Graceful Glamour UK

Well it seems to have been another busy/stressful week so far and this week has run away with me! There was lots I wanted to get done, but as usual with my Fibromyalgia and Crohns Disease, sometimes it just doesn't happen. My little one seems to be zapping what little energy I do have, but that's nothing new!  I wanted to get my haul post up with swatches, but I didn't manage that just yet. But I do have what I was most excited to tell you about, the I ❤ Makeup Bleeding Heart Highlighter. To say this is stunning, is a complete understatement. Ok so first let's look at the packaging. I love that it comes in a box with some tape on, as I'm always worried when I buy in store, that someone has had their fingers all in the product. Eeeeewwwww!! But more on that later... When you open the box, you find a lovely heart shaped box with a bleeding heart, with the name and product size etc. That brings me nicely on to my next point, the price of this product is...

With flash.  I'm not really a bright red nail polish wearer, but as you know I've been trying to broaden my horizons in the polish department so I thought I would try a Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear one. I've been really loving this line and I've got Cherry Red to show you.  She is a really lovely bright, true pillar box, creamy red. I can't believe how much I adore this colour! There is no shimmer art all, but somehow she manages to almost glow. Without flash, artificial light. I couldn't fault the formula one little bit. She was pretty much opaque at one coat, but you know I always like to add a second. The formula is neither too runny or thick, and is very forgiving. Drying time is good and you get a beautiful shiny finish. These pictures are with Sally Hansen Continuous Treatment as a base coat and no top coat. That's all from me for now, I hope you are well. Take care, byeeeeeee x :-)

With flash  Hi all, I hope you well. It's been such a strange few days, almost as if I've been walking around in a dream. I can't put my finger on why, but I'm just not feeling right. Maybe it's because of my Nan's illness, or maybe it's because I'm living back with my parents, but there's definitely something that isn't sitting right with me.   Today I have another polish from the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear line, Deep Blue Sea . I hope you aren't getting bored with me keep posting about them, but they really are excellent polishes and it makes me want to wear them! No flash, artificial light .  I would call her a medium blue with allot of silver foilish shimmer. The silver shimmer is so dense that in some lights the polish actually looks like a pale blue. I've really been loving blues at the moment and she is one of the most beautiful ones i have in my collection. Again with this line, she is one of the most gorgeous polis...

With flash. I am in a very good mood today as I finally went to see the house I have been waiting for. Not only that, but because the house isn't finished yet, the landlord is going to decorate according to how I want it! How good is that? I get to decide on tiles in both the kitchen and bathroom and then the paint for the rest of the rooms. I am meeting with him in two weeks to finalise the decisions. Today I have another polish from Borghese, Castello Blue. This is a nice very pale dusty blue, with lots  of grey in. The colour is very creamy with zero shimmer.  Formula wise I hated her! She was streaky, terribly difficult to work with and took three very awkward coats to reach opacity.  To be honest though, she could have used a fourth, but as I decided to stamp I left it at three.There was terrible drag from the brush for the second and third coats which was also a pain. Drying time was good, but also made application more difficult when overlapping. ...

2 Coats With Flash A couple of weeks ago I did a mani based on a film for the We Love Nails group and I chose Cinderella, if you didn't see it you can click here  . At the time I promised you a review of the base colour, Jessie's Girl in Stiletto  so here you go.  This is another of the polishes from 2011 JulieG Collection . I have been so happy with the polishes from the rest of this collection, and this little lady is no exception. She is a taupe, but not like any I've ever seen. I would call her a browny, beigey, grey taupe with a fabulous silver shimmer. I like to call her my nude with attitude! I don't have anything that is even remotely similar in my collection so she's a great addition.  As above but no flash and taken in artificial light. Similar to the other polishes in this collection, the formula was beautifully smooth and very forgiving. I did use two coats for my mani, but I reckon if you are careful you could do it in just one....

SC Starfish, 2 Coats With Flash.  I know I said I was going to show you the stamping tomorrow, but as I had it ready I thought I would let you see it a little early. I had a pretty horrible experience yesterday, I was quite innocently walking to the shops with my little girl in her buggy and a car reversed up the curb and hit us. Basically, the man driving the offending vehicle couldn't get out of his parking space, and didn't look as he reversed straight in to us! But to make matters worse when I screamed and was upset he'd hit us, he started shouting at me saying I should have realised he was blocked in and that he would have to mount the pavement and waited for him to do so. Hmmmm.  For my base colour I decided to go with Star Fish from Sinful Colors . She is a beautiful soft dusky pink with a slight lilac undertone and a crelly texture. I was actually kind of surprised by this as she looked rather more creamy in the bottle but I'm really pleased as s...

No flash Well here we all are then, where on earth has this week gone? In fact, how the devil did we get to July without me realising it?! I really notice how time is flying by how grown up my daughter is getting. I know, I know, she's only just over 15 months old, but this time last year she was a little baby who didn't even sit up yet and now she's running around, talking and playing football! As you know I've been really loving the Sally Insta Dri line of polishes and today I have swatches of Metallic Momentum to show you. She is a stunningly beautiful silver foil, but with a beige olive tinge to her. It's such an interesting colour and very different to anything I have, or have seen available. With Flash Her formula is very nice and opaque and as usual for my Insta Dri swatches the index and middle fingers have 2 coats, and the ring  and pinky have just the one. As you can tell, the one coat is beautifully opaque, but two just gives it some extra...

Hi everyone, I hope you are all well. Finally I'm starting to get a bit more sorted with all my boxes thank God, as I was starting to think it was a never ending job. I also heard from my letting agent and I can see a brand new house that I've been waiting for, yay! It is a bit smaller than my last house, but it will be fine for me and my little girl. I already think I'm going to take it, but I know I should look before finally making up my mind. With Flash So today I have another of the Sinful Colors polishes, Let's Talk . Now I have to tell you that my pictures do this colour no justice at all, it seemed like every time I took a picture, the colour changed! I suppose it didn't help that I had to take my pictures in the evening under a fairly 'sucky' light. I would say that the picture without flash is probably closer to her real beauty. From the other bloggers swatches of her, I think they had similar problems to me as they all seem to differ quit...

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...

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...

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. ...

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. ...

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...

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...

Hello all, and how are we today? This pretty little polish seems to have put me in rather a good mood, and I thought I'd share it with all of you. Which one am I talking about? It's Essie's Lilacism, and isn't she luuuuurvvly? It was originally from the Essie Art Of Spring 2010 Collection (the same one as Neo Whimsical) and it was also in my recent haul. To me this seems to be a beautiful lilac with blue undertones. It has a slightly thin formula but it was still nice to work with and I got this nice opaque coverage with just two coats. I found it dried nice and quickly between coats and also gives a nice glossy finish, which is a winner in my  book! I really like this polish and it's still relatively easy to find if you want to try it out. So what do you think of Lilacism? Do you have it? Do you want to get it? That's all from me for now, byyyyyyeeee x :-) All pictures are two coats and no top coat. Top picture is with flash, middle pict...

Evening all, and I hope you are enjoying this glorious Wednesday. The weather has been absolutely wonderful today in the UK apart from an iddy biddy little storm that only lasted about twenty minutes. So it has put me in a slightly good mood. I use the word slightly as I had a horrible start to the day with a phone call from my letting agent. He was calling to tell me that after a week of keeping me hanging on thinking I had a house and moving in on the fifteenth of June, the landlady has decided to reject my application! But for now, lets get on to the polish. For this weeks Pink Wednesday polish we have Orly's Cupcake. This is a pale creamy bubblegum pink and actually looks a bit like strawberry milkshake. It's a very girly shade and is very much at home in among all the pretty girly pinks in my collection. Formula wise it glides on like a dream, I'm finding this allot with the Orly's I've bought. Even on the first coat it went on really nicely and fa...

China Glaze For Audrey 2 coats, Sally Hansen Base Coat, no top coat with flash. If you read my haul last week you will have seen that I had a mystery Tiffany style blue sent to me instead of the other China Glaze polish I ordered. One of my followers told me that it looks very much like 'For Audrey'. I've had a look at some swatches online and I think she is right. This is such a strange thing to happen as around the same time, that's when we found out that my Nan's condition had worsened. So why is it a coincidence? Her name is Audrey! As I told you a couple of days ago my Nan has been poorly for some time and a couple of weeks ago we found out she has cancer in both her lungs. Well, a few days ago we were also told that it has spread to her brain, and it was a terrible blow. Cancer is such a terrible disease and I really feel for anyone who is either going through it themselves, or has a family member suffering. It's such a vicious horrible thing...