Want It! Dior Golden Shock Collection for Holiday 2014

First of all, hello, and sorry I've been AWOL, had a very difficult summer and now we've got a new member in our family. His name is Max and he's 4 months old. No, not a new baby, but a puppy! He's a Cavapoo (cross between a King Charles Cavallier Spaniel and a Toy Poodle) and is extremely adorable, but also quite a handful. Typical puppy, he loves stealing things and chewing them up. So as much as I love him, he has been taking up a lot of my time, it's like having a toddler again!

This is him a bit over a month ago when he arrived in our family. He is quite a bit bigger now, but is still a baby and still loves his cuddles with mama.

Anyway, moving onto beauty now, I couldn't not post images of the Dior holiday collection, the products are just so gorgeous. I have't bought anything from Dior for a while, but I am very tempted by the eyeshadow quints and those lipsticks! Oh my! Loving the powders too, but I'm not going to get them, I'm actually in the process of selling off all my pretty powders that I know I'll never use.

Here's the list of products in the collection:

5 Couleurs Eyeshadow  (Limited Edition)

• Golden Reflections (046)
• Golden Shock (756)

Diorshow Fusion Mono Eyeshadow

• Mirror (621) (New, Permanent)

Dior Addict Gloss (Limited Edition)

• Gold Rain (164)
• Pink Excess (663)

Diorific Illuminating Press Powder (Limited Edition)

• Gold Shock (001) 
• Pink Shock (002) 

Diorific Golden Shock Colour Lip Duo (Limited Edition)

• Delicate Shock (001) 
• Enchanting Shock (002) 
• Daring Shock (005)
• Ardent Shock (006)
• Passion Shock (007)
• Mysterious Shock (008)

Diorific Vernis (Limited Edition)

• Shock (762)
• Mirorr (022)
• Smoky (990)
• Gold Equinoxe (241)

Diorific Vernis Effect Top Coat (Limited Edition)

• Gold Leaf Effect (001)

Finally, here are some pictures!

See more pictures after the jump!

Flowery Nail Art With Butter London Disco Biscuit

I don't do a lot of nail art mostly because I'm not very good at it and because I haven't got much time, but a little while ago I did this cute mani using Butter London Disco Biscuit. I stamped it with white Konad polish using Pueen 59 stamping plate and applied glitters from OPI I Snow You Love Me to the center of the flowers. Ta-dah!

It was really quick and easy, even for a beginner like me, but I got lots of compliments on it.

Do you do nail art? Do you stamp or do it freehand?

See more pictures after the jump!

Chanel Illusion D'Ombre #96 Utopia Review and Swatches

So as I've promised, I have a review of one of the new Chanel Illusion D'Ombres. This one is Utopia, a slightly frosty dusky purple shade.

I really like Chanel Illusion D'Ombres, they are one of my go-to eyeshadows when I only have time for a quick sweep of colour on the lids. They go on smoothly and blend very easily. I tend to use them over primer (Too Faced Shadow Insurance is my favourite) and they stay without creasing all day.

The eyeshadows come with a small angled brush for application, but generally I think any dense brush is fine for that purpose and mine tend to sit untouched. They would be good for using the eyeshadows as liner though.

They don't come cheap at £25 for 4 g, but they do go a long way and I'm happy to report that none of my older ones are showing signs of drying out, so they are a good long-term investment.

There are 3 new shades in the Chanel summer collection and I have New Moon as well to show you at a later date.

For now, see more pictures of Utopia, including swatches, after the jump!

Haul Pictures

I am so happy we can finally get Essence in the UK! In case you didn't know, Essence is now being sold in Wilkinson. My small local branch only has a small display, but I popped into a bigger one that had a much bigger one. Today I want to show you what I picked up as well as a couple of other bits from Topshop, Superdrug and Boots.

So from Essence I got these cute nail stickers for when I'm too lazy to do some stamping, and a nail polish called Laser Show which is a glitter topper with silver microshimmer and black glitter. From Topshop I picked up two glitter polishes called Dreamlike and Myth.

Also from Essence, I got their Blush Up powder blush that bears a very strong resemblance to Mac's blush ombres. It's very pigmented, just great for summer. I also got the new Sleek palette, Rio Rio and Chanel Illusion D'Ombre in New Moon, one of the new summer shades. I have another shade to show you, which I'll be writing a full review on very soon.

Have you been buying any make up or nail polish lately?

Summer NOTD: Bright Green Neon Nails With A Bit Of Glitter

Today I'm wearing China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard, a neon green polish from their Summer Neons collection from 2012, with China Glaze Sour Apple, a bright green glitter topper (I don't know which collection it is from).  

I'm With The Lifeguard is a very bright neon green, less yellow than my pictures show, with green and yellow sheen in the sun. It's very glowy and cheerful. The formula wasn't perfect, it's quite runny, so had to be careful with it, but after 2 coats it looked perfect. Sour Apple has fine glitter in it and it also took 2 coats to look even. The two polishes go together really well.

I took another picture to show you what it looks like in shade, and was also hoping to capture its real colour, but even this is too yellow. Anyway, I'm loving this combo.

Do you own any neon polishes? Which are your favourites?

See another picture after the jump!

Mac Flamingo Lustre Lipstick Review and Swatches

Okay, I know I said I hardly ever buy lipsticks and yet, I'm here reviewing another one, BUT Mac Flamingo lipstick was always on my wishlist. I didn't buy it when it first come out in a limited edition collection and always regretted it, so when it was recently added to the permanent lipstick line, I decided to finally pick it up, especially as I had some House of Fraser vouchers burning a hole in my pocket!.

Mac describes Flamingo as "light milky bright coral", but it also has a lot of pink in it. I'd say it's one of those my lips but better shades. It's a lustre finish, so it's not very opaque, it takes a few goes to get a good colour payoff. It's very glossy, but also due to the lustre finish it wears off really quickly. I'm lucky if I get 2 hours of wear out of it, and that's without eating or drinking. It's not drying at all and feels very comfortable when on my lips.

So was it worth the wait? I can't honestly say it was for me, but if you are after a nice subtle lipstick, this is a good one to pick up. It's a great colour for the summer, but also all year round. I now prefer more pigmented, more opaque shades, so Flamingo sadly didn't live up to my expectations.

Flamingo lipstick costs £15.50 and you get 3 g for your money.

See more pictures, including swatches after the jump!

NOTD: KBShimmer Run! It's The Coppers!

A little while ago I showed you my picks from KBShimmer's summer collection and Run! It's The Coppers! was one of them.

Run! It's The Coppers! is a beautiful copper holographic polish. It took 2 coats to build up opacity. The best things about this polish (other than its gorgeous colour and bright holographic rainbow) is the nice wide brush that makes application very easy. It's not too wide to worry those with thin nails, but wide enough to only need a couple of strokes to cover the nail. The formula was really nice and easy too. I ended up with a chip on my index finger, but you can see in the pictures that it's very uneven at the tip due to peeling, so that might have been a contributing factor. All in all I'm very happy with it.

I bought my KBShimmer polishes from Harlow & Co who ship worldwide at a very good price. KBShimmer doesn't ship outside the US.

See more pictures after the jump!

Lime Crime Opaque Lipstick in Geradium Swatches and Review

As I mentioned in my previous post I bought this beautiful summery lipstick from Lime Crime and couldn't wait to try it out. Geradium is a bright coral pink shade with a glossy finish. It is bright, but also wearable if you're not scared of a bit of brightness on your lips. The lipstick smells divine, it has the same vanilla scent as the Mac lipsticks, and feels lovely to wear.

It glides on really easily and feels very comfortable on the lips. Weartime is around 3 hours without eating, when I ate it wore off pretty quickly. The lipstick comes in a beautiful purple case with holographic print and a cute unicorn. This is my first Lime Crime lipstick, but may not be the last one. I already have my eye on another shade!

I bought it from Harlow & Co for CAD18, but I've also seen it for sale for £12.50 in UK webshops. I decided to buy from Harlow & Co as I was already ordering some nail polish from Katie. You get 3.5 g for your money which is the larger end of lipstick sizes.

See more pictures after the jump!

My Picks From KBShimmer's Summer Collections and a Lipstick Too!

My order from Harlow & Co came the other day, so I thought I'd show you which polishes I chose from the two KBShimmer summer collections (there was an early summer collection and a late summer collection - although I'm still considering this time of year to be early summer, but anyway). I only chose three polishes, not becasue I didn't like the rest, but because I now have over 2000 polishes and have completely run out of space to store them in. So I try to look for polishes that are a bit unusual or colours that I don't own yet.

I picked up Red, White & Blue-tiful from the late summer collection, a glitter topper with lots of red, blue and silver stars as well as red, blue and silver glitter and holographic micro glitter. Obviously it is for 4th July, the American Independence Day, but since the UK flag has the same colours, I thought it would be a very apt polish for the summer. Or just any time really.

From the early summer collection I got Run! It's The Coppers!, a copper holographic polish, and Let's Not Coral, a coral pink creme polish. Both are gorgeous and not similar to anything I own. (Which makes you wonder, how can someone have over 2000 polishes and still not own every colour possible?!)

I also ordered a lipstick which is a very rare occurrence for me nowadays (you might remember I went on a lip product no-buy when I was still blogging last year) as I now have so many lipsticks and lipglosses. I only buy some very special colours nowadays (mostly just Guerlain Rouge G's and Mac lipsticks), but I saw a swatch of Lime Crime Geradium Opaque Lipstick and just had to have it. I will review the lipstick in the coming days, but for now, here's a sneak peek.

Come back soon for a full review of this gorgeousness!

NOTD: Enchanted Polish Electric Feel

Today I have a gorgeous duochrome holo polish from Enchanted Polish to show you. I'm a big fan of Enchanted Polish, she makes the most gorgeous, complex polishes, but unfortunately they are extremely hard to come by. The restocks are few and far between and the polishes sell out in seconds. I count myself lucky to own as many Enchanted Polishes as I do. Nowadays it's easier to order them as she holds a pre-order every month or two for her monthly released mystery polishes (you don't know what it looks like until you receive it), but they are usually not duochrome which makes them less interesting to me.

Anyway, what I have here today is Electric Feel that was released as part of the Time To Pretend collection about a year ago. The collection is still available from time to time, Mei Mei Signatures and Pshiiit Boutique both had restocks fairly recently. Electric Feel is a duochrome holographic polish, it's light sage green with a golden sheen and it also has a dusky light blue duochrome to it and of course lots of holo. Very pretty.

Application was very easy, it took 2 coats for full coverage and dried quickly. I can't comment on how long it lasts as I only applied it last night. I usually get 2 days wear without chipping from Enchanted Polishes (and most polishes in general).

Do you own any Enchanted Polishes? Do you like duochrome holo polishes? They are definitely my favourites.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Gold Holo Goodness - Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish Gold Idol

I have another gorgeous holographic polish from Layla to show you, this time it's a gold one, aptly named Gold Idol.  

As with other Layla polishes, the formula was lovely, and the holo is very strong. I experimented to see if the holo would be stronger or weaker by using Nfu Oh Aqua Base under the polish on all fingers except for my little finger, and I didn't apply topcoat on my thumb to see if it would make a difference to the strength of the holo. The answer is no. This is just a bloody good holo polish that works without a holo basecoat and still looks as strong with a topcoat. Easy.

Weartime was little disappointing, I had some tiny chips after a day's wear and some bigger ones after two, but that's quite normal when it comes to holographic polishes. All in all I was very happy with this polish, there's a reason why I own all 16 polishes in the Layla holographic range.

See more pictures after the jump!

Tropical Punch NOTD with Seventeen and OPI and a Few Haul Pictures

And now it's time for something summery. This is Seventeen (17) Tropical Punch over OPI Mediterranean Moonlight. The glitters in the Seventeen polish are matte, so they give a great contrast to the base coat. The OPI polish is quite dull on its own, but the topcoat really cheered it up.

I also have a few pictures of a recent haul featuring drugstore polishes, including Seventeen and some TKMaxx finds. I love TKMaxx, but the only thing I hate is how they plaster the products with the price stickers, I mean look at that poor Nails Inc polish!

See more pictures of my TKMaxx finds after the jump!

NOTD: Picture Polish Solar Flame

I'm an absolute sucker for multichrome polishes and if they have some holo added to them, that's even better. So when I first heard about the release of Picture Polish Solar Flame (and the other gorgeous multichrome polishes in that collection, of which Borealis and Aurora are now sadly completely sold out as they were released in very limited quantities) I knew I had to have them all.

The first polish I've tried is Solar Flare which is a bronzy brown shade that shifts to khaki and gold and it also has scattered holo added to it. The holo isn't your regular holo, the particles seem to stand out and almost glow like stars. Absolutely gorgeous. I used it over a black base as it is very sheer, but this way two coats gave the perfect coverage. You could build it up on its own, but it would never be this bright and would take at least 4 coats.

Please excuse the messy paintwork, try to focus on the beauty of the polish instead. It is a stunner, right?

Picture Polish nail polishes can be purchased from their own website as well as many other international retailers. I normally buy mine from Rainbow Connection or Sally Magpies (they're both in the UK).

See more pictures after the jump!

Beauty Blog Link Love 22/06/2014

The L'Oreal Privee Nudes Collection is back and bigger then ever - check out the swatches from Lisamarie at Beauty Crazed to find your perfect nude!

This week at theNotice, Rae's going sheer with Clinique. Check out her reviews & swatches of 14 different Chubby Sticks and A Different Nail Enamel polishes!

Glitter lovers, FabDiva20 is excited to show you the Voilet Voss Glitters that she has won from a giveaway! Check out her Violet Voss post!

Phyrra brings you the new Makeup Geek Blushes! Find out which shades are her favorite.

Jenn from Spiced Beauty shows you her new obsession from Benefit Cosmetics! Do you like Tinted Lip Balms?

Who doesn't want a beautiful and bronze Summer look, right? Pammy Blogs Beauty scopes out Lancome's new for Summer 2014 French Riviera Collection.

What is Beauty Info Zone obsessing about this week? Just maybe it's eye creams. Be prepared to go shopping.

Beauty Reflections demonstrates the new L'Oreal Paris Magic Skin Beautifier BB Cream Anti-Redness and you have to see how well it works! No more red cheeks!

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What's the best way to celebrate summer? Head over to Makeup Morsels and ring in warm weather with an Urban Decay giveaway.

My Current Favourites - Part 2: Nails

I have already shown you my current favourite make up products and today I'd like to show you what I've been using most when it comes to my nails.

First up is Sally Hansen Maximum Growth Cuticle Pen. I use this every time I change my mani, and brush the oil all over my nails as well as my cuticles. It helps make my cuticles soft and also conditions my nails which are quite fragile and peel easily. Since I started using this product many month ago, my nails have been in a much better state, the peeling has slowed down and my nails have become stronger.

See what other products I've been enjoying using after the jump!

My Current Favourites - Part 1 : Make Up

As it's been a long time since I last blogged frequently, I thought I'd put together a couple of posts about the products I currently use the most. I'm starting off with make up and will also show you some of my nail related favourites.

First up is Chantecaille White Tiger powder which is just possibly the most luxurious face powder you can find. In the picture below it looks a little sad as the gorgeous picture's almost completely disappeared, but you can see a picture of how it used to look here (need to scroll down a little). I love this powder, it's really nice, well, I guess it had better be anyway since it cost £88! It appears to have been discontinued now, which is a shame, but luckily I have a few back ups of it.

While still on the subject of face powder, my favourite brush to apply it with has been the Guerlain Meteorites brush. This particular one is an older, limited edition one, but they're pretty much all the same except for their colour.

See what else I've been loving lately after the jump!

NOTD: Minty Green and Icy Silver

Today's mani is featuring a lovely nail polish from last year's Dior summer collection (no. 402 from the Samba mini polish duo) as well as GOSH Holographic Hero and Black Cat Lacquer Cancer, a glitter topper with matte white and grey glitter as well as small holographic glitter.

All 3 polishes were easy to apply, although the GOSH one you have to be careful with as it can pull a bit, but with 3 coats, everything was even. I used 2 coats of the glitter topper for added sparkle. The mani lasted well for 2 days, I removed it at the end of the second day. Removal was okay, I always use the foil method if I wear glitter.

See more pictures after the jump!

My Recent Nail Polish Purchases

Just because I enjoy seeing what others have bought. :)

Ethereal Lacquer Shade Shifter, Dollish Polish Space The Final Frontier Hyperdrive

Ethereal Lacquer Shade Shifter, Dollish Polish Space The Final Frontier Hyperdrive

Lilypad Lacquer Red Pearl, Blue Lace Agate, Mixed Metals, Amethyst Aura

Lilypad Lacquer Mystic Topaz, Rebel At Heart, Midnight Sapphire, You've Got My Attention

Finally, these two are from Mei Mei Signature's charity auction:

Sea Lore Saltwater Taffy, Cotton Candy Clouds (plus a fruity bear)

Have you bought any nail polish or make up recently? Let me know in the comments!

Mac Playland Collection Lipstick Swatches

Okay, so I realise this might be too little too late considering how quickly Mac limited edition collections sell out, but I thought I'd show you the 3 lipsticks I bought from the Playland collection anyway.

I got Toying Around, Red Balloon and Head In The Clouds (left to right). Toying Around is a bright coral pink lipstick, Red Balloon is a hot fuchsia colour and Head In The Clouds is a nice warm red with subtle shimmer. The first two are amplified creme finish and Head In The Clouds is frost finish, so not as creamy and less opaque. My swatches show just one swipe of each lipstick except for HITC which needed more to build up the colour. This isn't necessarily bad as some people may be afraid of too bright, strong colours and red can be a tricky one to wear. I like them all equally.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Butter London Trustafarian

Just a quick mani post tonight as I've had a very busy and tiring weekend. Not too bad though, my younger daughter and I went to see One Direction at Wembley Stadium on Friday night and we were out shopping today. :)

Anyway, this is Butter London Trustafarian, a greenish gold nail polish with subtle holo. I used 3 coats for full coverage, the formula was good, and it is a very nice polish.

It costs £12 for 11 ml and you can buy it from the Butter London website or for 10% less from Lookfantastic.

Do you like Butter London polishes? What about holographic polishes? Is this a shade that you would wear? Goodnight!

NOTD: Polish Me Silly Mind Blowing over China Glaze Want My Bawdy

I have another mani to show you (I told you I'm really into nail polish) and this time it's another fabulous indie polish called Mind Blowing by Polish Me Silly. I used China Glaze Want Me Bawdy, a dark blue and purple duochrome polish as the base and added Mind Blowing on top which is a multichrome topper with glitter. It goes from purple to blue as well, so a good match to Want Me Bawdy. It lightens the base colour and creates a galaxy like effect. Very pretty. It's really sparkly in direct sunlight, unfortunately the day I took the photos was a cloudy day. 

The formula of both polishes was great, Mind Blowing in particular and wore well for 2 days (which is my average and the frequency I change my nail polish usually).

Polish Me Silly polishes are available from their Etsy shop and from Rainbow Connection in the UK (although currently these multichrome toppers aren't in stock). If you buy from their Etsy shop, you can choose whether you want full size (15 ml) or mini size (9 ml) bottles and you can also purchase all 6 multichrome toppers available from the brand.

See more pictures after the jump!

Guerlain Meteorites Aquarella Light Revelaing Pearls of Powder

So it turns out I do buy some make up even nowadays, and this is one of my latest purchases: Meteorites Aquarella, the newest limited edition beauty from Guerlain. As you may know by now, I'm a big fan and collector of Meteorites pearls and of course I couldn't leave this one out either. (In case you are interested, here's my collection of Meteorites as of June 2012. I also have a few other Meteorites, some I have, some I haven't blog about.)

The Aquarella Meteorites contain a mix of gold, silver, white, pastel pink and pastel blue pearls. The gold and silver are quite glittery, so the overall look of the powder is slightly shimmery. Not disco ball glitter, but definitely not shimmer free. I don't mind a bit of shimmer, but if it bothers you, this powder might not be the one for you. The 

Guerlain Meteorites Aquarella are exclusive to Feelunique in the UK and cost £37.50 for 25 g (didn't it use to be 33g once???). I believe they are limited edition, so get them while you can! 

See more pictures after the break!

NOTD: Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish Cloudy Violet

I have another mani to show you, this time a holographic prettiness. This is Layla Cloudy Violet, a gorgeous dark burgundy-purple. Layla holographic polishes are have very strong rainbows, they are one of the strongest ones I have tried and for a while were one of the very few brands I'd owned. Now there are so many brands producing high quality holo polishes, I feel that these have become a bit more neglected in my stash, but I still love them.

In case you are wondering, my nails are shorter than in yesterday's post because this picture is over a year old. I'd already had a back up before I'd stopped blogging last summer, so I'm using those up as well as showing you my newer manis.

Here's a bottle shot for you as well. It's a pretty colour anyway, but it really comes alive in sunlight.

Do you like holographic polishes? Have you tried Layla? What are your favourite brands for holo polish?

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I'm back and NOTD with OPI You're So Flippy Floppy!

Hello! It's been a VERY long time since I last wrote a post, mostly due to personal reasons, but also I've found that my interest had shifted from make up to nail polish. I still use make up all the time, but I'm buying a LOT less, however, I'm now so into nail polish, I have built up a massive collection. So from now on I think I'll be sharing my nail polish purchases and manis with you with the odd make up post in between. Hope you'll like it.

First up is OPI You're So Flippy Floppy topped with Chaos & Crocodiles Paint The Sky, a very neon glitter topper with lots of different shapes and colours. OPI You're So Flippy Floppy is one of the Beach Sandies mini polishes from their summer collection. Chaos & Crocodiles is an indie polish brand, they have lots of fun glitter toppers. You can purchase them from Mei Mei's Signatures.

I wore this for 2 days, but by the end of the second day it had chipped. I don't know if it's to do with the glitter or just the formula of this particular polish, but the other OPI sand polishes from the same pack lasted on me for 2 days without chipping.

What do you think? Do you like sand polishes? What about indie polishes? Glitters? Let me know in the comments!