My Christmas and New Year in Pictures!

Hi Guys,

Happy New Year! I can't believe this is 2013! We all survived the end of the world and we've made it this far! This is the year I will be turning 23, my son will turn two, and my boyfriend will be hitting the big 3-0! 

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and that you're all feeling positive for the year ahead!

As far as New Years Resolutions go, I haven't gone mental... I would like to start making more movements towards my own polish line, and I also want to get fitter. I used to go to the gym but I didn't have a driving licence so getting there was a nightmare. Now I have a car, I don't have a babysitter! We got a treadmill for the house so I can start running, I would like to lose that last bit of baby weight, that's all! I don't like to make proper resolutions because I can never keep them, but I think mine are realistic! 

I thought that as I have been away for so long relaxing with my family, I should share some of my Instagram photos with you all. I have misplaced my camera wire, so can't charge my camera or take my photos off right now (typical) so Instagram photos are a good option! I have a horrible feeling my boyfriend has taken my cable with him offshore... I'll have to buy new one because he's gone for a month at least!

Onto the photos... Please ignore the horrendous carpet and curtains. We've only lived here a couple of weeks and the focus has been on hosting Christmas, unpacking as many boxes as humanly possible and building furniture! We want to lay down solid wood flooring and we're trying to sort out getting our one pair of huge, beautiful damask curtains turned into three pairs of smaller curtains...

Don't forget, you can follow me on Instagram, my username is @truly_polished

Click "Read More" to see the rest of this post, it's extremely long!

Birthday Nails!

Hi Everybody! 

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! I did :) It was my birthday yesterday so I had an eventful day. My family came over to my house to give me my presents, I got very spoiled indeed! And then we went out to TGI Fridays for lunch. I ate more than I have in months and was very bloated and uncomfortable for the rest of the day and didn't need any dinner! In the evening I went to a local pub with my boyfriend, brother and a couple of his friends to do a pub quiz, which we won!!!!! We watched the Olympics Closing Ceremony afterwards so it was a lovely way to round off my day!

Today I was meant to be doing an activity that my brother had organised... One of my presents from him was a Segway Rally experience day, but the nearest available date is in October, so I'll be booking it for then!

Anyway, I did a special manicure for my birthday which was kind of thrown together last minute before I went out for the meal. I didn't have much time because I did a mani-pedi for my Mum! 

My brother bought me China Glaze Luxe and Lush, and I decided to incorporate that. I already had it but the formula on my bottle was horrific so I was glad to get a new one!

I won't go into details about the polishes I used but it was one coat of Cult Nails Nevermore, one coat Gosh Galaxy (swatches and review coming soon), one coat Luxe and Lush, and then one coat Models Own Disco Heaven. I used two coats of Seche Vite. 

Here it is:

I decided to mix it up a bit for the evening and added a matte top coat. I'm not sure how I felt about this, but it looked better in real life than in the photo! It looked like frosted glass! 

I'm really excited to show you all another of my birthday polishes. It's one I've wanted for ages but my brother is just waiting for it to arrive then I can have it!

Hope you liked my birthday mani!

Don't forget, you still have five days to enter my Olympic Giveaway to win a bottle of Barry M Jewel Britannia!

NOTD!!! GOSH Holographic 549 - And my first video

Hi everyone, 

I hope you're all having a lovely week! My son is on the mend, and although that means he's less sleepy and awake more, I'm not worrying about him all the time! 

Today I have an "OMG I can't believe I'm posting this" post to show you. I've been saying for ages I've needed a sunny day for something amazing and finally my prayers were answered!

I got GOSH HOLOGRAPHIC!!!! 

This has been my most wanted nail polish for ages, I've traipsed through so many Superdrug GOSH discontinued bins trying to find it, to no avail. There are rumours that GOSH will be re-releasing Holographic... I tweeted them to ask, and they replied with a cryptic but promising message, here it is:

Anyway, I was hoping that a new one in the pipeline would stop me from wanting this, but it turns out it did the opposite. The thought of a new one just made me need the original! So I went onto eBay and the rest is history! I got a good price, don't worry!

I was worried about the application would be a nightmare, but I used two coats of Nubar Ridge Filler as my base coat and three coats of Holographic went on quite easily. I did have to make sure I didn't go over the same spot twice, but I think that goes for any base coat.

Now onto some photos! This is three coats with no topcoat. I've included a photo in the shade so you can see, it looks a bit blah in the shade but in the sun it's amazing!

Sunlight

Shade

My favourite part of the holographic colours!

I've also included my first ever video! The backing track is Farewell to the Fairground by White Lies in case you were wondering!

Isn't Holographic amazing?!

Don't worry if you can't get hold of 549 Holographic, because I'm pretty sure they will be releasing a holo (or hopefully a few!) later on in the year!

I'm planning on stamping on top of this, not sure what to choose though! I'm reluctant to cover any of the beauty but some irrational part of my brain thinks stamping over it might make it last longer...

See you tomorrow!

Jelly/Glitter Sandwich featuring OPI and Oh My GOSH!

Hi Everyone,

I've had a really good day today for a change. I was really ill last night and up until 3am so when my son woke up at 6.30 and 8.00am I was NOT happy. But I got up, showered and dressed and thought I might as well embrace the early morning! Usually I get up around ten by the way. My son gets up at 7.30 for a feed and then goes back to bed and I'm normally up before him at about ten to ten. My baby likes to get up late! 

Anyway, I made a casserole to put in the slow cooker, had breakfast, tidied up, managed to have lunch (which I NEVER do) played with Caleb, had my dinner while he was asleep, spoke to my boyfriend on the phone, gave Caleb some casserole for dinner and made him up three portions for later. And my dinner for tomorrow is sorted too! I feel like Superwoman! Since I made the decision to blog less, I feel like I can gain control again, which feels amazing!

So, polish time! Today I have another jelly/glitter sandwich to show you. 

I bought this GOSH a couple of weeks ago when I went up to my hometown. It's called Cobalt Blue and it's a jelly! I've been on a hunt for jellies as I've mentioned a few times, and I remembered that one of my only other jellies is from Oh My GOSH as well. I had a look and I'm sure the shop assistants were going to tell me to leave because I was fiddling with everything. I keep wanting to say "I'm a nail blogger, I know what I'm looking for and I need to check how this looks on the brush to tell if it's a jelly or a creme!" But I think they may have put me in a straightjacket if I came out with that!

The glitter I used is from the new(ish) OPI New York City Ballet collection and it's called Pirouette My Whistle. My lovely polish buddy Liz from Colorado sent this to me in my latest package. It's silvery white small and large hex glitter with micro glitter in a clear base. There's nothing like this in the UK apart from the OPI, but I'm not spending £11 on it here! 

I applied one coat of Cobalt Blue and then one coat of Pirouette My Whistle, then another coat of Cobalt Blue. This isn't a true jelly. Normally they take four-ish coats but this was quite opaque after two. This means you can't see the glitter as much as I would have liked, but I'm still pleased with this mani!

Natural light

Flash

I hope you like this as much as I do! You can get Cobalt Blue at Superdrug for £3.50.

One last thing, just for the Americans who read this. I'm always talking about how we get ripped off in the UK, and I took photos for proof! They are phone photos so beware, but I was in Boots so I couldn't  really whack out the camera, I've seen shop assistants get a bit funny about that! 

£18.65 for OPI Nail Envy???? You have GOT to be kidding me! And don't ever buy Seche Vite from Boots! I got mine for about £4.75 from an eBay seller and you can get it on Amazon for £7.15. I refused to be ripped off by these people! 

I'll be back on Monday with the amazing layering combo I spoke about yesterday, I can't wait to show you guys!

Have a nice weekend!

GOSH Sweet Peach 551

Hey everyone,

Today I have a GOSH polish to show you. I picked this up a couple of weeks ago at Superdrug when I was looking in the discontinued bin in the hopes of finding Holographic!!!

This polish is mustard yellow and has a shimmer to it with small pieces of iridescent glitter and is (very strangely) named Sweet Peach. There is nothing peachy about this polish at all!

Sweet Peach was very much on the thick side but it was still pretty easy to work with. The photos show two coats of Sweet Peach with one coat of Seche Vite. One thing worth mentioning is that this was very topcoat hungry. Even with SV it still had a gritty finish!

Here it is in the shade

Sunlight

Macro

All in all I'm pleased I got this polish because I've been after a mustard yellow for a while. However, I really don't think it looks nice against my skin. I don't think that'll stop me from wearing it again though, I think it'll look nice on my toes come summer (if we ever get some sun!)

Seeing as this was in the discontinued bin, I'm taking it that Sweet Peach has been discontinued! You could still check your local Superdrug though, I got this for £2.49!

Easter Egg Nails

Happy Easter Everyone!

Sorry I'm posting so late today, I've been so busy!

I felt like doing some nail art so I've got a really pretty Easter manicure to show you that I did earlier. I've seen so many Easter egg manicures online recently and it inspired me to try and recreate them! I actually did this last night but it got messed up and dented overnight while I was sleeping so I had to redo it!

The polishes I used from thumb to little finger were:

Left hand: Essie Absolutely Shore, MUA Shade 9 blue, Essie Navigate Her, 17 Supreme Shine Simply Pink, NYC Colors Lexington Yellow.

Right hand: Rimmel Lycra Pro Aqua Cool, Essie Tour de Finance, Oh My GOSH Baby Blue, Rimmel Lycra Pro Peppermint, BeautyUK Smokey Lilac.

I painted each nail with my chosen colour (ten in total) and then took a ziploc bag and dropped one drop of the first nail polish onto it. Because I don't have a dotting tool I used the end of a biro pen to pick up a bit of polish and dot it onto all of the nails that didn't have that colour painted on them. I repeated this for every colour until I had done all ten, then added a layer of Seche Vite and this is what I ended up with, hope you like it!

The picture of my left hand was taken in the shade and my right hand in more direct sunlight. The sunlight picture was the only one that showed a difference between the baby blue and peppermint polishes on my middle and ring finger!

Left Hand

Right Hand

Hope you like my nail art! Enjoy the rest of your bank holiday weekend!

Oh My Gosh Pink Red

Hi everyone,

Today's post is a cheerful pink! It's the other polish I bought from the Oh My Gosh by GOSH collection and the shade is called Pink Red... It's a shame all these shades have such unimaginative names! Especially seeing as this polish isn't actually very red at all! It's just pink!

Pink Red is a very bright pink, not a neon, but very bright, it's almost impossible to photograph.

I never used to like this type of colour, it was too bright for me, but this is a jelly polish, and that makes all the difference! I love it when a nail polish finish really suits the colour and this is definitely one of those occasions!

The application of this was pretty good, very typical jelly application: VERY sheer and seemed like it was never going to build then all of a sudden at four coats I was there. Squishy perfection with an amazing gloss, there was no way I was putting top coat on and insulting the natural shine this gave me!

Here it is in the natural light

Click "Read More" to see the rest of my photos. In the sunlight you can kind of see this polish leaning slightly red, but I still don't think that justifies the name Pink Red!

GOSH Special Edition Prima Donna

Hi guys,

This is later than I wanted to post today, but I've been really ill! I've got a throat infection that's been getting worse and worse, between that and looking after a baby, I really haven't been up to writing a post!

Despite all this, I have a GOSH Special Edition polish to show you. It's called Prima Donna and it is a brick orange with a gold shimmer. I didn't notice the shimmer in the shop but it's so pretty and really visible on the nail, which I love!

The formula was good on this. At first I thought it was going to be a one coater, but it went on in two effortless coats! 

Natural light

Sunlight - Look at that gold shimmer! 

Macro

I love this polish and I'll definitely be wearing it again. I have a few outfits it would be perfect with! I got it in Superdrug for £5.

Oh My Gosh Baby Blue

Hi everybody, 

I hope you're all having a good weekend! Today I've got an Oh My Gosh by GOSH polish to show you. I picked this up a few days ago on my haul. The shade is called Baby Blue and it's perfect for this time of year!

The formula of this wasn't the greatest. It was runny and streaky, but three coats gave me adequate coverage. The colour of this is really pretty and I'll definitely wear it again during the Spring and Summer months!

In the photos below I'm wearing three coats of Baby Blue with no topcoat. 

Natural light

Sunlight

Macro

I got this polish at Superdrug where it retails at £3.50.

GOSH 550 Purple Heart

Hey, hope you've all had a good day!

Today I have a GOSH polish to show you. I bought this a couple of weeks ago but I know it's been around for a couple of years now. It is my first GOSH polish. Believe it or not, I've always walked by the GOSH counter without taking any notice. This is how I managed to miss out on GOSH Holographic. However, last time I was in Superdrug I had a look on the GOSH stand and was surprised when this bottle shouted out "buy me!"

Inside with natural light