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!

My Recent Nail Polish Hauls Part 2

This is the second part of my nail polish hauls, you can see the first part here. I'm also expecting another large Enchanted Polish order to arrive, but this is all for now. I'm going to concentrate on showing you my newest make up purchases, I actually have bought some make up for a change!

Llarowe order

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Nails Inc Shepherds Market

I believe this was a limited edition colour, I bought it as part of a set in TKMaxx, so not sure, but it's not on the Nails Inc website. Shepherds Market is a silver glitter polish with lots of multicoloured glitter. The glitter in it is very fine, and the coverage is very good, the pictures show two coats.

The formula was nice and easy to apply. It did show up the imperfections on my nails and sadly chipped within the first 24 hours, so I wasn't pleased with that. It was fairly easy to remove at least.

Nails Inc polishes cost £11 and you get 10 ml for your money. I find the quality variable, some are nice, some aren't that nice. To be honest, I don't think they're worth £11, so I try to buy them in sets in TKMaxx instead. They do have some lovely colours though.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Nails Inc Garrick Street

Sadly, the pictures don't do this gorgeous polish justice, it was so much prettier in real life. Absolutely stunning duochrome from pink to purple to blue and a bit of teal at certain angles.

Taken without flash in natural daylight

I used 3 coats to achieve opacity, but it was good on its own, rather than needing to be layered over black polish like many duochromes do. The formula was nice and easy to use. It did start chipping on me fairly quickly though, so that's not great, but it was pretty while it lasted.

I bought this as part of a set from TK Maxx, but Nails Inc polishes normally retail for £11. You get 10 ml for your money which makes them pretty expensive, but I do like the sets in TK Maxx very much as they're great value (usually better than half price).

See more pictures after the jump!

My Actual (Almost) Christmas NOTD: Color Club Gingerbread

I'm sorry, I know I said I was going to continue with my 2012 Favourites posts today, but after a whole day of putting away Christmas decorations and sorting things out for children starting school tomorrow, I just didn't have time for it. You'd be surprised if you knew how long those posts take. I promise I will continue with my 2012 Favourites post tomorrow.

Instead here's the manicure I did for Christmas. Or rather Christmas Eve as unfortunately it had chipped by the end of Christmas Eve and I had to change it, but never had time to take pictures of the actual Christmas Day manicure (it was Color Club Art of Seduction - a gorgeous red glitter).

This is Color Club Gingerbread, a gold glitter polish full of holographic glitter that sparkles in the colours of the rainbow. It was part of the Under The Mistletoe holiday collection (2010). It has a nice formula, and only took 2 coats for pretty full coverage. Unfortunately it chipped on me very quickly, so I had to remove it after just 2 days.It was very pretty while it lasted though.

Color Club polishes are available from TK Maxx, or I have bought many on eBay too. I don't actually know anywhere else in the UK that stocks them.They only cost a couple of quid on eBay, so even with postage you can get them pretty cheap. Beautyzone2007 is my favourite Color Club seller on eBay.

See more pictures after the jump!

Physicians Formula Mineral Wear Talc Free Mineral Blush in Rosy Glow Review and Swatches

I showed you the Physicians Formula eyeshadow palette yesterday, and now here's the blush I also picked up in TK Maxx. This is part of the Mineral Wear line and it's a talc free blush. The shade is Rosy Glow which is a rosy pink colour.

I have to say, up until now I'd been pretty ignorant when it came to talc free make up and I actually had to look up what was so good about talc free. Apparently it's less drying for your skin which is better for those with dry skin I guess. I don't have dry skin on my face, not even in winter (my body does get quite dry, but not my face), so I'm personally not that fussed, but if it's better, I won't argue.

To me the blush seemed very powdery, I don't know if it's because it's talc free or there's some other reason. It didn't look powdery on the face, but it did in the pan. The marbleised design features two shades that mixed together give a nice rosy pink colour, pretty well pigmented, yet natural looking. There's a very slight sheen to it, but no glitter or shimmer. It blended out nicely and wore pretty well too.

The compact itself is a bit odd, it's quite bulky because it has a compartment at the bottom with mirror and brush. The compact is stuck inside the box which I have come across before with other Physicians Formula products and the box doesn't close again once you open it, so all in all, not the best packaging.

I paid £4.99 for it in TK Maxx and you get 5.5 g product. On the Physicians Formula website this retails for $11.95 and comes in 5 shades. In the UK your best bet for finding Physicians Formula products are TK Maxx and eBay.

See more pictures including swatches and a look I did with this blush after the jump!

Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Bronzed Green Eyes Review and Swatches

I was really interested in trying out this brand before I went to America last year and I did buy a few of their face powders and blushes, but never got any eyeshadows. I bought this palette in TK Maxx a couple of weeks ago together with a blush that I will review shortly. Although this palette is for green eyes, I decided to get it because it has a nice mix of colour and also because I don't believe in only wearing certain colours depending on your eye colour.

You get 9 eyeshadows (or rather 6 eyeshadows and 3 liner according to Physicians Formula) and they range from very subtle neutrals to darker, smokier colours. The colour theme is definitely neutral, but there are some nice pops of colour including a copper and a khaki shade. The eyeshadows are grouped into 3 groups of 3, the 3 on the right giving you the most subtle look and the 3 on the left the most dramatic look. You can also use them wet for an even more intense look.

The eyeshadows are nicely pigmented and smooth, all of them metallic, but there's no glitter. I didn't have any problems with fallout or creasing when wearing them over a primer. I used the 4 shades on the right to create the look you can see at the bottom of this post (not just 3 because I'm a rebel). I didn't use the liner shade as a liner, but as crease colour instead. Of course it's up to you what combinations you do with these, but the main thing is that you have a good choice with 9 shades.

The palette contains 7.5 g product and I paid £4.99 for it in TK Maxx. On the Physicians Formula website these retail for $10.95 and come in 4 variations. In the UK your best bet is TK Maxx or eBay.

See more pictures including swatches and a look I did with this after the jump!

NOTD: Color Club Wild And Willling

Since I've been buying so many nail polishes, I'm trying to do a nail post a week, although I actually have quite a backlog of pictures since I change my nail polish 2-3 times week and most manis are actually worthy of sharing on here. Would you like me to do more nail posts in the future or not? I know I'm still not that skilled when it comes to painting my nails, although I have got much better. Let me know in the comments what you think!

Taken without flash in direct sunlight

Today I have this gorgeous Color Club nail polish to show you. It's called Wild And Willing and it was part of the Wild At Heart Collection from 3 years ago. It's a beautiful shimmer polish which is also duochrome, it's pink and orange, with some yellow and a bit of green thrown in for good measure. It looks great both in the sunlight and in shade.

The formula was very thin though, I think it took 4 coats, it was very sheer and runny. It dried pretty quickly though. It lasted okay on me with some very small chips on day 2, I ended up wearing it for 4 days. It's so pretty, I think I can forgive it for the thin, runny formula, but it would be just perfect if the formula was better.

I buy Color Club polishes on eBay from this seller or from TK Maxx (they sell Color Club box sets for around £8 which is a great deal!). I think I got this one on eBay for about $3 plus $4.50 postage to the UK. You get a very generous 15 ml for your money.

See more pictures after the jump!

Bellapierre Cosmetics 9 Stack Shimmer Kit in Pandera Review and Swatches

On a recent trip to TKMaxx I found this kit for under half the original retail price, so of course I had to get it. I have already reviewed another one of these in the colour Fabulous so I won't repeat everything I've said there, if you want more info, please click here.

What you get in a kit is basically 9 little pots of pigment, 2 eyeshadow brushes, an eyeshadow base, a clear lipgloss and an instruction CD. The pigments come in a stack which is pretty cool, although due to the nature of it, can only be carried around as one piece. 

Unlike Fabulous which has lighter, bright colours, Pandera has a darker, smokier colour mix. It also doesn't include any glitters, whereas Fabulous has two glitters in it. The pigments are still very shimmery, but I find that the shimmer doesn't show up that much on the eyes, so they are definitely very wearable. I only got around to wearing a couple of shades, namely the light pinky beige and the medium brown shade (middle of top rown and right one in the middle row - see in pictures below), but they were both very smooth and easy to apply and blend. They stayed on my lids without fading or creasing for 12 hours.

These stacks retails for £59.99, but this set was only £24.99 in TKMaxx. However, I did notice, 6 months ago the same set in different colour cost only £19.99. Still a good deal, but it seems even TKMaxx is getting more expensive! Anyway, I'm happy to pay 25 quid for this, but I do feel that 60 would be way too much. Thank Crunchie for TKMaxx, eh? 

See more pictures including swatches and the look I did with some of the pigments after the jump!

Too Faced Galaxy Glam Eyeshadow in Deep Space Review and Swatches

I had been wanting to try out Too Faced Galaxy Glam Eyeshadows for a while, but never got around to it, partly because of their price and partly because there were always other things I wanted to pick up. However, on a recent shopping trip I noticed this being sold in TKMaxx and decided to finally get it. I figured at £3.99 I can't lose much even if it's not that great.

Do you know what though? This is actually a good little product. It's basically a baked eyeshadow that mixes 2 colours that you can use dry or wet for more intensity. The shade I got is Deep Space which is dark blue and white mixed together. The blue itself is quite matte, but the white has some sparkles in it. The result is different shades of blue depending on where you swatch it. I tried to use the white alone, but it's not really possible, however you can get some very light blue or mix it with more blue for darker colour.

The texture is really nice, it's soft and well pigmented even when used dry. I did experience some fallout during application, but it was fine once I cleaned up under my eye. It's pretty handy to have several shades in one eyeshadow and I'm such a sucker for baked and marbelised products, I'm really happy I picked it up. I didn't experience any creasing or fading for 12+ hours over Too faced Shadow Insurance primer.

You get 3 g in a compact that looks like a little UFO. The lid screws off and in the lid you have a magnifying glass which makes the swirly product even more space-looking. It's a bit on the bulky side, but it's a fun design. I paid £3.99 for it, but I think it retails (or retailed, it might be discontinued actually) for around £12-14.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

NOTD: Nails Inc. Burlington Arcade + Zoya Chloe

I picked up loads of Nails Inc. polishes from TKMaxx over the past couple of months, one of them was Burlington Arcade, a pretty burgundy shade. I decided to spice it up a bit and layer Zoya Chloe, a sheer pink flakie with orange, green and pink flakes. Here's the result:

I did two coats of Burlington Arcade and one coat of Chloe. This manicure lasted on me for the average 2 days without chipping. I love how the light catches on the flakes, it's very pretty.

Nails Inc. polishes normally retail for £11 for 10 ml and Zoya polishes cost around £8 (or more like $8 in the US) for 15 ml. The sets in TKMaxx cost £12.99 for 3 or £14.99 for 4 polishes, a bargain! I buy all my Zoya polishes on eBay from US sellers for about $7 a bottle (obviously you have to factor in the shipping cost and possible customs duty as well).

See more pictures after the jump!

Bellapierre Cosmetics 9 Stack Shimmer Kit Review and Swatches

I'd been planning on reviewing this kit for ages, but other things always got in the way, but finally, here it is. I bought this set in TKMaxx a while ago (February), but this is also available from BeautyBay and House of Fraser. I had actually spotted this on the House of Fraser website and loved the colourful stacks, but at £59.99 I just couldn't justify buying it, especially as I'd never actually heard of the brand before. So I was really happy to see it for just £19.99 in TKMaxx and of course snapped it up straight away.

In fact I believe you only get the actual 9 colour shimmer powder stacks for £59.99 whereas this kit also includes an eyeshadow base, two brushes and a clear lipgloss. So yeah, bit of a bargain really. I got the colour Fabulous which is a nice mix of shimmery bright colours. The stack includes two small pots of glitter, one red and one copper, and 7 pots of shimmer powder pigment. The glitter is very fine, but of course still chunkier than the pigments which are really nice and fine. The base included with the kit is slightly sticky and does a good job of holding on to the pigment, giving a creaseless result for several hours (in fact I had no creasing or fading for about 12 hours or so). You can also mix the pigments with the clear gloss and create a lipgloss, although most of the colours in this stack wouldn't be my ideal lipgloss colours. The brushes are okay, a slanted eyeliner brush and an eyeshadow brush are included in this kit. You get 15.75 g of pigment in this kit which is a good amount, making each pot just under 2 g each.

All in all, I really like the pigments, but I would not pay £59.99 for this. It's nice, but not 60 quid nice. However, for £19.99 it's really great and I wish I could pick up more colours (I especially like Iris and Astrid), but sadly due to TKMaxx's nature, they're not available there anymore.

Have you tried anything from Bellapierre? How do you like it?

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!