You Need These Glass Nail Files From Mont Bleu

You Need These Glass Nail Files From Mont Bleu

Skin care Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, June 01, 2017

My first experience with a glass nail file was very short-lived and ended abruptly when I accidentally stepped on it - don't ask! The ensuing mess meant I had to buy new bedroom slippers, and I've never really found a pair as comfortable as my froggie pair. Thankfully, the file itself was plain.
This time around, the journey is far easier. For one, the nail files I'm showing you today are absolute beauties, so I'm more careful. Secondly, each Czech glass file comes in an individual slip-case. I've already dropped these a couple of times and they've held! Finally, these are so much kinder to my already-brittle nails than steel files.
Mont Bleu Files are made with the famous Bohemian glass, and are decorated with precious metals, handpainting, and Swarovski crystals. They are crafted in Prague with fine-tempered glass. 

Scroll down for a closer look at the Mont Bleu Glass Nail Files.

pr sample

Le Mini Macaron Gel Manicure Kit in Grape: Review and NOTD

Le Mini Macaron Gel Manicure Kit in Grape: Review and NOTD

Reviews Cosmetopia Digest   Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Some time ago, Lisa of Cosmetics Sanctuary mentioned a Kickstarter project for Le Mini Macaron Gel Manicure Kits. For backing the project, you would get a gel kit free and they shipped worldwide. I signed up at once. Every one of the kits was sold out in a matter of days and there were 542 backers.

The Kickstarter project was run by Christina Kao. It took them a while to get through all the orders because there were that many! The colour options were Grape, Strawberry and Cherry Red. I picked Grape and pledged $25.
I received my kit in May but could not play with it because of travel. Airplanes, for unknown reasons, are lethal to my nails and I ended up with nubs (which are slowly growing).
This was my first time with gel polish and I was quite apprehensive about burning my hands, breaking my nails even further, ending up with no nails at all, discolouration, inability to get rid of the gel polish, World War III....

Scroll down for more about Le Mini Macaron Gel Manicure Kit.

Periwinkle, glitter and duochrome manicure for Summer and London face

Periwinkle, glitter and duochrome manicure for Summer and London face

Summer Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, June 18, 2015

This is a very short post, since I am running from pillar to post in London. I found time to paint my nails last night - after coming back from Althorp (Literary Festival - sadly couldn't find time to visit Princess Diana's memorial thanks to the rain and train). I've bought six bottles of nail polish so far and got one free, so not too bad. Surprisingly, the OPI counters don't seem to have the sheer tints. Boo. Even the Middle East Sephoras seem to get the new launches earlier.
Anyway, for this mani, I began with Barielle Rain in Spain, which is a nice periwinkle. I wanted a glitter topper and went in for Sinful Colors Petal be the day above this. I didn't like the effect after one light coat, so I finished up with KBShimmer Urban Camo, which I love so much so that I will use it over pretty much every polish for a while. Here are the results:

Meanwhile, this has happened to my face:

Nail tutorial: How to take your mani through the week

Nail tutorial: How to take your mani through the week

Tutorials Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, June 07, 2015

Greetings from London, where Summer requires a few layers, a scarf and a jacket. I was in Bristol where my internet access was irregular-to-nonexistent, so it's good to be back online. Since I am trying to do a gazillion things here as well as find time to eat and live, some of my friends are kindly helping me out here for a while. Today, it is Nidia Doherty of Lit From Within. You have to visit Nidia's blog and look at that cute firefly, the way she matches her manis to her skincare and makeup products and her trove of trivia on all topics from essential oils to moisturisers. Over to Nidia now.

Hello, Readers! My name is Nidia, and I run a little blog called Lit From Within.  I'm excited to share a little nail art with you today! When I was putting this look together, I was thinking about how to take a mani through the week.  Maybe you have to be more conservative with your nails during the workweek, or maybe you don't have time to do anything other than a one-color mani most of the time, but you want to change it up for an event.

Valentine's Day Cupid Nail Art with OPI Fifty Shades of Grey

Valentine's Day Cupid Nail Art with OPI Fifty Shades of Grey

Valentine's Day Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, February 05, 2015

Featuring O.P.I. Romantically Involved and My Silk Tie from the Fifty Shades of Grey collection.

Random irrelevant fact: I hate the Fifty Shades books. I would rather read about the chemical composition of earwax and bogies.
Despite this, I really like O.P.I.'s Fifty Shades of Grey collection. There are some greys, a beautiful red, a silver and a teal blue. I will swatch the whole lot for you shortly. More on the polishes I used below.

Autumn nail art challenge: Red and black

Autumn nail art challenge: Red and black

Swatches Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, October 05, 2014

What kind of complete klutz breaks a whole bottle of O.P.I. I'm Not Really A Waitress halfway through application for a red-themed nail art?  And then realises that this was the only true red polish she had?
I know it is well over three months since I last painted my nails. The fact is that all the travel I have been doing broke and damaged my nails badly - airplanes and lugging suitcases - and I developed weird hangnail-like protrusions from the sides. I will tell you more about them and how I solved the problem in another post. For now, I am going to celebrate my return to nail polishing with a nail art challenge series that runs through the rest of this year.
Read on for more deets and photos.