Summer Fashion: Topshop Dresses

Top row: Heart Mesh Flippy Dress (£48), Blossom Print Dip Hem Dress(£46), Dip Dye Ruffle Prom by Dress Up Topshop (£75).
Bottom row: Check Floral Lattice Sun Dress (£36), Spot Print Dress by Rare (£36), Heart Back Rib Prom Dress (£55). 

Just a quick post to share with you some of the gorgeous Topshop dresses I have been lusting over this summer. It's really quite unfair for them to have so many that I can't afford! As you can see I'm really linking pinks and reds this season and I'm really loving all of the super feminine cuts that are around at present.   

Which of these dresses is your favourite? What styles and colours will you be wearing this summer? Let me know!

Emma

xoxo

Rockabilly Nails

Since summer here in the UK has been quite frankly appalling so far, I decided to cheer up my nails with some cute polka dot nail art. Lately I've been taking a lot of hair and fashion inspiration  from the rockabilly style so I decided to continue this theme with my nails too. I've been loving everything from cute, summery swing dresses and hair wraps to the animated influences of Betty Boop and Minnie Mouse. If red is not your colour, try to stick to a nautical colour palette if you want to create the rockabilly look (think black, blues, whites, gold). 

Photos sourced from Wehearit.com

The nail design was quick and easy to create, using only 3 products and took about 15 minutes from start to finish including drying times. Opting for a fast drying nail varnish may speed this process up even more!

Firstly, I applied a coat of red nail polish. I used the colour 'Mistress'  from the Ciate Paint Pot range as it is a bright, vibrant red and only takes one coat  to create a solid, opaque effect.

After the polish dried I used a white nail art pen to create the polka dot effect. These pens can be quite pricey if bought on the high street (from brands such as Rio) , but Ebay is a goldmine for affordable unbranded nail art supplies that work just as well thanks to the current popularity of it in Eastern Asia. I purchased a set of 24 different colours including glitter colours for around £6!  was very pleased with this purchase as I received a good  selection of colours, all working, which is very often an issue when buying nail art pens as they are prone to dry up if not sealed correctly. The only downfall to this is that you can wait quite a while for your items to arrive in the post. 

Most nail art pens have both a thin nib and a fine brush. I used the nib as it was much simpler to create even dots and a lot less messy too! When  creating the polka dot design it is important to draw the lines of dots diagonally or in a checkerboard formation. You don't have to use a white pen to create this look, black or navy look really nice too. After the dots had dried I topped my nails off with a coat of clear nail polish from Natural Collection. This prevents the dots from peeling away from the red polish and gives a lovely glossy finish. Alternatively, a coat of clear glitter polish looks really nice too.

L-R: White nail art pen, Ciate Paint Pot in 'Mistress',
Natural Collection Nail Colour in 'Crystal Clear'.

I love polka dot nails as I always try to go for something a little more than a solid colour on my fingers, but as I'm no artist I need something quick and simple to create (I'd love to be one of those people who can create masterpieces on their fingernails but unfortunately I have not been blessed with the skill!). It's foolproof and I even managed to create the look quite neatly on my writing hand too. 


Here are some more ideas for polka dot nails:

• Pastels with white dots
• White with black dots
• Black with white dots
• Red with black dots (my friend created ladybird nails using this technique and drew a vertical line down the middle to create the wing effect. 
• Brights with silver dots
• Green with multicoloured dots (to create a Christmas tree effect around that time of year!)

Have you created any nail designs recently? If so, tell me about them in the comments or post a link if you have a picture online! Do you think you will create this look on your nails? Let me know 


Emma xoxo

Review: Fashionista Double Take Baked Eyeshadows and Palette

Recently, whilst browsing the Superdrug website (whilst avoiding my everlasting list of uni work, no doubt) I came across the brand Fashionista, a name which I had not previously heard of. Marvelled by the pretty, swirly baked eyeshadows I made a mental note that this was something I must investigate further the next time I was in Superdrug. However this was not so easy, after searching high and low through both of the Superdrug stores in my university city and then again around the shop in my hometown, I was unable to find any Fashionista products. I had almost given up on the idea entirely when I came across the Fashionista stand in the Bullring Superdrug on a spontaneous shopping trip to Birmingham.

Again, it was the baked eyeshadows that stood out to me most; however I was intrigued by the Saturday’s magnetic nail varnish range. If anybody has reviewed these, please link me to your post in a comment! The eyeshadows cost £4 each and were on a buy one get one free offer so I purchased four along with one of the £5 Fashionista quad palettes. The palettes hold any of the Fashionista eyeshadows or blushes so you can mix and match products and are available in red or black. They also contain a really good sized mirror so I will definitely be keeping mine in my bag. 

The eyeshadows themselves are of really good quality with a nice amount of shimmer to them. They apply really well with either a brush or finger and blend nicely with each other. The colours I bought were:

Clockwise (from top left) : Cosmic, Bella, Bewitched, Goldrush.

Cosmic- a dark grey colour with pink flecks and silver shimmer. Good for creating a smoky eye with a bit of a festive twist. Compliments all the other colours in the palette.

Bella- a lovely barely-there cream colour with gold flecks and lots of shimmer. Looks really nice applied to the inner corners of the eye and the brow bone as a highlighter.

Bewitched- a multitude of purple tones and silver shimmer. Perfect for a night out or lining the bottom lashes for a pop of colour during the day.

Goldrush- a beautiful chocolate brown with gold shimmer running through it. This colour really compliments blue eyes well but it would look lovely with any eye colour.

Overall, I think these eyeshadows are definitely a worthwhile investment. Although they may seem a little pricey in comparison to their Sleek palette neighbours, the quality definitely makes up for it and having the ability to customise the palette to suit you means you won’t end up with any colours you don’t use.

So far, I’m definitely a fan of Fashionista and can’t wait to try out some of their other products, starting with a blush compact! Have you tried out any of the Fashionista products? What are your thoughts?

Emma xoxo

China Glaze Craze?

I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about China Glaze nail polishes recently and have been dying to try them out for myself since I first discovered them. Having tried other higher end nail polish brands such as OPI and not been overly impressed (I find they need a lot of coats to build up a solid colour), I decided to continue my quest to find the perfect polish. Little did I know it is no mean feat to find China Glaze in UK stores and I was just about ready to pay a bomb on Ebay to have them shipped in from abroad when I discovered them readily available in a shop in my own town, Sally’s, to be precise. As I’m sure most of you already know, Sally’s is a supply shop for professionals in the hair and beauty industry so it had completely slipped my mind to check there as it’s not a place I usually shop.

The choice of colours in stock was limited, but I was instantly drawn to the creamy, hot pink shade ‘Sexy Lady’ (no. 660). I’m quite the fan of brighter nail varnish shades and noticing the pink breast cancer ribbon on the bottle I was sold and bought it straight away! At £6.49, China Glaze Nail Lacquer costs about the same as the higher price range drugstore brands do, but considerably less than OPI which retails online at Asos for £10.50 a bottle.

After further research into the breast cancer ribbon on the bottle, I discovered that ‘Sexy Lady’ was part of a collection which was released a couple of years ago called “One in Three” along with two other pink polishes; ‘Diva Bride’ and ‘Exceptionally Gifted’. The collection was released to promote breast cancer awareness, although I was unable to find out if any of the proceeds from the sale are donated to the charity (I do hope so!).

When applying, I found the polish to have a nice consistency; not to thin and runny and not too thick and gloopy, with a nice long brush. On application, the polish created an almost opaque finish on the first coat and when topped off with a very thin second coat the colour was completely solid. The colour itself looked the same once applied as it did and the bottle, a glossy, creamy hot pink and I was very impressed to finally find a nice bright pink polish without it being garishly fluorescent like many bright polishes are.

Overall, I was very happy with my purchase and would definitely recommend China Glaze to anyone who hasn’t tried it yet. I think I’ve definitely bought into the China Glaze craze and I will be definitely making another trip to Sally’s very, very soon.

Thankyou so much for reading my first post! I hope to be adding a lot more reviews and such soon and in the meantime please feel free to comment with any ideas you have :)

Emma xoxo

(P.S. Please excuse the quality of the pictures- I’m working on it!)