Nail Parade!

Hello folks! So, this post is so late that I'm pretending that it's a Chinese-New-Year post... What I'm trying to say, basically, is HAPPY NEW YEAR (insert massive 'cheers' here), and Happy Year of the Rooster! (Random fun fact: I was born in the Year of the Rat, which supposedly symbolises strong vitality and intelligence, though I'm not sure I can agree for myself, personally.) And so, my dears, I have come to realise that we are almost a whole month into 2017. This is both terrifying and exciting in how quickly everything is coming together. I'm still out in the US, but I think I'm getting my life together enough to be able to blog again (YAY!). I'd still like to update the look of Nail Parade, but I'll get on with that at some point. I have some new polishes coming in the 'mail' (ahem, post , to all of us Brits) soon, which I'm super excited to blog about as they're from ILNP (I Love Nail Polish). Whilst ILNP does ac...

Here comes the life update I just promised! Be prepared for... actually not much, but be prepared anyway. The year kicked off with a lovely trip to Lake Tahoe in California/Nevada (it's on the border), and we celebrated New Year there. On return, exam period commenced with much stress, as it does.

Hey everyone! It's World Book Day today! As a self-proclaimed book nerd, it feels right to do a post on this day of celebrating books, even if I did only find out about this morning because of twitter.

Hey everyone! Welcome to a super quick, super awesome "Blogger's Bookshelf" post! Today I'm going to share with you yet another Patricia Briggs series- the Alpha and Omega series! These books are like a little side-series to the Mercy Thompson novels, but you can read them separately if that's what you wanna do! The series kicks off with a little 3-chapter story introducing Anna into the world of Mercy. It's an amazing, fast-paced novel that really kicks off the series and grabs your attention. It comes a part of an anthology known as "on the prowl" and is just amazing. If you have already read the Mercy books, then you'll recognise some characters, such as Charles (Samuel's brother) and the Marrok having a more dominant part in the book. As I said, it really is a great introduction to the series, so make sure you don't miss it out! "Cry Wolf" is the second book in the series, and introduces the whole "Omega" con...

Hi everyone! Hope you're all having a wonderful Tuesday, (yes, a post on a Tuesday!), and have entered the giveaway already... If not you still have 11 days, so don't worry! Anyway, I had a little walk into Manchester city centre on Saturday, and managed to stumble my way into a couple of shops. Actually... literally a couple of shops. I went into two shops. And bought a decent amount of stuff.. For approximately £98... (Thankfully I have a student loan- yay!) Here's a run-down of what I bought... My first stop then, was in Superdrug in the Arndale centre, where I entered with the intention of leaving with all the new Barry M polishes. Well, they didn't have them out. But they had the new Models Own Diamond Luxe polishes all laid out looking spectacular, so I grabbed a few... Ahem... Six. I grabbed six. From left to right these are: Heart Red, Asscher Blue, Oval Plum, Carat Coral, Emerald Green and Purple Pear. These cost £5 each, but Superdrug had a "B...

Hey everyone! So today is quite literally a "Mail" post... as in, I received this in the mail! (Feel free to laugh...) Yes, it is indeed, my first Glossybox! I've been looking at Beauty Boxes for a while, and settled on the Glossybox 6-month subscription. Thank you government for student loans! I think I got a little carried away with spending this week mind- you'll see what I mean tomorrow... Anyway! This month's box was designed by Karen Millen, as you can see there, and the design is sooooo beautiful! I think I'd pay £10 just for the box! The packaging gets even more adorable as you open it up, too... Aww... So cute! So let's move on to the stuff that was inside, shall we? You get 2 cute little cards- one explaining what was in the box and prices and stuff, and the other telling you the theme of next month's box (which is super exciting!), and this month there's also an extra card with a voucher on it! For some posh designer ...

Hey guys! It's a Sunday... Why is there a post!? Dun dun dun.... Well, I have important news, and a giveaway to share with you all! First of all, important news- I bought a domain!  Woo! You can now find the blog at "www.nailparade . co.uk " Please note that any other link endings will not  be the blog :) Also note that "nailparade.co.uk" and "nailparade.blogspot.co.uk" will automatically re-direct you to the new domain. Yay for google's awesome features!! On to the stuff you're probably more excited about though... My first give away! I'm giving away a new  Barry M Showgirl Extra Lengthening Black Mascara  to one lucky reader! A couple of heads up here- you must  be a UK resident so I can mail this to you! I don't know how fussy anywhere is over shipping mascaras, so this is just safer. :3 Anyway, here's a handy Rafflecopter widget for you to enter in. Entries close at Midnight on the night of Saturday 11th October/...

Hey everyone! So a while back, I wrote a book-review-thing on the first Mercy Thompson book- "Moon Called". You can find that review  here!  All books are by Patricia Briggs. Well, since then, I've now read the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th books in the series! Respectively, they are titled Blood Bound, Iron Kissed, Bone Crossed and Silver Borne. And they are...  amazing . They're so amazing that I want to share them with you all but also keep them all to myself... Does that make sense? :3 Have you experienced that feeling before? So what are they all about? Well, through the 2nd and 3rd books, the 'love triangle' plot thickens and resolves (dun dun dun....) but it's handled in such an amazing way that still avoids the typical love-triangle features, and I'm not going to give any of it away (it's taking a lot of effort!). I'm gonna take you briefly through the books now, so pay attention! Blood Bound You may have guessed already, but this book...

Hi guys :) I hope you enjoyed our guest poster's blog posts as much as I did! My holiday was lush, and I even came back with a rather nice tan if I do say so myself (am I allowed to say so?) So since getting back in the UK, I was super busy packing and such ready to be shipped off to Uni. Let me tell you this- it isn't easy choosing a bucket full of nail polishes out of the 200 you have in your drawer at home. :( Missing them already! If you want to see which one's I've chosen to come with me, I'll be updating my polish list within the next couple of hours (so by midnight Monday night/Tuesday morning). In the mean time, my Uni room is kinda small but in an almost-cosy way. (It'll do for the year anyway, I suppose!) Also... I'm getting my new phone on Sunday! That means no more smashed screen! EEP! :D So I hope you're all okay, and "normal" posts will return from Wednesday or Friday.... (I'm aiming for Wednesday!) Keep an eye on so...

Hi everyone! So it was my 18th birthday yesterday, hence why this post is a little late! But I have a fun post for you all to enjoy :) Introducing to you- my birthday mani! I love love love these polishes- I think I've only used them once each, but wow, they're just amazing and I definitely need to use them more. Apologies for the little bit of tip-wear, it's been on since Saturday (so, 5 days between application and the picture taking!) so the wear on these polishes is actually very good! The first polish is Rimmel London's Salon Pro by Kate, in the shade "Britpop" which is such a fun name! The colour is also absolutely stunning, it's such a rich blue, but is kinda bright at the same time and a borderline dark teal colour. The brush for application is also pretty wide, which makes coverage super easy in only one to two strokes! There's another bonus too- the polish is very shiny even before a top coat! Totally recommend this polish, a...