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!

NOTD: Color Club Hot Couture over Oh My Gosh Electric Pink

Today's manicure is a lovely springtime one (although I actually did it back in November), it's very appropriate for Easter, even though the weather in the UK resembles more Christmas than anything else. It was 2.8 degrees at 9 am this morning. Brr!

I used Oh My GOSH Electric Pink polish as a base and then applied Color Club Hot Couture glitter top coat on top. The result: bright pink sparkly nails! Lovely.

Both polishes has a good formula, not too thick, not too runny. Hot Couture has a very good glitter coverage, you don't need to fish around for glitter. I only had a couple of tiny chips after the first day, but after 2 days I had loads of chipping and peeling. Still, it was very pretty while it lasted.

I bought Hot Couture as part of a set from TKMaxx and Electric Pink from Superdrug.

See more pictures after the jump!

Festive Nails Part 5 - Holographic Silver

Holographic silver nail polishes always remind me of wrapping paper, don't they? This one is 17's new holo polish which I actually won in a giveaway from the lovely Liloo. (Check her fantastic blog out here.) As I'm a sucker for holographic polishes, I had to try this out asap!

The holo effect on this one isn't the strongest I've seen, it's probably up there with the GOSH holographic polish, maybe a little weeker. It's very pretty though and the formula was very nice. Application was a bit messy, but that's probably my fault. I did 2 coats then top coat then an extra coat to make sure the top coat didn't dull the holo effect. The only thing I didn't like about it, which I've not experienced with any other holo polish before, is how it faded by day 3 and was very dull at the end of my fingers. It lasted pretty well though, with only a few small chips by the end of day 2.

I like 17 nail polishes, they're cheap, but qood quality. You get 10 ml for £3.99 and at the moment there's a buy one get one half price offer on selected 17 cosmetics at Boots.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: GOSH Holographic Hero Nail Polish - For One Night Only?

If you follow me on Twitter, you will have seen my tweets about Gosh's coveted Holographic Hero nail polish that has been re-released recently. It has been branded as a "one night only" polish due to problems with it chipping quickly, so I thought I'd give it a go myself and see how much of that is true.

Taken without flash in direct sunlight

I was actually very pleasantly surprised by how well it lasted. The picture above was taken about 36 hours after I painted my nails. You can see a small crach on my middle finger nail, that's due to that bit of nail peeling badly (and subsequently breaking off sadly), but other than that there are were only a couple of small chips on my index finger nails after 2 days or so. I kept it on another day and by the end of day 3 it did look pretty bad, but no worse than any other nail polish (with a very few exceptions) would look on me. It certainly wasn't a one nighter for me.

The formula is very nice, thin enough to apply evenly and dry quickly. With holographic nail polish I always apply base coat, 2 coats of holo polish, then a top coat and another coat of holo polish on top which helps make it longer lasting and also this way the top coat doesn't dull the holographic effect. The holo effect on this is gorgeous, it's proper linear holo, although the Glitter Gal holographic polishes have a stronger linear effect. I think this one is up with the Layla holographic polishes I've tried, but is cheaper than both the Glitter Gal and Layla polishes. There wasn't any sunshine on the day I took most of the pictures, so I included some taken under strong indoor light and with flash too.

The GOSH Holographic Hero nial polish is available for £4.99 (for 8 ml) if you can find it. Although it's now permanent, it has taken me a couple of weeks to find it as most Superdrugs were out of stock. Hopefully once the hype dies down, it will be more readily available. If you like holographic polishes, this one is definitely a nice to have.

If you have it, let me know in the comments how you like it. 

See more pictures after the jump!

2011's Favourite Products: Part 1 - Eyes

As 2011 is drawing to a close, I decided to do a series of posts about my favourite beauty products of the year. To be honest though, I do find it quite difficult to do posts like this, because a year is a pretty long period and I often find if I think of my favourites of a certain period, the latest favourites will most likely be included rather than the ones I was crazy about 6 months ago. But I will try to be as objective as possible. I'm not doing detailed reviews on everything since I have actually reviewed a lot of these products, so I will just link them back to the posts if they've already been reviewed.

First up are base products. My favourites are in no particular order: Barbara Daly (for Tesco) Even Smoother Eye Base, Mac Paint Pots and Rimmel Colour Mousse 8hr eyeshadows. Click on the links for the reviews. The only one of these three that I haven't reviewed yet are the Mac Paint Pots. I don't know why, I've just never got around to doing it. I actually own a lot of them, having bought 10 with the last 2 Mac collections and also the permanent ones, or older limited edition ones that I'd already owned. They can be used as primers as they don't crease at all or just on their own for a subtle (or in some cases not so subtle) colour. My only problem with them is that my older ones are beginning to dry out, even though I keep them upside down and sealed properly. They are the most expensive of the bunch at £13.50 for 5 g.

Keep reading to find out what other eye products made it into my favourites this year!

FOTD With Barbara Daly Satin Swirl Eyes Eyeshadows

This is the look I did with my new Barbara Daly eyeshadows, Navy Reflection and Cinder Shine. I used Cinder Shine all over the lid and Navy Reflection in the crease.

Here's a list of all the products I used to create this look:

Eyes:
Barbara Daly Even Smoother Eye Base
Barbara Daly Satin Swirl Eyes Eyeshadow Cinder Shine all over the lid
Barbara Daly Satin Swirl Eyes Eyeshadow Navy Reflection in the crease
Chantacaille La Baleine Bleue Eyeshadow Palette light grey shade on the inner corner of lid and above crease
Chantacaille La Baleine Bleue Eyeshadow Palette highlighter shade on browbone to highlight
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Zero on waterline
Gosh Velvet Touch Waterproof Eyeliner in Cool Mint on lower lashline
No 7 Exceptional Definition Nutrient Enriched Mascara in Black
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
17 Blemish Balm (will review this soon)
Guerlain Radiant Butterfly Meteorites Voyage Powder
Chantecaille Blush in Laughter
Chantecaille La Baleine Blanche Face Palette

Lips:
Chanel Rouge Allure in Belgravia

See more pictures after the jump!

My Ever Growing Nail Polish Collection Part 3 - GOSH, Models Own, Dior, Chanel

As promised, here's the third and final part of my nail polish collection overview. If you missed part one and part two, you can check them out here and here.

So let's just get on with it shall we? Any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments!

My GOSH nail polishes

See more pictures of my collection after the jump!

Face of the day with Accessorize products

Since I've now reviewed a lot of the new Accessorize make up range, I thought I'd show you the look with some of them that I did today and it turned out really well. At least that's what I think, feel free to let me know in the comments!

To create this look I used the following products:

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin
Accessorize Baked Duo Eyeshadow in Zoria

• turquoise side all over my lid and blended into the crease
• champagne side on browbone to highlight

Accessorize Icon Eyeshadow in Mermaid (soon to be reviewed) above crease and below lower lashline
Gosh Long Lasting Eyeliner Pen in 002 Turquoise above upper lashline
Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner in Flipside on lower waterline
Diorshow Blackout Mascara in Black
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:

Accessorize Highlighter (sson to be reviewed) above cheekbones and lightly mixed into foundation
Maybelline Dream atin Liquid Foundation in 020 Cameo
Guerlain Poudre C'est Moi
Accessorize Bronzing Block in Shade 3 (soon to be reviewed) on cheeks
Highlighter side of Accessorize Baked Bronzer Duo in Laguna above cheekbones

Lips:
Accessorize Diamond Sparkle Lipgloss in shade 5 Crush (soon to be reviewed)

See more pictures after the jump!

My holiday make up bag

Since I really enjoy reading about what make up people take on holiday with them, I decided to write my own post about it. As you know (or don't, but will now), I was away in Florida for 2 weeks last month. I always struggle with packing, usually end up taking far too much, clothes, shoes and make up alike, and while I will not go into details about the clothes and shoes, I can assure you, I did the same again - both for me and my 3 children (my husband packs his stuff). I swear we could have left at least one suitcase behind and not be without anything. I mean who would've thought you don't need long trousers, sweaters and raincoats in Florida at Easter? I always pack warm clothes just in case, but honestly, I didn't even wear a light summer cardigan, it was always over 25 degrees even at 10 o'clock in the evening. Anyway, moving swiftly on, here's what I took with me make up-wise:

My 88 Shimmer and Metal Mania palettes

All other make up products I took with me

As you can see, all of the products are fairly cheap, drugstore or similar products. I'm always really afraid to take expensive high end and limited edition products with me in case they get damaged or lost in transit. I find the 88 eyeshadows palettes (especially the Shimmer palette) very useful as they contain all the colours (including some really good highlighters) you ever need. Although the quality of the eyeshadows isn't that good, with a decent primer they lasted through most of the day, and it was usually over 30 degrees, so I guess that's not too bad.

So what else did I take? I managed to photograph it upside down, but you can see my Maybelline Dream Creamy Foundation (reviewed here) which I actually managed to finish on the last day of the holiday, talk about great timing eh? I took my Collection 2000 Illuminating Touch concealer (reviewed here) as well as my  Mac MSFN & Shimmer in Medium, great for setting foundation and highlighting. Not sure why I needed an extra highlighter, but I took a Ruby & Millie one, not sure what it's called though, it's from a set. I took 4 blushes: First Kiss and China Pink by 17, Sleek Rose Gold (see review here) and Laura Geller Tropic Hues (a handy travel sized one, full sized one reviewed here).

I took numerous eyeliners, all Urban Decay 24/7 ones, as I love their eyepencils and I like the variety of colours. I also took 3 mascaras: L'Oreal Telescopic Explosion mascara (reviewed here), Max Factor More Lashes waterproof mascara and a Rimmel waterproof mascara (its name escapes me completely, sorry). For my brows I took my trusty Mac Brow Set in Show Off. And of course my favourite eyeshadow base: Barbara Daly for Tesco (I've reviewed it here).

I took 2 lipliners and 8 lipsticks, plus 4 double ended lipglosses as well as several of my GOSH eyeshadow brushes, 2 blush brushes and a cheepo noname face brush. Oh and a double pencil sharpener.

Now, do you want to see how many of these products I actually used over the 2 weeks? See after the jump!

GOSH Long Lasting Lip Marker Review

GOSH is among the many companies that have come out withlip markers over the last year and finally I have decided to take a look for myself what the fuss is about. I like GOSH, especially their brushes and eyepencils, so I thought I'd try out one of their lip markers. Plus they were on special at Superdrug (doubley as there was a 3 for 2 offer and these were reduced from £6.49 to £4.99), so I tested the 4 colours they had available and picked Berry, a beautiful raspberry shade.

True to its name, not only it's a lovely raspberry shade but has the most gorgeous raspberry scent as well (although I think the scent is the same with all the other shades too). The product is easy to apply, doesn't bleed or smudge once it's on my lips, and it isn't drying like some other lipstains I have tried. It's not especially moisturising, but it's definitely not drying. The staying power is okay if you don't eat, but I did find that it disappeared from my lips after eating my lunch. It did leave a slight stain behind around the edges of my lips, but not enough to call it long lasting. Funnily, when I swatched it on my hands in Superdrug, you could see the lines for hours, even after washing my hands several times. That is why I didn't do a hand swatch for this post, I did swatch it on paper and included two lipswatches though, so hope that's okay. I did love it with Mac Liquid Lurex dazzle lipstick on top, the multicolour shimmer looked gorgeous on top of it (unfortunately my picture doesn't do justice to it), also any shimmery lipgloss would jazz it up nicely.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

My favourite high street (drugstore) make up / beauty products

As you know, I love high end make up, my favourite brands include Guerlain and Dior, and you can't get much more luxurious products than from these two brands. However, I also like products that work well no matter how much they cost or what brand they are. I am a make up snob, but not enough to pass on good bargains! :)

I thought I'd show you what my favourite high street (drugstore) beauty products are and if you like, please tell me in the comments which ones you like / work for you. 

Find out more about my favourite bargain buys after the jump!