OPI 'Gaining Mole-Mentum'

As usual I was fabulously late to the party when it came to OPI's latest Muppets collection, Muppets Most Wanted, but while on a rare trip to the Trafford Centre I popped into John Lewis and my eyes were instantly drawn to this little gem.

Gaining Mole-Mentum is a mixed metal and rose glitter polish suspended in a clear base. The glitter type itself is most commonly described as 'shredded' and as such is a welcome change from the usual circular, hexagonal or square glitters that most polish people make..

Below, you can see the polish firstly in natural daylight, then in artificial light both with and without flash.

I tried this polish over both a light greige kind of colour and then over plain black and was pleased with the versatility of the colours. Unlike the majority of glitter polishes, which tend to be very much suited to the festive period, this is a polish that can carry through every season effortlessly if paired with the right base colour.

My only grumble about this gorgeous glitter would be that due to the jagged shapes of glitter, the occasional piece will stick up and stubbornly refuse to stay flat to the nail. This can somewhat be sorted by applying a topcoat but the best option is to apply the polish slowly and remove any pieces that don't sit flat...

...Which leads me nicely onto application. The wonderful thing about this glitter is that you really do have the option of applying it sparingly or covering the whole nail if you choose to (though always make sure to use a strong base coat!) In my swatch I applied one thick coat but you can very easily apply one thin coat if you like. Unlike some glitters, the consistency of the clear base is thin enough for the polish to remain fluid and for the glitter not to merely cling to the brush and stay there for the rest of eternity (American Apparel, I'm looking at you here!)

Of course, OPI doesn't come cheap and a polish like Gaining Mole-Mentum will set you back somewhere around the £12 mark, so this is very much a 'treat yourself' kind of product but it's ever so worth it.  So go on, treat yourself ;)

Have you tried anything from Muppets Most Wanted?

R x

European Beauty Haul Part 1 - Essence, P2, Catrice, Make Up Factory & Astor

Long time, no...write? I was in Germany and France for a while with my family, dealing with the loss of a much loved pet and am now experiencing camera issues, so it's no surprise that SSD has suffered a little as a result. Luckily for all you beauty lovers, I was thoughtful enough to take some basic photos of my first purchases while still in Germany so while I'm sorting my camera out, I thought I'd share part one of my European beauty haul with you all.

1. I found these two in a shop called Douglas (how German does that sound...not!) which was basically a beauty shop. I picked up Isadora's 'Creme de la Creme' after reading and conversing about it ages ago on a blog so when I spotted the Isadora stand I hunted it down. I also picked up BeYu's Shimmering Top Coat in '743'. I love this because the glitter is holographic (my favourite type of glitter polish) but the chunks are square instead of circular or hexagon shaped. 

2. Here we have Essence's 'Mrs and Mr Glitter', 'The Boy Next Door' and 'That's What I Mint'. I absolutely LOVE Mrs and Mr Glitter. Just before going away I had seen photos of mermaid-esque nails on Instagram and when I saw this top coat I had visions of creating my own. The Boy Next Door is a nice, shimmery, vibrant blue and to say these polishes are all so cheap, I was impressed with the wear of them.

3. I purchased the P2 Pure Color lipstick in the shade 'Kärtner strasse', which is an everyday dark nude shade and perfect for people like myself who have slightly darker lips than average. I also picked up the Astor Color Last VIP lipstick in the shade Bubbly, which is a gorgeous vibrant pink shade and was probably my most worn holiday colour in the end. I also picked up this P2 profi concealer palette because concealer palettes have always intrigued me but are rare here in the UK. I have only used the green and pinky-purple concealers but so far I've been fairly impressed with their coverage and staying power. The Catrice 'Absolute Nude' eyeshadow palette interested me because there are so many UD Naked dupes out there and I'm a sucker for nude eyeshadow. I purchased all of these things (plus the Essence polishes and the P2 polishes below) from DM. Finally for make-up, I picked up the Make Up Factory Automatic Eyeliner in '24' from Müller (that shop is insane) and fell in love with it instantly. I also went back and picked up shade 21, but that will be in part 2.

4. Given that drugstore products were SO much cheaper in Germany than they would ever be here in the UK, and also given that my holiday money was pretty much entirely for feeding my beauty addiction, I went a little bit crazy polish-wise. I picked up two of the P2 Rich Color + Care polishes in 'So Fresh' (green) and 'So Cool' (blue), as well as one of the Color Victim polishes in the shade 'Artful' (PERFECT with Essence's 'Mrs and Mr Glitter') and one of the Last Forever polishes in the shade 'Lovely Moment'. 

5. P2 also had a huge range of nail care type products so I picked up their Anti-Split coat, two of their Quick Dry Sprays (there were only two left, and they were so cheap...) and their Nail Food Ananas. 

I'll be writing up proper reviews of the products I've actually tried soon but do let me know if there are any you'd like me to review. Have you tried any of these products? Let me know in the comments below because I've missed you!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xo

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: rachel writes

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachel.soshedances@gmail.com
Tumblr: lookintothestorm.tumblr.com
YouTube: soshedancesxo

Hidden Gems

Hi guys :) So, in the midst of this crazy British heatwave recently I haven't really been posting at all. My poor little blog has been seriously neglected and so has my make-up bag. I can't be the only one who cringes at the thought of a full face of make-up in such heat, can I? 

My mum and I had a wander around our local Asda on Monday and I picked up a couple of bargains that I thought I'd share...

I love having a mooch about the jewellery and cosmetics sections of supermarkets. I often find a nice necklace in Asda and it's not a secret that I'm a fan of their £1.75 own brand nail polishes.

This trio of ethnic-themed adjustable (so suitable for all finger sizes, hurrah!) cost either £4 or £5. I love finding rings like these to add to my collection and throw on with a simple outfit. Rings are definitely my jewellery weakness. I spotted these and just had to have them. £5 (maximum) for three rings is a decent price and I'm looking forward to wearing these.

I've been hunting for a necklace like this for SO long but nowhere seems to sell them. I spotted this and picked it up straight away. I love everything about it, but mainly I love the fact that it looks a bit like bunting. I have issues, OK? ;) This necklace set me back £5 and made my inner material girl very happy indeed.

Finally, I picked up two polishes. The first, a golden, metallic toned colour is called 'Beach Bum' and could be described as 'metallic sand'. I've already worn this and while the colour is gorgeous, the fact that it's metallic leaves it rather prone to streaking. I also picked up another Matt Finisher, which is just a plain matte topcoat. I very rarely do matte nails, so for only £1.75 it makes sense to pick up a cheaper polish than a more expensive one. If you're a student or just on a budget, I definitely recommend you check out the George range of polishes (but NOT other cosmetics).

Have you found any hidden gems recently? Feel free to share below in the comments :)

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xo

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: a single doubt

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachel.soshedances@gmail.com
Tumblr: lookintothestorm.tumblr.com
YouTube: soshedancesxo

Recent Nail Art Tutorials

Hi guys :) Today's post is just a quick one to leave you two nail tutorial videos I filmed this weekend. I plan on uploading more so feel free to subscribe if nail art interests you :)

Easy DIY Floral Nail Art Tutorial



Monkeying Around Nail Art Tutorial




Hope you enjoyed :) If you have any questions or requests for nail art tutorials feel free to leave me a comment somewhere and I'll get back to you.

Thanks for reading and watching!

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachel.soshedances@gmail.com
Tumblr: lookintothestorm.tumblr.com
YouTube: soshedancesxo

Recently on the nails...

1. My nails for the wedding reception mentioned in my last post. I used Essie 'Blanc', Orly 'Glowstick' and a few random brights.

2. Beach themed nails! I based these on an image I spotted on Tumblr and looking back on them I'm in love with them. The sandy colour is Essie 'Sand Tropez'. How appropriate ;-)

3. I don't necessarily get along with bright, vibrant blues like this, but there's something special about & Other Stories 'Twill Blue'. 

4. Oh, how long I spent on these nails! I used my Rio nail art pens over Essie 'Blanc' and Rimmel 'Double Decker Red'. I think I prefer the white background to the red though.

5. Glitter and ombre, how exciting! I intended to wear this design to the wedding reception but when I compared the colours to my dress, they weren't bright enough. I'm still not in love with plain ombre on my own nails though.

6. Bourjois 'Amande defile' (which I can no longer open after only one use, excellent packaging there Bourjois...) with white striping over the top made for a gorgeous, pastel design that I thoroughly enjoyed wearing. 

7. Orly 'Glowstick' and Nails Inc 'Portobello' with a kind of tribal design... making bright and neon a little bit 'edgier'?

8. Rimmel's 'Tangerine Dream' with white stripes and plain rhinestones. This is another design based on an image I saw (this time on Instagram) though I'm not convinced the rhinestones look brilliant on shorter nails. Not a bad design though. 

Please let me know if you'd like a tutorial on any of these designs! I have plenty of time and polish on my hands at the moment, so I'd love to do some if you guys would like :)

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachel.soshedances@gmail.com
Tumblr: lookintothestorm.tumblr.com
YouTube: soshedancesxo

Worth Hunting Down: Orly 'Glowstick'

What? -  Orly nail polish
Shade? - Glowstick, from the Feel the Vibe collection (now discontinued, boo!)
Price? - £6.99 for 18ml
Where? - From this Ebay seller

I would describe Glowstick as the perfect highlighter yellow. And I've always liked yellow highlighters the best, so chances were I'd love the colour anyway. Whilst it's true there are other companies selling neon yellow polishes, I kind of feel that Orly really missed a trick here. With their expansion into Boots selling minis (which aren't exactly worth their price but that's another story) and with no drugstore companies selling good neon yellows, I think this shade could have been good for them. 

With summer coming up, I think this is going to be one of my favourite polishes and for the £8 that I paid I definitely feel like I got my money's worth. In these photos, I applied two coats of Essie's 'Blanc' underneath to give it a proper base and found this the best way to get the most out of the colour. After all, we'd usually use a highlighter on white paper wouldn't we?

Do you like a good neon? Have you tried this or anything similar? Can you recommend a good Glowstick dupe? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachel.soshedances@gmail.com
Tumblr: lookintothestorm.tumblr.com
YouTube: soshedancesxo

On Trend: Floral & Geometric Nail Art Tutorial

Evening everyone :) I'm sure you all know by now that I'm a bit obsessed with nail art. You're unlikely to see me out and about without some pretty pattern adorning my fingertips and my love for nail art tends to spill over onto this blog. Today is no different as I bring you a totally 'on trend' nail tutorial...

Floral patterns and prints are always 'in' during the spring, but this year it also seems that clear cut shapes and geometry are also 'in' too. It seems like every blogger and their dog are enjoying a good triangle whether it be on their clothes, their jewellery, their accessories or, now, their nails. Creating this nail look is surprisingly easy to do and I'm going to show you how to create that blue nail design on the right. The process of creating the design on the left is exactly the same, just with different colours :)

You will need:

1x base coat
1x light pastel blue (I used Rimmel's Sweet As Sugar)
1x medium pastel blue (I used 17's Heartbeat)
1x white (I used Rio's white nail art pen)
1x medium to dark green (I used Rio's green nail art pen)

Step 1:

Give your nails a base coat and allow it to dry. Then give them one coat of your light pastel blue colour and allow it to dry.

Step 2:

Give your nails a second coat of your light pastel blue and allow to dry. If you feel it necessary, then add a third coat.

Step 3:

Take your white and draw a V shape starting from the top corners of your nail. The easiest way to do this is by drawing two straight lines that meet in the middle. I used a nail art pen with a thin brush, but you could use a cocktail stick/tooth pick or dotting tools if you don't have one. 

Step 4:

Immediately follow this by filling in the V you've created with the same colour (so in this case, white) until you have a fully coloured-in triangle.

Step 5:

When the white has dried sufficiently, take your medium pastel blue colour and roughly create some dots over the white.

Step 6:

Follow this by taking your white and swirling it inside the dots you have just created.

Step 7:

Now go back to your medium pastel blue and swirl it over the white. When doing this, make sure you don't cover up all of the white.

Step 8:

Finally, add the 'petals' of your flowers by creating tiny green lines coming out of the sides of your flowers. Allow the nails to dry before adding a top coat, then you're done!

As you can see from the slightly 'edgier' design that I'm currently wearing, you can also change the position of the triangles to break things up a bit. That is, if triangles and flowers aren't varied enough already ;)

Hope you enjoyed :) Have you ever sported a floral nail design? Do you think you'd like to? Let me know in the comments below :) I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachel.soshedances@gmail.com
Tumblr: lookintothestorm.tumblr.com

NOTD: Geometric & Arty

Let me just preface all of this by saying that this design took hours. Literally. And whilst I love it I'm not entirely sure I'll be trying it again anytime soon. If you have the time though, go for it.

Recently I've been going through a bit of a phase with my nails where everything bores me. I'm not one to buy into the trends (feather nails, concrete nails, leather nails etc) but I do like to keep things fresh by trying out different nail art designs. I had a few spare hours a couple of nights ago and decided to give this a try.

To complete the design, I used a small paintbrush and drew on little triangles. I used one colour at a time, so the patterns built up over time and I wasn't constantly needing to wash my brush. The shapes aren't perfect, but I kind of feel it adds to the design a little and for a first attempt, I'm pleased at how it turned out. 

What's on your nails at the moment? Are you a fan of nail art? Let me know in the comments below :)

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com
Tumblr: lookintothestorm.tumblr.com

An Experiment: Ombre Nails

So, I tried ombre nails this weekend. I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about them even though they're now gone and I'm wearing Barry M's Blood Orange. 

First off, aren't they messy to do?! I ended up dunking a make up sponge into polish on a paper plate to get it right. And even then it's impossible to make the nail look neat because the sponge is never going to be nail shaped. 

To create this look, I coated my nails in Essie's 'Blanc' until I was pleased with how opaque it was, then I dipped the sponge into the polish (which I had in stripes next to each other on a paper plate) and gently pressed it onto and round the nail. I had to repeat this on most nails because the sponge absorbs the polish. 

I like the effect it gives, but really I do think it was a bit of a let down. I tried out loads of pastel colour combinations and this gave the best effect. I think brighter colours would definitely suit this style for the summer (if we have one here in snowy Britain...) but I didn't fall in love with the concept.

What do you think? Have you ever tried this out? Were you a fan? Let me know in the comments below :)

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com
Tumblr: lookintothestorm.tumblr.com

A new holy grail nude?

I've never been a Barry M fan. I know, I know, they're amazing etc etc, I just never understood the hype. And I've never tried one of their polishes that I thought was in any way original... until now.

Step up one of the newest polishes, Lychee...

Ignoring the little finger, which evidently needs cleaning up, you can see that Lychee is the perfect beige. It's not too yellow, not too brown, and seems to hit the balance between light and dark wonderfully. I gather this little gem has been sold out in quite a few places. I ordered mine online but the largest Boots around me had plenty in stock. 

I think this is definitely going to catch on as the new blogger's favourite. I haven't seen too much about it online, but I'm fairly sure everybody loves a good nude and this is definitely a good one.

What do you think? Have you tried Lychee? Let me know in the comments below :)

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com
Tumblr: lookintothestorm.tumblr.com

'The Killing' Nail Tutorial

(If you have a bit of a thing about blood, I apologise for today's main photograph, though it might help to know that in actual fact, it was red food colouring on my back lawn... No blood was involved at all...)

So... hands up if you've ever heard of The Killing? Now leave your hands up if you've ever watched it? If you failed to raise your hand at all, or indeed withdrew it for the second question, then I urge you to try it. Arguably one of Denmark's best exports, The Killing (aka Forbrydelsen) is a crime thriller spanning three series that follows the fabulous Sarah Lund as she solves seemingly impossible murders and kidnappings. It's fascinating, and Lund is a character of such depth that you're drawn in without even realising. In fact, I kind of wish I could be her...

In fashion circles, Lund (and indeed The Killing) is most famous for her brilliantly Scandinavian jumpers, which are so popular now that Sofie Gråbøl (AKA Lund) presented one to the Duchess of Cornwall. If you are yet to bask in the glory of her jumpers, here is an example...

Even though I now own a Lund-esque coat and bag, I am still obviously not an uber-talented Danish crime fighter. I also am not willing to pay over £100 for a jumper. So, I decided to incorporate a little bit of the show into my nails...

I have to say, they're not the neatest nails I've ever shown on here, but I wanted to show you all anyway and it's such an easy design...

You will need:

1x base coat
1x top coat
1x white polish
1x black polish or nail art pen/paint

Step 1:

As usual, prepare your nails by filing, clipping, trimming or whatever you choose to do to maintain them, and then apply your base coat. This will protect your nails from the colour you're about to apply and stop them staining.

Step 2:

Apply your first coat of the white polish. You will need to do this more than once, so make sure each coat is dry before adding another. Add as many coats as you need for the colour to become opaque.

Step 3:

Starting at the tip of the nail, draw two small sideways hearts, one on each edge (you can see this in the photo above). You can do this by creating two dots of black and then joining them together in a kind of 'v' shape. Follow this by drawing a circle between these hearts.

Step 4:

Now, in the middle section of your nail, you need to draw four small hearts in the pattern that can be seen in the photo below...

Step 5:

Repeat the process of step 3 by adding the same pattern at the base of your nail and allow your nails to dry completely. Because you're using black, I'd even recommend for a full 24 hours if possible.

Step 6:

Apply your top coat. Be careful here, as seemingly dry black polish can often smudge when you apply a top coat.

Et voila! You now have fabulous Forbrydelsen themed nails. Obviously you don't have to be a fan of the show to try out this design, but it certainly helps ;)

What do you think? Can you see yourself trying out this design? Let me know in the comments below! :)

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com
Tumblr: lookintothestorm.tumblr.com

Requested: Nail Tutorial - Art Attack

Hi guys :) Today's post is going to be a requested tutorial of the nail art I posted about most recently. My usual 'hand model' (AKA my mum, haha) was unavailable so I've done it on an acrylic nail, hopefully you'll still be able to follow it though :)

So, you will need:

- 1x base coat (not pictured)
- 1x top coat (I used Sally Hansen Mega Shine)
- 1x white nail polish 
- As many other colours as you want to go in your pattern. I recommend the colours pictured to create the same effect as I did, and will refer to these colours in my tutorial. 
- 1x paintbrush (as cheap as possible, you'll see why later on)
- 1x nail polish remover and cotton pads

Step 1:

Apply your base coat and allow to dry. This is particularly important with a polish such as a white one, as they can often leave yellowing on the nails without a base coat being applied first.

Step 2:
Coat your nails with the white polish until they become opaque. Make sure you allow each coat to dry before re-applying, as you could end up pulling the drying polish and ruining the nails.

Step 3:
Take your paintbrush and yellow polish and lightly dab the end of the paintbrush onto the nail polish brush. You could try dipping the brush into the polish, but chances are you will end up with too much polish and will need to start over. Paint from one corner of the nail outwards and feather the ends out as much as possible.

Step 4:

Now take your orange colour and layer it over the yellow, trying to blend the two colours together as much as possible. Don't worry about it looking messy, this will be covered up later in the design.

Step 5:

Now take your bright pink and do the same as in step 4. In addition to this, you want to try and feather this colour out even more than you have previously. You can do this by pressing the brush against the nail.

Step 6:

Now we're going to introduce a slightly darker colour. Use your blue (I used something in between bright and dark, you don't want to go too dark) in the same way as your previous colours.

Step 7:

You're going to add some black now, just to give the pattern a bit more depth. Try not to feather this out too much, as these nails are mainly supposed to be colourful.

Step 8:

If you saw my original post, you might have noticed that red was the most prominent colour. This is the stage where you need to add the red. Don't be afraid to use a lot of this, however make sure you don't try and make the colour opaque. 

Step 9:

To darken the nails even further, add some green, and finally add some purple.

Step 10:

You're pretty much done with adding the colour now, however if you want to add any more of the colours you've already applied, feel free to do this and allow the nail to dry. In the photo below, I added more blue and yellow

Step 11:

Once the nail is dry, apply your top coat and you're done!

Overall, I don't think this tutorial is complicated to do, but it does take a bit of time and I wouldn't recommend you try doing this when you're in a hurry. I think this design could be mixed up so much for different seasons, occasions etc, and when I come back to it in the future I'll post some more NOTDs for you :)

I hope that was helpful, but if you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment, tweet me or send me an email, the links are all at the end of this post :)

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com

NOTD #3 - Art Attack

Having taken a little break to concentrate on my second semester of university starting, I'm back with a beauty-related post today and I thought I'd share my nails of the day!

I can't really figure out what I think they look like, but I've called the post 'Art Attack' because I basically went mad with different colours and a paintbrush. Sometimes I think they look kind of feathered, sometimes I think the colours look a bit like those of a peacock... I like the fact that they're all completely different and some nails have more of one colour than the others.

What do you think? Would you try this out yourself? Would you like to see any more designs using this technique? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel x

Twitter: rachelizabethxo

Personal blog: estoy mejor sin ti

Instagram: iRachey

Email: rachelelizabeth.xo@googlemail.com