Mission: Nail Rescue part 4 - The Conclusion

This is the fourth part of my nail rescue mission report and unfortunately the results are not as good as I would have hoped, especially based on what Nails Inc promised me on the box of their treatment pack. According to them, by 6 weeks I should be seeing a big improvement in the condition of my splitting, weak nails. Unfortunately this is not the case. My nails have stopped splitting further, that's true, but even after 7 weeks they are still weak and very bendy. They break easily and the nail polish still chips off them in a matter of hours because they are so bendy. 

I was also unimpressed by the amount of cuticle oil included in the set as it ran out within 4 weeks or so. I'm still only halfway through the base coat, yet I have no cuticle oil left. Mind you, the cuticle oil didn't seem to make much of a difference anyway. 

I will keep using the base coat and top coat (the latter is really fast drying) and keep taking the food supplement, so hopefully there will be some more improvement. I have also invented in Mavala's Scientifique which is a nail hardener that you put on the tip of your nails only and I have to say, that has made some difference. I haven't done anything with my nails lately as I haven't been well for the last 9 days, but will persevere. The only thing with that is if you get it on your skin, it hardens that too, so you have to be very careful. I don't know if that's the reason why, but the skin next to the tip of my nail on my right thumb has cracked twice over the last week or so. Maybe it's because of the weather, I don't know, but it is pretty painful. 

Anyway, here are some more pictures of my miserable looking nails. I think you can agree that the mission has been unsuccessful.

Chantecaille Spring 2011 Collection

I have just seen the details of the Chantecaille Spring Collection and I am so excited about it!

Just how gorgeous is this palette? Absolutely beautiful! And you know I'm a sucker for Chantecaille palettes (if you haven't seen it yet, check out my collection here). So of course I will be purchasing it.

Here are the collection details:

Sea Turtle Palette ($79.00) (Limited Edition)

This limited edition palette, inspired by the beauty of green sea turtles and their warm, sandy nesting grounds, reflects the fluid ease, billowy freedom and insouciant vintage Parisian chic of fashion. Three Eye Shades and one Cheek Shade reflect the golden warmth of new spring neutrals complimented by an on trend deep sea green eye defining shade. Composed of formulas with the finest pearl and pigment particles to create a natural, satin, sheer veil on the skin with a glowing effect. Eye shades never travel or crease. For the complete Spring look, follow with one of our new long lasting, full color Hydra Chic shades. With the purchase of this refillable palette, 5% of proceeds will help WIDECAST ensure the survival of sea turtles.

New Hydra Chic Shades ($30.00)

To complete this clean, graceful and sophisticated look, Chantecaille created three new Hydra Chic shades. Hydra Chic is a modern full-impact lipstick that is hydrating and luminous with six hours of great color wear. Natural extracts of papaya and orchid help to soften lips and provide anti-oxidant and anti-aging protection. Raist, a natural sugar derivative, provides immediate and comforting hydration.

• Aster A bright vibrant floral pink shade. Not too cool and not too warm, this pink emphasizes and brightens lips.
• Canna A soft peach shade warms the face.
• Willow Impart the sophisticated look of the neutral lip with this deep beige shade.

 

Details and photos Temptalia

Dior Spring 2011 Collection Sneak Preview: Cannage eye palette #001

As promised, here's a sneak preview of Dior's spring 2011 collection. I've managed to buy one of the Cannage palettes on eBay and it's finally arrived (no thanks to the seller who didn't post it for 4 days after payment!). I've got #001 which is Dawn Grey, there is also another palette (#002) with brown shades. For details of the collection, click here. 

The palette comes in a black box with silver letters and silver CD logo. The palette itself is in a lovely quilted leather cover. It looks very similar to the holiday eye palette actually. The palette also has the letters D i o r hanging on the top left corner as charm. Inside there are 4 eyeshadows and a double ended applicator. The 4 eyeshadows are matte black, shimmery dark grey, shimmery light grey/silver and shimmery light pink. The texture of the eyeshadows is lovely, the black shade is really pigmented, soft and not at all chalky. Shame goes to the dark and light grey shades. The light pink shade is a little different in texture, very sheer, it's definitely more of a highlighter, similar to the highlighter shades in the designer palettes. All in all it's a really nice palette, I'm looking forward to using it and also to getting the brown version. I love Dior eyeshadows and this one didn't disappoint either.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump! 

Christian Dior Spring 2011 Make Up Collection

I'd been really looking forward to seeing details of the Dior Spring 2011 collection and finally here they are! Not very springlike to be honest, there are lots of greys in the collection, but pretty just the same. As you know I'm a huge fan and avid collector of Dior eyeshadows, so I'm of course very excited about them especially. And I have been lucky enough to snap up one of the Cannage Palettes on eBay, so will post a review as soon as I have it!

Here are the details of the collection:

Serum de Rouge Lip Treatment

• #240 Pink Coral Serum
• #460 Pink Mauve Serum

Addict Ultra Gloss

• #654 Pink Veil
• #707 Trianon Silver

Rouge Dior Lip Color

• #540 Spring Pink
• #658 Chic Pink

Dior 5-Colour Designer Eye Palette #018 Soft Pink Design
 

Dior 5-Colour Eyeshadow #034 Gris Gris
 

Dior Cannage Palette #1 and #2

Mascara Diorshow 360  #090
 

Dior Eyeliner Pencil #077 Smoky Grey
 

Dior One-Colour Eyeshadow #053 

Colour moist powder SPF 8 in #001, #002, #003
 

Dior Vernis Nail Enamel 

• #108
• #707 Gris Montaigne

See more pictures after the jump!

Accessorize merged blush review

Firstly I'd like to apologise for not posting for a few days, but I haven't been well (caught a lovely virus) and have been busy with friends and family. Also, it is very unlike me, but I haven't been buying a lot of make up lately, so have run out of inspiration on what to write about. But then I remembered these blushes I bought from Accessorize a while ago (you can check out my initial post here) and actually used them a few times the other week, so I thought I'd tell you all about them.

These are baked domed blushes, not dissimilar to Mac mineralize blushes in appearance, some with more than one colours merged in them, some with just one colour. I believe there are 4 shades in the range, but I only got 3, the remaining shade was too dark and bronze for my liking. You can check out the whole range on the Accessorize website. The shades I got are Pretty Pink, Starlet and Diva. 

I have seen Pretty Pink on a few blogs, it's been compared to Mac's Moon River mineralize blush (from Grand Duos). It is an incredibly sheer powder, gives nice pink highlights to the skin, but as a blush it's not much use. I'm fairly light skinned (Light Medium Mac MSFN shade in winter) and it hardly shows up on me. It's also very frosty (not shimmery though).

Starlet is a bit brighter, darker pink, but it still takes a few goes to show up on me properly. It gives a nice pink flush, but it's cooler than Pretty Pink. Still on the light side though and quite frosty.

Diva is my favourite, even though it's the least pretty to look at (I love the marbelised effect of Pretty Pink), it only has one colour in it, but it delivers the most colour onto my cheeks. Despite looking scary in the pan, it's nowhere near as dark, as you can see in the swatches below. All of these blushes are a lot less pigmented than Mac blushes, which isn't too bad with the darker shades as you can always layer them on and it's easier to avoid looking like a clown if you're a bit heavy handed, but the light shades (especially Pretty Pink) only deliver frost and not much colour even after layering. 

These blushes cost £5 each and you get 8 gramms per blush. Would I recommend them? Diva, yes, maybe even Starlet if you're light and cool toned (can pull of cool pink blushes), but not Pretty Pink unless you want a highlighter and not a blush.

See more photots and swatches after the jump!

Accessorize Pink Spice Nail Polish - a possible dupe for Mac's Bad Fairy?

I told you about my Accessorize haul a few weeks ago, but never got around to showing you the products in detail (I haven't actually used anything other than the blushes, which I will try to review in the coming week). Today I want to show you Pink Spice nail polish which is a beautiful pinky-red duochrome colour. I haven't done side by side comparison, but I think it is a very good dupe for Mac Bad Fairy nail polish (from Venomous Villains), maybe a bit less red and more pink, but pretty close. For comparison I reviewed Bad Fairy over here, but please bear in mind that those pictures were taken on a sunny autumn day whereas these ones were taken on a gloomy winter day. On my nails there really doesn't seem to be a big difference.

With flash

Pricewise, Accessorize nail polishes cost £4 which is half the price of Mac polishes. Both Mac and Accessorize polishes are 10 ml. Qualitywise, Bad Fairy took 3 coats to look even, Pink Spice took 2 coats. Pink Spice applied much more evenly and was less runny than Bad Fairy. Nail polishes chips on me almost instantly, so that's pretty equal really. Finally, since Bad Fairy is now discontinued, if you want the shade, Pink Spice is your best bet as it's available from Superdrug and the Accessorize website. I would recommend checking out the line, there are some real gems in there (including dupes for the entire Orly Cosmic FX collection).

See more pictures and swatches below!

In case you were wondering...

...about where my blog sale has gone: I've deleted it. Since there was hardly any interest in it and all the unwanted make up was cluttering up my very limited amount of storage space, I decided that I would give it all away instead.

I have come across Give and Make Up a site run by the lovely Caroline who has been organising donations for Refuge, a charity helping women and children who suffer domestic violence. Caroline is kindly collecting donations of make up, skin care and all sort of other beauty and hygiene products, so I thought what better place to send my unwanted make up and other bits and bobs. 

Caroline is also collecting donations for shoe boxes, an appeal organised by Samaritans Purse which is also an excellent cause. My 3 children and I have prepared 3 shoe boxes filled with toys, stationery and hygiene essenstials for children who live in the poorest countries and will most probably only receive that one gift this Christmas. I believe our boxes were sent to Belarus.

Anyway, if you feel like being charitable, please feel free to check out the above mentioned websites. If you have other ideas for charitable giving, don't hesitate to tell me about them in the comments.