Tara's Talons Luxury Cruise Nail Polish Review

Well today, we have more polish! Yey I hear me say! This is another lovely creation from Tara over at The Tara Emporium. This polish is a lovely silver with a blue tinge. I thought it also had a very subtle holo effect, which I just loved, it looked fabby under lights and in the sun! It was hard to capture on camera annoyingly though, but keep an eye out!

This is two coats of Luxury Cruise with an accent nail of Mentality Scalawag. I thought these went well together due to the tinge of blue, and again another subtle holo effect.

Then, not being one to leave a good mani alone, I hit it up with some different stamping effects. I decided to tone this together with a sea or water theme. I used the moyou london sailor plate for these images. I wore this for 4 days without any chipping, really great long lasting polish!

I like the subtle sea effect here and I felt that it really tied the two colours together well. Luxury Cruise is a great colour and very different from other silvers I have in my collection! Please feel free to head over to check out all the lovely Tarastalons polishes and the other amazing treats Tara is creating! She's also on Instagram (@thetaraemporium) and Facebook and always posting new polishes I want to buy! Next one I'm after has to be her gorgeous holo top coat! I can't resist me a good holo in general! Hope you guys have a good week! See you soon!

*this polish was sent to me for my honest review

Blog Sale Update!

Right guys! I've cleared out yet more polish! I need to try and clear as much of this as possible so please head on over to the blog sales page and see if anything takes your fancy!

http://boredatthenailbar.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-sales.html

Tara's Talons - Scrumping Nail Polish Review

 

Finally, we're back to the things I love! Oh yup, it's nail polish! This little cutie is called 'Scrumping' and it's made by the lovely Tara from Tara's Talons and The Tara Emporium. Tara's Talons is the longest running UK indie nail polish brand and I just love all her creations! There's such a selection to look through and I like the fact you can get them in bigger or smaller bottle sized options as well, means I can buy more I guess? hehe. Anyway! onto this little polish first of all!

I decided for this mani to use another polish underneath Scrumping, just to help really bring out the glitter as well as saving polish I guess! The picture at the top of the post (nail wheel) shows 2 coats of Scrumping on it's own, and this one is one coat of NYC Foil polish in Magic Earth, topped with 1 coat of Scrumping. I thought this colour really complimented Scrumping, and it really brought out the glitter. Scrumping is a light green polish with glitter fragments in red, light green, dark green and tiny gold glitter as well. it really reminded me of leaves for some reason, so I decided to stamp some on it too!

I used the Moyou London Mother Nature plate to do the leaves and I love how subtle they came out, just felt it added something different too! 

I really like how this mani turned out, what do you guys think? I've posted very little about nails so far because I'm so nervous around my pictures! I need to work on getting them perfect still, but I hope they let you see how lovely this polish is! I've got another review of another Tara's talons polish coming up this week as well, so hopefully I'll see you again for that! Please head on over to visit Tara's store online as well and check out her awesome selection of polish! She does custom polish as well, so there's so many options! And recently she's started selling cute midi rings and lovely soap and hand care products as well, so there's a lot to see! I certainly love the polish, so I'm sure anything else will be funky as well! Tara's always popping up pics of her lovely creations on instagram (@thetaraemporium) and Facebook as well, so head over for nosy if you fancy! See you guys later on!

*this polish was sent to me for my honest review

Birchbox February 2014 Review

 

Birchbox were quick off the mark this month, boxes out in great time, love receiving it quickly! This months theme was London Fashion Week and We Love Your Style and it's showcased a lot of products to help you look fab and survive a hectic week! As usual, birchbox were doing pretty great this month, so let's get onto the products!

 

Eyeko - Skinny Liquid Eyeliner £12

 

 

I've used this product before, but not in black, but olive green. I tested it out on dress down Friday just passed at my work, and even over a very strong silver eyeshadow it went on well and lasted all through my shift without budging. It did look a little worse for wear later in the evening, but otherwise, all good and I'm pretty impressed with this one.

 

Beauty Protector - Protect & Oil £16

 

 

This was pretty hard to photograph, but hey! It's a small bottle of hair oil. You put a few drops onto damp hair and it'll help smooth and protect against UV rays, heat and breakage. Not half bad. I love the smell of it. It's just lovely, and I can smell it all day too. It has made a difference to the feel of my hair as well, it seems a lot smoother. Only small thing that annoyed me about this was the fact that it doesn't have a pump (the full size might though I guess), which means that sometimes I was getting too much oil out from it, but otherwise, I do really like it.

 

Janjira - Argan Oil Concentrate Serum £48

 

 

Serums have become a stable in my morning skincare routine now, so I do actually like trying new ones. This one so far has been lovely feeling on my skin, it smells ok but I've yet to see if it'll make any difference in my skin. It's meant to be youth boosting and plump up the skin, this still remains to be seen! But either way, no chance would I be paying the full price for this. Holy moly.

 

Green & Blacks - Dark Chocolate £2.29

 

 

Nom Nom. That is all.

 

Gilchrist & Soames - The London Collection Shower Gel £13.75

 

 

Standard showergel sample again, but this one smells pretty yummy so they're almost forgiven. It wakes you up nicely in your morning shower and it has left my skin feeling really soft today, so wahey!

 

Leighton Denny - Nail Colour £11

 

 

Yey a nail polish! by now you all know I love me some nail polish. Just a tad. Honest. I'm not the biggest fan of Leighton Denny, but it's a nice dark silver colour and probably worth a shot. I feel like I already have a colour very like this in my stash though, so I'll have to compare and keep the best one! I'll let you know how I get on!

 

Now, I really can't wait until the march Birchbox. Apparently, Birchbox have partnered with Lulu Guinness for this one, so that's really exciting! Hopefully it'll look gorgeous as well! I'm looking forward to reviewing it anyway!

Birchbox December 2013 Review

 

 

Another Christmas Beautybox offering. Hooray for Birchbox! They have the right idea anyway, something useful, and something sparkly! Only thing that's remotely annoyed me: new subscribers were given a bracelet from Baublebar. As existing subscribers we were given a $20 gift voucher to use on their website. Great, but hey, shipping costs more than the item I wanted to buy. Pointless. But still. Everything else wasn't too bad. Let's have a nosy at the items then!

 

 

yey! Aromatherapy Associates Revive Oil. Happy to this in a box. You can get this kind of thing in a gift set for like £10, so already I've almost made all my money back on this one product. That's what I like to see. And it's a great product, I like to put some on before I get in the shower then as you wash the essential oils seep out and smell divine and wake you up. I've been using it sparingly, but I love it.

 

 

Non-Aerosol Hairspray from No 4. Much better for the environment and it still keeps your hair in place. Great stuff! I used this mostly when I have curly hair and it helps keep the curl without being crunchy so a lovely product. But can't say I could afford the £19 price tag for the full size!

 

 

Classic Twistband, I have had these in a box from Birchbox before. They are really handy and don't crinkle your hair the same as regular hair bands. Another for my stash!

 

 

Party Girl Serum by Sin-Care. This is an expensive Serum (£46!) that helps brighten skin after too many parties. It's certainly nice, and goes on well before my moisturiser. But no way am I paying that price tag!

 

 

Sparkly Eyeshadow from Alima Pure. Love this over other colours at the moment. I have been applying a dark colour or even just a winged black liner, then gently patting this on the top and it just adds that little bit of sparkle that makes my day better. Subtle but sparkly.

 

 

Talking of sparkly. Wowza this is sparkly. You apply two coats of the polish then when it's still wet push your nail into the glitter pot then brush off the excess with a makeup brush. Its very glittery. Only thing I don't like is you can't really apply a top coat after so I tend to find the glitter falls off fairly easily and I wouldn't think this would last more than 2 days max. I only wore it for one evening at time. Good for an accent nail so it's easy to change I would say.

 

December Birchbox is definitely more up my street anyway. Glitter is what every gal wants for Christmas right?! (well, me anyway!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossybox December 2013 Review

 

Again, this month I was looking forward to a little Christmas Cheer and a slight improvement on Glossybox's part. Again, I'm not sure I'm convinced. In the past, boxes at Christmas are just more special, with some glitter and sparkle and exciting products you felt made you feel rewarded for just being a customer. But instead, this is what Glossybox offered in Decembers box.

 

 

This is without a doubt the single most random item I have ever received in a beauty box. Well, as far as I remember. If I needed a razor I would have gone out and bought one. Not something I can say I expected to get in this method. It's one that you only need water to use so it will be handy to use on holiday perhaps, but not much else really. This took up much of the box space and I would rather have had more make up than this to be honest.

 

 

And... they're back up to their old tricks. Samples of moisturiser. The actual product by Yin Yang Skincare is £20 for the full size. No thanks. The smell really put me off this stuff and I couldn't even finish one of the samples. I'm guessing I could have picked up these samples on a magazine page or in boots. Let's have a change please Glossybox!

 

 

Nude lip gloss by Beautiful Movements Cosmetics. Worth £12. Fairly standard lip gloss, and as a girly that doesn't really ever reach for lip gloss, I'm guessing this product will get passed onto someone who loves this kind of thing. More not for me.

 

 

Ahh, more comfortable now we have some nail polish haha. This is by Seche and I got the colour Irrestible, a very deep red with pinky undertones. It could be safe in one coat, I do like Seche polish, but this is not a colour I am ever really attracted to. Into the for sale pile this goes.

 

 

Finally, we have the smoky eyes colossal mascara from Maybelline. A lot of bloggers rave about some Maybelline mascaras so I was a little curious as to how this one would fare. It's meant to have black Kohl in it to make it more intense black colour. But I didn't find it amazing in anyway really. I needed at least 3 coats to get a black I was happy with, whereas my regular mascara only takes two. I'll use it up, but not something I would buy myself.

 

So, maybe I set my expectations too high. I maybe should have looked at recent Glossyboxes rather than thinking of the previous Christmas ones that were awesome. I was hoping Glossy would take from their previous awesome Christmas boxes, but nope. I have to say, I've now spent all my Glossydots on the January box, so I can then cancel my subscription after that. I've had Glossybox for years now but recently, I just don't feel it's worth it. I'd rather keep the money and hit Boots!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bondi New York Monthly Box - The Original August Box

 

Well, this has taken me a long time to post about! I couldn't decide if I should blog about it, as it took me a long time to actually get my box, but decided I should share the wonderus polish anyhoo! So! Bondi launched a monthly subscription box back in August which is $19.99 plus free shipping (even international!) so I jumped at the chance to see what their polish was like! Unfortunately, I had a bit of a bad experience with my first box. Basically, I never received it. Luckily, I contacted their lovely customer service and I managed to get another box sent out, which came so hooray! Their September box has been delayed and won't be dispatched until mid October so I'm hanging on for that one still too, but after that I think it might well be the end of the subscription - trying to save money means a bad experience leads to cancellations with me! But long story aside, onto the 3 polishes I received in my August box.

 

 

First up we have a super limey green called The Limelight. All the polishes have a excellent shiny finish and are really long wearing so this green looks really good. It was an excellent summer colour to get, and stamping over it looked really good so I'll be breaking this out every summer I think!

 

 

 

Next is the classic blue of NYPD. Again,  really lovely shiny finish, and this time a much more all round kind of colour that I could wear with any outfit at any time of year.

 

 

 

Finally, the wee cute polish of Botanical Beauty. Lovely slight purple toned pink it's a much more girly colour than I would normally chose, but I like it. Guess that's the fun of a polish monthly box, you'll get polishes you might not normally try! I like the concept, so I'll let you know how the September box is! I got to chose my colours for this one, so that's exciting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blog Sale Update

 

Time for an updated clear out! Few more polishes up so please feel free to check them all out!

 

http://boredatthenailbar.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-sales.html

Ciate Polish Haul!

Well, in June/July Ciate had a promo on their website with 50% off and then another code for a further 30% off, so I thought it was worth me buying a few pretties of course! I've not really used ciate polishes a great deal before, so I have to say I was really impressed with the quality of the colours and the polishes, as well as the brushes are easy to use! Really glad I had the chance to get my paws on so many! So I'm going to let you guys have a nosy. This is a very picture heavy post. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

First up we have a gorgeous summery green called Palm Tree.

I really loved this colour on, and it was just so summery! Only issue I had with it, was it stained my nails summat awful! So defo wear a good base coat and be prepared that it may stain! It was worth it to be honest, I wore this colour for nearly a week and the lasting power was great! no chips as such, just some tip wear!

Next up, a sparkly black number called Jewellery Box

This is a very glitterified polish with holo glitter throughout and it looks fab on the nail. Been using this one mostly as an accent nail so far due to my hatred of glitter removal! Again, it has good lasting power and didn't chip, so wahey!

Thirdly, we have an oily looking lovely called Starlet:

 

One minute it looks purple, the next grey, the next blue, green or silver. Love it. Currently wearing this one as my mani - pics will doubtless be up on instagram shortly!

 

 

Next up we have a classic teal called Superficial:

 

 

This is a gorgeous teal with grey tones. Very classic shade and a great one for work in my opinion! It has a lovely sheen and just looks very professional but modern, fab!

 

And as always, I can resist me a purple - this one is Talent Scout:

 

 

I love me some purple, and this is no exception. Again, it has a lovely sheen and just looks classic and even better in the summer. Looking forward to wearing this for my next mani!

 

Pale blue polish is a summery hit for me this year, its taken me a while to get used to pastels but this one I love, called Ferris Wheel:

Just a nice cute, bright and friendly colour. Simple really!

 

Back to some sparkles now, with this silver glitter called Locket:

 

 

This a really pretty silver, and it looks great over the other colours just to add a pop of sparkle on an accent nail, love this effect right now.

 

Continuing the glitter theme here's a goldie-coppery one called Antique Brooch:

 

 

This is very rose gold looking and it looks stunning on by itself or over a pale colour. It has a shimmer running through it as well just to make it more special!

 

Jumped to get my paws on an iridescent glitter too, this one is Snowglobe:

 

 

I've shown Snowglobe here by itself and over Superficial so you can see the lovely chunks of sparkle. This is a night out polish that's for sure!

 

This has to be my favourite polish I bought I think, another duo-chrome, called Heirloom:

 

eeeee, so pretty. Gold, pink, yellow, green. just amazing. I couldn't stop looking at my nails when I had this on, and I can't wait to wear it more!

 

Finally, I thought I would show off the funky colour from Ciate I got in my July Glossybox just while I was at it! It's called Mistress:

 

 

This is a yummy jelly red for summer. It looks delicious! I don't tend to wear red but this might just tempt me! It's certainly gonna grace my toes that's for sure though!

 

Well, that was just a slight haul, hope you guys liked it and I've maybe enabled some of you to love Ciate! They were definitely new to me, but I love the colour selection I chose and I'm really enjoying wearing them so far!