Halloween nails 1: Vampire nails!

I'm back! Recently I haven't been in the 'blogging mood' so I haven't really had any inspiration for posts. But I'm back and I'm going to start with a cool Halloween themed nail. Halloween is approaching and I thought now would be a good time to start doing some Halloween designs. This weeks Nails of the Week post is a vampire themed manicure.
 I didn't want to draw fangs on all nails so I made an accent nail with dripping fangs and did blood dripping towards the tip on the others. The design was fairly easy to do (the accent nail a little bit more intricate than the blood) and I think it looks awesome for Halloween! There will be a tutorial of this on my YouTube channel (the link to my channel will be at the bottom of the post!).

Please visit my YouTube channel Darkeowl's YouTube Channel.

NOTW 13: Metal Flip Fiery Blaze

Hi everyone! Sorry for not posting lately, been up to my eyeballs in college work and I'm only just coming up with a routine to do it all efficiently! This weeks post is yet another Nails of the Week post. This week, because we're going into autumn I wanted to have a darker look to my nails, so I decided to try my new Miss Sporty Metal Flip polish in the shade 'Fiery Blaze' (I'm going to review all of the Metal Flip polishes soon, so keep an eye open!) which is a beautiful duo-chrome purple, brown, green... oh what the hell it has TONNES of different colours in it! All I can say is I absolutely LOVE this polish, it looks so beautiful and funky and has a very rock chick look about it! In the shade the polish has a gorgeous metallic purple look to it but when it's in the light it shows up green, blue and brown. The application was a bit tricky as the polish was a it gloopy, however it did dry really quickly and it hardened well too! These pictures really don't do it justice but I definitely recommend these polishes because they look stunning on the nails and they are really fun to work with!

NOTW 12: Matte Black and Shiny Silver

Hey! Hope everyone's doing well this 'fine' (rainy!) day! This week, I didn't want to do an intricate design yet I still wanted more than just one colour so I decided to use my matte topcoat for the first time and chose to do an accent nail to glam things up a bit!
I really love the way this came out and think that, even though it's simple, it adds more to the look and does look really great! For my black I used my Rimmel polish in the shade 'Black Cab' and this was a great polish which became opaque in 2 coats but there was something wrong with the polish. Sometimes when I was applying my first coat it would just be like water and wouldn't come off on to my nail so I had to shake the bottle to mix it back up! Bit disappointed with that but I don't think it's much to complain about! The accent silver nail was done with a polish that came in a set by 'Lumier' and was so easy to apply! It was really pigmented and I could probably have passes with one coat but I put 2 on just to be safe! For my matte nails I just applied my Rimmel matte top coat and waited for it to dry. It dried really quickly and hardened my nails well too!
Overall I really like this look for a quick and easy design that still looks great!

DIY Photo Cubes!

The other day I wanted to make something, and I was also thinking about putting some pictures up to decorate my room. So I thought, why not put them both together and have a funky display in the end too! I decided to make these photo cubes with pictures of me and friends on all sides and I think they look really cool and add a great touch to a room! If you want to know how I made these then just keep on reading!

NOTW 11: Do you sea my nails?!

This week, rather than having just one block colour on my nails I decided to add a glitter top coat to add a bit more to them! As it turns out both polishes I used had a sea themed name! Firstly I used Technic's South Pacific which is a really nice dusty blue-green colour. It applies really well and only takes 2 thick coats or 3 thin coats to become opaque (I used 2 on the pictures below!). The glitter I used is also by Technic and is the one I hold in the picture. It's their 'Mermaid' polish and I think it is absolutely beautiful! It has multiple sized blue hexagon glitters which change to silver and green in the light! I think it has a slightly blue tinted base as well but I'm not too sure! Either way I love the colour and think it looks amazing! It was slightly difficult to apply though as all the glitters came off in one place but it can be pretty easily spread out before the polish becomes too tacky to move them. Overall I think it is worth the time that you spend spreading out the glitters as it adds a really beautiful layer to the nails! I love both of these polishes and I think they're really great value!

NOTW 10! MUA Natural Days

So we're now on to my 10th Nails of the Week post! This week I decided to try MUA's pinky-natural polish in the shade Natural Days. This is the second MUA I have tried out and unfortunately I've been disappointed with both! The one good thing I thought about this polish was that the colour was really nice and I loved the way it made my nails and hands look! However apart from that I can't say another good word about it! The application was awful and streaky and this was probably due to the polish being really think and gloopy and the brush being atrocious! The bristles flew everywhere and was not precise at all! It took 3 coats to become opaque and even then it was streaky. The wear wasn't very good either, I only had this on for a day before it chipped on my tips and after that there were little cracks all over the nail which looked really gross! (The picture on the right shows these). Overall really not impressed with this product, I love MUA for other things like their eye shadows and their blusher which are really good quality for their price but I don't think nail polish is their strong point! Sorry MUA but I don't think ill be buying any nail polish from you any time soon!


The cracks can be seen on the tip of my index.

NOTW 9: Running in Circles

I was SUPER excited when I got a package the other day and was so happy when I saw that this polish looked even more beautiful in person! This weeks Nails of the Week is China Glaze's Running in Circles from their Cirque de Soleil: Worlds Away collection. It's a lovely forest green base with lots of green and slightly gold glitters in. This polish applies so smoothly and is quite opaque. It took 2 coats to become fully opaque and in the light you can still see where the nail bed finishes; however this isn't a problem as the glitter in it masks it. The wear-time is amazing, I wore this with just a top coat for 4 DAYS before there were any chips! Even though I was doing a lot with my hands like washing up and opening packets etc. the nail polish stood strong and lasted really well. Overall I think this is an absolutely beautiful polish and I would definitely recommend it. I think this polish would be best for Christmas time however I would still wear it mid-summer! Nice work China Glaze!

July 2013 Favourites!

I cannot believe that we're almost in August already! This year has just flown by! Soon I'll be getting my GCSE results and going to college... now THAT'S a scary thought!! But since it's the end of the month it's time to do my favourites for the month of July! There have been lots of things I've been loving this month and a lot of them are because of the heat-wave we've been having here in England! So, lets get into it!

Holiday Essentials!

Tis the season to get sunburnt! Yes it's summer time and this means it's holiday season so I thought it'd be a great time to do a summer holiday essentials post! These are the things that I think are essential when going on holiday and ensure that your holiday is as best it can be!

NOTW 8: Purple and Polka-dots

When I was planning this weeks nail polish look I really wanted a summery polish but there were no polishes I fancied... until I saw my Sinful Colors' Verbena and knew that that was perfect for what I wanted on my nails! This polish was so easy to apply and had a great texture and consistency! It became opaque in only 2 coats and even then the second coat was only to make sure there were no imperfections! The colour is a really beautiful and I think is a great colour for all year round! I added the polka-dots because I felt that just the purple on its own was a bit too plain. For that I just used Barry M's black and a larger sized dotting tool to add detail to an accent nail. I think it makes the design a lot more fun and summery! I really like this design and even though it's simple it's really fun and great to wear everyday!

OOTD: BBQ in a heatwave!

It's been so hot here in the West Midlands for a few weeks now and the other night me and my dad got invited to a BBQ. Now I don't have many things to wear in the summer because it's never usually this hot! So I decided to wear one of the only day dresses I own... AND I LOVE IT!! This outfit was so breathable and cool in the hot weather and wasn't uncomfortable at all!
The dress: I bought this dress from Primark earlier this year. I was so amazed because it was only £7 and for that price I could not walk away! I's a navy blue rah-rah dress with little hearts all over it and I think it's so pretty and versatile as I would wear this on an average day but I also wear it when I need to dress up a bit. I just change the accessories and my hair and it transforms it so well. It's great for me as I'm a lil' bit chunkier so this pulls me in at the waist so nicely while the layers hide my belly!

The shoes: I recently found out I had no pretty shoes that I could wear with tights So that was my next task and I finally found some really nice ones! These were from Store 21 and were at the amazing price of £4.99. Again they're a navy blue and have little white swallows dotted all over them. They are so comfortable and so pretty so I'm really happy I bought these!

Hair: If you follow me on Instgram (my username is Darkeowl ;) hehe) then you'll know that I was super happy about how my hair had dried... (well that's a random topic!) I loved how it had gone so curly naturally and I didn't want to put it up but I also didn't want it in my face! So I decided to have it both ways and put half up, half down. I used a really pretty flower clip from Claires to secure it and hide the hair band I'd put in it! Overall I think it was a really pretty look!

Makeup: I wanted to keep my make-up really simple because it's so hot! So I just used a little bit of concealer and powder and applied some eyeliner and mascara to my eyes. I also used my new Maybelline Baby Lips in Peach Kiss which tastes AMAZING!

So that is my outfit of the day! I really loved the way I looked going to the BBQ (I know that sounds a little bit vein but I don't usually like the way I look!) and I hope this has given you some inspiration for if you're going to a BBQ! Good luck and try not to melt ;)

Thanks for reading, don't forget to take a look at my other posts and have a look at my YouTube channel too! Darkeowl's YouTube Channel.

NOTW 7: Soul Mate

For this weeks 'Nails of the Week' I decided to try out my new Sinful Colors polish in the shade 'Soul Mate'! It's a really beautiful salmon colour on the nails but in the bottle it's little bit lighter. It's very bright and is a really great natural summer colour. The application is ok, however it seems to be quite thick and gloopy which made it slightly difficult to apply and achieve a smooth finish. After the polish had dried there also seemed to be some bubbling in the polish. These showed up as little lumps in the polish but aren't really noticeable unless the nails are looked at closely. This is a bit disappointing though because I don't expect the polish to have any bubbles in it at all! But overall I am fairly happy with this polish even if the consistency isn't the greatest! The colour is worth the bother as the bubbles can be covered up with a top coat and the application can be sorted out with an extra layer of polish! I think I would repurchase this polish if I needed to so I will say that I recommend it!
Also this month I decided to put my 'New Buys' post on YouTube as I wanted to change it up a little bit! So if you want to see that then please click here!

NOTW 6: Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac

This weeks NOTW is the shade Lacey Lilac by Sally Hansen. It's a really pretty, creamy, pastel lilac colour and perfect for spring and summer! In the bottle it looks more pastel and lighter than it applies but on the nails still looks amazing! The formula is great and applies really easily and evenly, it's almost opaque in one coat! I only added the second coat to add a bit more to the colour. On the nail it is quite a bit more vibrant than it looks in the bottle but is still a really nice colour for everyday wear! I think it's a great colour and I will definitely use this polish quite a bit in the future!

 

My 'prom nails' tutorial!

It's my prom tomorrow (which I'm SUPER excited about!) and I'm doing all of my beauty related things myself! I'm doing my nails, hair and make-up myself and I hope they all go well! For my nails I decided to go for a colour that matched my dress, but I still wanted a kind of manicure. So I added a black tip and bingo! Just what I wanted! Keep on reading to find out how I created these; they're super easy and can be altered to match any dress!

Nail Art and Update!

I realise I haven't been posting much recently and I do feel really guilty for it. However I am currently revising for my GCSE's and it has been a tad stressful! I am nearly finished with them though (hooray!) and I only have 1 maths exam left! After that I should be back up and running once more so just keep on watching! I didn't want this to be the only part of my post however and I'm going to talk about some new nail tools I've bought recently! As I've said in a few posts now I've really been getting in to my nail polish recently and I'm enjoying trying new things out!...

May New Buys

I cannot believe we're already in June! The month of May flew by and the speed has actually scared me! I'll be leaving school soon and if I'm completely honest I don't want to grow up! I've nearly finished all my exams and I'm practically on study leave (even though I still have to go in for 2 hours! Pointless...). This is also the reason I haven't put many posts up either; so I'm sorry about that! So lets get into it! Again the majority of this post is going to be nail polish as my obsession with it continues!

Best Buys: March and April

Yeah, I was a bit slack with my 'new buy' posts for March and April so I've decided to compact it into a post talking about the best products I bought from those months. There's still quite a few things so I will put a page breaker in! As I've said in a few of my posts, recently I've really been in to nail polish, so this post is going to be nail polish heavy!

NOTW 5: Mars

For this NOTW I wanted to try a new bright colour that I bought recently. It's Technic's 'Mars'. It's a really bright redy-orange colour thats really hard to describe. It's looks super bright in the bottle but not as much on the nails. It's still very noticable however and the colour is really nice on! This polish is super pigmented and on the swatch below I had only applied one coat! It was pretty much completely opaque and there weren't any lumps or bumps! There is a downside however and that is it doesn't last very long. I had a chip within a day and by day 3 it had started peeling and chipping off every nail. Overall for only 99p I think is a great colour to get despite the wear.

Glossybox April 2013

I wasn't going to order another Glossybox for a while as I am running low on money. However, when I saw this months 'Star Product' which was Essie I HAD to buy it! I thought for only £2 more to get 4 extra products other than the Essie I couldn't go wrong. This months box was also a special edition box as all the products inside were picked by Pearl Lowe. I'm glad I bought it, but I'm not as happy as I thought I would be...

NOTW 3: Ballet Slippers

Take 3 on my NOTW posts! This week I wanted to try out my Essie polish in 'Ballet Slippers' and in all honesty, I'm not too keen on it. I understand that it's meant to be sheer but I think it's much too sheer. This polish took 4 coats to become opaque on my nails and that took me quite a while to apply. On a better note however it did dry fairly quickly considering how many coats it needed. The only thing is, there was another down side because I only had this on for a day before it started chipping and peeling away. I only had to bend my nail slightly and you could see that it had started peeling away. I did try to forget it but unfortunately it kept on happening so I ended out ripping the loose bits off which looked even worse! (I'm not going to blame that on the polish though, haha, that's my own fussy fault!).
The colour however was beautiful (just a shame it was ruined by the formula!). It's a gorgeous pinky white and looks so pretty and feminine! I absolutely love the colour on my nails so I will probably will keep this in my collection (but not repurchasing) despite the formula.

NOTW 2: A Crewed Interest

So this is my second NOTW post and I think I'm going to keep these up! I love reading them so I hope other people do too! The colour I've got on my nails this week is Essie's 'A Crewed Interest' from their Spring collection 2012 (The 'Navigate Her' collection). I absolutely love this colour and think it's such a great colour for spring and summer. It's a beautiful peach colour that looks so pretty but subtle and the same time! It applies really easily and the formula is great! This amazing polish only took 2 coats to become opaque and dried really quickly. It lasted a really long time without chipping (there is one chip on my thumb nail but by the time I took this picture I'd had the colour on for about 4/5 days without any top coat; so I think it's ok to have one or two chips, haha!). I'm really happy with the formula of this polish and I've heard a lot of people complain about the formula of Essie but I think it' one of the best I've come across. All in all I love this polish and think it is definately worth a buy! This was £2.99 off a discount website and I will definately look for more because they're great quality!

NOTW 1: Blue Skies and Sunshine!

So I have recently taken a keen interest in how my nails look. I have always enjoyed painting my nails but I haven't taken that much of an interest before. For the past few weeks I have being buying more and more products to do with my nails; I have bought some dotting tools and brushes (which STILL haven't arrived and I ordered them over 2 weeks ago!) and I have been buying more and more polishes! I am really looking forward to trying them out and seeing all the designs I can (try to) do!

I'm really happy with the way my nails have turned out because I used 2 colours that remind me of spring (I couldn't pick one so I thought I'd just use both! On all of my fingers except for my ring fingers I have used Barry M's 'Turquoise' (295) which is more of a sky blue than a turquise really! I love this colour and it reminds me of how the sky (should) look in spring and summer! The other color which I put on both ring fingers is Revlons 'Sunshine Sparkle' (042) and this always reminds me of daffodils and easter and chicks! It's such a beautiful colour and I think this yellow goes with lots of different outfits and you don't need model hands (which I definately don't!) to pull this colour off as it isn't a harsh yellow! To be honest, I am very please with how my nails have come out and I hope this lasts for at least a few days with no chipping!

Essie Haul

I'm SOO happy as I recently ordered some Essie nail polish from a discount website (Cosmetics by Candy). Believe it or not, the polishes were only £2.99 each! So me and my friend jumped at the chance and bought them together so we didn't have to pay P+P! We both bought 3 each and I've already swatched all of mine and I'm quite pleased with the quality. This was my first try of any of Essie's polishes so I was really excited to try them!


The first colour I bought was A Crewed Interest from the 'Navigate Her' collection from Spring 2012.
This is a gorgous peach colour and is really easy to apply. It only really needs 2 coats to have a good finish and I think the consistency is great! I think it's a great colour for spring and I can't wait to wear it!

February New Buys

So I know this post is a tad late, but hey! Better late than never right?! I didn't buy that much in the month of February but I am happy with the products I have bought. So lets get into them!

The first products are a matching lip liner and lipstick from Look Beauty. I hadn't heard of this brand before but they were on sale so I thought I'd give them a try! The lipstick is a beautiful deep reddy purple colour (called Berry Vamp) and I find this is the type of colour that suits me best. It has quite good staying power and if worn for a long period of time stains the lip. (Which I actually find good as it means I don't have to re-apply!) It gives the lip a lovely glossy colour and doesn't smudge. In my opinion it was a great buy for only £3.50!



The lip liner is a also called Berry Vamp and was £2. I found that it glided smoothly onto the lips. It did seem as though it was slightly TOO smooth and I think if left for long periods of time it would smudge and smear! But again the colour is a gorgeous berry red purple and goes great with lots of outfits and eye looks!

Favourite Lip Products

There's nothing better than finishing a great eye look with a great lipstick! Whether it's a natural lip with a shiny gloss or a bold matte lipstick! I don't have many lipsticks or lipglosses but I wanted to share my favourites and the ones I would recommend that finish a great look!

I'm going to go through my favourite lip products first and the first one I'm going to talk- well...type- about is my E.L.F lipstick in the shade 'Posh'. It's a gorgeous berry red colour and has a really pretty sheen to it. The shine is subtle, yet shinny enough to notice. It lasts for ages on the lips and I find it goes great with loads of different looks! I actually wore this to a wedding recently and quite a few people commented on how well it finished the look! For only £1.50 I think it's a GREAT buy!


The next product is another lipstick from E.L.F and it's one of their matte lip colours from the studio range. The one I love is in the shade 'Natural'. As the name of it suggests it looks very natural on the lips and is a beautiful pinky colour. Again, it lasts ages on the lips and it really helps finish a neutral look, or a bold eye look, that can be worn anywhere! There is a slight problem however as it tends to dry out your lips once the colour has been on for a few hours. To solve this I do the obvious and apply lip balm before I put the colour on and this prevents my lips from drying as much. Altogether, this E.L.F product was £3.75 and I would definitely recommend it.

Glossybox February 2013

So it's that time of month again when a certain package arrives... YEP I'm on about the monthly Glossybox! This is my second box (and actually came on my birthday, woop woop!) and I am again pleasantly surprised with my products! The majority of mine this month was makeup but that's a good thing for me! The variety was great and I can't wait to use quite a few of the products I got this month!

The first product I'm going to talk about is a mineral eyeshadow by Micabella Cosmetics. Mine was in the shade 53- Deep Secrets. It's a lovely colour (as far as I can see because I haven't actually opened it yet!) and by the looks of it I'm going to really enjoy using it. I think it's going to be one of those colours you can put in quite a few different places on the eye. Cost (sample size)- £5.98 | Total cost of box- £5.98

January New Buys!

So, because I don't buy things enough to do a haul, I thought I'd make a post about all the things (beauty related and things I think are awesome, haha!) that I've bought in the month of January. I'm hoping I can make a few more of these posts in the future, so lets get started!

The first thing, isn't beauty related but I LOVE it soo much I just had to include it! It's my True Blood calendar for 2013! I love the books and I'm currently on the 5th one in the collection (I have a lot to catch up on as there are now 13!) I also love the programme however I need to catch up on that as well because I haven't even started the 3rd season yet! But I love this calendar at it was well worth the money!

Glossybox January 2013

So yesterday I recieved my first Glossybox delivery and I was very pleased with my products! This months theme was 'Detox' after all the crap we've been eating and putting on our bodies over Christmas! Most of my products we're face products which I'm very happy about!

So the first product I'm going to talk about is a lip balm and so far I absolutely ADORE this product! It contains Aloe and Beeswax and smells like After Eights! It goes on my lips really easily and lasts for a really long time before I have to reapply! It also 'warms' my lips, it tingles and burns slightly, but not too much that it's painful, it's just...nice! I was so lucky to get this because I recently lost my lip balm and I didn't want to buy a new one until I found it... luckily I didn't because I love this product and will definately keep on using it! Cost- £1.99 | Total cost of box- £1.99