& Other Stories - Cleanse and tone treat, Gauzy night cream

I said I went a bit mad in & Other Stories, so here's part II of what I bought..

I've been looking for a new cleanser for a while, having reached the end of my Soap and Glory Peaches and Clean cleanser. I really liked the S&G one - the smell is divine and it was nice and creamy for the cold weather, without being too greasy on my combination skin. However I wanted to try a new brand, so naturally when I saw the range at & Other Stories I had to get some.

I chose the Cleanse and Tone Treat, which at £5 seemed a little too good to be true. You need to put it on a cotton pad and wipe it over your face - I always rinse after as it doesn't feel like cleansing without water! The effect is good - my skin feels fresh, and it smells really nice. However don't believe the claims that it takes off makeup - or rather it does, but only after 4-5 wipes! So I use Bioderma or an oil to remove makeup first and then use the cleanser. 

The other skincare product I bought was Gauzy night cream, as again I have reached the end of my Nivea night cream and wanted to branch out. This is really nice, quite thick but not greasy with a light, pleasant fragrance. 

The whole range are travel/gym bag sizes, which is good too as I'm trying to get myself in the gym a bit more. I would definitely buy more in the & Other Stories range - although quite cheap they don't feel or look it. The primer in particular looks appealing.. 

Xx Alice xX

& other stories - Tartarin Orange

Wow I LOVE this!! 

Sorry I just had to get that out. I went shopping on the weekend and stumbled across & Other Stories on Regent Street. Having heard great things about this shop I had to go in, and I admit I went a bit mad.. (More on the other products at another time - I haven't tested them properly yet)

From a nail perspective I picked up Tartarin Orange because orange is quite big atm and it was a colour my collection was sorely lacking. 

After tidying up my cuticles and applying a base coat of Sally Hansen nail strengthener (yup still persevering!) I went to open my new polish. For such a tiny bottle it really has the most unnecessary amount of packaging! Stickers covering plastic with nail ruining tightness - I had to use my cuticle cutters to get into it! 

 

Once I got in though I loved this polish. The brush was that nice flat/fat one I raved about on the No7 polishes. The colour is so bright, shiny and dries quickly. I put on 2 coats initially but then went back later with a third as it wasn't quite opaque. 

It has lasted me 2 days so far which is great (for me!). Very spring, I totally love this and can't wait to get more colours! 

Xx Alice xX

Deborah Lippmann - Marnie

After the disappointment of Jessa I thought it was only fair to try out the other colours. This time I chose Marnie, the pale pink one.

This is much more up my street colour wise, and the application was much smoother. I only needed 2 coats for an opaque coverage, and it looks less streaky than the red. 

I really like how quickly this polish dries. It also seems fairly resistant to chipping, which is a big plus. 

So well done Marnie - you've recovered what seemed like a big fail a few days ago. 

On another note, how amazing is this weather?! I'm currently sitting outside the Tower of London by the river and it is gorgeous. Is summer finally on its way?!

Xx Alice xX 

Deborah Lippmann - Girls

My super amazing Selfridges buy is at last being revealed..... That's right, it's the Girls special edition varnishes by Deborah Lippmann!

Now I've been so excited to try these since I first saw them advertised, and the colours all seem to be something I'd like to wear (don't you hate buying a pack and having one you really would never touch but don't feel like you can just throw it away?!) 

The box is really cute and I like the shape of the bottles too. I decided to try Jessa, which is the red one, as I haven't worn red in a while and it looks so gorgeously vampy. 

But I have to say I feel slightly disappointed. The application is not great - the consistency seems very thin and watery, so that the layers go on quite streaky. It took 3/4 layers to get it looking even. I don't know if this is normal for Deborah Lippmann polishes but I don't really like that personally. The thinness also meant it bled into my cuticles on almost every nail which is annoying. 

On the positive side, it dried amazingly fast so you don't have to hang around long between coats. I like the colour - it's exactly how I thought it would look from the bottle. 

Sadly I wasn't as wowed as I had hoped. Maybe when I try a lighter colour it will work out better for me.

Have a great weekend!

Xx Alice xX

Essie Sleek Stick nail stickers

Happy Monday!

As promised, I did try out the Essie nail stickers this weekend. They are a really nice colour, and definitely added something to my going-out outfit this weekend. 

But how easy were they to do?

Well I started by taking out everything from the packet and reading the (very short!) instructions.

Step 1: choose the right sized sticker.

Now here I had some issues. My fingers are very small and none of the stickers were a perfect fit. 

Step 2: stick on nail. Ok, easy enough! The first couple of nails creased up quite a bit before I got the hang of how to smooth them down. 

Also as you can see the stickers are huge! So I had to cut the ends off to do them properly. 

Step 3: fold over the ends and file off the excess. Again, this was a lot easier than I had anticipated. I didn't fold them completely over as my nails are a bit small to do this easily but the filing worked anyway. 

Step 4: repeat on all nails!

This picture is of my first hand, but the second hand was a lot better - practice really helps with these! Next time I feel they will look nicer. 

So my overall verdict:

    Timing: 9/10 - doing nail stickers is so quick! I was done in about 20 minutes, and you don't need to include drying time. 

    Finish: 6/10 - the stickers were too big on a couple of my nails, so I should've cut them before putting them on. I do think it would be good if Essie did different sizes because I don't believe I'm the only one with small hands! 

    Difficulty: 8/10 - I was surprised at how easy these were to do! I got better with practice and even the left hand wasn't hard. 

One other observation: don't wash your hair after applying the stickers! Water makes them loose, and they will peel off. Not so long lasting after all.. 

Xx Alice xX

Barry M Silk nail paint - Heather

It's that time of the week again - Sunday night, work in the morning, just enough time to sort out those last little bits and bobs.

Yes, time also to take off my "weekend" nails and get serious again. 

I was in Boots today (that place makes a killing out of me!) and having read a fair bit about Barry M's new silk polishes, I decided to pick one up - Heather. It's a violet colour with a shimmery finish, that makes it feel sort of princess-y (or is that just me?!)

Now the first thing that struck me about this when I applied it was how quickly it dried. A very useful last-minute-on-Sunday attribute! Then I noticed that it also dried matt. The shimmer gives it a nice reflection off light, but it's not got that gel like shine. I personally prefer shine, but the matt is quite refreshing. Overall I really like this varnish. 

In case you were wondering, I also used Sally Hansen miracle cure strengthener as a base coat to get my nails growing a bit more.

The green No7 Spring Meadow that I used and reviewed last time was fab by the way, lasted even though I cleaned and washed up a dozen times this weekend. It did slightly stain my nails though, but not badly. 

Have a lovely Monday! 

Xx Alice xX

No7 Stay Perfect Nail Colour - Spring Meadow

As usual when I buy something in Boots, I'm rewarded with a £3 off No7 makeup voucher. So naturally my gaze wandered off to the No7 counter to see what newbies I could find..

Lo and behold, there in front of me stood 3 new nail polish colours, in pale green, pink and orange (I didn't take note of the names, but they're pretty obvious if you go into any Boots store!) With the voucher they were only £3. Bargainous compared to my usual love of Nails Inc and OPI. 

So I went for the green as it was a colour my collection was sadly lacking in. The name is Spring Meadow, and yes Spring is exactly what it reminds me of. Well done No7 marketing team.

Now I've never used No7 nail polishes so excuse my excitement which I'm sure you all experienced like 10 years ago. But OMG the brush is amazing! It's such a good shape - like a normal brush that's been squashed under a car tyre. Flat and wide enough to cover my whole nail in one swipe (I have pathetically small fingers) 

So much better than the Nails Inc brush. 

The formula is a bit weak - it took 3 coats to get a good solid colour, and even then it's not that opaque - but it dried quick enough and has so far not chipped (we'll see what happens after cleaning the house today!) 

So overall very impressed. Definitely going to try out some more. The new blusher sticks and powder palette also looked tempting...

Xx Alice xX

OPI Avoplex Cuticle Oil To Go

All this cold weather is really playing havoc with my nails. They have become fragile and flakey, and my cuticles are dry and rough. 

For years I have used Nails Inc's cuticle oil which comes in a cute silver pen. It smells good, is easy to apply and seems to work pretty well. But I've just become bored with it, so while in Boots yesterday sorting out my tights issue (I got dressed in the dark that morning and put on blue tights with a brown skirt.. Looked just a bit odd in broad daylight!) I had a look at some cuticle oils.

OPI caught my eye right away. I have loved their nail polishes ever since I had a manicure that lasted for well over a week without chipping (that never happens to me, ever). So I decided to get their Avoplex Cuticle Oil To Go. 

It has a gel like texture, much more solid than the Nails Inc one, which comes out onto a small brush.

The smell is divine - like watermelon - but it's not so strong that its all you can smell. It rubs in ok and sinks in quickly. The short term effects are good, my cuticles are looking instantly better. The longer term effects are yet to be seen - i'll keep you updated! 

Xx Alice xX