Acrylic Nails: The Lowdown

As I seem to have been rattling on about on my blog for the past few weeks, I got acrylic nails. I got these for my graduation ball (see my treat yo self post for what else I got done) so that my nails would look nice in photos, and when I look back in 20years I won't be scowling at how bad they looked. I also got them for confidence, as an avid nail biter for all of my life, I've never had much to show for nails even in my periods of no biting, and I wanted that to change.

For weeks and weeks I have been watching nail videos on YouTube. They are so addictive and so mesmerising and some of the art on show is incredible. My favourite channel is Naio Nails if anyone is wondering (they are incred). Watching these videos put me at ease with acrylics. You have all heard the horror stories of your nails being left half hanging off or having no nail bed left, but that just isn't the case if you have your nails done professionally and take them off properly.

So here are some tips for anyone getting acrylics done for the first time, and are rightly scared like I was about the whole process.

NAIL TYPE
You have to make the decision on whether you want acrylic or gel, tips or no tips, and what shape you want. I went for acrylic because all the YouTube videos had put my mind at ease. In my extensive researching I also found it quite hard to find places that did gel extensions in the first place. I also had tips put on my nails as they were really short to begin with. Some salons use forms to extend your nails (and create an extension made entirely out of acrylic). I think it depends on the overall shape of your nails and what you want them to look like/ your technicians skill. For the shape I went for rounded. I know from experience that I can't stand sharp edges on my nails so that influenced my decision. There are so many shapes out there from coffin to ballerina so please do your research on what shape you want before entering the salon.

THE SALON
I researched nail salons for weeks and weeks. I started looking for salons that were on Instagram/ Facebook. As I was trying to find a salon in Sheffield I simply searched for Sheffield nails and found a few salons which looked good. I then went on their Facebook pages to see reviews/ tagged posts/ wall posts, which gave me good insight into what the salon was like. It was very easy to whittle down the good salons from the bad by using this method of research, as you can tell if people are happy by the reviews left/ how many people comment on posts asking to book. I eventually settled on the Salon I went to (Beautiful Nails all the way down Eccy Road if anyone in Sheffield is interested) as nobody seemed to have anything bad to say about them. I then messaged them, asked about prices and what acrylic they used (mainly to see if it was the powder or not) and booked in.

THE PROCESS
Our appointment was at 10am on a Thursday, and me and my housemate stupidly got very drunk the night before. This made the whole process far more scary as I was trying to not be sick. But hey ho. We arrived and were asked to wait, then sat at our counters and the technician started work. He filed my natural nail slightly using one of them drill things (such fear went through my mind at this point), cut my natural nails even shorter than normal and then glued the tip on. The tip is glued to the very end of your nails using nail glue, and then they cut the nail tip down to the length and shape you want. After this he then started applying the acrylic. The acrylic is in powder form until the liquid stuff they use is added via a brush, and then little beads of it are added to your nails, and brushed over to form a coating on your nail. This process was done about 3 times until the desired nail was achieved. The acrylic then air dries and is filed and buffed into shape. You're then asked to wash your hands to get all the dust off and then can choose your polish. The polish is a normal polish which doesn't come off your nails at all. Seriously, acrylics are magic for nail polish longevity! I was then left with beautiful looking, if not slightly weird feeling nails.

MY OPINIONS
At first, like all things in my life, I kinda hated them. They felt really alien and I just couldn't get used to them. I was tempted to buy acetone and take them off the day after graduation ball (lol joke I couldn't move out of bed the day after graduation ball) but soon I got used to them, and I loved them. I loved how elegant they made my hand look, how beautiful my hand looked and how much I just looked really girly and feminine. I didn't think I would feel that way about them but I grew to absolutely love them. Granted there are a few cons, its impossible to burst spots, get a good scratch on or press the button at the lights and typing/ scrolling is quite the nightmare, but they're good and well worth having.

REMOVAL
Well you will all be pleased to know that my next post is dedicated to their removal, I didn't want to have to go back to salon to get them removed for £10, and like the control freak I am I wanted to be left completely in charge of my nail beds destiny. I bought the acetone and a cuticle pusher and took them off myself, and they have turned out better than I could have ever hoped for! As you can see from the top image, they look pretty much perfect, they don't look or feel damaged and I have perfectly lovely natural nails again, result! Most of the damage can be caused during removal so I would strongly suggest getting them soaked off, don't mess about with yanking them off *inserts sick emoji here*. Your nails and nail beds protect you from so much shit that you don't want to ruin them out of impatience or price.

OVERALL
My opinion of acrylics is so positive, I loved them and they made me feel great. I didn't have them all that long length wise yet they sometimes monumentally got in my way, so it would be a good shout not to go crazy long unless you have the lifestyle that can accommodate it. I would definitely get acrylic nails again and would probably get them slightly shorter this time, to account for the growth of your natural nail over the weeks. My technician said they would last 2-3 weeks until they needed filling in, and the nail would last 3-4 months until it would grow out. I would highly recommend acrylic nails as long as they were done properly and removed well!

What has your experience of acrylic nails been like?

Lots of Love,

Hev

xoxox

39p Brush Egg?

 

This is a review that I have (typical Hev) been meaning to get on with for a while now. It's on the BrushEgg, a little gadget designed to help clean your brushes which is available widely all over Amazon. If you didn't know, I am a massive Amazon whore, I just think it's the simplest and easiest website to buy anything and everything and I have no shame. I stumbled across this little egg on one of my many brush trawls and thought why not? It was 39p at the time with £1 delivery. The order came within a week and I was very impressed with the packaging etc etc.

There are two sides to this review. The Brush Egg is brilliant for eye brushes, and really quite shit for face brushes. The cactus in the pictures is tiny, which should give you a rough idea of how big the Egg is- it's tiny. the rough slats and spiky bits are great for all your small brushes like eye brushes and concealer ones, but for face brushes it is just too small. You can't get a good rub using face brushes on it because it is just too small. The Egg really struggled to clean my face brushes and it took me double the time than normal to get a good solid face brush clean out of them. The eye brushes however were cleaned rapidly and in no time at all, as the Egg's 'cleaning helpers' were of the right height and depth for these. I squidged some of my shampoo on to the Egg, swirled the brushes in it, swilled the brushes off and they were good as new.

The Egghas a slot underneath for you to slot your fingers in, which is useful if your water gets really hot like mine does.

Overall this Brush Egg is perfect for your eye brushes and definitely worth adding to your cleaning arsenal, just don't put your face brushes anywhere near it!

The BrushEggs are available all over Amazon in a variety of different colours and prices, shop around!

Have you tried this and what are your thoughts?

Lots of Love,

Hev

xoxox

My Marble Phone Case

I feel like owning a marblesque phone case, a marblesque anything in the blogging world is massively cliché and frankly basic. I think the whole things been slightly over done. But I am one to talk. I take most of my blog photos on my sisters marble covered desk (because it has the best lighting/ background in the house) and 2 weeks ago I actively searched on Amazon for a marble phone case and here I am, talking to you about my marble bloody phone case.
I love it, its marbled tastefully and is as hard back case, with silicone sides to hug around the phone. This has made it much more durable than your average silicone case, whilst still not being completely (smash bits and pieces off the case every 5 seconds) hard and breakable. It's a happy medium. I only bought this one because it came on prime and I am so impatient and I may as well just use my student prime membership to its fullest right? and I'm really glad I did.

Here is the link for the phone case I bought on Amazon if you fancy it too, I paid £7.50 with free prime shipping because of my prime account.

Do you have any phone case loves right now?

Lot's of Love,

Hev

xoxox

YouTube Subs for Subs

God this train journey has been blog post mad, I'm on my second one!

So I've been sat here thinking, in between trying to phone my sister (thanks English countryside service real appreciate u) and eating Katsu curry- mah crack, about the whole YouTube sub for sub thing.

It irks me, like it really bloody irks me. I don't get it, I don't get where the benefit of someone subscribing to you just cos they want you to subscribe back gets you or them. They're subscribing to try and boost their own shiz, yet once you subscribe rarely do they ever watch anything in return, or do you?

When I subscribe to people, I subscribe because I really enjoy their videos, whether it is makeup or first class plane videos (don't judge they're so addictive) not because they're threatening me that they won't subscribe to me if I don't subscribe to them. 

I'm not massively arsed if one person or one million people watched my video, I would want them to be watching it because they actually wanted to. I want them to watch because they thought my shoddily edited video looked like something right up their street, not because they think they can get something out of it. I would want them to watch and subscribe to my videos because they liked what they saw during my shameless Twitter self promotion or because it came up on their YouTube suggestions and they were curious or wanted a laugh. I would want them to because they think my terrible accent is listenable and what shit I'm chatting is useful for them.

I think I would rather stay with my current 10 subscribers than 1,000,000 if that 1,000,000 weren't actually bothered on the first place.

What's your opinion on this?

Lots of love,

Hev

xoxox

Cowshed Uplifiting Body Lotion

 

I am finally getting round to using-- albeit 6 months later-- the contents of my M&S advent calendar. Today is all about the Cowshed Uplifting Body Lotion. This stuff smells like a spa. With the addition of red mandarin, bitter orange and grapefruit it really does have that tropical spa vibe. The smell really is quite dreamy, and a few hours later I can still smell it all over myself. The texture is like your average body lotion, thick and creamy, and a small amount goes a long way. My skin feels soft afterwards, but nothing out of the ordinary for a lotion.
The lotion takes a while to sink in, definitely not a lotion to use when you're in a rush. The packaging is also really frustrating. I don't know whether it is because it is a sample size or not but it takes the piss to get the lotion through the nozzle, and when you do get it through most of the time far too much has come out.
I don't think this is a lotion I would buy again, I think there are ones on the market out there that do the same think for a lot less money. However, I think this is a lotion that may come out to play on special occasions because it really does smell wonderful. If you have the money to buy a gorgeous smelling lotion then this may be one for you, but right now, it's not the one for me.

Have you tried this lotion?

Lots of Love,

Hev

xoxox