Graceful Glamour UK

Hi all, I hope you are all doing well on this beautiful sunny Saturday. A couple of weeks ago the lovely Hayley from Movies Make Up & More asked if anyone would like to do a button swap with her. I've really been loving her blog recently so of course I wanted to, but I didn't have a button and was absolutely clueless about how to make one. If you haven't seen Hayley's blog I really recommend you to go take a look ( click here to go there now ) Luckily for me, Hayley is better equipped technically than me and kindly offered to design and make me one. Isn't it beautiful? It's completely perfect for me and I love it, so a massive thank you hun! If anyone would be interested in doing a button swap or blog roll swap etc with me you can either leave me a comment on this post or e-mail me at charliedbeauty@hotmail.co.uk. I'm not sure if Hayley is still up for doing button swaps but you can always ask. I've been really rubbish lately at doing pa...

I was googling some nail art sites and I came across Wicked Nails  . There are some great nail art supplies on here and you also get free shipping when you spend over £15.00. So I thought I'd grab a few bits. Add caption Let's start with the Paint Set. I've really been enjoying seeing some great free hand nail art from my fellow bloggers so I had to grab some paints. This is the Paint Set For Nail Art Set 2 , you get the three brushes, eight paints (which come in a handy little storage box) and as a bonus you get a really sweet bottle of heart rhinestones. This was only £6.50 which I think is great for what you get.  Next up we have the Wheel Kit , they offer lots of different options for the wheel kits and this one comes with the wheel on the right, some nail glue and pin point tweezers for £5.50. The tweezers are usually £3.50 on their own so I think this kit is a bargain and I'm really pleased with it. The one on the left is the Logo Fimo ...

With Flash  Well, I still haven't managed to sort out everything from the house. I don't know how long it's going to take me to get through, but it seems the more I sort, the more mess I'm in! I know that apart from Laser yesterday, I've been mostly going for some bright colours recently so I thought I'd tone it down a bit and go for something completely different. Sinful Colors Winterberry is a very different and interesting gal indeed! In some lights she looks like a deep purpley taupe with silver shimmer, and in others she looks more grey with just a slight purple undertone. Yes she's more comfortable when it's cold outside, but she's braving the heat with me today. No Flash  Formula wise, this went on like a dream much the same as the other Sinful Colors polishes I've tried. One coat would have been ok, but you know me, I HAVE to use two! Drying time was nice and quick  and the beautiful shiny finish meant that I didn't nee...

With Flash   My goodness, it never rains but it pours. I thought that once I was moved out of my house I would have much more time to do blogging and catch up on my reading lists etc, but boy was I wrong! First off, I have way too much stuff to fit in my parents house and garage so I'm having to condense by re-packing and also throwing out/donating to charity shops. But to make things worse, my poor little girl has four back teeth coming through, tummy problems and just will not sleep at night. But look how much I've rambled, so let's get on with todays nail polish. This post is all about Sally Hansen's Laser . This is one of the polishes from their HD line so I had high hopes for her. She is essentially a blue jelly base, with very dense blue glitter that can sometimes flash purple in the right light. I have to admit, this one looks much better in the bottle as the purple is kind of lost on the nail, boooooo! No flash As you can tell, I didn't get...

2 coats with flash Ok, so I have to admit that the first thing that caught my eye with this polish was the name. I'm pretty sure most of you (I know at least one, Hayley) will have heard of New Kids on The Block. I am a MASSIVE fan and am a long time Donnie girl. On their album from 2008 The Block, there is a song called Twisted, so of course I had to grab this lovely Sally Hansen Twisted Pink . Another bright pink? Yes please! Oh yes I'm absolutely loving them, can you tell? So what can I say about her? She's a bright pink creme with a subtle but very pretty gold shimmer. I'd say that from memory the base pink is similar in brightness and colour to Ciate Jelly Bean but a bit more creamy (Jelly Bean has blue shimmer & is more of a 'crelly'). No flash  I've really liked the formula on all of the Xtreme Wear polishes and this gorgeous gal is no exception. Formula wise I' say she's very similar to the other polishes I've tried fr...

Yes I know I've already bought an unusually large amount of nail polish in the last couple of months, but I just can't seem to stop. Is it an illness? Do I really need all of these different colours? Well, those questions remain to be seen, but what I can say is that I really want all of them and as I don't smoke, drink or really spend my money on anything else for me, (most of my money is spent on my daughter) I feel like this is one little vice that isn't too bad. Left to right, Castello Blue, Capriccio Blue, Incantato Purple, Romanzo Pink. I'll start with the Borghese . You may be wondering why I've bought four more polishes from this brand when I wasn't too keen on Milano Taupe, but the truth is, I'd already ordered these before I had even tried it! Hmmm, well I hope these ones have a more manageable, softer brush.  Left to right, Pink Opal, Moon Beam, silver Metal, Wild Orchid, Cherry Bomb, Red Passion.  Lets move on to the Hedy...

Je ssies Girl cupcake Frosting, 2 Coats, no top coat, with flash. Here we have another stunning nail polish from Jessie's Girl , this time it's Cupcake Frosting . Until a couple of months ago I would never have worn a bright pink like this, but as my polish obsession is just starting to take off, I'm beginning to be a little more adventurous. Actually, I've been pushing myself more and more out of my comfort zone and my collection is beginning to be much more varied and fun! Let me start with the colour, she is a stunning medium bright pink with a cream finish. There are some blue undertones in there which makes her great for pale girls like me. I think I need some more bright pinks like her, what do you think? As above without flash.  The formula was a dream the same as the other Jessie's Girl polishes I've used, goes on smoothly, very forgiving and dries quickly. To get this lovely opaque finish I used two coats but no top coat, and look at tha...

Borghese Milano Taupe with flash. Whoooopppppsss! This post was meant to go up before the swirly stamping one, but with all the confusion of moving properly from my house this week, I'm afraid this was saved as a draft instead of being scheduled. But here she is, the beautiful Milano Taupe.  As you know my polish tastes are branching out somewhat from the nudes and pastel pinks, but when I saw this little beauty on Cosmetic Kingdom, I had to pop her in my basket. It seems that 'taupe' seems to be a popular colour at the moment but there are so many different variations of what it is. There seems to be grey, purple, brown or pink ones and to be honest, I would say she sits somewhere between the purple and pink 'taupey land'.  The formula was nice, it seems a little thin on the first coat but levels up and is more opaque with the second, but I still needed a third for a better finish. What I didn't like about this was the brush, with a weir...

With flash  So here we are again with some stamping goodness. I must admit I've been really having to push myself to take the time and do stamping mani's as I've got to have all of my things cleared out of my old house and make it all shiny and lovely by Saturday (I'm writing this on Thursday). But on top of that I still have to look after a lively one year old who is in to EVERYTHING, and teething!  So to start off I applied three coats of the Borghese Milano Taupe (click here for that post) and a layer of my trusty Orly Top 2 Bottom, then waited around thirty minutes. I had a little flip through my Bundle Monster stamping plates and decided on the 'swirly whirly' design on BM222. I applied this design with the Konad White special polish then added another layer of the Orly to lock in the design.  No flash  Well there you go, what do you think? I know it didn't come out perfect, but I didn't think I did too badly. I found this d...

Hi all, I hope you are having a better day than me. I'm finding myself more and more stressed all of the time at the moment and seriously need a holiday! It's mostly due to my current housing situation and a few other things too. So if my next few posts make me sound a little tightly wound, then you'll realise why.  I recently got a few nice polishes in a haul and everyone seemed to be most interested in the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri's so I thought I would do a few swatches and review for you. These seem to be fairly popular in the blogging world as you can use them for stamping. My swatches show two coats on the index and middle, and just the one on the ring and pinkie for Pink Blink and Blue-Away but just one coat for Raspberry Race. I only used one coat for Raspberry Race as she looked opaque enough to me, but in the pictures it shows I could have used a second. Let's start with Pink Blink, she is a beautiful pale pink cream which is very girl and sweet. ...

With flash Hi all, it's me back again with another mani. What a shocker huh? It's just a fairly short post as I am unbelievably busy but I still wanted to show you my mani for Pink Wednesday.  No flash So first off I started with my usual Orly Top 2 Bottom base coat, then added two coats of Sally Hansen Wildlife (see swatches and review here ) and then another layer of the Orly Top 2 Bottom. After about ten minutes I stamped with my Bundle Monster BM207 plate using Sally Hansen Pink Blink. I have reviewed Pink Blink along with the other Insta-Dri Polishes I recently bought and that will be up tomorrow.  Well I warned you it would just be a quick visit! I hope you are well. Take care all, byeeeeeee x :-)

With flash  Evening all, sorry it's been a few days since my last post but my laptop had a slight blowing up situation. I suddenly heard a loud bang and smelt burning, then I looked down and there was smoke and a little flame! I couldn't believe it, I only recently got a new screen and charger for it. PANTS! I've ordered a refurbished Mac Book Pro, but that wont be here until at least the end of the week so I'll only be able to post when I can borrow a friends laptop.  So it's that time of the week for the We Love Nails post and this time it is a mani based on a film. I was just itching to do a mani using my Bundle Monster stamping plate with shoes on, so I thought I would have a go at doing Cinderella. Now if you read my posts regularly you will know that I'm fairly new to nail art so don't judge me too harshly! First of all I started with my normal Orly Top 2 Bottom Base Coat, two coats of Jessie's Girl Stilleto and a layer of Sally Hansen Max...

Orly Top 2 Bottom, 2 coats SH Wild Life, no top coat, with flash.  Today I have the beautiful shiny Sally Hansen Wild Life from the Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear line. I got this together with some other polishes in my haul from Cosmetic Kingdom ( click here to see the haul ). First of all i just want to say WOW! Isn't she striking? These were taken in the evening so my lighting is not the best, but I'm hoping you can tell how incredible she is. I'd call her a fuchsia which leans purple with a stunning metallic finish.  Formula wise she is quite thin, but also pigmented  and easy to work with, so two coats is enough to give you this lovely opaque coverage. The drying time is super duper quick and this lovely shiny finish is with no top coat, just her natural loveliness. This felt so smooth and nice after just a few minutes, I even went rooting around in my handbag for something and I'm happy to report no casualties!  As above, no flash, in ...

Orly Top 2 Bottom, 2 coats JG Mermaids Lagoon, no top coat, with flash. This is my first experience with a Jessie's Girl Polish, but I have to say I'm very pleased. The first time I heard about Jessie's Girl Cosmetics was on JulieG's Youtube channel (she's fab btw) so it's actually kind of great that my first product from them happens to be from the JulieG Nail Polish Collection! This gorgeous teal delight is called Mermaids Lagoon , and I think this is a fantastic name for her. She is a deep teal colour with some gorgeous subtle golden shimmer. I'm so out of my comfort zone with this colour, but I'm finding myself more and more happy outside of it. As above, no flash. I couldn't ask for more in the way of formula, this was opaque in just one coat, but really pops with a second coat. I think that the golden shimmer also seems to shine through more with the second coat. Drying time is kind of average but the finish is just lovely so ...

Orly Top 2 Bottom, 2 Coats OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh?, Orly Top 2 Bottom, with flash.  Hi all, here I am again. Today I have a really interesting nudey polish to show you called,  Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh ? This nude little gal is originally from this years Holland Collection. This is one polish of three that  that I got in a recent haul ( click here to see the haul ). This is a really nice creamy nude which is a cross between putty and khaki. It's so refreshing to see a nude that has green undertones, it makes it really neutral but different to allot of other nudes out there. The formula was really nice on this one, she's a great creme polish to work with and is a little thicker than some other nudes, so you only need to paint two coats to get this fab opaque coverage. She dries lovely and quick between coats, and gives you a nice shiny finish. The pictures shown are with Orly's Top 2 Bottom top coat, although it was fairly shiny without it. ...

Orly Top 2 Bottom, 2 coats Ciate Jelly Bean, no top coat, with flash. I know,I know, I'm doing an awful lot of posts about nail polish recently, but I can't help it! I think that you should always write about what you know and what you are really loving at the moment. I am completely polish obsessed and proud of it. This Juicy little beauty really does look good enough to eat, doesn't she? Ciate Jelly Bean is a fantastic bright pink with some very subtle blue shimmer throughout. The blue shimmer looks allot more prominent in the bottle and almost disappears on the nail. To be honest I think this beautiful pink stands on it's own without the shimmer though. What do you think? Formula wise this lovely creme polish is outstanding as I've found with the other Ciate I've tried. She was opaque with the first coat, but as you know I always have to do two, and I think the extra coat makes the colour more vibrant. Drying time was good and a lovely finish, it ...

Yes that's right, I've got more nail mail to show you! I have found a really great website that sells discount nail polish and as their prices are good, I just couldn't resist. The website I'm talking about is Cosmetic-Kindom.co.uk  . When they say discount, they really mean it, for instance the Jessie's Girl polishes only cost an unbelievable £0.65! But there's more, when you spend over £10.00 you get free UK delivery and it only took three working days for my order to arrive. My polishes came packaged very nicely and very secure, I'd say this  has been the best website I've come across for an all round purchasing experience. Before anyone asks, no I'm not being paid for this post, I just like to share my experience so other polish addicts can get some good deals. They've also got a large range of make-up, but as you know I'm loving my polish at the moment so didn't really look at it. Left to right, SH Deep Blue Sea, Wild Life, Las...

Orly Top 2 Bottom, 3 Coats OPI Pedal Faster Suzi, Konad White BM205, Orly Top 2 Bottom, with flash.  Evening all, I have to apologise for my lack of posting and replying to messages, but I had to give myself the weekend off. As you may know from my For Audrey Post ( click here to see it ) my Nan is very ill and there has been allot going on so I just didn't have time to post. This is a mani that I did last week, but as it was a bit of a fail I didn't post it until now.  For the base I started with a layer of Orly Top 2 Bottom, then three coats of OPI Pedal Faster Suzi . This polish was a little sheerer and patchy that I thought it would be, but it's still very pretty. I will be doing a review on it in the future.  I then decided to stamp with the butterfly design on my Bundle Monster BM205 plate using Konad Special White. I was inspired to use this by another blogger using it recently (I'm sorry I can't remember who) as her mani came out so beautifull...

Remember that beautiful Essie polish French Affair that I showed you? (If you haven't seen it you can click here) Didn't she look lovely all pretty, pink and shiny there on my nails? Well I wish it had stayed that way, but  oh no, there was major trouble ahead so I wrote this little post to share my fail with you. I'm so sad because in my head this was meant to be so pretty! But that's the way life goes sometimes, it doesn't always turn out how you planned it.   Now I had some massive issues but they were through no fault of the Essie polish, but more my Sally Hansen Maximum Growth Top and Base coat. Now as you may have seen from my haul ( click here to see it if you haven't ) I got two of these and one of them was a slightly different colour. I have been using one of them since that haul arrived and I hadn't really had much of a problem with it. It's now half way used and when I applied it over the Essie, it dried to a very thick bubbly ickyne...