Micellar Water...Save or Splurge?

Micellar water is a cleansing product that is pretty widely available from lots of different brands but I thought I'd compare and review the two that I use, as I have enjoyed using up both and they have made a difference to the way I have always took my make-up off.

I have always been pretty lazy with cleansing, I make to take my make-up off every night but often end up using any sort of wipe, face wipe, baby wipe...whatever wipe I could find. Wipes are not great for your face though as they tend to have chemicals in that irritate your skin and they don't entirely remove excess dirt or grime on the skin. Cleansing with this kind of solution is much more gentle on the skin and it dissolves make up quite easily, just make sure you have a good stash of cotton pads.

Bioderma Sensibio H2O Michelle Solution - £9.99
Hugely raved about and rightly so. The pro's? It easily removes all of my make-up, it's mild and it leaves my skin feeling fairly clean. I always try and wash my face afterwards because I never feel fully cleansed unless I've done the full whack. Although, I suspect I may have more luck with the Sebium H2O which is more specifically targeted towards oily skin types.

L'oreal Skin Perfection - £3.32
I also think this is a really effective at cleansing make-up off your skin and it's so cheap in comparison to the other cleansing waters out there. It does an equally as good job removing make-up as the Bioderma, although you may need to wipe your face a few more times to fully remove everything. If your looking for a bargain beauty buy, then you will probably love this.

My preference would still be Bioderma, I just feel a tad more clean after using it but I would repurchase both depending on how the pennies are that month.

Review: Vertbaudet Play Kitchen

I thought I would review something a bit different today and that something just happens to be my little girls play kitchen from Vertbaudet that we purchased quite a long time ago now. It's  We bought it for her 2nd Christmas in 2012 and to be honest at the time, I think she probably was a little bit too young for it as she wasn't really in that whole role play stage of childhood. Nowadays, it's definitely one of her more loved toys and she loves having little pretend dinner parties.



So I'll start off with the good points about it and the reasons why I opted for this one over other kitchens. First of all, it looked beautiful and fitted perfectly into the owl/bird theme in her room which is what initially attracted me. Secondly, it was cheap, like really cheap considering it's not plastic and a lot of the wooden effect toy kitchens from toy places such as Early Learning Centre and Little Tikes are over £100. I paid around £40 from someone on eBay selling damaged goods and returns and you can see on the photo above, if you look carefully that it has the slightest bit of damage on the right corner of the door but this has never affected the functionality so I'd still say I got quite a bargain. My final hurrah about the kitchen has to be the added bonus of storage space within the unit which was a biiiiiiiig selling point for someone like me who hates clutter and seeks out any method of hiding messy looking toys. I'm sure I'm not the only anal person who is like this....if you throw out the majority of McDonald's, magazine, lucky bag etc toys by the end of the day, your not alone. One last tiny pro, there are wheels underneath the kitchen so it is also super easy to move if need be.

Now for the not so good points about it, the main thing being that it's not really got much to fiddle with in comparison to the other toy kitchen's out there such as IKEA's Duktig Mini-Kitchen which comes with a snazzy light up hob and realistic sink area or the Kidkraft Pink Vintage Kitchen which is just brilliant in general and has knobs that click...call me sadly nostalgic but I loved the satisfaction of a clicky button or knob as a kid! Another final thing, is that it is quite wide so if you have a petite toddler then they might struggle to reach all the interesting bits like the taps and sink.

I honestly really struggled to come up with negatives to say about the kitchen although I'd say the lack of features that other kitchens have compared, may heavily sway which type you go for. If you have a little one that loves role play they will still have hours of fun with this provided you throw some accessories in such as toy kitchen utensils and dinnerware. This particular kitchen isn't available from Vertbdaudet anymore as far as I'm aware but I did spot a few on eBay whilst writing this post. If you want a similar style though, Vertbaudet tend to always have the wooden style play kitchens on their website but to my knowledge, they change the designs every year...consequently the old ones normally go into sale so keep an eye out for when their sales go live.

From Top Left: Pan Set from Spotty Green Frog, Duktig Dinnerware from IKEA, Wooden Toaster Set from AliExpress, Wooden Lolly Set from Great Little Trading Co.

The accessories featured inside the kitchen are also from Vertbaudet but I'm not sure if they stock them anymore, you can get similar sets online from a broad range of retailers as I've pictured above. By the way, the Duktig range by IKEA is pretty awesome...me and the other half were pretty curious as to how the plates haven't broke yet so we tested this notion on our laminate floor, living life on the edge I hear you say...anyways the flipping plate did not break, crack, nothing, nada...they certainly are child proof. The tea set on top of her kitchen is from a mail order company called 24Studio, again I don't think they stock this anymore as it was a long time ago when I purchased everything. All is not lost though, you can get the same set online from here: Spotty Green Frog.

I really hope this has helped anyone considering purchasing a play kitchen or given you an idea of a good present idea for a toddler girl or boy.

Avon Anew Vitale Skincare Review

I bought a few bits from Avon quite a while ago now so it's only right that I finally do a little review on the skincare I purchased from the Anew Vitale range. The Vitale collection contains similar products to Avon's other age specific skincare but it's targeted at women aged 25+. As you may already know, I'm quite a fan of the much raved about duo eye cream they sell (you can see my review here) so I had pretty high hopes.

I purchased three products from the range, there's also a BB cream and a cleanser. I don't think the BB cream had even been launched when I picked my little haul up otherwise I would of loved to try that out.

Anew Vitale Day Cream SPF 25

First off, the smell of both creams is amazing although if your not into heavily scented products you may not particularly like that. Scent aside, I'd say it comes fairly close to living up to it's claims of helping fight the first signs of stress and fatigue. My skin definitely feels plumper and appears dewier when I've applied this however  it's a little too rich for days when I'm wearing make-up underneath. The fact it contains a good amount of SPF is obviously great as it's so important to protect your skin from the sun but again, I feel like this kind of adds to the greasy feel I often get from using products containing SPF. Despite this not being entirely suitable for my skin type, it definitely serves a purpose as nice, nourishing skin treat for days when I'm not wearing make-up.

 

Anew Vitale Night Cream

This smells just as lovely as the day cream but it's not as rich and creamy, something I wasn't expecting to be honest as I usually find that night creams are generally heavier on the skin. I've took a little picture of some swatches below so you can see the difference in texture. Having said that, I love this cream and feel like I'm giving my skin a really nice treat at bedtime. The texture is very different from the day cream as it's more of a gel texture which I think helps it to sink in a lot easier. In terms of the benefits it provides for your skin, it is pretty consistent with the day cream as it makes my skin feel dewy and nourished. The night cream is apparently supposed to help fight the first visible signs of ageing and fine wrinkles, and whilst I can't comment on it's wrinkle fighting abilities as I don't have any yet, I don't feel as though it tightens my skin like other anti-ageing products I've tried.

Anew Vitale Eye Gel Cream

All I can really say is that this is just a nice eye cream, there's definitely better ones out there in terms of making the skin around your eyes brighter and more radiant, I'd personally recommend Clinique All About the Eyes for brighter peepers. It also takes far too long for my liking to sink in, maybe I'm being impatient but in comparison to the Anew Clinical Eye Lift, it takes an age to sink in and it's just generally not that great in my personal opinion.

In a nutshell, I would definitely consider repurchasing the night cream once I run out because it smells be-a-u-diful and it makes my skin feel lovely. As for the day cream, it's just not great for my skin type and the eye cream is nothing special, so I don't think I'd be grabbing these again unless they were on a seriously bargainous offer. If you have normal to dry skin, definitely try the range out otherwise I'd stick to trying to get hold of some samples before you splurge on the full size shabang.

I have a burning request for someone to please recommend some creams that contain SPF that are non greasy. As much as I'd love to protect my skin, I just can't face wearing cream with SPF as most I've tried make my skin stupidly greasy! Any recommendations, would be much appreciated.

Have a lovely rest of the week!

Products available from: Avon Anew Vitale Day Cream SPF 25 £19.50, currently on offer for £13.00, Anew Vitale Night Cream £19.50, currently on offer for £13.00 and Anew Vitale Eye Cream £16.00, currently on offer for £11.00.

Avon Anew Clinical Eye Lift Pro

I thought that now is probably a really good time to give my current eye cream a full review seeing as I have been using it for well over a month now. I'll be completely honest here in stating that I am no eye cream guru and I have only tried around 2-3 eye creams in my entire life. My poor peepers were neglected for many years until I really got into caring about skincare and the consequences of getting old! Nowadays, I feel almost guilty if I haven't used eye cream.

Based on my genes, it is more than likely that my eyes will age more so than the rest of my face. I already have quite dark shadows under my eyes purely from lack of sleep and going off family history, I will probably end up getting quite a bit of puffiness around the eye area. When I spotted this award winning eye cream in an Avon brochure, naturally I wanted it and luckily my mum overheard and got me this for Christmas. Come Christmas time I was absolutely scraping the barrel of my Clinique All About the Eyes sample so this was a much needed and wanted gift (thanks mum!). 

Not gonna lie, I was using this all wrong the first couple of days but I was still amazed by the results it had gave me. The product comes in the form of an upper eye gel and an undereye cream but I had been applying the cream to my undereye and eylid area, whilst only applying the gel to my browbone. However, I think you are actually supposed to just apply the cream under the eye. Regardless of my error, I noticed that the skin had significantly lifted and it appeared as though I had more eyelid than before (very technical explanation there, I know). This is something I have been longing for since I started experimenting with eyeshadow because no matter how brilliant I make my eyeshadow look, it always seems to be hidden due to the skin above my lid potruding over my eyelid and my small eyelids furthermore do not help! I also prefer to dab on eye creams unless I'm in a rush and I find that everything sinks in fairly quickly, something I definitely wasn't expecting from the gel half of the product. Just to note, the gel feels quite sticky when first applied but the tackiness completely disappears once it has sunk in.

Clearly, this isn't like your standard one step eye cream product and as much as my can't be arsed self thought I would really hate this concept, I actually don't in the slightest. In fact, it's safe to say I positively look forward to this step in my skincare routine. This retails at £19.50 in the UK which I'd say is very reasonably priced considering how good this product is and I will most definitely be repurchasing.

To sum it up, this little tub of wonder does exactly what it says on the front i.e. lifts your eye, and I would highly recommend it to anyone seeking out a new eye cream.

Available from: Avon for £19.50, currently on offer for £9.99!

My Favourite Perfume

Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb Eau De Parfum
Available from: The Perfume Shop for £47.50 

I was dying to add to my perfume collection because if I'm honest, I've had owned some of my perfumes for that long that they were starting to smell off, lovely. Anyways, my lovely Pops bought me this little beaut that I'd been desperate to get my hands on forever and I wasn't disappointed. Personally, I think it may be a little overpowering for some people and I can see why it might divide opinion. I happen to absolutely love it though and it is without a doubt, my favourite fragrance, period.

It is extremely flowery so if your not keen on that, this probably won't float your boat. It also has a really sweet smell to it but not in the sickly, sweet sense which I adore. I can't really think of anymore raving quotes to describe how good it smells I'd just suggest you take a whiff if your passing a perfume counter.

My only hang up with it is the price...obviously. I have the smallest bottle which is 30ml and the cheapest I've found it thus far was around the £45 (GBP) mark. Call me old fashioned but I remember the days when you could get a nice bottle of perfume for between £20-25! I'm perfectly aware that this is supposed to be a luxurious product and all the rest but I'm just sad my purse can't stretch to a full size bottle, therefore I tend to just wear this for special occasions or days where I just wanna perk myself up a bit.

So it's safe to say I clearly love this although it hasn't stopped me drawing up a rather lengthy perfume wishlist #extremelywishfulthinking. If you have any fragrance recommendations please do pop your suggestions below ;-) 

A Few New Additions...

After taking in all the hype surrounding Rimmels Apocalips Lip Lacquer's, I of course headed to Boots when I discovered they had a 3 for 2 on all Rimmel products. I looked through swatches, upon swatches and decided I was going to go for three shades from the Apocalips line; Celestial, Luna and Nude Eclipse. Unfortunately, they had sold out of Nude Eclipse online and in every Boots I cared to drag myself to which was a bit disappointing as this looked like a gorgeous colour when I swatched it on my hand. Instead I ended up purchasing Luna and Celestial, and not being one to miss out on a bargain I purchased the Moisture Renew Lipstick in Notting Hill Nude, as I've heard lots of good things about these lipsticks.

  

Apocalips Lip Lacquers
I'm honestly so impressed with these!! I haven't really dabbled with budget, lip products for a while and in the past I haven't really been impressed so these were a bit of a jump on the bandwagon purchase, so glad I did though. I love the doe foot applicator and I've found that the bottle design somewhat helps you to apply the perfect amount. If you happen to purchase one of these, you should notice when you first pull the applicator out, the neck of the bottle squidges the excess out and leaves you with the perfect amount to apply. They are super pigmented and when I compared my lips to the actual content in the bottle, it is pretty much match for match; you definitely cannot be disappointed with the colour payoff. As I'm a bit of a a wimp with semi-bright colours, I blot and dab to my hearts content which helps the lacquer not to settle in any dry bits of my lips and obviously takes away that initial "in your face" colour. For the swatches below, I've layered on the lacquer twice as it didn't seem to be showing up as bright as it is in person, so hopefully I've given you a good representation of how these particular shades look.

  

Celestial

I'd describe this as a blue toned pink and I think this would suit a lot of skin tones. It is such a gorgeous colour although I think this will end up being saved for the more heavily made up, special occasions ;)

Luna

I actually wore this today and was so scared initially but even the make-up hating boyfriend gave his approval and he normally hates anything other than nude, natural i.e. boring plain old me. This is such a gorgeous peachy colour and will be perfect for Spring.

Moisture Renew Lipstick
 I'd heard quite a bit of rave about the Rimmel Moisture Renew lippies but too be honest I'm really on the fence about all the hype surrounding them! I love the colour I purchased, it is literally everything I look for in a nude lipstick i.e. my lip colour but better, however the whole moisturing nature of it...I'm not completely bowled over by? I'm not sure why but it feels quite drying on my lips and I don't think it does anything in terms of nourishing my lips like it claims. I definitely think the MAC Cremesheen formula is a lot less drying and more glossy to apply, although this is a great alternative if your on a budget. There are loads of gorgeous colours, some of which I swatched on the back of my hand and they were all amazingly pigmented, which is the main thing I seek out when purchasing lipsticks. Overall, I'd definitely recommend giving these a try if your on a budget.

Notting Hill Nude

 Here are some more swatches of all three products swatched together.

Swatch taken in natural daylight.

Swatch taken with flash.

 I sincerely hope I've helped anyone considering purchasing these products. As always, I'd love to hear any comments on what I've spoke about and likewise, listen to what you've been buying and enjoying using!
 

Beating the January Blues

January is renowned to be the most depressing month in the year so I took preventative measures and made a few little purchases to cheer myself up (just in case), plus I had saved a Debenhams giftcard from my birthday so that came in useful finally!

Clarins Daily Energizer Cleansing Gel 

 This was a bit of an impulse purchase and I hadn't done much research into this, as I would normally with skincare products. My skin type is quite high maintenance so I have to be really careful with what I use on it otherwise it can become really dehydrated and breakout prone. As my skin is looking very pale and dull maybe due to all the rainy, the name gave me the impression it would give my skin a bit of a glowy boost. Whilst it didn't exactly make my skin beam and appear magically radiant, it is a fantastic cleanser nonetheless. A small amount foams up nicely and it feels like it's cleansing my skin thoroughly but gently, the smell is also rather nice. If I'm honest though, I doubt I will repurchase basically because I already have a better cleanser for my skin type than this and I do tend to dabble with different face washes unless I'm completely wowed.

Available from Debenhams. Price: £11.00.

MAC Shy Girl Lipstick

Before I start raving on, this photo does not do it justice at all! I'm not sure why but it photographs sooooo dark, could be the crappy light though. This is without a doubt, one of my favourite lipsticks to date. Just a perfect everyday, peachy nude colour and as always, the cremesheen formula doesn't let me down. It glides on so smoothly and doesn't dry out the lips at all. I get serious anxiety if I'm wearing anything darker than a light pink or peachy colour so I love the fact I can literally throw this on and not feel like I'm wearing it.

Also available from Debenhams. Price: £14.00

I'm sure I'm not alone in stating that I wish I had so many more MAC lipstick shades! At £14.00 a pop though, they are not exactly purse friendly. I would love to try out some more budget and drugstore lipsticks as I haven't really tried out many at all and the ones I have tried are either really drying or I just haven't ended up liking the colour. 

As always, I'd love to hear from you so drop me a comment in the box below, thanks for visiting!

Do you have a favourite brand for lipsticks?

Contented Little Baby Routines

During the first few weeks of Elyse's life, I pretty much took a baby led approach to looking after her i.e. fed her when she wanted to be fed and let her sleep when she wanted to sleep. Needless to say, this led to me feeling worn out to the extreme and having had no time to get anything done, my house was looking in pretty bad shape. I think babba basically got her daytime and nighttime mixed up, so whilst she slept like angel during the day, it was near impossible to get her to sleep at night and this is when I started seeking desperate measures! I was determined not to put her on formula so began googling away for solutions to improve sleeping patterns and that's when I came across a few people recommending Gina Ford's Contented Little Baby Book. 

In a nutshell this book advises putting baby into a strict routine and whilst I definitely believe it's vital that children have a set bedtime routine, I think this book takes it to the extreme and beyond! Don't get me wrong, there are handy little tips here and there but I don't think it's necessary to follow the routine to a tee. For instance, I think the timings Gina suggests for awake and nap time are handy to ensure you don't let baby sleep too much which usually means less sleep for you at night but on the other hand it also feels like she dictates when baby should be changed...now I'm not being funny, but surely you should change babba's nappy when it's needed otherwise I'm pretty sure you'd be working through hundreds of nappies per week! And she also firmly believes in ensuring baby is swaddled at every nap time up to a certain age, unfortunately for me swaddling is something Elyse clearly didn't appreciate aside from the first few days after she was born when she was still adjusting to the big wide world.

Overall, as much as I've just slated the whole strict routine bulls*&^ I do think this book kind of helped me ease my lovely, nocturnal baby into a normal sleep and wake pattern although she didn't enjoy going to bed before 2am at one point, whilst she was on the routine! On the other hand, I think I'm just a bit lucky that Elyse has slept through from around 2 months old and lets mummy & daddy have lots of lie-ins! In a nutshell, take the routines with a pinch of salt...the suggested window of time in which your allowed to go out is friggin ridiculous, what a life your going to live if you only leave your house between 2-4pm! If you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, read the book lol. I can't remember how much I paid for the book but I bought it off eBay and it was really cheap like £3 or something so if you do want to see how the routines work for you, I'd try eBay.

What do you think of the Contented Little Baby Routines? Have they helped you and your baby? Did you follow them to a tee?!

Much love,

The Body Shop Seaweed Ionic Clay Mask

Hey everyone, hope your all having a good week? Just thought I'd do a quick review of The Body Shop Ionic Clay Mask which I briefly mentioned in my 2011 Favourites.

I bought this mask after I'd tried out the Dermalogica Sebum Clearing Masque that contains Kaolin and Bentonite Clay as I basically wanted to try a cheaper alternative and I'm a big fan of The Body Shop's products already.

Mask when applied.

Mask when dry.

The Body Shop claim that the mask draws out impurities, clarifies and refreshes the skin and I can certainly agree with their claims! In a nutshell, this is a fab mask if you have really oily skin as it pretty much sucks out all the dirt and oil. You do experience a tightening of the skin (see the cracks in my skin above?) when the mask starts to dry which I know is not everyone's cup of tea but I rather like this as it gives me the impression that the mask is doing it's job well.

The mask is available for £12.00 from www.thebodyshop.co.uk

BUT...I actually purchased mine from an eBay seller for around half the price so I would definitely recommend having a look on there if you want to save yourself some money, obviously make sure it's not used!

What other masks would you recommend for oily skin? Have you tried any of the other products from the Body Shop's Seaweed range...I really wanna try the mattifying day cream!

Nappy Creams Tried & Tested

When it comes to nappy rash, my little one has been fairly lucky so far with only one moderately bad bout of it so I've mostly used nappy creams as more of a preventative measure before bedtime and every other nappy change. When she did have it however, I was obviously keen to get rid of it asap. I've pretty much used up most of the samples I got in my bounty packs so I thought it may be helpful to review the brands I've tried for those of you that have a poor little one suffering!

Johnson's Baby Nappy Cream

I'm a big fan of the whole Johnson's baby skincare range but this for me was a bit of a disappointment in comparison to the other nappy creams I've tried. The texture is quite thin and runny so it doesn't really adhere to the skin which is important when you have an active baby.

£2.00 Available from Asda

Sudocrem Baby Skin Care Cream

Sudocrem is a hugely popular nappy rash cream and I cannot fault it really. A little definitely goes a long way with this so it lasts forever!I've got a full size tub of this also but I still have loads left in my little sample tubs. I slather this on Elyse at night and it looks as if I've just applied it when I change her in the morning. Nice, thick consistency and it helps to heal really quick. Sudocrem is also multi-purpose as it can be used for dry skin and spots which makes it a bit of cupboard staple product for me!

£2.00 Available from Asda

 

Burt's Bees Nappy Ointment 

I cannot stress how much I love this hence why I thought I'd save the best till last! As you can hopefully see from my swatches above, this spreads on really thickly and it adheres to the skin brilliantly. It has a strange scent to it, can't quite decide whether I like it or not but who cares when it's only going on to what will probably soon to be a smelly bottom! I also love the fact that this contains lots of natural ingredients, I don't think Elyse is particularly sensitive to anything but I'd rather not slather her in products with ingredients that I can't even pronounce! I know this is the most expensive of the three but I would still recommend this time and time again because of how effective it is at clearing nappy rash and how well it adheres to the skin.

 £4.99 Available from CheapSmells.com

I really hope this post was helpful, have you found any nappy creams to work better than others? Please feel free to comment if you have any other recommendations or if there's anything else you'd like to add!

Much love,

Christmas Goodies

Hey everyone, hope you've all had a lovely Christmas!! I love giving out presents at Christmas but this year I received so much great stuff that I just had to share my loot with you. I know many people hate haul posts/videos but as it's Christmas I thought I'd make an exception and I'm pretty sure theres also some people who love having a nosy at other peoples stuff...I know I do now & again :-)

I'm such a lucky girl and was soooo unbelievably happy with every present I received. My lovely boyfriend bought me the Clarisonic Mia which was the one thing I wanted more than anything but never thought I would get because it's stupidly expensive. Below, I've pictured all my lovely gifts and rather than blabbing on about each one I've just mentioned a few little tit bits about each thing. I also received a few pyjama sets & lingerie which are always nice to receive as you can never have enough really. Here's an overview of what I received anyways...

From left - right: 

Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Starter Kit 

 First impressions are that this cleanses the skin thoroughly and my skin felt nice and squeaky and polished after using.

 Clarisonic Cleanser

 I have to admit I've not even opened this yet as I've been trying to use up my Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions soap.

Clarisonic Mia Sonic Skin Cleansing System

I'm definately, definately going to be reviewing this sometime later in the year with photo results and all that shebang.

 Hugo Boss Orange Gift Set

This gift set included the Hugo Boss Orange Perfume, Body Lotion, Shower Gel, Mirror Compact and Make-up Brushes. This was never a perfume I'd immediately thought of trying but when someone bought me it in a gift set last year, I instantly fell in love! It's one of my favourite perfumes ever so I was very, very happy indeed to receive this. The brushes included are also surprisingly soft and will come in handy for nights out when bag space is pretty limited!

 

CK IN2U Perfume 

I love receiving perfume and this is a lovely fresh scent that I'll probably be wearing a lot over the spring/summer months.

N-Spa Hot Butter Fudge Body Polish 

This was one item I nearly ended up buying so many times in Asda and I cannot stress how tempted I was to eat this when I was in the bath earlier.

Avon Nail Enamel in Sequined Turquoise

As I have quite a lack of glitter polishes in my life this was a nice little addition in a colour I wouldn't of normally picked.

Aromatic Butterscotch Shortbread Candle 

 Another welcome addition to my growing candle collection! I haven't burnt this yet but it smelt gorgeous when I first opened the jar for a sniff.

Yankee Candle in Blueberry Muffin 

Okay, admittedly...I bought this for myself...before Christmas Day but I'm so glad I did as it smells bee-ay-uuuu-tiful and what's even better that it was only £10 in TKMaxx...winning :-)

Style & Co.Watch

I'm not a big watch wearer but strangely included two watches on my wishlist??? lol... Anyways, mummy dearest bought me this but I'll definitely be getting some wear out of it,once I have a couple links removed so it doesn't slide up & down my childlike wrists :-\

So was there anything you've been pining for that you were lucky enough to receive at Christmas?

Nail Rock Nail Wraps

I was quite happy when the November Glossybox included a full size packet of the Nail Rock Nail Wraps as I'd never actually tried applying wraps before. Despite my initial happiness at the wraps being included in the box I kind of forgot about them and they've been in the box up until the other day when I thought I'd have a bash at putting them on.

The design I was sent was the leopard print and as much as I love leopard print, I was a bit disappointed with the design I got and think I would of preferred a packet of the less fussy, monochrome striped wraps that other people received. That being said I think there a nice change and look kinda funky....

Nail wraps photo taken without flash.

Hoooowever as you can probably see in the photos, they are literally peeling off after less than a day of me having them on which is pretty crap considering Nail Rock claim these last up to 10 days! On the other hand, I'm pretty sure my technique of putting them was far from perfect which could of led to them not sticking properly in the first place. 

Nail wraps photo taken with flash (Sorry about the abundance of shadows!).

Unlike a lot of nail wraps, these don't require heat but I found that at the tips of my nails they wouldn't stick down especially around the edges where the nails naturally curve. Also, the instructions suggest filing under the nail to get rid of the excess bit of wrap....erm how is this supposed to work?! Sorry if I'm being completely stupid and if someone actually understands how to do this successfully please enlighten me!! I resorted to filing downwards at a 45° angle and I think this is exactly why they haven't lasted but I honestly don't know how I would of got rid of all of the excess wrap by filing under my nail. 

On that note, if you genuinely know how to apply these properly please feel free to comment as I would love to know the best technique to make these last. I think I would be tempted to actually purchase some in a different design if only they lasted a bit longer! 


What do you think of the whole nail wrap craze? Do you think it's a bit of a fad?