Desires and Deals #2

I hope you are having a fab weekend.  Here are some new releases and deals that have caught my eye this week.

Desires

OPI - Teal The Cows Come Home, £11, Lena White

As part of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, OPI have produced a polish in a gorgeous teal shade, of which £1 from every purchase will be donated to Ovacome, the Ovarian Cancer Support Network.  Members of my family have been affected by this disease, and it is the fifth most common cancer amongst woman.  This looks like a lovely shade, and I always find OPI shades a dream to work with.

Rimmel 1000 Kisses Lip Tint, £6.99, Boots

Available in 6 different shades, this offering from Rimmel includes a felt tip applicator to impart colour and an accompanying balm.  These are supposed to be transfer-proof and long lasting, which leaves me to wonder if they may be perhaps a little drying.  They look similar to Max Factor's Lipfinity lip products but I haven't yet heard much about them.  I've generally had more luck with Rimmel's glosses than their lipsticks though.

Kevin Aucoin Eye Shadow Metal, £22, Space NK

Kevin Aucoin products have only just become available in the UK and are currently available exclusively at Space NK.  There are several of the shades I want to try out but I am particularly interested in Patina and Copper. 

Deals

Harvey Nichols Gift With Purchase, spend £110 in store

You may already be aware of this, but Harvey Nichols are giving away a huge selection of products if you spend £110 in store in their beauty halls.  This sounds like a lot to spend but you could split the products with a friend to make it more affordable, as there are a great selection of luxury brands included in the free gift, such as Butter London, YSL and Clarins.

Moroccanoil Moisture Repair Shampoo and Conditioner, £18.25/£19.65, Look Fantastic

Look Fantastic currently have a great deal on where you can get 40% off the supersize 500ml bottles of their shampoo and conditioner.  It is still quite pricey but you get half a litre of product which will last ages. 

Urban Decay 10% Off - HQ Hair

If you were looking to buy anything from Urban Decay, you can get 10% off at HQ Hair with the code UD10 until midnight Sunday 11th March.  This includes both the Naked and Naked 2 palettes.  

Victoria 

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Review follow up: Nails Inc 3 Week Manicure

Prior to going on holiday, I booked myself in for a Nails Inc 3 week manicure, which I reviewed before I went away.  Last week, I went to have it removed and I thought I would show you a couple of picture of the growth over the 3 weeks and how my nails looked after it.

Nails Inc claim that their manicure lasts for 3 weeks, however as you can see from the photo above, there was a substantial amount of growth, although my nails do grow very quickly.  There was no chipping or discolouration present and aside from the growth, they seemed fine and it was much easier than having to paint them every few days when I was away.

Removal was fairly straightforward, with the tin foil method used whilst I had a glass of champagne or two (hic!).  A nail stick and file was used to remove the particularly stubborn sections of gel polish and the whole process took just under half an hour. 

I know my nails don't look their best here but I was pleasantly surprised at how strong and healthy they felt after having the gel on them for 3 weeks.  There were some marks left where the polish was difficult to remove but in general the nails themselves felt fairly healthy and I have not experienced any peeling or brittleness which I often suffer with. 

Verdict

The removal itself is fairly basic and something you could do yourself easily.  I opted to have it done in store mainly as I get intensely frustrated at removing glitter polishes, and removing this myself would fill me with rage!  I was also a little wary of damaging my nails and felt that paying for removal on the odd occasion was worth it.  The price for removal however is way too high and I would suggest that this is mainly for the 'free' champagne.  As a one off for a special occasion I would recommend the manicure, although for regular manicures, you could easily find a local salon who offer similar products, such as Shellac, for much cheaper, albeit with less champagne!

3/5

Price - £20

Where to buy - Harvey Nichols, Some Debenhams stores

Review: Nails Inc 3 week manicure

From Elle.co.uk

I don’t often get my nails done professionally as I tend to prefer to do them myself, despite being not that great at it.  However for special occasions such as weddings and holidays, I do like to pamper myself and now that Long Lasting Gel Manicures are widely available, these are my manicure of choice.

I first tried the Nail’s Inc Champagne Nail Bar at Harvey Nichols when I was given a gift voucher for it and consequently, had no idea how much it cost!  I also chose to have a 3 Week Manicure for my wedding as I knew I would chip or smudge my polish if I had a regular manicure.  As I am going on holiday for a couple of weeks, I wanted to have my nails done properly so that I didn’t have to worry about touching up the polish or changing it whilst I was away.  I always wear nail polish and I very rarely have no polish on my fingernails, so  the sound of having perfect nails for a few weeks sounded fantastic!

The Nails Inc Bar at Harvey Nichols is situated slap bang in the middle of the Beauty Hall and it isn’t really the most relaxing place for a spot of pampering.  However it is a champagne bar and therefore champagne is part of the experience so a glass or two does help to relax you a little.  If you prefer, they also have water or orange juice but really, when Champagne is on offer, what are you going to choose?!!

The manicure begins as usual with any residue polish being removed and your cuticles and nails being tidied and shaped.  I have quite short nails through choice as otherwise the click of them on the keyboard drives me mad  - I have no idea how anyone manages to do anything when they have long nails!  A base coat is then applied and then the gel is applied.  3 coats are required and after each hand and coat is completed it is put under a UV lamp to set.  A topcoat is applied and set and then you are ready to go with no worries about sitting around for hours waiting for your nails to dry.  It was a revelation the first time I tried it!

I went for this gorgeous metalic purple colour, The Mall, which is also available to buy as a regular polish.  They have a good range of colours in the Nails Inc range which is why I tend to prefer them to simlar products such as Gellish and Shellac whose ranges I find are rather limited in colour, but fine if you just want a normal red or pink.  Nails Inc do, the whole spectrum from green, blue, nude to a lovely ‘Rouge Noir’ type colour which I have had before and which looks very polished and professional. 

The manicure lasts about an hour, which is a good amount of time to manage a couple of glasses of champagne.  I went with my bridesmaids the day before my wedding and as they were having regular, non-gel manicures, they had to sit in the ‘drying area’ drinking champagne for quite some time and between us we managed to finish off 2 bottles!  Well it was my wedding weekend!

Verdict

Although not a particularly relaxing experience, it is much better than a regular manicure and did I mention the price includes champagne?!  It is, however, not cheap and not something I cold afford on a regular basis, although I think they do a loyalty card  which gives you a manicure free if you go regularly and you also get free soak offs which are usually £20.  For a one off every so often, or a special occasion it is worth shelling out for and it would make a good gift, as you can buy vouchers on the Nail’s Inc website.   

4/5

Price - £65 - ouch!

Where to purchase – Harvey Nichols, Some Debenhams stores