Beach Bum Nails

Finally, at long last, I am able to share you a nail polish I've been wearing lots and lots lately. Let's get the annoying bit about it out of the way first: I don't remember how much it costs and I've lost the receipt. Asda George Polishes, usually around £1.50 if my memory is correct but I think I got this on a rollover deal where it was just a quid.







This is beach bum from George and to me, and I would like to think of it as a greenie gold or golden safari shade. Two coats gave me the lovely coverage you see on the photos. You can also clearly see the brushstrokes, my no.1 bugbear about a nail polish but despite that I just cannot stop from loving this polish. In fact, it's my favourite shade from the whole range. I just love, love and love it.









Don't call it bronze, Beach Bum is much more fun that a dull Olympic bronze and will wear out beautifully on your nails. After 3 days or so, it will start to gently fade and give a nice antique gold to your nails. Next time you're in Asda, say hello to the George makeup stand, there are so many to choose from and so much fun to be had :)

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Makeup Shopping Trip in Asda, swatches galore and dazzling NOTD

*FOREWORD* This is another of these ‘put the kettle on’ posts, in other words, it’s a long one.





It's your lucky day. Tonight I am taking you shopping to Asda, Morecambe (North of England) with me and we're going to have a look at the makeup section. No need to move from your computer chair / sofa / bed, I'll come and pick you up. I had been hearing the British blogosphere talking a lot about the range of makeup products Asda supermarket was doing and wanted to check for myself.
Put your seat belt on baby, I am driving ^_^

 





So what did I buy? Well, you should know me by now:
Eyeshadows and nail polishes of course!

One dip of my fat finger into the testers for the VELVET individual eyeshadows and it was love at first sight. Really nice pigmentation but most of all, a texture to die for.The shadows definitely deserve their 'velvet' name. Are the shades unique? Nothing that you haven't seen before but I find them very good value for money. So I got home with 'jungle eyeshadow' (£1.50) in my bag.





Was it a necessary purchase? Of course not. It turns out I owned already 2 shadows which have more or less the same emerald shade. I think it's probably fair to point out that I like emerald.


 


Out of my 3 existing eyeshadows incidentally, it's the packaging 'Pesto' from MeMeMe that I prefer the most, it's the texture of 'Jungle' which I like the most. Green Glimmer (Natural Collection) is the shadow which is in the worst condition, with the pan falling out of its case, and the lid not even closing properly. Which shadow do I reach out the most instinctively? The shameful battered and bruised 'green glimmer' of course. (See the rock witch look I recreated here using the shadow).






Then, it's the 'Dancing Queen' Quad Eyeshadow palette at the bargain price of £3 which caught my eye. The packaging will remind you of some Chanel or Avon palettes. I am very impressed with the colour combination and the colour pay of of this palette. All my thumbs up ... well nearly. I have used this palette only once as I've really struggled to actually open it and it feels like everytime it shuts the palette close, that it jams itself shut? It is so bad that I thought I was never going to be able to use it.










Last but not least, I couldn't resist and got home with a lovely midnight blue polish, called 'Dazzle'. I absolutely love the colour and I can't take my eyes off my nails when I wear.

  

You absolutely must wear a generous layer of base coat beforehand as this nail polish as this nail polish will stain your hands really badly! The colour is too gorgeous for words but the staining left a really sour taste in my mouth. So much so that I am scared to wear it again and it made me a little bit paranoid. Maybe I'll wear with 2 coats of base coats to be on the safe side?





 

 


























So that's it. I hope you enjoyed this little virtual trip with me to the George Makeup section at Asda. Do you own anything from George Makeup and do you use it regularly?

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What happens when you don’t wear a base coat on your nails: before and after and my attempts at nail brightening

How many of you scrupulously wear a base coat before painting your nails. I think this is one of these things you learn with experience and unless you're not bitten / stung you'll never learn. It was time I learnt and I wanted to share with you the results of my carelessness.

About 2 or 3 days ago roughly, I applied a gorgeous dark blue nail polish from Asda without applying a base coat. It was the first time I was testing this nail polish and I applied it on my 'photo hand' my left hand. Right hand stayed bare. 24 hours after, when I removed the nail polish, I noticed the carnage of my carelessness: my nails got really badly stained.

On the photo below, the "before" side shows the hand where I didn't apply evil nail polish. After picture shows the results of my carelessness, where I applied the nail polish without a base coat.





Now if this is not encouragement enough to always wear a base coat, I don't know what is, especially when my nails were decent colour before.
I am not going to lie, I got a bit depressed by it. Most of all, I was a bit embarrassed at work. How embarrassing for someone to blog about nails in their spare time to end up with such badly stained nails like that.


In an attempt to reduce the stains and regain the natural colour of my nails, I googled for some homemade remedies. Results yielded to resorting a homemade mixture of bicarbonate of soda and fresh lemon juice to apply to nails every day for a period of 6 weeks. 6 weeks? I just had to find another solution and I wanted to try the 'denture whitening tablets' method.
So I went to Boots and bought a 'extra strength' tube of Steradent at £1.62. I was very happy to read that the first ingredients listed was sodium bicarbonate and citric acid. The stuff is probably a bit too harsh for nails but I really wanted to have a go. Poured some hot water on a fizzy tablet in a small glass and left my left hand soaking there for a while.

 
Results? I was very happy. My hand was super dry the following morning when I woke up (which was this morning) but nothing that a hand cream couldn't cure. There is still some staining, but I feel it has lightened a lot! I am happy :)





Nail base coat are like condoms, god knows what happens to you if you don’t wear one :P

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