Review: Primark Beauty Stick-on Nails

Hello, hello!

I have a whole host of the “inner workings of my mind” posts lined up that I’ve been writing as late. Today though, I’m writing a good old beauty review just because I can 🙂

Earlier on I had a bored moment and peeled off my Shellac and then bit my weak nails off as well. DISGUSTING! I tried my hardest to get a nail appointment for some extensions to be applied without an electric file and failed. As my last ditch attempt venue happened to be across from Primark, I popped in to check out their ever-expanding beauty range.

Well, I found loads of cool stick-on nail designs and for £1 a pack, they’re dirt cheap compared to all other nail alternatives so I figured it was my duty to give them a go. Other than the fact that my nails are now unusable because they’ll pop off if I so much as open a pack of sweets, I love them! Check these bad boys out, (excuse my dry skin):

The Nails!

I’ve yet to shower or dress/undress so I’m not sure how they’ll last but I’ll definitely be buying these again for a night out. Far cheaper, quicker and easier than going to a salon, especially if you’re only after 1 night of nail glamour!

Anyone tried any of the rest of the Primark beauty range? X

Review: Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Hello everyone!

It has been ages since I did a product review, I’ve been far too lazy recently! One product which I have been using for a couple of months now and is definitely worthy of a write up is Seche Vite’s Fast Dry Top Coat. A friend recommended this to me after having a manicure at a spa where they used it. This friend raved about it so much that I really was expecting to be disappointed, I couldn’t believe it would live up to my high expectations. I couldn’t have been more wrong!

Seche Vite, Dry Fast Top Coat, £9.50

This little bottle may as well be a miracle potion, it has completely transformed my nail beauty regime. I have incredibly dry, weak nails which flake more than any I have ever seen. This means that usually it’s virtually pointless me painting my nails as literally within a day, I’m missing half of the polish on my index fingers. I had been having gel nails done for a few months but that’s very expensive to maintain and there’s also the inconvenience of making appointments and having to go to the salon, which takes up a good chunk of a weekend day.

However, along came Seche Vite and that’s all changed! Check this out:

Please excuse my shocking cuticles but this is my hand and those nails were painted 5 days ago. Since then I have done the washing up a few times without gloves, stuffed over 100 envelopes, hunted through piles of junk in the office for a drill battery pack, picked labels off the bottom of a new pair of shoes…the list goes on. The point I am making is really that I’m not careful about keeping my polish in tact, I have things to do and can’t be bothered with trying to protect my nails.

As far as I’m concerned, this is an amazing result! Not only does the Seche Vite do what it says on the bottle and dry your nails quickly, but it keeps the polish in place for what feels like an eternity. The nail polish I’m wearing in the picture is Nails Inc Queen Victoria Street but I’ve tried the Seche Vite with cheaper polishes too and it works just as well. High gloss shine, quick drying and incredible staying power. What more could you want from something that costs less than a tenner? I bought mine from BeautyBay so here’s a handy link to the product if you’d like to do the same (here).

This is the best product I’ve tried in ages, I cannot recommend it enough! x

Review – Ciate Caviar Manicure (My Version Of)

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’ve probably heard of Ciate’s Caviar Manicure by now but for any of you who haven’t, essentially it’s a manicure set with beads which gives a bit of a caviar look. Check it out on their website here.

Ciate Caviar – Black

You can buy this in black, white and a rainbow colour (I think they did a Jubilee version too) but black is by far my favourite and was definitely the look I most wanted to try. However, it’s £18 for the set which is essentially a black nail polish and a bottle full of black beads. I figured that as I already owned a black nail polish there was no way I was paying that for mine so I made the set myself.

I used an old black Bourgeois nail polish which has excellent staying power (but you can use any) and then bought my beads on ebay. The beads only cost a couple of £s and they are perfect, look just like the Ciate beads.

The method is that you paint 2 coats of the colour onto your nails then whilst they are still wet, you tip the beads onto the nail. Lightly press the beads into the nail and then use a top coat to seal them on. My beads came in a bag so what I actually did was dip my fingers into the bag which meant no spillage 🙂

Here are my pictures – I only did my baby fingers as I wanted to check how long it lasted before committing to full hands!

My Beads

My Nails

I love the look! I couldn’t get mine to look as perfectly nail shaped as they do in the marketing pictures though and that seems to be an issue based on other reviews I have read too.

As for lasting power, I was pleasantly surprised. The odd bead fell off by itself but a day and a half later which included hair washing, typing and filing and they were still in tact. I’m not sure this would be the case if they had been my index fingers but these would definitely last for a wedding or Ascot and they just look so cool! Highly recommended but definitely do it my cheap way 😉 x

The Perfect Manicure?

Part of any great outfit is a tidy set of nails; be that the latest brightly coloured trend or a classic French, the nails make the lady in my opinion. Sadly for me, I have incredibly weak nails which flake and break like nobody’s business, (unlike my lucky sister who is the opposite) which means that I am always on the look out for an affordable yet fashionable fix. Here I will run through some of the products I have tried and my opinions on them. I’d love to hear from other people about these products and any others you know about, especially those that will help strengthen my nails.

Shellac

Shellac is a relatively new product on the scene and is the polish-like gel by CND. A huge competitor of this product is Jessica’s Geleration, except Geleration is not as thick as Shellac.

Shellac is marketed as a 14 day manicure, no chips, no smudges, just great shine. It goes on really quickly compared to other products as well and soaks off much more quickly than more traditional gels so is great for time saving.

I’ve had Shellac nails a number of times now and the range of colours is great, there’s loads of vibrant colours and you can have some awesome effects done with them. It costs me approx. £30 per time to have them done with an independent manicurist and that’s the cheapest I’ve found in the Berkshire area.

For most people, I would definitely recommend a Shellac manicure, especially for a holiday or occasion as it’s just so easy and looks really great. However, if you have really weak nails like me, you may find that your nails still bend quite a lot and you get chips and lifting after about a week so you might need a stronger product.

Biosculpture

Biosculpture is a well established product which was pretty much one of a kind when it first came out. It’s another gel product which works best when applied as an overlay to the natural nail but can also work with extensions. It’s thicker than the likes of Shellac and so takes longer to cure and to remove but it comes out stronger.

There are a wide range of colours in the range but everywhere I have been they tend to stock the more conservative colours in the range. The final effect is also much less shiny than Shellac. With the independent manicurist I use, a set of overlays on my natural nails costs around £35 but round here, most salons charge at least £40 and more like £60 if you want extensions as well.

The product is more hard-wearing than the polish style gels and if it’s layered on quite thick, I find it lasts well on my nails. However, I have found that the glitter based colours have much more sticking power than the non glitter and once again, for my incredibly thin and bendy nails, it’s not quite strong enough to make it to 2 weeks. That said, for those of you with normal nails, many people get 3 or 4 weeks out of a Biosculpture manicure which really is zero fuss nails!

Rebel Nails (Nail Wraps)

I am using the Rebel Nail wraps as my example for nail wraps on a wider scale as I have tried a few brands and this brand seems to have the best selection of designs. The great thing about nail wraps is that they come in loads of funky designs and as soon as they are applied, you are ready to go. The slightly trickier piece is applying them. If you want to take the hassle out of this, try Minx nails which will be applied at a salon for you.

I’ve not tried Minx myself but my step-mum has had them on her toes and said that they are great for an occasion but didn’t last through a beach holiday of sand and salt water.

As for the ones you apply at home, here is a pic. of some pink glittery wraps I applied myself earlier on:

It took me about as long as it would take me to apply a couple of layers of polish to apply them but I am new to it and the bonus is no drying time. However, I have only been wearing them for approximately an hour and most of them are wrinkling and peeling. Not sure if this is bad application, (they looked great when first done) or if that’s just how they are, this has happened to a few of my friends as well. 

In conclusion to the wraps section, I’d say give them ago but maybe go to a salon first so you can copy their application technique and don’t count on them sticking for more than one occasion.

Acrylic

I couldn’t do a post on nails without talking about acrylic. In case anybody has been living in a cave and isn’t sure what this is, it’s the smelly product you’ll find being used in most of the cheap nail salons on the high street (the type where they use electric files). Acrylic itself can be drying to the nail but does provide a tough barrier for weak nails like mine. The problem with it is that it is not flexible so when you do bash it hard, it hurts the nail and cracks and snaps the acrylic, leaving you with a very lumpy, unattractive nail.

However, acrylic is often very damaging to the nails because of the way it is applied. It usually comes with extensions which at best require a lot of filing to blend with the natural nail, at worst are applied with an electric file. The nail bed itself is often extensively filed to make the acrylic stick so although these nails are hard wearing, they are very damaging and look the most fake. My advice is to avoid acrylic at all costs – I used to have it myself and have seen many others whose nails have taken years to return to normal afterwards.

Polish

Yes, nail polish, straightforward paint-it-on-yourself nail polish! Believe it or not, some people can work wonders with a standard polish and have fantastic looking nails, especially with all of the nail art tools which are out there today.

I love a good nail polish but unfortunately, as my nails are so bendy it tends to chip off in huge great chunks the same day. The glittery manicure I did the other day didn’t even last until the end of said day!

However, my toes are not as bad as my fingers and I often experiment with them. A pet hate I have is for nail polishes which are too thin and take about 20 coats to even out the colour. I like a relatively thick, luxurious and shiny polish you can whack on, let dry and go.

For me, my biggest let down was China Glaze, my bright pink polish takes about 3 coats to look half decent and has a very matte finish. Some of my favourites are: Barry M – great drying time, Collection 2000 – bargainous and great drying time and Nails Inc – the most luxurious shine ever, Nails Inc polish often looks like gel.

So that, for now, is it on nails from me. I hope this is helpful to someone out there. What I would most like to know is what experiences other people have with nail products and what suggestions anyone has to help my poorly nails. I’d love to hear from you! x