Hitched - April Meebox Review + Nail Art

Hitched - April Meebox Review + Nail Art

bundle monster Clear Jelly Stamper hearts leighton denny mavala meebox miss cat nails Nail Art Nails Review Stamping stars stickers

Hey everyone! This weekend in the UK was the May bank holiday weekend, so we've had a nice three-day weekend. It's been great to have that extra time off but I'm actually more tired than I should be as I didn't get to sleep until 3 last night. Today I've genuinely spent the whole day re-watching Sherlock and not doing much else really because I was too tired to contemplate being productive. 

Today's review is of the April Meebox*. Meebox is a monthly subscription box (you can see my previous review of February's box here) I must stop you before you roll your eyes and say 'another subscription box?' because Meebox's stand out from the crowd in my opinion and are consistently great. I've been really impressed with both boxes I've received (and other boxes I've seen across social media that I haven't received). For just £20 a month you're getting value for money, this month's box would total almost £40. 

Each month the box has a theme, and this month's theme is 'Hitched', their first bridal theme. Each month you are emailed what the theme will be on the 1st of the month, and you can choose whether or not you would like to receive the box. There's no contract, you can opt in and out whenever you want, and I think that freedom makes them quite unique. I decided to create these simple heart stamped nails with some of the products from this month's box (read on after the jump to see the products).

In this month's box I received:

Mavala Pink French Manicure Set (RRP £13.50)

Leighton Denny - Breakfast in Bed (RRP £11)

Clear Jelly Stamper (RRP £7.99)

Bundle Monster + Elleandish BM-XL201 plate (RRP £3.50)

Miss Cat Nail Stickers (RRP £1.99) + an exclusive 20% off code

I was very happy to receive a clear jelly stamper in the box, despite the fact that I had actually just bought one off eBay, because this is likely to be much better quality and it means I don't have to wait for weeks for it to be delivered from China. It was also a great excuse to continue practice stamping, which I've been loving recently, but with more precision. 

For the nail art I used a coat of Mavala - Riga from the french manicure set, then I stamped using the stamper and plate plus the white from the set. Whilst this wasn't completely opaque, I like how it came out because it looks more like a baby pink shade when stamped over Riga. I attempted to use Leighton Denny - Breakfast in Bed and double stamp over the top but it just didn't show up. I then added nail stickers from Miss Cat Nails and finished off with a coat of topcoat from the set. 

What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

*Any products marked with a star were provided to me for honest review. Any opinions are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way

Evixi Gel Polish Review + Nail Art

Evixi Gel Polish Review + Nail Art

Blue Born Pretty Store bundle monster evixi gel Gel Polish Nail Art Nails Pink Review shattered glass Stamping stamping marble Studs

Hey everyone! After doing the Paint All The Nails link up last week I was so inspired by the other ladies who all creating amazing stamping marbles (where you put polish onto the stamper and smush it onto your nail essentially) + stamping, that I couldn't resist giving it a go myself. I love saran wrap nails, but these are even easier to create, and much less messy. I'll definitely be trying them again. I love how with the colours I used here they look like a really beautiful set of clouds at sunset/sunrise.

Trying out this technique seemed to also be the perfect excuse to get cracking on my review of Evixi Gel Polish, I've been trying it out for a couple of months so I can give you a proper review, but this is the first nail art I've done with it on my fingers. I did some nail art on my toes, but this is definitely a fingers-only blog (so don't panic that I'm about the show you pictures of my feet). The design on my toes lasted for well over a month before I got sick of them growing out and took them off, but they were still going strong. I also did some nails on my friend Alice, which lasted her 3 weeks before she picked them off (tut tut), so I can definitely attest for them being long lasting. 

The bottles and lamp are also gorgeous, whilst the bottles are similar to Gelish in their shape, their design is unique and is what really enticed me to reviewing the polish. They look classy and expensive, whilst actually being cheaper than most gel polish, if not all, priced at just £7 for one bottle. You could get a full kit with multiple polishes for under £100 which is virtually unheard of for gels.  Just as a warning this post is quite image-heavy, but I wanted you to get a good idea of the kit and the polishes so bear with me! Full post after the jump.

For my nail art I used a base of Evixi - Urban Mist*. The bottle says to apply two coats but that wasn't nearly enough, I ended up needing 4, which would be a pain with regular polish as it tends not to dry, but that's of course not a problem with gel because it cures with each coat. Then I applied drops of Pink Peony*, Blush*, and Celeste* to my base colour and smushed them down with a stamper. Then I used Bundle Monster stamping plate BM-208 for the shattered effect, and studs from Born Pretty Store. Finished with a coat of Evixi - Top Coat*

I received 5 colours, a base coat, topcoat, a lamp, and a cleanser and remover (not pictured because I'm an idiot but you can see them on their website here, they have equally as lovely packaging and they're HUGE compared to most cleansers/removers you get with gels). Which is plenty enough for a starter kit, and you could get the whole lot for around £80 if you buy this kit  (which is currently on sale for £49.99) and the rest of the polishes separate. 

Aren't the bottles gorgeous? I love the pattern on them. 

These are the five colours I received, from left to right, Pink Peony*, Blush*, Sahara*, Celeste*, and  Urban Mist*.

The lamp*, as can be seen above and below, is kind of hexagonal in shape. I don't even know if that's the right word, but it's definitely the most unique lamp I've come across, and I don't know what other word to use to describe it. The lamp has 4 settings, as you can see below, but I don't know why you'd ever have use for anything other than the 30s button, which is how long it takes to cure the gels and the basecoat/topcoat. 

What do you think? Have you tried Evixi Gel before? Let me know in the comments!

Alice

*Some of the products in this post were provided to me for review, all opinions are entirely my own and were not influenced by the company or by the receiving of products.