace anything that is lost or broken in the mail
- The giveaway closes at Midnight GMT on the 21st September 2012
- If the winner does not respond within 7 days after I send them an email, a new winner will be drawn

To enter, please leave a comment containing these things:
- Your name (GFC name)
- How many entries you should get, out of a maximum of six (linking your blog post or blog (for sidebar) accordingly)
- Your email address (so I can send you an email should you win)
- (OPTIONAL) A post from this blog that you like, for example a haul post, reviews on particular brands, ring collection, TAG etc. (so that I can get an idea of what you like me to post about)

I would also love it if new followers left a link to their blog so that I can check them out (old followers can do this too if they wish!).

As you would expect, all products are new (the Australis palette featured is mine as I wanted to show you the shades but you will get a new one!). I have removed the cardboard packaging for the Maybelline lip balm as it was too bulky to fit in for postage.

Good luck to everyone and thankyou all for supporting me and my one year old blog!

Ulta Nail Polish collection



Base - Rubi Nail polish in
Ace of spades
Sparkles - One coat of Confetti

I seriously have Ulta Nail polishes coming out of my ears! I have absolutely no idea how I managed to aquire so many, but I thought I might do a little collection post, just for fun.

I've done several reviews on my Ulta Polishes before, so if you are interested in them have a look here, here and here. These polishes are the cheapest of cheap, they are practically free. As you would imagine, no one really takes much notice of them because they just firgure something of that price would be the most awful quality imagineable. That definitely stopped me from purchasing them for a long time, until finally one day I did.

Oh how I managed without them I just don't know! These are such good nail polishes and the colour range is sooo big. Sure, they do chip in the end and some of them need a couple of coats for full coverage, but these things just don't matter when you stop to remember the amazing price you pay.

Base - Lily White
Sparkles - Confetti (one coat)

The two photos with the sparkles showcase the newest of my Ulta polishes - Confetti. (Ignore the disgusting paint job I did, I didn't actually wear this polish I just did it so I could take a photo and then take it off straight afterwards!) It is a clear based polish with green, blue and purple sparkles. I personally am not all that keen on how it looks in the bottle, but on black it looks incredible, and on white it's not too bad either. As you bloggers would know, sparkly polishes often don't show their true beauty on camera, and this was no exception. For someone who really isn't into sparkly nail polishes, this is really, really nice.

Just recently I was given five polishes, (including confetti). I must admit, most of them I wouldn't usually go for but I was pleasantly surprised with how I warmed to them.

The photo to the left shows confetti on it's own, Mojito (green), Blue Marlin, Tangelo and Orchid. Each of them have two coats except for Orchid which only has one.  As you can see, Tangelo is the brightest and is probably the one that I would go for the most out of all of them. Orchid looks so lovely in this picture, but it is actually this metallic polish with a gold kind of sheen to it. Really not my kind of polish! Ihave never really gotten into blue or green nail polishes so these were never going to take my fancy, but the blue one I think looks quite nice. Who knows, I might need the green one day...

So, I have 11 Ulta polishes in total...and that's only the beginning of my nail polish collection that isn't Ulta! My favourite Ulta polish is probably Pink Colada, then Watermelon, then Plum Violet.

If you are interested in seeing any of these up close on my fingernails or a review on a particular one (the formula does differ from polish to polish) then just comment because that is very easily accomplished. I just felt as though I needed to do a collection posts, and I enjoy seeing a whole heap of polishes at a time rather than just one.

Do you guys own any polishes from this brand? Have you had a good experience with them?

Ulta 3 Nail polish - French Pink

I bought this because I wanted a replacement for my Maybelline Salon Expert Nail polish in 'Born with it.' I personally really like the Ulta Nail polishes, so I was pretty sure that even if the colour wasn't a perfect match up, it would be a polish I would wear anyway.

It is a light, natural pink that I think would suit everyone. It goes on well (as all my Ulta polishes do) but unlike my others it changes slightly in colour when it dries. It becomes slightly darker.

This one had a stronger smell to it than most of my others, but I couldn't care less - I expect all nail polishes to have a strong smell.

I don't think I like this colour as much as I liked my Maybelline one, but I think I am just being picky. They were pretty close but I myself could spot the difference.

I love how natural this colour is. You can only tell that I'm wearing polish because it is glossy and evens out my nails, covering any white spots and the white part at the top of the nail (what's that called again?).

I wore it on my fingernails for 6 days before it started to chip. This is just like all my other Ulta polishes. I did wear a top coat though, so I'm not sure how it would have gone without one.

I give this polish 8 out of 10.



Ulta3 - French Pink



Maybelline Salon Expert - Born with it



Ulta3 - French Pink



Maybelline Salon Expert - Born with it

Ulta 3 Nail Polish - Watermelon



I've posted a review on Ulta 3 Nail Polish before,but I recently bought a new colour so I thought I may as well do another.

I got the colour 'Watermelon'  after much consideration (the lady at the counter was completely sick of me digging around for the right colour) and I am very pleased with my choice.

Like the colour 'Plum Violet' it's lovely and bright and goes on beautifully. It's one of those colours that is good for more than one season - I would wear it during Summer, Autumn or Spring.

It only needs one coat, but for the best look I apply two.

I don't think it's correctly named - it's a peachy, pinky, orangey kind of colour, not at all the colour of a watermelon!

A good indication of the colour - thankyou camera!

I give this product 9 out of 10.

Ulta3 Nail polish - Plum Violet and Metal

I was expecting this nail polish to be the worst it could be (it was soooo cheap) so when it glided over my nail, dried in no time and has the perfect shine, I nearly fell off my chair in disbelief.



There are SO many colours to choose from - I bought the 'plum violet' colour because it looked so pretty, and the 'metal' colour because I needed it for a play I was performing in. The Plum Violet definitely went on better, but I think this is because it didn't have sparkles in it like the metal one.

I put 2-3 coats on for both of them, but they could have only had one if you were in a rush. The smell wasn't great, but then again, what nail polish does smell nice?!

They don't chip too easily, but as soon as they do the rest of the polish follows pretty quickly.

I was really impressed with these nail polishes (mainly Plum Violet because I don't really like the colour of 'metal' ) so I give it 8 out of 10)
 

One coat, without flash

 

One coat, with flash