November 2013 Magazine Freebies

Hi Guys,

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. 

Mine was busy, I finally redesigned Truly Polished - as you may be able to tell! I'm really proud of how it turned out... I've had this kind of design in mind for months and although it was stressful trying to get it all done, I'm glad I finally took the plunge because it's just what I imagined! 

I also had a friend over for dinner Sunday night which was nice. We made home made burgers with sweet potato chips and I made an apple pie for dessert. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to enjoy it too much because my son came down with a bad cold on Sunday afternoon. Monday he had pretty much lost his voice, yesterday we went into the city to do some shopping and he was a bit better but slept until nearly midday today. I kept him off preschool today, and that explains why I haven't posted this week!

Tonight's post is a little break from my Rainbow Connection haul. For a change I've been a good little blogger and swatched a haul instead of saying I'll do it and then letting bottle after bottle drift away to the point where I have no idea what I bought! The only problem is I have so many swatches to post, I could be posting the haul for the next two weeks! Who am I to complain though? At least I'm keeping up with posts, and the polishes are so pretty!

Recently I went on a no-buy, and apart from the indies I've stuck to it (apart from one Barry M but that's it I swear) but enough was enough, I needed a fix! All of a sudden it came to me - magazines. This month there have been some decent freebies, so this is what I picked up.

Both magazines

The other ORLY polishes

The other Nails Inc choices 

Country Club Khaki is a beige-nude. I love nudes like this, I find them much more flattering on my skin tone than pinky nudes. Out of the ORLY choices, Naughty would have probably been my first choice, but this is a close second and I really love it. This was pretty much opaque in one coat but I used two for good measure.

Country Club Khaki

New York Noir is a plain black creme. Out of the four choices this was my top pick. They had the red and gold in my local ASDA but I think you can't go wrong with a black creme, I have so many but I always go back to them! The formula on this was pretty good. A little bit thinner than my favourite black, Cult Nails Nevermore, but when I got used to it, it was perfect. The photos below show just one coat. Yes, it's that good!

New York Noir

All in all I'm pleased with these two freebies. I rarely get magazines if they're giving away nail polish because I usually find that the colours aren't what I would normally pick, or I realise I have enough and don't need more. Here I knew I had similar colours but you can't go wrong with black and nude, to me it's the most chic combination you can get!

Have you picked up either of these freebies? Any other good ones I should know about?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hi Guys,

Long time no see? I know, I'm a terrible blogger! This week we have been doing lots of boring things around the house, but we're getting somewhere. My son's room is nearly finished. His blinds are cut to size and put up, his normal ceiling light has been taken down and there is a sun in it's place, and his room is coming together exactly how I wanted it to! I also organised my Helmer on Tuesday... There will be a post on that either tomorrow or next week, time depending...

Anyway, today is Valentine's Day, not that you would know it in my house! Let's just say we aren't all pink hearts and love songs here!

Nevertheless, this is Valentine's Day and I wanted to mark it with a pretty pink manicure. This is the first manicure that I have photographed in my new lightbox. I got it on Monday, and while I was playing with it I knocked over one of the lamps and the bulbs went. So I bought new bulbs and replaced both, so I hope you like the new photos!

Here's the mani:

Let me just say, it felt really good to do a little bit of nail art, even if it was just a little bit!

The polishes I used were: 

17 Simply Pink - three coats (pale pink)

Revlon Sparkling - one coat (glitter)

Orly Miss Conduct - two coats (cranberry scattered holo)

I freehanded the heart as best as I could with the brush from the bottle, and then at the left hand side I used my opposite thumb nail to create the line. Then I filled the gap with Simply Pink with a striping brush.

I love how this looks, it's the first thing like this I've done in absolutely ages!

What do you think of the lightbox photos? I'm really happy with them, the bulbs give off the perfect level of light. The only thing I must say is that I didn't use a matte top coat. This was glossy (I used the Models Own topcoat) but the diffused light takes the glossiness away. I don't mind how it looks, but it's worth a mention!

If you want to know more about my lightbox and lamps, then check back next week because I'll hopefully have a post up about it!

Happy Valentine's Day. Whether you're single, in a relationship, or "it's complicated" I hope you're having a great day!

NOTD: Orly Le Chateau and China Glaze I'm Not Lion

Hi Everyone,

This is actually my earliest post in a while! It's really surprising actually, I didn't really start doing anything until about 4pm today so I thought it would be a late one, especially because I got up a couple of hours earlier than normal... 

I had to go and feed my Mum's dogs because she was away dropping my brother off to start uni, that took ages, and the 15 minute walk home took ages because I stopped to get sausage and chips (so much for healthy eating). Then I had to put my son to bed and eat my dinner! It was nice not to have to cook, and I have nothing in the house so I don't know what I would have made anyway!

I have a NOTD post to show you today, and I have a confession to make: I have no camera. When I was away a couple of weeks ago I seemed to misplace it. I don't know if I left it at the hotel (I called both hotels with no luck) or at my boyfriend's parents' house, or in our car which is currently being fixed. So hopefully it'll turn up. So these photos were taken with my iPad. I know phone pics etc are a real blogging no-no, but I had no other choice and I really wanted to show off these nails!

I wanted something autumnal as the weather is getting colder, but I also wanted glitter. So I chose Orly Le Chateau, which I picked up a while ago in a set from TKMaxx and China Glaze I'm Not Lion. I'm loving that polish, I've only had it a month and this is my third time wearing it, that says a lot for me! 

Le Chateau is from the Holiday Soiree Collection for Winter 2011. I got this, Ma Cherie (from the same collection) and Lucky Duck (from the fall 2011 Birds of a Feather collection). It's a very blackened teal, near black and it's so glossy! This is what the creme from the Nails Inc Blair Duo should have been, in my opinion, because it was a disaster. This was beautiful, one coat was nearly opaque but I used two coats for the photos. 

I used three coats of I'm Not Lion, and one coat of Seche Vite on all nails.

Natural Light

Sunlight

Sorry about the photos! I need to see if I can borrow a camera from my Mum or something for future posts until mine turns up/I get something else sorted. I do have another camera but no memory card or cable... Luckily the camera on my iPad isn't too bad. I have some posts ready to go as well with the photos done so I should be okay for a little while anyway.

See you back here on Monday, have a lovely weekend!