Spring glamour

By Sarah Redman

I have been experimenting with nail polish skills again. Surprise, surprise.

This time I have gone with a subtle lilac hue from Ciate: Sugar Plum. I gave my usual manicure a little twist with glitter tips in Confetti, also from Ciate. I loved this look, its simple yet adds a bit of party glamour to your every day spring nails. The glitter also goes rather well with my ring. Bonus.

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I am always looking for new ways to experiment with my nails and think I have found my next favourite thing…

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I have seen Ciate’s cuticle tattoos floating around social media and various blogs recently and they popped up on my Instagram feed the other day. Elle magazine’s post is in agreement with me, now I just need to save up and buy them. Weirdly enough cuticle tattoos are not in my weekly budget!

What are your favourite new twists to your traditional manicure? Will you be trying either of these styles? Or do you think cuticle tattoos will be the next big thing? Let us know and leave a comment, Tweet us a pic of your nails @thesarahsblog or post on our Facebook page.

Add some sparkle with space dust

By Sarah Hugill 

With christmas coming up who doesn’t want their nails to match the festivities? 

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I decided it was time to add to my polish collection. As you may have seen in a previous post, “Pearly pink for busy bees” I love Rimmel products, as they’re both reliable yet reasonable. Rimmel have recently released this “space dust” range for instant glittery polishes in a range of colours, but I went for this bright pink shade known as ‘Luna Love” in order to brighten up any outfit.  The coverage is great with the polish, even with one coat the colour is dominant! 

Have you tried the space dust range yet? Let us know @thesarahsblog 

Add some sparkle

By Sarah Hugill

Despite being suffocated in revision at the moment, there’s always time to try out some new polishes. In a previous post Boots bargain it featured Rimmels top coat, it’s simply a crystal clear polish with speckles of gold glitter, so is perfect with any colour!

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I teamed it with Boots No7 speed dry nail polish, in a shade of bright pink for a girly look.

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Have you tried Rimmels top coat? Let us know at @thesarahsblog or leave a comment below!

Paper Lashes

By Sarah Redman

Paperself Eyes

I discovered these beauties a few years ago at London Fashion Weekend, when I spotted various people wondering around the shopping area with the most amazing eyes and felt totally underdressed in the makeup department. Needless to say I didn’t take this lying down and made my friend queue for half an hour till I got my lashes!

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The brand I lusted after, Paperself, were the designers of my ‘peacock’ inspired lashes, and yes, the clue is in the name: they are made from paper! My first thought was how easy will it be for me to give myself a paper cut with these things and the second will I pick them up and rip them?! But after my free trail I was sold.

Previously, I have never been too impressed with False Lashes. I have a phobia of spiders and the idea of sticking ‘dead’ ones to my face was kinda creepy! The glue was always too messy and my hand-eye co-ordination didn’t help one bit.

The designs I saw shown at London Fashion Weekend were original, dainty, and fresh. Recently many celebrities have been spotted with designs on their lashes, from letters, to block colours, and patterns. This is becoming a lucrative industry, the lashes can be a real talking point, and can make a great feature or just glam up an outfit!

Paperself quotes Marcel Proust on its website -“The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Paperself was ‘launched in 2009 by London based designer Chunwei Liao’ and in September of 2011 worked on a pair of Lashes for the V&A. The lashes ‘inspired by nineteenth century French silk bobbin lace’ and are just beautiful! They have recently won themselves a spot on the Nylon 2012 Beauty Hit List as well. Find out more on their blog.

Check out their website to see the quirky ways they display their lashes and maybe even bag a few yourselves!

My latest favourites are the Birds, also their London Skyline design – awesome, but where is The Shard?

The beauty of Paperself is their versatility. The lashes can be cut to leave only one section of the pattern you want which can be attached to the outer corner of your eye: on the top lash for a minimalistic look with a difference or glue to your lower lash line for a statement effect (slightly easier than testing your eyeliner skills).

Paperself Eyes

[Both ways seen on the model – Grace Redman: “These feel so light on, normally false lashes just annoy me.”]

Paperself Eyes

With such a variety of lashes available now, from glitter to gem studded, you can be spoilt for choice. But if you are looking for something special then try these guys, with their wide range of patterns and ever growing company you will find what works for your outfit.

Check out their awesome YouTube Video HERE

(Definitely worth a watch!)

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Have you tried these lashes or thinking of giving it a go? Drop us a comment or Tweet thesarahsstyleblog @thesarahsblog

New Nude: Faded Glitter Tips

By Sarah Redman

My treat for revision the other day – nails. I am waiting on my delivery of Ciate nail ‘wow kits’, so I thought I would dig into my shoe box of nail polish [Yeah, they fill a large shoe box now…] and find something I haven’t used for a while and have some fun.

So here they are:

(Please excuse the poor state of my nails)

New Nude: Faded Glitter Tips

New Nude: Faded Glitter Tips

I decided to give the ‘nude’ nail an update, starting with Art Deco’s 294 Sparkling Beige Ceramic Nail Lacquer –  a Christmas present from the wonderful Josh Johnston, which I haven’t used in a few months. This colour has quite a sheer coverage, so I have three coats on, but it doesn’t feel heavy or peal or easily. The only thing worse than chipping – when you have too much polish on and it just gives up sticking to your nail.

Art Deco's 294 Ceramic Nail Lacquer

Art Deco’s 294 Ceramic Nail Lacquer

To give this shimmering shade a fun twist I have used Barry M’s 351 Yellow Topaz Glitter 247 Nail Paint – another Christmas present, this time from my sister Gracie Redman. This ‘colour’ as I have been informed by Jem Hill, apparently glitter is now a colour in girl world. But I figure if my parents can paint four colour swatches onto our dining room wall entitled ‘Frosted Dawn’, ‘White Cotton’, ‘All White’, and ‘Wimborne White’ and I still can’t tell the difference between these shades/colours (another debate for another time), then glitter can be a colour! But I digress, this colour is great for a top coat or as I have used it here, for a faded effect from the tip of my nail.

Barry M's 351 Yellow Topaz Glitter 247 Nail Paint

Barry M’s 351 Yellow Topaz Glitter 247 Nail Paint

I love this look, it’s subtle yet still gives your every day look a bit of sparkle. The nail polishes work well together and with the right base and top coat can last for days as small chips can easily be touched up or hardly notice with the pale colour scheme and the light reflection from the glitter flakes towards the end of the nail. The faded tip is a nail art technique I hope to experiment more with pastel shades over the summer months. Keep checking our blog to make sure you don’t miss out!

If you like this look or have experimented lately yourself leave us a comment or Tweet TheSarah’sStyleBlog @thesarahsblog

Boots bargain

By Sarah Hugill

Who doesn’t love a good deal when they see one? I always feel a sense of achievement when I have whipped out my bank card, but don’t feel guilty for doing so. I’m sure many of you feel exactly the same, so thought I would share with you my latest bargain!

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As a loyal customer to Rimmel London products I was pretty impressed with Boots latest deal. If you spend £10 or more on Rimmel products then you get their volume flash scandal eyes mascara for free! Who can resist a deal like that? Well, I certainly didn’t have the will power too, especially since I have a weakness for glitter nail varnish and always use their lasting finish foundation.

It is definitely worth a trip to Boots if you fancy getting yourself a free mascara! I am yet to use this particular mascara from Rimmel yet so I will have to let you guys know how I find it, as I usually go for a mascara that enhances volume and this one looks very promising!

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Have you used their mascara before? What do you think of Rimmel’s latest deal in Boots, let us know at @thesarahsblog or leave a comment below.

A little bit of week day nail glamour

By Sarah Redman Now, every winter my nails seem to fall apart, so needless to say, I spend most of my pay check on a little bit of polish and product for my wonderful writing hands. This means that I … Continue reading