Summer Nails

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

It's June!! In my eyes, this means it is officially Summer, despite wearing my winter boots today. Keerrraazzzy. 

Big Essie Bottle* - Pansy

Mini Essie Bottle* - Sure Shot

China Glaze* - Wicked Style

Barry M - Pink Iridescent

No 7 - Gold Top Coat (What an adventurous name, eh?!)

I don't know about you, but summer makes me want to wear bright candy colours, brings out my inner girlieness (not that it's hard!) and my love for glitter rages on full steam ahead.

I noticed there was a bit of a theme to my recent nail polish choices and thought it was a good excuse to out more pink and glitter in the world (or at least just on my blog).

I have been absolutely LOVING Essie polishes of late. I get mine from BeautyBay and they have a MASSIVE selection of shades. I know Superdrug and Boots have recently started stocking them, which is super, but I've noticed that they don't supply many shimmery, metallic or glitter options, and this makes me sad.

China Glaze is a brand I have been a huge fan of for years and have quite a few of their shades. They are devilishly tricky to find in the UK and I have previously bought all mine at Beauty Conventions. Ebay seems to be a good bet though if you are looking to dabble in China Glaze and THIS seller has a vast array of hues to choose from. Hooray!

What sort of colours do you go for during sunny seasons? Are you loving pinks and glitter as much as me?

Toodlepip!

xx

This month my Ultimate Advertiser is Dashing Divas. If you would like to know more about advertising on Sprinkle of Glitter, check out my 'Sponsor' page up at the top! 

Pink Sparkle

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

When the sun is shining and the birds are tweeting and we all have that spring in our step, I find myself drawn to cutsie girlie colours in every aspect of life, including my nails.

I think it's the promise of Easter that lures me to pastel pinks, lemons, lilacs and sky blues, but as ever, for me, a nail look isn't complete without a sprinkle of glitter. See what I did there? Heh heh.

In my opinion, there is very little better than pink sparkle. So as you can imagine, a have more than one nail polish in this variety, and love them all. I thought you might like to see which ones I love and then maybe add one to your collection too. Go on, I dare you.

I swatched these on a plain nail wheel (which you can buy HERE) so that you could clearly see, but I think they look gorgeous over other shades- mint being a personal favourite. I applied 2 coats for all products, to keep things nice and fair :)

Revlon Nail Enamel in 219 Sparkling is quite similar to China Glaze Glam in colour, but not in sparkle sizing. With one finely milled glitter and one medium, you can build up your coverage with multiple coats and could actually create an opaque look with this. I think the price tag (£6.49) is reasonable as the longevity is super and it's a little bit special because it was released (along with others) to celebrate Revlon's 80th Birthday. Save me a slice of cake!

Topshop Adrenalin (I believe) is set to be released at the end of this month and is a beauty! With finely milled pink glitter and holographic hexagons, this polish is slightly mesmerising. I *think* this will retail for around the £6mark, which I think is a fabulous price for something so glitzy.

China Glaze in Glam is the oldest of my pink sparkle collection and you can buy it HERE. I would describe the glitter in this as chunky. You don't get a fantastic coverage, but this allows your base colour to be quite prominent. You could apply just one coat if you wanted literally only a few dots or you could really build it up if you wanted something chunktastic. OOhhhh I think 'chunktastic' might be my new word.

Something sneaky that I like about glitter polishes, is that when they chip (which is usually faster than regular shades), you can easily touch up the tips without anyone seeing the chip-lines, because of the texture of the glitter. This means your manicure can last that little bit longer- Yipee!

Are you a glittery gal? Have you tried any of these little gems?

Toodlepip!

xx

Lou's Reviews :: OPI Texas & Serena Glam Slam France Collections

Aloha Bloggerinos,

As a relative newbie to OPI Nail Polish I was pretty bloomin' excited when these jewelled treasures popped through my letterbox, pretty excited indeed!

Above: Guy Meets Gal-Veston (Texas Collection), Housten We Have A Purple (Texas Collection), Spark De Triomphe (Serena Glam Slam France Collection) and Austin-Tatious Turquoise. All polishes from the snazzy Texas Collection retail for £10.50.

In conjunction with the tennis season, OPI have bought out a tres cool shatter range, aptly named Serena Glam Slam France Collection. What a lot of pies Ms Williams has her tennis champ fingers in eh? The Gram Slam collection comprises of 3 jazzy duo sets of polish- one shatter and one colour/glitter. My set is a bright white shatter and a gold and silver sparkly (Spark de Triomphe). The sparkly is AMAZING! A mixture of fine and very very fine glitter it applies almost opaque with sparkle in just one coat. With more coats it is totally opaque- a rarity with glitter polish!

I tried the white shatter over one of the Texas Collection Polishes (Housten We Have a Purple) and wasn't entirely in love with the finish, a bit tipexy, but I think it will look a million times better over the Spark de Triomphe- I shall keep you posted. Perhaps I will apply it this week in honour of Wimbelondon starting and give you a fun NOTD?

The box is very professional and give a simple guide to shatter and the effect you can expect. I really like this wordy/picture element because although us Beauty Bloggers have all read and seen shatter in action, many women will not have and I think will find it pretty nifty! I also love that the range comes in the little boxes becase they are easy to wrap and make cool little gifts, or, if like me you are a horder and keep the boxes, you'll like them too!

 

Guy Meets Gal-Veston- A jelly orange. Took 4 coats to be opaque, which for me is too many, I draw the line at 3. However, it was an extremely smooth ride, great formula and with a China Glaze top coat, didn't chip for over a WEEK- this is a first for any of my collection!

Austin-Tascious Turquoise- Mermaidy bluey-green metalic. Looks beautiful against a tan and works well as a toe colour. I've had it on my tootsies for a couple of weeks and it's going strong. I've noticed that in some lights it also has a pinky-purple gleam to it too- puurrddddyyy!

Houston We Have A Purple- Medium toned berry purple, requires 2-3 coats but glides on smoothly and is worth the effort. My Auntie Judith described it as a 'sumptious fruity colour' and it really is, like ribena on your nails. I have also worn this with one coat and then one coat of Spark De Triomphe on and loved that combo so much I forced Lee from fanx hq to say how marvellous it looked- hahaha! Thanks Lee!

My most favourite combo- like cheese and crackers, jinglyjanglys and shakeyshakeys (YouTuberinos will know what I'm talking about!), this just works. Summer sizzle!

All in all, I am beyond impressed with these nail varnishes and the others in my collection (Pink Me I'm Good- baby pink with gold sparkles- hello you beauty!). I do think £10.50 is a lot of money for one polish but I would justify it to myself by thinking about how many wears you get out of a bottle and how it truly is the best quality polish I have tried.

I also made a YouTube video about these which you can watch HERE. Baby Glitter was being a bit of a monkey in it though so do let us off for our all-ver-the-place-ness!

What are your thoughts on this range and OPI in general? Do you think you're paying for quality?

Toodlepip!

xx

PS-

I couldn't help but mess about with my nail polish splodge- pretty non? x

January Skies NOTD

Aloha Bloggerinos,

I haven't worn any nail varnish in an absolute age because my Step Mother told me it's not good to when you're pregnant as chemicals can get into your bloodstream and through to your baby.

Mmmmm I'm not saying this isn't true but it's not something I have really ever heard before, so in a nutshell, I decided not to sweat the small stuff and give my fingers a little treat- it's very important to feel glamorous when you're the size of a beached whale, waddling when you walk and scared to sneeze in case you wee yourself! (NB- I'm not incontinent but I fear it dagnamit, ffeeaarrr it!)

I put this on yesterday and it was the first day in a long time I'd seen blue skies so took that as my 'muse'- oh lala. I used Eyeko Pastel Polish which is a creamy pale blue 'shot with irridenscant shimmer' (although I didn't think it was very glimmery, just shiny- a good thing I thought) and then to add some extra sparkle (you all know my love for a sprinkle of glitter after all) I swiped on one thin layer of China Glaze Stellar, which is a champagne colour glitter.

 (That's right, I totally chose this pic to show off my wedding and engagement rings! As you can see, I'm not manicurist, I just paint-n-go! Haha)

 

I went on the Eyeko Website (HERE) to check something and saw that this scrummy blue polish is currently being sold at 20% off in a gorgeous limited edition set of 3- blue, mint and lilac- swoon! If you do decide to treat yourself to a January 'pick up' (who doesn't need plenty of little treats in January??), then use my Ambassador Code (E11341) at the checkout and they'll send you a free gift- woop!

 

Do you likey likey? It really does remind me of January, perhaps I'll make this my January tradition.

Toodlepip!

xx

ps- As I typed this baby dans la tummy (or 'Baby Glitter' as a Bloggerino referred to her as the other day- love it!) has kicked non stop. Do you think she wants me to buy the polish set maybe? Hahaha!