Nail Art Pens ~ Models Own V's Primark ~ A Comparison

Hello Lovelies, 

Today I have another comparison post for you, again I will compare 2 products claiming to do exactly the same thing but at a completely different price, today I am comparing nail art pens from the brand Models Own and from everyone's high street favourite Primark. 

Primark recently launched a cosmetics line called P.S. LOVE, there are a whole host of make up and nail products amongst other things in the range but I saw the nail art pens and thought I would try them, since I had my easy Christmas nail art series on my blog I have really enjoyed creating nail art looks and have been asked for more so keep an eye out for those. I bought 4 of the Models Own pens in their 50% off sale back in February to create more looks, so I thought I would try the Primark nail art pens too and compare them for you and let you know my thoughts on them both. 

About The Products ~ 

Both brands are very similar in style and concept, I'd say almost identical.

Both brands have a dotting type nib on one end of the nail art pen and then a thin brush at the other end. 

Both brands pens work by pushing the nib down a little to enable the product to come out at the nib end and unscrewing the lid off the brush end of the pen. 

Both brands contain 6ml of product. 

The Models Own nail art pens are £6.00 each and the Primark nail art pens are £2.00 for a pack of three, working out at 66p each. 

The Models Own pens come in 10 colours sold separately. 

The Primark pens come in packs of 3 colours, there are 2 packs available. 

Models Own Nail Art Pens

Top ~ In boxes, out of boxes

Bottom ~ Nib on pen, brush on pen 

Primark Nail Art Pens

Top ~ In the box, out of the box

Bottom ~ Nib on pen, brush on pen 

As you can see from both photographs, the pens are almost identical. The only real difference being the colour of the packaging and the pink pens being a different shade of pink. 

Trying Out The Nail Art Pens ~ 

I decided the best way of trying the pens out was to create the same nail art design using the pens, I decided on a lady bird nail art design so I could use the black and white nail art pens and I tested out the pink pens over a white polish. 

It was the first time I had used both brands of nail art pens, so this was a first impression of both brands as well as a test of how good the pens were. 

To create the lady bird nail art I would need to use both ends of the pens. 

First of all I painted the 'nail' with a red polish and then I used the black nail art pens, using the brush end of the nail art pen to create the black tip and line down the centre. I then used the nib end to create the 6 dots. Then I used the nib end of the white nail art pen to create the white 'eyes' and then the black for the 'pupils' of the eyes.

Ladybird nail art look ~ Left Models Own ~ Right Primark

Pink nail art pens over a white polish.

Top spots and 2 stripes below ~ Models Own

Bottom spots and 2 stripes above ~ Primark 

My Thoughts On The Nail Art Pens ~

The first thing I noticed with both black pens was that the bristles weren't even, both pens had a longer bristle poking out, it was worse on the Primark pen and it was nothing that a quick snip with some scissors wouldn't cure but it was noticeable and had I not snipped them off with the scissors I wouldn't have been able to use the pens. 

After sorting out the brush end of the pens I started on my ladybird nail art design, I immediately found the Primark brush easier to use, it created a thinner line than the Models Own which didn't particularly matter for this design but if I were wanting to create a more intricate look I doubt I'd be able to do it with the Models own brush. The line the brush created was much thinner and precise with the Primark pen than with the Models Own. 

Next I applied the spots to the ladybird, again the Primark pen won hands down over the Models Own, the thing I don't like about the Models Own pens is that to enable the polish to come out of the end of the pen, you push down slightly so the polish comes out, but it came out in a blob with more polish coming out of the pen than needed, creating a messy look. It was exactly the same with the white pen when I used it to create the eyes of the ladybird and the pupils. 

You can clearly see from the photograph above of the ladybird nail art that the Primark pens gave a much neater finish than the Models Own pens. If you look closely you can see how raised the black of the pupil is when I'd used the Models Own pen than with the Primark one because of how much product floods out of the nib when pressed down. 

When it came to trying the pink pens the first thing I noticed was the colour difference, the Models Own pen is much more of a neon pink and the Primark a fuchsia pink, on the Models Own Website the colour is described as pink and to be honest I wasn't expecting it to be neon, I was expecting more of a in-between pale pink and fuchsia if that makes sense? But it is neon, this isn't a massive problem to me but something I thought I'd mention.

Again the brush on the Primark pen was much thinner than the Models Own and to enable the polish to come through I pushed down slightly on the pen and the polish came out of the nib of the pen, but unfortunately again the nib flooded with colour from the Models Own pen. In the above photograph the stripes in the middle are 1 stripe across of the pen showing how thin they are and as you can see the Primark is a thinner stripe. 

In my opinion the polish works just as well with both brands and I didn't notice one polish being any better quality than the other. 

Overall Thoughts & Winner ~ 

The Primark nail art pens are a definite winner for me, they are so much neater in their application, the brush is much thinner giving a neater stripe and the polish doesn't flood out of the nib. They are much easier to use than the Models Own pens and I would definitely recommend them over the Models Own pens any day of the week. 

The price of the Primark pens is a definite winner for me too, with the Primark nail art pens working out at 66p each and the Models Own being £6.00 each, a plus point for the Models Own is that you can buy the colours separately and with the Primark pens you have to buy the set of three and might not want one of the colours but to be honest it is still £1.00 cheaper to buy the whole set of Primark pens than one of the Models Own pens so it's more than worth it to buy the set of Primark pens even if you won't use one or two of the colours. 

The only thing I would change is that maybe Primark sold the nail art pens separately and in some more colours, at the moment there are 2 packs of 3 pens available but hopefully that will change as the cosmetics line becomes more popular, but to be fair with the colours available you can create some lovely looks so it isn't too much of a problem. 

If you are on the lookout for some nail art pens I would certainly head down to your local Primark, they do exactly the same thing but a much better job than the Models Own pens and are a fraction of the price, what's not to love? 

If you do want to try either of the nail art pens, the Primark nail art pens are sold in Primark stores and retail at £2.00 for a pack of 3 nail art pens and the Models Own nail art pens are available on their website. 

Please feel free to leave me a comment, I love to read your thoughts and recommendations and I always reply to all my comments. 

Thank you for reading, much love as always, 

Zoe x

Leighton Denny ~ Temptress

Hello Lovelies, 

I love painting my nails and even though I already have far too many nail polishes I do still like to buy new ones, just after Christmas I found a Leighton Denny nail polish in the sale which had been £11.00 full price and was on sale for just over £6.00, so at almost half price I decided to bite the bullet and go for it. 

I have only ever had one Leighton Denny polish before, Angel Dust which is a beautiful subtle sparkle top coat review here. I also bought that back in the end of summer sales. 

I've heard a lot of great things about Leighton Denny nail polishes, and the brand itself claims "the polish is easy to apply, long lasting and chip resistant, it doesn't fade and keeps a high gloss shine day after day" it sounded good to me and the colour of Temptress looked so lovely and like nothing I've ever tried before and with the great price tag, I couldn't resist.

Temptress is a very dark purple/brown colour with a gentle gold coloured glitter running through it. It is very dark on the nails and looks almost black, it is described by Leighton Denny as "a seductive twist on the classic rouge noir, a vampish irresistible dark brown with added show stopping tones of cerise and ruby glitter." I would say their description of the polish is quite accurate although I couldn't spot the cerise and ruby tones, it just looked like a very dark polish with gold glitter to me, but a lovely polish all the same. 

When my polish arrived I was really pleased with how it looked in the bottle, I did think it would be more of a dark burgundy/purple tone on the nails but I wasn't disappointed when I applied it to my nails. The polish applied well and was easy to apply, as always I used my Orly bonder base coat first and then 2 coats of Temptress followed by a coat of my Orly Glosser top coat, I always use the bonder base coat and glosser top coat with all my polishes so to give the polish a fair trial, I used the base and top coat as I always would. I would say the drying time of the polish is average. 

Two coats of Temptress with Orly Bonder base coat and Orly Glosser top coat

(excuse the plaster cast) 

Tempress (2 coats) plus Glosser top coat & Bonder base coat.

My Thoughts On The Polish ~ 

I thought the polish was a lovely colour and quite unusual, it was easy to apply and applied well. The polish had an average drying time, I wouldn't say the polish was high gloss finish but it did have a nice glossy finish to it, with my Orly glosser top coat however the polish had a lovely high gloss finish and the top coat really enhanced the glitter within the polish. 

The one thing I was extremely disappointed in was the wear time of the polish, it chipped after only 24 hours, I was really disappointed with the polish, and expected more, although I didn't pay full price, this is an £11 nail polish and I expected more wear time from it than only 24 hours, I get 24 hours wear time from a £2.99 Barry M polish without a base and top coat and with my base and top coat I get 4-5 days wear so for this to chip after just 24 hours didn't impress me at all.

I had high hopes for Temptress, I've heard great things about Leighton Denny and for the price I really did expect more, I can pay up to £11 for an Orly nail polish but I get at least 7 days wear time from an Orly polish so I don't mind the price tag and the bottle is 18ml and doesn't contain nasties. The Leighton Denny polish is 12ml in size and £11 so almost £1 per ml of polish which I think is expensive. 

Overall I was really disappointed with this polish and wouldn't re purchase it or any other colours from the brand, my experience has really put me off. For the price I expected more than 24 hours wear time from the polish, it is a lovely and quite unusual colour but not one I will ever re purchase. 

If you would like to try Tempress it is available here for £11.00 including free delivery.

Have you tried Leighton Denny nail polishes? What did you think? Did they chip on you?  

Thank you for reading, much love as always, 

Zoe x

Jewel Candle ~ Review

Hello Lovelies,

A couple of months ago I was contacted by a lovely gentleman called Tom from a company called Jewel Candle, he explained they were a new company and asked if I would like to review one of their products, he sent me links to their website and Facebook Page and after going over to read about the Jewel Candle I immediately said yes I'd love to.

Jewel Candles are scented candles with a difference, I have never seen anything like them before and was very excited to try one out. They are hand made scented candles with a 'Jewel' in every candle. The candles come in 2 sizes, the large candles retail at £24.95 and have a ring concealed within the candle, the smaller candle retails at £16.95 and have a pair of earrings concealed within the candle. Each item of jewellery is worth between £10.00 and £250.00 so these items aren't cheap rubbish. Each item of jewellery comes with it's own little tag telling you how much your item is worth. It's all very exciting!

The jewellery is 925 real sterling silver and stones, real pearls, beads and Swarowski crystals are used as eye-catchers all the jewellery is nickel free also. The candles burn for up to 150 hours and it takes on average 10-15 hours of burning time to reveal the jewellery.

I was kindly sent the large candle in Pina Colada scent, as you know I love Pina Colada's and also fruity scents and I was initially torn between the Pina Colada or Passion Fruit so I emailed Tom and said I would be happy with either scent, Tom chose Pina Colada and the candle arrived just a few days later.

Pina Colada Large Jewel Candle rrp £24.95*

I was very excited when my candle arrived and couldn't wait to burn it, I wondered how the jewellery would be concealed in the candle it really intrigued me, but when the candle came it was clear where the jewellery was and how far down the candle it was. 

The back of the candle showing where the jewellery is.

My candle burned for around 13 hours before my jewellery started to show, there are clear instructions on the Jewel Candle Website on how to remove the jewellery from the candle. I used some old tweezers and placed the little foil parcel on some kitchen roll. 

The little foil parcel containing the jewellery & the tweezers I used.

Once I had removed the jewellery, I unwrapped the foil parcel containing the ring, I would advise you do this over some kitchen roll or a napkin or old rag as some wax did fall off as I unwrapped mine. Once I had removed the foil I found a little black plastic self seal bag and in that was my ring. I thought the ring was very well protected and wrapped but found it easy to open the parcel without needing scissors or any other tools. 

As you can see from the above photographs, the ring I received is lovely, it is sparkly, which is something I love and also wearable, I could wear the ring on a daily basis without it looking too OTT, my ring is worth £15.00. It is a really pretty ring and I am very happy with it. I love the design of the circles and the Swarowski crystals too. 

I think the Jewel Candles are a fantastic idea and would make a lovely gift for someone, or just as a treat to yourself. Scented candles are very popular and often given as gifts and I think the Jewel Candle would make a lovely gift for someone, you have a lovely candle and an added gift of a piece of jewellery too. 

The scent of my candle, Pina Colada was a very subtle scent which for me is great as scented candles can give me migraine headaches, and I am also having a massive problem with some scents due to my medication, so the nice subtle scent of fruit was lovely, I did think it would have more of a pineapple/coconut scent as they are the main ingredients of a Pina Colada but the scent was more of a fruity/pineapple scent but still a lovely scent, as I mentioned it is a very subtle scent so if you like more of an obvious scent maybe choose one of the other scents, but if you're like me and like something subtle and fruity, then the Pina Colada could be for you. 

The candles come in a variety of scents, the candles with the earrings in come in 9 different scents, these are:

Happy Birthday

Lemon Grass

Watermelon Wedge

Strawberry Cupcake

Cuddle Candle

Vanilla Apple Pie

Ice Cream Vanilla

Creme Brûlée

Hawaiian Coconut

And the candles with the rings in come in 6 different scents, these are:

Sweet Cupcake

True Love

Pink Cherry

Happy Birthday

Pina Colada

Passion Fruit

So as you can see there are lots of different scents to choose from, I really was spoilt for choice as the scents available are all the sort of scents I would go for in a candle. 

As I mentioned, Jewel Candle have their own website and something I really like about the website is you can pay via Paypal, I find it so much easier when ordering online when I can pay via Paypal as I don't have to start finding my debit card, but if you don't have Paypal or prefer to use a bank card, there are options to pay with various cards. 

Shipping is via Royal Mail and is estimated at 2-3 days, there are free shipping offers too, on the website there is a FAQ section, photographs of some of the jewels found in the candles and clear instructions of how to remove the jewellery from the candle amongst other things.

Jewel Candle also have their own Facebook Page with lots of information, there are photographs from customers showing the item of jewellery they received in their candles and there are some gorgeous pieces, really lovely. There are also competitions to win candles too, and comments from people who have bought the candles so you can read their opinions also. 

I love the concept of the Jewel Candle, I think they are fantastic and would make a brilliant gift, and after all Christmas is only 15 weeks away or something frightening like that! If you know someone who loves scented candles this would be a lovely gift. Or if you love scented candles, you could treat yourself to one, which scent would you like to try? 

Over all I was very impressed with the Jewel Candle, I love the idea and the ring I received is lovely. 

Thank you for reading, much love as always, 

Zoe x

*pr sample, I received the Jewel Candle as a gift for review purposes, but all opinions and words are my own. 

My Spring Pastel Picks By George At Asda

Hello Lovelies,

On Saturday my friend Rachel and I were discussing clothes and clothes shopping and in particular she was telling me how Asda have some nice things in at the moment, so I decided I'd have a look online and see if they had anything I liked the look of and I found a few things that I thought would be perfect for the spring so I thought I'd share them with you.

Top row left to right ~ 

G21 Tux Blazer ~ £15.00 - This lovely baby pink blazer is available in sizes 8-20. It's perfect for spring, a gorgeous on trend pastel pink that would suit many skin tones and all ages, I love the open front design without buttons. The texture of the fabric is a waffle type fabric so a little thicker for those days when it's still quite cool. This would look lovely worn with some skinny jeans, a simple white tee and a lovely coloured statement necklace, it could be dressed up with heels or down with flats, and even wear with some white converse for a much more casual look, ideal for many occasions and a brilliant price too. 

Chunky Chain Gem Necklace ~ £10.00 - How lovely is this necklace? This caught my eye immediately, I really like pastel blue and find I'm drawn to things this colour more and more recently. I love statement necklaces and last summer I bought a couple and wore them a lot and I have seen quite a few I like already for spring/summer, there are some beautiful ones in Accessorize but they're quite expensive, this one is lovely and at £10 no where near as pricey as some I've seen which have been well over the £25 mark. I like to mix pastels and I think this would look lovely worn with a plain white tee and the pastel pink blazer with some skinny jeans, it really is lovely. 

Roll Sleeve T-Shirt ~ £4.00 - This is a real bargain at only £4.00, I have seen this t-shirt in the flesh and it is a lot brighter in colour than it looks here, it is much more neon that pastel but it's lovely and for £4.00 it really is a bargain. I love neon colours, I think they really brighten up an outfit. I would size up with this making it over sized and wear it with either leggings or skinny jeans and my converse or for a more smart/casual look I'd wear some ballet pumps and a nice statement necklace, this is a simple piece but a great addition to any spring wardrobe and a fabulous price too. This t-shirt comes in sizes 8-24. 

Top row left to right ~

G21 Sleeveless Floral Shirt ~ £12.00 - I love this top, it's really pretty, again in the gorgeous pastel blue. It has really nice jewelled detail on the peter pan collar, the jewels are in a cream and pink/coral colour and add a really pretty detail to the top. This is another great price, this would be far more expensive if sold in Topshop for example, it's something that again can be dressed up or down and worn with many different pieces. I'd wear this with skinny jeans or jeggings, or tucked into a high waisted skirt or trousers, it could be worn with a suit for a smart look also. It's a very versatile piece and perfect for spring and because of the lovely jewelled detail on the collar, no necklace is needed. The top comes in sizes 8-20. 

Floral Embroidered Ballet Shoes ~ £10.00 - These are so pretty and come in a few colours so theres bound to be a colour you'll like. I have seen this style of ballet pumps on a few websites now so I think they're going to be a popular and fashionable item for spring/summer. Obviously not the most practical of shoe being textile uppers and with the amount of rain we have in the UK but lovely all the same. I couldn't make my mind up which I liked best between this colour and a coral colour but I have some coral patent ballet pumps that I bought last summer, also from Asda, so I opted for the aqua. I love the flower design on these shoes, they're really pretty and I think they would look lovely with lots of different outfits and add a nice summery feel to any outfit, as long as it isn't raining that is! The shoes are available in sizes 3-9. 

G21 Scallop Shorts ~ £12.00 - These pastel pink scallop edge shorts are lovely, I'm not quite sure I'd be brave enough to wear them, too old and too chunky springs to mind but they are lovely, I love the scalloped edge detailing and think they could be worn dressed up or down for a smart or casual look. They have a side zip fastening so give a nice soft flat front, perfect if you want to tuck a top into them or wear a cropped top, not that I would ever be rocking a cropped top! If I were ever brave enough to wear them, I would wear them with a pastel coloured cami top, maybe pastel blue or mint and some barely there sandals for a smart look and a vest top/t-shirt and ballet pumps for a more casual look. They are available in sizes 6-18 and really are a fantastic price.

So those are just a few items I spotted on the George at Asda website, but to be honest they had a lot of nice items, there's some lovely spring knitwear and lovely maxi dresses too, I would definitely recommend you pop over and have a look, click here to be taken to their website. 

Which item of my picks is your favourite? Are you loving the pastel trend? And do you buy clothes from the supermarket or is it strictly for food shopping for you? Do you have any clothing recommendations for me? 

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments, I answer all my blog comments so please feel free to leave me a comment and I'll get back to you, and be sure to check back to see my replies :) 

Thank you for reading, much love as always, 

Zoe x