NOTW - Essie's Tart Deco

Hi! I thought I'd do a little rave and review post about my latest Essie polish, Tart Deco, which you might have already seen me post a picture of if you follow me on Instagram. I was in love with the colour when I bought it but when I got home I wasn't sure whether to return it as it has very negative reviews on Makeupalley. I gave it a try anyway and overall I really like it!

I've had a few minor issues with the formula - same as Mint Candy Apple it is quite runny so you need to be careful not to let it go over the sides of your nails. If I do get any polish at the side where it shouldn't be then I find I can easily chip it off which is actually quite satisfying! However the formula and brush both leave you with a shiny and pretty look at the end. I think this one is also more opaque with one coat than Mint Candy Apple but I still preferred two coats.

I've also found that this polish chips a bit more easily than Mint Candy Apple - not that it completely chips off a whole nail, but more that it repeatedly chips at the tips of my nails, including the day after I'd topped it up and sorted out the chips, which was a bit annoying, but in fairness I had been busy doing stuff that day with my hands.

Overall I can get over any minor annoyances that I have with the formula because I absolutely adore the colours of Mint Candy Apple and Tart Deco. Tart Deco in particular is a polish that I think would be lovely on toes as well as nails.

There's actually since been a very similar coral colour released in their Summer Collection this year called Peach Side Babe so I definitely don't need that one as well but it also looks very pretty. If you're not sure which one to get, Essie Envy did a really helpful post here comparing the two and other shades in the collection. Right now I am really lusting after Chillato, a yellowy lime green shade which is nothing like anything I have in my collection. I wish I could buy and review the whole collection but I can't!

Also if you're a new reader and haven't seen it, I wrote a post about my 10 nail polish picks for Spring/Summer a while ago here. :)

What nail polishes are you loving at the moment? Will you be picking anything up from the Essie Summer Collection?

Sabrina xx

Gorgeous Summer Wedges

Yeah, this is just going to be a quick post to demonstrate my love for these wedges. They are summery and gorgeous...I love the shimmer effect on the straps and the details on the flowers.

Sorry to steal DP's photo but I haven't collected them yet and I wanted to get this post up before the offer ended!

I don't really own any wedges so I have an excuse but I spotted these in store and tried them on - they were very comfy and easy to walk in. I resisted getting them for £29 in the shop as Dorothy Perkins do so many offers online and they're currently doing a 'Up to 40% off Summer' offer exclusively online so I snapped these up for £20.30 instead! I have looked but I have no idea when this offer ends I'm afraid.

So if you see something you like in store in Dotty P's then it's always a good idea to double check you can't get it cheaper online. (Of course with sale items it probably wouldn't be worth it because your size may not be in stock on the website.) These wedges have already sold out in some sizes so if you want them too then I'd recommend snapping them up soon! I chose 'collect from store' for free delivery but DP do do free delivery offers fairly often.

I don't even know what outfits I'm going to pair these with yet, all I know is it's love. I would normally never wear heeled shoes during the day but with these I'd imagine I'd be able to wear them for quite a long time before they start to feel uncomfortable. 

PS: I don't know about you but I think it might be a bit hot in the UK at the moment! Hope everyone's keeping cool/making the most of it :)

Sabrina xx

An Ode to Miss Selfridge Ponte Blazers

Hi! So when I saw that Miss Selfridge were offering 24% off full priced items for 24 hours my first thought was that I'm going to have to snap up one of their blazers! *This offer has now finished, sorry!*

I noticed them a while ago when I was browsing in store, loved the look of them and was very tempted, but I decided to wait for an offer to come round seeing as though they're normally £39 (and I am a cheap skate, haha.)

I would buy almost every colour of this blazer if I could but I went for the peachy pink one (second on the left of the top row of the picture above) because I am unashamedly girly and know this is the sort of item I'd wear a lot. I love how these sort of items are very wearable and versatile as they can be dressed up or down depending on what you pair them with. My other favourites are the white and light blue ones in the top row, but the orange one is also quite striking.

Most of these jackets, including the one I bought, are actually in the Petites range but I'm pretty sure it won't be too short, and if it is I can always exchange it in store. I think these make a great cover up for Spring/Summer on those days where it's warm but you still need a light jacket, especially in the UK where it might rain at any moment!

What's your favourite cover up for Spring?

Sabrina xx

PS: I hope this post doesn't sound too much like an advertisement for Miss Selfridge, but don't worry they haven't sponsored me!

Rediscovery and Review: Soap and Glory Glow All Out Luminizing Face Powder

Does anyone else occasionally just have a random play with their makeup collection, finding old favourites that you may have forgotten that you had? I remember there was a big buzz around Soap and Glory's makeup line when it launched a couple of years ago. One product that I would rediscover if only I could find it would be the Sexy Mother Pucker (lol) Gloss Stick in Nudist - I don't know where it's got to but it's a brilliant product and I may have to check out another shade soon!

Anyway, I happily rediscovered the Glow All Out Luminizing Face Powder which is such a stunning product. It is a very light peachy pink which actually counts as a blush on my pale skin at the moment, although I usually use it along with a blush. I now use a mattifying foundation so I think this powder is a brilliant way to add a bit of a glow where you want it on oily skin (and possibly more suitable than using a liquid highlighter, like Benefit's High Beam.) Sorry that mine's looking a bit worse for wear, I've owned it for a long time!

As usual with Soap and Glory, the name is punny and the packaging looks good, although the cardboard/paper packaging is a bit flimsy. The good folks at Soap and Glory have actually recently repackaged it into a sturdier plastic compact which is a great improvement. This is quite expensive for a drugstore makeup product at £11 but it's currently in a '3 for 2' offer.

They say:

Use it to lift up your cheekbones or dust lightly all over for a 'moonlit' look. Featuring LIGHTSCRAMBLE™ Luminospheres Pigment Pearls and extended wear silicone technology.

Oh, Soap and Glory, you and your made up words. But yes, this does contain silicones, and S&G aren't shy about that, but if that helps this stay on longer on my oily skin, then I'm on board (she says, whilst googling silicones to try and understand whether they're good or bad.)

As for the colour, I'll let the pictures do the talking and show how gorgeous it is:

This is quite a heavy swatch, just to get the colour to show up!

Blended out. Sorry about the creepy vein!

As you can see, it is very radiant without being glittery in the slightest (which is the main thing that puts me off highlighters sometimes!) 

So basically...if you want a pink powder highlighter which blends well, adds beautiful radiance and a little bit of colour to pale complexions, then you may well love this as much as I do - I'm certainly going to be reaching for it a lot this Spring/Summer! 

Have you tried this product? What's your go-to highlighter?

Hope you enjoyed this post!

Sabrina xx

My Top 10 Nail Polishes for Spring/Summer

Hi everyone! I thought I'd share 10 of my favourite nail polishes for Spring and Summer in no particular order. I'm actually sort of 'shopping my stash' with this post as I don't need any more nail polishes and will probably be applying all of these colours in the coming months! I tend to mostly go for bright pinks and oranges as you can see in the picture below, but I also love pastel shades.

From left to right:

1. MAC Morange - this is the only MAC nail polish I own and the most expensive of the bunch at £10. I got this a few years ago when MAC released nail polish and lipglass versions of their most popular lipsticks, including Morange - it is permanent however. As much as I love bright lipsticks, I think this sort of bright orange is probably better off on my nails than my lips! It's been a while since I used this but I don't recall having any problems with the formula.

2. Rimmel Cocktail Colour in Shirley Temple - I am a sucker for glitter polish, despite how annoying it is to get off, and I love this vibrant shade. It doesn't seem to be available on Boots.com at the moment but I have seen it in stores. It's great on it's own or layered over a similar colour, like Barry M's Mango.

3. Maybelline Forever Strong in Tornado Rose - this is a very pretty and girly pink which is right up my street. (Excuse the white label mark - mine somehow got stuck to another nail polish!)

4. L'oreal Colour Riche in Sex on the Peach - firstly, great name! This is a peachy pink and definitely one of my favourites. The only thing with this is I think it's a bit expensive for a drugstore polish in terms of how much product you get for your money - it's £4.99 for just 5ml, so basically a pound per ml, which is the same as MAC as that is £10 for 10ml. I wonder if this will be the first nail polish I use up as I'm already about half way through!

5. Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in Mango - a bright, shiny and very cheerful orange. It's gorgeous! However I do remember this one chipping quite quickly.

6. 17 Fast Finish Nail Polish in Peacock - this is a stunning turquoise with an almost duochrome effect going on - depending on the lighting, it can look quite blue or green.

7. Barry M Speedy Quick Dry Nail Paint in Stop the Clock - this is my most recent purchase of the bunch and what I've had on my nails for the past week. I love this colour! The other day I had to repaint both my index finger nails after they chipped when I was scooping up some coconut oil, but other that I haven't had any problems with chipping.

I wouldn't say it dried that quickly which is slightly disappointing, and it also can be a bit streaky so it needs at least two coats - but other than that, this is a great polish and very summery.

8. Essie Mint Candy Apple - this a beautiful mint green, a very popular shade from Essie and one of my all-time favourites, even though again the formula can be a bit streaky and runny making it sometimes a bit frustrating to apply - you have to be careful not to let it run on either side of your nail. I can deal with this though as the colour alone makes it worth it!

9. NYC In a New York Minute Quick Dry Nail Polish in Raindrop - This is a lovely 'sky blue' shade which I wore to match my May Ball dress in 2013. I would say this is the most bargainous out of all my picks, as for your £1.79 (or £1.49 on offer) you get a very nice quality polish - although again I wouldn't say it dries particularly quickly.

10. Barry M Nail Paint Boots Limited Edition - Sorry to choose a limited edition shade that I'm pretty sure is no longer available! I've included it anyway because I think this shade is quite dupeable - I had a quick look online and one example I've found is Revlon's Grape Icy, which by what I can see is a bit darker and more purple - see here. Essie's Splash of Grenadine also looks similar, but a bit lighter. But I'm sure there are loads more dupes out there for this!

There you have it, those are my 10 favourite Spring/Summer polishes that I'll be sporting this year. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this post!

I'd love to know, what are your favourite Spring/Summer nail polishes?

Sabrina xx

My Spring Fashion and Beauty Wish List

Hello! Spring has well and truly sprung here in the UK - we've been having some beautiful weather in the past week! It's strange how the week before that I was still wearing my coat as it was quite cold, but now I'm bringing back my summery clothes and also being tempted to refresh my wardrobe a bit.

I still have some great basics for my spring/summer wardrobe - my New Look denim skater skirt being one of them because it goes with so many things. I am much more likely to be seen wearing skirts as opposed to shorts because I just find them a lot more flattering, particularly A-line shapes! I also love wearing dresses and occasionally playsuits.

So here are my picks for spring/summer clothing, makeup and a new perfume that I have my eye on (despite not really needing any more perfume.)

Fashion Looks I Love

Hi! I thought I'd do a fashion post, as since it's awards season there have been a lot of gorgeous dresses! It was also London Fashion Week recently, and I was particularly interested in watching the video of the Topshop Unique show, since Topshop Unique is actually easily available to me and girls like me, although it's still quite expensive so I would probably only buy something if I really loved it. I saw a lot of fur in the Topshop Unique show, which was gorgeous but I really hope it's faux!

So firstly I was randomly watching the Diane Von Furstenberg Spring 2015 show and saw some really beautiful pieces. I also thought the models looked stunning, a lot of them actually smiled and they also weren't too skinny. I saw this dress and was quite surprised at how similar it is to one I spotted when I was browsing in Peacocks the other day:

I mean obviously the style is very different but the print is almost identical! I know the High Street shops are influenced by high end designers but I haven't seen a similarity like this lately. The Peacocks dress is £16 here. I quite like it but I probably won't buy it because I already have enough summer dresses, and I don't really love it enough if that makes sense. However this dress is definitely a cheerful, summery piece and it makes me quite happy just looking at it - it's almost Spring so hopefully it's not that long to go now until it will hopefully be warm enough to wear dresses like this!