October BellaBox Review

Hey everyone! It's that time again where I review the most recent bellabox I received. This month's theme was Born To Be Wild! and was in collaboration with Nicole X Missguided.

Let's jump into reviews of each of the products! (Check the photo below to see which number corresponds with each product!)

1. ModelCo Skincare (RRP $8.00 - $35.00) - In my little package of sachets I got the following: 2x Exfoliating Cream Facial Scrub, Instant Miracle Booster Skin Brightening & Firming Serum, Soothing Moisturiser Day & Night and a Double Sided Face Wipe. Now as I've said in previous posts, I've had a lot of skin trouble this year and it's only just starting to become normal again so for that reason I chose not to use these samples, except for the Double Sided Face Wipe. My opinion of that is that it did a decent job removing make up with the smooth side and a good job smoothing my skin out with the exfoliating side which had moderate sized bumps. It did sting my eyes a little towards the end but I think I was overdoing it at that point anyway. I may try these out in the future because I don't expect too much of a reaction as it says they're natural but I'll leave that till my skin is good again.
2. Rimmel Lip Product: Apocalips in Phenomenon (RRP $15.95) - This was a fun little surprise because I didn't discover it until I took everything out as it was hiding under the sachets but it wasn't too fun when I applied it and it looked awful on me. It's a nude colour which 100% does not suit me, trust me, I've bought numerous nude lip shades only to discover I look completely ridiculous with them on. I mean, it's not as bad as their other nude shades on me, but I still don't think I'd be able to wear this without mixing it with a pink lipstick or something.
3. Nivea Stress Protect Deodorant (RRP $6.59) - This is only a small can so it's good for travelling or popping in your bag to freshen up during the day with. Mine currently sits on my Helmer and is there just incase I forgot to put deodorant on after a shower, it's very handy and it's a decent spray too!
4. Pantene Shampoo & Conditoner (RRP $7.99) - (I believe the one I've linked to is the correct one). We have a few samples of these new products in our household because mum got them in last month's box and also got three samples from Pantene to test out. I liked using them, they do exactly what they say and they left my hair feeling smooth and soft. However, they just won't replace my ultimate fave brand, Elvive.
5. Kester Black in Ruby Tuesday (RRP $20.00) - I've known of the brand Kester Black for a few years now, ever since I discovered Trophy Wife Nail Art because they sort of go hand in hand, so I was excited when I found out that every member would be getting a collab shade between bellabox and Kester Black. I was a bit disappointed when I got the red one though because it's my least favourite colour. However, I applied it and it was a very nice formula, very smooth and easily opaque in two coats. I would never pay twenty dollars for a nail polish though so I guess this will be the only Kester Black polish I own for quite some time. (Check below for a swatch photo!)
6. MOR Hand Cream (RRP $14.95) - I have to admit that I freakin' hate sachet samples, especially when they can be used more than once because when I open it and don't use all the product, (like I did with this sample) I now have an opened sachet laying around. Anyway, I wasn't a huge fan of this product, it left a very oily residue on my hands and I had to wipe them down to get rid of it. I wasn't a massive fan of the smell either, it was very sour smelling and reminded me a bit of cleaning products or washing detergent.

Kester Black - Ruby Tuesday

Overall, I was indifferent towards this months box, half were great, half were a bit disappointing. But that's not going to deter me from continuing my subscription. I love getting the boxes every month and I appreciate the effort all the people behind them put into getting them out every month with new samples, so I look forward to November's bellabox!

Negative Space Stripes

Hello lovelies! Today's post is another negative space mani that I did last week; I tried a few different designs out before I settled on the simple blue and gray stripes. I really like the gray diagonal stripes on my index finger, they were so easy and quick to do.

I used Babe It's Blue by Maybelline Color Show and Metropolitan by L'Oreal.

There's not much else to say just because it's such a simple design, so that's all for today! Thanks for reading.

Dry Marble Nail Art - Inspired By...

Hi everybody! Tonight's post is all about some dry drag marble nail art, or whatever the technique is actually called. I've watched a bunch of tutorials on this technique ever since I started getting into nail art so I can't link any particular but there are heaps of good ones out there if you want to try this out, and it's A LOT simpler than water marbling.

These nails were inspired by a dress I wore for my sister's hens night this past weekend. I bought this dress weeks ago and straight away knew what nails I wanted to do to match them and they turned out really well so I was very happy!

I used a base of After School Boy Blazer by Essie and then missed Butler Please by Essie and White On by Sally Hansen for the dragging. It turned out really cool, don't you think?

And here's a photo of the dress, which came from popcherry, and me in the dress (just incase any of you were wondering what I looked like).

The nails match pretty well, right?

That's all for tonight! I'm still wearing these nails two days later because I really enjoy them! Hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Colourful Floral Nail Art

Hey there lovelies! Tonight I have a simple mani that was inspired by a pair of bed leggings I recently bought from Cotton On. Ever since I saw them I knew I could do some great nail art to match and I've finally done some that I'm pretty proud of!

I started with a base of After School Boy Blazer by Essie then used the following colours: Spring Break by Ulta3 for the dark purple, Pink Boom by Maybelline Color Show, Avenue Maintain by Essie for the blue and Bond With Whomever by Essie for the light purple.

And here's the inspiration!

That's all today for this super simple and quick post! I did some more nail art today so I'll spread them out over the next few days, thanks for reading!

Purple Negative Space Nail Art

Hello there! Today I have some very simple nail art to share with you. I'm not sure if anyone else has done this particular design because I randomly thought of it last night, so if you've seen it elsewhere let me know!

I used a medium sized striper brush that I cut thinner to do these lines. I wasn't a big fan of using striper brushes previously because I wasn't comfortable using them, but once I got the hand positioning right with the brush positioning and thinned them out a bit, I discovered that I loved them. They're easy to use when you know what works best for them.

For this design I once again used two Ulta3 polishes: Blackberry Tart and Palette Play.

I really do love this design, it's so simple and almost classy I think. I'd like to see how it would go with contrasting colours instead of the light and dark versions of the same colour. 

That's all for today's post! Hope everyone had a lovely weekend! Thanks for reading.

Cling Wrap Nail Art Tutorial

Hi everyone! Long time, no post; sorry about that! I've been quite preoccupied with some personal stuff and didn't really have the time or energy to do my nails properly. But here I am tonight with another tutorial for you all! This time it's the super simple cling/glad wrap mani that is a long time favourite of mine because of how quick and easy it is and how lovely the results can be. 

For this tutorial I started with a base of Lacy Daisy and topped it with Tone It Up, both by Ulta3 (I know, I know, I'm still mostly using Ulta3 polishes but I can't help it! They're just so cheap and amazing!). As you'll see in the video, this method is so easy that you'll pick it up in no time and want to do more and more.

I often think that this design can look a lot like marble, it's so pretty and when top coated, the layers blend in nicely and become smoothed out. It's been a while since I last did one of these which is why I'm rediscovering my love for them! 


Hope you enjoyed the video and if you recreate something using my tutorials, tag me on Instagram (@punchnails) or use the hashtag #punchnails 
Thanks for reading and watching!

Swirly Nail Art Tutorial

Hey everyone! You might remember back at the start of the challenge in September I did some green swirls; well today, I'm back with a tutorial on them! I also added another colour this time and I think it gives it a lot more dynamic. I also love my colour choice because I don't usually for bright oranges and pinks together and I think they worked out really well.

The polishes I used were both by Ulta3 (as usual), the orange is Tangelo Twist and the pink is Fruit Tingle.

Watch the video below to find out just how easy it is to do these nails, and don't forget to subscribe!

Pretty Woman Gelogic Top Coat Review

As I said yesterday, I recently got some polishes in mine and my mum's bellabox that claim to be as good as gel polish, just without UV or LED lights to help cure them! I've never tried a polish that claims this and I've never really had a desire to either. But I was curious.

I tend to stick to the same top coat, which you should all know by now what it is, but I was willing to give this top coat a try and I thought it'd be a great idea to review it for you all!

I used the Gelogic top coat with Lilac Bloom by Ulta3, an amazing soft lilac polish; the photos below don't even do it justice. It just felt so nice to have all my nails painted one solid colour and you can never go wrong with lilac.

What they say: (copy and pasted from here)
Rich, luxurious, professional salon style polish. Dries quickly and easily, without a UV or LED light. A revolutionary new formula, Gelogic® provides a gleaming, ultra glossy, gel look. Self-leveling and plumping, gelogic® provides a smooth, high quality finish. Chip resistant and long-wearing.

What I say:
There are good points and bad points to this polish. Firstly, the good stuff. It applied very smoothly and application was super easy. It definitely is self-levelling as it smoothed out a few bumps. It dried super quick too which I wasn't expecting; drying time was on par with Insta-Dri by Sally Hansen and Seche Vite. So I was very pleased with that because once I've top coated, that's it, it's go time and I suddenly have no patience left for my nails even if I've been doing them for an hour or more before that. And it was so shiny! So damn freakin' shiny. I couldn't stop staring at them, they looked so lovely.

And now, unfortunately, the bad points. As you'll see in the photo below it chipped quite badly, I wouldn't even call what happened on my index finger as chipping because a lot has come off. I painted my nails early Sunday evening and by the time I was ready for work the next morning they had already very slightly chipped at my index finger's corner. So I was a bit annoyed, but I sort of expected that as my index finger is the first to crumble. Especially these days since my nails have been so brittle. But still, it shouldn't have come off so quickly. As the day progressed they got worse though. My job calls for a lot of typing, so five and a half hours of typing was never going to be good for my nails, especially when I type fast and hard sometimes. The photo below is after two days at work, which is a lot of typing. I also did my best not to pick at my nails because I wanted them to only be chipped due to natural causes, not me picking at them.

Excuse the photo quality differences, they were taken on different days at different times. 

You can see the polish chipped on all my nails except the pinky, but that doesn't matter because does the pinky nail ever chip? I don't think so. 

So as you can tell, I'm unsure about the Gelogic top coat. It gives an amazing shine and quality finish, but if it chips after only one day, how reliable is it? It's possible it chipped mostly because I didn't use the same brand of polish underneath it, so I'll have to test that out too before I can decide whether I love or hate it. It may become to top coat I use just for blogging quick nail art or nail art I do purely for this blog (which usually means I don't paint my right hand nails).

For now I'm undecided, but if you'd like to try it out, you can buy it here where they also have a few colours. I'm unsure where else might sell it as my search didn't result in a lot of websites or options for it.

Thanks for reading!

September BellaBox Review

Hi everyone! This post is going up quite late compared to when I got the actual bellabox because I didn't want to interrupt my challenge posts and then I just got lazy and needed a break from blogging. But here it is nonetheless!

The theme for September was Beauty Wardrobe with Gritty Pretty. Once again, I didn't massively understand the theme but oh well. 

1. Lash Card Mascara Shields (RRP $7.95) - I haven't yet used this, just because I don't have a massive need for it. I did open the package and have a look at it though and it seems pretty nifty. There are two sizes on either end of the card so that you can pick one that fits your eyelid shape. I used to be someone who got mascard all over my eyelid but eventually I became more careful with my application and if I get some excess I just wait till it dries and rub it off with a cotton bud. I might use this, but I also might not. It'll probably sit in my 'extras' draw for a while before I find it again.
2. Geologic Nail Enamel in Black (RRP $9.99) - This is one of those polishes that claim to be exactly like gel polish just without using UV or LED light. I haven't tested this particular colour out but my mum got the top coat from this brand/range and I've got a review of it coming so look out for that soon!
3. 1000 Hour Lashes (RRP $8.99) - I also haven't yet used these eyelashes because I only recently purchased different lashes from this brand and also some lashes online. So I'm just adding them to my collection of lashes that I may never use. It's good that it comes with glue though if you're someone who is just starting out.
4. Crabtree & Evelyn Summer Hill Hand Therapy (RRP $10) - A person can never have too many hand lotions so I was happy I got this. It smells very lovely too, but I think some people wouldn't enjoy this particular smell. I love it because it smells a bit like potpourri which reminds me of how one of my nana's house's smells. It does leave a slightly oily residue but it soaks in quite quickly and I always just rub off the excess anyway. I'll see how it goes over the next month to decide if I'll buy it.
5. Sleek Makeup Eye Dust in Eden (RRP $4.49) - I've never used loose eyeshadow before and I haven't yet tested this out, just because I think I need to be in the mood to deal with loose powder, plus it's not a colour I would wear anyway so I'm not sure when I'll use this. My mum also got one in a different colour I think so maybe hers might be more wearable.
6. Pureology Pure Volume Blow Dry Amplifyer (RRP $49.95) - This was one of the bonus sachets I got which is only 5ml so it's a one use thing. I also haven't tried this one just because I kept forgetting about it and usually I wash my too often to want to use special products like this in it. I do love a good volumising product though because my hair can be very flat at times. I would probably never buy the full sized product though, just because it's incredibly expensive and volume in my hair doesn't mean that much to me.
7. Revlon Colorstay Foundation in Natural Beige (Dry/Normal Skin) (RRP $34.95) - I recently purchased this foundation at Chemist Warehouse when it was half price, but instead I got it in Ivory for Oily/Combination skin and I love it! I can't vouch for the sample sachet I got because I probably won't use it, but it's a great foundation and I think I've finally found the one. I love it so much that I went a bought another one in a darker colour to wear when I go out and have a tan etc. 

That's it for last month's bellabox! Overall it was good, but I think when I got it I just wasn't really in a sample-type mood and couldn't be bothered experimenting with all the products. Stay tuned for my review of the Pretty Woman Gelogic Top Coat.

Hope everyone has been well, thanks for reading!

31DC2014: Round-Up Post

Hey everybody! I thought I'd do a round-up post for the challenge to bring them all together in one post. I had a lot of fun doing the challenge this year, a lot more than I did last year. I felt like I was really in my element while doing it and it just reinstated that I love having this as a hobby and as a potential future career.

So there we go, all 31 posts for your viewing pleasure and for my own future reference!