Top 3 Nail Polishes for Spring

Sinful Colours Easy Going, Essie Go Ginza, Barry M Sugar Apple

I'm not one to only wear darker shades in the autumn/winter and lighter shades in the spring/summer, but I've been gravitating towards pastel shades recently, and they just so happen to be season appropriate. The shades above are the most pastel ones I own. The shades I considered pastel before these are no where near as light!

Sinful Colours Easy Going - £1.99 - review here

Easy Going is an off white pink, which looks clean and delicate on. It's beautiful on its own, but is also the perfect base for nail art. It takes three coats to become opaque, which isn't great, but I can deal with it.

Essie Go Ginza - £7.99 - review here

I used to stay far away from all purple shades, but in the last couple of years, I've come to love lilac and berry shades of polish. This is the lightest lilac I own, and I love it. Again, it's very clean. It takes two coats to become opaque, which is great for such a pastel shade.

Barry M Gelly Sugar Apple - £3.99 - review here

Sugar Apple is one of my most recent additions. Like I said in my review, it's a pastel, yet vibrant, aqua that can appear mint green in certain lights. It's thinner and streakier than the other Gelly polishes in the range, so takes 2-3 coats to become opaque. I was expecting better, to be honest, but love the colour so much that I'm willing to overlook this! 

What are your top nail polishes for spring?

Christmas with Fragrance Direct

If you're a regular reader of Affordable Treats, you'll know I love Fragrance Direct. It's the place I go to get my nail polish fix! If you've not heard of Fragrance Direct before, it's a website where you can buy branded perfumes and cosmetics for a discounted, more affordable price, and P&P can be from as little as £1.99. With Christmas just around the corner, I thought I'd show you my top picks from the site. I normally buy my Christmas presents throughout the year, but I know that now's the time when many start, or are in the process of, buying gifts for their loved ones.

Sally Hansen £1.49, Revlon 99p, OPI £3.99, Essie £1.99, L'Oreal £1.30

I don't tend to buy makeup for people unless I know exactly what they like to wear (like my mum and sister, for example), but I like gifting nail polish, especially to my friends. I think a couple bottles of OPI or Essie in a mug or gift bag would make a great present. I, for one, would love to receive that as a gift because nail polish and mugs are two of my favourite things! If you're not sure what shades your friends like, ask them. Just don't say why you're asking them!

Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau De Toilette Spray 100ml* £49.95, 50ml £38.95, 100ml Gift Set £56.95, 50ml Gift Set £41.95, Eau De Parfum 50ml £45.50

Perfume is very popular to give at Christmas, and if you're planning to buy a bottle for a family member or friend, I'd suggest checking Fragrance Direct first because you may be able to get it cheaper. For example, the bottle above is £14.05 less expensive than other places. In terms of the actual fragrance, Marc Jacobs Daisy is loved by many. Instead of me trying to describe what it smells like, here's a description: 'Daisy is the first of Marc Jacobs iconic fragrances for women; a fresh and floral fragrance, which is youthful and sweet, and perfect for summer. Marc Jacobs Daisy is light and easy to wear, and features a cool combination of Strawberry, Violet Leaf and Blood Grapefruit top notes, heart notes of Gardenia, Jasmine and Violet, and base notes of Musk, Vanilla and White Woods.' Even though it's described as a young, summery fragrance, it's one I'd wear all year round. They also have the Eau So Fresh version available in a range of sizes, but I already have it, so decided to try the original instead.

DKNY Red Delicious Eau De Parfum 100ml* £28.99

This retails for £60, so if you buy it from Fragrance Direct, you'll save yourself £31.01. The description for this is: 'The follow up to the hugely popular Be Delicious, Donna Karan DKNY Red Delicious Eau de Parfum Spray is sweet, fruity and feminine; a tasty perfume for the summer. With top notes of Lychee and Raspberry, heart notes of Bergamot, Patchouli and Rose, and base notes of Leather, Amber and Vanilla. DKNY Red Delicious is a modern and stylish fragrance.' I didn't expect this to be as fruity as it is, which is a good thing because I love fruity scents. To me, this smells like summer berries with hints of floral notes. There's also a little warmth there.

Nina Ricci Nina L'Eau Eau Fraiche Eau De Toilette Gift Set 80ml* £40.95, 80ml £40.95, 50ml £29.95, 30ml £21.95  

This is my new favourite scent. It's the lighter, fresher version of the original, and if there's the option of a lighter, fresher version of the original, I'll go for it. Here's the description: 'New for 2013, the Nina Ricci Nina L'Eau Eau Fraiche fragrance has made a great impression with its romantic, fresh fragrance, which can now be enjoyed in this fabulous ladies gift set. The Nina Ricci Nina L'Eau Eau Fraiche Gift Set features the stunning fragrance, which is a blend of Apple, Neroli, Grapefruit and Mandarin top notes, heart notes of Gardenia and Cherry, and base notes of Musk; a dreamy and feminine perfume.' There's a note in there that reminds me of my childhood or a sweet from my childhood, but I can pin point it! If you're looking at buying the 80ml bottle, I'd go for the gift set because you get the 80ml bottle and the lip gloss for the same price. Even if the lip gloss isn't used, it's essentially free! And looks pretty. 

Are you planning on buying any of your Christmas presents from Fragrance Direct? I know my sister's bought my mum Paco Rabanne's Lady Million from there for her birthday/Christmas (her birthday's on the 15th December). I'm tempted to buy my mum and sister more nail polishes, but I well and truly kitted them out earlier this year. You can never have too many nail polishes, though...

*PR samples

Current Nail Polish Phase

Essie Go Ginza, Models Own Utopia, Barry M Matte Vanilla

These are the last three polishes I've purchased, and I can't help but notice a theme! Light, muted, muddy tones of lilac (especially the last two). I just think they're understated, feminine, chic, and make great bases for nail art or glitter. These opinions are relatively new, though. I would have stayed far away from the likes of Utopia and Vanilla before this month. I actually remember thinking Utopia looked a little like cement a year or two ago. You see, I normally prefer shades that fit nicely into a colour category, instead of in between, can't-quite-describe shades like the above. I liked lilacs, and I liked nudes, but would never have bought these shades. I've already swatched Go Ginza here, and will be painting my nails with either Utopia or Vanilla this weekend. 

Do you go through nail polish phases? I was all about different shades of red not long back, be it corals or berries. I'm really liking the feminine, off white shades at the moment, though, and am desperate to get my hands on Sinful Colours' Easy Going!

Essie Go Ginza

(Instagram photo)

I'm not happy with my application of this, but I just had to show you the shade because I have nothing like it in my collection! As you can see, it's so much lighter than my other lilacs. I found myself looking at swatches of Go Ginza on Thursday, and then found it in the ASOS sale for £5, so it was meant to be. I was a little apprehensive about paying that, though, because I'm used to Fragrance Direct's £1.99 price tag, but once I found a student discount code (making the polish £4.50) and realised they were giving me free next day delivery (worth £5.95), I couldn't resist. The formula was good, taking just two coats. The first coat was streaky, but a second evened everything out. For such a light shade, I was expecting to have more issues. I really like it, and think it would look even better paired with a light coloured glitter!

What do you think? Are you a fan of lilacs? I personally love them, and deep berry shades, but tend to stay away from the purples in between.

Favourite Nail Polishes - Glitters

Choosing just 16 favourite nail polishes in my Favourite Nail Polishes - Rainbow Edition post was incredibly hard, so I bring you part 2: Glitters! I used to dislike glitters, but have come to love them. Fine ones look pretty over every nail, and chunkier ones look great on an accent.

My first favourite glitter is Illamasqua's Creator; a black base with silver glitter. I bought this on ASOS with a £10 voucher, and I'm glad I did, but wouldn't pay the full £14.50. As much as I love bright nail polishes, I also love shades like this.

Sally Hansen's Oxide is more of a shimmer than glitter, but it didn't fit into my Rainbow Edition post! This is similar to Creator, but it's more of a gunmetal shade, and the glitter is much finer.

Models Own Ibiza Mix is a mix of green, blue, purple, gold and bronze glitter. Very unique, in my opinion. I used to hate chunkier glitters, thinking they looked tacky, but this looks very pretty on my ring fingers.

Models Own Party Pieces (exclusive to ASOS) is a mix of larger and smaller glitter chunks, and the colours include red, blue, green, purple, gold and silver. It's very fun and goes with most colour nail polishes.

Barry M's Amethyst Glitter is densely packed with blue, purple, pink and gold glitter pieces. I love this with darker blues!

Barry M's Pink Silver Glitter is so, so pretty. The glitter is very fine, so I don't mind wearing this on every nail. Glitter can be very bold, so I love that the colour is subtle to even this out.

Essie's Beyond Cozy is another fine glitter that I like wearing on every nail. Normally, the combination of gold and glitter screams tacky, but this colour is very cool toned, and can sometimes look silver, so I think it works. I wore this for Christmas 2012, and will probably wear it for Christmas 2013, too!

I also love my flakies nail polishes (Nubar 2010 and Gosh Rainbow), but haven't included them in the photo. They're so beautiful, with the flakes changing colour in the light. They look incredible over dark polishes!

What are your favourite glitter nail polishes? Are there any I absolutely have to have?

Superdrug and Fragrance Direct Purchases

At the end of January, I placed a couple of orders with Superdrug and Fragrance Direct. Now, let me just say that a lot of the products above are not for me! Some are for my mum and sister.

All of the nail polishes are from Fragrance Direct. From left to right, you have Sally Hansen Yellow Kitty x2 £1.49 each (one for me, one for my sister), Sally Hansen Himalayan Blue £1.49 (mine), Sally Hansen Oxide £1.49 (mine. I love this shade!), Sally Hansen Fairy Teal £1.49 (mum's), Sally Hansen Cherry Cherry £1.49 (mum's), Sally Hansen Gilded Lily £1.49 (mum's), Sally Hansen Purple Pizzaz 99p (mum's), Rimmel Apricot Punch 99p (sister's), Essie Camera £1.99 (mine).

From Superdrug, I bought the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains in Honey and Crush. I've wanted these colours for a while and they were on offer for £5.99, so thought I may as well. I now have four shades, so will be reviewing and lip swatching soon! The Rimmel Scandal Eyes Waterproof Eyeliner in Nude was £3.99 and is for my mum for Mother's Day, like the rest of her products in this post. She used my one a few days before placing this order and really liked it.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Yesterday, I published a nail polish collection post, so if you would like to have a read of that, just click here.

Nail Polish Collection!

 

Barry M: Clear, Indigo, Raspberry, Coral, Pink Flamingo, Strawberry Ice Cream, Berry Ice Cream, Pink Silver Glitter, Aqua Glitter, Amethyst Glitter, Boots Limited Edition, Gelly Blood Orange, Gelly Prickly Pear, Gelly Pomegranate, Gelly Blueberry

 

Essie: Mademoiselle, A Crewed Interest, Lady Like, Bikini So Teeny, Beyond Cosy, Mod Squad, Lights, Bazooka, Camera, Barry M: Gelly Papaya, Gelly Grapefruit

 

ASOS: Blake, Megan, Olivia, Gwen, Lauren, Lily, Maybelline: Hot Salsa, Nude Rose, GOSH: Holographic, Rainbow, Nubar: Nubar 2010

 

Illamasqua: Creator, Deborah Lippmann: Razzle Dazzle, 17: Sweet Kisses x2, Forever, Ruby Dazzle, Pink Grapefruit, Sally Hansen: Yellow Kitty, Himalayan Blue, Oxide, MUA: Frozen Yoghurt, Shade 5, BK (Glow in the dark nail polishes from eBay): Shade 13, Shade 14

 

Models Own: Nude Beige, Champagne, Disco Heaven, Ibiza Mix, Party Pieces, Mystic Mauve, Beth's Blue, Balearic Blue, Luis Lemon, Beach Party, Fluro' Orange, Hedonist, 3 in 1

 

Models Own Nail Art Pens: Black x2, Gold, Silver, White, China Glaze: Snow, For Audrey, Dance Baby, Make Some Noise, Secret Peri-Wink-Le, Flip Flop Fantasy

OPI: No Room For The Blues, Lucky Lucky Lavender, Shorts Story, Elephantisic Pink, Look Beauty: Beret, Vintage, Flamingo, Dusky, Petticoat

I haven't written a nail polish collection post in years! I've been meaning to for the last few months, but I just kept buying more... oops! Recently, I've only been buying shades I don't have anything similar to though, and I'm trying to slow down on the purchasing because I'm running out of room. For a beauty blogger, I don't think my collection is that big. I think it's bigger than the average girl's though! A lot of the nail polishes above have been featured on Affordable Treats before, so if you would like to see a swatch of one, just type it into the search bar. If I haven't swatched it already and you would like me to, just let me know.

I hope you enjoy your evening!

Essie Camera

Camera natural lighting and camera flash

Phone camera flash

I recently bought Essie's Camera from Fragrance Direct for £1.99. I already owned Lights and Bazooka from the collection, and really wanted to try this one too. Camera is one of those coral shades that can't make its mind up between being red, orange or pink. I think it leans towards red, and the photos above display this. I've included a flash photo from my phone because my phone is better at picking up colours. In the above photos, I have on two coats of the polish, but you can see some visible nail line in certain lights and at certain angles. I think 3-4 coats would make it completely opaque and avoid this. It was easy to apply because of the smooth formula, and the brush is great. The downfall to this polish is how easily it chips. I don't normally mention chipping in my nail posts because polishes last well on me, even without a base and top coat. However, after a day, my thumbs and index nails are incredibly chipped. Not just small chips, either. You can now see more bare nail than polished nail because it's just flaked away. The sheerness and how easily it chips has let this polish down; the colour is beautiful. I'm glad I got to try it, but I wouldn't have been pleased if I paid full price for it!

Barry M's Gelly Blood Orange and Essie's Beyond Cosy

 

Barry M's Gelly Blood Orange

Essie's Beyond Cosy

Once I've painted my nails, I take a couple of photos on my phone and then plan to take 'proper' photos the following day. Well, sometimes a nail chips or my actual camera doesn't pick up the colour well, so I don't bother blogging about it. I was going through my phone earlier though and thought these photos were okay to use. Even though they were taken on my phone with a flash, they're still a good representation of how the polishes look.

I rarely wear red nail polish. In fact, Barry M's Gelly Blood Orange is my first bright red. The only other red shade I have is Barry M's Raspberry, which is definitely not a true red. I like it! I just hope it doesn't stain the hell out of my nails. It was opaque in one coat, but I added another just to be sure.

I wore Essie's Beyond Cosy the week of Christmas. It's so pretty! It's a pale gold which is gold in some lights and silver in others. The glitter is finely milled and opaque in two coats - Win!

I hope you're enjoying January so far. My birthday's on the 20th, so I always like this month. I'm going to be 20 this year! No longer a teenager. Scary stuff.

I also just have one more assignment and a couple of exams to do (I've already completed 2 assignments, an article and a presentation).

Oh, and I bought a new camera today! The Nikon D3100. I'm just waiting for some accessories, including memory cards, to arrive so I can use it.

Have a good evening!

ASOS Treats

Nail polish and socks are my weaknesses. Mugs are too, but that's for another post!

Thanks to yourvine.com, I had a £10 off code for ASOS. My sister also had one and kindly gave it to me (Yay!). With the first code, I ordered Essie Beyond Cosy (£9.95) and some cute Oysho socks (£5.99). With the code, these worked out to be about £3 each. With the second code, I ordered my first Illamasqua product - Creator nail polish (£13.50). I ended up paying just £3.50 for this, with free next day delivery.

I must admit, I wouldn't pay full price for these items (I don't like paying over £6 for a nail polish), but they are incredibly beautiful, so I'm glad I was able to treat myself to them for an affordable price. How gorgeous are the nail polishes?! I don't own any similar shades, so they were completely justified purchases ;) Both of them will be perfect for the Winter. Also, the Illamasqua nail polish came in a box. Fancy indeed!

Nails of the Week: Essie Bikini So Teeny

Natural light

Flash

Another nail polish post! Sick of them? Then don't read them ;)

Essie's Bikini So Teeny is a cornflower blue with tiny specks of silver glitter in (they are barely noticeable on the nails though). The formula is pretty good, taking an average two coats to become opaque. The wide brush made the streaks minimal, but some were still detected on the first coat, like most nail polishes.

If you would like to buy this colour, it is currently available on the Fragrance Direct website for just £1.99. I can't see it being available for long, so hurry!

New Essie Nail Polishes

The other day, I was browsing Fragrance Direct, and thought I'd see if they had any new Essie shades available. I wasn't expecting them to, so was surprised to see that they did! I was also delighted to see that the shades were releases from this year. The shades I bought are Bikini So Teeny, Lights, and Bazooka. The other shades available are also nice, but I already own similar ones. After a quick search, I found a 15% off code (PAYPAL15. I'm not sure if it still works though), so for all three polishes and P&P, I paid £7.06. I can't wait to wear them, especially Bikini so Teeny. It has tiny specks of silver glitter in!

Fragrance Direct Haul - Marc Jacobs, Essie, Maybelline and more

I've been waiting to post about this for about a week, but I kept ordering, so had to keep waiting! Let's jump into things. 

The Maybelline nail polish in Nude Rose was 99p. I've been wanting this polish for months, but always resisted it when in Boots or Superdrug. It retails for about £4, so that's a nice little saving. It also looks better in real life! 

Of course, I had to buy some Essie nail polishes! For £1.99, I just couldn't resist. Everyone is talking about these little bargains, so you can't be surprised to see them. I ordered Mademoiselle, A Crewed Interest, Lady Like and Mod Squad. Mademoiselle and A Crewed Interest have the new thicker brushes. Fragrance Direct also have some Essie base and top coats for £2.50, but I never use them, so passed.

I then ordered the Badger Balm in Ginger and Lemon for £2.50 (Normally £4). It smells delicious!

The last make-up item I ordered was Maybelline's One by One mascara for £3.50. I've repurchased many tubes of this mascara and recently bought one in Superdrug for £8.49! I'm definitely going to check Fragrance Direct before I buy mascara from now on. I was a bit sceptical at first because the font of 'One by One' is slightly different to the ones I've bought in Superdrug, but I've been reassured by the people at Fragrance Direct that it is authentic.

My most recent order from Fragrance Direct included Marc Jacobs Eau So Fresh Eau De Toilette set for £24.95. It contains a 20ml bottle and a 15ml refill (With a funnel). How cute is it?! And it smells good. In three words, I would describe it as light, fresh and citrusy. It's my first designer perfume too.

This brings me on to the perfumes I've ordered today (Thanks to Kate for mentioning them!). Perfume Parlour sells perfumes that are very similar to designer ones, but at affordable prices. I've ordered the Marc Jacobs Daisy dupe spray (£8 for 25ml), the Burberry Body dupe spray (£8 for 25ml), the DKNY Sweet Delicious Tart Key Lime dupe perfume oil (£2.25 for 3ml) and the DKNY Sweet Delicious Creamy Meringue dupe perfume oil (£2.25 for 3ml). I only ordered the 3ml perfume oils of the last two because I've never smelt them before. I was initially sceptical because the website doesn't look the best, but I then read many positive reviews from a forum. I will be writing a post on them when they arrive. My mum has Burberry Body and I have a sample of Marc Jacobs Daisy, so I will be comparing them!

Essie A Crewed Interest

Natural light

Flash

I filed my nails right down last night and wanted a light, fresh colour to accompany them. Essie's A Crewed Interest was my shade of choice. I don't own anything like it and it makes a nice change. It looks similar to Barry M's Peach Melba - A shade I've been tempted to buy for months, but didn't know if it would suit me because of my pale complexion. After applying this, I think pale peaches do suit me!

I bought this nail polish from Fragrance Direct for just £1.99. I also bought a few more, which I will show in a haul post very soon (I'm just waiting for my last order to arrive).