Sensationail - Long Lasting Gel Manicure! {Review}

I know that this time of the year, a lot of people will be planning their Christmas and summer holidays. When you are super busy or are going away on a holiday, you will definitely want your nail polish to last a while! Who wants to be re-painting their chipped nails on holiday?!

Today I have a review of Sensationail for you. Sensationail is a gel polish system that will give you up to 2 weeks of wear! Perfect for this busy time of year, or for your summer holiday. Or a perfect Christmas gift for someone special in your life!

I have a few Sensationail products to talk about, but I'll start with the Starter Kit.

The Starter Kit comes with a Pro 3060 LED Lamp (which you must have to use Sensationail products, as it's used to cure the gel - the polish will not set without it), the gel primer, gel cleanser, base & top coat, the coloured gel polish (choose between Scarlet Red and Raspberry Wine), as well as some lint free pads to use with the gel cleanser, a nail file and a cuticle stick, and the instructions, of course.

(If you're interested in seeing HOW TO apply/remove these products, check out the How To page on the Sensationail website. I won't be going over that in this post, as I have already done so in other posts.)

Here is Scarlet Red, the day after I applied it. It's a gorgeous, classic bright red. I used just two coats. I've tried a few red gel polishes and this would have to be one of the nicest. However, when I was applying the top coat, I did experience some of the red transferring to the top coat brush. Other than that, I had no problems at all!

Here is Scarlet Red after 1 week of wear. There is no visible wear, apart from my nails having grown out, obviously. It still looks exactly the same as when I applied it, and is still very shiny! I definitely think it would last the two weeks that they promise. I get tired of my nail colour after a week, however and wanted to change it up.

You can also buy Sensationail colours separately. Here I have Pink Chiffon, Pink Daisy and Taupe Tulips.

So far I have only had a chance to try Taupe Tulips but I hope to try the others soon and give you a look at those.

Here is Taupe Tulips after about 6 days of wear. It looked exactly the same as when I first applied it! Perfect and shiny. I used 3 coats for this one, as it was a little sheer with just two. This is such a nice nude colour. I absolutely love it.

Here are a few other items that are in my opinion, optional but are definitely handy to have:

The Gel Polish Removal Kit includes a 125mL bottle of Gel Polish Remover, as well as 30 foil removal wraps. (Nail file and cuticle stick are also included - not pictured).
I really liked this but honestly, I wouldn't purchase it when I run out. I usually use pure acetone to remove my gel polish, with some regular aluminium foil and cotton balls and it does the job. But it is a nice kit to have.

I really like the Gel Polish Removal Tool! However, I would not say that it is the most "gentle way" to remove gel polish. If you use a heavy hand, you could definitely damage your nails with it. You must be very careful when using it.
I don't know if it's intended for this, but I actually like using it to push my cuticles back! But again, you have to be extremely careful!

The only problem I had with Sensationail, was the removal. I found it a bit harder to remove than other gels I have tried. You have to file the top surface of the nail first, to remove the top coat and then soak as normal. I soaked my nails for 15 minutes but found that I had to re-wrap my nails another time because it was very hard to scrape off. I also had some base coat left over even after buffing my nails. But if it's harder to remove, that means your polish will last longer so it has it's pros and cons. Having said this, I still recommend Sensationail. I think the removal process is worth it.

I absolutely recommend Sensationail to anyone who is interested in trying out an at-home gel manicure kit! It's the best one I have tried so far. I love that their products are so easily accessible.
You can purchase Sensationail products online (free shipping over $50!), as well as Priceline, Target, Terri White Chemists, Woolworths and Chemmart.

*Product(s) in this post were provided to me by the company or PR for my 100% honest review. For more info please read my Disclosure Policy*

Review: Charlie's Planner Goodies

Hi everyone!

I am so sorry about the absence here on my blog lately. Things have been hectic to say the least but I have a few posts planned for the coming weeks so hopefully I can get back into the swing of things for you guys. I miss blogging a lot.

Today I have a review of a planner item to share with you!

This item is from a fairly new shop, Charlie's Planner Goodies. She sells her items through her Facebook page.

She sells cute items for Filofaxes/similar planners including dashboards, monthly sticky tabs as well as dividers.
I have one of Charlotte's handmade dashboards to show you today, which has an elastic pen loop attached to it! The one I have to show you is a Pocket sized dashboard, but she does them for all the Filofax sizes.

Her dashboards is made of a sturdy card stock and is covered with a patterned paper of your choice. They have a thick elastic pen loop on the right hand side.

The dashboard I have, is a very cute pastel polka dot pattern. Here it is inside my Small Lilac Kikki.K planner.

The elastic pen loop is quite thick and will hold most pens. I used a Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto pen and a thick Sharpie Pen in it, and it held them very well.
I think the loop is too wide to hold something like a Frixion Slim pen (it may slip through), but if you do want it specifically to hold a slim pen, I'm sure Charlotte would accommodate that for you.

When I first tried out this dashboard, to be honest, I was a little worried that it would not hold up over time and may be flimsy, but was proven wrong. I used it for a couple of weeks and it was fine and has held up nicely! I wouldn't go tugging on it like crazy, or trying to fit a huge pen in it, but if you treat it nicely I'm sure it will last you quite some time!

This dashboard will be great for anyone who wants to add an extra pen loop to their planner. I definitely could have used these when I had a Kate Spade planner as the pen loops on those can be very tight and it was hard to find a pen to fit in! But even if your planner's pen loop is fine, it's always nice to be able to carry an extra pen.

Charlotte's dashboards are $6 for Mini/Pocket size and $8 for Personal/A5 size.

Charlotte also sells some other planner items such as monthly tabs and dividers (in particular superhero/comic dividers which look so awesome!). Be sure to check out her Facebook page to see what she's got to offer! Send her a message or write a post on her page. She's super nice!

Thanks for reading, everyone! I hope you'll come back soon as I hope to get myself back into the swing of things on here, especially in the new year! ♥

*Product(s) in this post were provided to me by the company or PR for my 100% honest review. For more info please read my Disclosure Policy*

Hollish Patisserie Collection | Swatches & Review

Hi guys! Today I am so excited to bring you my first indie nail polish swatch & review post since March! Wow. I can't believe it's been that long. I hope I can do these polishes justice that I'll be sharing today!

Today I have the new Patisserie Collection by Hollish to share with you! :)

There are 6 polishes in this collection and they are all pastel crelly (creme/jelly) polishes with metallic and holographic silver micro-glitter as well as other glitter.

All of these polishes are gorgeous, and so perfect for the spring time. I am super impressed with all of the colours!

Kikki.K Small Lilac Time Planner {First Impressions}

Hi friends! I hope your week is going well so far. :)

Today I have another planner First Impressions for you! I did one of these about a month ago, here, on the same product that I'm going to be showing you today, but in a different size!

This is the Kikki.K Small Lilac Time Planner for 2015. {Review on the Large size.} This planner retails for $39.95 on the Kikki.K website. They can also be found in some Kikki.K stores.
The Lilac Time Planner line was released at the end of July. At the time of writing, all 3 sizes are available on the website.

FEATURES / LAYOUT

The Small Kikki.K planner is equivalent to a Pocket size Filofax, which is my current favourite planner size and what I am using every day.
This is my first time ever owning a Small Kikki.K planner. I have only ever owned Medium or Large.

The leather is a pretty lilac colour, with gold diamonds on the outside. The inside is plain lilac leather.

The insides of this planner are very similar to the Large one, obviously, but it's a little more simple.
On the left you have 3 card slots and a secretarial pocket.

The tabs that you get in the Small Kikki.K planner are different to the Medium or Large, as the planner is obviously a lot smaller.
The tabs and inserts that come in this planner are Monthly View, Weekly View and Addresses.

The rings in the Lilac planner are gold, to match the lilac/gold colour scheme.
I'm not sure what size these rings are, but they are definitely smaller than the rings in my Filofax Pocket Malden, which has 19mm rings.

At the back of the planner, there is slot with a notepad in it.

The planner has an elastic pen loop, and an elastic closure.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS / OPINION

I have to say, I was a little nervous when I was first opening up my planner. Although I had a great experience with my Large planner which arrived in good condition, I had heard a few people say that theirs arrived damaged and had some defects, especially regarding the rings. However, they were able to get a replacement or refund.
To be 100% honest, my planner did not arrive in "perfect" condition. I do believe that all of the rings have a small gap to them, which is unfortunate. But for me, not a deal breaker, unless they were very damaged. I'm not really the type of person to return something unless it is extremely damaged or unusable, so I won't be returning my planner.

While I love the look of the Lilac planner, I don't think that the quality of my Small planner is quite the same as the Large. I can't quite explain how. It doesn't feel as "squishy" or soft as the Large.

I thought it was also worth mentioning that the Small planner does not lay flat, unlike the Large planner which does. I'm sure you could get it to lay flat with some training.

I also was a little disappointed by the size of the rings. It feels much smaller than my Filofax Pocket Malden, which I mentioned above.
As soon as I received the planner, I moved right in. I'm the kind of person who likes to stuff my Filofax very full, and I just can't do that with this Kikki.K planner. I had to remove quite a lot of my inserts in order to fit everything inside.
I think this may work better as a wallet, rather than an everyday planner. However, I will try it out and see how it goes.

I thought I'd also mention why I purchased the Small size.
If you follow me on Instagram, or have read my last few blog posts, you will know that I am now using a Pocket {or Small in Kikki.K terms} size planner as my everyday planner.
I was using an A5 {or Large} size for a couple of weeks near the end of July and start of August, before realising that it wasn't working for me, which is when I decided to try out Pocket size.
I had thought I'd use my Large Kikki.K Lilac planner as my Blog/Etsy planner. Well, that didn't happen. I barely touched it since I started using a Pocket size.
I have decided to sell my Large planner, as I don't see myself using it again and didn't want to have it laying around, unused. {It is on hold for someone at the moment.} It is such a beautiful planner, but Large the size isn't great for me right now. This is why I have purchased the Small size!

I hope this post was helpful for you to see how the Small Lilac Time Planner from Kikki.K looks and what I think about it.
I'll hopefully bring you an update on it here soon, if not you'll definitely know by looking at my Instagram account.

Thanks for reading. ♥

Kikki.K Lilac Time Planner - First Impressions {Filofax Friday}

Hi everyone! Welcome to my first Filofax Friday post! I hope to post one of these every week. Fridays will be all things Filofax/planner related. Tips, tutorials, hauls; you name it!
My first Filofax Friday is pretty exciting, I think!

This week, Kikki.K has released their new Time Planner line for 2015! (If you aren't aware, Kikki.K is a Swedish inspired stationery store. Their main stores are here in Australia, as well as other stores in Singapore and New Zealand. I think they will soon have stores in the US too!) The 2014 Mint Time Planner was hugely successful and people are still hunting them down and paying crazy prices to get their hands on one! I was super excited to hear that the 2015 version was released and purchased myself one to try! I absolutely love the Kikki.K planners I've tried so far. I think they are really great for the price. (They are the cheapest leather planners out there that I've found.) The 2015 Time Planner is quite similar in design to the 2014 planner but I thought I would share my first impressions with you today, and how the planner comes when you purchase it.

I thought I should mention that the Time Planner is not the same as the Berry/Grey Kikki.K Personal Planners that are still available for purchase online. (If you have a look at the Personal Planner on their website, you can see how it differs from the Time Planner.)

Update 3/8/14 - I have uploaded a video of my set up of this Kikki.K planner! If you're interested, check it out here, or at the end of this post.

Note: This post is picture heavy! :)

First off, the 2015 Time Planner is made of really nice leather, in a lilac colour, with small gold foil diamonds all over it. I absolutely love the colour. The colour is quite different to the pictures on the website, however. It is much more of a true lilac purple, whereas the website makes it look pink. Just a thought for those who may not have liked it from the pictures online. Although, the colour is not that easy to photograph.

The Time Planner comes in 3 sizes (Small, Medium and Large). I decided to try out the Large as I'm now using an A5/Large planner. More about that in another post!

The Time Planner has an elastic closure. I know some people really aren't a fan of this. Personally, I do prefer a button/snap closure but the elastic isn't too bad. I do worry that it may get dirty with use. Although it should be fairly easy to clean.

Inside, on the left you will see 3 credit/business card pockets, 1 larger pocket, one secretarial pocket, one zipper pocket and one full length pocket. So it's safe to say you have a lot of pockets here.
I noticed that behind the secretarial pocket, it is lined with cute black and white fabric! I don't believe that the 2014 Time Planner had this type of lining behind the pocket. It was a cute surprise!

In the pocket, was this cute card that says "2015 Live it Love it". I think this would be cute to use next year!

The next thing, I am super excited about. Gold rings! I love gold rings in a planner. I think it looks gorgeous. The rings on my planner are awesome. No gaps or anything like that, which I was so happy about. I know that's very important to some people.
Something that is different with the 2015 planner is that there is paper around the rings to protect them from denting the leather, rather than fabric like last year's. That's no big deal to me, because I'll be removing that before I use the planner (as I assume most people would).

The dividers in the 2015 planner are cute. I wasn't a fan of the dividers that came in the 2014 planner, as they were a dark navy colour. For 2015, you get these cute light pink dividers, with gold writing on the tabs! The tabs that come in the planner are Monthly View, Weekly View, Addresses, Birthdays & Anniversaries, Shops & Restaurants, To Do, and Expenses. I like these dividers much more than last year, but I probably won't be using them in my planner as I wouldn't use most of these sections.

The "This Week" ruler that comes with this planner is a clear frosted style, and the writing on it is pink. I think that this ruler is a little thinner and less durable than last year's ruler, but it's not awful.

Each section in the planner comes with inserts. Most of these are the exact same as from the 2014 planner, so most people would be familiar with them. The paper that comes in the planner is fairly thin, so you probably wouldn't be able to use a felt tip pen or anything without it bleeding through.
Here are the inserts. The pictures are fairly self explanatory. (Sorry! I forgot to include a photo of the monthly inserts! I will try to update the post soon with a photo.)

(The To Do pages have perforated lines so you can rip out your lists! I think this is pretty cool!)

In the back of the planner, you have a Notes pad. I believe these pages are the same size as the paper in the planner, so you could punch holes in your notes and insert them into your planner.

You also get an elastic pen loop, which I like. I much prefer elastic pen loops over leather, as you can use almost any pen in it.

On the back of the planner, "Kikki.K" is embossed.

Overall, I am super happy with my new planner! I absolutely adore the lilac colour. I am very happy with the quality as well! I cannot wait to move into it. I'll be sure to do an update post when I have set it up. There weren't too many changes from the 2014 planner, to the new 2015 one.

My planner was packaged lovely, with lots of bubble wrap, as usual. Kikki.K always packages nicely.

If you're interested in checking out the new Time Planners, you can find them here. I can't guarantee they will be available for long, though! They tend to sell out quickly as they are so popular.

Update 3/8/14 - I've uploaded a set up video of my lilac Kikki.K!

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! I will be happy to help. :) ♥

Red Carpet Manicure Gel Nail Polish Review.

For the past month and a bit, I have been loving wearing gel nail polish. You may have realised that I am not as into nail polish as I used to be. I don't feel the need to change my colour every day or own a million polishes. I wore gel polish for my wedding, and it lasted about 9 days chip free! I thought that was amazing!
I have a gel nail polish kit from Red Carpet Manicure to share with you today. Red Carpet Manicure is a brand of gel nail polish. Before I share any more, I will let you know that gel nails and gel nail polish are not the same thing! Gel nails are a nail enhancement, similar to acrylic nails. Gel nail polish is a nail polish that needs to be cured under either an UV, or LED lamp to dry. If applied and removed correctly, it should not damage your natural nails.
I have received Red Carpet Manicure's Gel Polish Pro Kit to share and review for you. In the Pro Kit, you receive:

• the Professional LED Light (to cure the polish)
• Prep (nail dehydrator/bonder)
• Structure (base coat)
• Brilliance (top coat)
• Revitalize (cuticle oil)
• Red Carpet Reddy (classic red gel nail polish colour)
• Purify (gel cleanser)
• Erase (gel polish remover)
• Instruction manual

I applied the red gel polish Red Carpet Reddy, on the 24th of April, following the instructions that they provided. I found the instructions to be very thorough and helpful.

The colour is a classic red, it sort of has that jelly-ish formula. 2 coats was fine, but a third would ensure 100% opacity. The manicure was definitely very shiny when I was finished, which was awesome. I did notice that while I was applying the top coat, the red colour did transfer onto the top coat brush a little. I made sure to wipe the brush off on a tissue before I put it back into the bottle.

I like the polish brush on the Red Carpet Manicure polishes, it was easy to control the polish so that it didn't get on my skin.

Here is what my manicure looked like right after I finished:

By day 3, I had experienced slight (very slight) tip wear on a few of my nails (you can't tell in the photo) which was a little disappointing.

By day 4, I had one or two small chips on a couple of my nails. However the manicure was still extremely shiny and looking nice. On that same day, I had a bad nail break and decided to cut all of my nails down very short - with the nail polish still on! To my amazement, I had no additional signs of wear after this. I wouldn't exactly recommend that you do that though, because for most people I would imagine that would make your manicure chip much faster. I just wanted to share my experience.
I removed the gel manicure on day 5 (sorry, I don't have a photo) because I wanted to change up the colour. The removal process was super easy. It is just like removing a glitter polish with the foil method (video tutorial here). I soaked my nails for 10 minutes and when I removed the foil, the polish flaked off of my nails very easily! I had a cuticle pusher ready to gently scrape at any bits of polish that needed it, but I barely needed to do that! The removal process was awesome.

I also received a second colour, Leading Lady, to review. I had an even better experience with this colour!

Leading Lady, is a creamy lavender pink colour. I used 3 (very thin) coats for this manicure. It had decent coverage at 2 coats, but I decided to go for 3. I think the consistency of this polish may have been slightly thinner than Red Carpet Reddy. This polish did not transfer at all onto the top coat brush.
I absolutely adore this colour, and I got a lot of compliments on it, too! :) My husband even commented on it! :P

Here is my Leading Lady manicure at day 3:

I was SUPER impressed by this colour. Because this colour lasted NINE DAYS, still looking as perfect as the day I applied it! I had no tip wear, no chips, no wear signs at all! It was still very shiny! The only thing that changed is that my nails grew out, so there is a gap at the cuticle. Because it lasted so long, I believe that the Red Carpet Reddy colour started showing signs of wear due to user error. I'm sure Leading Lady would have lasted even longer than 9 days if I had left it on, but I felt like changing up my colour.

(Sorry for the awful quality iPhone photo for this one. And I had a cut on my cuticle on my pointer finger, which is why I'm only showing 3 fingers in this picture.)

Another thing I really liked about Red Carpet Manicure gel polish that I haven't experienced before, is that this system comes with a LED curing lamp. I have only ever tried a UV lamp before, which takes almost double the time to cure a layer of polish! I loved that the LED lamp was so efficient, and it is also very small, whereas my UV lamp is ginormous and takes up a lot of room.
I am definitely in love with the Red Carpet Manicure system and hope to try more colours in the future! I 100% recommend it to anyone who wants to try out a gel polish system.
If you'd like to see an application tutorial for Red Carpet Manicure gel polish, you can check out their video here.
You can find Red Carpet Manicure polishes online, and at selected David Jones & Shaver Shop stores.
*Product(s) in this post were provided to me by the company or PR for my 100% honest review.  For more info please read my Disclosure Policy*