Jacava: Raspberry Bavarois*

Hello all

Today I have a brand new polish that was sent to me for review by Jacava.  I was very excited to see their email pop up in my inbox asking me if I would like to review one of their colours.  I was able to pick from their range, there are 18 at the moment ranging from pinks, reds, purple, blue and green and there is also a selection of more neutral shades and a clear base coat / top coat.

I chose Raspberry Bavarois

Jacava polishes are '8 free', they say on their website -

'Opulent nail polish, by JACAVA London, is the world's first '8-free' nail varnish. That's free from DBP, Camphor, Formaldehyde, Toluene, Collophane, Parabens, Phthalates and Animal Ingredients. We never test on Animals and our nail polish is Vegan friendly.

All JACAVA nail polish uses premium, high gloss, long-lasting and nourishing formulation helps your nails stay stronger and grow longer. Designed in London and made in the UK, JACAVA is a quintessentially British nail polish brand.'

O.P.I Liquid Sand: Can't Let Go

Hello all,

I have a swatch this week of O.P.I Liquid Sand in 'Can't Let Go'.  I had a voucher for John Lewis for ages and found myself there at the weekend, so I decided to spend it on this gorgeous nail polish, making it only £1.50! Woo!

Anyway,  I was spoiled for choice at the O.P.I stand and did have to chuckle at the conversation between a flustered looking man and the sales woman whilst I was there -
Man - 'I have been looking for this for ages'
Sales woman - 'How can I help you'
Man - 'I've been told to get Liquid Sand in red'
Sales woman - 'Is this for someone else'
Man - 'Yes'
Sales woman - 'Well, it's just that none of the colours are called red'
Man - 'She just told me red'
Sales woman - 'This one is called Magazine Cover Mouse'
Man - 'Who names these things?? She just said red'
Sales woman - 'Did she want glitter, or just a colour'
Man - 'Red, that's all she said to me, Liquid Sand red... I'm going to call her'

I thought it was quite funny myself! Girls, if you send a boy out for polish, be warned, give more instructions that just 'red'!!

Anyway, here is Liquid Sand 'Can't Let Go'

Pretty Please

Hello all,

Could you do me the biggest favour and hop on over to the Grazia magazine website and vote for my Pastel Rainbow Ombré nails in the Grazia magazine and Nails Inc competition here : http://ow.ly/nqcbt - look for @pinkglowspolish to vote!!!

Please please please! Thank you x x x

Pastel Rainbow Ombré

Hi everyone,

I keep seeing lots of different ombré nail designs around and they are just so pretty for summer.  Normally when I do ombré nails I tend to use variations of the same colour and sponge each one on individually as you can see here, but most people seem to paint their colours on the sponge directly in stripes and then dab on the nails.  I had previously tried this design using my normal technique and failed miserably! They just looked a complete and utter mess.  So I ended up taking it off and doing something different that week.

I still wanted to try this design because I have seen a few different variations of it such as here on Pinterest and here on YouTube.  So here it is...

 

 

I started off my pastel rainbow ombré, by painting all of my nails with a pearly white base.  I chose a pearly one because for some reason whenever I paint an entirely white base, I make such a mess and this time round I really didn't want anything to go wrong before I had even really started.

 

 

After my pearl base had dried I then got my Models Own Ice Cream Sundae collection and make up sponges ready.  I lined all my colours up with the tops already unscrewed so that I was realy to paint the stripes of colour directly on to my make up sponges.  I chose to use five sponges, one for each of the different ombré combinations on each of my nails.  I don't waste the sponges though as I cut off the end when I've finished and the polish is dry.  Then I can use it again afterwards.  I made sure the sponge was slightly wet before I painted on the polish so it didn't soak in too much before I had chance to dab it on to my nails.  This is what my work station looked like when I had finished all my nails.

 

 

 

I started with my thumbs and chose yellow and green.  Yellow at the base of my thumb and green at the tip of my nail.  I then moved to my index finger and chose to continue with the green, this time at the base of the nail and I combined that with orange.  I continued using the previous nail tip colour on the base of the next nail, orange into pink, pink into blue and blue into yellow.

 

If you read my blog a lot you will know that I like glitter.  So to blend my colours and add that extra sparkle I used a coat of Rimmel Disco Ball.

 

I am really pleased with this design and it just goes to show if at first you don't succeed, try try again x



Essie: The Girls Are Out

Hello all,

I had a very busy and hot weekend clearing out the loft and it was not a friend to my nails at all! I was going to take a picture of the damage, but it was just too sad!  But as a treat after working so hard I happened to stop by the Essie display at Boots and find my nails a lovely treat!

 

 

The Girls Are Out is such a pretty pink with the tiniest fleck of silver glitter in (hence my silver accent nail just to jazz things up a little bit!).  The colour is so rich, and the formula is great.  If you were careful you could get away with one coat, but I chose to do two.  This made the colour even more intense and bright.  My accent nail is Models Own Sterling Silver.

 

 

Nothing much else to add other than... look how pretty!! x