Monthly Haul: February

Hi ladies! Two posts in the space of an hour? That's something different. I almost forgot to do my monthly haul post! This month has been a little insane, mainly due to the Professional Beauty Exhibition I attended and spent an obscene amount of money, luckily I had been saving for it, so it was 'extra cash' I had spare. I'll leave everything I bought from Pro Beauty until the end, so without further ado, let's jump straight into things!

I started off the month with a Sally Magpies purchase, I've wanted to try Hits polishes for a while and since they're between £3 and £6 I thought I would get a couple...or 10. I also added a piCture pOlish from my wish list onto the order, Orbit. The 3 Cirque you see were sent to me by Sally for a review, which you can see here.

These Nail'd It polishes have also been on my wish list for a long time, so when I saw them both in stock on Mei Mei Signatures, I placed an order.

After seeing the Press Release, I ordered the entire I ♥ NP Valentines collection, which you can see here.

The lovely Casandra from The Manilogues/FEVERlacquer was kind enough to pick up the China Glaze Glitz  N Pieces collection for me after seeing them in her local beauty supply.

I received these Feather Effects polishes to review from Invogue this morning (which still counts as Feb so I included them) you can see the freshly posted swatches here.

I found these beauties from the China Glaze Tronica collection for £16 inc shipping and since I only needed these to complete my Tronica collection (until I realised I had sold Techno Teal), I snatched them up.

And now for the Pro Beauty haul.....

As soon as I arrived at Pro Beauty I ran straight to the OPI stand, since I knew that pretty soon it would be impossible to even get anywhere near it....and I was right. I picked up the 7 polishes I wanted from the Euro-Centrale collection and also Lady In Black, since almost all of my black polishes are nearly empty. All OPI polishes were £6, which makes a huge difference to their usual £11.50

I spotted the China Glaze stand whilst gathering the polishes I wanted from OPI, so once I was done I went over to that hoping to find the Hologlams, which as you can see I did...However they were selling for just under £10 each, which was ridiculous, so I only picked up 6 of them instead of the planned 12, looking at the ones I picked, I should have maybe varied from just the Pinks & Blues. I also grabbed a few of the Avant Garden collection which was on my wish list, these were about £4.20 each. They also had a 10% off deal when you bought 12, so I ended up adding one of my friends polishes to the ones I'd bought to get the deal.

Next to the China Glaze/OPI stand, was a Nubar stand! I've never tried Nubar but they were having a 6 for £20 deal, so I thought now was a good time as any to try them out. I also realised at this point I was on a bit of a pastel kick....I rarely wear pastels. Oops.

After the Nubar stand, we spotted a little stall that was surrounded by women sitting on the floor and racking through all these plastic bins, so we went to inspect only to find that they were selling off old OPI collections, including the Skyfall polishes, for £3 each! I'd been wanting another bottle of My Boyfriend Scales Walls since mine is getting thick and unusable, so after a good rummage, I managed to find a bottle or two.

I wasn't originally going to get any of these, but after taking a break for dinner and counting my last bits of money, I thought I may as well put it to good use and get some Halo Hues, they had both the 2012 and 2013 collections so I got a couple of each. They were £7 each or 2 for £12.

So there you have my February Haul...it's a bit much isn't it. I've also ran out of room in my Helmer to put any of these in, so until I get a new Helmer I won't be buying any more nail polishes. Also the second half of my Nail Tech course is starting next week, so I need to pay for that first off.

If you'd like to know the name of any of the polishes you see above, just write it in the comments and I'll let you know! I don't have them close to me at the moment to write them in as I go.

Swatch: Invogue - Feathers Collection!

Hi ladies! I have a new brand to show you today that will be hitting larger Superdrug stores over the next few weeks. A Sister brand to Eye Candy London, Invogue is an 'on trend', purse friendly alternative for the younger, budget conscious consumers.

When I first saw these on the Press Release, I immediately thought Nails Inc and I wasn't wrong. Although I have only seen the Nails Inc polishes through swatches online, Invogue has completely nailed their polishes for a third of the price. At £3.49 each, you're able to purchase all 4 Invogue Feather Effect polishes for just £1.96 more than it would cost for just one Nails Inc polish! Which is completely worth it if you're wanting the polish and not the brand name.
Formula wise I has no issues with the consistency in each polish, it was light enough to hold enough glitter to cover the entire nail with just one coat. I found the easiest way to apply the 'feathers' was to alternate between dapping and dragging the polish onto the nail, going in various directions for an evenly distributed coverage. They all seemed to be dry to the touch within 3/4 minutes, but I would recommend using a PVA base coat or using the Tin-Foil method for an easy removal if you plan on wearing this as a full manicure.

Jaye Bird is a mixture of Blue and White matte Bar glitter in a clear base, you can see the Nails Inc version Cornwall, swatched by The PolishAHolic, here. Although Jen chose to layer hers over a darker colour than mine, you can see that the polish itself is identical. Out of all 4 polishes, this was the only one that needed an extra coat due to there not being as many 'feathers' on the brush. I layered 2 coats of Jaye Bird over China Glaze - Tart-y For The Party.

On The Money is a bright, neon Blue and Yellow matte bar glitter in a clear base. This is probably my favourite of the 4, I especially love it over this base colour. I layered one coat of On The Money over OPI - OPI...Eurso Euro. Again, you can see the identical Nails Inc version Brighton here.

Parakeet is a pastel Blue, Yellow and Orange matte bar glitter in a clear base it's twin being Nails Inc - Edinburgh. I layered one coat of Parakeet over China Glaze - Keep Calm, Paint On. Looking back now I wish I had layered this over a darker base.

Sunset is a Peach and White matte bar glitter in a clear base, this again is an exact dupe of Nails Inc - York, which can be seen here. I layered 1 coat of Sunset over OPI - Skull & Glossbones.

Invogue Nail Polish is made using a Salon tried & tested formula that is free of Toluene, Formaldehyde, Camphor and DBP and will be available for purchase in selected, larger Superdrug stores from mid-March. You will be able to purchase the Feather Effects for yourself for just £3.49 each for 10ml of product, as well as various other effects such as Concrete & Suede for the same price mark. Also available will be Hi-Res glitters, Cremes, Liquid Metals and more for just £2.99 each! I will have more of those to show you shortly.

To keep up with the latest from Invogue/Eye Candy you can follow them on Facebook and Twitter. Do you see yourself purchasing any of these Feather Effects polishes when they're released?! Let me know in the comments which is your favourite!

Event: Professional Beauty Exhibition, London

Hi ladies! You may have seen a few pictures already on Facebook, but I thought I would make a little post with some more photos from Professional Beauty London that I attended on Sunday at the Excel. A lot of you are unsure what Professional Beauty is about, but basically it's a huge exhibition where many Salon brands and retailers come together under one roof and professionals from all over the beauty industry are able to attend to purchase things under retail value. Although it is a trade show for professionals, I think it is open to the general public too, but I can't be sure of that.

I'm not going to show you what I actually bought, that will all be included in my End of Month haul on Thursday. But I will give you a little sneak peek at the end! I went a liiittle crazy and before I knew it my money had vanished. Looking back now I do have a little regret at how much I spent, but at the same time I wish I had bought more. I also forgot to take photos when I first got there and it wasn't as busy, so I wasn't able to get as many of certain brands as I'd have liked since you couldn't get anywhere near the stands! OPI being the major one! Anyway, enough about that, let's get onto some photos!

Some of these came out a little blurry due to having to pull out and take the photo as quickly as possible before someone walked in the way etc. And as promised, here's a little sneak peek at the haul, the first photo is of mine and my friends bags and the second is what I actually came home with...

Swatch: piCture pOlish - Attitude

Hi ladies! I've been on a little piCture pOlish hype lately, my collection going from 2 to 6 in the space of a month and a half. Truth be told, up until the ABC Challenge, the 2 piCture pOlish I already owned had been sitting in my Helmer for around 3/4 months untried, but as soon as I used them, I knew I needed to get some more. I love everything about them, the formula, the design, the colours, the staying power the only thing I didn't like about piCture pOlish was the fact that in order to get them, I had to order internationally, which isn't the most ideal for someone who is completely incapable of waiting for a package to arrive. I want to be able to purchase something and have it right away, or at least a day or two thereafter. Then, along came Sally Magpies - a UK stockist of piCture pOlish and the reason my collection has expanded whilst my bank account depleted. 

Today I want to show you Attitude - created by Kim, owner of Overall Beauty!

Oh sunshine, there you are!

Attitude is a deep Purple packed with shards of Holographic particles. It's like the Purple cousin to OPI - My Private Jet! I applied 3 coats of Attitude for the photos above without a Top Coat. Also, the sun finally came out after a long time hiding, so I just had to capture some outside shots of Attitude in action!

piCture pOlish are available from various retailers around the world, to find a stockist near you click here. To see more of my piCture pOlish swatches click here. Do you own any piCture pOlish shades? If so which is your favourite?

Swatch: I ♥ NP - Valentines Collection

Hi ladies! I have the Valentines Collection from indie brand I ♥ NP for you this afternoon. For those of you who are unaware of I ♥ NP let me tell you a bit about the brand;

I ♥ NP is created by a lovely lady named Barbra and is based out of Las Vegas, NV in the US. Barbra first opened shop in August 2012 and has since taken the Nail Community by storm. Housed in a sleek, branded box I ♥ NP displays traits usually found in high end brands such as Illamasqua, Chanel, Dior etc, with 12ml of product in a tall, slim bottle complete with a matte Black rubberised cap for easy grip and a wide brush for easy application. Everything about this brand screams high end and mass produced, when in reality it's just an indie brand of which is hand created by just one mind. All I ♥ NP polish are all created using a 3-free suspension base.

The only downside to this brand is the smell, which to me, smells like the Gloss you use to paint wood. So if you are sensitive to smell, this probably isn't the brand for you.

Formula wise I found them to vary slightly polish to polish, some I was able to apply easily with minimal effort where as others I found needed lot more manipulation and control for a smoother, more even coverage. 

Since this is a Valentines themed collection, I wanted to stick to softer shades for underwear, so without further ado let's see the swatches! Of course, this post is going to be picture heavy, so I have included a jump break.

Press Release: So Susan - The UK's new monthly Nail Polish subscription!

SO SUSAN COSMETICS LAUNCHES LACQUERLOVE PROGRAM

A monthly subscription box of highly curated Nail Polish & Beauty products

So Susan is where colour meets science, where each colour cosmetic is carefully formulated with a patented combination of peptides and antioxidants so that your makeup works twice as hard for you.

LacquerLove is So Susan's answer to delivering a carefully edited rand of our 4-Free (free from Toluene, DBP, Formaldehyde and Formaldehyde resin) Nail Lacquers & samples from our cosmetics range right to your doorstep every month. This is how it works;

1. We offer 2 box themes every month i.e. "Gorgeously Glam" (which are all about big, bold colours) and "Curated Chic" (more low-key, everyday shades). Boxes contain 5 items, 3 of which are our 4-Free Nail Lacquers.
2. Before enrolling, subscribers choose a box that suits their personality. You have complete flexibility to switch, gift to a friend or cancel before the box goes out.
3. We preview all shades and contents of the box on our social media (Facebook, Instagram & Twitter) about a week before dispatch so you have the chance to switch boxes should you wish to. We love to encourage chatter about the boxes so let us know what you think!
4. Use them, share them, love them and then tell us (and the world) about the amazing looks you've managed to create by sharing them on our Instagram.

So Susan is currently operating a waiting list. The first 2000 names who sign up using this link will receive their first taster box at just £1! Every box after will be £10 + £2.95 P&P!

How exciting is this?! After pining relentlessly over the amazing Lacquer subscription boxes over in the US, it's about time we had something on this side of the pond! I've been told the official release date will be this Summer, but make sure to follow So Susan on Facebook & Twitter to make sure you're kept up to date with the latest goings-on!