Saturday 11 August 2012

Product Review: Nail Rock Nail Art Stickers

Another product review, and this time I'll have to say it was a bit of an impulse buy... I'd seen an advert for Nail Rock nail art stickers in a magazine and thought they looked really cool, so when I saw some in Topshop for £7, I decided to give it a go.

The ones I got were the Spring/Summer 2012 selection, which come with illustrations of cute animals, dolls and various other cute things. If you're familiar with the general Topshop style, it's safe to say that they go with most things you get from there. There are loads of other sorts available which can be found on the website here.

Nail Rock come in a packet like this, with this sheet of cute designs:


















The instructions are relatively simple - buff the nail with a file to remove shine, wipe to remove any old polish and stick on a sticker, tucking behind the nail and removing excess with a file.
The kit comes with a wipe, file and cuticle stick.

I got my Mum to help with mine as I'm awful at using my left hand to do my right nails. Unfortunately, my nails on both hands were really short at the time and we realised we couldn't tuck them under properly. I ended up with nails that looked neat from the front but messy from the back. The instructions seemed easy to follow but just make sure your nails are long enough before you apply the stickers. Mine lasted for a grand total of 2 days, although the packet says 'lasts up to 10 days'.

Anyway, here's a picture of the outcome:




Overall, I'd say I wouldn't buy these again, but if you have long nails then maybe try it once, as it may come out nicer than mine.

Please comment on what you think!

Monday 6 August 2012

Product review: Amazon Kindle



I recently acquired a Kindle for my birthday, after reading a few books on my Mum's and absolutely loving it. A few of my friends have them too so I decided to give it a go. And I LOVE it.

If anyone's been living in a hole for the past two years and doesn't know, a Kindle is an electronic reading device made by Amazon which allows you to store thousands of books in a tiny device and read them on a screen. The screen is particularly awesome because it is just like paper: not illuminated and doesn't hurt your eyes. It's just like reading a book just without having to turn pages - you use a button for that. 

The kindle comes in a neat little box with a charger cable (you need a computer or plug adapter to charge it). You can connect it to your Amazon account and go online using wi-fi or 3g which the Kindle comes with (mine is just wi-fi, which is fine, but 3g can be useful if you're on holiday). I was lucky enough that my friend Alex bought me an Amazon voucher for my birthday, so I loaded it with some books straight away!

In terms of being user friendly, I find the kindle really easy to use as there are simple instruction guides (although you may not need these) and plenty of controls to allow you to browse and read with ease. The internet can be difficult to navigate, especially with my version that has an on-screen keyboard, but that doesn't matter, as the Amazon store is specially set up to be kindle- friendly. There are turning buttons on both sides so that you can turn with either hand, making it comfortable for right or left handed users. The kindle is a plastic material but the back feels grippy, and so is easy to hold safely. The battery life seems very long, having only had to charge it two or three times this month.

Aesthetically, the Kindle looks wonderful: sleek and a large screen, with a font that is adjustable for size and style. One of my favourite things about the Kindle (apart from being able to read all these amazing books so easily) is when it's put on standby, a picture fills the screen. Depending on the model these could be of famous authors or writing materials (pens, pencils, typewriters etc).

To those of you who are still not convinced, I can assure you, I've heard it all before: people saying "no, I have to have a real book" then suddenly converting and falling in love with the Kindle. If you're STILL not convinced, borrow one from a friend and read a book or two (although good luck finding someone willing to part with it). 

Leave a comment with your opinion on the Amazon Kindle! :) Happy reading!



^ The model I have (new Kindle 6" with wi-fi)
Available here for £89

It's Summer and I'm back!

First of all I'd like to say sorry that I haven't posted for so long. I must say I'm guilty of that typical blogger thing: write some posts, and forget about it. I also got caught up in exams, music tours and various other things but now I'd like to proudly announce that (provoked by summer boredom) I am back! :)

I have loads of exciting (I hope) posts lined up, and obviously I don't want to write them all at once... but please watch this space as I'm going to write the first one now :)