Nail polish review: Essie 'ciao effect'

I bought this lil fella in TK Maxx a good while ago. I know that a lot of salons do use Essie as their main brand, so I thought this would be a good one to practice with. However, after flirting with different brands, and seeing which one is best to practice with, I have come to the conclusion, that the only thing worth practising with is cheap fast drying polishes like wet n wild insta-dry, or rimmell 60-second, especially if you are doing two coats. However, I was actually planning to walk around with this guy on my nails, so I gave it time to dry, while I tried to find something to do which didn't involve hands for a solid hour. This is a subtle, yet beautiful colour. I don't think it suited my dark complexion that well, but I'm sure it would look fabulous on lighter skin tones. The coverage is fantastic, and I wasn't even sure a second coat was necessary. I have yet to buy an insta-dry top coat (I have my eye on the Sally Hansen one), so this is it without a top coat, and it looks lovely. I think I'd have to tone down my outfit if I were to wear it with this, since it's such a timid colour (can a colour be timid even?), but once your wearing a matchy outfit, I think this would bring it all together. A word about application...my gawwwd this applied like a dream, it was so velvety and smooth going on the nail. over all I loved it! Fair play Essie! ***** Five stars!!

30 before 30 list

So, I have about 350 days left until I turn the big 3-0, so I decided to jump on the 30 before 30 bandwagon and see how I get on. After seeing these lists for years, I always put them off because I always decided what people put on their lists were so *yawn* like...buy a house. I knew for a start that I could never save up a mortgage in that time frame, and secondly, it seemed so prudent and practical it made me loose interest so fast. However, now that I am almost thirty, and in my final year of my twenties, I have realised that these practical measures people took in their early twenties really did make sense, because I'm almost 30 now, and I have no financial or material security, and it does make life a lot less pleasant. So lessgo!

WORK.

• Get a contract job working in a salon
• Learn how to do shellac, gel and acrylic nails
• Think about and brain storm other career paths
• save 2k euro and pay off all my debts
• do a makeup course
• enjoy my job and work in a nice environment

LIFE.

• Be a nicer, happier person
• Get a room and decorate it and be happy there and stay there for a year
• See my family weekly and talk to my family in Egypt (and Germany) a lot more
• Do something about my hair
• Visit Daddy in Egypt, and stay for at least a month
• learn Arabic from Dad
• get into yoga/Pilates and practise at least twice a week
• Go to acupuncture/cranio-sacral therapy once a month
• Start up at the gym again
• meditate a few times a week
• Nourish and create good friendships
• Visit family all over Ireland
• Get all skincare stuff to prevent aging and use every day
• Do a photoshoot
• Take less shit from people, and establish clearer boundaries
• Buy three well fitted jeans, and three comfortable pairs of shoes
• Fuck your old limiting beliefs out the window and stop replaying them in your head!

PLAY

• Read one book daeideo wrote, one Daddy wrote and one Tomas wrote
• Read about 5-10 recommended books
• Go to vocal coaching
• Do 2-5 night courses over the year
• Get a tape recorder to play old tapes of daeideo
• have a full movie day with mum
• Try a different kind of facial
• Get frownies for my frown lines and wear nightly
• go on a rollercoaster
• go on at least one date (but don't do anything together, just talk)
• download all my old videos onto laptop and put into dropbox
• Listen to my uncle's old records on vinyl