Collection 2000 Hot Shot review (and Layla update!)

I’ve seen Hot Shot nail varnishes from Collection 2000 around the blogging sphere when they were first released and have just got round to trying them out myself. I think my opinion of them will no doubt echo what a lot of bloggers have said but here’s my two cents anyway.
Hot Shots are smaller than the average nail varnish size, at just 8ml, but they are super cheap at only £1.99 each. I got these on offer 3 for £5. I suppose at this price I can’t expect a great deal and the first time I used them I was pretty shocked at just how crappy they were - chipping on the same day I painted them! The only consolation was that I only needed a couple of coats for a complete non-streaky glossy finish and they did dry quickly. I didn’t want to completely disregard this product though so I tried it over a coat of Barry M base, top coat and nail hardener et voila! It stays on as long as any other polish, so far I’ve had 3 or 4 days wear with only slight chipping starting on a couple of nails. I suppose I should’ve tried this first as I know it’s recommended to always wear a base coat with nail varnish, but I confess I just don’t do this very often!
So now I’m happy with them I wanted to share with you the colours I got, it seemed pointless before sharing a product I hated! I got three pastel shades, which I love the names of by the way. Wham is a great grey colour, a paler version of Barry M’s Grey. Button Moon is a pretty unique colour I think, it looks kind of mint green in the pot, but on is more a turquoise blue colour, a lot more striking on your nails and guaranteed to get you a few comments. Sorry about the extremely sloppy application in this photo. I did this quick just to throw it in here. At least you get the idea about the colour.Finally Dynasty is a very pretty pinky purple colour, more pink than purple once you’ve painted your nails with it.
So Hot Shots are pretty hot after all, just get yourself a good base coat! I think for the price you can’t really complain. There’s quite a few shades to choose from, a great way to experiment with colour and matching your nails with your outfit.

On a completely different note, I wanted to show you by parent's pup Layla. I mentioned her when they first got her, and meant to keep you updated on her but then for one reason or another I didn't. I'm not sure how relevant it is on a beauty blog! Anyway, here she is, at 7 months old, she's pretty much full grown now. Every time I go to see her she'd grown so much and seemed to forget who I am at first. It's hard to get a good shot of her, she doesn't stay still for long and her fur is so long and wild it covers most of her features. She's a bit of a scaredy cat at times but she's just a bundle of fluff and I really miss her!

GOSH Eyeliner Review and Barry M Nail Paints (+visit to Monkey Forest!)

I’ve been using the Bourjois eyeliner for quite a while now, think I’m just finishing off my third one so wanted to try something else. I like this eyeliner because it’s incredibly long lasting and doesn’t smudge. The texture is also pretty versatile and I’m able to use it both on my waterline and underneath my lash line. Most eyeliners tend to be better suited to one job or the other. I also like this eyeliner because it’s a twist up, and contains a built in sharpener, it's great for touching up throughout the day, I line my top lid too but it's liquid so never needs touching up. I have a tendency to find my holy grail makeup item then decide actually I want to try other things...just in case. Superdrug still has some offers on including a lot of 3 for 2s, and currently GOSH is included in this offer. I also feel more attracted to the GOSH stand as it’s more appealing and colourful and seems to change more than Bourjois. So with this offer I decided to try a few different colours, I think GOSH offer the best range on different coloured eyeliners.

The two types of eyeliner are the “Velvet Touch” and the “Let’s Twist” liners. I got a Twist liner in carbon black and mink grey, which is more interesting than it sounds. Grey is a great alternative to black, it’s much softer and less harsh looking than black which makes it more suitable for the day time. It’s not a bland grey either, it’s bordering on khaki territory which makes it more interesting. The colour I got in the Velvet Touch liner was 001 Blue Moon which is a gorgeous bright teal colour. I’m planning to wear it underneath my lash line with a neutral eyeshadow colour just to liven it up a little bit. It will also work really well with Barry M’s Dazzle Dust in Teal if I’m brave enough to wear that much colour (I’m not).

I didn’t realise it at the time but the packaging of the Let’s Twist liners are identical to the Bourjois Liner Stylo. And I really mean identical not just similar! The lids fit one another and the bits in the bottom can be swapped and fit perfectly and they’re both made in Germany. I was a little bit disappointed to begin with because the GOSH ones cost an extra £1 and I figured if the packaging is identical then the product probably is too. I’m pleased to say the product is not exactly the same. The GOSH one is actually much better than Bourjois. It’s a great consistency that I can carry on using for both the waterline and lower lashline but it’s also much more pigmented and as you can see from the pictures, it’s a true black not a washy black. The only downside of these liners compared to the Bourjois ones is they don’t come with a built in sharpener. Although the bottom of the pencil is identical and has a removable part, there’s nothing actually in it, they’re basically just there to show the colour. Below top to bottom is: GOSH carbon black liner, the Bourjois black liner, GOSH mink grey and GOSH Blue Moon.I bought two of the most recently released nail paints, there’s a few more in the collection but I preferred these two. I’m wearing the orange on my toes right now called Block Orange (number 301), it’s a great summery colour which looks great with metallic gold sandals, I went for a vibrant colour because I’ve been suffering with a cold for the last few days so needed something cheerful to perk me up! I also went for 303 Bright Purple, you have to see this shade in person to see how pretty it is, by far the nicest shade of purple I’ve seen. The nail paints are great quality too, they were two for £5 so I did get two but when I figured it out afterwards I really didn’t save a lot of money! The colour pay off is fantastic though, two coats is plenty to give full coverage with no streaking.
I also bought a collection 2000 Eyebrow Definer in Blonde which I haven’t pictured, it works OK but I won’t be repurchasing because it contains palm oil which I think is an easily avoidable ingredient to include in makeup and I’m trying to be more conscious when buying cosmetics. If anyone knows a good alternative eyebrow definer for blonde eyebrows please let me know!

On a completely different note, I forgot to include these pictures in my last post. When I went back to see my parents last week me and my boyfriend went with my parents to the Monkey Forest at Trentham. Bizarrely I saw that another beauty blogger, Yummy Mummy, had been there recently too, I didn't expect anyone else to know about it. I wish I could say I went there as a treat for a child family member, but it was actually because I wanted to go! My mum has visited before and wanted to go again. It was so much better than I expected, I'm not really too keen on zoos but this place was really close to their natural habitat and the monkeys were not in the slightest bit intimidated by people, they seem really sociable and because they are now endangered it's the safest place for them to be. I think there's another two sanctuarys like this in Europe.I love being close to nature like this, they're so adorable!

I couldn't get over how similar they were to us, this is a family of them, and the Dad's put his arm around Mum!

If you ever get the chance, this is a really lovely place to visit.