Tami Beauty Gleaneagles Glamour Swatches and Review

Back in July I wrote a post about a new independent Scottish beauty brand called Tami Beauty and two of the polishes from the Scottish Showcase collection: Lady of Lomond and Skibo Sunset.  Lady of Lomond has quickly become one of my favourite polishes ever - which is a huge claim coming from a girl with nearly 300 polishes [I actually have no idea how many I have, I can't bring myself to count them].  So when I was asked if I wanted to try the third in the Scottish Showcase collection, Gleneagles Glamour*, I couldn't resist.  And it didn't disappoint...

Gleneagles Glamour* is the prettiest baby pink holo glitter polish - it absolutely sparkles in the sunshine, but equally it's beautiful when it's not catching the light.  It's so subtle, but so very beautiful.  It dries quickly and has great coverage - one coat would be fine, but I always like to do two.

Gleneagles Glamour and the Scottish Showcase collection are available from www.tamibeauty.bigcartel.com - individually they are £8.99 each, or the whole collection can be bought for £19.99 (do it, it's so worth it).  You can also find Tami Beauty here on Facebook, here on Instagram and here on Twitter.

*PR sample

HJ Manicure Lace and Vamp Swatches and Review

I always really enjoy the chance to try out new nail polish brands - and HJ Manicure is a prime example of a new British brand producing 5-free polishes.  Currently there are 20 polishes in the range, available for £9.50 each - but you get a whopping 15ml in the rather beautiful rectangular bottle for that - and there will be more shades and a Dual Top and Base Coat added for A/W 2014.

I chose to try Vamp* and Lace* - Vamp being a colour I have many varieties of in my collection (watch out for a post on them coming soon) and Lace being a colour I have none of in my collection (though I have tried to find the perfect cream in the past and failed - is this The One?)

Vamp

Vamp* is definitely a Chanel Rouge Noir-esque polish.  It is definitely one of my favourite colours to wear on my nails, particularly in autumn and winter, because it is sophisticated and really versatile in terms of what you can wear it with (anything, I reckon!)  Vamp has a lovely smooth formula, if a little on the thin/watery side - the photos above show two coats, but as you can see from my ring finger, probably three coats would be better.  The brush in the polish is super long (much longer than any other polishes I've come across) which can make it a little harder to keep steady I found.  It has a really shiny finish (no top coat in photos above) and I found it had really good lasting power.

Lace

Lace* is a sheer cream colour polish - it really is quite transparent - the photos above show two coats and you can still see my nail line.  Three coats is a better colour, I found, but felt a bit tacky to the touch even with a quick dry top coat.  It's also very smooth to paint on and has a glossy finish.  I think it may just be the cream I've been looking for - not too white, not too beige and not ridiculously sheer.

Overall I really love these polishes from HJ Manicure and I'm looking forward to seeing what is to come from them in the coming weeks.

HJ Manicure polishes are available for £9.50 each from www.hjmanicure.com.

*PR samples

Amida Spa at David Lloyd Leisure Hampton Review

During my summer holiday I was asked if I would like to have my nails done at an Amida Spa at David Lloyd Leisure and since my toes were in a proper old state (I may have mentioned this before...) after doing a half marathon and spending a couple of weeks in Africa, I jumped at the chance of having my feet pampered and toenails made pretty!

New Models Own Disco Pants Collection: Swatches and Review

Another brand new collection from Models Own was announced on Friday - the Disco Pants Collection, which comes hot on the heels of the Models Own Diamond Luxe Collection, released last month.  There are five brighter-than-bright shades in the Disco Pants Collection - Sound Factory* (blue), Paradise Grange* (green), Studio 54* (pink), Copacabana* (gold) and Roxy* (purple) - all inspired by famous New York nightclubs which had their heyday in the 80s era of disco pants, leg warmers and massive hair.  Three have a creamy pearlescent finish and two have an ultra-fine glitter in them (which - yay - is not hard to remove like normal glitter polish).