Claire's rainbow speckle nail polish

Whenever I fancy a new nail polish, I must admit, Claire's isn't somewhere that usually springs to mind. When I think of Claire's I think of jewellery and things perhaps aimed at a younger audience. How wrong was I?! Think about it. Claire's Accessories. Accessories is a broad term - it can extend to bags, hair accessories and so on. But never once did I think it would extend to beauty and nail care.

I was talking about this with a friend who exclaimed: "but Claire's does brilliant nail varnishes!". Apparently ones she purchased at school are still going strong to this very day with none of them drying up or becoming 'gloopy' like you experience with other brands.

Curiosity got the better of me, and I went to investigate the Claire's Accessories branch near my office. Whilst there were some corners with One Direction fan memorabilia, tutus, and pink fluffy boas for miniature sized people, I was delighted to find that Claire's caters to a far wider age range than I originally thought.

What I'm sharing with you today is a couple of nail polishes I picked up that I'm pretty excited by. Firstly because of my friend's sparkling recommendation of how durable they are. But secondly because of the price - a mere £2.50 per bottle. Considering these are comparable in size to the Models Own nail polishes, these are an absolute bargain of a price.

The colour I was drawn to is a speckle / confetti kind of nail polish. It was so unusual and unlike anything I'd ever seen before:

They have another colour variety too but I went out of my comfort zone and went for the neon coloured one, which is great for summer and for giving your outfit a pop of colour. I also purchased a white nail polish to use as an undercoat. And here's the final result:

Other hands will flock to admire... *poke*

The nail polish spreads like a dream. Time will tell how long they last before chipping, but so far I'm impressed!

The prettiest nails you ever did see // Revlon x Marchesa

Some of you eager fashionistas may have already spotted images of Revlon's wonderful new collaboration with red carpet favourite Marchesa:

Image credit for all above: Marcio Madeira - found via Brazilian Vogue here

Image credit: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images; Revlon - image found here 

All nail designs are based on gowns from Marchesa's AW collection

They look like they cost the earth but in actual fact they will retail at....... £8.99. With nail polishes increasing in price these days - what's the deal with that? - £8.99 isn't all that bad, comparatively. And this is Marchesa we're talking about. With gowns retailing in the thousands, I think I can deal with £8.99.

Each nail design is truly beautiful - a work of art. With an increasing demand for nail art - we've seen diversity from the likes of Ciaté's latest feather nail manicure, shatter effects, nail cavier and Illamasqua's speckle nails - any form of new nail product that wants to stand a chance in the current market needs to stand out. These ones from Revlon + Marchesa sure do and I predict that we'll be seeing a lot of them on blogs, Instagram and the alike once they go on sale.

I'm very excited to see if Revlon and Marchesa continue to work together in the future. There is potentially a cosmetic line in the works - with a focus on eyes and lips - but everything is still very hush hush. If it's anything like the sneak peak of their nail art range [above], then it's very promising indeed!

#7 Life as we know it

Making the most of the last few summery evenings with cava and strawberries:

Pizza Hut's new chorizo pizza makes me happy

More cider - or should I say cidre - filled evenings

... and days too, come to mention it...

Wasps that interfere with quality cider drinking time get taught a lesson:

Trying new tea (peach and blackcurrant)

Making olive and sun dried tomato bread from scratch

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Work charity cake sale where I fell in love with Oreo speckled cupcakes

Cooked breakfasts... what dreams are made of

I've come down with the flu so my life right about now consists of hot drinks - Lemsip, green tea and hot chocolate - and my bed. It's always important to keep your fluid levels up so I've been eyeing up these lovely sounding hot chocolates from Whittards. Ever tried any of these?

What have you been up to lately?

Mesmerised

They say your hands are the first part of you to age and that you can often guess someone’s age from their hands. If there’s any truth in that, I was an 80 year old woman for a while. I had what you would call “builder’s hands”. Nasty, dry mitts with a texture not all that different from sandpaper. And let’s not forget a lovely set of jaggy nails prone to chipping and splitting. My hand wrinkles offended my eyes and I was sorely tempted to iron them out.

Miraculously, no longer being in education seems to have been the cure of all cures. My nails are no longer chewed and non-existent – they actually have whites to them!

But their continued growth and strength is all thanks to this wonderful product:

Never have my hands been so smooth! If you haven’t already tried Atrixo, I highly recommend it. You can find it in your local Boots for just £2.03 for a 50ml tub.

Never before have rings suited me. It’s like seeing a burger with whipped cream on top – Just. Not. Right. Now I have semi nice ish looking hands, I have a new found appreciation for rings. And this ring in particular caught my eye in last week’s Stylist:

Aqua Tear Druzy, £79, www.redrubyrouge.com

The site also has an array of different colours and styles. The “Milk Tear Druzy Ring” also makes for good ring porn :)

I am so in love with the pictured blue gorgeousness, it’s not funny. But the price makes me cry a little inside. This would be most of my day’s wage gone in an instant.

I know there are similar “rock ring” creations on the high street at the moment but they just don’t compare in terms of quality. I like to think that for £79, this ring would last a life time.

What are your thoughts? Is this ring gorgeous enough to merit the £79 price tag? You can also find me on Twitter: @Lucy_Angele