Mark Hill: Magic Wand Review

I've been a huge lover of curling wands since they first came out quite a while ago.. I used to walk past the stands in the shopping centres really slowly, just so I could watch the assistants do their thing & transform normal hair into princess hair! They're so many different brands and types of wands these days, that's its hard to know which one to go for? I was kindly sent this little bundle of Mark Hill products from the lovelies at Label PR to review. I'll talk you through the steps I took to create my final look & what products I loved the most and what ones not so much!

Magnitone Barefaced Review

Nail Art #8 Ciate Caviar Manicure

So last night I tried out my own version of the Ciate Caviar nail manicure & I'm personally not raving about it even though it looks really different and edgy. I'll get to the pros and cons in a little while but first I'll tell you how I did it. Obviously as you can see, the beads I've used are not the Ciate ones, as I bought a little pack of purple and denim mixture of beads for £1.99 on Ebay here. I was literaly so excited when they arrived that straight away I got my little nail polish box out and started to decide what colour polish to use. I choose  to use white for the purple beads and a Barry M duk blue for the denim mix beads. I then followed the Ciate instructions and did two coats of varnish and applied the beads whilst the second coat was still wet and pressed them down to secure the beads. I was really chuffted with the result and continued to finish of the rest of my nails. I didn't apply a top coat as it dulls the bead design, so I just used it on the very tips of my nails instead.

(I have realised that these micro beads I ordered are far larger than the ones used in the actual caviar manicure!  which may be the reason for many of my cons - sorry for the late realisation)

Tips

•  Use a thick nail polish and not a cheap one which might be thinner as it won't hold the beads very well
• My beads came in a little bag so I dipped my nail in the bag rather then sprinkling the beads over the top as the Ciate instructions suggest.
• I would probably only do it on one nail next time rather than all of them

Pros

• It looks really nice once all the nails are done
• Its a very different nail manicure which is going to stick around for a while

Cons

• The manicure it self only lasts under 1 day. The beads fall off very quickly and it looks patchy almost straight away
• The nail polish takes a lot longer to dry as not as much air gets to them as usual which leads to my next point...
• It can be a little messy, as I ended up with tiny beads all over the place (mainly from ones that fell off my nails after I had finished applying them as they take a while to dry)

Overall I really like the Ciate Caviar manicure idea, and although I have not used the real Ciate Caviar manicure, I'm sure it will have the same pros and cons list as my own little version unless their nail polish is like super glue haha.

Have you tried the Ciate Caviar nail manicure yet?

Product Review #2

I have a big love of high voluminous hair and I'm always spending ages back combing it to get some sort of volume but unfortunately I'm a huge sufferer of flat lifeless hair. It just never seems to stay in at the roots- until I discovered this! The first time I discovered this little genius product was a few years ago at the hairdressers & I've been on the hunt for one ever since. This Tresemme hair plummping powder is one of many volumising hair products our there on the market, but only costs a fraction of the price compared to many of the other products I've seen (hence the reason why I haven't tried one of them out before now). To use the product you just simply seperate your hair where you would normally start to back comb your hair and sprinkle a little of the powder over the top. It instantly stiffens your locks which makes the back combing stay in longer! I absolutely love! It's also easy to comb out of your hair too!

I bought this from Superdrug as they have an offer at the moment: buy 2 for £6.99 or £6.50 each 

(I obviously took advantage of the offer)

Luckily I had enough points on my beauty card to buy these with 10% off!

Don't forget Superdrug offer 10% off with an NUS extra card!

Happy back combing!

Product Review #1

Anyone that knows me should know that I am completely obsessed with lipsticks! 

I own over 12 shades of bright pinks and reds & I never leave the house without it.. The only problem is my friends absolutely hate when I give them a big sloppy kiss & then they're left with lipstick stains all over their face. Whoops!

So I tried out Max Factors Lip tint pen in shade 06 & fell in love! Its almost lip a felt tip pen which you draw on. It transforms your lips into a bright red pout - & I can't stop raving about it to everyone - and best of all it doesn't rub off!

I apply it once at the start of a night out, and top it up slightly from where it has come off due to eating/drinking!

Although word of warning, if your having a dry/cracked lip moment I wouldn't recommend wearing this, as the colour sticks more to dryer areas of skin and can look slightly messy.

 

£7.99 

*3 for 2 at Superdrug plus student discount*