My OPI Collection

OPI is by far, my absolute favourite nail polish brand! I'm so excited to share with you the colours I have in my slowly growing collection :)

From left to right:

• Lights of Emerald City
• Goldeneye
• Just Spotted the Lizard
• Austin-tatious Turquoise
• You're Such a Budapest
• Significant Other Colour
• An Affair in Red Square

The first OPI nail polish I ever bought was Just Spotted the Lizard. I got a mani-pedi and it was the colour I chose on a whim and I completely fell in love. It was fate! After having it on a couple of days I decided to buy it, I marched into Myer and I found it instantly without even knowing the colour's name. In the bottle it looks half gold, a quarter green and a quarter blue but when you apply it on the nail, it comes out gold although you can see the greenish-blue tints in different lights. After applying it myself, I realised just how quickly it dries, it's amazing. I highly recommend this to everyone. To this day it is still my favourite in my collection.

Next up I bought Goldeneye and An Affair in Red Square and these colours did not disappoint. Both are great colours and are completely opaque after two coats and applied smoothly and perfectly. These ones also dried just as quick. This is when I completely fell in love with OPI.

Austin-tatious Turquoise was my next purchase. In the bottle the colour is so beautiful but after applying it, I wasn't so impressed. The formula is quite thin and it took me four coats for it to be opaque. FOUR COATS? WUTTTTT! It really didn't live up to OPI's standards. I'm not sure if I just got a dud one or not but I was not happy JAN.

On the same day I bought Significant Other Colour and I thought it was great. It's this pretty pale, metallic pink colour with hints of green-ish pearl. Sounds weird but it's soooo pretty, I love it.

You're Such a Budapest is a gorgeous lavender colour from the European Centrale collection. I didn't have a colour like this in my overall nail polish collection so I thought I'd give it a try. The formula is quite watery but after 2 GOOD coats(3 if you tend to apply thinner coats) you should be ready to go. I love that this colour looks as though it's a solid colour but upon further inspection you can see little bits of silver shimmer that make your nails look shiny even without a top coat.

Last, but not least, is Lights of Emerald City and let's just say that this is definitely competing with Just Spotted the Lizard as far as my favourite OPI nail polish goes. It is actually a clear nail polish but it has large, square pieces of white glitter along with smaller pieces of clear, iridescent glitter. Personally, I think it looks great on it's own or over the top of another colour. Even though I love this nail polish, it can be quite tricky to apply because of the large pieces of glitter and it also takes a little longer than normal to dry.  

Well that brings us to an end and now all I want to do is go buy more. LOL

What's your favourite nail polish? Let me know in the comments below :)

xx

Sukin 'Skincare that doesn't cost the Earth'

Every week I like to go to my local Chemist Warehouse and have a little browse and see what products it has to offer. I had come across Sukin before but never decided to look further into it as I generally go for products that promise to reduce blemishes and spots etc. The whole range was 30% off and I did go kinda crazy but I thought it's all or nothing. Here's what I picked up.

The first thing to catch my eye was the Hydrating Mist Toner, it says that it 'combines chamomile and rosewater to soothe and tone the skin'. I've been having a lot of redness on my face lately and the soothing description drew me in. When I tested it in the shop the smell was amazing, not too overwhelming like some products can be and even though it contains rosewater it doesn't give off that old person, potpourri smell, EW. I've now been using it for two weeks and i can see a dramatic difference in my complexion and it has also reduced the little bits of acne on my forehead. AH-MAZEBALLS!

After smelling the toner I thought why not look at the cleansers and facial scrubs as I was almost out of the ones that I was using.

The Revitalising Facial Scrub was a winner! It 'combines bamboo and ground walnut shells to gently exfoliate, with aloe vera, rose hip and chamomile to soothe skin' There's that 'soothe' word again! GOSH! When I first used it, it was a change because I'm used to scrubs that almost feel like sandpaper but this one is totally different, it's a much more subtle exfoliant but i do feel as though it gets the job done and it smells gorgeous too!

My face has been super sensitive lately and having constant spaz outs so I decided to purchase the Sensitive Cleansing Gel as I didn't want to do anything to cause my skin to have any more tantrums. 'Green tea and chamomile with a blend of cucumber and avocado oil to gently clease and purify the skin'. Switching from my Neutrogena 'Deep Clean' cleanser, I have noticed quite a difference. A lot of the redness has seemed to go down and I haven't been having as many breakouts. Cucumber has a definite cooling effect and the avocado oil gives you that little extra moisturiser boost.

Again I went for the Sensitive Facial Moisturiser. It has an almost nutty scent which is again really nicely subtle. I love the fact that it's not greasy as I have a very oily T-zone but at the same time it's very moisturising and soaks straight into the skin. Even though these products are quite inexpensive, they feel quite luxurious, especially this moisturiser. Well done Sukin!

Continuing on with being quite overboard in purchasing all these products, I also got the Hand and Nail Cream. It 'combines hydrolysed soy protein to strengthen nails and cuticles with aloe vera and vitamin E to soothe and soften hands'. Smelling this product, I couldn't quite put my finger on the scent, after reading the ingredients, I discovered that it's lavender and mandarin. To me, that sounds like the weirdest combination ever but it smells sooooooo nice. My hands are now soft, like a baby's bum WOOHOO! 

Last, but not least is the Nourishing Lip Treatment.

I have found myself practically eating this as it tastes so god damn good. It has a lip gloss-type formulation, very different from your usual balms designed to moisturise lips. 'Enriched with calendula and jojoba oils to help soothe, combined with cocoa and shea butters to instantly hydrate lips'. I usually apply this just before i go to sleep and night so it can sink in and moisturise my lips for the morning. Personally, I hate that lip gloss consistency and that's why i choose not to use it during the day. When i wake up I've found that my lips are moisturised and any sign of dryness are lightyears away. (Gosh I'm lame!)

I know I mentioned this in my last post but I'm going to say it again, I'm really not an environmentally conscious consumer but I do love the fact that when I use these products I know that no animals have been harmed in the process and that no nasty chemicals have been used, it gives me a peace of mind and makes me more motivated to check what goes into making a certain product. With that said I'm not going to strictly use natural products but I'm going to try to, where possible.

xx