Incoco Nails in Staccato

I got another lovely design manicure set to show you all.  I love Staccato! It's just the right amount of mod influence, girly/kawaii influence, and clean but bold design.  I'm a sucker for designs like this, and I love polka dots (see my banner *wink wink*).  So I was thrilled to apply these baby.

I also am glad to wear these, because I have to give my nails a rest.  I have ADHD when it comes to manicures. I just can't leave it alone for some reason! My cuticles are wrecked.  Lotion and oil just aren't cutting it anymore for me.  The acetone is having a severe effect on my cuticles.  I now this nail applique will last on me for the next days, so it was another reason for me to apply these babies on my nails.  

And yes, they DO last for days! 

This is not your typical white and black polka dot.  There is an extra umpf to it.  The base is actually a light shimmery ivory base with gold top layer.  Incoco always has a way of turning a well known pattern into something quite feminine by adding a little something extra.  It shows there has been thought behind the creations of their design manicure series.

So here are my nails that I will be rocking for a few days.  In the meanwhile, I will be reviewing all  the makeup products that I have tried recently. So watch out for those.  Onto the Incoco Staccato nail appliques.......

 

 

 

Cute right???

Well if you're digging these, come and enter my 75 follower blog giveaway sponsored by Incoco. The nice people over at Incoco have donated a goody bag full of their products for one lucky winner.

To enter, click HERE.  GOOD LUCK!!!!

Project 10 Pan Update and More

As usual, it feels like forever since I started this Project 10 pan, but really it hasn't even been that long. I'm almost done, and I'm quite pleased with myself to be able to stick to this ban.  I'm also happy to have actually used some of the products that I have.  Some items however didn't end up working for me, so they did go to a new home, but they have been replaced with another item to keep this project going.

1.  Boots botanics hair mask
2.  Sanctuary Bath relaxer
3.  Boots botanics leave-in volumising conditioner - passed onto a friend & replaced with the Johnson face scrub
4. Make up for ever duo mat foundation
5.   Make up for ever fuchsia lipstick (travel size) - passed onto a friend & replaced it with the Batiste Fresh Dry shampoo
6.  Boots hair serum - about 50% left now
7. MAC powerpoint eyeliner in stubborn brown - passed onto a friend & replaced it with the

Herbal Essence Hair Conditioner
8.  Neutrogena lip boost
9.  Boots almond body butter
10. Premium almond cuticle oil

So as you can see, I had to pass up some items, because it just didn't work for me. Truthfully, isn't that what using your products are all about.  I had no idea those items didn't work for me, because I barely used them ha! So I just have one last item to use, and then I'm OFF this ban!!!!!!!!! I don't even know what to buy first. Part of me is trying to save for the upcoming holidays, but the beauty addict in me is screaming at me to run to the shop and buy something quick! lol.

I will say that of all the items listed above, there is only one item that I would repurchase, and that is the Batiste dry shampoo.  I finished it this morning, and can't wait to crack open my other 2 bottles that I have stored.  This is my go to dry shampoo due to it's affordable price, and effectiveness.

Onto other news...

I have been obsessed lately with trying to get vouchers, and free samples.  I pretty much partake in everything out there that will save me some money.  So as part of my frugalista ventures, I also take advantage of Asda's price guarantee program, and recently got £3.05 back from my shopping, so I turned around and purchased this with it LOL

 

I couldn't help myself. I was itching for a magazine! I can't pass up magazine freebies, I know now this. I could have used my voucher towards any product, but instead I rushed to grab this.  The freebie was a Misguided tote bag.  I don't even like this bag. The fact that I would still grab it shows my level of addiction when it comes to magazines and their freebies. Yes I am a victim of marketing my friends.

I also have some other things to chat about too.

I'm so excited for the blog giveaway. I absolutely love Incoco nail strips, and they are sponsoring my 75 follower blog giveaway.  If you are like me, and love nail art, or just a very busy person, these nail strips are for you.  They are so easy to apply, no drying time needed, and the designs are awesome.  I am so pleased that one of my readers will get a grab bag full of their products!  The link to my blog giveaway is on the right hand panel over there =======>>>>>>>>>

Let's see..onto more blabbing.

I saw these at poundland (I didn't buy them), and thought they were funny.  Nail Polish is really all the rage now isn't it.  

 

At first glance I thought...whats gruesome about these colours? It's a creme orange, indigo blue/purple, and a black. lol.  I don't think these are particarly for Halloween or gruesome, but I guess for a 7 year old it would be?? They had racks of this, so I really couldn't miss it.

Nor could I miss all the other brand name nail polishes just thrown into a big box for people to rummage through.  It's quite a bargain bin, and if you haven't been in poundland, because it's "cheap", definitely hop in there, I couldn't believe all the brand name cosmetics in there.  It's definitely 100 times better than the dollar stores that I've been to in America.

And last but not least, before I start with my regular postings of reviews and all...

I wanted to share with you the ring that I got a while back.  Topshop is one of my favourite stores, hands down!  But I didn't know that Topman had a jewelry section too.  Go on with your bad self men! That's right, even men can wear jewelry and still be masculine :) 

So I popped upstairs to topman and found so many rings that I love!!!

I did just come out with one though, and for only £1 what a freaking bargain. I love this ring, I need more like it too!

 

So that's it for now, I will make sure to return with some regular reviews and swatches :)

Take care ladies xx

Incoco Nail Strips in Prim & Proper

Perfect name for this set!  Prim & Proper is a new twist to your traditional houndstooth pattern.  It amps up the feminity in this masculine pattern by having a pinky champagne base. It makes a difference, even though you wouldn't think it does.  Take a look at the comparison between the Sally Hansen's houndstooth pattern and this one.

It's not as abrasive, but it still has that funky pattern.

The other neat thing about this set is that because the base is shimmery, it gives an illusion of depth, so there is this really cool 3d effect to this set.  I find this with a lot of Incoco's designer series sets.  Because there is that new element of glitter or shimmer in patterns that normally don't have it, it creates an 3d illusion.  I thinks that's very clever of them, especially with so many companies now coming out with nail strips.

Once again, I had no issues applying these.  I did my entire hands in less than 5 minutes.  I told you I'm becoming a pro at this!  I should be one of those employees that applies these to people's nails in the mall...although England doesn't really have that many malls, so hmmm.....

but anyways, I really like these.  Sometimes I'm just too impatient to paint my nails, and wait until they dry (even with fast drying topcoats), so these are just perfect for me.  I apply them, and there is no drying time.  I'm typing this blog entry literally 10 seconds after I applied my last nail on.

If you like this set, you can purchase it HERE.

Incoco Nail Strips in Cat's Meow

Meeeoooowwww....morning ladies.  
I literally was woken up early this morning by the neighbors cursing at the top of their lung. Real classy, anyways, last night I had this urge to do something really funky to my nails, so naturally I reached for the incoco nails strips.  This one is called Cat's meow and it is part of the Incoco's Design Manicure series.  It is glitter based, so it gives it a little twist to your traditional "leopard"/animal print.


I'm getting really good at putting these on. Seriously, if I can do it, then anyone can.  It takes me less than 2 minutes now to put a whole nail set on.  It just takes practice, and literally with it being warm last night, the nail strips stuck immediately on my nails and felt completely adhered to my nails within 10 minutes.  


Hope you enjoy as much as I do.

Blinded By glitter lol

Happy Hump Day everyone xx


What's everyone wearing on their nails today?

NOTD: Incoco Nail Strips in Diamond Break

Another rainy day here in sunny Suffolk.  I can't complain though, because I absolutely love rain.  


I have been god awfully busy these days, so I finally got a chance to try these Incoco nail strips.  I recently tried my first pair a couple of weeks back and recently I was sent some samples from the Winter 2011 collection. You guys know how much I love these, so I'm really excited to show you these, because these are so much more my style.  Don't get me wrong, I thought the shimmering berry rich was lovely, but this is definitely more up my alley.
I'm really getting good at applying these haha.  Today it took me all of 5 minutes to get these on and I was up and about doing stuff. 


This is Diamond Break and yes it does look like all the crackle/shatter rage going on now, and for those of you who read my blog, you know I absolutely hate it now. I use to love it and then it just took over so I'm pretty sick of it, but for some reason Diamond break doesn't bother me as much, maybe because the crackle is actually clean cut instead of jagged and messy like the shatters.  Either way, it's a pink glitter base with a black shattered effect on top.  I almost want to say because the cracks are so clean that they could even be passed off as an animal print from a distance.

I hope you can see the pink glitter base in these photos, it has been raining all day today, so there is absolutely not a lot of sun - what else is new right?


This is why I like this product:


1.  It is 3 free, meaning it doesn't contain formaldehyde, DBP or toluene


2.  You can apply this anywhere, because it doesn't have the strong odour of regular polish, but there is still a scent, because these are nail polish.  
How many times do you want to do your nails before you go out to happy hour sitting at work? This is honestly a great solution for that.


3. And they actually last.  Even after a lot of housework, and typing all day long, I saw very minimal tip wear after 6 days.


I don't think these strips are meant for girls who like to change their polish everyday, or for those who obviously love to collect and hoard nail polish bottles.


But this is actually great for the girl who:
1. is going out on the town or a special event 
2. Is running late to a date or basically any event and you want a flawless manicure without going to the salon
3. trying to do their nails at work (I am SOOO guilty of this!)
4. isn't artistic enough to do nail art (this isn't an insult, but not all of us are artistically gifted)
5. Or just appreciates flawless manicures without paying the salon price. 


I know a lot of hesitation is that you can only use these once and that for the price of a full polish bottle you can get the same thing, but if you have short nails, you can actually work it so that each strip can cover 2 nails. So if you store these well, you can actually get another wear out of package, and if you are careful with your nails, these are suppose to last up to 2 weeks.  So 4 weeks from one package isn't quite bad, but that isn't me. 
I get too bored easily and I'll want to change my polish tomorrow LOL.


I really want to try Black Diamond, 24k, bling bling, Stardust, and I saw somewhere a metallic gold foil one but can't seem to find it anymore on their website, darn.


Sadly for us UK girls, these aren't available here ( I don't think) but you can purchase them off of their website from $8.99 - $10.99 or at Walgreens.

Incoco Color Enamel Strips Manicure in Berry Rich

I'm not sure what came first..Sally Hansen nail strips or Incoco. All I know is that Incoco is more expensive and not as readily available as the Sally Hansen ones are.  I got this as part of an exchange gift from someone in the U.S. and I wanted to test this out to see how it compared to the Sally Hansen strips. 

Sally Hansen lasted on my hands for roughly 3 days before giving me tipwear.  I was also quite happy with the colour selection and overall performance for it's price.

So here is my experience with Incoco.

Packaging is not too fancy and honestly the colour looked pretty classic and standard in the package, but was gorgeous on my nails.

Here you get everything that you get in the Sally Hansen strips, but you get the nail polish remover with this one and 2 french strips. Not sure why just 2, but it was included.

Directions are very simple and easy to follow.

Application is a cinch.

You get 20 nails and the extras are so if you rip one and also there is a special tape so that you can reseal the package if you have extras.  These will dry out if you don't seal them properly. So that tape is actually convenient, because the Sally Hansen one do not have the seal included and you're on your own to re-sesal them.

You just press the strips onto you nail and you file off the extra 

Viola!

Much prettier on the nails than in the package right?

This is Day 1

Day 2

 By Day 2, I was itching to change my polish haha

But I wanted to stick by my test to see how long these lasted.

Day 3

 Day 3 consisted of heavy house cleaning, and still just minor tip wear. By Day 3, I wanted to bag this experiment all together and wear the new frankened polish I made LOL.

Day 4

 More tip wear, but nothing too noticable unless you were staring at my nails from this angle :) Pretty impressive.  4 days of typing online all day long, heavy house cleaning and still no issues, but definitely sign of tip wear.

Day 5

Ok so on Day 5, I noticed my nails have grown significantly.  You can tell by the gap between the polish and my cuticles. Tipwear was more prevalent on my middle finger, but the others were still not noticable. 

This would have lasted all of 6 days, but I had an unfortunate accident with my thumb and had to take off my polish to see how badly bruised up I was.  Yep my thumb on my right hand is definitely ugly now, luckily I only snap pics of my left hand, so I'll spare you the gory pictures hehe

This manicure lasted me a whole 6 days without looking horrendous.  This is absolutely worth the money.  It is perfect for when you go on vacation and don't want to carry nail polish with you.  The sheen/shimmer on the polish did not fade as well, so honestly if you are going somewhere for close to a week, these strips will be all that you need.

I probably could have gone all 7 days, but between the minor accident and wanting to try my new franken polish, I just went "aww hecks...off it goes" :)

So if you are worrying about these nails strips not being worth the money, well I think this one is worth it if you aren't able to do your nails every day like me :)  

Hope you are all having a good weekend and if you haven't already...

come join my first GIVEAWAY here.