Samantha's Secret | NOTD: World's End

Another day, another nail paint.
I have been searching for a true turqouise for a while, and this leapt out at me: Topshop 'World's End'. After all the fuss over 'Pool Party', it just paled in comparison sitting next to this.

Topshop World's End

 You may be able to see that it's quite messy with bumps all over it; shortly after painting them I went to the cinema to see the new Batman film The Dark Knight. Needless to say, it was a pretty tense 2.5 hours which I spent sitting on my hand holding my breath. Consequently ruining the turquoise. If you haven't seen it, you have to its awesome!!xx

Samantha's Secret | NOTD - Nude Work Nails

The other week I had to work at the Aegon Championships at The Queens Club in Kensington. For those of you who arn't tennis fans, it's a tournament that bridges the gap between the French Open (clay courts) and Wimbledon (grass courts) for male players.

It was a looong tiring week, with a lot of drama. Anyone who was watching may have seen the final in which Nalbandian kicked a board in fury which collapsed and injured a linesman (Who now is incidentally pressing charges for assault, after the player received an £8000 fine and was immediately disqualified.) It was also full of booze, glamour, and celebrity. (Hello Andy Roddick, Holly Valance and Alan Davies - woop). (I ♥ my job...)

GBR Jamie Baker vs FRA Tsonga

Sadly though while I am away with work I'm not allowed to wear nail polish, so my nail of last week was a plain nude with french tips.

These are my own nails, which were in pretty good nick if I do say so myself, (not so much after a 72 hour week at work) and I used Revlon Pink Nude and Rimmel Pro French Manicure in French Ivory.

Quite a boring one I'm afraid but a fun week for me indeed!
Love to you all and new followers who I'd love to chat to. I'm a newbie to Twitter and am just figuring out how it's all done, so I'd love you to follow me and introduce yourself! @S_ammyantha  xxx

NOTD: Essie Tart Deco

Another day, another beautiful Essie shade. It's a shame that a) they are pretty expensive and b) it doesn't make a difference to me because I have a problem with money. (Spending it that is) So I'm sure I will be collecting a few more!!

Tart Deco

It's a really beautiful summery shade, opaque in 2 coats with a pretty fast drying time. I think I've found my favourite nail polish brand! This is also now on my toenails which is pretty much an honour for any polish, lets be honest.

Hope you all have a fantabulous Jubilee bank holiday, I would love to try Union Jack nails but I don't have all the colours and am seriously lacking in patience. Here are some of my favourites: Glossy's tutorial, Sabrina's patriotic glitter nails, and Merle Brown's crown art.

EDIT: Apologies that I first listed this as Cute as a Button - It is actually Tart Deco!!
xx

NOTD: Essie Mint Candy Apple

The weather is sooo beautiful at the moment, I really felt the need for pastel nails. Luckily my Boots is now stocking Essie (yesssss finally!) so I picked up a couple of colours, including todays NOTD:

Mint Candy Apple

Its a gorgeous pastelly mint green, and it doesn't give 'corpse fingers' although I do have a bit of colour at the moment. I know that this is a really raved about shade, but I must say that it is not all that unique and I'm perfectly sure you could find a dupe for much less. I have a Models Own shade knocking about somewhere that is very similar. Having said that, the formulation is really nice to work with, these nails took 2 coats for opacity, and the brush is great (apparently much better than the original Essie polishes). The finish is really glossy and I've had it on 3 days now with a top coat and no tip wear.
(If you can see lines on my nails its where I had Shellac a few months ago in one of those Chinese nail places and they filed a layer off my nails- it's growing out now.)

Hope everyone is enjoying the glorious British weather! I've discovered a lot more blogs in the past week or so and have really enjoyed reading them all so please let me know if you write one also! xx

NOTD: In Style Bluebell

If you are an avid reader of beauty blogs I'm sure you will all know about the great freebies that are coming with magazines across this month and next. I was doing my weekly shop and thought that I should check the magazine stands and picked up InStyle - not one I would normally go for but that had a free Nails Inc nail polish in a lovely colour 'Bluebell'. The mag was £3.80 which is a bit steep for one that I'm not hugely interested in - but a great price if only for the polish! There are 3 shades to collect and all are exclusive to InStyle.

Nails Inc. Bluebell

(I know their not Bluebells - but still cute!!)

I'm now a little ashamed to admit that I've never tried a Nails Inc polish before, I think the high price point puts me off but I can now safely say that I will be buying them in future. The consistency is perfect, creamy and opaque in 1 coat, but 2 for perfection, and the finish is glossy.

There is so much glitter and nail art / jewellery around at the moment that I couldn't help but feel dissatisfied with a plain colour, so I added glitter to my ring fingers and instantly felt that it looked updated.

Look out for freebies in next months magazines - particularly Benefit's Porefessional in June's Glamour!

NOTD - Disco Ball!

My NOTD today is pink with blue and silver glitter. I love how girly and immature they are, they make me smile every time I look at them!

Nail Polishes used:

Sally Hansen - Hard as Nails - x 1 coats
Models Own - Pastel Pink - x 2 coats
Rimmel Lasting Finish - Disco Ball - x 2 coats

These nails made me want to have be pastelly and spring-like today so I wore them with my new pink purse and this pastel blue knit from Topshop!

Follow me if you enjoy beauty posts and let me know about your blogs also :)
xx

Ciate Caviar - Fake It!

There has been so much hype recently surrounding the Ciate Caviar Nails and personally I think its just one of those rubbishy fads ... its not going to be something we all religiously do throughout the year is it - very unlikely. But they are pretty and a cool idea and after seeing Fleur de Force review the Ciate ones i had a look. They are horrendously expensive and mostly sold out. So I decided to have a go - DIY style.

My new ELF nail polish in Lilac, and Petit glass beads

Instead of going for an all over nail look I thought I would try to make it more wearable, and make tiny crosses on my ring finger.
Just apply 2 coats of nail varnish as usual, then when dry apply a coat in the shape you want the beads to be. Let it dry until its tacky then sprinkle beads over, push into shape and leave to dry.

They are SO impractical but really pretty and different. The beads I used are far too big, you need micro beads really about the size of hundreds and thousands. (hmmm ... maybe I could try those?!) But instead of £18 this cost me £1.60.

Has anyone else tryed DIY Caviar? I'd love to see some other attempts.
Please follow guys !! xx