Essence Bloom Me Up Nail Polish Collection - Review & Giveaway!

Essence are a European brand that we UK nail girls can now get on home soil (can I get a hallelujah!). However there are still a huge amount of Essence products we do not get a sniff at, namely the capsule collections which of course are the most appealing. Their Cinderella collection did not hit UK shores and no matter where I looked I couldn't find a company online willing to send it to the UK (thanks Royal Mail).

Luckily by chance I came across the Bloom Me Up collection while I was browsing around and picked up 2 complete nail collections, 1 for me and 1 for you to try and win. This was a spring release last year but it is still beautiful and goes a way toward making up for the fact I couldn't get the Cinderella collection.

Back to the collection, it contains 4 polishes; 2 cremes / 2 shimmers and some nail lace tip stickers.

Essence Bloom Me Up Nail Collection

Blow My Mint is a gorgeous bright pastel mint green creme with a hint of sage. I used 3 coats and topcoat for the swatches below.

Essence Bloom Me Up Blow My Mint

Essence Bloom Me Up Blow My Mint

Lovely Lavender is just as the name suggest, a soft lavender with a silver shimmer. I used 3 coats and topcoat for the swatches.

Essence Bloom Me Up Lovely Lavendar

Essence Bloom Me Up Lovely Lavendar

Blooming Tender is a gentle orange polish with a silver shimmer. I used 3 coats with topcoat.

Essence Bloom Me Up Blooming Tender

Essence Bloom Me Up Blooming Tender

Chaising Lacy is a watermelony-strawberry pink (does that make sense?). I used 2 coats with topcoat for the pictures.

Essence Bloom Me Up Chaising Lacy

Essence Bloom Me Up Chaising Lacy

The nail lace tips look beautiful, there are 28 pieces in 7 different sizes. You can of course use them as a tip if you have round or squoval nails, or you could use them to create a lacy half moon mani. I am sure there are loads of ways these could be used, I just can't think of any more right now.

So how do you win these 4 polishes and nail stickers ... read the rules and then enter through the rafflecopter widget.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow me on Bloglovin' here

On a last note - why do Essence insist on changing their bottle shape all the time? I love the uniformity of the same shape bottle per brand. So many brands are recognisable from their bottle shape (OPI, Butter London etc), not Essence, it likes to throw itself around and has a bit of action in all the bottle shapes.

Giveaway Rules

The closing date is Friday 16th April 2015 at 00:00.

One (1) winner will win the 4 Essence nail polishes and 1 pack of nail lace tips.

Open to UK residents aged 16 or over.

All entrances MUST be following The Polish List on Bloglovin.

Entrances can gain extra entries by following the other options offered through Rafflecopter.

The winner will be chosen at random from all correct entries and informed via email within 24 hours of the closing time.

The winner must respond within 72 hours to claim their prize. 

Do not post on competition sites or forums.

No competition accounts/profiles - these will be disqualified.

Prize not for resale.

Jeans and fur.

Some fur scarf up here for the last time probably! I mean because the weather is warmer now. Gonna rock it in November again I hope. And my new fur jacket also. I am so in love with it, gotta take some photos of it asap.

I never thought I say this but I became obsessed with working out. Do you know that feeling? You just have to do it every day. No I started to eat more properly for muscle mass, but nothing major. This sh*t is expensive, man! :)

Jeans, fur scarf- Asos, jacket- Zara, watch- Komono

Love,

Kat

Bloglovin' - 5 Reasons You Should Be Using This App

Today I'm going to tell you about the new app I am loving at the minute, if you follow me on Instagram you'll be sick to death of me going on and on about it. It's called Bloglovin' and its all kinds of amazing (think finding a £50 on the street kind of amazing). Anyone who has a blog will know of this website/app and so will others, but some of you wont (not anymore) and its you mainly addressing.

Bloglovin' app

Basically, Bloglovin' is a site that allows you to have access to all the posts from the blogs you love and follow in one place.

Back in the day I had a folder in my favourites bookmark section that was just for blogs. There was even folders within that main blog folder for different genres of blogs (I like to keep things very organised). I would spend ages clicking on each blog link individually to see if there was anything new for me to look at. It would take ages and consequently I never really looked at blogs on a regular basis (ain't no one got time for that).

Bloglovin' has revolutionised the way we follow bloggers and read their posts. Here are my top 5 reasons you should be using this app!

1. You can search for blogs you love by blog title & also by category and be following them with a single click (there isn't a nail section ... yet.

Bloglovin' search facility

Bloglovin' Categories

2. You can see all the new content from your fave bloggers on your own personalised news reel in seconds. This means you can read or skip content depending on whether the title grabs you.

My Bloglovin' feed

3. Similar blogs get recommended to you when you follow a blog (or you can click the 'similar blog' button when on a blog) so you can find more of the type of posts you love to read.

Bloglovin' Dahlia Nails blog page - similar blogs in right hand corner

Bloglovin' similar blogs to Dahlia Nails

4. In a similar style to Pinterest, you can create your own folders/collections and save/organise any blog posts you come across that you want easy access to at a later date. This is fab for keeping handy those beauty product reviews, nail tutorials or cake recipes ... because we all need more Mac lipstick and Oreo Cheesecake ... am I right?!

Bloglovin' categories features

5. You can browse popular blog posts  for any category even if you're not following that blog. This is great for finding new bloggers to follow or just having a quick browse at something different while you're soaking in the bath. I've found the most amazing advice, travel hints and pizza bread tear and share recipe by using this feature. 

Bloglovin' popular posts feature

Have I convinced you to go login and create an account or download this amazing app?

If not, maybe this will sweeten the deal; I am holding a competition to win the Essence Bloom Me Up collection that will be featured on my blog later today, however you need to follow me on Bloglovin' (CLICK HERE) to enter ... yup I knew you'd change your mind.

So go go go, I honestly haven't looked back, there are so many amazing bloggers out there and I love being able to keep up to date with all their posts. I look forward to seeing you there xx

PS don't forget to follow me! (Here)

PPS like all apps it has it's buggy bits but Bloglovin' are always around on Twitter to hear feedback and improvement suggestions, a first for me with apps!

Snowglobenail Insipred Rainbow Geometric Nails with Leopard Print using Barry M

Sometimes you see a mani pop up on your Instagram feed and fall in love, like deeply can't stop thinking about it nail love. I tend to love everything that people do, but this mani went beyond that, so much so that I could not stop thinking about it and knew it had to be put onto my nails.

Snowglobe Nails has been an IG nail artist I have been following from the start, her work is amazing and I often wish I had her artistic flair and creativity. Megan first created this mani 32 weeks ago and then 2 weeks ago Decorated Digits did a mani swap with her and used this design (who can blame her). It was then I decided to have it on my nails asap.

Image Credit @Snowglobenails, her blog is here.

Image Credit @Decorateddigits

I ended up using all Barry M nail paints, they're usually my go to colours as I know them so well and have most of the colours.

I used:

• Baby Pink
• Shocking Pink
• Block Orange
• Boots Limited Edition Summer 2013
• Bright Purple
• Colbolt Blue
• Turquoise
• Spring Green

I painted my nails white as the base colour and worked from there. I did sketch out the design (the colour blocks) using a very pale grey acrylic paint to begin with and then painted on top using the polishes and a thin striping brush.

Here is the finished result and I am loving it. I can't stop staring at my nails. They are not as neat or beautiful as the other ladies work and I did change a few areas to fit in better with my design but considering I never thought I could create anything even remotely similar, I am very very happy.

Rainbow Geometric Leopard print nails using Barry M nail paints

Rainbow Geometric Leopard print nails using Barry M nail paints

You can buy Barry M nail paints online from BarryM.com, Superdrug and Boots from £2.99. What do you think of these nails?

Mix.

Can you believe that it was actually snowing today? Haha! Anyway, I have been home in Slo for almost a week now and I had sooo much to do for college and stuff, insane. Yesterday I saw a Slovenian musical, a sad love story and it was actually hard to keep the tears from flowing. At the end I noticed all the women had their tissues in their hands, haha. I bet the men were crying on the inside like all winners do.

Anyway, check out my new OASAP coat, how cool is it?! 

Shirt- Zara, jeans- H&M, coat- OASAP (here)

Love,

Kat

My Top 8 Perfect Polishes For Easter

Happy Easter Saturday everyone, I know technically it's not Easter until tomorrow but I like to extend the chocolate eating over 2 days ... yes, I'm very greedy. I've had some mini eggs and milkybar eggs today and still have an awful lot of chocolate to get through.

I heard on the news that the average child would get £56 of Easter presents (mostly choc) and consume 8000 calories over the weekend, I mean bloody hell! I used to get about 3 eggs when I was younger and was made to melt most down to make rice crispy cakes.

Anyway, my present of choice these days (for any occasion) is polish. I didn't sew the seed early enough to get polish for Easter (I think my boyfriend only got my chocolate egg today) but I have already started my birthday polish list. Easter is synonymous with pastels and although I love them, I have tried to pick colours that aren't typically pastel and included some brighter shades. I have included past and present shades from the UK High Street only so that should there be something you like, you can go and buy it.

Rimmel always release stunning spring collections. The 2 Rimmel colours I have picked are from last years Sweetie Crush range (review post here). Fizzy Applelicious and Violet Swizzle are beautifully subtle and have a slightly textured finish which reminds me of the foil wrappers most eggs come wrapped in.

Rimmel Sweeti Crush Fizzy Applelicious

Rimmel Sweetie Crush Violet Swizzle

Models Own 2014 Speckled Eggs range (review post here) had to be one of my most fave spring collections  ... ever. It is so perfect for Easter that I had to include 2 of the polishes in this list. Magpie and Dove are both beautiful, I really wish we could buy normal eggs in these colours, it would really brighten up my baking. 

Models Own Speckled Eggs Magpie

Models Own Speckled Eggs Dove

Gosh's spring collection this year (review post here) contained this gem of a polish called Sunkissed. I know most people wouldn't consider it for Spring let alone Easter, but I love it.

Gosh Spring 2015 Sunkissed

Collection have a massive range of polish and although their Spring 2015 collection Field Day (review post here) is gorgeous, I had to include this stunning blue polish instead called Baby Blue. I urge you all to go and buy it, the formula on Collection polishes is brilliant and this one borders on perfect.

Collection Cosmetics Baby Blue

What polish list completed by me would be complete without the mention of at least 1 Barry M nail paint. I chose 2, the beautiful Kiss Me Quick from their 2015 Spring collection called Speedy (review post here) and Station Road from their 2013 Spring Textured collection (review post here). I love Kiss Me Quick, it's the most perfect soft pink shade which has a cool undertone rather than the warm one of most pinks. Station Road is a beautiful polish and the textured finish reminds me of little chick fur.

Barry M Speedy Quick Dry Kiss Me Quick

Barry M Spring Textured Station Road

Most of the polishes can be bought from Superdrug or Boots from £1.99 to £3.99 each.

So what are you fave polishes for Easter? I hope you all have a lovely day and eat loads of yummy food.

Removing Facial Hair for Women of Color

Hair Removal can be a tricky thing, especially facial hair removal for black women. There are alot of hair removal products out there, but none designed for black women.... there may be a few posers who say their products are for all hair and skin types, but they're lying, lol-- you people can't fool us. Anyway, I digress....

One of my close friends gets hairs on her neck, a few on her chin, and she has semi-thick sideburns. She's absolutely gorgeous, but she really hates the extra hairs, she's always like "why me!?!" lol. She found out that she got the neck/chin hair issue from her grandmother (though her mom and aunt have absolutely no hair on their face or legs for that matter-- crazy huh, lol) and she got the sideburns from her dad who has a full very think beard even in his old age. Very unlucky stuff.

When she was younger she would just shave the hair on her neck-- bad decision because more hair ended up growing back and it was thicker. She didn't know what else to do so she kept this up. After a few years, she stopped shaving and began using the mini-scissors you find in a manicure set to cut her hairs. She's tried self-waxing, but it didn't always work sufficiently and she's tried Nair, but it burned her skin, so for the past 5-6 years she's just been using the mini-scissors with the occasional shaving (maybe once a year, though she knows it is very bad).

She's fed up with the arduous and consuming task of sitting in front of the mirror with tiny scissors clipping her hairs, she doesn't want to have to spend $20 weekly at the salon to get the hair removed, and she doesn't have the funds to get it surgically removed yet (laser hair removal)... so we've discussed some things, researched some things, and have came up with some possible solutions that she will be trying over the next few weeks-- and I'll report back with the verdict.

Just in case some of you want to follow along and try too, here's what we're going to purchase:

1. Facial Hair Removal Threading Tool

Alot of women are swearing by this little gadget, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that works. The price is slim and it was featured in Oprah Magazine.

R.E.M Spring Facial Hair Removal Tool

other versions of the same tool:

- Bellabe Hair Removal Tool

- Epicare Hair Removal Tool

- Facial Hair Threading Tool

2. Brazilian Bikini Wax Kit

I don't know what it is, but alot of women with thick dark curly/coarse body hair recommend using brazilian wax kits for facial hair. I'm thinking these may work well because Brazilian waxing kit would be designed for the most sensitive area or your body-- which is, well, down there so it should definitely work on your face.

Gigi Brazilian Bikini Wax Microwave Kit

Surgi-Wax Brazilian Waxing Kit

3. Creme Hair Removers

There are many types of creme hair removers, but she has only used Nair. So we'll have a stab at using Surgi-Creme Hair Remover for Face. There's a lot of youtubers swearing by it, though some say it may burn a bit.

4. Epilator

Epilators are basically mega tweezers. It's a both of little tweezers in a row and mimics the look of a shaver. My friend who will be using all these products, I will probably use them to, is not a tweezer-- neither am I. And from the reviews of most epilators, they are quite painful two tweezing virgins. The key to epilating is getting one that really does work and the Braun 5270 Silk-épil X'elle Body System Epilator has gotten quite a few great reviews.

Remove dark spots from shaving/tweezing/waxing/bumps:

I'm always against any type of skin-lightening agent, dark skin is absolutely gorgeous and is literally made for the sun meaning it was made for God and in his exact image. But I know that if you have dark scars or dark bumps then you will want to remove them. Alot of women and men from different ethnicities say that Ambi's Fade Creme really does just lighten your dark spots. So removing unwanted hairs from your neck or face then try using Ambi Skincare Fade Creme to clear up the dark spots that you may have acquired overtime.

Check out all the items Here.

So we'll be ordering a few of these products today and will come back with reviews soon. Feel free to try them out as well and leave reviews.