Thursday 28 February 2013

Lime Crime Aquataenia Fantasy Palette Review and Swatches

I'd been lemming this palette for ages, and once when I was placing an order for a Z palette from Love Make Up I decided to get it. You see it was free delivery for orders over £50, and I ended up with this in my basket. As you do. I didn't own anything from Lime Crime before, but the reviews I'd read were positive, so I thought why not.


I'm happy I got it though as it's a lovely little palette. It contains 5 eyeshadows in gorgeous bright colours. The palette just screams spring to me. The colours included are Nautilus Prime (bright blue), Coral Of The Story (bright coral-orange), Seahorse Discourse (bright lime green), Pearl-ple (pearly lavender) and Atlanteal (bright teal). The eyeshadows are housed in a tin palette which doesn't include a mirror (I prefer palettes with mirrors).

So far I have only used Nautilus Prime and Pearl-ple, but I have swatched all the colours and they all seemed very smooth, nicely pigmented and not too powdery. I applied them on top of Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer as I always do, and my eye make up looked good and lasted pretty well, although I did see some fading after about 8 hours. I didn't experience any fallout and the colours were easy to blend.

The palette contains 7.5 g of eyeshadows and it costs £23.99. The eyeshadows are vegan and have not been tested on animals. I bought mine from Love Make Up, but Cocktail Cosmetics also sells Lime Crime.

All in all, it's a lovely palette with gorgeous bright springy colours. Now I'm interested in trying out other Lime Crime products!

See more pictures including swatches and the look I did with these eyeshadows after the jump!

Tuesday 26 February 2013

Lancome Hypnose Custom Wear Volume Mascara and Cils Booster XL Super-Enhancing Mascara Base

I've had these two samples for ages and finally got around to trying them (over a month ago!). Anyway, I have even managed to type up this review now, so better later than never, I guess.

Lancome Hypnose Custom Wear Volume Mascara

I usually stick with my favourite mascaras, Guerlain Le 2 and Givenchy Phenomen'eyes, but of course I'm always happy to try out new ones. I have heard a lot of positives about Lancome mascaras, so I thought I'd give these a go.

Cils Booster XL is a white mascara base that helps to prime and protect your lashes, and enhance your eye make up. You basically use it under your mascara. I have found it very good for giving a bit more volume and length, although I can't really comment on exactly how it's helped to protect my lashes as I've only used it a few times. As much as I like it, I never have time to use it in the mornings.

Hypnose Custom Wear Volume Mascara in Noir Hypnotic is a volumising mascara and it also gives my lashes quite good length. I like it very much, the brush is very easy to use, it's a nice size with good bristles and the formula is just right too. I really cannot fault it. I have found that I get more volume with the mascara base under this mascara, but even alone it's very good. I haven't had any problems with clumping, smudging or flaking at all.


You can see two pictures of me wearing the base and the mascara at the bottom of this post, but if you'd like to see full face pictures and the breakdown for the looks, click on the pictures.

The full size versions of these products cost £21 for 5.5 ml (Cils Booster XL) and £22 for 6.5 g (Hypnose Custom Wear Volume Mascara).

See more pictures after the jump!

Monday 25 February 2013

Pink and Mauve FOTD

I did this look over a month ago when I had an entire morning to get ready and could actually experiment a bit. I really liked it, so I took pictures, and finally I have even managed to post them! I am also about to review the mascara I used, so I thought I might as well do the look first.


To create this look I used the following products:

Eyes:
Too Faced Insurance Policy
Too Faced Insurance Policy
Estee Lauder Vivid Shine Eyeshadow in Magenta all over the lid
Estee Lauder Vivid Shine Eyeshadow in Cyber Ruby in the crease
Estee Lauder Cyber Metallic Eyeshadow in Cyber Pink in the inner corner of the lid and on browbone to highlight
Mac pigment in Helium patted on top of Estee Lauder Vivid Shine Eyeshadow in Magenta
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner pencil in Crash on lower lashline
Urban Decay Heavy Metal glitter eyeliner in Catfight on the upper lashline 
Lancome Cils Booster XL mascara base and Hypnose Mascara Volume in Noir Hypnotic
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Guerlain Lingerie de Peau foundation in 02 Beige Claire
Guerlain Voilettes Invisible Skin Fusion Loose Powder in 03 Beige Naturel
Laura Geller Baked Blush in Bali
Bare Minerals Ready Luminizer in The Love Affair

Lips:
Chanel Rouge Allure Laque in #78 Phoenix

Let me know what you think about this look in the comments!

See more pictures after the jump!

Sunday 24 February 2013

The Winner Of My Vivo Smoky Moods Ultimate Eye Kit Giveaway

is Mateja Novak!

Many thanks to all of you who entered and a big welcome to my new followers! If you didn't win this time, don't despair, there's going to be another giveaway soon.


Friday 22 February 2013

NOTD: China Glaze Stella and Haute Metal Crackle Polish

Firstly, I'd like to say sorry again for the lack of posts this week, but I've been busy with the children and I'm still not feeling well, so not had much energy for posting. Secondly, I just want to mention on a side note that a friend of mine's dog called Stella (the same name as the gorgeous burgundy polish in this post) is very poorly with kidney failure at the moment which is making me really sad. But I had this post planned for today, so I will still do it and dedicate it to my friend's family. Stella is a gorgeous loveable 10-year-old dog who is very much part of their family and will be sorely missed when the inevitable happens.

Taken with flash

I'm also a bit sad about this mani because it looked so gorgeous, yet it lasted very badly. As much as I love China Glaze polishes, they seem to chip on me almost instantly. This started chipping on me within the first 24 hours and had to be removed after just 2 days as it looked terrible. It did look very pretty while it lasted though.

I did 2 coats of Stella followed by a single coat of Haute Metal Crackle. The formulas were great on both, I was really happy with the crackle effect. I also used Seche Vite top coat (I think).

See more pictures after the jump!

Wednesday 20 February 2013

ArtDeco Spring Collection Haul, Review and Swatches

This pretty magnetic palette is part of ArtDeco's spring collection and as I love butterflies, I of course had to snap it up. I also bought 4 of their duochrome eyeshadows to go with it and a pretty duochrome nail polish.


The palette takes either 4 eyeshadow singles or a blush and an eyeshadow, and I decided to get 4 of the new shades of eyeshadows. Of course you can buy it without refills and you also don't have to get the palette if you just want the eyeshadows, but I figured they would look lovely together.

I got 255 Aero Spring Green, 267 Fresh Water, 285 Lilac Passion and 297A Rosy Heart Throb. These are new shades for the spring, but I don't know if they are also limited edition or permanent. As I said, these are said to be duochrome eyeshadows, but with the exception of Rosy Heart Throb, I can't really see the duochrome in them. Rosy Heart Throb has a gold duochrome to it which is very pretty. The eyeshadows are very soft, a bit powdery and they are rather sheer as well. They give a very soft effect and look very springlike,but if you are looking for something more dramatic, more pigmented, then these are not for you. They did last well though and didn't crease at all, but due to their softness it was easy to overblend them, so you need to be careful when applying and blending.

Considering the price of the made up palette (£32.25) this is not as cheap as you'd think and for the amount of product you get (3.2 g) it's not the best value. I also found it a bit odd that the packaging of the palette shows an applicator, but you don't get one with it, which I probably wouldn't use, but for the price they really should've thrown in a measly applicator. 

I also bought Ceramic Nail Laquer 245 Iridescent Butterfly Wings which is a pretty blue with purple and teal duochrome. It seems very sheer, but I haven't tried it yet, so can't really comment.

The palette costs £10.25, the single eyeshadows are £5.50 (for 0.8 g) and the nail polish costs £9.50 (for 6 ml). I bought mine from BeautyBay, but Debenhams should be stocking the collection soon too.

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

Monday 18 February 2013

Too Faced Sweethearts Perfect Flush Blush Review and Swatches

First of all, I'd like to apologise in advance for the lack of posts in the coming few days (and as you could see there wasn't a new post yesterday either). It's school holiday this week in the UK and that means 3 children in the house. With several daytrips this week I won't have much time to write up reviews and by the evenings I usually feel really tired to type anything coherent. I have also not been feeling well (cold and sore throat), so not been feeling energetic at all.

Anyway, I do have a review for you today and it's the new gorgeous heart shaped blush from Too Faced. As soon as I saw the pictures, I knew I had to have it. I just love the design and the colours are really lovely too.


Too Faced Sweethearts Perfect Flush Blush is a baked heart shaped blush devided into 3 colours: rosy pink, coral and peach. All 3 shades are rather frosty, but not glittery. You can just about use the strips alone due to their size or you can mix them up to create a pinky coral glow. It isn't overly pigmented, so don't have to worry about overdoing it. I've found that it gives more of a glow rather than an obvious colour, but of course you can layer it on. It did seem to disappear after a few hours' wear to due its lightness, so longetivity isn't its strongest point. I think this is true to most baked products though.

The blush comes inside a very cute pink heart shaped cardboard compact and the outer box is also cute and pink. The packaging is exactly what you would expect from Too Faced, girly, pink, a bit kitsch, but ever so cute. You get a nice 5.5 g that should last you a good while. The blush costs £24 and I got mine from Beauty Bay, but Boots should be stocking it soon if not yet.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Saturday 16 February 2013

Mac Pro Longwear Paint Pots Review and Swatches

Mac has released 8 "new" Pro Longwear Paint Pots this month, although only 2 of them are actually new shades, the other 6 are repromoted or even from the permanent line. I only bought the two new shades: Frozen Violet and Antique Diamond, because I already owned the other 6. Although mine are the original, "just" Paint Pots, I believe the formula hasn't been changed, they've just been renamed to Pro Longwear Paint Pots.


So I thought I might as well do a quick post on them and show you all the swatches. For once, these are actually NOT limited edition, so you can take your time to purchase the ones you like. Yay!

We have here Let's Skate from Glitter & Ice (2011), Chilled On Ice, Vintage Selection, Let Me Pop and Dangerous Cuvee from Cham-Pale (2010), Frozen Violet and Antique Diamond (new) and Blackground (permanent). All of them are glittery and/or frosty to some extent, some more than others. They are quite sheer, perfect for a quick wash of colour. I often use paint pots when I don't have time to do a complex eye look, just swipe one colour on my lids and maybe another one to highlight and that's it. These paint pots are brilliantly long lasting and they don't crease all day long (not even without primer underneath). Once they dry, they're not going anywhere. They are also very good as eyeshadow bases.

As you can see, most of the old paint pots are still in good condition, but my Let Me Pop has shrivelled up somewhat. I don't know why, I stored it just like I store the others (upside down with the lid tightly closed) and it's the same age as the other 3 Cham-Pale ones. It still works, it's not too dry, but I suspect it may not have too much life in it left. Oh well, at least I can repurchase it now it's permanent. Actually Let Me Pop isn't one of my favourites, it's a bit chunky and hard to get even. My favourites are definitely Vintage Selection and Dangerous Cuvee, but I also really like Antique Diamond.

Mac Pro Longwear Paint Pots cost £14.50 and you get 5 g of product for your money. It's nice to have some new shades added to the permanent line, but I would still like to see some bright colours like purple, blue, teal and green.

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

Friday 15 February 2013

Beauty Must Have: Too Faced Shadow Insurance Anti-Crease Eyeshadow Primer

I've been meaning to blog about this product for ages and finally I've got around to it. I mentioned it in my 2012 Favourites post, but I thought it deserves its own review because it's a fantastic product. I used it every day and it never lets me down.


Too Faced Shadow Insurance (TFSI) is an eyeshadows primer that helps keep your eye make up looking vibrant and stay creaseless. It is a light skin coloured cream product that once blended out is practically invisible. I use it under every eyeshadow and it works really well for me. It is very similar to Urban Decay Primer Potion (UDPP), but I prefer this Too Faced version mainly due to the packaging. Unlike the UDPP genie lamp style hard tube TFSI comes in a soft plastic squeezy tube. I always find that when I think my UDPP has run out, there's actually still tonss of it left in the tube, and once I cut it open and scoop out the contents, it dries out very quickly. I know the UDPP tube has now been redesigned and it also comes in a squeezy tube now, but I still have several genie bottles left from palettes that I now can't be bothered to use.

I have been using my current tube of TFSI for years now (on and off) and the texture of the primer has not changed at all, it hasn't dried out one little bit and amazingly there's still lots left in it. You really only neeed a little bit at a time, so an 11 g tube goes a very long way. I also have it in the Candlelight version which is a slightly shimmery, frosty version that is recommended to use under shimmery eyeshadows, but I usually forget about it and just use the normal version more often than not.

This is an absolutely must have product if you wear eyeshadows and I can wholeheartedly recommend it. An 11 g tube costs £16.50.

See more pictures after the jump!

Thursday 14 February 2013

Lancome Teint Visionnaire Skin Perfecting Makeup Duo Review

A few weeks ago I signed up on Facebook and was selected as part of the VIP panel to test the new Lancome foundation. I was sent a free sample and had to use it for 4 weeks, and fill in 2 questionnaires. Now that the foundation has been launched and isn't secret anymore, I thought I'd tell you what I think about it.


Lancome Visionnaire is one of their best selling facial serum, it's supposed to combat skin imperfections such as wrinkles, dark spots and pores. The foundation is enriched with 2% of LR2412 (which is some beauty molecule Visionnaire contains 4% of) and is said to do the same thing as well as give a "natural looking and flawless finish". You also have a corrector/concealer included in the lid so you can disguise bigger imperfections.

The foundation comes in a rather bulky bottle with a big lid that contains the concealer, in which you get 30 ml of foundation and 2.8 g concealer. The foundation has a pump, so you can get out just as much as you need (one pump does my face). The texture is lovely and light and easy to blend and work into your skin. It has a very slight "foundation" smell, but nothing too strong and it's definitely not perfumed. The coverage is light to medium, it covers most of my imperfections well. I've found it long lasting and it controlled the oiliness of my skin well, I often didn't have to retouch it during the day, although my skin is drier in the winter, so this is true to most foundations at the moment. It felt really nice on the skin and looked good. The shade I was sent is 01 Beige Albatre which is the fourth lightest shade (out of 18!), but I think it's still a bit dark, perhaps it will be a better match in the summer. (I was actually sent 03 at first but that was way too dark.)

The concealer I wasn't very keen on, it has a very thick texture and is hard to pick it up and blend out. I've tried it under my eyes a few times but then I gave up as it looked too cakey, settled into fine lines and made my mascara smudge. It works better on spots and other imperfections you need to conceal as it's thick, but I still don't like it.

At first I didn't think I could see any skincare benefits, but after wearing the foundation for 4 weeks I have noticed that my skin has looked much better and I've not had any spots lately. I don't think it's done anything to my fine lines or my pores, but to be honest, I don't really think anything does. I have also been using Genifique and Visionnaire regularly, so perhaps that's why I haven't noticed any recent changes.

All in all, it's a nice foundation. I would prefer it if it came without the concealer and in a much less bulky bottle. At £36.00 it's up there with other high end foundations. Would I repurchase it? Probably not, mostly because I have so many other foundations at the moment. It's a really nice foundation, but since I wouldn't be using the concealer much, I'd feel it was a waste getting another one. I think I'll stick with my Guerlain foundations for now.

See more pictures after the jump! For pictures of me wearing this foundation on my face check through the last 2 weeks' posts, in every look I posted this month I'm wearing it.

Wednesday 13 February 2013

NOTD: Hits Mari Moon Multigirl Chameleon Nail Polish

I thought this would be a quick nail polish post but I've just spent ages cropping and watermarking the photos because I took so much. This polish is absolutely beautiful and I really wanted to show you just how gorgeous it is. It's actually very frustrating because despite all the pictures, it was still a million times prettier in real life.


I wore 2 coats over black polish, the polish is otherwise very sheer to be worn on its own. It has a lovely formula and it lasted really well on me, 2 days with just very minimal chipping, and in the end I wore it for 4 days which is my maximum.

The picture above was taken on day 2 and you can see some tipwear, but I was desperate to take some pictures in sunlight because it just looks amazing in the sun. The colour shifts from purple to blue to green to a greyish purply taupe colour, amazing!

I bought it from Llarowe and it cost $7 for 6 ml. Or you can buy a set of 4 for $21.

See more pictures after the jump!

Tuesday 12 February 2013

Want It! Guerlain Terra Ora Collection for Summer 2013

Guerlain always has me with their new collections and of course it's no different this time around. Thanks to Tavia I have details of the upcoming summer collection called Terra Ora.


The face of the collection once again is the ever beautiful Natalia Vodianova. The theme of the collection is gold, golden bronze. The star item is the limited edition Terra Ora bronzer that comes in a wooden compact like last year's Terra Azzurra powder. I'm also interested in the golden version of Guerlain's Meteorites Perles primer and the new BB cream. There's a new foundation as well as 2 new Shine Automatique lipsticks, new nail polish shades and a new lipgloss formula, Gloss D'Enfer that British Beauty Blogger has swatched for us already. Not part of this collection, but there are also 6 new shades of Terracotta 4 Seasons Bronzing Powders that might tempt me too.

Coming to a counter near you sometime in March or early April!

See the full collection details and more pictures after the jump!

Monday 11 February 2013

Urban Decay Oz The Great and Powerful Glinda Palette Review and Swatches

There is a new big film out and of course Urban Decay has come up with a couple of palettes to go with it. I haven't seen the film yet (it's only out in March), but I remember well loving the story of The Wizard Of Oz as a child. I decided to pick up the Glinda palette more because I liked the products in it, rather than the film, and similarly I didn't pick up the Theodora palette because I wasn't very interested in the colours.


Anyway, the Glinda palette is really lovely, I'm very glad I've picked it up. It contains 6 full size (1.5 g) eyeshadows, a travel size (0.8 g) 24/7 Glide-on eyepencil and a full size (2.8 g) Super-Saturated pencil. The palette itself is the new style design your own palette, so you can pop up the eyeshadows and put different ones in if you wish. You also get a "Get the look" card to show you how you can achieve the look Michelle Williams is sporting on the box (and int he film).

The colour scheme is neutrals, pinks and purples, all very soft and feminine. You get Tornade, a very well pigmented, smooth reddish purple with a sheen, Aura, a split pan duo-chrome pink and blue frosty colour, Magic, a rosy pink with subtle gold shimmer, Illusion, a light frosty peach, Oz, a split pan frosty and glittery gold and silver and South, a frosty taupey brown. All the eyeshadows are very smooth and well pigmented, and apart from Oz, not glittery. You also get Rockstar 24/7 Glide-on eyepencil which is one of my favourite eyeliners ever (you can see swatches of Rockstar by clicking here) and Glinda Super-Saturated pencil, a glossy pinky nude colour which is very flattering.

I did two looks with the palette, one using the eyeshadows in the top row (pictures at the bottom of the post) and one using the eyeshadows in the bottom row (except the silver one). I especially liked the first look as it was so pretty and feminine. The only eyeshadow I had an problems with is Oz, the split pan gold and silver one, because it has a bit more gritty texture than the others and the chunky glitter is more fallout prone.

The eyeshadows last on me without creasing and fading for 10 hours or more. Glinda Super-Saturated pencil lasts on me for about 2-3 hours depending on whether I eat or not. It's a lovely glossy lipcolour and doesn't feel at all drying on the lips.

There are a few things I dislike about the palette itself. I don't like the make your own palette style, the eyeshadows feel quite wobbly in it and also it is extremely bulky for what it is. I also don't like that you can't see anywhere the names of the eyeshadows (other then the bottom of the actual pans and the outer box. I'm thinking about pulling th plastic insert out, depotting the eyeshadows and using the palette with magnets instead. I reckon you could fit at least 9 eyeshadows in the that way, if not more.

Value-wise I can't fault it, the set costs £35 and it includes over £107 worth of products not counting the palette itself. I can happily say that other than Oz that feels a bit too glitzy for every day wear and feels a little bit out of place for me, the palette is really lovely and I have really enjoyed using it.

See lots more pictures including swatches and a look I did using the palette after the jump!

Sunday 10 February 2013

Win It! Vivo Smoky Moods Ultimate Eye Kit

You have a chance to win this great eyeshadow trio and liquid eyeliner by Vivo. To enter, please use the Rafflecopter widget, no other entries will be considered. The giveaway is open worldwide and terms and conditions can be found at the bottom of the widget. The winner will have 2 days to reply and claim their prize. Good luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday 8 February 2013

Estee Lauder Pure Color Illuminating Powder Gelee Blush in Tease

The new Estee Lauder Pure Color Illuminating Powder Gelee Blush in Tease is so pretty. I love the design and the colour, so of course I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. It has taken me a while to use and review it, but I've finally managed.


Firstly, this is another one of the new gelee powder formula, so it's a powder, but feels and looks like a cream product. It is very metallic and gives a high sheen finish, so it's probably not for those who prefer their face products to be matte. It isn't glittery, but it's definitely rather shimmery.

I had a bit of trouble working out how to apply it best and it seems that the sponge applicator they provide with it is the best way to go about it. It doesn't pick up too much product and you can blend it out easily. When I tried using a regular blush brush, the result looked quite patchy. But with the applicator it looks nice and even yet not too heavy. I also found duo fibre brushes work well, but they give a much more subtle effect. With the sponge you need to be a bit careful not to overdo it, but if you do thin layers rather than try to pile it on, you'll be fine. The blush didn't last very long on me, it's practically disappeared after 5-6 hours of wear.

It's a lovely product, but even on my pale skin it's more of a highlighter than a blush. I haven't tried it on top of a powder blush, but I think it would work really nicely.

The blush costs £30 and you get 6 g which is actually more than previous illuminating powder gelees. It's still not a massive amount, but probably way more than you need. This is a limited edition product, so grab it while you can if you like what you see!

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains in Crush, Darling and Rendezvous

After trying out and loving Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Lovesick I decided to pick up another 3 shades and see if I like those as well. I got Crush, Darling and Rendezvous. Crush is a medium dark berry shade, Darling is a scarily light looking lavender that turns pink on me and Rendezvous is an orangey-coral (more orange than coral actually).


I'm not going to do an in-depth review on these because I have already done it for Lovesick, please check out my review if you want to read all the details. Out of the 3 shades I like Darling the most, although I was sure it was going to look terrible on me, it's actually a very pretty shade. It looks lavender when first applied, but turns more and more pink as time goes on (see the picture at the bottom of this post). Crush is also a really nice shade, it's not as scary and dark as it first seems, but it can be built up anyway, so if you like vampy, this is a good one to choose. Rendezvous is a bit too orange for my liking, I would've preferred it to be more coral, but I think it will look better on me in the summer when I actually have a bit of a tan.

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains cost £7.99 each and you get 2.7 g which doesn't sound too much, but these actually seem to last forever as they hardly show any sign of use so far.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Tuesday 5 February 2013

Chantecaille The Evening Duo Review and Swatches

As you know, I love Chantecaille palettes, especially the pretty ones. The duo I'm going to review today I wasn't sure about buying for ages. Normally Chantecaille palettes retail around £75 for 4 shadows, whereas this duo retailed for £70. Ouch! However, since it was reduced to half price in the SpaceNK sale, I finally decided to buy it. So was it worth it?


The palette comes in a box about twice its size which causes a bit of a surpise when you pull the compact out of the box. The compact itself is shiny pewter decorated with 7 large(ish) and 7 small Swarovski crystals. Inside you find the two eyeshadows (Charmeuse and Carbon), as well as an eyeshadow and an eyeliner brush, and a full size mirror in the lid. The eyeshadows appear quite large (maybe because the palette itself is so small?), and in fact they are 2 g and 1.5 g each respectively.

Charmeuse is a light metallic pinky-nude colour with tiny sparkles and Carbon is a matte jet black. They are both smooth, they glide on effortlessly, blend really well and are well pigmented. You can use Charmeuse as an all over colour and Carbon as a liner, or crease colour which is what I did (plus used Freesia in the middle of the lid to blend the colours together and Perle on the browbone to highlight). You can see the pictures of the look at the bottom of this post. The eyeshadows lasted on me all day on top of a primer and looked really lovely.

All in all, this is a lovely palette, but not for £70. I know it's Chantecaille, but still, £70 for 3.5 g of eyeshadow is a bit pushing it. I'm happy I got it for £35 though. Sadly I don't think it's available anymore, but you might find it on eBay if you're lucky. It is still available on the Chantecaille website (US) at full price.

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

Monday 4 February 2013

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!

Sunday 3 February 2013

Urban Decay 24/7 Double Ended Pencil Duo Set Review and Swatches

Urban Decay 24/7 eyepencils are one of my favourite eyeliners and I can safely say I have pretty much every shade available now. So when I saw that this set was available on the Urban Decay website I knew I really wanted it because it contains a shade, Sabbath, I didn't own. Luckily it became available in the UK as well, so I could finally get my hands on it.


The set contains two double ended eyepencils and a Grind House Double Barrel Sharpener. The shades included are Zero (black), Corrupt (dark metallic brown), Stash (antique gold) and Sabbath (matte navy-blue). This set contains the essential shades, Zero is great black eyeliner, Corrupt is my favourite brown eyeliner, Stash is lovely with golds and greens, and Sabbath is a gorgeous smooth dark navy colour. Corrupt and Sabbath aren't available individually, although Corrupt has been included in a couple of sets before. Together with the sharpener, this would make an excellent starter set for someone who doesn't have many eyeliners.

All of them are really pigmented, smooth, they go on easily and stay put for hours. I use Urban Decay 24/7 eyepencils almost every day and would wholeheartedly recommend them to everyone. 

The eyeliners are 0.5 g each (well, 1 g per double ended pencil), so you get 2 g and the sharpener for £19. This is nowhere near as good value as the other eyeliner sets as you get just over £30 worth of products, but it's not bad. The sharpener retails for £7 alone, although I can live without it quite happily, and there's still £23 worth of eyeliner in there.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Saturday 2 February 2013

Another No-Buy Update

I'm trying to think how long it's been since I started my no-buy, I think it's 4 months now.This time I can honestly say I've done well. Last month I decided I wasn't going to buy any nail polish for a month and I did it - well almost. I actually only gave in to temptation at the very end of the month when I ordered the new Color Club holographic nail polishes. They only arrived on the 1st February, so they don't count, right? Just kidding. I also picked up a Butter London nail polish and lipgloss set (Shambolic) in TK Maxx on the last day of the month, but for £9.99 it would've been rude not to, right?


Other than that I only bought 3 new Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains (still to be reviewed) because I like the first one I tried out, so I really wanted to get a few more.

I guess that's not too bad, is it? I'm actually planning on continuing with being very strict with my nail polish purchases, the only ones I really have my eye on are the new China Glaze Hologlam collection polishes, I just love holographic polishes and I can't possibly not buy those.

Now if only I could say no to eyeshadows and pretty powders... But then what would I blog about they in day out?

Mac Year Of The Snake Eyeshadows - Aztec Brick and Once Upon A Time

At first I wasn't going to get anything from Mac's new Year Of The Snake collection, despite the products having snake prints on them, I don't really know why. In the end I decided to pick up the two eyeshadows I hadn't owned yet, Aztec Brick and Once Upon A Time. I have to admit, I mostly got them for the outer packaging, it is so pretty. But I definitely wanted to get something I didn't have yet. As pretty as Shell Pearl beauty powder is, I decided I didn't need another one. I also already owned the other two eyeshadows, and as I'm on a lipstick no-buy I decided not to go for any of the lipsticks.


Anyway, I got Aztec Brick and Once Upon A Time eyeshadows. These are larger size eyeshadows, they contain 3 g product and the pans are the size of the mineralize eyeshadow pans and the prolongwear ones. The eyeshadows have snake imprints on them, what looks like the middle part of a snake, no heads or anything. They're not that amazing to look at to be honest, but Aztec Brick in particular is a lovely shade. Both are Veluxe Pearl finish and have a nice texture. Once Upon A Time is almost the same colour as my skin, so it doesn't show up well, but it is pigmented and very smooth. Aztec Brick is a much louder colour and it also has a lovely texture. They both stayed on my lids for 8+ hours and didn't crease.

The eyeshadows come in the regular black Mac compacts and black cardboard box, but they also have a limited edition sleeve on top of the outer box with gorgeous colourful metallic snake prints.

Sadly as I type most of this collection is already sold out on the Mac UK website and it's a Mac online only collection, so if you haven't bought anything from it yet, then better get a move on because there isn't much left. Sorry. The eyeshadows cost £16.50 by the way.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

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