JEM's NOTD

Models Own Gun Metal Grey.

Darling hubby bought me some nail polishes a few weeks ago, one of them was this gun grey colour (yes, he is very well trained.  One day if you ask me very nicely I might share how I do it…) and it's quickly becoming one of my favourite colours ever to wear.

I'm not a fan of plain black nails, even though mine are now getting very long and can handle the dark colour, I've just never been one for the goth-shades and prefer my pinkies painted in pastel hues mostly.  However, this is a far cry from your basic black.  I don't know if you can see it in the photos properly, but it's a shimmery, charcoal/silver shade which catches the light brilliantly and sparkles prettily in the sunshine (not that we ever get that much of it oop norfff)

Typical, brilliant, MO coverage - two coats will do, three is completely unecessary.  I'm wearing it here with Model's Own 3-in-one base, top coat and gloss polish - however I normally prefer a Nails Inc. base coat as it goes on a bit thinner (do love the topcoat tho).

In short:  gorgeous colour, a deviation from my normal diet of pinks and pastels but definitely worth it for a bit extra va-va-voom on a night out - and if you are a fan of dark polish, this makes a lovely change from black.

Hope you're having a fab weekend- love JEM xxx

Follow me @mountaindew_jem

Models Own has landed!!!

Hey, mine and JEM's Models Own binge has arrived :)

Will do some reviews when I get the chance- currently painting my nails Raspberry Crush- I may have to create an outfit around this shade when I go out at the weekend.

Back Row- peach sherbert, grey day, pure purple, beth's blue, 3-in-1 clear, lil's pink, peach sherbert (again), Front Row- coral, raspberry crush, misty grey.

Did you buy anything in the Models Own sale?

French Polish (Models Own and L'Oreal)

JEM is a bit obsessive about her nails and nail polishes. I'm not kidding you- she is obsessed.

She's done a wee review for you all on her french mani- enjoy peeps.

Well, to kick off the first of many reviews, I will start with a much-loved brand, Models' Own - however as I already did a French manicure with it this weekend, I shall review how that went on.

My first ever home-done french manicure was using the L'Oreal French manicure kit which comes with all you need to give yourself a perfect frenchie at home: White tip colour, pastel pink nail coat, and those little daft sticky strips which you're supposed to use to make sure the white lines are all straight and even.

 First up: Bin the daft strips. Don't even bother trying with them - they don't fit the shape of my nails properly, the polish comes off with the strip, yadda yadda yadda. Waste of time. I found with a little trial and error, I was able to paint a much better-looking white tip on freehand, helped out in no small part by the brush that came with the L'Oreal white tip polish, which is tapered off to a point (makes getting the white into the corners of your nails a whole heap easier).

 The bad point to all this: The L'Oreal white tip polish is a real pain in the backside. After the first two uses, no matter how well you shake it up, or even the tried and tested 'add a few drops of nail polish remover and shake well', it starts to go all sticky and globby, and has the texture of polyfilla. Not so easy to get nice, straight lines on the nail there.

 So, I binned that after a few months of getting nowhere, and moved onto my favourite ever brand - Model's Own. There's something about the smooth, thick texture of all MO polishes that I just love, esp because as they're so thick, I've never needed more than two coats of any colour. Snow White is just like this, two coats of this is all you'll need. I then finished off with the leftover L'Oreal top coat in Rose Pastel that came with the initial kit (also available seperately, it's shade 102) which I think is a lovely natural colour and probably one of my favourites

Sadly, the only area that really lets the MO snow white down is the brush. How I've loved my L'Oreal slanted tip brush that came with the old polish. Luckily for me… I kept a hold of it when I binned the rest of the bottle!!


Finished off with a coat of high-gloss topcoat for protection and shine, unfortunately the L'Oreal is prone to chipping without it so I always put a good amount on and also wrap over the tips of the nails.


The Verdict: Models own, all the way - however it helps to have the dexterity of a fine artist if you're going to use the brush that comes in the bottle. More talented people than I will say it's a doddle with the MO brush (they're not terrible brushes in themselves, and I have no complaints when I'm doing a full nail in a colour) however I find the precision lines easier to paint in using a finer brush. Another tried and tested trick is, to put the white on first, and then dip a cotton but in nail polish remover and just 'tidy up' the tips before top-coating.

How much Models Own, is too much Models Own?

Today has been a strange old day at work- hardly been able to concentrate, far too excited.

Why??

Today was the big day- since the beginning of August Models Own have enlisted all their fans to help them reach 10,000 likes on Facebook, and then as a reward for doing so- a wonderful 50% off all of their products online.

I got into MO from reading Imogen Foxy Locks blog, and then when Boots starting stocking it- well me and JEM would be there all the time buying new polishes. So obviously today was like Christmas for the pair of us.

Managed to put in a big order and with the site crashing a thousand times, we've been able to get another 10 polishes to add to the collection :) Will do a review once I get them, however in the meantime here's my "small" collection.