OPI Gwen Stefani Push and Shove swatch and review

I really liked the two polishes I’ve already swatched from OPI’s upcoming Gwen Stefani collection, but the polish I was really hanging out for was Push and Shove. There was a lot of mystery surrounding this one – the samples all had a blank nail for this shade, and they had an agonising slow reveal for the bottle shots. So …

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My hair’s favourite posh products

I’ve always been a user of drugstore hair products, but recently I’ve had the opportunity to sample a few salon brands. As I suspected, since my hair is pretty low maintenance, a lot of them didn’t perform that much better than drugstore products for me, but here are some that I think are worth the premium price: Muk Spa Argan …

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Bath-free Lush Christmas offerings 2013

I don’t take many baths – mainly because I’m never patient enough to wait for the bathtub to fill! Unfortunately, that means that I can only use Lush’s amazing bathtime goodies about 4 times a year (usually on holiday, in a nice clean hotel bathtub I don’t have to clean afterwards – score!). If you’re like me, never fear! Lush …

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How do thermal polishes work?

Celestial Cosmetics / Color4Nails High Garden The nerdy nail girls out there have probably already bagged themselves a few thermal polishes, which are super popular with indie polish makers at the moment. These cool polishes change colour in response to heat and cold. I’ve swatched a few in the past and occupied myself for a few too many hours with …

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Cuticle balm guide

There are a lot of options for cuticle balms, so how do you decide which one you should get? First off, is balm what you need? Whether you should use a hand lotion or a cuticle balm comes down to both what’s wrong with your skin, and personal preference. If your cuticles are flaky and white, chances are your skin …

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OPI Gwen Stefani collection – review and swatches

I’ve never been a mainstream pop fan, so I’ve been lukewarm about the choices for OPI’s music collaborations so far (Katy Perry, Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, and of course good ol’ concerned-selfie-face Biebs). But I’m a No Doubt fan from way back, so I was very excited when OPI announced that they were releasing a Gwen Stefani collection! In True …

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Are soy candles soot-free?

I’m a scented candle hoarder, and on my travels through the candle-buying world I often see claims that soy wax doesn’t produce soot. This is completely false. No fuel can, in and of itself, be “soot-free”. Here’s why: Riaan Badenhorst The technical term for burning is combustion – as well as fires, this includes the burning of petrol inside motor …

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OPI Pure 18K White Gold and Silver Top Coat

It’s December already! As I mentioned in my gift guide a few days ago, OPI has a new collection out for Christmas, which includes a new gold leaf top coat, like The Man With the Golden Gun from last Christmas’s Bond collection. Here’s Pure 18K White Gold and Silver Top Coat, over Zoya Monica. It’s funny that it’s called “Pure”, …

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