Keep or Donate: Nail polish, round 2

Hey everyone, 

Another week has passed so a few more nail polishes have been passing the test of keep or donate. If you didn't see my first Keep or Donate post, this project was inspired by PetitPearStyle on YouTube and the KonMari method of decluttering. The idea is to wear at least 6 polishes a week and decide during that week if I would like to keep them in my collection or donate them to family or charity. As always if you do not like feet, you may want to skip this post as my toe nails do feature. 

Models Own polish in Asscher Blue 

I do believe before this manicure I hadn't actually worn this polish! It is a beautiful pale blue (opaque with 2 coats) with tiny gold glitter which shine when you move. This polish didn't last well on my nails, probably only a few days without chips, however the beautiful gold glitter just made this a keep for the Christmas season! 

Rimmel London 413 Orangina 

Now I'm quite glad I painted this colour on my toes. As I live in England, it is getting rather chilly now and the socks are coming out, which means I could hide this polish. It became this horrible orange colour with two rather streaky coats and I could tell straight away it was a donate. I just don't like this colour on my skin tone. 

Ciate polish in the hamptons

I do have a love hate relationship with Ciate and so far (bar the grey polish in the last keep or donate) most colours have been a keep, including this one! This polish is a green and gold glitter with a clear base, perfect for a topper. I absolutely love the constancy of Ciate and have decided I want to try this polish on top of others in the future. 

O.P.I- Next stop..The Bikini Zone 

I don't know which year or collection this polish came out (sorry!) as I bought it from TK Maxx, however I do know this is a perfect polish for the fingers or toes. It's quite a pale polish and it takes a couple of layers to make it this colour but isn't it beautiful! I know this is going to be a lovely colour for work or in the summer so I am going to keep this one. 

Colour Couture Purple 

Straight away I can tell I don't like this polish at all. After two coats, it was still very streaky and my nails were still poking straight through. I'm not going to go anymore into it other than say donate (my sister already has it).

Barry M Socialite 

I love this polish so much! It's very opaque with one coat yet you can still see the polish under it too. It glitters very well and shines beautifully under light. With two coats, the polish stays well and doesn't chip. I've always loved Barry M so this one is defiantly a keep. 

Here's to another week of keep or donate. I'm going to keep doing these as I really feel I'm finding out which colours I enjoy wearing and what suits my skin colour. I hope your enjoying this series as much as I do! 

Emma 

Keep or Donate: Nail Polish

Hey everyone! 

As you may all know, I've recently been on a decluttering kick with the Marie Kondo book. I have also been watching a lot of makeup declutter videos on YouTube which lead me to find PetitPearStyle. She is a beauty guru on YouTube who has also read the KonMari method and has been going on a major decluttering kick! One of her recent series has been called Keep or Donate and she has featured nail polish and different coloured lipsticks. The concept of this series is for her to try on different items of her collections and she is she wants to keep them or donate them to charity or friends and family. I just knew this is the way I wanted to go through my nail polish collection and so PetitPearStyle you inspired me! 

I have been trying on different polishes over the last two weeks (I paint my nails every two days or so) and the ones I want to keep I have placed a little white sticker on the top. I have taken a photo of each polish and will tell you why I'm keeping/not keeping it. I will also say now, sorry if your not a foot person, this post (or series) will include toe photos. 

Essance Gel Polish is 25 Prince Charming

Straight off the bat I knew this was a keep. The colour doesn't make my skin tone grey, it makes my nails stronger in the long run and I actually managed to wear this quite a few days without chipping. I also love the reflects of glitter in this one! 

Ciate Mini in Starlet

In the bottle this is a beautiful colour, however this polish took 4 (yes four!) coats to build up to the same colour. I am not a patient person when it comes to polish, so this is why I'm going to donate this. I do love the colour and it also has a duo-chrome effect to it when it is the light, I just can't wake that long for nails to dry! 

Revlon Polish in Gold Coast

According to the bottle this is a new shade, but I do remember picking this one up at a PoundWorld, so probably isn't by now. I had to really build up this shade and I only managed to create a gold shimmer when the light hits it. In normal light, this polish is barely seen. I'm sure over other polishes this would be great but I am looking for an opaque polish at this moment in time, so I shall be donating this one. 

Ciate Mini in Snow fall

A perfect top coat which looks amazing with one coat or built up. I have only tried this on pale base polishes but I'm sure it would look just as good on dark colours as well. I have this polish in mind for the winter so this one is a keep!

Nails Inc in The Tide Is High

I was actually swaying between keep and donating this polish as it took a long while to build up the colour (also why I put a top coat on too). However I did decide I want to keep this one as I do use it a lot and my sister (who also likes pale muted colours) uses it too. I'm pretty sure if I use this one more than once it will grow on me. If not I will donate to my sister. 

Colour Couture in Silver

I got a set of Colour Couture polishes for Christmas from a work friend and haven't really put them to the test yet (so you may see a few of these!). I must tell you now, they are totally opaque in one coat! I'm very impressed but because I project pan, I put two on just in case. This silver is unlike any I have in my collection and I'm sure to wear it in the party season. I am a little upset to take this off my toes and change to another but surely that means I love it and want to keep it. 

So that's it for this post! Don't worry, any if am donating will either go to friends and family or to the local charity that all my clothes and books went to the other day. Stay tuned for the next post with 6 polishes in. 

Emma 

Glossybox- September!

Hey everyone, 

A month goes round so quickly! Here I am coming at you with another Glossybox unboxing and I'll say now, it's a bad month. I have a few items I like but I don't agree that it was worth the amount you pay for the box. If you don't know already, Glossybox is £10 plus postage and you can get different monthly subscriptions. Glossybox does also create boxes for different countries so it's worth checking if they do one for your area. 

This months theme was style and getting into the fall weather which I defiantly agree the items do. 

Maria Nila Luminous Colour Hair Masque- full size- £18.95

I must admit this is the product I'm most excited for. If you know me well you already know I love a good hair mask and I do compare them all to my favourite from Beauty Protector but unfortunately that  has a price tag of £16! As soon as I openned this one up, I fell in love with the scent. It is so fruity and I bet will smell amazing with my current shampoo. 

Bella Pierre Shimmer Powder in Whesek- full size- £12.99

Okay, maybe I lied a little. I am also excited for this product! I have been in love with Bella Pierre products since my first ever Glossybox which had a gold coloured shimmer powder in it. This one is a beautiful silver/grey colour which will probably appear on my lower lash line in the weeks to come! Defiantly a fall colour. 

Nails Inc polish in Battersea Park- full size- £11

I really should re-do my profile on Glossybox because I always get nail polish now and although I love polish, I never get colours I like. I do know that in this months box you could have also got a light pink colour which I would have worn to death. However khaki green really isn't my thing and this polish will be passed to my sister. 

Invisibobble Traceless Hair Ring- full size- £4

I must admit I will never use these. I can't wear my hair up to sleep (I manage to get headaches from the pony tail) and I have to use black hair ties for work. So these although a great idea (if they work), will probably be passed on as well. 

Marsk Eyeshadow Brush Pro- Full size- £16.70

This i think was a waste of product in my box. Although I do like recieving brushes in any of the boxes I receive, this one I think just isn't worth £16.70. I haven't given it a shot at applying eyeshadow yet, but I already know I don't like the bristles. They are synthetic and feel weird even on my hand. This may also be a product going to my sister. 

As well as the products in our boxes we also recieved a code for an invitation to Best Secret (clothing) which I will also never use! I shouldn't complain about this box as all the items were full size, however I just don't feel the items were worth the price or even being in a style box. 

Emma 

Project Polish- Update 5

Hey everyone! 

It's that time of the month again and once again I don't have any new polishes to show you. This partly being the fact I was on holiday for one week and I've been off sick from work for 2 weeks so I haven't had to reapply my polish once it chips! 

So far this project I've used up:

- Sally Hansen Diamond Shine Top coat

- Ciate polish in Members Only

Bourjois 1 Second Polish in 2 

I really don't know why but I didn't fancy this on my nails much this month. I think because I had such a kick on it the month before I got sick of it, however I found that with a Ciate snowflake top coat it looks amazing. An idea for work maybe? 

17 Lasting Fix polish in Glisten

Can you see that? There is some progress on this this month! I've been applying this with two coats rather than one as it's starting to become gloopy and only a little product comes out on the brush. It may be time for this one to go soon, however I do still want to focus on it. 

Maybelline Express Finish in 190 Racing Rubies

I do know I was going to throw this out after this update but I've started to like wearing this on my toes especially as the weather is cooling down here in Oxfordshire! I don't see much progress on this however as you only need one coat at a time. 

Barry M nail paint In Meadow

Only a tiny amount of progress on this polish and seen as the season to wear this is almost over, I really need to make so much more progress! This is another polish which looks good with Ciate Snowflake on top. 

Avon Matte Polish in Violetta

I really find it hard marking this polish as it is so dark however I had seen a little amount of progress. It's such an easy product to use being opaque and matte in one coat which is a good one for if your just about to go out. I love this colour on my toes. 

BONUS ITEMS:

Sally Hansen Maximum Strength base coat

Not so much of this left now! I'm still using this on every manicure and pedicure so the progress to finish won't take too long. However this is also a polish which is going gloopy. 

Caudalie Divine Oil

I read on a blog somewhere that this product is amazing for the cuticles and dry skin. I found that it didn't work well on anywhere else on my body so I decided to throw it into this project. I apply every time I take off polish and allow it to dry before adding my next manicure/pedicure. Top line is where I started, the next line down is the progress I've made. 

For this next month I plan to focus on the Barry M polish and the Bourjois polish again as these are still work colours for me and I want to use them up before the "summer" season is over. I also would like to see some good progress on my Sally Hansen bonus item as I do have a back up of that waiting to be used. 

Emma 

Project Polish- Update 2

Hey everyone! 

I know I'm a little early with this one but I've decided to have a total rest day on Friday so here we are! 1 Polish was finished this time and I do have some impressive progress on the rest. I've also added in a treatment which I use every time I paint my nails so hopefully this will continue to have progress too. On to the photos! 

Barry M Nail Paint in Blue Glitter- I don't know whether you can see the line or not but this has gone down about 5mm. Defiantly over half way now however it is getting gloopy! 

Maybelline express finish polish in 190 Racing Rubies- This Polish is the most recent addition after finishing up my Sally Hansen Diamond Shine Top Coat. I chose this as I've just recently been to a red themed wedding and knew I wanted this on my fingers and toes. It is also rather old so needed to be used up. I've used 5mm also. 

Bourjois 1 Second polish in number 2- My second favourite polish in this project! I love this one with a plain top coat or a matte one! It's just the perfect colour for me for work however you can not see it chip without staring at it! This one has only 8ml in so hopefully gone with in the next two months! 

Ciate Mini Polish in Members Only- My number 1 favourite polish. I think because this has such a sheer coverage I love the colour and how you can build on it. I also think sheer polishes will be great in this project! Look how much progress I made! With this polish I find I need 2 maybe 3 coats to get an even gold colour. 

17 Lasting Fix in Glisten- I used to love this polish, however I no longer do. I've found that I don't need many coats for this colour to build and it lasts pretty good on the nails . Most people would not complain at that however in a project polish that's not really what you want. Not much progress this time and I think this one may stick around for a while.

My added treatment:

Sally Hansen Maximum Strength base coat- As with all my projects I drew a line where I started (only about a week ago) and a line where I am today. I find this base coat has helped with the strength of my nails and it also has a lovely milky colour to it which is a brilliant base for my more sheer colours. 

So for this round of project polish I managed to finish off 1 polish and make pretty good dents in all polishes. I plan to focus on my Ciate (as this is nearly gone) and 17 (as this needs more love) this time round and see where we are next month. I also meant to mention in my introduction that I paint my nails (both toes and fingers) every two days as to help my nails from not staining. 

Emma 

Project Polish 2015

Hey everyone! 

After watching a few videos by PrettyPistol86 on YouTube, I decided to start a project polish for 2015. I started this project almost 2 months ago now but forgot to blog about it! So starting today I'm going to show you my starting point and 1 month update. My 2 month update goes up this next week. For anyone who doesn't know project polish is a year long project pan I'm which you start with a certain amount of nail polishes you would like to finish by the end of the year. Now it is up to the panner themselves if when they finish a polish if they would like to add in more and if you all saw my collection, you'd agree I need to do this. For my first five polishes I chose:

- Sally Hansen Diamond Shine Top Coat

- Bourjois 1 Second Polish in 2

- 17 Lasting Finish in Glisten

- Barry M Paint in Blue Glitter

- Ciate Polish in Members Only 

As with any project pans, I have drawn a line where I started on the product. This is where I was at the 1 month update.

Unfortunately with this update there was little progress. I found myself using the Bourjois and 17 polishes more than the others (excluding my top coat, used every time). So for the month after this one I decided to paint my nails every other day (which in my job has to be done anyways due to chipping). 

Update 2 will be up by Friday 29th! Can't wait to show you my progress! 

Emma