NOTD - Knightsbridge by True Brit London

Hi there lovely readers!

Earlier on this week I blogged about exciting new brand to enter the nail polish world, True Brit London*, today I have another offering from their range to share with you. So far I've shown you Cream Tea, a scrummy angelic baby pink creme. When it came to deciding which polish to play with next I opted for the beaut Knightsbridge* from the Signature Collection...

Knightsbridge* is a rather lovely, earthy grey/olive green toned foil, really unusual & from the top of my head nothing quite like anything I own, so I'm completely in love with the uniqueness of it.

The formula is thick yet applied smoothly over the True Brit London Caviar base coat. With foils there is the risk of serious streaking & a ridged finish however I experienced no problems with Knightsbridge* & you can actually get away with just one coat as it was totally opaque.

I'm a creature of habit however & stuck to my religious two coats which dried in quick time with a nice smooth & shimmery almost mirror like reflective finish.

I applied a coat of the True Brit London Topcoat on top & for a little added extra detail, stuck on a pretty cross nail charm which I purchased from Charlies Nail Art store. Definitely worth checking this online nail art store for bargainous supplies! 

The topcoat is lovely & thick therefore was perfect for sticking down the charm without the need for glue. I think the cross charm & polish go so well together, giving the mani a gothic Medieval vibe!

Definitely an interesting & unique one from the Signature collection! True Brit London polishes retail for £12.50 & are currently available online, however I anticipate they will be making their pretty way into retail stores soon!

Thanks as always for reading lovelies, I still have two shades to share with you from the range so stay tuned!

Lotsa love to ya!

Disclaimer - * products featured were sent to me for my consideration. I am not affiliated with the brand nor paid for this post, this review has been as always my 100% honest opinion! :)

Beauty Icon Makeup Inspiration - Cat Eye Wing Eyeliner...

Greetings to you my lovely readers!

Here's a question for you, when it comes to your makeup style, do you seek inspiration from a particular era? Be it a modern day celebrity or an iconic beauty of the past, no doubt there have been many women whose unique styles have left a mark on the beauty world. Personally, when it comes to my go to makeup look there is one thing I am usually NEVER without...cat eye winged liner. A look that was very popular with the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Bridget Bardot, Sophia Loren & many other beautiful icons of the vintage film era.   

source: google images

Of course these ladies knew how to ROCK the red lip also, yet being slightly terrified of bright lips in general, I'm one of those that much prefers to focus on the eyes. Just the simple addition of a cat eye flick can transform your look, emphasizing & making the eyes stand out, a look that Bridget Bardot had down to perfection & one that I love to try to channel in my makeup.  

Recreating a look similar to that which these ladies rocked so fabulously back in the day doesn't have to be a difficult task either! As long as you have in your make up arsenal the core item which has come to be one of my holy grail beauty products...Felt Tip Eyeliner.

Being a complete eyeliner addict & having tried & tested literally ALL types of eyeliner out there, gel, liquid, pencil, you name it, I am always & forever returning to my beloved felt tip eyeliners.

I've found that not only are they effortless for creating the perfect cat eye wing shape, but the pen design gives you more control, perfect if your an eyeliner newbie & not confident with it. A couple of my favourites are by Bourjois and Make Up Revolutions. Not only are they pigmented but both have great longevity. However there are many great quality ones available including offerings from MAC, Urban Decay & YSL to name but a few! All these & more can be found online in the House of Fraser Makeup Department...a makeup addicts dream!

Everyone has their own way to create their cat eye wings that they are comfortable with, of course there are numerous tutorials on YouTube with detailed steps that are very helpful. I prefer to start on the outer corner & draw my wing first before going on to the lid, finishing about halfway.

If you're not sure which direction or how far out to take the eyeliner, a little helpful tip for creating the perfect angle for your wing; simply line up your pen at an an angle from the corner of your eye, going up to the end of your eyebrow, applying a dotted line if it helps & use this as your guide. 

Once drawn, you can then go back & shape it up a bit more if you wish, curving the bottom edge, defining the point etc. You know how it is ladies with getting that perfect flick!

source: google images

Once you're happy with the finished wing, you can keep it as it is for a simple low key look a'la Marilyn Monroe or you can go full on Sophia Loren & pile on more for that fully defined feline look. Just line the waterline with a gel eyeliner, my personal favourite being MAC Fluidline with its smooth formula & for added oomph factor, go in with pencil liner on top & smoke out on to the lower lid. Urban Decay 24/7 is one you can't go wrong with, super pigmented!

And there you have it! That's my simple way on how to channel the look of some of my favourite movie star divas of the vintage era. I hope you've enjoyed this wee post which I've also written as my entry for a wonderful competition that House of Fraser are running at the moment who are currently on the hunt for a Beauty Ambassador, details can all be found HERE if you're interested in applying too! 

Thanks as always for reading lovelies, I would love to know who your beauty icon inspirations are! 

Lotsa love to ya!  

NOTD - Cream Tea by True Brit London

Hello there my lovely readers!

To say I'm excited about this post is putting it lightly. Nothing makes me more deliriously happy & gets the heart palpitations a-pounding than sighting a new & interesting offering in the nail polish world. The beauties that I have to share with you today are nothing short of glorious & are the babies of new kids on the nail polish block True Brit London*. Behold...

What did I tell you? Pretty darn special right? The moment my radar sighted these polishes I knew they would not disappoint. Everything about them appeals to my nail polish needs...STUNNING packaging & a gorgeous shade range with fabulous & fun names surrounding interesting & innovative collections.

I'm sure its pretty clear from the name, True Brit London* is a brand that embraces British culture proudly & have sought inspiration for their shades from legendary icons of British fashion & beauty.

First things first, lets talk about packaging. I was impressed with how the polishes arrived, seated in an elegant sleek black box with plenty of paper shredding to protect those pretty bottles. The bottles themselves are designed in a beautiful chunky glass ice cube shape embossed in silver with the True Brit London Logo. Definitely a bottle one would love to show off on their vanity table I'm sure you'll agree! The large silver cap is removable, with a thinner top underneath attached to the brush for easier application.

There are six different collections with their own interesting range of shades including Signature, The Classics, Luxury, London City, Contemporary, Country & English Rose as well as a base & top coat. I have four pretty polishes to play with, which I'll be sharing with you one by one as I don't want to overload you in one go! Plus I think each shade deserves to be fully appreciated ;) I thought I'd start things off with the delightfully delicate Cream Tea from the Classic collection...

Ain’t it a pretty one? Cream Tea is a beautiful baby pink crème, extremely pale in its pinkness but I assure you it is most definitely a delightfully light milky pink shade, very elegant. I could definitely see myself wearing this shade whilst indulging in a delicious afternoon tea ;)

I found the formula of Cream Tea to be quite thick, which worried me initially as with thick crème's comes the risk of gloopiness, the first coat was a tad streaky, however two coats applied left a nice smooth glossy & streak free finish. Hurrah!

I couldn't resist adding a little something extra so applied a few pearls around the cuticle area before finishing with a coat of the True Brit London Topcoat. 

Now you'll know from my last post that CND Air Dry is my HG topcoat & it'll take a lot to change that! True Brit London's is good as topcoats go, this is a thick one so will leave a glossy almost gel like finish, however I wouldn't use it to seal stones in future as I think it was a bit thick for this purpose & resulted in a little bubbling!

Overall I am in love with this delightful pink offering from True Brit London & can't wait to see how the other polishes fair! Do stay tuned to see what delightful shade will be given a turn next! Thanks for reading as always & speak soon!

Lotsa love to ya!

Disclaimer - * products featured were sent to me for my consideration. I am not affiliated with the brand nor paid for this post, this review has been as always my 100% honest opinion! :)

Product Love - CND Air Dry - My HG Topcoat!

Hello there lovely readers,

A question I'm often asked when it comes to nails, is what my go to topcoat is, which is why I'm surprised at myself for never blogging about it till now! I guess I'm usually so distracted by the polish itself that things like top coat, base coat, nail care etc takes a back seat.

I'll rectify that now with sharing a few of my favourite products that I use when it comes to the nail care side of things starting off with the most important in my book...topcoat!

For me the qualities I look for in a fab quality topcoat is 1) Fast drying & 2) Glossy finish. One that delivers on these two needs is a winner in my book & having tried & tested both high street & high end brands in the past I have happily found THE ONE in CND Air Dry Topcoat. 

I can't for the life of me remember how I discovered this as its not a brand that widely available in the high street, but I'm so glad I did as I've not looked at another topcoat since! For me this blows Sally Hansen & OPI, brands of topcoat I've both tried, out the water.

You may be surprised to hear that I've never tried the famous Seche Vite that is popular amongst many. However having heard too many mixed things I never really felt the urge to try myself, especially as its not the cheapest out there!

CND Air Dry leaves your manicure with not only a super glossy finish, but by the time you've top-coated the second hand, your first is completely touch dry, perfect if you're in a rush or like me simply have no patience! It glides on to the nail like water & is fab for sealing designs.

I purchase my CND Air Dry from eBay HERE, where it is available in different sizes, from a small 9.8ml for under £10 if you want to try first, to a larger 68ml which you can get from between £16-£18 & is the one I go for. Now before you gasp in horror at the thought of paying that price for a topcoat like I did at first, my brain eventually caught up & realised that with the amount of topcoat you get in the larger bottle, roughly the equivalent of about 7 small bottles, which bought separately would cost around £60-£70....you're actually getting an absolute bargain! Especially as this bottle is guaranteed to last you yonks.

So there you have it, CND Air Dry has my heart in the HG topcoat stakes & is definitely one I recommend to all you lovelies! Let me know if you try it too & what you think! Thanks for reading!

Lotsa love to ya!

NOTD - ImPRESS Press On Accent Nails

Well helloooo there lovely readers!

Gosh it feels like I haven't blogged in yonks! Life has been all kinds of cray lately & time seems to be running away with it. Though I can't complain as its been a pretty good month. Last week saw yours truly partake in her first festival experience at the No Tomorrow Festival in Nottingham, which I'm happy to say was amazing! The weather was top too which made it all the better however the portaloo experience was every bit as traumatic as I've been told O_o That aside, I never considered myself a festival person at all but I am officially converted! Yesterday I finally got to experience a delightful afternoon tea at The Ritz with the mother ship. Being a huge afternoon tea fan, The Ritz is one I have always wanted to try & it was every bit as amazing as I'd been told! Naturally I got a bit snap happy on Instagram ;) (Aysh_xox)

In-between festivals, London trips & hectic work life, maintaining a decent manicure can be a problem. I'm sure you know me well enough by now that I'm rarely without some sort of mani action going on the talons! Therefore I'm always keen on discovering quick mani solutions that require minimum effort & that is where these *ImPRESS Press-On artificial nails come in...

There are quite a few different artificial nail products available on the market nowadays however I can honestly say that these offerings from ImPRESS, which I have blogged about before are hands down my absolute favourite & I will tell you why!

Reason number one...I love how the size of the nails is not too long, perfect for everyday wear & carrying on with day to day tasks without any problems. Each pack contains 24 nails of different sizes which are easy to match up to your nail size. These latest ones also contain 6 accent nails to create a more interesting look to your finished mani! This design is Bells & Wishes.

Second reason why these are the bees knees...NO GLUE REQUIRED! Instead the *ImPRESS nails each come with a secure adhesive attached to each nail. You simply peel the backing off & press on to the nail bed for a few seconds...et voila! The adhesive is strong & I managed to get a full days wear without any odd nails pinging off (which has occurred in the past with other artificial nails that have been glued on!)

When it comes to removing the nails, this also couldn't be easier. Even though the adhesive is strong, when you wish to remove you simply peel off the nail, which come away super easily & because no glue is used, your nail bed is damage free. Happy days.

Final reasons why I simply love *ImPRESS press on nails...not only do they come in a wide range of fab colours & designs to choose from, but also of course there is the ace benefit of ZERO drying time. Just peel off, press on & go. Literally!

The *ImPRESS press on nails range retail from £7-£9 & can be found in most Boots & Superdrug's. These are so worth having on stand by, especially those with hectic lifestyles & require quick mani fixes, I will definitely be stocking up for sure.

Thanks as always for reading lovelies!

Lotsa love to ya!

Disclaimer - * products featured were sent to me for my consideration. I am not affiliated with the brand nor paid for this post, this review has been as always my 100% honest opinion! :)