Top 5 Winter Nail Polishes

R-L: Nails Inc Stratford, Essie All Tied Up, OPI The World Is Not Enough, Nails Inc Porchester Square, Barry M Mushroom.
This Winter I have been wearing the same nail colours on rotation so I thought a blog post was in order. It's worth noting the two Nails Inc polishes came in The Backstage Collection (£25) with a holographic glitter polish called Abbey Road. A single Nails Inc polish is £11 so it's a good deal. Also, the OPI polish is a mini from the Bondettes collection but also comes in fullsize.

Nails Inc: Stratford. This is a gorgeous nail polish. It applies like a dream, you can get away with one coat, although I tend to apply two. It's said to have a 'mirror metallic' finish but I would say its more duo-chrome. In the picture it looks purpley-gold but in some lights it looks pure gold. It's really pretty and I blooming love it!

Essie: All Tied Up. I would say this is a reddy-browny-bricky-slightly simmery-hint of gold nail polish. Yep. I like this because it's a bit different, when I wear it I always get compliments.One of the reasons I bought this because in the bottle you can see very fine gold glitter but this barely transfers onto the nail. Despite this, it's still one of my favorites of my essie polishes.

 OPI: The World Is Not Enough. When I first saw the OPI James Bond collection I all but swooned! There is a glorious gold, fiery red and glittery green in the Bondettes mini set but I think this is the most wearable shade. It's a super sparkly grey, it does need a good 3 coats before it looks brilliant but it is totally worth it! Gorgeous!


 Nails Inc: Porchester Square. This has probably been my most worn shade. I have worn it at least 3 days a week since I received it as a gift on Christmas day. A grey with slight undertones of lilac, it's incredibly wearable. My mum also loves this and always requests it when I do her nails! 

 Barry M: Mushroom. A classic shade. A dark, matte brown that looks a bit boring in the bottle but is a staple when you want to look a bit sophisticated but not boring. A great alternative to nude and it makes my fingers look less short and stumpy and more elegant, bonus!  

So, that's the nail polishes I've worn throughout Winter. I'm looking so looking forward to the weather getting warmer and heading towards Summer! I think doing this post made me realise I wear a lot of matte shades and I'm going to try and wear more shimmery and glittery polishes as we head towards Spring.

P.S. Look at my stumpy, rubbish index finger nail. I'm trying out a new nail straightener because my nails are so weak! 

MAC 219 Brush Review

Make up brushes are my weakness. I love make up in general but there is something about make up brushes that make me go weak at the knees!! I would say, in general, I am a Real Techniques girl through and through but this brush is just brilliant.

I also have the MAC 217 which seems to be a must have on the blogosphere but picked this one up after searching and searching for a pencil brush, and this one is just what I was looking for!                                                   

Again, I apologise for the poopy pictures, I have the same camera issues as in the last post! I have very cheekily taken the picture of the brush from the MAC website (ssssh don't tell them!).  

The brush itself is amazing! It's very small and very dense so picks up lots of product and deposits it exactly where you need it! I use it to put eyeshadow under my lower lashline, to smudge dark shadows along my upper lashline or to put a light shimmery colour in my inner corner. It's not cheap at £19 but I honestly think it is worth every penny! I'm planning on doing a post on my top 5 brushes so expect to see this little guy popping up again soon!!

Beauty Bay Order #1

I've named this Beauty Bay order #1 but I have ordered from Beauty Bay before I just haven't done a blog post on it. I ordered the OPI bondettes mini collection (which is FAB!) and the Essie Christmas polish is Leading Lady (which I have had in my stocks for 2 months now and not actually used once...grrr!). I was so impressed with Beauty Bays' service the first time round that when I heard of some products I fancied trying they were the first site I turned to! Within an hour of this arriving I was swatching and taking pictures for a blog post!

Essie: Absolutely Shore

 I only went on the website to pick up this gorgeous essie shade in Absolutely Shore after seeing Vivianna Does Make Up's video on her essie polishes! I have the cult shade Mint Candy Apple and love it but sometimes feel it's a bit much for this time of year. I did a very quick, messy swatch on my thumb to get an idea of what the consistency is like. I would say it needs 3 coats to get the most of the colour but it glides on beautifully and the colour is so wearable. It's a bit different from the nudes and browns I have been wearing recently (I have been wearing Nails Inc Porchester Square religiously since my lovely sister bought me it in a trio of polishes for Christmas). This nail polish cost £8.50 which is a lot but I can see myself wearing it all through spring/summer (I think this will look fab with a tan)! I also think my mum will love this shade! I do her nails for her about twice a week and can see this being one of her new favorites!

 Nail Inc: Notting Hill Gate

 I have been searching and searching for the perfect bright pink since last summer and I think I have finally found it! This is a very bright, highlighter pink. Again it needs about 3 coats for full opacity. The first picture really captures the colour, but the swatch doesn't do it justice at all! I managed to pick this up in the sale! It was reduced from £11 to £8.69! I've had a quick look on the website and the Nails Inc polishes are still reduced so get in their quick if there is a colour that takes your fancy! I also do my sisters nails a lot too and think this shade will be right up her street, to be honest any pink is going to be a hit with her! I can see this being one of my staple Summer shades in 2013 but think I'll be wearing it all year round.

First Aid Beauty: Instant Oatmeal Mask

I have very, very oily skin. It is spot prone and acne scarred. All in all, not the best. However, this Winter my skin has got very dry everywhere bar my t-zone which has stayed very oily. I spotted this on the website and, having heard good things about it thought I would give it a go! It claims to 'calm, nourish and smooth distressed skin' which is just what I was looking for! Hopefully it will give my skin a boost of hydration without making it any more oily. This was also in the sale, I paid £13.43 for this. I have tried to find it on the website but it's not there anymore. However, there are many other First Aid Beauty products in the sale. I already have the ultra repair cream and the smooth shave cream both of which I love so I have high hopes for this product. It does smell a bit like soapy porridge though...!

I'm super excited about this order! Also, the service I received from Beauty Bay was amazing! I placed my order at about half 12 and by half 3 the same day my order was dispatched. I placed my order on the Wednesday and it arrived Monday morning! Not bad at all considering the delivery is free! I will definitely be ordering from them in the future!  

Nars Hungry Heart Blush Duo

First off all, let me say sorry! I had a blog that I started in summer 2012 called MeganMakeUpWehey (I know..) but me being me forgot the password AND email address (that's a feat in itself!!) so I have started afresh!! 

Second of all the pictures are RUBBISH! I have a brilliant, professorial camera and I can't find the lead to connect to my laptop so I have taken these with my iPhone camera. As the product isn't all that good I figured it would be okay!

So..enough of my whining and onto the review!

 I went Manchester before Christmas with a friend to do a bit of Christmas shopping (and inevitably got a few presents for me!). One of the main reasons we chose Manchester was because of Selfridges.  
I live 20 minutes outside of centre of Edinburgh and this makes certain brands hard to come by, such as Illamasqua (review to come..I am in love with my pure pigment !). Whilst in Selfridges I was checking out the Nars stand and was torn between the eyeshadow duo in Alhambra and this highlighter duo.
All in all I would say this has disappointed me a lot. Normally I like to do a lot of research before I buy something but got a bit caught up in the moment and bought this on a whim and have certainly learned my lesson!

In the shop this looked amazing on my cheeks and I was so excited but when I got back in my car and saw it in the natural light I knew I made a mistake, it just didn't do much. In the pan in the shop it looked super-duper sparkly but at the hotel it looked a bit...blah. I feel really bad for saying this because I love nars but I think there are much better highlighters on the market (mac soft and gentle for example)  and this nars one just doesn't cut the mustard. It also smells really strongly like talc, I like the smell of talc but not really in such a high end product.

This duo costs £29, the eyeshadow duo I went in for was £24 and the mac highlighter costs £21.50. All in all I would say go for the mac one, cheaper and better quality    

Next post will be positive I promise!  

P.S. It's worth noting the last picture with the swatches took AGES and a lot of product to get that good a swatch, but I rubbed my hands together after and I literally couldn't see anything on my hands!