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NOTD: Max Factor Max Effect Mini Nail Varnish in 45 Fantasy Fire!

By Lina on March 8, 2012

Apparently, Max Factor Max Effect Mini Varnish in 45 Fantasy Fire is a much sought after shade! Sold out everywhere and going for triple the price on eBay, I was very lucky to get sent one precious sample alongside an exciting nail art kit!Unfortunately I had a bit of disaster with my nail art pen, no doubt my own fault, but the whole thing pretty much exploded in my hands! However I do have other nail pens so once I’ve hunted those out I will try again with my new fancy nail art tools. I do hope I get good at this nail art bizzo!As my nail art attempt didn’t go to plan, I’ve settled for simply wearing the varnish on its own. First off, I must state that I resolutely HATE the colour purple. In make-up, clothes, everything. So the colour issue was always going to be a prob, but I was hoping once on I would see what everyone else was going mad for. I kinda like the two-toney shimmer effect, but I think on its own it’s a bit watery. I applied three coats and felt my hands looked a little witchy when done. In future I might wear this varnish ON TOP of another dark colour, to get the pretty two-tone colour, but not such a fan of it on its own. But hey, everyone else seems to love this so I’m clearly in the minority!

I’ve also recently dug up another Max Factor Max Effect Mini Polish favourite - 25 Bright Orange!Wore this LOADS last summer, love it and the dinky mini polish size. Three/four coats gets that gorgeous vibrant orange, and it wears really well. I had applied mine on the train on Sat (as you see in the pic) and someone commented just yesterday (5 days later!) that my manicure looked nice and fresh – this is all sans top coat! So this is the shade I believe SHOULD be selling out.

Which do you like best? P.S. Sorry my cuticles are a bit ratty!!

DISCLAIMER: PR samp

This entry is filed under Max Factor, Nail Varnishes, Nails. | 3 Comments

Ciaté Colour SMASH in Black

By Lina on November 25, 2011

Ciaté’s foray into the crackle polish, what do you think?Ever since the launch of nails wraps and magnetic nails I personally am all over (as in, bored now) of crackle. However out of the two types of crackle I’ve tried, the second being this (the first was Barry M’s), Ciaté version is definitely the stronger contender. The crackle, or Smash, as Ciaté call it, is really light once it dries and very easy to apply. For me, the trick was a nice thick layer, two swipes (one left, one right, meeting in the middle) and then a second wait before the polish separates like thiiiiis. I like the matte texture so I skip top coat.

FYI, I’ve teamed it here with Ciaté Gold Digga which I think accompanies it really well. Please excuse all my gross stubby [too] short nails! I had a breaker that was almost a bleeder and the rest had to go. Was no saving it!

Back to the polish.. If crackle is your thing, this is a much better version than the high street Barry M ones. However it is far pricier, double the price at £9, but you are paying for the quality and it really shows. Despite in general not enjoying the crackle effect so much anymore, I think this one is very wearable without looking garish and actually rather pretty. I think it also quite suits my short, stubby nails.

Also available in White and Silver.

What are you guys thinkin’?

DISCLAMER: PR samp

This entry is filed under Ciaté, Nail Varnishes, Nails and tagged Ciaté Colour Smash Black. | 1 Comment

Neon Nails by Bourjois!

By Lina on June 11, 2011

Dear High Street. Thank you for finally catching up. That is all.

I love neon nails, a bright is great and all but it just doesn’t have the same edge a neon does. A few summers back I lived in my orange neon by Jessica; the week it came out I went from salon to salon hunting it down, eventually finding it and the rest of the neon limited edition collection. As much as I adore that particular polish quality and shade, it’s a shame that I had to spend an entire afternoon tracking it down, and couldn’t just pop into my local Boots or Superdrug and buy a decent high street take on the neon trend.

Well, it’s only taken about 6 years for neon to come back in fashion for the high street (or as far as I know, Bourjois only thus far) to catch up with what the public really, really want.

The latest offerings from Bourjois So Laque Ultra Shine Nail Laquers range..

L-R: Orange Creation, Magenta Show, Violet Couture, Jaune Trendy, Lime Catwalk and Bleu Model.

I am aware that not every colour from the new shades are real neons, some are just gorgeous brights.. But the pink (Magenta Show), green (Lime Catwalk) and orange (Orange Creation) are definitely in the neon family, the orange being the most truest.

Magenta Show (cuticles need doing, I know)

Thank you Sarah from I Hear Cosmetics for showing me your nails so I could copy them (as I had warned!) and Bourjois for sending the samples to complete the copying.

These So Laque varnishes by Bourjois are priced at £5.99 and I think they’re currently on three for two at Superdrug!

So, what do you think? I predict it’s definitely gonna be an orange summer again for me..

This entry is filed under Bourjois, Nail Varnishes, Nails. | 8 Comments

Ciate Paint Pot in Fun Fair

By Lina on June 2, 2010

I do love Ciaté nail varnishes, great formula and the most adorable bottles! So naturally I was thrilled to receive one of their new shades for SS10. Of the 6 new shades, Fun Fair (the one pictured) and Headliner (a vivid turquoise) instantly stood out as the yummiest shades, but unfortch Headliner was out of stock so I’m only displaying Fun Fair today… And here is how it looks on!

Very pretty. In the picture (and in the bottle) it looks more lilac than it does in real life, but in actuality it almost verges on a baby pink.

As with all Ciaté Paint Pots, two coats is really all that is needed (I often add a third for luck) and as it dries super speedily to a glossy finish you can totally skip the top coat. I always do with these.

Here is the rest of the SS10 collection..

Ditch the Heel, Talent Scout, Access All Areas, Main Stage, Headliner and Fun Fair

What do you think? You can purchase this collection and all Ciaté Paint Pots from www.ciate.co.uk for £9 each.

This entry is filed under Ciaté, Nail Varnishes and tagged Ciaté Paint Pot in Fun Fair. | 4 Comments

GOSH Nail Laquer in Miss Grey

By Lina on April 30, 2010

Last post of ‘nail week‘, and to end we have GOSH Nail Laquer in Miss Grey! I have waited soooooo long for this to come out ever since I spied it at the Superdrug Summer Press Show all the way back in February! For those that remember that post, this was the colour they painted on me paws and I did my best to keep it for as long as possible knowing it wouldn’t be out for another month or so. Goooorgeous colour.

Well, finally, after almost week after week of constant pestering I got sent one last week (not sure if it has hit the shelves yet, any week soon now, I’m sure), straight away I painted my nails in it. What do you think?

The pic above was taken at the Superdrug SS10 Press Show, clearly painted with a professional hand, not my novice one. It has topcoat and everything.

I really like GOSH nail varnishes, they have a great consistency and dry to a really shiny, glossy finish! I found them second to only Ciate when you needed a speedy paint job as they dried so quick! You could definitely paint and be out the door in five mins with this polish, but admittedly it’ll look great on that night but without a topcoat it can be prone to the chip as soon as the next day.

A lovely shade, just wish it came out sooner as it’s a bit too cool for Summer and would have been perfect for Winter!

Not sure the exact release date but GOSH Nail Laquer in Miss Grey should be out anytime soon, when it is out you can pick it up at Superdrug for £5!

This entry is filed under GOSH, Nail Varnishes, Superdrug and tagged GOSH Nail Laquer in Miss Grey. | 1 Comment

No7 Speed Dry Nail Colour in Beanie 03

By Lina on April 28, 2010

I think I’m going to call this week ‘Nails Week’ on M.U.T.M.O. as once again I have a post focusing on nails and I’ve got a few more nail reviews coming up so may as well keep it as a theme. I went to the Boot No7 Protect & Perfect INTENSE Beauty Serum first birthday yesterday, it was great fun. Amongst getting a look at all the new No7 products coming out and those recently released, I got fed champers and delicious snacks, whilst also managing to bag another manicure. This time I went for their take on greige with ‘Beanie’, one of 8 new nail shades they’ve recently bought out.

I have to check whether their polishes have been reformulated or whether it’s just the touch of a professional tending to my digits instead of my amateur self, but I felt the consistency had definitely thickened and was better to work with than previous polishes I’d owned by them. Base coat, two layers of varnish in ‘Beanie’, topcoat, and I was ready to go. It did take a while to dry, and in typical Lina fashion I kept getting little marks in it as I obviously don’t have the ability to stop waving my hands around for no reason, but other than that I got a super shiny gorgeous finish!

Day two of wear and there is only one chip on my thumb (that I remembered doing yesterday whilst fumbling for my Oyster card), and the rest are pretty much fine; these pics were taken on day two! I reckon I can probably get another two days wear of them looking decent before it’s time for a repaint so not bad lasting power but not amazing either. Great shade though, been looking for a nice greige for ages!

You can purchase No7 Speed Dry Nail Colour in Beanie for £6.75 from Boots.

This entry is filed under Boots No7, Nail Varnishes and tagged No7 Speed Dry Nail Colour in Beanie. | 4 Comments

Nailgirls New Shades for Summer!

By Lina on April 26, 2010

On Wednesday I took a trip town to Islington to visit the Nailgirls spa and get a manicure and also a sneaky peak of their new Summer shades!

It was a really lovely experience, and I managed to meet the two sisters behind the brand Linda-Louise and Joanna Burrell. I have to admit, whether this is just a case of inverse snobbery or not, I really appreciated the fact that they were regular gals who done good! No middle-upper class ‘ma and pa funded everything I have’, they were real, down to earth girls that have managed to achieve great things by their own merit alone.

These three sades are there new High Summer Collection..

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From left to right, Coral #2, Aqua #1 and Yellow #3.

And they also bought out a fabulous grass green, called Green #3.

I opted for the Aqua #1 shade from the High Summer range, thought it was a pretty take on the pastel nail trend but more wearable. Admittedly, I kept changing my mind about thirty times as all the new shades looked so lovely but finally managed to settle on this one.

I like how in the pic above someone is checking their manicure against the backdrop of my grey cardi!

I loved the look of my manicure and particular shade choice, and I have to admit it has hardly chipped at all since Weds (still wearing it now!)! But it did get indentation marks which is probably more from me being careless before it completely dried (apparently it takes three hours for a manicure to completely dry!). But all in all I was impressed with the quality and finish of the varnish and the experience of the treatment. The Aqua shade is definitely my favourite ‘pastel blue’ that I’ve seen so far; no hint of the milky or tippex effect, thankfully!

You can pick up the High Summer shades and the Green #3 on June 1st from www.nailgirls.co.uk for £10 each, or you can visit their spa in Islington at 50 Cross Street, Islington, London N1 2BA.