A SPRINKLE OF GLITTER EXPERIENCE

 Photo Credit: The Beauty Pier

On Sunday I had the pleasure to get tickets to see Louise (or Sprinkle of Glitter) on her very first live show, piloted in her home town in Northampton. It wasn't too far of a drive from where I live so I thought it'd be nice to go, along with my best friends Megan and Anna, and Anna's younger sister Rachel.

I'm sure you are aware of the controversy of Youtube Culture and the idea of a meet and greet (standing cold in a queue for two hours to get a brief hug and selfie) didn't appeal to Louise, nor myself, so this setting was perfect. It was a small room, filled with 220 people in the Northampton Guildhall, and there was some Q&A time, a quiz with audience participation, and also some story telling as well as a sing song from Darcy to 'Let it Go' which was just too darn cute. Me and my friends also managed to see some of Louise's closest friends and family as well as Gleam members Dom and Maddie while we queued.

A goodie bag was also given to each member, including balloons, a bottle of water with the Sprinkle of Glitter blog logo on it (which I am using until you can no longer see the writing), a badge, a pen, a pot of glitter (love it) and a signed card all in a canvas bag with the logo on. It was a nice touch and really added to the pre-show excitement. The seats were great and as Louise said there was no need to arrive early as it wasn't a first come first serve basis, and even the back seats weren't far at all from the stage. That's another point - the stage setup. It looked brilliant, and very 'Louise' - balloons, lighting in a purple/pink tone, and her favourite songs playing while we waited for her show. She herself looked smashing too.

At the end we did get time to get a picture and I am looking very pleased in the above photo, obviously reflecting the great time I had. Honestly, I can see this becoming a more widespread thing due to the success of this one, so if you get the chance do go and see it. Congratulations to Louise - she was a delight to watch. *applause*

REVLON GIRLY NAIL POLISH

Ever since I got into the whole world of nail polish, I was always intrigued by the Revlon Nail Polish in Girly, a jelly base, alongside an array of coloured glitter. I never got my hands on it, but when it was in a set with two Charlie body sprays for £4 in the sales, I literally jumped for joy.

So basically, this is a sheer pink base, which is accompanied with  blue, purple, pale pink, and a tiny, tiny hint of gold, rusty small glitter. It took me a good few coats to get this opaque which is a little annoying (we are looking at the 3+ mark here), so that is generally my only complaint.

Other than that, I love this, and I hope to wear it more often when I can be bothered with slapping on the coats, and maybe it'll open a new door for me to these jelly and glitter kind of nail polishes, because honestly, they do really interest me.

 

MY PICKS FROM THE CIATÉ MINI MANI MONTH

I thought I had resisted the whole 'beauty advent calendar' thing, but when I went to the Clothes Show Live on the 9th, the Ciaté stand were selling off the Mini Mani Month for £10. Yep, a tenner. I couldn't resist, and now I think I have enabled an annual tradition for me... Oops.

24 mini polishes are included, ranging from caviar, glitter, sequin, pastels, brights, and dark colours, and I will be sharing my favourites of the bunch with you.

L-R: Dallas Dolly, Snowglobe, Twinkle Toes, Pink Caviar

Starting with the 'effect' ones, my favourites have to be the Sequin in Dallas Dolly, which is just full on festive, with a range of glitters in gold, red, and olive-green tones. Another I like, but am yet to try is the Glitter in Twinkle Toes, a holographic glitter, which would be messy, but I think would be worth it for a New Year's Eve accent nail. The caviar ones are still waiting for my seal of approval, I like the effect, but they didn't last long. One I do like is a topcoat, which is called Snow Globe full of iridescent flecks and flakes, almost a pastel version of Gosh Rainbow.

L-R: Sugar Plum, Pepperminty, Hoopla, Candy Floss, Chinchilla

The pastels basically owned it in this calendar, and they will be getting a lot of wear throughout spring. I am slightly obsessed with mint green, so Pepperminty got me very excited when I opened the door. Hoopla is such a cute colour. It is peachy, pinky and just incredible. I don't even know how to explain it, I just love it. Another one is Sugar Plum, which is a pastel, pale, lilac-purple colour, which adore. The other 2 pastels are also stunning, and go by the name of Chinchilla and Candy Floss.

L-R: Playdate, Hopscotch, Main Stage

Onto the brights, and there are only 3 I would class as all that 'bright'. The first is Hopscotch, which is a true orange, and believe it or not, I don't actually own any of those (I have an OPI, but it is slightly more red I believe), so this will be worn a lot in the summer. Another is Main Stage, which isn't even all that bright, but I included it in this section anyway. It is a nice medium-dark pink/fuchsia colour, and is Playdate which is a bright, slightly red pink, which is just so summery, and I want to slather it all on my nails now. 

L-R: Starlet, Tweed and Tails, Encore!, Boudoir

Onto the dark colours from the bunch. First up, is Starlet a duochrome bottle of magical-ness. You think it's purple, then it is slightly olive, then it is full on emerald - love. Boudoir is just a classic red, which suits me really well (sadly a rare occurrence for me and red polishes), and is just so classy. Tweed and Tails is something completely original in my collection, being what I would describe as a dusty khaki, and is so Autumnal. Finally, we have Encore! which is a slightly darkened and muted orange, which is another autumnal one, although you could definitely make it work all year round. 

It seems I've been bitten by the beauty advent calendar bug, but I guess we will have to wait another year to find out if I buy one..

PARTY SEASON GLITTER NAIL POLISH PICKS

It appears all I have been talking about this past week is nails, and the upcoming party season. I've put the two together, and have a mini edit lined up for you today. Glitter nails are the way to go when you want something a little jazzy to get you in the party spirit. 
I'll start with the standard clear base, sparkly glitter options, and them move on to the more exciting options afterwards. 

Starting with my personal favourite, this is Gosh Girls On Film which is chunky rosy-pinky toned glitter pieces and then smaller holographic glitter in it too. This is brilliant for an accent nail alongside any colour you own. 

Then we have the 'Light Top Coater' Option. Unfortunately, this is discontinued now, but it is Gosh Magic Star which is a iridescent shimmer/glitter topcoat, which once again, looks great on top of everything. This is one to catch an eye on the dancefloor.

Then, we have a really affordable option, of Rimmel Disco Ball which was actually gifted to me in a Secret Santa at school (it wasn't all that secret, I found out this boy had picked my name out the bag in a matter of days...), but it is a classic. There's some silvery, purple toned small glitter in there, alongside a shed load of holographic-ness. I do love this one, though I don't wear it very often at all. 

Moving onto the interesting ones. This is BYS Voo-Doo-Violet so will be super cheap if you can locate it. Basically, this is a purple jelly based polish, with chunky particles of silver, pale purple, and holographic glitters in a few different sizes, some of which sink to the bottom leaving it a little lumpy and bumpy, but the others stay at the top and it looks like you have put in some crazy effort for this mani. Not bad for a pound or two?

Finally, Gosh Holographic Hero or Gosh Holographic if you own that one too (like me, yay)! Strictly speaking, this isn't a glitter, but how can I not include a full on holographic polish in this post. This is full on rainbow effect, and people who don't know much about nails will be in awe of your digits. Beware of the early appearing tipwear, and some minor chipping in a few hours, but for your one party evening, get painting. 

I don't think any beauty junkie can go past festive and party nails without thinking one thing, glitter.

 

New 2True Pastel and Glitter Nail Polish

Hi guys!

So as shown in my recent haul, I picked up some 2True nail polishes after seeing them on Etc Llymlrs, and I also said that when my nails wheels arrived, I would do a post/review. 

I have one of the new pastel shades to show you and one of the new glitter shades, and if I can, I will certainly be getting more! I had my eye on a really pretty pastel coral colour, which was amazing. 

Shade 4 of the Glitteratti Polish is really pretty. It is a combination of small round glitter, and medium hex glitter in a cobalt blue colour, and a purple-pink colour all in a clear base. You get a good amount of glitter in each brush load, but sometimes you can get lots of one colour, so you may need to fish out pieces from the other colour, but its not that bad. This is also a very smooth once dry for a chunky glitter polish like this one.

Shade 16 is the pastel purple. Supposedly a Models Own Utopia dupe, this is the polish I had my eye on. I love an affordable dupe. It is a very pale pastel purple, more grey toned than pink, creme polish. It is really pretty, and I will be wearing this lots in the summer. It would also look great with a tan. 

In these swatches, I used 2 coats of Shade 16 shown on the left, and 1 thick coat of shade 4. As you can see, you do get a generous amount of glitter in one thick coat, but it still dries quite quickly, unlike some glitter polishes, where even if you apply a very thin coat they will feel tacky for what seems like hours. 

Overall, these are great nail polishes, and for £1.99 a pop or 3 for £5, with an amazing new range of pastels and glitters, along with their core collection of brights and staple colours, you should definitely go and check them out yourself. 

Do you own any 2True or bargain drugstore products, let me know in the comments? I love a good quality bargain. 

Thanks for reading,

Lauren x 

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