Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat

i've recently been loving the Barry M Gelly nail polishes, i love the range of colours and the finish, however their one major issue is they take forever to dry properly, when i say forever it's not just me being impatient, they literally take hours to dry hard enough that you can do chores etc. and even then they still crease and smudge.

anyway, i'm getting side tracked. i decided that i should get a rapid dry top coat to put on to make my nails dry faster and hopefully get it to last longer without chipping too. 

so the other day i went out to my local boots to pick up the Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat as i'd seen Zoella talking about it in one of her videos. unfortunately the boots where i live is annoyingly small so the make-up/nail polish section is also tiny! needless to say they didn't have the Seche Vite top coat, they did however have the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri which i remember reading very posotive reviews about. it was £5.99 and on the box promises to 'dry any nail colour in 30 seconds, giving you long-lasting shine, chip resistance and a great manicure that dries fast and lasts.' so i decided to give it a go!

i applied one coat of my nail polish and waited a minuet, i then put on another coat and waited 2 minuets before applying the top coat. on the box it promises to dry one coat in 30 seconds so i was expecting it to take longer. i had quite a thick layer of polish on and my nails took about 3 minuets to be dry to the touch.

i really like the texture and finish of this top coat, its not too thin or too thick and the brush is the perfect width that i can cover my nails in one stroke, it also doesn't affect the lovely shiny finish of the gelly nail polishes.

Barry M Gelly in Papaya with Sally Hansen top coat.

Everyday Spring Makeup

When i say everyday makeup i don't actually mean every single day as i don't wear makeup to school but this is the makeup i wear when i go out at the weekend during the day.

These are all the products i use

And this is what it looks like (please excuse the braces!)

I don't always straighten my hair, i mostly just leave it naturally curly, however if i do i will use my zebra print (slightly tacky i know, but i love them and i got them when i was about 10!) Corioliss straightener which i think cost about £90 when i bought them (which was 4 years ago now)and my V05 heat protect styling spray, i really like this, it keeps my hair soft and protects it from damage when heat styling, it also has a really nice smell.

For my skin i use four products, Rimmel's Wake Me Up foundation, which i love and think has a really natural dewy finish and perfectly covers any blemishes, Rimmel's Stay Matte Pressed Powder which i dust on my T-zone to mattify and oily-problem areas, and 2 Collection 2000 concealers, the lasting perfection concealer for any areas that need extra coverage and the illuminating touch to brighten up my under eye area (it's not as effective as the lasting perfection concealer but does the job okay).

For my eyes i apply a shimmery gold Clinique eyeshadow (that i stole from my mum, shhh!) all over the lid, then i curl my eyelashes as i think it really opens my eyes and makes me look more awake, i then put maybelline the falsies black drama mascara on my lashes.

'they're real' vs. 'the falsies black drama'

i recently bought elle magazine so that i could try the benefit 'they're real' mascara, i wanted to try it but didn't want to pay the full £19.50 straight away, so i thought the buying the magagzine for £4 was the perfect opportunity to try it. If you apply one coat it looks very natural and gives a 'your lashes but better' effect, but if you let it dry then add another coat it can be built up to give more of a false lash effect without clumping (perfect!).

my favourite mascara is the maybelline falsies black drama and i've repurchsed this at least 5 times. This mascara adds much more volume than the benefit one on the first coat and if you want to build it up you must do it before it dries otherwise it will clump.

i curled my lashes so the mascara would show up better on camera and put one mascara on each eye to compare them (the benefit is on the left and the maybelline on the right).

One coat of each

i put a second coat of the benefit on

i then left the mascara on to see how it held a curl and whether or not it flaked

if you like a natural look then the benefit mascara is for you, but if you, like me, prefer the false lash effect look then i would recommend the flasies (clue in the name really!). it is a fraction of the price (£7.99 from superdrug, but there is usually an offer.), doesn't flake, holds a curl and gives more volume and length in one coat than the benefit one does!

i do still love the benefit mascara and i think it is longer wearing however i just can't bear to spend £19.50 on a mascara every 3-6 months, i also can't afford it!