My single best find of 2016 has to be Red Carpet Manicure, a brand who specialise in at-home gel manicures and offer everything you need to achieve the perfect, salon finish without the expense or faff of actually going to a salon. I was very anxious to try gel manicures as I heard all the horror stories such as making mistakes and then being stuck with them (not true, you can very easily correct mistakes, just don’t cure your nails until you’re happy!) and that gel polishes were hard to use and you needed an advanced level of skill to create a perfect finish…
…but all of this is completely untrue as my rubbish skills at painting didn’t get in the way of a near perfect finish each time I use my RCM kit – I love it so and I get very, very excited by new collections! Speaking of which, if you’re finally ready to embrace the Christmas spirit, the RCM It’s A Luxe Life Holiday Collection for 2016 will get you in the mood; a collection of six shades that focus heavily on sparkle, with a couple of everyday essentials chucked in for good measure. These are party pretty sparklers at their very best and there’s definitely something for everyone.
Oh So Posh is a nude creme that’s on the pale side and very easy to wear, especially if you’re particularly pale like me. It’s also the perfect base colour for nail art designs and also a great choice if you can’t get away with wearing brighter colours at work. Glasses Up! is quite an interesting shade that I’m sure would divide opinion as it’s a bit of a throwback to the 80s since it’s a metallic rose pink shade; I personally love it and think it’s very pretty. Red-y To Party is an everyday tomato red – I’m not a huge fan of red, but I appreciate it has a firm place in the holiday colour palette.
A-Muse Me is an unashamedly beautiful, bright pink glitter that’s like a disco ball for your nails! A brilliant pink that’s wonderfully festive. Star Gazer is the perfect anti-festive shade of deep grey flecked with silver glitter that’s very much my sort of colour. Finally Throw Some Glitter On It is a deep navy shade that’s again shot through with silver and blue glitter that I wore on fireworks night as it seemed like the perfect choice. I will say that I found the glitter shades a little harder to work with than the creams as I found they needed more layers (I went for 4 – although it’s worth reiterating that extra layers is still a quick process when you’re using gels) and I found they had to be cured for a bit longer, but the result is a lovely, dense glitter finish that looks almost multi-dimensional. The Red Carpet Manicure It’s A Luxe Life Holiday Collection is the perfect Christmas collection that’s been brilliantly edited – I just can’t get enough of these guys! Find them all here – link – each polish is £12.95.
*PR Samples
