I’m a latecomer to the wonder of nail art and nail wraps in general – I did go through a (now not really spoken of) phase of having acrylics which I used to occasionally have art done “to me” on. But I never had a steady enough hand to make them look, well, not like a five year old with an alcohol problem had done them basically.

So the recent advent of nail wraps is a fun one to me. Nail art, like most things in life, if done well, can at best be great, and at worst, fun. I do however have that nagging voice in the back of my head telling me “oh well they might look easy, but I’m sure you’ll find a way to cock up the application….” So when Rebel Nails offered me a chance to try their wares, I (cautiously) got a little bit excited about trying them…

Each set comes with 16 nail wraps – 2 of each in 8 different sizes… The instructions seem fairly straightforward too –  Basically you clean the nails, select the correct sized wrap, and peel it off from the backing, holding the straight edge. You then heat the wrap with hairdryer and smooth it over the nail, and file off any excess. To remove you lift the nail wrap from the sides of the nail and peel back… There is a video on the Rebel Nails site which shows exactly how to do it HERE.

I was sent four sets to try and for my first attempt I chose the most work appropriate black with a pink tip…

So, I went ahead and gave them a go, hairdryer at the ready!

They were fairly easy to apply and did look pretty good for a first attempt. The design I picked probably wasn’t the best for my nails, because I have very small little fingernails, so the pink didn’t show up on my little fingers. I have pretty curved nails naturally too, and I think these might be a smidge easier to use if you have fairly flat nails, as I did get a couple of creases at the tips. Creases at the edges of the nails were easily dealt with though – just reheat with the hairdryer, and smooth out with a cuticle tool. As with all things likt this though I think practice will definitely make perfect.

I noticed that they were easier and applied better if they were really heated up well – don’t be tempted to slap em on straight from the packet…

Rebel nails are also launching a couple of great halloween designs, including the funky moonscape ones shown above, which are far nicer than the usual pumpkin designs you see… a little more subtle, and all the better for it. And if you spend a minimum of £10 on the site between now and 31st Oct, you’ll get one of their two Halloween designs absolutely free

The designs show are all available, along with many other designs on the Rebel Nails site - http://www.rebelnails.co.uk/ and I have a special discount code for use to get 15% off if you fancy trying them out – Simply enter the code MIZZWORTHY15 at the checkout between 20th Oct and 1st Nov 2011, and you’ll get 15% off your wraps (P&P will remain same though), with no minimum order. 

Have You tried Rebel Nails? What are your thoughts?

Disclaimer – this is a sponsored post, however contains only honest opinions based on my own experiences with the products shown.

I recently placed myself on a bit of a spending ban where makeup is concerned… After all, a chest of drawers full of the stuff, plus the kit I use for jobs is more than enough for several lifetimes, and there’s rarely a shade I can’t dupe these days. So I’ve taken to rediscovering some of the forgotten treasures in my collection, in a bid to entertain myself, and appreciate the goodies I already have rather than wasting moolah on pointless duplicates…

In my makeup bag this week…

It seems this weeks stash selection is something of an homage to mineral makeup, and this is no coincidence – I often find when I go to work with anything higher coverage than tinted moisturiser I get a lot of comments and compliments, which is nice, but my main aim at work is to look human, rather than overdone…. a no makeup makeup look if you will. Secondly, my skin seems to have had a flare up recently, so I opted for minerals as they seem the least irritant to my skin. Finally, it gave me a chance to try the new mineral bronzing foundation from Bourjois…

On the subject of the Bourjois foundation, I’ve been really happy with it and I’ve been using it for about two weeks now for work. I love the packaging, which has a clever twisty shaker, which enables you to customise the shade of foundation, as well as eliminating the horrors of messy mineral foundation…

This gives light to medium coverage, depending on how much you apply and buff it in, I’m pretty impressed with the longevity too – it seems to survive a full shift at work on most days, which for mineral foundation on my dryish skin is impressive… Topping it with the ELF mineral booster pictured above seems to boost its longevity too.

Bare face before foundation application...

Face after application of foundation and light contour using the bronzer...

Have you tried this foundation? What are your thoughts?

Another Bourjois product has also found a place in my makeup bag this week as well – their healthy mix concealer (I use shade 51), which deals with undereye circles and blemishes well for everyday use – I have a host of MAC concealers which I keep in my kit, but this one seems to work well on me without looking cakey or overdone for day to day use.

I’m also loving these two items from the Body Shop’s past baked mineral collection – blusher in “Coral Nuance”, and eye colour duo in “Copper”, although I usually leave the eyeshadow off for work…

Finally the lippie I’ve been using the most is my trusty Estee Lauder Crystal Baby, which is probably my all time favourite lip colour. Definitely worth a mention though is Sleeks True Colour in the Shade Liqueur, which is a very close high street match for Crystal baby;

Top - Crystal Baby, Bottom - Sleek Liqueur.

As you can see, the two aren’t exact dupes, but when applied to the lips they are pretty darned close – Crystal Baby is slightly more peachy pink toned than the Sleek shade, but in terms of wear and feel on the lips, they are very comparable, so this is well worth looking into for those interested in Crystal Baby but want a more affordable option…

Finally a quick snap of the whole lot applied;

Apologies for the ungroomed brows and seen-better-days hair…

What are you loving at the moment?

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My FOTD’s only ever seem to take five minutes, unless I’m going somewhere special, and I rarely bother with makeup on work days, as I’m more concerned at the moment with ensuring I’m plastered with enough SPF to sink a ship. Anyway, here’s todays…

Apologies For my Crap Hair!

On the face I used Illamasqua Ligh liquid foundation, and Collection 2000 concealer, all set with ELF mineral booster powder. I contoured with the new Bourjois bronzer, and applied Sleeks Avoir De Peche blusher.

On the eyes I used ELF mineral eye shadow in “Natural”, and a little Barry M dazzle dust in shade 51 through the crease and along the lashlines. I also used Rimmel’s Day to Night mascara (not in love with this – it dries out too fast).

On the lips I applied Sleek’s True Colour lipstick in the shade “Liqueur”, which is a great high street dupe of Crystal Baby by Estee Lauder…

Hope you liked!

Recently I’ve been feeling a little bit “blah” about blogging. I think this has been due to both changes in my personal life, as well as changes in the blogosphere.

When I first started blogging it was all about fun. As time went by I started noticing “rules” and “expectations” being placed on me all the times, sometimes by myself, sometimes by others. The advent of twitter only seemed to make me feel more guilty if I felt I wasn’t meeting the standards of others.

Tweets implying that bloggers who reviewed PR samples in particular really made me feel bad. I’ve blogged for three years now, and I’ve always been 100% honest, and always disclosed where products I reviewed were from. When I first started blogging I had a lot more disposable income so could afford to buy lots of products myself to review.

Sadly, due to the aforementioned changes in my personal life, that’s no longer the case. So I was left feeling guilty about “being one of those bloggers who only ever reviews PR samples”. Well, I’ve had a long hard think about this one…

And I’ve decided that this is my blog and I’ll decide the content. I’ll write about PR samples if I like, and I’ll also write the odd sponsored post if I want to. But I’ll always always disclose that to you, and I personally don’t see the point of insulting you with fake reviews, so you can count that my reviews will always be 100% honest no matter what. I enjoy trying new things, if something is great then I’ll tell you it’s great, but likewise if its pants I’ll let you know why I think that too. And that would be true whether I’d picked something up myself or had it sent to me…

But I’ll also start to write about the other stuff I love. Big changes in life makes you re-evaluate things a bit. And that’s made me realise that there are lots of things I’d love to write about. More personal posts perhaps. Things like book reviews, recipes, hell, even those lovely “five things that cheered me up today” style posts (I’d expect that my two cats will feature quite heavily in those ones!).

Renfield shows us how to Chillax...

I hope you will all stick around and continue to enjoy my musings – all I ever wanted from blogging was fun and I intend to start feeling that again!

After what feels like months of anticipation (but was actually only a fortnight or so…) my Glossybox finally arrived this morning, and fell into my grubby little paws when I got home.

Now I’m sure you are aware of the GlossyBox, after all, it seems to have taken over my twitter timeline several times over the last couple of weeks. But for the uninitiated GlossyBox is a £10 a month subscription service which sends you a box of five “deluxe” sized samples… the kind you’d usually get as a gift with purchase, rather than the crappy little sachets the counter ladies sometimes begrudgingly give you if you offer to sacrifice your firstborn and remortgage your house ask very very nicely.

So here’s a few Piccys;

First thing that stands out about the GlossyBox is how lovely the packaging is – Its like recieving a lovely gift… With love from me to me!

So, packaging aside… whats in the box then? I’m sure you have already seen this on twitter and many other blogs but here ya go!

So thats a full size (30ml) tube of NARS Orgasm Illuminator, worth £21.50, an All For Eve full sized lipstick in “Eve Red”, worth £12.50, a 4ml sample of Bionova bioactive cleanser (admittedly small, but more than made up for by the two full sized products I feel), a 25 ml pump bottle of Alterna Caviar Anti-Aging Colour Hold Hair Repair Spray, and a 50ml bottle of Como Shambhala Invigorating Body lotion. Not bad for £10… Lets hope future boxes live up to the same standard, as GlossyBox have set the bar high for themselves!

Top - Orgasm Illuminator, Bottom Illuminator blended out

All For Eve "Eve Red" swatched.

So, as you may be aware if you’ve been following GlossyBox on twitter or through blogs, or on their YouTube channel, the first box was a sell out, so if you missed out on this first box, but you want one, then you’re in luck! Basically shortly after I subscribed to the service I was contacted by GlossyBox offering me a sample box to review – I sensed an opportunity for a giveaway and GlossyBox were happy to agree.

So if you missed out and fancy a box of your own, than leave me a comment telling me you want the box below, and I’ll draw the winner at random a week from now (Midnight on Thursday 26th May) and announce it on here, so be sure to check back! *UK ENTRIES ONLY PLEASE!

If you want to order your own GlossyBox, you can do so HERE.

Disclaimer – I purchased the box shown in this post myself via a subscription to GlossyBox UK, the giveaway prize is a PR sample. The winner will be sent this free of charge by myself.

While sometimes its nice to spend a long time getting ready and applying makeup, other times it feels more like a chore. Like at 6am prior to an early shift for example. These are the times when I settle for looking human, rather than washed out corpse! These are also the times when I need to apply quickly, without the aid of a load of brushes…

So a current look I’m wearing a lot, was borne out of these circumstances… clearly though, I failed to recognise the need to keep my eyebrowns under control prior to taking the pictures, but you take me as you find me… They are in better shape now though, I can assure you!

This look is created using minimal products, and applied with fingers (apart from one powder brush…).

The base is Korres watermelon tinted moisturiser with SPF30, which is one of my faourite bases – somewhat higher coverage than the average tinted moisturiser, and dries down to a satin rather than very dewy finish, and I set this with a light dusting of pressed powder through the t-zone. At the moment I’m using 17′s pressed powder which is a nice little budget find.

On the cheeks I apply a little of one of my all time favourite cream blushers - Rude by Illamasqua – and blend with fingers. Finally a quick coat of mascara (in this case MUFE’s smoky lash, which I love, but is hard to find), and a slick of lipbalm, and I’m done.

Granted, its not exactly the most glam of looks, but its a standby that stops me looking like death warmed up.

What standbyes do you fall back on when you are in a rush?