Essie Neo Whimsical

 My local discounted beauty stall has finally stocked some new - well last seasons, polishes! I have a total of 6 Essie polishes so far, all purchased from discounted stalls. I personally cannot bear to part with £7+ of my money on a new nail polish, although some of Essie's polishes do have a really opaque formulation and I love their semi-rounded brush, that for a perfect shade that I would fall in love with, I could be persuaded into it.

 

One of two latest additions is Neo Whimsical. I decided on this colour, as I have the norm pinks, greens, sheer two-tones, etc., that I thought this would be something unusual and new to me. I still can't quite put my finger on the colour. As Miss Budget Beauty would say, its an off white. A white with a touch of colour - possibly pink or lilac? In the bottle, I thought it looked a little concrete/nude looking. I guess its one of those shades that depends on the lighting and the eye!

 

I took this shoddy flashed photo straight after painting my nails, so I could Instagram the shade (My username is @Luceeloves!). As usual, I have polish all over my fingers, but it works for me. It was at night when I painted these, with a flash, so they look quite white and washed out, but I think this polish would look really effective and unusual with a matte top coat!

 As soon as I applied this polish, I knew it would be a new firm favourite of mine. The shade is ideal for a polish, manicured look, for weddings, school, interviews (my case!), etc. I have quite fair skin, and this pairs lovely. I think a tan would also make the colour pop! I have applied two coats, which was perfect.

I picked this one up for a mere £1.99, but I can genuinely seeing me use this on so many occasions, I would have probably been prepared to pay the full price of £7+.

 

You can pick yourself one up for £7.90 at LookFantastic.

 

Have you tried this shade? What are your thoughts?

What is your favourite Essie shade?

 

LuceeLovesBeuatyBox.

 

xxx

What's The Best Under Eye Concealer?

I have always dabbled with the thought of trying contact lenses. Not because I don't like my glasses, I love them! I have worn glasses since I was very young, so the thought of walking around outside without a frame on my face, is daunting to say the least! For many glasses-wearers, you will understand that glasses can feel like apart of your face, permanently, in a positive way! Without them, I honestly feel naked and everyone can see me, if that makes sense? It does to me, anyway!

Well, I have been thinking of trying contact lenses, purely for the novelty of knowing what it is like, to see clearly, without glasses. I would also take this opportunity to wear contacts on special occasions, nights out, etc. I do genuinely enjoy wearing my glasses. I think they frame my face well, and I don't quite look the same without them!

So, the whole point to this blog post, is I am looking for a good, high coverage under eye concealer. I am lucky to be able to hide my eyes behind my glasses, and also to be able to heavily apply eye make up, as the appearance is diluted through the glasses. I always have had dark circles. They probably aren't even too bad for a 21 year old, but I would feel concious of them, never mind feeling exposed without my glasses!

I would also like to note, I currently use Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Fair, which does the job, but lately I have started to notice it is quite drying, which leads to creasing. Not a particularly nice look. I am prepared to venture into the world of high end products, but these are all unknown to me. This is where I need your help! What high coverage under eye concealers would you recommend?

I would be so grateful for any advice or recommendations!

LuceeLovesBeautyBox.

xxx

LUSH Oatifix Fresh Face Mask

I am a huge lover of LUSH products, but rarely purchase anything for myself, always has gifts. I recently won a little giveaway  which included a Fresh Face Mask. I have always been curious about these, so its been a lovely treat to find out!

LUSH Fresh Face Masks last for around 4 weeks, give or take. They are also required to be stored in the fridge, which is a weird concept, but to keep your face mask as fresh and long lasting as possible, its second nature now to root around in your fridge for a face product. Depending on the type of face mask you also have, this will create a nice chilled, cooling addition to the application, perfect for mornings or if you are wanting to perk your skin up a little!

I have the Oatifix Fresh Face Mask. Bearing in mind I have oily to combination skin type, this mask isn't best suited to my skin. Oatifix is for dry skin. The mask is made up from Bananas, which are an oily rich fruit, perfect for injecting much needed moisture for drier skin. Illipe Butter is also added in, to add further moisture. The scent is delicious, almost good enough to eat. This face mask and ingredients are aimed at the complete opposite end of the skin type scale for me, although I can relate to the fact that this is packed full of moisture, my skin feels balanced after use.

I apply my face masks in the bath. I like to take this time to relax and just lay back, as the mask does the work. As this mask is mainly made up of oats, it has a putty texture, with no room to spread or smear. I found as it is very thick, you do have to apply and push the product onto your skin, opposed to a typical clay mask, where you can easily spread it over your face, even without the need of a mirror. I found by applying this in the bath was the better option, as some sly oats that got away, could just drop in the water.

I applied this onto damp skin, blotted with a towel. Once its actually on your face, and the steam from the bath has travelled its way back to your skin, the product begins to soften and create a slimey texture. I must admit, this isn't the most attractive or appealing face mask. After 5-10 minutes of it holding on to your face, I massage the rest into my face, for a really gentle final exfoliation. As the mask has turned to mush, with some oats still intact, its perfect for a final scrub, to get rid of dry, flaky skin.

I would like to try another LUSH Fresh Face Mask, best suited to my skin type, although this has been an enjoyable and useful first try. As they do only last a couple of weeks, its good to make sure you are someone who will remember to make use of it and not waste it. The top photograph shows one application. This does go along way, and I would say I would get around 5 generous applications, or even 7 quick one's at a push, so this does show that it will last a worthy month, with 1-2 applications a week. This is perfect for me, and anyone else who loves a Sunday pamper night!

You can find LUSH products in store or online here (link).

Fresh Face Masks retail at £5.95 for 75g of product.

Also a little reminder, is if you collect and return to the store, 5 clean full-size pots or tubes, you will get one Fresh Face Mask free!

Have you tried any LUSH Fresh Face Masks?

What is your favourite?

LuceeLovesBeautyBox.

xxx

Pink and White Striped Nails

Another little nails of the day post for you! Well isn't this weather just awful. It seems to be holding on for as long as possible, unfortunately. I am usually one to hate the sun and heat, but I can't actually wait for a touch of warmth and to break out my lighter clothing. Some how, I cannot see that happening anytime soon. Ugh.

Nevertheless, I wanted to perk up my nails. As I am waiting for the sun to appear before wearing my spring polishes, I wanted something girly and fun to brighten things up. I am obsessed with Rimmel's 60 Seconds Polish in 405 Rose Libertine. It's a very pretty dusky pink, which I have worn throughout winter and the summer months. A good all rounder! To add a lighter touch, I opted for some white pinstripes, which turned out alright for a spontaneous decision! I think both colours pair together so nicely, especially for when the sun is shining!

I have currently just ran out of my trusty No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat, so I am looking after an alternative. I don't own any Revlon polishes, although I have heard some good things about their Revlon Top Coat. Is it worth it? I always find my No7 one never lasts long before it gets gloopy.

I hope you liked this post!
What nail looks are you looking forward to wearing throughout spring?

LuceeLovesBeautyBox.

xxx

Social Media Buttons and HTML Coding!

I have always been fighting a losing battle against the design of my blog. Since its started, I had a floral background, with a lot of unnecessary applications, icons, etc in the way, distracting my readers from the post content itself. Since, I have decided to clear that away and have a basic white background, to create a professional finish to my blog, with a simple header and the appropriate info at my side bars.

Today, I decided to get rid of all of the buttons that can be accessed from Facebook, Twitter, etc and create some simple coordinated blog buttons, that will take you directly to the corresponding site. I know I must be the last blogger to have this, bit for some reason, I have had such difficulties trying to do this, from searching the buttons I really like, to the HTML coding. Thankfully, I Gemma had written a post on how to get and install free social media icons (read here!), which made the whole process so much easier!

I decided to opt for a light pink button, which would give a neutral finish, not to distract from the post content. I got my buttons from a recommendation Gemma included in her post, so make sure to check it out! The only bother I really had, was resizing my images, to squeeze into a line. I wish I only chose four, as they would have then been bigger, but hey-ho! The most important social media that a blogger should have and interact with, is most definitely Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and at the moment Bloglovin. I also added my email, for a quicker approach for me to be contacted.

As I said, I'm not entirely happy with the small layout, but I finally have a neat, organised method of contact, in one space.

• To install my social media icons, I firslty searched for the appropriate buttons. There is SO many, with the simple search on Google, so for me, this was one of the hardest parts; choosing

• Once I had chosen mine, I downloaded/saved them to my computer, and then uploaded them to my PhotoBucket account. Very simple to sign up, if you are new!

• You can then head over to your Blogger account, select Layout, Add Gadget then select the HTML/Javascript.

• Add this code: <a href="Your Twitter/facebook/bloglovin profile URL" target="_blank"><img src="direct link to the image in photobucket" alt="Twitter"/></a>.

• You can now change the red text, to your appropriate links, such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. You can repeat this code process for each social media icon - you will end up with a paragraph of repeated coding, with the red text changed. This will allow the icons to appear in a row.

• If you would like them centred, you can also add the HTML code <center> at the beginning of the coding, and </center> at the end.

If you find you have the same difficulty as me, with the icons being too big, you can also add some HTML coding to adjust this. This is an example of my Twitter HTML coding:

<center><a href="https://twitter.com/LuceeLoves" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r559/Luceeloves/twitter-1.png" width="40" height="40" alt="Twitter"/></a>

• Normally, you would not include this red text. But if you would like to alter the sizing of your icon, add the red coding, changing the numbers, depending on the size you want to go. I altered this several times, by saving and previewing, to see whether I like the outcome.

All in all, it is an easy process, but as there is so many different tutorials and ways of doing HTML out there, it can get daunting. Just follow the simple steps, a little Google search here and there, and you will begin to recognise the steps.

I hope this helps anyone that is new to blog designing or comes across it through a Google search.

I would also like to thank Gemma for her helpful post and would recommend you to check out her blog!

If you need any help, don't hesitate to contact me, and I will do my best to help!

What do you think of the finished look?

LuceeLovesBeautyBox.

xxx

Essie in Navigate Her

I know I just posted about my nails last night, but after a spring cleaning housework day, my nails took the worst of it. So for some inspiration for spring time, I thought I would pop something on Spring and pastel appropriate!

I think I have reviewed this at some point before, but it's nice to see an updated review. I think this colour is so unusual. In artifical light, it does look like a pale pastel green. In daylight, it looks like something else! This polish is from a collection from awhile ago, as I picked mine up for a purse friendly £1.99, however I must rave about the brush. I'm not sure if their current season has the same one, but I love tje rounded brush for applying the polish right up to the cuticles neatly. I have been trying to steer the polish just below my cuticles and the edges of my nails, to give a neater finish and to allow my cuticles to breathe.

I only applied one coat, which is definitely enough, with very quick drying time - this is a perfect polish to speedily update your nails, for spring!

Have you tried this nail polish or any other of Essie's?

LuceeLovesBeautyBox

xxx

GOSH Holographic Polish

Just a quick little post I am attempting to type and publish on the Blogger app. Let's see how well this goes! I recently won a giveaway, including sone LUSH goodies and this lovely little polish. I've never seen or heard of something like this before, so I'm really happy I won!

I applied two coats to get an opaque finish, alhough as it is a runny polish, three coats wouldn't have took any longer to dry. As I first applied this, it didn't really resemble holographic effect at all, it wasn't until it settled and became tacky, that it's true colours came to light.

I would also like to add the formulation of the polish. You almost had to maneuver the polish around, like a glitter on, opposed to painting down th nail, to get a seamless finish. The brush was also new to me, as it was short, thin and stubby, making ot slightly awkward to use.

This has been a joy to use, though. I would really like to try some of their other polishes or even make up products!

Have you tried any GOSH products?
What are your thoughts?

I would like to end this rambly post with an apology, as I have no idea how it will turn out after posting!

LuceeLovesBeautyBox.

xxx