I don't think you're ready for this Gelly - Barry M Nail Paint

For quite a while now I've been neglecting my nails. When I started at college in 2011 I slowly started to stop painting my nails because whenever I did (as I was dancing and handwriting so much) they were chipped and looked awful the next day. As I finished college a few months ago I began to notice that my nails have improved (they are longer and stronger with no horrible snapped off bits) and thought now I have such nice canvases it would be a shame to leave them looking so dull.

I went into my shoe box full of nail varnish to discover there weren't really any colours I wanted to wear. Some of the polishes I'm almost certain I've have since I was 10 (such as the 'Wicked Witch peelable glow in the dark nail paint' I hold in the picture below), so I went onto Amazon (as it was around 3AM) and had a little browse.

I came across quite a few different brands such as China Glaze, and OPI, but I didn't want to spend too much considering there's no guarantee I'll keep up with it. So I decided I'd go with a few of the Gelly Hi Shine Nail Paints by Barry M as they were a very reasonable price and I'd seen a few of my friends posting about it on Instagram. The retail price for this product is £3.99 (although I paid a little under that as I got them off Amazon).

I went with 'Prickly Pear' (Left), 'Pomegranate' (Middle), and 'Watermelon' (Right).
I wanted to choose some pretty colours as before I would only really wear Red, Black, Pale Pink, or a metallic Turquoise; though sometimes I'd 'spice' it up with some black crackle effect over the top.

I decided I'd first try out 'Prickly Pear' as I'm still LOVING pale and pastelly colours, and I have to say I am impressed! I applied this colour on Saturday and it is now Tuesday night, I can see no chipping or areas of wear whatsoever - the only imperfections are due to me being unsure of the best application method (tried doing very thin coats at first but then realised it was looking a little streaky and uneven so continued with thicker layers). As for the colour I absolutely love it! It's the perfect pale purple shade and it really does have a 'Hi - Shine' to it which looks gorgeous! (and dare I say more expensive?!) I also couldn't help but notice the texture and feel of the nail paint; it seems very solid but doesn't seem to harden the nail in any way, and it also has a lovely smooth finish to it.

 

Over all I am very pleased with my purchase and can't wait to try out the other two colours! I would recommend this product to anyone looking for a brilliant nail polish at a reasonable price! I expect to be picking up a few of the other shades in the near future (as well as throwing out most of my existing nail varnish collection!)

Removing/ lightening hair dye with vitamin C!

A few weeks ago I decided to dye my hair 'my little pony'-esque (pastel pink with a few streaks of other pastel colours in it) as a spur of the moment thing. I haven't had my hair any shade of pink in about two years and I was surprised as I really loved it! The pink was much paler than any shade I'd had before - so obviously it faded out very quickly.

Considering how happy I was with the initial dye I was quick to touch up my hair when it had started to fade out. While I was mixing the dye I accidentally put too much pink in with the conditioner but thought to myself, ah well! It won't come out too bad! - How wrong I was.

The colour my hair came out was an extremely bright pink, similar to what I had had years ago. I thought perhaps I don't like it because I haven't had dark hair (in comparison to my skin tone) in quite a while, so I thought I might just let it fade out... But after waking up to it the next morning I decided I just did not like it.

I grabbed my handy products and started to mix up my home made hair stripper. To make this you will need: Shampoo, a mixing bowl, any kind of vitamin C tablets/ powder, water (optional), and washing up liquid (optional).

How I made my mixture: I put four of the vitamin C tablets in my mixing bowl and broke them up a tiny bit, I then added the tiniest amount of water and left them to dissolve (Mine were the dissolvable kind, if you have the regular tablets just put them in a bag and smash them up with a hammer or try using a pestle and mortar). I then came back to it when they were dissolved and started to mix in shampoo until I had enough to cover my whole head.

                  

I applied the mixture to my hair, leaving it on for between 30-45 minutes. The pigment did seem to bleed out from my hair quite quickly while the mixture was on. After rinsing it off I could see a difference in the colour of my hair already. I decided to repeat the process twice because the initial colour was quite dark so I thought I had best get rid of as much of the pigment as possible to get it down to a more pastel tone. After rinsing the final time here were my results: 

 

I am very happy with how much pigment the vitamin C mixture pulled out of my hair. The colour is still darker than the last dye but is still a beautiful pale pink colour! 

(If you use this method make sure you deep condition your hair afterwards as this can be very drying to your hair!)