Super shiny nails at the teeniest price!

Our favourite nail polishes are without doubt, The Complete Salon Manicure from Sally Hansen. You can see our review of their gorgeous Calypso Blue here. Containing a base coat, strengthener, growth treatment, colour and top coat in one, you only need to apply two coats for a really opaque, high shine finish. Despite all the typing we do, they always last for at least a week without chipping, which means they’re our go to polishes of the moment!

We thought it was about time to add to our collection, and as you can see we picked up eight new shades recently. The colours are really bright and cover fantastically well. Plus, they finish to such a high shine you can almost see your reflection in them! They translate really well from the bottle to your nail, so you can see exactly what they’ll come out like, just by looking at the colour in the bottle. 

Shades L-R: Pat on the Black, Gray by Gray, Shiny Penny, Madame

Shades L-R: Pat on the Black, Shiny Penny, Gray by Gray, Madame

Our favourite shades are Gray by Gray, a pale green/grey shade; Madame, a coral pink; Oxide, a black and silver glitter mix and Navy Baby, a deep shiny navy shade. 

Now we’ll let you into the biggest secret………We picked up these beauties in Poundland! Yes, we were shocked too, but we’re not ones to look a gift horse in the mouth. So we filled our basket and raced to the checkout before they decided they’d made a mistake!

From what our facebook and twitter followers have told us, not all Poundland stores stock Sally Hansen, so if you’re not lucky enough to have one near you, we’d suggest FragranceDirect.co.uk who have a large selection of shades priced at 99p plus delivery. 

Shades L-R: Anenome of Mine, Courtesan, Navy Baby, Oxide

Shades L-R: Anenome of Mine, Courtesan, Navy Baby, Oxide

Otherwise, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure retail at around £6.99 each – and if we hadn’t picked up these great bargains, we’d be very happy to pay this for the great quality! 

Have you managed to pick up any bargains? Which is your favourite Sally Hansen shade?

Don’t let skin problems get you down…

Most of us can probably remember having skin issues during our teenage years, trying every product from the chemist to try and give us skin like the very lucky few we envied so much. Thank god you grow out of it eh? But what happens if you don’t? Or you do, but then problem skin comes back to haunt you years later? This is a more familiar story than you probably think, and we’re not just talking about acne. Rosecea, thread veins and other skin conditions cause many twenty-something’s and older, to wish for something else when they look in the mirror.

Although thebeautyobsession is focussed on all things beauty, we firmly believe that it’s not just the stereotypical supermodel who demonstrates beauty. Everyone can, flaws and all. It’s all about how you carry yourself and how you let your inner beauty shine through. This is often easier said then done though.

We wanted to take this opportunity to say there really is no such thing as perfect, and you shouldn’t feel like you have to hide away because of your skin. We want to take the embarrassment out of pimples, spots, redness and peeling skin and get people talking about skin issues.

We thought we’d start this series with a few tips on how to live with skin problems;

• Firstly, LIVE! Life is short, and it is far too short to turn down invites or shy away from meeting people because of your appearance. We know that worrying about skin problems can be incredibly difficult and can mean some people withdraw and become incredibly shy. You need to remind yourself that you are still you, and that you haven’t changed just because your skin has. Your friends and family still love you, you’re still capable of being witty or intelligent or whatever you’ve always been good at and if you’re worried about strangers don’t be. Only incredibly shallow people will judge you based on the appearance of your skin and would you really want to spend time with them anyway? People will notice much more if your demeanour is timid and self-conscious so stand tall and play on your strengths.
• Get professional advice. There’s no point sitting at home worrying about your skin problem but not wanting to talk about it through embarrassment. If your skin is causing you real issues, we’d advise that you make a trip to see your GP. They’ll be able to advise you if your problem is a medical issue and if they can support you with prescription medication or psychological support. If you or your GP think it is a purely cosmetic issue, then take some time to find an expert who can talk you through a skincare routine that could help. That might mean going to a salon or facialist, or finding an online support group.
• Look at the big picture. So you’re spending a fortune on your skincare regime but things aren’t improving? It’s not enough to rely on the products you put on your face, you need to thing about everything you put in your body too. A poor diet instantly shows on your face as well as the scales, causing everything from acne to allergies. The age-old fascination with drinking water for your skin is proven, and is often said to be the single biggest and cheapest benefit you can give to your skin. Sleep is also incredibly important, if you aren’t sleeping well, you’ll soon see the effects on your skin. While you sleep, your body works hard to repair and generate skin cells and it can’t do this if you’re only getting a few hours sleep a night. Take some time to look at your night time routine and make sure you’re getting your full eight hours.
• Don’t stress. Easier said than done we know, but your stress levels have a real impact on your skin. It maybe that stress is what has triggered your problem, or it could be that you’re getting stressed because of them. Either way, you can bet that it will be having a negative effect. Keep track of your stress levels everyday for a week and score yourself from 1 – 5. 1 being laidback and relaxed, to five being steam coming out of your ears stressed. If you score over 3 more than twice, you need to take stock of your day-to-day life and assess how you can give yourself some more “me time” to relax and think through some techniques to calm yourself when you feel your blood pressure rising.
• Put things into perspective. We are in no way underestimating the affect that skin problems can have on your life. They can affect every aspect of it, from home and work to relationships and friendships. However, please try and remember the old adage that there is always someone worse off than you, you may have bad skin but at least you’re still alive to worry about it! Take a step back and think about what advice you would give to a friend in this situation. It’s likely that you would tell them that it’s not as noticeable as they think, and that they really shouldn’t worry about it. Heed your own advice and take it all on board!
• Find out how to cover up! Bad makeup application can make a skin problem a whole lot worse. Rather than hiding the problem, it can often highlight the area and draw attention to it. Get yourself to your local makeup counter with a friend and ask them to show you how to apply a good base and cover up properly. Most counters have professionally trained makeup specialists and don’t charge for demoing products. Some will charge a small fee but you can redeem it on products if you wish. Knowing how to apply makeup properly will give your confidence a boost and help you regain some control over your skin.
• Play to your strengths. Your skin might be playing up, but we guarantee that everyone has at least one great feature they can play up. It might be your great hair, or your gorgeous eyes. It might be your amazing figure or your cracking smile. What ever it is, highlight it. You’ll soon find that people will notice that long before they notice anything about your skin.Make sure you’re making the best of everything else as well, and pay attention to the little things. If your eyebrows are groomed, your nails are painted and your teeth are clean and bright, you’d be amazed at how little else people notice.

And Finally – we really don’t agree with covering photos of celebrities with red rings and highlighting other people’s flaws. However, a quick internet search on most celebrities without makeup, will bring up thousands of pictures of everyone from the A-list to reality TV stars, all with blemishes, allergies, pigmentation, redness and more. Take a quick look now, and realise that EVERYONE, no matter their age, status or the amount of money they have in the bank, goes through stages where they’d like to go out with a paper bag on their head. Except they don’t, they utilise some clever makeup tips, stand up straight and face the world. And that is exactly what you need to do.

Watch out for more articles around skin problems. Tweet us using the #skindeep and tell us if you’ve found these tips useful, and let us know if you have any of your own.
Thanks for reading.

tbo

xxx

#NailTrend: Our Nails Put Their Hats On To MUA!

We were really excited when MUA released their Fur-Effect Nails last month. Being massive lovers of textured nails and big fans of the Ciate Velvet Nails, we couldn’t wait to try this much more affordable take on the trend. 

We thought we’d do something a bit different, so rather than coat the whole nail in the Fur-Effect, we decided to do just the tips – we think it looks like our nails have little fur hats on! This look is really simple to do; firstly, we painted our nails with two coats of Sally Hansen Complete Manicure in Gray by Gray. Once they were completely dry, we then applied another coat just to the tips. 

The Fur-Effect nails are very easy to use. We found the best way was to completely remove the sifter tray and dip the tip of our nails in one by one. You then just need to gently press, to ensure the fur has stuck fast and you can then move on to the next nail. To make sure you get an even line, use a damp cotton bud to tidy up the edges where necessary. 

The nails will dry very quickly and it’s fine to wash your hands etc, you won’t lose your fur! There have been lots of comments on whether these are a dupe of the Ciate Velvet Nails, and whilst they are a similar principle, the MUA version do seem to be made from longer, fluffier particles, which really does give more of a furry effect as opposed to the crushed velvet with Ciate. 

Our nail hats go on to MUA (get it, get it!?) another great idea at a great price! Fur-Effect Nails are £3 per pot from muastore.co.uk or Superdrug. We used the shade “Fluffy Bobbin” but there are five shades to pick from.

Look what’s coming from OPI…..!

The Impossible

Stay the Night

Pink Yet Lavender

Those clever people at OPI have done it again with their latest collaboration with Mariah Carey! We’ve said it before, we’re not massive fans of celeb ranges, nor are we huge fans of Mariah herself for that matter, but we are lovers of OPI and we really can’t wait to get our mitts on these gorgeous new polishes for Spring 2013.

There are eight new shades in the range, four “studio” colours and four “stage” colours. The stage colours are part of OPI’s new Liquid Sand range, which is what it says on the bottle – glitter polish with a texture like sand. We said that textured nails would be even bigger this year, and it looks like we weren’t wrong!

These beauties are launching on ASOS.com in the first week of February, so keep your eyes peeled.

(Pssst, ASOS have a great deal on their ASOS Premier package – for £9.95 you can get free next day delivery, free collections on any returns, a monthly ASOS mag and early access to the sales and new arrivals – for a whole year! There’s no minimum order value either – we think this is going to be dangerous for our lunchtime shopping habits!)

Sprung

A Butterfly Moment

Get Your Number

#NailTrends – NAILEDIT UK

Rock That Baroque

In A Galaxy Far Far Away

To Me T-Woo

We love what we do, we get to find out about so many amazing people and their great ideas! One we’ve discovered recently is NailedIt UK. Founded by Lucy Gronner in September 2012, NailedIt UK brings the most amazing nail art to the tips of your fingers. Lucy has created some amazing designs which she paints onto sets of falsies and sends straight to you!

You can choose from two different widths of nails and you can use nail glue or nail tabs to apply them. If you can’t find a design you like (which is unlikely we think) Lucy will even design your own custom set for you.

You can see more of the range at http://www.nailedituk.com

#NailTrends Velvet Nails – Love or Loathe?

We’re a bit late jumping on the velvet nails bandwagon as Ciate released their Velvet Manicure sets a few weeks back now. We love both colours in the range; Blue Suede and Berry Poncho. We’ve gone with the berry shade first, because we thought it would fit well with the Christmas season – we weren’t disappointed!

The kit comes with a full size paint pot in Cabaret, a deep purple shade, a pot of crushed velvet and a little brush. All you do is apply one coat of polish and allow it to dry, then apply the second coat one nail at a time. Whilst the nail is still wet, you just apply the crushed velvet. You are supposed to just shake the pot over the nail, but we found not a lot of product actually dispenses and as you need quite a lot to ensure even coverage it was easier to take the lid off and pour it over. You need to apply quite a lot so that the nail is completely covered with a thick layer of velvet, then use the little brush to remove any excess. If you do this over a tray, you can pour any excess back into the pot to avoid wastage. 

We have to say, we actually adore this look. The matt finish looks luxurious and it really does look and feel like you have pieces of velvet on your nails. So no good if you’re one of those people who cringe when touching velvet, but great if not! On a practical level these are much easier to wear than the Caviar pearls; you can get them wet, they just return to the original finish once they’ve dried.We wouldn’t recommend getting moisturisers or oil on them as it does ruin the effect, so they’re not something we could wear all the time. Another thing to note is that as you’ve actually turned your nails to fabric, they do tend to attract fluff and lint. So if you have a cat like we do, you may find yourself having to remove hairs that seem to be magnetically drawn to them!

We’ll be sporting these over Christmas can’t wait to show them off! You can buy the Velvet Manicure kits for £14 from ASOS.