Birchbox - Merry & Bright - Dec '16

Long time no blog! I've been really busy with my job, which causes hell for my hands and nails in this cold weather, as well as using all of my creative energy on gifts and such. Birchbox has inspired me to do a little writing, however. 

Bad pic is bad, soz.

• Benefit "the POREfessional: Matte Rescue": So this is kind of a makeup primer? I guess? I'll be using it as such regardless for my cavernous pores, and I'm pretty excited to be using a Benefit product! Though, last two times I got Benefit from Birchbox, they either didn't work well or wouldn't come out of the tube! We can hope...

• Ciaté London "Fierce Flicks Eyeliner": And just when my last Birchbox liquid liner had started to go janky, woo hoo! I love Ciaté's polishes. Fingers crossed that this eyeliner gives the same depth of colour, because there's nothing worse than faded, imprecise, chunky eye flicks.

• Laura Mercier "Caviar Stick": Another great eye surprise! I can't go with just eyeliner these days but don't want to spend the time on eye shadow, so just contour with a thick brush. This is going to make it a lot easier to get some nice colour on my lids. I got the shade "Amethyst", a surprisingly brown, shimmering shade.

• Leighton Denny nail polish: Yay! A proper fancy nail polish, and in a colour I don't already own from this brand! I got the shade "Just Perfect", this gorgeous blush pink. Actually I don't own a pink quite like it, so that's another bonus! 

• Percy & Reed"Perfectly Perfecting Wonder Balm": A hair balm you put in before styling to give it extra oomph. I'll be using this exactly zero times. I don't style and my hair gets shiny enough on its own, not a good thing. The one let down of this altogether wonderful box. 

Quite bland for Birchbox, if I'm honest. The colours are nice and the bag inside is better than the usual tatty looking ones, but not very festive in it? I like the vertical design, though, and will use it to store everyday makeup. The box itself also came in some neat postage wrapping. How cute is this? 

Now, I'm off to work. 

Different Dimension - Atlantis

It's time for a random review! At work I love to have nails that look flashy and eye catching, so on some occasions I like to dive into my indie collection for my fix. So why not do a review on one?

Different Dimension"Atlantis" is a dark green to dark purple duochrome polish with scattered holo glitter.

2 Coats Different Dimension "Atlantis";

ILNP "Mega" on the accent.

Just flashy enough to give me a hit, but easy enough to match with everyday outfits, especially in my work environment. The duochrome shift is quite subtle because of how dark it is but in this case I quite like it. Gives the holo glitter its space to shine and turns one polish into a whole galaxy. I think I need the rest of this collection, to be honest. My only problem with "Atlantis" is that it wears pretty fast and is extra noticeable because of how dark it is. Still, one of my faves! 

★★★★✰

Birchbox x Tatler - Nov 2016

Macaroons. They look gorgeous but the inside is all levels of disappointing. This month's Birchbox is a macaroon: beautiful to look at but a letdown within. Maybe I'm just tired from work but today I feel like being a little more 'honest'. When I get Birchboxes, I expect to be wowed and that just wasn't the case here. 

• Beauty Protector "Protect & Blonde Toning Shampoo": Shampoo. Yep. Birchbox isn't exactly cheap and from tiny shampoo bottles like this I'll get one, maybe two uses. Hardly value for money, right? I have been meaning to get a blonde shampoo, though, but never a purple shampoo - I'll keep my brassy tones, thanks.

• Khairpep "Transforme Masque": Conditioner. Yep. Again, not value for money with maybe only five uses out of this. I'll get damage repair from this but, seeing as I don't use heat on my hair, I don't really need it.

• Marcelle "BB Cream Golden Glow Illuminator": I don't use BB cream. Sure, if I self-tanned in winter then it would be fine, but as a matter of not wanting to spend too much time and effort on skin that won't be seen anyway, I don't. So using a tinted BB cream on my face would make me look silly. This will have to wait until summer.

• NUXE "Crème Prodigieuse" : Moisturiser, basically. I've already got those coming out my ears from Birchbox, particularly anti-oxidant loaded ones. At least I won't run out for months.

• Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics "Lip Tar Primer": Out of all of these, I was actually most intrigued and excited to try this. It's a good idea, right? A soothing balm that also "keeps lipstick looking great, in place, for longer". I need that for them long hours. But then I tried it... Another macaroon. 

To cheer myself up, I also included a lil perfume in the picture that I got from Tenerife in May. It's from a shop in Puerto de la Cruz which sells imitations of branded perfumes, and the owner has an encyclopedic knowledge of which perfume is a knock off of which, and what scents are where. It's amazing, and so cheap! They come in adorable little bottles too. So yeah, I feel better now. 

Angelica Nail Colour

Starting off Sparkle Month with five polishes from Angelica Nail Colour, which all happen to be glitter of some form! I'm sad I can't find these in Primark anymore because they're cheap but so good.

Angelica "Black Magic" is a black and silver glitter polish.

2 Coats Angelica "Black Magic"

Ooh, black glitter! Actually, silver and black glitter, which gives this polish a classy grey finish. I don't honestly see many polishes like this around so I'm happy to have it. Opaque in two coats without sponging. It's tough too! Tough to remove (obviously) but this shot was taken after three days with minimal wear and no chips! A surprise for a glitter polish, honestly. With a nice glossy topcoat, "Black Magic" is one magical, gorgeous polish, and it's probably my favourite Angelica.

★★★★✰

Angelica "Boom Pop" is a clear polish with baby blue and hot pink matte hexes.

1 Coat Angelica "Boom Pop" on ring; sponged on others.

"Boom Pop" is a fun polish, but it's hard to use, let alone remove. It's too chunky to sponge and too sparse to just paint on top. That's really the major problem with this but I love it regardless. In the past I've done some fun glitter placements using "Boom Pop", which is easy to use because of just how chunky it is. Difficult but fun, "Boom Pop" is basically like a child.

★★★✰✰

Angelica "Frostbite" is an iridescent glitter polish with gold and teal hexes.

1 Coat Angelica "Frostbite"; sponged on ring.

Probably the most beautiful in the bottle, "Frostbite" sure does look beautiful over blues and blacks. It's not easy to sponge because - well, maybe I just sponge badly. Anyway, I love this combination of colours, it makes me think of mermaids. That iridescent tiny glitter really catches the light but is so difficult to photograph. Standard difficult to remove. 

★★★★✰

Angelica "Ice Ice Baby" is an iridescent mixed size glitter polish.

1 Coat Angelica "Ice Ice Baby" (over black); sponged on ring.

I knew this one is very disappointing on its own (and even worse over white), so I added a little black to really show off that colour shift. Ooh wow! I only ever wear this over dark colours, especially blues, because the sheen is hypnotic. It's not the only polish like this I own but it's probably the best of them!

★★★★✰

Angelica "Ruby Red" is a cool red polish with iridescent particles.

2 Coats Angelica "Ruby Red"

In some lights, you can really see the blue and purple sparkle in this. Though, as usual, that's impossible to photograph. A really quite pretty polish in the right lights, but the shade of red in this polish isn't my favourite. I prefer neutral and warmer reds. Though for winter months this works better. It's nice looking down and seeing I have jam on my fingers.

★★★★✰

Btw, Angelica...

This Is Halloween

The only way I celebrated Halloween this year was with my nails. Yep... It was a busy day and I only got one bit of candy! No one told me being an adult would suck so much lol. Anyway I got at least 5 compliments on this so it wasn't all for nothing! These nails are based on the best Halloween film ever, if not the best winter film ever.

Before you freak out, no this wasn't freehand! I had no time for the pointer and pinkie so I'm not too happy with how naked they are, but you live and learn. For this I used:

• Nail art stickers from Poundland (no freehand!)
• Primark "Oberon", Sinful Colours "Snow Me White", and Barry M "Mango".

November is the month I like to make my nails sparkle a little bit, for the various special days we have as well as for the sake of keeping the encroaching darkness at bay. So it's time for sparkle!

Halloween Trio

I've been off for a couple of days so I've had time to do more art! As much as I lament not having time to do it anymore, I really love sitting down and watching a good mani unfold. Here are three of my favourite looks to do for Halloween. This first one like I like to call a Slime Drip mani. 

Green and purple go so well together for Halloween! I'm rarely able to get my drips looking how I want them but these are okay. I also like the combination of glossy over matte, gives it that even slimier look. In this mani is:

• Models Own "Pukka Purple", matted by Barry M.
• Models Own "Paradise Garage", dripped using a Poundland dotting tool. 

Another look I've seen done quite a lot and am pretty proud of is the Patchwork mani.

Three more Halloweeny colours all mixed together. Patchwork and Halloween go together like Jack and Sally - coincidentally. Though I wouldn't do it any other time of the year, it's such an easy look to pull off. For this I used:

• Barry M "Mango".
• Sally Hansen "No S-pear Time".
• Primark "Purple".
• Primark "Oberon", using a Poundland fineart brush.

One mani I always do every year is the Fingerprint mani, usually with a few blood splatters. However this year, thanks to all of my white bases being old and taking super long to dry, I've been unable to get it to look how I want it too. My left hand simply wouldn't dry so it got very messy. I managed to get it to look  okay on my Cindy hand, but for obvious reasons I missed out on the splatter.

Featured here is:

• Sinful Colours "Snow Me White".
• Barry M "Can't Get You Out Of My Red", smudged with my finger.

The Week Before Halloween

Hey there cyberspace! I have a few days off so let's make this place look a little busier. Over the next couple of days, I'll be doing a few Halloween manis because yay. Today, here are a couple of manis I wore over the week that weren't just swatches. I've also added a couple of photos to the look book. 

Yeah, this chipped really fast and my hands were dry. Now that that's out the way, this ombre was inspired by a scarf crocheted by my mum which I absolutely love. Polishes used:

• China Glaze "Awakening".
• Barry M "Gold Digger".

I got quite a few compliments on this mani, probably because of how that accent figure just scatters the light so beautifully. One lady even asked what it was and I had to explain to her what indie polishes are... Anyway, something a little Spring-like with a festive sparkle. Polishes are:

• Revlon "Charming".
• Different Dimensions "Pothos".

Turns out gradients really are the best way to add a little art to my fingers for a working day. Expect a lot more of them in future!

Gore and Webs

Halloween is in a week today, but I'll be missing out this year because of work. It's a shame really, this is one of the most fun holidays for me. I'll celebrate in some small ways regardless, such as with a mani like this!

For this I used:

• A red and black polish from Primark, in a squishy saran wrap style.
• Sinful Colors "Snow Me White".
• MoYou London "The Pro" no.3 stamping plate.

Because of work I can't wear anything crazy, but this is both subtle and spooky enough to keep everyone happy. My new super-short nubs are easy to work with both at work and at my mani station too. I'm glad my stamping skills haven't waned over time. 

Blog Changes

So it's been a minute... 

Let's be honest: I am not going to get famous off of blogging and I am not inspired to blog constantly, nor do I have the time to do so. When I used to blog every day, even though it was a short while, I didn't enjoy the constant pressure. This blog is about my enjoyment and the things I love. That used to be just nail art but now it's become more than that. So it's time for a change. 

From now on, I will be blogging weekly rather than daily, though I make no promises. Basically I'll blog whenever I have the time and energy, or something interesting to say. 

I'm also starting a Look Book tab for my fab fashion choices, and may in future start blogging about makeup outside of just nails. Yes, that's another love of mine. While the blog is called Nail Knight, it's not going to just be about nails anymore. 

Let's see how this goes. Peace~.

Rimmel London - Euphoria

After finding this, I now have 199 polishes of my own... Naughty Nail Knight.

Rimmel London "Euphoria" is a champagne pink metallic polish.

2 Coats Rimmel London "Euphoria"

This photo was taken after three days of wear, and I did a lot with my hands in those three days. I even filed down the tips after a breakage and look - this held up well! The finish isn't exactly dazzlingly shiny but this colour is just, ugh, to die for. It's so subtly pretty and classy, and works all year round as a near-nude shade. "Euphoria" takes a while to dry down, but other than that the name is very apt for how it makes me feel. I'm in love! 

★★★★✰

This is a non-duochrome dupe of Barry M "Caspian".

Birchbox - WHAT'S YOUR SIGN - October 2016

You know, there's nothing better at invigorating me than a good Birchbox. This month's is great! But probably not for the right reason...

Shout out to mum's crocheted scarf in the back there!

• Batiste "Volume Spray": Okay so I thought this was dry shampoo and got excited because I use that to death. Volume spray not so much, I hate crispy feeling hair. Then again, it's always useful to have around, and maybe Batiste, the go-to for dry shampoo, will do hairspray well.

• Birchbox Eyebrow Brush: Pretty standard, I have one of these already and it doesn't do much for my thinner brows. Still useful though!

• Doux Me "Pure Spring Mist": Lol, Do Me... So this is a hydrating skin spray? Gotta admit, I need this in the colder months when my face just cracks up from the cold. I'll probably use this like a primer before going full face for a long shift at work. Hey, I'll try it tomorrow!

• Lord & Berry Maxi Matte Crayon Lipstick in "Intimacy": The highlight of my box. And, oops! I got two of them! It looks like I've gotten someone else's lip pencil, not that I'm complaining~. I hope no one misses out thanks to me. That being said, I wore this today. It felt very drying but also light weight. The colour is the exact shade of my naked lips so it was great for a simple, matte look and over-lining. Very pretty indeed, so I'm glad I got two!

• Number 4 "Fluro Elixir Restore & Repair Oil": I saw the bottle and thought it might be nail polish... Still, a hair oil is great! While I don't like my hair looking shiny (shiny blonde hair just looks greasy to me), I do get dry ends as I go for too long without trimming of the splitties. In fact, like the Doux Me spray, I'll be trying this tomorrow.

• Rituals "Hammam Body Mud": Mm~ mud. So I thought I already had this but in a different bottle. Turns out the difference between this and the Dao Mindful scrub that I got ages ago is, other than the flavours, how to apply it. This goes on dry while the other goes on wet. Not sure how I feel about applying exfoliator to dry skin but the Mindful scrub is one of my all time favourites, so I have faith in this.

This month's theme was star signs and space - for whatever reason. I was a bit bummed that my sign (Taurus) got the least pretty of the four boxes on offer: blue for Water, purple for Air, and orange for Fire. That being said, galaxy is galaxy and I really love how this coherent theme clearly has a lot of thought put into it. 

BornPretty 3D Nail Stickers

Long time no blog! Things have been really busy but I have a treat for the eyes this week: 3D nail stickers from BornPretty! These are the first of their kind that I've tried so I have nothing to compare them to, and I probably didn't do everything right but we try! 

A pretty little set right? I love geometric designs. They were a bit fiddly but that's just because I'm not used to them and a bit ham handed. I couldn't get a shot of them when they were fresh on for reasons, so here they are after a few hours of heavy lifting at work:

Base: Primark "Oberon". 

Forgive the chips, it was a lot of heavy lifting and Primark polishes aren't the best... As per the helpful instructions on the back of the pack, I topcoated them with Seche Vite after application. I did have to press down on the edges of the strips because of how my nails curve. My nails are pretty tiny so some of these sticks might be a bit big. But these things are so gorgeous so I can hardly complain. I felt so classy and got lots of compliments for them too! 

★★★★✰

Models Own - Magenta Divine + Zest A Peel

Sometimes, no matter how hard you look, it's impossible to find what collection a polish is from. To stop these two from getting lonely, I've put them together where they can be friends. If anyone knows what collection they're from, leave a comment! These polishes belong to mum so they're just here on loan haha.

Models Own "Magenta Divine" is a hot pink glitter topcoat polish.

2 Coats Models Own "Magenta Divine": sponged on ring

Regular limitations apply here: a bitch to remove and full coverage only with a sponge. Actually this looks great on the sponge finger right?! The colour is really hot too, but overall this is nothing special. It's not amazing but it's good. So yeah.

★★★✰✰

Models Own "Zest A Peel" is a yellow-leaning orange shimmer polish. 

2 Coats Models Own "Zest A Peel"

Mum does love orange nails, especially holiday pedis. I'm not so big on orange myself but can see the merits of this one. It's pretty sheer (this might even be three coats, I don't remember), and very liquid. All that mess... The colour is pretty poppin' and shimmer makes everything better.

★★★✰✰

So this ends my Models Own swatches - what a great brand! For the next month I won't be posting daily but I will be doing nail art more often for Halloween, as well as a couple of reviews. Stay tuned!

Models Own - Red Carpet

Nail Knight feels classy in red polish, but also dull. What makes something less dull? Glitter. A red glitter polish? Perfect! This is the only polish I (or, well, my mum) have from the Models Own Hypergel collection, for some reason...

Models Own "Red Carpet" is a red polish with hot pink glitter.

2 Coats Models Own "Red Carpet"

Ooh, pretty! There's nothing like a good red, is there? Add a little bit of subtle glitter and it gets even more ooh. The glitter is pretty subtle though, and then it's suuuuper tough to get off. You know, standard. If you want a red polish with a little more, I'd recommend "Red Carpet" definitely. 

★★★★✰

Glittering Jack-o-Lanterns

It's the spooooookiest season of all~. Rather than a swatch, today I felt like doing some art for the first time in ages. The first thing my brain goes to in October is always pumpkins and Jack-o-Lanterns, like the basic I am.

• Quo by Orly "Mega Orange" as the base.
• Seventeen "Orange Shimmer" as the gradient.
• Barry M "Black" for the art.

These are the most basic pumpkins in the world, I know. No lines, no vines, and the faces are all wonky. But that's what Nail Knight's all about: being the most basic nailist in the world. Then again I like to think the glitter makes this a bit less... Flat? I really like how these two oranges work together in a gradient too so I might revisit that for just a bright look.

Models Own - "Boogie Nights" + "Disco Inferno"

Glitter is never not okay to wear, just sayin'. Say hello to the Models Own Mirrorball collection! 

Models Own "Boogie Nights" is a glitter mixture of purple and cobalt blue chunks, and royal blue and hot pink hexes. 
"Disco Inferno" is a glitter mixture of gold and holo chunks, green hexes, and bronze hexes and micro glitter.

Models Own "Boogie Nights" and "Disco Inferno"

I applied two coats of each on the pointer and pinkie; I sponged "Disco Inferno" on the middle, and did glitter placement with "Boogie Nights" on the ring. Bit confusing, sorry.

Arbitrary "glitter is a b*tch to apply and even harder to remove". Even harder to remove when it's so gorgeous. Both have a great mixture of colours, with their main colours (gold and purple respectively) standing out well. "Boogie Night" in general had larger chunks, which is why I find it easy to place them rather than sponge, and also why "Disco Inferno" is easier to sponge on. Great for parties, accent nails, and funky art. Props go to the names in this collection too, I do love a coherent them.

★★★✰✰

Models Own - Diamond Luxe

I feel decadent. I feel like coating my nails in diamonds. But I'm not made of money. "That's too bad, it'll never happen." So you might think, but there exists the Models Own Diamond Luxe collection, with (so called) real diamond dust inside every bottle. "Sounds expensive." Not so, these bottles are sold at the same reasonable £4.99 price as every other MO does. "I need this in my life!"

Sometimes Nail Knight talks to herself.

Models Own "Asscher Blue" is a baby blue shimmer polish.

2 Coats Models Own "Asscher Blue"

Ya gotta forgive the lighting in this one, and that easy-to-blur shimmer. That same shimmer doesn't show up as well in the lighter colours of this collection. It's not as fun having diamond dust on your nails if others don't notice it, right? And when you have to take it off, it acts like a glitter. Formula wise, the light ones also fail, though "Asscher Blue" isn't too bad, as it's smoothness is a bonus for correcting its patchiness.

I gotta make a note about the names in this collection. Asscher is actually a cut of stone, and a very beautiful cut at that. It doesn't apply specifically to blue stones so the colour choice was pretty random, though I did find some blue asschers that match. This shade of blue is a very pretty and bright pure blue, and very eye catching, so points for that!

★★★★✰

Models Own "Emerald Green" is a blue-leaning green shimmer polish. 

1 Coat Models Own "Emerald Green"

Ooh, now we can see those gold-y diamond flakes! Now this is definitely a decadent polish, with an eye catching colour and a luscious formula, if slightly runny. Major props to Models Own for making this a blue leaning green rather than a neutral, yellower green, because true emeralds are actually this shade. Clever, clever Models Own! Emerald also refers to a cut so it's like a two edged sword with this name. A beautiful, deep, near-perfect sword.

If only it weren't for that stubborn shimmer that takes so much effort to remove. 

★★★★✰

Models Own "Oval Plum" is a plum purple shimmer polish.

1 Coat Models Own "Oval Plum"

Onto my favourite from this collection! This picture was taken after three days of wear and look at it, still in tact! The name, like "Asscher Blue" refers to a cut of stone, and while "Oval Ruby" may have been a better name, I can see why Plum was instead chosen. Then again none of the reds in this collection are called Ruby as far as I can see... 

Like I'm gonna mark down a polish for its name. The formula is the best of the bunch to work with, it's a great consistency and can be opaque in one coat! That diamond sparkle shows clearly in this deep, gorgeous, delicious colour. Ugh, I just love this polish, it has to go on the perfect list! ... Except of that pesky glitter-like texture when removing.

Have you ever wanted to eat your nails? 

★★★★✰

Models Own "Princess Pink" is a baby pink shimmer polish.

2 Coats Models Own "Princess Pink"

From the best, to the worst. The name is neither gem nor stone cut related (in fact i's pretty generic) and really just a letdown overall. The colour is pretty but that's the only good thing I can say about this, sadly. Formula is thick and hard to layer without being lumpy, and yet somehow applies super patchy. Look at those see-through bits, it wasn't worth layering another coat because then I'd end up with bubble nails. And see those other smaller splotches? That's because "Princess Pink" doesn't dry for ages. This was taken about an hour after application. 

"Princess Pink"? More like "Primadonna Pink".

★★✰✰✰