Graceful Glamour UK

With flash  I've been absolutely loving bright colours at the moment, I'm sure you've realised by now. For this weeks Pink Wednesday I decided to go for Sally Hansen's Hot Magenta . She is an absolutely stunning shiny, shimmery hot magenta. I suppose that was probably a given considering the name, but she really is true to it. Formula wise she is a smooth two coat dream, glides perfectly on to the nail and drying time is very quick between coats. I'm absolutely adoring this Xtreme Wear line of polishes and I'm absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt going to be purchasing more of them. Without Flash  I wanted to add a little something extra so applied four of my Ciate Roses, and a large pearl to the ring finger. I'll keep it quick as it's very late and I've had a tough day. Are you rocking a pink mani this Wednesday? I'd love to know what you are wearing. Take care all, byeeeeeee x :-)

With Flash  Hi all and welcome back to my ever more nail orientated blog. I didn't actually think about the fact I'd only been posting about nails, it just sort of happened. I suppose it's because I'm really only just getting 'polish obsessed' and the things I'm most excited about at the moment are nail polish and nail art. For the base colour I used Sally Hansen White On from their Xtreme Wear line. I didn't really think about swatching her on her own as she's just a basic shiny white. If you do want me to swatch her, just let me know. To be honest, I wouldn't wear her alone, she's just a base for nail art. I used two coats for a nice opaque finish. Without Flash  For the tiger stripes I used Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Presto Pink with my Bundle Monster BM223 plate. This is an amazing polish and if you haven't seen my review on her, you can go take a look here . This mani took me a long time to do, I'm not sure if...

With Flash  I can't help it, I keep wanting to call this polish Pepto Pink! But actually her real name is Presto Pink . Yet another polish from Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri line, but I can't help it, they are fab. You see, each one I've used work well for stamping, but they also look nice on their own making them more versatile than the Konad polishes. Presto Pink is a stunning medium creme pink with cool undertones and a dusky quality to her. She actually reminds me a bit of a polish I've worn recently, I'll have to have a dig through and do a comparison for you. When I look at her sitting here on my nails I can hear that Stevie Wonder song, isn't she lovely playing through my head. Yes I know I'm weird! No Flash The polish glides on very easily and with that special contoured brush, I managed to do each coat with one stroke apart from my thumbs. As with the other Insta-Dri's I've used two coats on the index and middle, then just the ...

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...

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...

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 :-)

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 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 ...

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...

Before you say/ think it, I know what a terrible clean up job! But as I was going to stamp over it a few minutes after I took these pictures, I just did it quickly because I was losing daylight. I'm finding this stamping business very addictive and feeling the need to stamp over nearly all my mani's at the mo. So I'm going to talk to you about Essie's French Affair . As I've mentioned more than once, I'm absolutely loving Essie as a brand and this polish is no exception. This pretty little lady was from last years A French Affair Collection. I really liked the polishes from that collection and I have two others, Topless and Barefoot, and Sand Tropez. She is a gorgeous pale pink cream with a tint of lavender. I was a little worried how the formula would be as I'd seen a couple of reviews that said it was troublesome. I had no problems with her and my pictures show three coats to give a nice opaque creamy finish. This is another win for Essie a...

Orly Top 2 Bottom, 4 Coats OPI SRU, 1 coat SH Pink Proposal, Orly Top 2 Bottom, with  flash.  Hi all, here we are back at Wednesday again! How did that happen so fast? I swear time is seeming to go so fast at the moment and think it's to do with me running out of time to find a house. I've already moved in to my parents house to try and make me feel more secure, and not jump at the first house ending up in one that I don't really like. I just can't believe there's no houses that I like at the moment. As above, in sunlight. So, on to Pink Wednesday. This week I've chosen to do a pink combo. It didn't start out that way, I was originally just going to paint my nails with OPI Step Right Up but it came out more of a milky white with just a tinge of pink. This polish is also very sheer and it took me four coats to get it anywhere near opaque and it was still patchy. I also felt it just wasn't pink enough for a Pink Wednesday Mani. As top, i...

Today I have surprise, surprise, another pink nail polish! It's Essie's Neo-Whimsical from the 2010 collection, The Art Of Spring. I'd seen plenty of swatches online and I just knew I had to have it! So of coarse it was the first from the Essie's out of my haul I had to try. It's a pale milky pink with a hint of lilac. The formula is super duper creamy and appeared to be going on very well and smoothly. Drying time between coats was good and I used three coats to get it opaque, but that's to be expected with a pastel cream. I was really pleased with it as when I'd finished my third coat it looked beautiful. After a little while I went to get a drink from the kitchen and when I looked my nails they were all bubbly (as you can see from the non-flash picture). Now this is very strange, because I painted my toes at the same time and they didn't have any bubbles at all. Hmmmm, I'm going to assume that it's user error and not the polish. ...

Orly Artificial Sweetener, 2 coats, no top coat, with flash. I was so happy to receive my order after waiting for it for so long so obviously I had to try out one of my new nail polishes last night! I had allot to choose from so I just closed my eyes and grabbed one, the one I picked out was Orly Artificial Sweetener . First of all lets address the packaging, the lid on these bottles is made of a sort of rubber which is super duper easy to hold and makes applying your polish a really nice comfortable experience. Then you have the fact that you get a whopping 18ml of product which is great if you ask me, some polishes you get half as much. No flash in the shade This shade is from their Spring 2012 collection, Cool Romance. I would call this a light dusty pink with a gorgeous subtle gold shimmer running through it. In the shade it looks just like a plain cream, but when the light hits it, it looks absolutely stunning! Even my Dad paid me a compliment on it this morning a...