Disapointing NOTD: Barry M & Model's Own

I love painting my nails and I'm a sucker for any type of nail gimmick but here are my nail polish disapointments.

So whilst I was browsing the Barry M stand in Superdrug, I couldn't help but be lured in by the Sequin Nail Effects in colour SNP1 and in all honesty, I wish I'd never bothered:

The first top coat wasn't too bad, but didn't give the effect I had in mind (white nails with rainbow sparkles please). I also was not best pleased with the sand like texture but battled on and applied a second coat to see if it got any better:

It looks like a pixie threw up on my nails

The second coat made my nails look worse, not better! The rainbow sparkles clumped together and the white sandy texture was rough and uneven.

I'm not quite sure what went wrong with this nail varnish; was it the sandy texture? or the clumpy sequins? or the white base coat?

There's far too much going on with this polish; perhaps had it been a rainbow sequin topcoat, it would have worked much better.

I'm probably going to throw this sequin nail effect polish out and I most definitely wouldn't recommend buying the range. 

My second nail disappointment comes in the form of Model's Own Neon Ice in Toxic Apple:

Now, there's nothing wrong with this varnish per say... It applied like a dream and gave off a great neon glow after just two coats. I suppose this is a personal dislike; the nails really stood out so much that I got a headache looking at them.

My headache got so bad that I had to do something to tone the neon down:

Do I match the car or does the car match me?

I managed to turn the overly neon into a cool bit of nail art which looked so much better and got me loads of compliments.

Model's Own promised neon colour, and they delivered... it just wasn't for me. I might be swayed into buying a different neon colour but this Toxic Apple will be banished to the nail art drawer.

Roxy is moving flats!

Hello my lovely readers!

You may have wondered why I've been a bit quiet on here and twitter... No? Well I've been moving flats! My boy and I have finally got a little place to call our own! Now, as I currently reside in Wales, I had to get the train up to Sheffield to go to our old house, pack all my stuff up and then get it moved across; no easy task in a cage and on cructhes!

I had the easy job of packing up all the stuff. My poor boy had to get this lot down two sets of stairs then in a car then into the new place.

The first thing I done when I got to our new place, obviously, was organize my clothes. We get a giant wardrobe each so I was super excited to get everything organized. I managed to fill my wardrobe up far too easily (and that's after a trip to the charity shop).

The boy and I had a deal; I bought all the soft furnishings but he would buy all the big things like new desks and bookshelves. Now not to blow my own horn, but I think I am awesome at picking out furnishings:

How cute is this stag cushion? I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it and needed it in my life. I was actually quite lucky as I didn't know the colour of the sofa so I took a gamble in getting brown/cream coloured items. Luckily for me, my gamble paid off. 

The sofa is my domain and the lazy-boy was claimed by the boy as soon as we walked in. I bought this lush mustache cushion in Primark with the intention of putting it in the master bedroom but I think it looks ace on his chair and makes the place look a little less feminine.


After moving into our new flat, we went out for a celebratory breakfast:

I had three pancakes with blueberries and creme fraiche, and the boy had pancakes with bacon and maple syrup, and it was so delicious. 

Normal posting will resume this week and I hope you enjoyed my little lifestyle post and I might do another one if this proves popular.

P.S. There's still time to nominate me for Best New Beauty Blog in the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards *hint hint ;) * 

Benefit Swansea's Boutique Launch

Warning; photo heavy post!

I was a very lucky girl to receive an invite to the Swansea Benefit Boutique launch and was super excited to go and see the boutique in action. I was completely blown away by how amazing the Benefit stand looked and was whisked away down a corridor into Beauty School.

Bronze Betty, Beauty School, Smooth Sally

The Beauty School room, which can be booked for parties, held cute pink table and chairs and the wall was decorated with the story of the Benefit founders. At the back of the room, the range of Benefit products were displayed and begging to be tested. We were also tempted by a cake stand full of pink glittery Welsh cakes.

Straight away, we were allowed to dive in and try out the new products. 

 I was drawn straight away to the 'Creaseless Cream Shadow', which I got swatching straight away:

L2R:Holy Smokes, My Two Cents, Always A Bridesmaid, No Pressure, Bikini Toni, Birthday Suit.

As you can see, the shades of the ceaseless eyeshadow are absolutely beautiful and have the cutest names. My favourite shade is 'Holy Smokes' (the black colour), which creates a fantastic smokey eye look just by applying and blending with your finger across the lid. 

 

L2R: Holy Smokes, My Two Cents, Always A Bridesmaid, No Pressure, Bikini Toni, Birthday Suit.

 There are four colours that I didn't manage to swatch; Blue My Mind (a shimmery blue), Skinny Jeans (pewter), Bronze Have More Fun (a dark bronze) and R.S.V.P (a shimmery champagne). 

Seriously ladies, get out and try these shadows- you will fall in love. 

With my arm plastered in cream shadow, I set my sights on the longwear powder shadow:

 L2R: Blingo!, Raincheck? Pinky Swear, It's Complicated, Call My Bluff.

L2R: Quick Look Busy, Kiss Me I'm Tipsy, Nude Swings, Thanks A Latte, Pause For Applause, Milk It!

Unfortunately, in all the excitement I missed out 'Glit-Y Pleasure', a golden sand sort of colour. These power shadows have a great pigment and can be mixed together to create lush combinations (give me Blingo and Pause For Applause any day!). 

Next up, and my personal favourite, is the Ultra Plush Lip Gloss. 

(Swatched on the lovely Alyson)
Left to Right: Ice Breaker, Poutrageous, A-Lister, Lollibop, Fauxmance, Kiss You.

 Again, how cute are the names of the colours?

You might have seen me on instagram with A-Lister applied. The lip gloss mixture is so smooth and creamy and smells absolutely devine.  We built up the colour slowly and worked it into my lips for maximum effect. The end result was a beautiful soft pink. I actually really regret not buying this now and is on my wishlist!

 I also managed to try out Fake Up, as I missed the launch and hadn't managed to check it out for myself. 

 

Fake Up in Light, Medium and Dark.

As I'd missed the launch of fake up, I managed to get some time to check it out for myself. The lovely Alyson applied the lightest shade to my eyes, nose and lips and I was blown away by how wonderful it worked to hide problem areas and worked great in defining my Cupid's bow. I was sold and bought one right after.

 Finally, we were shown around the tanning and waxing rooms. Benefit Boutiques offers Fake Bake tanning for that glowing tan and a whole range of body waxes. 

The waxing service was especially impressive as Benefit offer hot wax as well as strip wax. Julie, the wax expert at Swansea explained that if you've ever had anything waxed, you probably had strip wax, a honey coloured wax which is smoothed and taken off with paper or muslin cloth.

Benefit however, offers hot wax. The hot wax is, as the name suggests, hotter and blue in colour. It's spread onto the area and left to dry. When dry, the ends of the wax are picked and the whole thing is lifted and taken off, taking all excess hair with it.  I would definitely recommend having the hot wax as it is a lot quicker, less messy and hurt less (great for more intimate areas).  

Strip wax, The Wax station, Hot wax

At the end of a being pampered and made over, we were given amazing goodie bags! I was so shocked to receive something as we'd be spoilt enough. Inside the bags were a full sizes Porefessional, They're Real and Porefessional. I was blown away by these gifts (two are top sellers) and  I'd run out of my Porefessional. Check for reviews on my goodies soon ;)

I had an amazing day and couldn't stop smiling all the way home.

Thank you to Alyson, Joanne, Lindsay, Julie, Daniella, and the rest of the team at Benefit Swansea!

xxxx






P.S. I'd be honored if you nominated me for the Cosmopolition Blog Awards for New Beauty Blog.