NOTD - Essie Spin The Bottle

This is the varnish I received in the #BBBBeautyBox Number 3 I think from reading other blogs that I was one of rare lucky ones to get the more neutral polish. Not that I don't love a bright, I have many, but with me having little time to varnish my nails, neutral polishes last longer and hide chips easier.

Being an Essie varnish you can expect the high  quality, easily to paint on, smooths out, dries quick and lasts a while. It even pasts the hot water test, as I am constantly washing bottles in hot water. I love this colour, such a milky caffe latte nude and is perfect all year round even though it is from the Spring 2014 collection.

Oh and a quick note: There is a BBBBeautyBox 4 in the works, start saving now!

#BBBBeautyBox Number 3

I spent that last of my birthday money on Brit Beauty Blogger's 3rd Beauty Box (try and say that quickly). I know from previous boxes, with some samples I am still working my way through and some going into my labour bag, that every single item is a hidden and well loved gem. I will always get my moneys worth and as glad this time that she had teamed with another company I have also used and loved in the past, Latest in Beauty. Latest in Beauty do a sampling and beauty box service, where what you see is what you get and I have used them a few times in the past (YOU Editors Box is still one of my favourites).

You have read a trillion other reviews with long lists of the products so I will not bore you, there are some that have different colours so I will tell you these: The Essie polish I got from Spring 14 is Spin The Bottle, a milky latte like nude. The Charlotte Tilbury lipstick 'Kiss' is Marylin, a perfect toned red and the Makeup Revolution palette is Lock and Load, a mix of neutrals and deep jewel tones. I actually could of not of asked for a better box, the colours are exactly what I would of picked out. I honest feel that Jane and LIB sat down and made sure that I got the right box for me (I know it's not true but it's my fantasy so shush).

I've already nearly used up the Elemis foot cream, as this is my treat for night feeds - I give myself a foot rub afterwards to wind down. It's thick enough to feel it doing something to soften but you are not slipping over because of grease. The Lola Kabuka brush is a must have for dusting powder to set make up, supple and soft. Roger and Gillet Gingimbre Rouge sample has gone, and I'm not repeating what my Hubby said about it, this is a family site. Janjira Art of Siam is beautiful, hand softing and a little treat when washing hands after changing Bethany.

I am still working my way through the rest (as well as the previous boxes). I've said this to Jane (honest if you love the boxes, give her a tweet, it'll make her day) but these are just incredible for the amount of care and attention that goes into them is beyond what any brand can so. I told you they would be a success, congratulations.

NOTD - Essie's Bikini So Teeny

Who remembers when this was the varnish to wear in the Summer of 2012? Who remembers struggling to get hold it? Me too. Fast forward a few months later and I find it on Fragrance Direct for £1.99, so this and a few other were added to my collection.

Inspired by the ocean and crystal blue skies it was the top selling polish of the 2012 Summer season and one of Essie's top 5 top selling colours. The cornflower blue has a sightliest of subtle shimmers, it screams of Summer time. It also up to Essie's high standard of polish for formulation and wear. I have one slight grumble, it start to separate a lot quicker than other ones I've had before whether this was because of storage or the nature of the colour, I don't know.

Is now part of permanent range RRP £7.99

New Mum Wish List

Now Bethany is finally getting into some sort of routine and we are starting to adventure out, I can now start to think about giving myself some TLC after the long nights, nappy changes and feeds. This is currently what I am daydreaming about:

A Haircut (after dying it)

My hair is starting to get really long, frizzy and in need of a trim before Beth starts pulling on it. I have a hairdresser that comes to my house who will trim me up for £12, she's also been cutting my family hair for many years (she also did the hair for my wedding at a very good rate). It's not going to be anything extreme, just a tidy and shorten.

Eyebrow Threading

After the disaster of my last visit (When Threading Goes Wrong) I've been growing my eyebrows back out again to get them done by another place. This one is my priority as I do not feel right now I've discovered the difference it makes to my face when they are done.

New Nail Polish for Spring

It's Spring and a season so it means I need to update the varnish wardrobe, but the trouble I have is decided what to get. The short list is as follows: OPI's Jade green AmazON... AmazOFF (Brazil Collection), Essie's Ice baby blue Find Me An Oasis (Resort Collection) and Blue/Turquoise Hide & Go Chic (Spring Collection), and Model's Own Naked Glow (Gel Collection).

Bra's

Now my chest has returned to 'normal' I require new bras that have some support to them and look pretty as well. I have two bits of trouble with my twins: I am on the large side of sizes and unusually the middle does not lean against the sternum in the middle so I cannot wear certain styles or it does pierce my skin. This is my most frustrating thing to go shopping for because the ones I like are the ones I cannot wear. Any suggestions are welcome in comments.

Jean's

I must be the only person I know who lost weight in pregnancy (apart from baby), once Beth was born I was soon back in my pre-pregnancy jeans. A week later they were hanging off of me like when I lost the weight to get pregnant. I have to admit defeat and get new jeans to fit me, there's only so much a woman can wear jogging/PJ bottoms!

Joan Collins Beauty Divine Lipstick and Nail Varnish in Helene

A red lipstick and nail varnish with my name, it's fate.

NOTD - Pink to Make The Boys Wink

Inspired, of course, by my little girl, this is a mixture of two polishes for a pale pink fench style manicure.

After base coat of OPI Nail Envy in Matt, I applied one coat of Essie's Sugar Daddy for a nude pink finish, on the tips is one coat of OPI's Make Him Mine Liquid Sand (Christmas 2013 collection) dabbed onto the tips. All sealed with a top coat of Sechi Vite.

Very simple, but very effective.

NOTD - Essie's For The Twill of It

This has been on my wish list since I first saw the swatches on the Essie Twitter. It is a mixture of green/pink duo chrome in a dark grey base with a metallic finish. I got my bottle last weekend at Olympia Beauty so I have the professional formulation but I have noticed a difference between this and the diffusion line on the high street.

You cannot rush the painting as it can show brush streaks so I find it easier to take it slow with thin coats of polish (this was done in two coats). It is however worth it, my instagram feed went berserk with hearts when I uploaded it and my work colleagues where asking when and where they can buy it from. I personally have not stopped staring at it's multi-tonal beautifulness since I've put it on.

Keep an eye out in Boots stores as it will fly out of the store once in stock (£7.99)

 

Olympia Beauty 2013 - Haul included (it's a long one)

There is two things I learnt from this weekend: It is not wise to go to a day long event while recovering from Laryngitis and pregnant. I had been unwell with a virus for nearly two weeks but I insisted on going, I love trade shows, not only from a blogger point of view but also as trade.

I arrived about 10.30 as normal the trains confused me (and I know I wasn't the only one), and headed straight to the Media centre. The really wonderful thing about Olympia Beauty is that they do fully embrace beauty bloggers and they are welcome into the rest stop of the media centre. After grabbing a cold diet Coke, I headed into the masses for initial walk around to assess who was there and see if there was any brands I wanted to speak to/spend money on.

After an hour I was back into the media centre for the PR meet and greet, this where the brands who are there come and have a chat with the media about new launches and form new relationships. This was great as trying to speak to anyone on the floor was impossible at this point, the crowds where huge!

I may have done a little fan girl sequel at OPI being there, as many of you know I am a huge fan of their polishes and used them when I first trained as a manicurist. They were there to show off the new Limited Edition Mariah Carey Christmas Collection - rich reds, plums and gold glitters. The part I instantly needed to have was the liquid sands, which have to recently not really bowled me over.

These will be available on the OPI website, on being told that I could buy them at the show did invest in the liquid sands (notice the plural), and if where eagle eyed enough on my Instagram (unevenlemming) you also know that I might have got a set to giveaway.

While I was at Olympia I also refreshed my subscription to Scratch Magazine (Professional monthly magazine for nail technicians which featured Karla Powell's amazing Pop Art make up and nails.) as well as Professional Beauty Magazine (updates on the industry and trends coming through). With Scratch I got a gift worth around £80 with nails foils, OPI mini kit, Morgan Taylor varnish and top coat, files etc.

I also targeted Essie for the AW13 Collection - If you had read my wishlist I had been hankering after For The Twill of It and was determined to get my hands on it. It does not disappoint in person, and after a show and tell to Kat (Tales of a Pale Face) , Alice (Bright Town Girl) , Dani (So Many Lovely Things) and Natasha (Shot of Beauty) we know all now own one (I am not an embalmer - honest). I also managed to pick up some bargain false lashes for £1-£2 each to pop into my kit.

Unfortunately after a long day in London, the Laryngitis returned leaving me with no voice and also open to getting another cold, hence why I'm few a days later than I wanted with this entry as I've been curled up feeling sorry for myself. Lesson learnt.

Brand Masterclass - Essie

Essie Weingarten was inspired by shopping trips with her father, after ballet lessons (the only feminine past time with sport mad tomboy had). She visited a apothecary that her distance family owned. After a few more years in hosiery sales she saw a market, brands were investing in lotions and make up but not nail varnish. Stores would hold limited colour lines, her dream was to crate a range that not only inspiring but wet looking and iron strong that would last a over a week. With $10,000 investment she looked for a chemist to make her the formulation that would work, with that soon solved, she created a line fo 12 colours to launch with.

Out of the original line up "Bordaux" (a deep wine red), "Blanc" (Chalk white) and "Baby's breath" (a soft white used for french manicure) are still in the current line up of 200 colours. Essie got inspired from the world around her, "Fiesta" was from a pin cushion that owned and loved the colour of. The now famous "Ballet Slippers" was of course from her childhood days of the shoes of ballet dancers.

Essie sold door-to-door, flew in from New York to Las Vegas to capitalise on the disposable income and high life of Vegas. She left with 10 cartons of nail varnish and never looked back. Starting from the 100 odd salons of Las Vegas to now sold in 95 countries in 30 years, not many brands can say that their polishes have been requested by the Queen to grace her nails (Ballet Slippers for your information).

Purchased by L'Oreal in 2010 they went from being a professional only range to now dominated the nail varnish market.

While researching this I came across a brilliant article and interview by Into The Gloss and would encourage to read it, as I find out inspiring and an interesting look into the brand.

Professional Beauty 2013

Inbetween the long hours of work and moving into my new place I went to the beauty junkiwe heaven that is Professional Beauty at ExCel Centre. Previous years it was closed off to non-trade professionals, but tthis was the first time that they let 'Beauty Lovers' into the show. This provided a little more deversity to the crowd rather than previous years where trade people like myself have been going.

As we were heading towards the Spring season a lot of ranges where doing their launch shows here, this included Essie's Spring 2013 collection that I had previously mentioned in My Essie Collection post. I went, I saw and left with nothing. The same was also for OPI's Euro Central Collection, looking at the swatches I think I would of worn them once or maybe twice and decided against it.

I did however go away with OPI's Nail Envy set in Orginal and Matt (that a 2 for 1 pack) as well as Everymonth is Oktoberfest that I have been drbbling over for months after changing my mind from Germani-cure.

In the dark depths of the other stalls I did come across early on a stall that was selling old collections of OPI for £4 each (where at trade price it is £6). I elbowed my way and hunted through the boxes and ended up with 5 polishes in my hands in minutes.

 

From left to right is the line up in it's entirity - Every Month Is Oktoberfest, Number One Nemisis, My Very First Knockwurst, Just Spotted The Lizard, There She Rose, Casino Royale.

 



I do come away with one grumble, as a now newly qualified MUA I wanted to speak to a few brands about their products. It was packed so I couldn't get close, I quened for 30 mins to get face mapped with Dermalogica which wasn't bad as I got chatting to the therapists about working with the brand. They also was demostrating their amazing new primer that illuminates, mattifies but also had anti aging skincare propeties bur more on that another time.

By the time I got my face mapped I was sold I wanted in, and as introduced to the sales people. They ask you about your business, however the moment I mentioned 'mobile' they were, "We don't do mobile". They gave me a pack anyway, a handshake and a "We'll be in touch". I am sorely disappointed, but I understand that they are a therapist based range and they know that a mobile will only invest a smaller amount than a salon.

I am buying that primer the moment it is out (£37.50 it's going to be a dent), ironically Beauty Swot wrote a review for it the moment I got home.

NOTD: Essie Ballet Slippers and Beyond Cosy Accent Nail

While I put the finishing touches to my final assignment, this the lastest nails I am wearing.

I wanted to wear something that was feminine and delicate after wearing cherry red nail varnish (OPI's Wocka Wocka for The Muppets Collection) for a week. I also had Beyond Cosy from Christmas that I hadn't worn yet. I am now deeply in love with the twinkling delight that is Beyond Cosy, next to the delicated sheer pink of Ballet Slippers it's beautiful.

In the next few days my assignment will be sent off for assessment and hopefully with the next week I shall get a email to tell me the result of my BTEC.

This is when normal services will resume and my husband get his wife back rather than a make up obsessed fiend or so he likes to think .......

Essie Collection: 0 - 7 in 3 months (With more to come in SS13)

Top L-R: Leading Lady, Ballet Slippers, Sugar Daddy, Beyond Cosy
Bottom L-R: Merino Cool, Mint Candy Apple, Tart Deco

 

Mid November I lost my Essie Virginity after winning a blogger giveaway to win a set of three of Nikki Etc, favourite Essie polishes. Since Merino Cool hit my nails I haven't looked back.

 

I am and will always be an OPI girl, they were the brand I first converted even before I started to train as a manicurist. I have, however, been seduced by Essie with it's slightly higher coverage varnish, easy to use brush and one of the longest wear times I have had.

 

The range of colours every season has been bang on trend and highly desirable. In the case of the Christmas collection there was a mixture of Christmassy colours for the purists and brights for the rebels.

 

Leading Lady (above) is now my favourite red ever, it's a jelly with red glitter infused. To me it doesn't traditional glitter, it glows. I had this on for Christmas and didn't take it off until New Years Eve which is nearly 7 days of wear and I only had the smallest chip on the corner of my thumb.

 

My husband also brought me Beyond Cosy which is a gold glitter, this one sparkles. I do like that's it's not a brassy gold and it is not a intense good, there seems a bit of silver to tone it down. I've found this makes a great accent nail polish.

And now onto my two new ones, an impulse purchase from Fragrance Direct for the grand price of £1.99 each. The one above is Ballet Slippers, an almost white cream, that's soft and feminine. The other is Sugar Daddy which is suppose to be sheer pink nude. I think this will be perfect for the times I more a groomed look.

Onto Spring/Summer 2013 - Delicate pinks, lilacs, blues and greys. I've seen no swatches so far, but I will be keeping an eye out for the whole of that bottom row. With the trend heading towards to pastels again, I think I'll also be able to reuse my Mint Candy Apple (as it matches some of my light jumpers).

Note: Don't worry OPI - I got The Bondette set for Christmas, our love affair is not over yet

Breaking My Essie Virginity

Not only did I break my virginity, but I did it with a threesome! I was lucky to the winner of Nikki Etc (nikkiloub.blogspot.com)Giveaway, first prize was this threesome as well as a Bourjois Nail Varnish Remover (but I'm saving that for another time). The three I got was:

Mint Candy Apple

A creme peppermint that is a breath of fresh air, everything about it just screams springtime.

Tart Deco

Another creme this time a orange/peach tone, very summery lovely and bright.

Merino Cool

A deep muddy purple/brown/grey, I wasn't keen of this in the bottle, put it on and it felt chic. A great AW colour.

However, after these three I already am eyeing up my next Essie additions from their Holiday collection in Leading Lady (A cherry berry glitter hit red) and Beyond Cozy (A gold/silver infused glitter). I also now have their colour chart that I'm ringing colours in. Have I given up my OPI love affair? No, but once you go Essie you never go back!