Mani Monday: Sally Hansen Mauve It

 

Hi guys! Hello to the start of a new month (I can't believe it's May aleady!) and another Mani Monday. This week I'm wearing Mauve It (213) from the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri range of polishes. How weird that up until now I've always thought it was Insta-Dry, only just noticing it is, in fact, Insta-Dri?!

Anyway I love this range because it's designed to dry very quickly, which is great if you're pushed for time or just can't be bothered spending long painting your nails. The bottle also features a flat, wide brush, making it much quicker and easier to cover the entire nail in polish in fewer strokes. I also like the smooth bottle design; the curved triangular shape fits really well in my hand for those mani shots!

I did a little bit of research and apparently Insta-Dri is formulated with a built in base and top coat for extended wear and full coverage, streak-free shine. I agree that this formula is impressive. Only one coat gives beautiful, smooth, even results. This is one of the nail polish ranges I reach for most often.

Mauve It is a really pretty pale pink shade that's flattering and easy to wear. It's kind of a pinky neutral/nude shade that's quite versatile. A classic colour! Also guys, side note - I have been super lucky with not really having a bad nail break in quite a while now. I hope I don't jinx it!

Mani Monday: Multi-Colour Autumn/Winter Nails!

Hi guys! I haven't done anything remotely interesting with my nails in such a long time, so when I saw the below photo in CityMag, I was inspired to put together an Autumn/Winter Mani! I thought this look was amazing and really wanted to re-create it. So I went through my nail polish collection looking for suitable shades, and this is what I came up with. It's slightly different but has the same vibe. I hope you enjoy!

Inspiration......

Photo Credit: Jessica Clark

I saw this photo in this CityMag article about the stylish looks found on Moonta Street in Adelaide. These gorgeous nails belong to Sia Tam, who is currently studying business. I am in love with this look!


My Re-Creation....

The Polishes I Used.....

~ The Body Shop Colour Crush in Red My Mind
~ Furless Lacquer in Freak*
~ Essie mini in Cocktail Bling
~ Sally Hansen Color Therapy in Unwine'd*
~ OPI Lacquer mini (shade not on bottle)
~ Essie mini in Good To Go (Top Coat)

I used Red My Mind from The Body Shop on my thumb nails. This polish is beautiful! To me this appears more orange than red. I'm crushing on the shade and the deliciously smooth and easy to apply formula. I even asked The Body Shop about it but they haven't made nail polishes in years! I remember I picked this up in a discount bin for around $2!

On my pointer fingers is Freak* by Furless. I love this shade. A few years ago I was kindly sent a bunch of polishes from their grunge-themed line. They're edgy and cool, and I'm yet to get sick of them! I don't think they sell nail polish anymore but you should check out the Furless Instagram page for make-up looks that are out of this world!

On my middle fingers is Cocktail Bling by Essie. This impressed me with its lovely formula. I'm so glad I picked this because I'm not usually into grey, so it forced me to try something different. I really like it!

~ I applied two coats of every polish, followed by the top coat, by the way! ~

I used one of my all-time favourite shades, Unwine'd* from the Sally Hansen Color Therapy range on my ring fingernails. Hooley Dooley, is this a gorgeous colour! Absolutely perfect for Winter, too. I was originally sent this as a press sample but I've bought at least one, if not two, bottles since. I wrote about it in my May/June Beauty Faves and you can read more about the Color Therapy range in my blog post here. Highly recommended!

I used the little yellow mini from OPI on my pinky fingers, and although there's no shade name on the bottle I feel like this was from a discontinued Shrek Forever After mini pack I won (released 2010, thanks Google). Ugh this is so bad and lets down the whole look in my opinion. The formula is thin, uneven and streaky AF. Maybe because it's 9 years old? Oh well, they can't all be winners!

As a top coat I used Essie Good To Go. It produced a super shiny finish, but has the tendency to 'pull off' the colour on the nail, so I had to be very careful when applying to just do the bare minimum amount of strokes to get it on there.

What do you think of this look? Are you a fan?

You may be interested in Mid-Week Mani: Rimmel Be Red-y!

Linking up with Life This Week and Mummy Mondays

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Disclaimer: Products marked * were provided for editorial consideration. Reviews are my honest opinion. There are no affiliate links in this post. Please see the Disclosure page for further information.

Would you rock this look? Have you ever been inspired to recreate something?

Mid-Week Mani: Rimmel Be Red-y

Hi guys! Here's a quick Mid-Week Mani for your Hump Day! I'm really into reds and dark shades at the moment, and I recently found this bottle in my collection, so I thought I'd pop it on. And by 'pop it on' I mean struggle to open the child-proof cap of my nail polish remover for 10 minutes, finally succeed and remove my old polish, do a quick tidy up with my nail file then whack this on. In exciting news I found my Sally Hansen Diamond Shine Top Coat when I was forced to clean my desk last week. I'd been wondering where that had got to!

If I were to describe this shade I'd say it's closer to 'cheerful' red than 'sexy' red and it's somewhat orangey but changes tones depending on the light. The brick background photo is taken outdoors so you can see the difference, the rest of the photos are taken indoors. 

Anyway, here's two coats of Rimmel Be Red-y (apparently 'flip flop fashion' according to the bottle, lol) and one coat of Sally Hansen Diamond Shine Top Coat. Hope you enjoy!

You may be interested in Rimmel Port-A-Loo Blue + TruthBombs Galore

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What's your favourite nail colour to wear at the moment?

May - June Beauty Faves!

Hi guys! It's time to tell you about the products I've been loving lately. And for those wondering, yes I do need to blog about my May Movie Challenge (30 Netflix Movies In 30 Days Challenge) so you all know how I did, that's the next post on my agenda! Back to the faves - do you love any of these? Let me know what's currently rocking your world in the comments below, I'd love to know!


Bourjois Healthy Mix Anti-Fatigue Concealer
I've recently rediscovered this in my collection and I'm so glad! I was actually getting it confused with the similarly-named Rimmel Wake Me Up Anti-Fatigue Skin Brightening Concealer (I'm not a fan of it), which is why I neglected this baby. I've been using it under my eyes to cover my dark circles and it's really effective, and actually giving me better results than the Revlon Photoready Colour-Correcting Pen for dark spots. I still have to use my Bobbi Brown Corrector as well, because that's how bad my dark circles are, but it's nothing a solid month of 10-12 hours sleep every night won't fix, hahaaa.

Sportsgirl Pout About It Lipstick in Nurture
I'm forever searching for my Holy Grail nude lipstick, and I think I'm pretty close with this product! Shade-wise I can't fault it, it's exactly what I'm looking for in terms of a my-lips-but-better, flattering for my skin tone shade. Texture wise, I love the creamy formula; it's easy to wear, comfortable on the lips and not at all drying. It wears pretty well too, although you do need to re-apply after eating, as you'd expect with this type of lipstick. Another plus is the magnetic close packaging. I'll definitely be buying a back up of this and expecting it to be discontinued imminently, as with most things I love!

Sally Hansen Color Therapy Nail Polish in Unwine'd*
I am seriously in love with this shade and think it might be my favourite deep red ever. It's sexy and sultry, flattering and suits my skin tone perfectly. It's one of those confidence-boosting shades that just makes you feel incredible when you're wearing it. It looks great in photos and I'll often apply it if I know there will be a close-up on my hand in a shot. Added bonus; it's from the Sally Hansen Color Therapy range, which means it's treating your nails as you wear it. It's a win win! I've blogged about this and more shades in the Sally Hansen Color Therapy range which you can read about here.

Aveda Thickening Tonic
I got this in a BeautyHeaven Beautorium, so it feels like it's free even though I paid postage, haha. I feel like Aveda is a high quality brand, and definitely want to look at the rest of their range. This Thickening Tonic is so great on my fine locks. It really gives me great volume from the roots without that awful crunchy result many supermarket volume boosters will give you. I'm a little bit scared to look at how much this costs for when I need to replace this bottle, because I have a feeling it will cost a pretty penny!

Mario Badescu Anti-Aging Regimen Kit
This Kit contains:
~ Glycolic Foaming Cleanser
~ Glycolic Acid Toner
~ Collagen Moisturizer
~ Super Collagen Mask
~ Glycolic Eye Cream (bonus)

This is a great Kit that has allowed me to trial five products from Mario Badescu's Anti-Aging range. The only one I'm yet to try is the Super Collagen Mask, as I've just been too busy. I'm seriously impressed with the rest of the products though, and the only downfall is that I'm now going to have to buy some full-sized versions! After only about three days I started noticing my skin looking smoother, firmer and more refined. The Toner and Moisturizer are my favourites as they leave my skin glowing and looking bright and healthy. I feel like my skin is way less textured and my complexion overall looks so much better than before. I'm so glad I bought this and as I say, I'll definitely be re-purchasing the full size of at least the toner and moisturizer.

You may be interested in Priceline Product Picks!

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Disclaimer: Products marked * were provided for editorial consideration. Reviews are my honest opinion. There are no affiliate links in this post. Please see the Disclosure page for further information.


What products have you been loving lately?

Mani Monday: Nail Polish Loves!

Hi guys! I wanted to tell you about a couple of nail polishes I've been loving lately. Namely, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Nail Color in Expresso* and Sally Hansen Color Therapy in Steely Serene.*

I've been switching between these two shades over the last few weeks, and it's been kind of interesting. I started off applying the brownish-nude Expresso because I was short on time and needed something that would dry fast. I love this shade! It's super-flattering and the wide, flat brush means application is speedy and easy.

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Expresso (the rest of my nails are a different shade!)

For my next mani I tested Sally Hansen's Steely Serene from the Color Therapy Argan Oil formula range. Now this is not normally my type of shade at all, but it looks a lot prettier on the nails than in the bottle! Again, the reason I chose this hue was because I was rushed and needed to paint my nails quickly. Therefore reds and bold shades were not an option, as mistakes would stand out and I wouldn't have time to fix them.

Sally Hansen Color Therapy in Steely Serene

Over the weekend I knew only my thumbnails would be featuring in an Instagram photo; the grey shade was wearing off and I was in a rush again, so I just painted my thumbs with Expresso, over the top! Ever done that? One coat covered the Steely Serene shade perfectly and I was good to go! (see the KIN movie pass photo above - the nails behind the pass were a different colour).

#beautybloggersecrets ;P

Then for my son's Birthday Party on the weekend, I thought, let's fix this two-toned madness and painted over the rest of my nails with Expresso again! So now I was back where I started! LOL. Except I'm currently rocking layers of different shades. You'd never know though!

You may be interested in Mani: Rimmel Port A Loo Blue + #TruthBombs Galore!

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Disclaimer: *Products are PR samples. Reviews are my honest opinion. There are no affiliate links in this post. Please see the Disclosure page for further information.

Ever done the whole 'cheat and paint over the top' business? Or is that just me?

Mani: Rimmel Port-A-Loo Blue + #Truthbombs Galore

Hi guys! Today I'll be dropping #truthbombs left, right and centre. You will know each one is a truth bomb by the handy #truthbomb hashtag immediately following each nugget of truth. Firstly, I am experiencing exactly zero motivation to blog lately (#truthbomb). You may have noticed posts have been a tad on the light side, and that's why. I don't know where my desire has gone or when it will return. I'm definitely not throwing in the towel though! We've also just started two weeks of school holidays here in SA, so there will be less time to blog, even if the desire strikes.

I picked this Mani post to write because it's the quickest thing I can blog about and I was starting to feel guilty about not blogging enough and honestly just wanted to 'get a post up' (#truthbomb). I picked this particular shade of polish because I knew I already had a few photos I'd taken recently of when I'd painted my nails with it but couldn't be stuffed blogging it. (#truthbomb). So basically I found some photos I could use of this shade from a few weeks ago, then painted my nails with it afterwards to match (#truthbomb). I did take a few new photos of my mani though, to add to the post.

Now hold on to your knickers, because I'm about to blow your mind with the biggest #truthbomb of all! Not everything is perfect when it comes to beauty blogging. Insane, right? Everything looks perfect on Instagram with the perfect angle, the clear-cut focus, the gorgeous colour, the perfect highlight, the perfect everything. Well those photos have usually been edited to within an inch of their four-squared lives. Case in point: I totally stuffed up and smudged one of my nails during this mani (#truthbomb). And normally I wouldn't show the stuff-up, but you know what? Fuck it. Let's keep it real, this shit happens. You just normally don't see it. I now wish I'd gone 100% rogue and not even edited these photos so you could see what they look like in real life, but I'm a creature of habit and I'd already edited them before I decided how truthbomby I'd get. Besides, I need something perfect to post on Instagram, right?

Products Used:
Sally Hansen Diamond Shine (two coats, 1 base + 1 top)
Rimmel Port-A-Loo Blue from the Rita Ora collection (1 coat)

Stuffed up my pinky nail!

My attempt to fix it

Linking up with Open Slather and Life This Week and Mummy Mondays

You may be interested in New Shades in the Sally Hansen Color Therapy Range

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Hit me with a #truthbomb of your own in the comments?

NEW SHADES in the Sally Hansen Color Therapy Range!*

Hi guys! Today I'll be featuring some of the exciting new shades that Sally Hansen have released in their Color Therapy range! I've been sent eight beautiful shades that range from nude to perfect-for-Autumn deep wine red, with a bit of sparkle thrown into the mix too! The Sally Hansen Color Therapy formula is billed as colour that 'cares while you wear', because it contains nourishing argan oil that moisturises so your nails can become healthier whilst still looking fabulous!

The new shades are:

~ 210 Re-Nude
~ 192 Sunrise Salutation
~ 150 Steely Serene
~ 194 Burnished Bronze
~ 142 In My Element
~ 370 Unwine'd
~ 402 Plum Euphoria
~ 372 Wine Therapy

Now I do love these nail polishes, from the formula to the colour range and even the design of the brush (nice and flat for ease of application) so much so that I included them in last year's Mother's Day Gift Guide. So far I've worn three shades out of this new lot; Sunrise Salutation, Burnished Bronze and my absolute favourite, Unwine'd. Let's take a look!

Sunrise Salutation

Burnished Bronze

Unwine'd

Linking up with Open Slather, Life This Week and Mummy Mondays

You may be interested in Mani Monday: Sally Hansen Color Therapy

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Disclaimer: *All products were provided for editorial consideration. Reviews are my honest opinion. There are no affiliate links in this post. Please see the Disclosure page for further information.

Are these shades your cup of tea? Are you a fan of Sally Hansen nail polish?

Wordless Wednesday: Pretty In Pink Manicure!

Featuring Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in the shade 530 Back to the Fuchsia*

You may be interested in Sally Hansen Pampered In Pink!

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Disclaimer: *Product was provided for editorial consideration. There are no affiliate links in this post. Please see the Disclosure page for further information.

What's your go-to nail polish shade?

Mani Monday: Sally Hansen Pampered In Pink!*

Hi guys! Sally Hansen is one of my favourite nail polish brands, so I'm coming at you today with another shade from the Color Therapy range, Pampered In Pink*. I was sent two gorgeous fuschia shades recently, and I was going to apply the other one, Back To The Fuchsia* from the Complete Salon Manicure range, but that idea was nixxed when I couldn't open the bottle!

This is just one coat of pretty pink goodness. Enjoy!

You may be interested in Mani Monday: Sally Hansen Color Therapy!

Linking up with Open Slather, Life This Week and Mummy Mondays!

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Disclaimer: *This product was provided for editorial consideration. Reviews are my honest opinion. There are no affiliate links in this post. Please see the Disclosure page for further information.

What's you go-to nail colour for Summer?

Mani Monday: Sally Hansen Color Therapy!*

What do you get when you have insomnia and have exhausted all your Candy Crush turns? A blog post written at 2:30am, that's what! On the weekend I painted my nails, for the first time in weeks. It felt good to give my nails a break, but at the same time I feel so much more 'me' with a bit of colour on the claws!

This is Ohm My Magenta (380)* from the Sally Hansen Color Therapy range, which I was kindly sent at the end of last year, along with two other burgundy beauties, which I'll be trialling in due course. I was sure the 'm' in Ohm was a typo, but no, it's supposed to be there. This is a really flattering, sexy deep red with a hint of purple, and let me say, it's a confidence booster!

If you're not familiar with Sally Hansen's Color Therapy formula, it's best described as a polish that 'cares while you wear.' It contains three nourishing oils; acai, argan and evening primrose, that are absorbed into the nail plate while you wear. There's no need for a base coat. Just apply and your nails are treated to the goodness of the oils whilst looking vibrant with colour. Personally I love this formula; aside from the treatment benefits, it applies smoothly and easily, wears well and the colours are rich and opaque. For this mani, I've only applied one coat. Also, the flat brush makes application a breeze, as the bristles cover a lot of nail area, cutting down on the amount of strokes needed to completely cover a nail. Here's a feature I did on the Pampered In Pink mani from the Color Therapy range, if you're keen to see another shade!

You may be interested in 30 Minute Manicure Routine

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Disclaimer: *This product was provided for editorial consideration. Reviews are my honest opinion. There are no affiliate links in this post. Please see the Disclosure page for further information.

Have you tried the Sally Hansen Color Therapy range? What nail colour are you loving lately?