Fur Coat, No Knickers

I’m a firm advocate of getting your nails done professionally (at WAH or Nail Girls ideally) but sometimes time is tight and money is even tighter and you still want a jazzy manicure to cheer you up.

Sheffield is sadly lacking in good places to get your nails did (or at least places with a personal recommendation), but I found these Elegant Touch DIY nail wraps in Superdrug and as they were about a fiver, I thought they might be worth a bash. Amongst the usual metallic designs (tiger and leopard and the like), I found these interesting ones – I thought they were super-zoomed-in crystals or diamonds or something, but I’ve just discovered that they’re called Scrunched Aluminium which I can also see.

To use, you simply peel the stickers off and place them over your nail then file off the ends to shape. Easy. They suggest putting a basecoat on first, which I duly did, but I think they would have had better grip without it and with nails buffed instead. They also suggested a topcoat – again, I don’t think it was necessary but I did it anyway.

They’re supposed to last five days, which I’d say was about right – you can see in the picture that it’s not entirely flush on the bottom of the nail, but after taking this picture I squidged it down again and they stayed relatively flat over the whole of Christmas including throughout my ventures in the kitchen.

All in all, no replacement for a proper manicure but a decent enough way to tart up your nails for a few nights and at that price you can’t argue really. I’ve seen a few on beauty blogs where people have done a much better job, so maybe I was just a bit cackhanded. I did do them in bed after a couple of ales.

You can buy them in Boots and Superdrug (although I can’t find them online) and, of course, on Amazon.

It’s not even really that wintery yet, but this week has definitely seen it getting a bit parky so I figured I’d share a few favourites.

Starting with… The Roll-Ka comb! I got given this when I went to the Hercules Sägemann factory earlier this year and swore I’d written about it before, but clearly not. How and why? It’s the best comb ever – I was told it was better than a Tangle Teezer and (sorry but) it is.

This mermaid hair of mine isn’t made for windy weather and as our office in the middle of a wind tunnel I usually end up looking a bit bedraggled. This is the only thing that gets the knots out without losing half my hair – no snagging, no pulling, no hurting. The idea is that the red cylinder rolls as you go, preventing any painful tugging. You can also pop it out to wash it as we all know a clean comb is a happy comb, right?

I love pretty much all the Korres products I’ve ever tried and their Mandarin Lip Butter is no exception. I have the rose one (far right) and it just does what it’s supposed to do. I don’t think there’s really that much even the most dedicated beauty writer can say about lip balm if it works – it makes your lips really soft, adds a tiny bit of colour, smells great and lasts for ages.

For more heavy duty dry lips or general dry skin I always recommend Balm Balm. Their Fragrance Free Face Balm is all natural, suitable for even the most sensitive skin,  moisturising and all with none of the stank you often get from organic botanical products. I get through piles of this stuff and the even better news is that they’re a family run, Brit-based company. Neato.

I thought I was a bit late to the party with BB creams, but then I looked more closely at one of my favourite products from this year and discovered, uh, it’s a BB cream. Erborian Ginseng BB Creme lives in my office drawer and gets used probably twice a day – still going strong with the first tube though. As with any BB cream, it moisturises, covers blemishes, adds a bit of colour, and just somehow makes your skin look radiant and glowing. Brilliant stuff and ideal for when you look crap after a night out and want to fake a healthy complexion. Bloody love it, not tried any other BB creams, have no intention of doing so. Oh and it has SPF 25 which, yes, is still important in winter as we all know.

Bumble and bumble has finally launched a UK site which is great news as the products are some of my favourite in the industry. Defrizz does what it says on the tin – use on wet or dry hair to smooth out all that central heating-induced damage and make your hair look nice and healthy and shiny, basically. I’m still a slave to my oils, but this is an A+ styling product and a happy addition to my winter arsenal.

This is an ancient product but I just rediscovered it and have been wearing it obsessively since, so here goes. Pixi Beauty is a bit of an unsung favourite beauty range of mine and this Champagne Glow eye shadow is the most amazing everyday colour they do. It’s beige, but I challenge you to ever find a more sparkling beige.