Texture and Embellishments for S/S'13 at Nails Inc

Good afternoon beauties!

A couple of weeks ago i was lucky enough to be invited along to see what heavyweight nail brand Nails Inc have in store for us in the new year. I've left it a little while before writing this post as i wanted to wear a few of the beautiful polishes i took home that night and include a few of the shades in order to showcase them properly. 

Polishes (l-r): Devonshire Row, Sloane Square, The Thames, Stonehenge, Richmond Terrace

On the night we got to ogle all the new releases for the next year and got to pick 5 polishes to take home and play with from a VERY tempting table along with their bestselling Caviar Topcoat as an extra treat. Check out London Lipgloss and Lily Melrose diving in (i'm not stalking them by the way, i only noticed after that it was them in the photo haha). There were also some lovely Nails Inc girlies working VERY hard to give us all stunning new manicures. 

For my own manicure on the night, i gravitated immediately towards the new Leather-Effect polishes which Nails Inc are releasing as gift sets (including swarovski crystals and skull decals) this month in time for Xmas priced at £19. The individual polishes will then be available from March 2013 priced at £12 each. 

The shade i chose for my own nails was Shoreditch Lane (Mulberry Leather Effect). They even stuck on a couple of little skullies for a good measure! 

I'm so surprised at how long this manicure lasted for! Even the skulls lasted a whole week at work and i actually had to physically remove them in the end, when the polish finally DID start to chip. But it was perfect for the best part of a week. That was with basecoat, 2 coats of the leather polish and nail glue to adhere the skulls. I will be buying this polish when it comes out. I absolutely love it!

Texture was a big theme throughout the evening. Here are some examples....

Uber pretty Feather Effect polishes (released March 2013), also available in a loose dust form to be used with other colour polishes. They almost look like sweets! 

These Concrete Effect polishes were released this month and this is definitely my favourite of all the polishes i took home with me. The shade is Stonehenge, but there are 3 other colours available including Marble Arch (a brilliant red), London Wall (a beigy nude shade that i am kicking myself for not picking up as well) and Monument (a flourescent lime shade). Again, 2 coats of this polish lasts a long time and it dries super quick!! 

One that i didn't get to road test was the Denim Effect polish which will be released in June 2013. I got a little confused when i walked in and saw all the jeans, but once i clapped eyes on the polish i got the idea. 

As we're in December now, i couldn't resist throwing in a bit of glitter for this post. As one of the polishes i picked up was Sloane Square, i decided to try it out last week.....

So my first hint of festive sparkle comes on top of the, not so festive, The Thames which is murky grey in the bottle, but leans slightly green once on the nails. I actually love the shade and i'm not surprised its one of their top sellers. Sloane Square brightens it up a treat though and the colour of the glitters compliments it perfectly! This mani also lasted a week! I'm on the same train i was on last week as i was when i did this manicure and i'm only just feeling the need to repaint. So impressed with the longevity of these polishes!! 

I could go on and on and on about everything i saw that night, but i'll let you discover the rest as 2013 unfolds. Needless to say it involves sparkles, crystals and some serious COLOUR!! You really can't fault Nails Inc for product innovation. They always come up with something spectacular! 

Are you a fan of texture on your nails?? What do you think of Nails Inc's latest innovations?? 

Pretty Gothic by Jewel-Rhi

Evening lovelies.

I'm getting super organised tonight and typing up a whole WEEK'S worth of posts as i have so many assignments to finish this week its not even funny! This first slice of blog tart is dedicated to the talents of a thoroughly LOVELY fellow blogger by the name of Rhi, who you might know better as OtherSideofCool. Rhi has started making some amazing handmade jewellery pieces and we decided that we were going to do a little swap. I sent her one of my own handmade iPhone cases and she sent me some of her jewellery items. 

Her site is better known as Jewel-Rhi  

Rhi describes her creations as being 'Edgy, but with a Girlie Twist". I'm such a fan of anything skulls and crosses but i love how she makes these pieces so dainty, despite the gothic style of the charms she uses. I also love the little Tiffany-esque heart shaped bar clasps she uses. I received 3 items from her collection....

6-Cross Necklace

This was the first piece i saw from the site (i saw Rhi modelling it herself on Instagram) and i instantly went a bit mad about it. She also sent me the matching bracelet (which i conveniently forgot to photograph for this post, but can be seen below modelled by moi).... 

5-Skull Necklace

It has actually transpired that i have worn this item more than the others. I just LOVE how the little skullies are grinning away! I've even been wearing this to work and had loads of compliments about it. I've been wearing this one more for daytime wear and keeping the crosses for evening as it just seems more dressy in my opinion. 

As you can see her designs are so simple but manage to be both pretty AND stylish at the same time! They are super affordable too. The necklaces are £5 a piece and the bracelet is a snip at just £3.50!!

You can view all Rhi's gorgeous items at jewelrhishop.bigcartel.com and make sure you follow Rhi's fabulous Blog. Her outfit posts are AWESOME and she's a hair and makeup junkie to boot!! My kinda gal! 

For any questions about products from Jewel-Rhi you can get in touch via shopjewelrhi@gmail.com

I've really been getting more into jewellery just lately. I'm gasping to get something else pierced soon as well. I really fancy a couple of dermals in my collarbone if i can grow the balls to actually go through with it!

What accessories get you excited?? Are you a skull or a cross kinda gal?? What other handmade sites do you LOVE??