Daily Polish

day six hundred and seven, zoya noel

Sara — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:52:53 +0000

Sadly I’m not back but just trying to post a little something because I miss my blog. Unfortunately I am still very sick (I was recently hospitalised) but I just want to do something beyond being home ill all the time. I can’t promise a regular blogging schedule (my energy fluctuates wildly day to day on what I can or cannot do) but I will try to post when I can. I’ve got so much to show!

Noel is from the Gems & Jewels holiday collection and is a stunning blue/silver foil. I loved this whole collection and loaned it to so many friends who wanted to wear this (with its accompanying bar glitter coordinating polish) and I especially loved the pigmentation. This is one coat, no ugly brushstrokes and fantastic coverage! It sparkles beautifully on its own and the formula was flawless. I am rarely disappointed in anything from Zoya.

Disclaimer: This polish was provided to me by the company or PR for review but it will never alter the opinions provided in this blog. I believe in blogging with honesty and that a free product will never guarantee a positive review. A positive review is earned by a great product and nothing more.

Where Have I Been!?

Sara — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:54:46 +0000

Yes…so…I know I’ve been away for a long time and I really want to say that’s over and I’m back for good but sadly that’s not the case. In the last 6 months I’ve had strep throat, mumps and tonsillitis (I’ve had tonsillitis for over 6 months now!). In addition to the whole no job thing. It’s been a really frustrating and very exhausting time. Who knew being so sick could be so tiring!?! I have about 6 posts half written in my drafts, I just don’t have the energy to finish them, there’s so much I want to show you and talk to you about (although some of it’s probably super old news by now)…it’s just not going to happen yet. The antibiotics they had me on made me so sick I was sleeping 14+ hours a day and unable to leave my house. So I’m not taking those anymore and trying to convince them to take out my tonsils and then trying to get my other long-term degenerative illnesses under control…and then hopefully get a job and then get back to blogging. I really do miss it . In the mean time I hope you have been keeping polished and happy.

In closing here are some brands I am obsessed with:

Pai Skincare : Organic skincare at a super affordable price. I just bought their rosehip serum/oil and I will be buying their combination lotion on the sad sad day I run out of my Kate Somerville Goat Cream
Rouge Bunny Rouge : Hopefully by now someone on some blog has alerted you to the miracle that is RBR. Their eyeshadows are fantastic. I’m obsessed. Not cheap but a little goes a long way and the colours (and colour descriptions) are FANTASTIC.
Creative Nail Design (CND) Almond Hydrating Lotion : So I could tell you about the Vitamin E and Jojoba oil and how it prevents waterloss and keeps your hands soft and moisturised…but BLAH BLAH. Really now, I’m all about the almonds. I want to EAT THIS LOTION. It smells so good. It’s solar oil in lotion form. But I’m obsessed with marzipan so you can’t really blame me! If you love marzipan you will love this lotion and you will want to eat your hands. Or the Christmas smell…Vanilla Cashmere I think it was? I love that one also!

I will come back once I can, I promise!

Sara

Chanel Nails Video

Sara — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:01:12 +0000

So this is from September but completely new to me….thank you to my sister for showing it to me! I love it!!!

Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm

Sara — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:08:53 +0000

Something I’ve yet to blog about but long loved…Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm. My favourite lip balm, the be all, end all…I always have one on me at all times lip balm. The reason I’m writing about them now is because I have FINALLY found a UK shop that stocks ALL the varieties. Usually most UK e-tailers stock 1 flavour (either the lemon or the mint) but never all 5 (and never the black tea which is my favourite!). BUT BUT BUT!!! The Gentlemans Shop (don’t get my pedantic grammar self started on the lack of apostrophe) stocks all five flavours.

Jack Black lip balms are the best in my opinion. I have to wear some kind of lip balm every night because I suffer from dry lips and sleep with my mouth wide open snoring like a hacksaw. If I don’t use some sort of lip balm/chapstick I will wake up the next morning and the moment I try to use my lips the bottom lip will split down the centre and start bleeding (it’s not pretty, trust me!). So I’ve tried a LOT of chapsticks over the years. Lanolips (which was nice, very thick but just didn’t feel like it improved the quality of my lips), Carmex (also nice and thick, but sometimes was just too harsh and I’d end up with a rash on my lips if I used it too many nights in a row [I do have very sensitive skin]), Kyoku (not thick enough and would wear off sometime in the night), Rouge Bunny Rouge Kiss Elixir (absolutely fantastic but £18! wow!!! That’s a lot for lip balm!), Blistex (same problems as Carmex, I get rashes after consistent use)….so needless to say…I’ve tried a LOT of balms.

I can genuinely say that Jack Black has worked the best for me. It lasts all night without leaving some weird residue and my lips don’t split when I wake up (yay!). I can’t really give you a time in hours for how long it lasts, but needless to say it lasts long enough and is nice and slippy on the lips. It isn’t sticky and just gives a nice balm feeling (it is like Carmex from the yellow squeezy tubes, not as thick as Lanolips 101, more like the consistency of coloured Lanolips). I haven’t written about it until now because all the flavours were really only available in the states. You could buy them at Nordstroms or the Jack Black website…or a whole host of other e-tailers…but we in the UK were a bit shafted. So imagine my excitement at finally being able to replenish all 5 lip balms at once (where I’ve been rationing all 5 in rotation to make them last as long as humanly possible!). I usually keep 1 in my handbag, 1 by my bedside and the rest stashed at any other prime lip location (my makeup bag or anywhere I might have strategic chapped lips requirements!)

I bought my Jack Black balms for £7.95 each (which is not really a bargain considering they are $7.50 in the USA, so really it’s a MASSIVE ripoff…because if you convert it directly it’s about £4.77 but what can you do. In the UK we get charged a fortune for US products [just look at OPI, £10 a bottle anyone!?]). Until they invent free shipping to the UK from the USA I will just have to swallow the cost (although looking at the Jack Black website I see they’ve launched two new flavours…I think they did this just to torment me, right when I was so pleased about finally getting all the flavours in the UK! Evil, evil company!)

L’Occitane Relaunches Shea Butter Range for Winter

Sara — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:39:15 +0000

So I received this in my inbox this morning and thought I would pass it along, my mum and I swear by the Shea Butter Hand Cream (my hands are sensitive and always feel dry so finding creams that are rich but non-irritating and non-greasy are always a plus [I usually keep the L'Occitane by my bedside and a small tube of E45 hand lotion in my bag for "on the go" moisturising needs!]). Most of the other products are too rich (as my skin is very combination and cannot handle so much moisture and lush in a product…it goes oil crazy!) but perfect for skin that tends to be more on the dry side.

day six hundred and six, rescue beauty lounge smitten

Sara — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:18:48 +0000

So! This picture is making me a bit jealous as my nails look gorgeous here but I just had a disagreement with my nails (I wanted them to be nice and long and they wanted to break and I am back to itty bitty nubbins)….but moving on, this colour is so unlike me but I really love it anyway. It’s a beautiful blush pink and makes my skin look really healthy (unlike it’s super unhealthy winter pallor of the moment), it is in my interview shades list that I keep in my head. I feel like such a bad “cool colour” lover for being so into this shade but it’s just so pretty, I think it might be one of those universally flattering colours? I do hope I stop getting job rejections and start getting interviews so I can start wearing some of my interview shades for more than just pretend interviews I give myself in the mirror to keep my skills sharp! (Thinking of keeping the blog running 1-2x a week right now until I figure my stuff out, hope that’s alright with everyone!)

Nicki Minaj and OPI

Sara — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:16:03 +0000

So…we all knew it was coming and here is a great shot from the Illustrated Nail. I am not into shatter but I actually want the aubergine shatter/maroon shatter. It looks amazing and the yellow-y green one also!

OPI Holland Collection Preview Spring 2012

Sara — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:17:31 +0000

So. Where have I been….I temped for a couple weeks and then back to unemployment. I spent about 3 hours today trying to rescue my blog because I upgraded to the newest version of WordPress and it broke my blog dashboard! I couldn’t log in and it took me 3 hours to figure it out (well no, I knew how to fix it…just not how to fix it in terms of like what to do. I knew I needed to remove this one folder but just how to access it without being a part of my dashboard was the tough part!). I’ve been busy trying to figure out my life and how to get a new job and going to a lot of interviews and not necessarily wearing a lot of nail polish (or rather not changing it daily). I’m still not 100% sure what I want to do with my blog, I am not removing it but I’m not sure I am in a place to go back to daily postings now or anytime soon .

BUT….before I lost my job I went to the AMAZING OPI Holland Collection preview for Spring 2012 at the beautiful Claridges Hotel in London. I’d only been past it and never inside and it was so exciting and the collection is everything I ever dreamed of (and more!). Not to mention that I will be featured on some online QVC videos blabbing about why I collect old OPI polishes and why there is such a market for old school collectors (like me…or I try to be one)!

Claridges….on the outside, so pretty! Some day I will eat there…maybe even afford to sleep there!

Sneak attack picture of Helen (of JustNiceThings) who will probably murder me for posting this picture but I think she looks beautiful, I think of her as my eye makeup guru (and long nail idol)

The OPI Holland Collection! So, so many standouts. Both blues on the bottom right are shimmers, one with gold and one with silver. A proper orange crème (which is fantastic because I was just lamenting before this preview that there weren’t enough oranges around) [plus you can't have a Dutch collection without Orange...Orange IS Dutch!!!]. Also the brown impresses me (and I’m not into browns) as it has red and golden shimmer and it has depth and beauty. I definitely need all of this collection….or as much as I can afford!

This is the mini collection available for purchase soon (very soon I assume!) and I think I want more than this….I’m not sure yet. But I do think the minis are so adorable!

Clogs!! There’s a picture of me and my sister from when we went to Holland of us in clogs…we even went to a clog factory, it was amazing!

Orange! I’m so excited for this, I LOVE ORANGE!

These two blues are SO AMAZING, I love love love them. Medium blues with silver shimmer and gold shimmer. You can get everything you want with these colours and I adore them. I still haven’t worn mine yet…I’m saving them for something special? I don’t know, I can’t stop staring, that’s for certain!

Ho hum. Nice, pretty….nothing I haven’t seen a million times before. Moving on!

Vamp

So I wouldn’t really like these colours (well I would…since I’m a red fanatic and red-corals are no exception) but the display set up against the red lights (for the red light district obviously) made me love this colour!

In true OPI style….Did You’Ear About Van Gogh? I had to save the funniest for last! I love the puns.

All in all…I love this whole collection. Great variety, shimmers, crèmes and everything else. Funny names and great colours. Every time OPI do a collection I hear about it and I can never visualise it and then I see it in some way and then it all makes sense. This is like the Pirates of the Caribbean collection. Visions of great colours and some dusty colours and I LOVE that there’s no shatters. I’m shattered out. Seriously. Let’s take a break (although I do secretly…not so secretly want the Nicki Minaj maroon/purple shatter) and get back to just the colours! I’m a fan and cannot wait for its official release.

Blogging Hiatus

Sara — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 10:00:41 +0000

So. I lost my job really unexpectedly yesterday morning (very unexpectedly, thank you recession!) and I’m just not in the right place to blog. I need to focus on finding a job and closing out my life at my old job. I hope to be back soon.

Sara

Beauty Blog Link Love 08/11/2011

Sara — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:11:04 +0000

Shivani at Adorable On Your Vanity ponders if NARS Taos Blush is too bright or just right?

Want a metallic eye look that’s perfect for Fall/Winter? Musicalhouses checks out the Sleek Molten Metal in Steel and Ash!

Amazing what makeup can do! Smashinbeauty writes about how Dermablend concealed Zombie Boy.

Daily Polish shows off why she thinks that Nails Inc Magnetic Polish is so amazing!

Mariella at Musing on Beauty discovers premium brand Esthederm and shares her review of their legendary Cellular Water: once you have tried it, you can’t live without it anymore!

This volumizer from Ozzie super-stylist Kevin Murphy gives Goudylox’s hair a lot of extra oomph, and extra time between washes.

Addicted to Beauty can’t decide which is her favourite Princess Ariel mermaid costume – and yes, she knows Halloween has passed!

Phyrra hears all the juicy gossip about Rockeresque Beauty Co. from Issanna!

Visit Handmade Reviews to read about the newest Sigma Beauty collections and coupons.

Glitter nails are great for this upcoming party season. Dolce Vanity have a metallic and geometric shape nail tutorial, to sparkle up the nails to give you a fun effect.

Jude discovers 8 hours sleep and a facial in a tube thanks to Aromatherapy Associates Overnight Repair Mask.

Kajal Couture shares her must have fall lipstick for dark lip newbies and addicts alike.

Fancy longer, fuller eyelashes? Anita has put RapidLash Eyelash Enhancing Serum to the test, see how she got on with it!

Everyone needs a good brown eyeliner. Check out Makeup, Beauty and More’s top picks!

—Vesna is celebrating her 27th birthday so she has a cute giveaway – a cake ring! Celebrate with her!