My Picks from Essence & Catrice

Following on from Karen's outstanding dupe find for Deborah Lippmann's Across the Universe over on Lovely Girlie Bits I had to hot foot it to Dunnes to check it out. Had to.

Both Essence and Catrice have some fab offerings on the stands right now for €2.69 and €1.29 respectively. Rude.Not. To.


Fancy a goo?




Blues Brother Vol. ll. A deep royal navy with bright blue shimmer.





Marylin & Me. A sumptuous red with bright micro red glitter. The perfect Crimbo season polish.

After Eight. An intense black, grey, teal metallic with more than a sniff of Chanel Black Pearl!

High Spirits is a light khaki with silverish sheen. Vay understated. 

Let's Get Lost. A bright, bright blue, really beautiful in real life. 

Just in Case is a bronzey, brown metallic. Can be built up for a deeper colour. 

Sure Azure is a pastel sky blue with a whitish/silver sheen. Will be featuring in upcoming NOTD, folks!

In Style is navy, teal metallic. Much like Catrice's After Eight but different enough to make me part with €1.29. It might be my favourite of the whole bunch.

Time for Romance is a raspberry pink semi tranluscent with hexagonal & micro pink glitters. Beautiful alone or over pinks e.g. Sally Hansen Raisin the Bar (above). 

Finally the polish that I came for. Blue Addicted is the Deborah Lippmann dupe. A transluscent blue with blue  & green hexagonal & micro glitters. Would be perfect for a Galaxy mani, non?

Anything tickle your fancy? 

Naily Bargains from 'cross the Border!

On a stealth break for the border I picked up quite a few bargains but thought I'd share my polish mini haul, few nice ones here.

I reckon I was vay restrained

This Sally Hansen range is one of my favouties to work with, 5 steps in one polish, yes please! Got these in the Medical Hall in The Quays Centre for £5 each! You heard me, they're over €10 here, depending on where you buy 'em. Bastids. Colours shown are: Purple Pulse, Wine Not & Pedal to the Metal. That Wine Not is a gorgeous rich, shiny red & sure to be an Autumn staple. 

Two crackles from the Boots 17 range, I'm not normally a huge fan of crackles but these I like. I used the purple over Essence Lime Up for comparison & the black/gold glitter over Betty Jackson Gold. Both lovely effects for less than £3!

These I picked up in Superdrug Banbridge, from Miss Sporty & Collection 2000 respectively. I'm hugely impressed with both the colour & consistency of these little treasures. Creamy metallics with one coat opacity for less than £2 each? Get in mah bag!! So impressed am I with these that they feature in today's NOTD for the blogger meet up tonight: 

Isn't they gawjus? The little heart is done using the paperclip method I showed ye a couple of weeks ago. Simple! (The ring was less than a tenner too - Bargain!)

These I picked up for nail art specials & have several ideas bubbling up already. Full set were only £1.99 in a craft shop. They'll do the job nicely. 

& finally a couple of boxes of these creepy talons for practising said nail art. The Gorgebags are beginning to threaten me with the ISPCC if I continue to practice on them. Do NOT tell them I told you that, K?


So what do we think? Fancy the look of any of them? I was going to do a compete haul post but that'd just make me feel bad & we can't have that of a Friday, wha?