Polish Parade reaches its final stop

I do like a bit of purple, so for the final day of the polish parade, shades of purple take centre stage.

China Glaze's First Class Ticket - beautiful royal purple with blue glitter (in the right light)

OPI's DS Mystery - blackened purple with gold/greeny glitter

OPI's The Color to Watch - a soft shimmering lavender

Have you enjoyed the Polish Parade? 

Are you partial to a bit of purple?

Polish Parade marches on.......

Matching the colour of London's sky today, the polish parade takes a grey and steely tone. Perfect wintery colours!

Inglot's 965 from the Grey Collection

Essie's Chinchilly

So what do you think? Are you enjoying the polish parade so far?

More Polish Parade

I don't tend to like gold nail polishes of any kind, but I do like this one. Its very festive and I suspect I'll have this on my toes for Christmas day. It's also got glitter and I'm clearly going through a glitter phase.

OPI Swiss Collection - Glitzerland

Nail Polish Parade continued....

And the nail polish parade moves forward at full steam. Today, OPI's Cuckoo for this Colour, again from the Swiss Collection. This has to be one of my favourite greens. I love the fact its black based with a shimmer as well.

You like?

The Nail Polish Parade

Over the past few weeks, I've managed to stack up so many nail polishes and I've not had a chance to try all of them out. So this week, I've set myself the task to wear all of my favourites in the bunch and parade them here on the blog for all to see! So here goes. You actually get 3 for 1 on Monday, because I'm throwing in Saturday and Sunday's polish, because I'm nice :-)

I'm not going into longevity or anything like that, this is just strictly about showcasing the colour of the polish.

OPI's Yodel me on my Cell from Swiss Collection

Pop Beauty from Pixi Make Up aptly named Xmas!

Inglot's 973 from the Brown Collection

Beauty College Chronicles: Week Four

I stood at a bus stop for nearly an hour, similar to this. GETTY Images

College was a bit all over the place this week with the tube drivers going on strike. Our timetable was completely sent to pieces as a result. Monday we had to finish early so that we could manage to catch the last trains home and on Tuesday, only half the class came in and of those some were over two hours late. I was thirty minutes late and I have to say a big thank you to make up ledge Kenneth Soh for guiding me on to the right bus via Twitter messages!


Monday was not a good day at all. If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know that I didn't pass my direct high frequency facial exam. I got a big fat NOT COMPETENT across my treatment sheet and I was not a happy bunny. I didn't pass because someone pinched a few products from my trolley AFTER I'd set up and during my treatment when I realised this, I had to ask another student to get me some products.  According to lecturer if it was a real treatment room, I would look unprofessional asking a colleague to get me products half way during a treatment. Point taken, but seeing as it wasn't a real treatment room and the facial itself was perfect, including use of the machine, maybe the fact that I asked for help from another student should have been overlooked. I don't know......


Its very important to pass in class exams, because without it, you're not allowed into the college salon to work on paying clients. Usually it would be a few weeks before you're allowed to do a re-take, but seeing as the timetable was already all over the place, I managed to convince my lecturer to let me do it again on Tuesday and I'm happy to say I passed with flying colours!  Again, thanks for all the congratulations I received via Twitter. I was so pleased with myself, I slipped out at lunchtime and bought myself some nail polish.



Our health and safety exam also got postponed, because not every one was in. I did feel a little put out as I had managed to study for it and wanted to get it out of the way. Oh well, I hope we do it this week, so we don't get exams piling up.


In the afternoon, I practiced my galvanic facials in time for our exam this coming week. I think I should ace those too, so long as I make sure I double check my trolley before I actually start my treatment and no one pinches my products. I'll be keeping my beady eye on everyone!

Exactly like the one we use in college, but there are much posher ones on the market

The lecturer also took some time to demonstrate the faradic facial machine. The faradic is used for tightening the facial muscles to provide more lift and tone to the face. It can also be used all over the body - more of that to come. I didn't get a chance to practice using it, but my partner did on me. It was hilarious! She placed the black block on different parts of my face and I could feel my muscles tensing underneath with each pulse and you could actually see the muscles tense and release underneath the skin as well. Felt and looked like I had a nervous twitch.


I can see the faradic being a treatment I like, because my face felt very lifted afterwards, like a mini face lift.


So that's it for another week at beauty college. Next week, more on the faradic and test results!

Friday Favourites: Hot Cream Wraps

As the weather moves into autumn,  a much loved past time of mine becomes Friday Favourite. I have long practiced the hot cream wrap in colder weather because of its cocoon'y' feeling that leaves you feeling all warm and relaxed after. Also its something I always suggest to my clients who can't keep up with regular pedicures because they are short of feet loving time.

So what is the hot cream wrap? 

Well, its usually for cosy, 'me' time nights in front of the telly. 

What do you need?

Foot cream here is Body Shop's Peppermint Intensive Foot Rescue

• a rich luxurious foot cream
• cling film
• three hand towels
• warm chocolate fudge cake and a glass of milk (optional)

I usually recommend this after a nice hot bath as well so your all warm and snuggly. 

What to do?

• snuggle up in your favourite PJ's  
• lay one hand towel on the floor to place your feet on
• slather each foot in the foot cream paying good attention to any dry areas
• wrap each foot in cling film, as this will create heat which will soften the feet, skin and cuticles and allow the cream to penetrate and really moisturise
• wrap each foot in the remaining hand towels to keep the warmth in.
• sit back and relax for 30 minutes or more
• eat cake!

Feet should be wrapped snuggly like so!

When you're ready, remove wraps and feet should be lovely and soft. At this point, you can also use a hoof stick and push back your cuticles for extra perfection. If there is any remaining cream on your feet, massage in and put on some fluffy cotton socks. Voila - there you have it, a hot cream wrap!

PS - really good for wintry dry hands as well!