Monthly Haul: May

Hi ladies! Oh my lord, this month has been ridiculous for Nail Polish purchases, granted I was lucky enough to be sent a handful of these polishes, which I will include together at the bottom of the post, but in terms of purchasing I went a little crazy. Luckily a lot of the polish I bought was either on offer (3 for 2) or heavily discounted. Since this is going to be a super long post with lots of photos, I won't do a huge intro. So let's take a look shall we? If you want to know the names of polishes shown below, just let me know in the comments and I will reply back to you!

When I saw the new Summer collection from China Glaze I instantly fell in love with the majority of the colours in the collection, although I haven't tried them yet, I hear that the formula of the majority are quite bad, which I'm not too happy about because I bought these before seeing any reviews. Nevertheless they're still really pretty to look at! I got the whole collection from Nail Polish Direct for £60, however they have recently rose their prices, so I'm not sure how much it would be now!

Which the purchase of the new China Glaze collection, I also bought 4 new W7 polishes, which were featured recently in my May'd In Britain post, here. I'm really enjoying W7 polishes, they have such a wide range of colours and they don't break the bank!

This next bunch comes as part of a huge haul from Fragrance Direct. If you didn't know about the site, check it out! There's some amazingly discounted polishes (and make-up too), including Essie for £1.99 and OPI for just £3.99! I got this loot of 20 Nail Polishes for just £38 including £3 P&P with a 10% off discount code! Pretty good if you ask me!

I then placed an order with Superdrug.com mainly for a Birthday present for my boyfriends Dad, but I couldn't resist their 3 for 2 offer and picked up some more NYC polishes and a couple of MUA polishes to try also. All of this cost just under £10 with the offer!

Before the 3 for 2 offer hit Superdrug, they were having a 2 for £3 offer on NYC polishes and since I needed to collect a few brands for the May'd In Britain post, I picked 4 up whilst I was in town. It was these polishes that started my obsession with NYC, and well, you can see what happened there.

I then popped over to Boots to see if they had restocked the Sinful Colours display, which unfortunately they hadn't, however I did see these 3 beauties and decided to grab them. I seem to have a bit of a Green theme from here on out, as you'll see when you scroll down!

Again, another Superdrug order! I've been seeing the Maybelline Polka Dots around the blogesphere and really liked the look of them, so of course I bought them using the 3 for 2 offer and also the free shipping offer that Superdrug are currently offering. As you can see, I couldn't resist purchasing some more NYC polishes too.

And then we come to my recent trip to Amsterdam. What is the one thing to do when you visit a European country? Buy Catrice and Essence polishes of course! After spending what seemed like hours looking for a Kruidvat store (we would have found it in a matter of minutes had we not taken the alleyway onto the main shopping street just after the store! Unfortunately it was on a bend so we didn't see it when we emerged from the alley) needless to say when we did find it, I went a little crazy. I could have spent so much more money in there but I had to be reasonable with myself. I also bought some make-up items from both brands which aren't shown here.

And finally we come to my last purchase of the month. When I saw ILNP had released some holographic polishes I drooled a little. Unfortunately they were released before I'd been paid so I thought I had missed out. But when browsing her Etsy store, I saw that there were still some available there! However the ones I most wanted had sold out, but I did managed to snag 3 of them. I also bought a couple new released glitters.

That concludes my purchases for the month of May, so let's take a look at the beauties I have been lucky enough to receive!

Being an official blogger for BarryM (which I still can't believe and get giddy about a lot!) I get the chance to preview their new releases before they hit the stores. This month I received 3 new BarryM collections; the Summer Gellys, Confetti Nail Effects and Sequin Nail effects. I've already reviewed both the Gellys and the Confettis (and here too), but haven't reviewed the Sequin Effects because, to put it bluntly, they're awful. I gave up after attempting to paint 1 nail. So if you were looking for a review from me, I'm sorry to say you won't be seeing one!

I then got an AMAZING package from Shimmer containing 16 gorgeous glitter bombs. So you can expect to see some swatches of these over the next coming weeks!

I also received an unexpected package from Invogue containing 3 of their Matt Suede polishes. As you can see from my Fragrance Direct post, I'd recently just bought the Green suede! So maybe you'll see it in a giveaway?!

Finally I was kindly sent 10 Models Own polishes from Littlewoods to feature as part of my May'd In Britain series, which you can see here. As you'll probably notice, not all of them were featured...what does this mean?!

That concludes my MASSIVE May haul. I'd say that I purchased a lot of them for part of the May'd In Britain posts, but that would be a big fib! I definitely need to cut back throughout June, but will I do it?! We'll just have to see on the next Monthly Haul post!

May'd In Britain: MUA

Hi ladies! It's time for another May'd In Britain post, this time featuring Make Up Academy or MUA for short. Since it's launch in 2010 MUA has acquired a gathering of followers due to it's budget friendly make-up line, the majority of which is priced at just £1 each! I must admit I have only tried 1 or 2 polishes of theirs in the past, but I do have a variety of their make up and are overall impressed with the quality of it. So for May'd In Britain I decided to pick up a couple of their new range, which are housed in what only can be described as mini Essie bottles which work great for seeing the colour when stored, as their old Black square caps were the same size as the bottle so it was impossible to see which colour you were looking for without having to pull them out.

I didn't have too many issues with the formula or application, I did find a couple of them to be a bit streaky on the first few coats but they're otherwise really pigmented and dry to a high-shine finish. From what I can tell, the MUA range are just creme shades, but hopefully in time they will expand the line to include some shimmers/glitters. The MUA Nail Polishes shown below are also all 3-free!

As always, purchase information can be found at the bottom of the page, so let's take a look at the swatches!

Bold Blue is a bright Sky Blue creme. I love colours like this, they just look so fresh and perfect for Spring/Summer. You'll have to excuse my greasy looking fingers, I'd just applied some cuticle oil! This is 3 coats of Bold Blue without a top coat.

Moody Mink is a medium Taupe creme. Very reminiscent to China Glaze - Below Deck, a favourite of mine. This is 3 coats of Moody Mink without a top coat.

Plum Noir is a medium toned Plum with Redy Pink undertones. This was the most opaque of the bunch, only needing 2 coats.

Purchase Information

Below is a list of places you can find MUA;

• MUA Official Website - These specific polishes retail for just £1 each. UK Standard delivery is charged at £2.95 for unders under £25 and is free when you spend £25 or more.
• Superdrug - both in store and online. Priced at £1 each. UK Standard delivery is charged at £3 (currently free shipping until Midnight tonight) or free when spending £25 or more.

May'd In Britain: Invogue

Hi ladies! So May'd In Britain has been kind of a bust, I really have slacked on the swatching side of things which meant there isn't very much for me to go on. BUT there's still 8 days of May left so I still have time to get more swatches and posts done! 

Today I have 4 Invogue polishes to show you, if you've been reading my blog for the past couple months, you'd have seen the swatches of Invogue's Concrete and Feather effects as well as their Press Release with all the information on collections/where to buy (of course if you carry on reading this, all the purchase information will be listed at the bottom of the page).

We'll save the long into for another day and just jump straight into the swatches.

Swatch: BarryM - Confetti Effects pt. 2

Hi ladies! So I have had these swatches on my computer for the longest time now and just haven't gotten around to posting them. I asked a while back whether I should do a post for these two Confetti polishes or just add them to my Facebook page, since I'd already reviewed 3 of them and I like to do 'collection' posts, the response from you all was to do a post for them, so here it is! You can see swatches of the three other polishes in this collection, Marshmallow, Liquorice and Dolly Mixture, here. 

I won't ramble on in this introduction, all of the information about how I found the application/formula of these polishes can be found in the first post, linked above.

Let's get into the swatches shall we!

Bubblegum is a mixture of bright Blue and White matte bar glitter in a clear base. This polish is everything I hoped it would be. After seeing the Press Release I was desperately hoping for it to be a bright Blue glitter and not another dupe for Jaye Bird and as you can see, it was! This is one coat of Bubblegum over BarryM Blue Grape without a top coat.

Sour Apple is a combination of an almost neon Blue and Yellow matte bar glitter in a clear base. Like Dolly Mixture, this is one we have seen before from both Nails Inc and Invogue, so if you have those then you probably won't need this one too. This is 1 coat of Sour Apple over BarryM Key Lime without a top coat.

So there you have the remaining 2 Confetti polishes from BarryM! These are now available from BarryM's website along with the Summer Gellys, here. Unfortunately they won't be available in Boots/Superdrug for another couple of weeks, their official launch date is June 8th for Superdrug and June 12th for Boots!

May'd In Britain: NYC

Hi ladies! Today on the May'd In Britain series we have New York Color, otherwise known as NYC. Now I'm not gonna lie, I can be a bit of a polish snob sometimes and overlook the 'cheap' brands you often find in Superdrug/Boots with the exception of BarryM cause let's face it, they're amazing. So you can imagine my surprise when I tried NYC for the first time and instantly fell in LOVE with the brand. Not only is their In A New York Minute range priced at just £1.79 each, they have one of the best formula's I have tried, like it's up there with BarryM/China Glaze etc. After a little bit of research, I also found that NYC polishes are 3-free and free from Formaldehyde Resin! As of right now, I can't comment on the longevity of the polishes as I haven't conducted a 'wear test' yet, but with a good base/top coat, I'm sure these will last you a long time.

As I mentioned briefly, I am completely surprised by the formula of the polishes, they apply well without any streaking/patchiness, they dry reasonably fast (maybe not quite a minute, but not much longer) and they're amazingly pigmented. To top it all off, they have a large flat brush (think OPI) for easy application.

As always, all purchase information can be found at the bottom of the post!

BLOG SALE UPDATE!

Hi ladies! Just a quick message letting you know I have updated my BLOG SALE page!

GOGOGOGO!

May'd In Britain: Models Own

Hi ladies! We're back today with another instalment of May'd In Britain, this time featuring some Models Own polishes. Now you will notice that my nails are significantly longer in this post, that's because I'd already made a start on some swatches for this month before my catastrophic nail break. That teaches me to be organised right? I used to have SO many Models Own nail polishes, but over the past year or so I've gradually gotten rid of them and haven't really purchased any more. I find most of Models Own polishes apply really well on the first few uses when they're brand new but once they've been used more than a handful of times or even just used once and left for a while they tend to go really thick gloopy, I've also found they take a while to dry when compared to other drugstore brands. So overall I'm not a big fan of Models Own, to top it all off their regular line is NOT 3-free, they contain Formaldehyde resin, Camphor and Toluene which is why they have a strong smell, however their Pro Range IS 3-free, so if you're all about 3-free I suggest purchasing from their Pro line, although they are more expensive and not as wide a colour choice.

Below are a selection of Models Own nail polishes I own, all purchase information will be listed at the bottom of the post!

Beth's Blue* is a light Cornflower Blue creme. Since this was the first time opening and using the bottle, the application wasn't so bad. It applied well with only a couple minor streaking issues and needed 2 coats for full opacity.

Lilac Dream* is a pastel Lilac creme. Like Beth's Blue, this was a newly opened bottle so the application was manageable. I applied 2 coats of Lilac Dream for full opacity.

Pink Blush* is what only can be described as a bright Barbie Pink creme. Again, this was a newly opened bottle so there were no major issues with application. I applied 2 coats of Pink Blush for the photos.

Fuzzy Peach is a bright Peach creme. I've had this bottle for quite a while and did have some trouble applying the polish for a smooth finish. The polish had turned a bit thick and did need more control than the others but after 2 thin coats and a thicker third coat, I was able to smooth the polish out.

Hot Stuff is a predominantly Pink glitter with Pink shards and holographic Diamonds in a clear base. Now THIS is a thick polish, one of the main reasons I got rid of the other colours in this collection was due to them being SO unmanageable. But I thought I would bite the bullet and attempt to swatch my last remaining Mirrorball polish. I found the easiest and least messy way of applying this was to do a thin coat of polish then fish for the larger glitter shards. This is 1 coat of Hot Stuff over Pink Blush.

Purchase Information

Models Own nail polishes can be purchased from various retailers around the UK, here's a little selection of stores/websites you can find them on;

• Models Own website - Priced at £5.00 each or 5 for £20. UK Standard delivery is charged at £2.95 for 1-4 Nail Polishes or free for 5+ Nail Polishes. 
• Littlewoods - Priced at £6.00 each. Free UK Standard delivery with no minimum spend.
• ASOS - Priced at £5 each. Free UK Standard delivery with no minimum spend
• Nail Polish Direct - Priced at £4.75 each. Free UK Standard delivery with no minimum spend.
• Boots - Available both in store and on line priced at £5 each. UK Standard delivery is charged at £2.95 with free shipping over £45 when ordered on line.

Products in this post marked with an (*) have been sent to me by Littlewoods for my honest review. 

May'd In Britain: W7

Hi ladies! I hope you're all enjoying the beautiful sunshine on this Bank Holiday Weekend! Today I thought I would show you a brand that I hadn't really 'collected' until recently, W7. I've had the occasional W7 polishes way back when, but I never really used them and always ended up giving them to my cousin, with the exception of the Black, of course. W7 polishes are a bit of a hit and miss in my book, some of them have a really good formula and apply well where as others seem to be the complete opposite, I've noticed that the darker colours generally apply better than the lighter colours. As a 'cheap' brand on the block and not quite a drugstore brand, W7 usually gets overlooked when it comes to Nail Polish but with the exception of some polishes I've tried from them, W7 could quite easily rival some of the more 'known' drugstore brands.

After looking around the Internet, I can't seem to find any solid information about this brand, but from my knowledge W7 Nail Polishes are NOT 3-free. I could be wrong about this, but there is a strong smell that suggests otherwise. If you know for definite whether W7 are 3-free, let me know in the comments!

Below are a selection of swatches from the W7 Nail Polishes I own all purchase information will be available at the bottom of the page.

Spearmint* is a Mint Green creme. I've got an obsession with Mint Green at the moment and this colour just fits in completely with that obsession. The formulation of the polish was a little runny and I did find it to be a bit sheer on the first couple coats but they gradually evened out. I used 3 coats of Spearmint for the swatches without a top coat.

Space Dust* is a sheer but buildable Teal jelly base with Golden Green and Aqua glitter. This polish can be worn alone or layered on top of another polish, depending on your preference. For the purpose of the photos I decided to wear mine alone. This is 3 coats of Space Dust without a top coat.

Envy is a Blue base with a Green/Blue duochrome shimmer. I absolutely LOVE the look of this polish and it's another one of those polishes that you can layer or wear alone. This is 3 coats of Envy alone without a top coat.

Twilight is a deep Purple base with a Blue/Purple duochrome glass fleck. There's even a slight Green hint in there too. This is probably my favourite polish out of the lot. It's so pretty! This is 2 coats of Twilight without a top coat.

Space Debris is a Pink jelly base with Red undertones and holographic glitter. Like Space Dust, this can be layered over a similar colour or be built up to be worn alone. I chose to wear alone and needed 3 coats for opacity.

Moonlight is a mixture of Purple, Blue, Green, Pink, Gold and Silver glitter in a clear base. The glitter in this polish is pretty dense so you could probably build this up for full coverage either over a colour or alone. I chose to layer one coat of Moonlight over W7 - Black without a top coat.

Purchase Information

W7 is more widely available on line, however you can probably find them on the beauty stall at your local market as well as pound land and those beauty shops that sell cheap make-up. I've listed two websites I have personally purchased W7 polishes from, but if you type into Google you'll find a load more hits.

• Nail Polish Direct - Priced at £1.95 each. Free standard delivery with no minimum spend.
• Fragrance Direct - A small selection of colours available priced at £1.50 each. 2nd Class Delivery at £1.99 or standard delivery at £2.99

Products in this post marked with an (*) have kindly been gifted to me by Nail Polish Direct.