FOTD: Mac Crushed Metallic Pigments

Firstly, sorry to disappoint, but this look isn't featuring any of the Vera collection Crushed Metallic Pigments. I actually did this look a few days before the collection came out because I was really excited about the pigments and wanted to use the ones I already owned. The pigments used in this look are from the 2011 Dazzlespheres holiday collection. I will try to do a look with the Vera pigments soon too.

To create this look I used the following products:

Eyes:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Mac Crushed Metallic Pigment in Rose Light on middle of lid
Mac Crushed Metallic Pigment in Seasonal Cool in crease
Mac Crushed Metallic Pigment in Pearl in inner corner, above crease to blend out and on browbone
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Underground on waterline
Guerlain Noir G mascara
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid foundation in 020 Cameo
Guerlain Meteorites in Mythic
Too Faced Candy Leopard blush

Lips:
Mac If It's Pink Dazzleglass Creme

See more pictures after the jump!

Festive Nails: China Glaze Luna

Okay, so I know, Christmas is over, but there's still New Year's Eve, and in any case, you don't even need an excuse to wear a gorgeous glittery nail polish. China Glaze Luna is a beautiful icy blue nail polish with lots of shimmer and holographic glitter that shimmers in every colour of the rainbow depending on how the light hits it. Absolutely stunning.

With flash

My only problem with glitter nail polishes like this is that they chip and peel off very quickly. I like painting my nails the night before a party or meal out, and often with glitter polishes I have chips within a matter of hours. I actually had to stick back one nail back as it completely peeled off (just the nail polish, not the nail obviously). Of course there's always the pain of removal of course, but I'm starting to get used to it now. I also found this to be a bit thick, so drying time was a bit long, but just look at it, still very much worth it!

I got mine from the US on eBay, but in the UK you can get them from Sally Express for £6.49 each. You get 14 ml which will certainly last you a good while.

See more pictures after the jump!

Festive Nails: China Glaze Ring In The Red - The Ultimate Christmas Red

Sorry about the slightly fuzzy picture, I took it on my mobile. But you can still see what a gorgeous sparkly red nail polish this is, just perfect for Christmas. This was part of China Glaze's holiday collection, Let It Snow (same as Champagne Bubbles).

It is a really fabulous red nail polish with red glitter in it which is quite fine, so it doesn't feel gritty at all. It took 2 coats to look even, but I did 3 for an even nicer finish, plus Seche Vite top coat. Unfortunately a couple of nails chipped after just one day, but sadly that is not unusual for me at all. It did at least dry pretty quickly, so if I have to reapply, it won't be a big deal.

I got mine from the US on eBay, but in the UK you can get them from Sally Express for £6.49 each. You get 14 ml which will certainly last you a good while.

What is your favourite Christmassy nail polish? Let me know in the comments!

See more pictures after the jump!

Festive Nails: Mac Rain Of Flowers With 17 Nail Xtras Glitter Top Coat

I have another festive nail idea for you. I actually wore this to the school mums' Christmas drinks as I had a blue dress on. While it's not strictly Christmassy (as in not red, green or gold), I think it's a nice glittery look.

It was actually more purple than in the pictures, but my camera has trouble picking up pinks and purples, but you get the idea. I was very pleasantry surprised by the 17 topcoat as I was afraid it might not have much glitter in it, but two thin coats produced a good amount of multicoloured glitter, so I was pleased.

Do you like this combo? Let me know in the comments.

See more pictures after the jump!

Festive Nails: Color Club Sugarplum Fairy

I have another holiday nail polish to show you, this is Color Club Sugarplum Fairy from the Beyond The Mistletoe collection. It's really full on, lots of holographic glitter in a light purple base. Very pretty and very sparkly.

Formula is a bit thick, although that means it's opaque in two coats, actually it's pretty much opaque in one, but I applied a second one to even it out. Unfortunately it chips very quickly and in fact one nail completely peeled off witin 24 hours. I stuck it back on with a base coat and it was alright for another day, but by the end of day 2 it didn't look good. Removal was easy in that I managed to just peel it all off, which is probably not the best for my nails, but hohum.

I bought this as part of a set from TK Maxx for just £7.99, but sadly it's not available there anymore. However, you can find it on eBay for not much more (i've seen it for just £2 per polish on eBay). You get 15 ml in a bottle.

Do you like glitter nail polishes like this one? Let me know in the comments!

See more photos after the jump!

Festive Nails: China Glaze Champagne Bubbles

I've bought a lot of nail polish lately, including lots of glittery ones from the current holiday collections, so I thought I'd do a little series featuring some of them. First up I have China Glaze Champagne Bubbles from the Let It Snow holiday collection, a yellow gold with silver glitter. The glitter is very smooth and not very noticable, but it's a nice twist on regular gold nail polish.

Taken with flash

I've only worn it for a day, so can't comment on how longlasting it, although I have 2 small chips already which is not unusual for me. The formula was a bit slow drying with 3 coats, even with Seche Vite on top, so I actually managed to put some small dents into it on my right thumb. I got mine from the US, but in the UK you can get them from Sally Express for £6.49 each. You get 14 ml which will certainly last you a good while.

What do you think? Do you like it? Is this the sort of colour you would wear during the festive season? Let me know in the comments!

See more pictures after the jump!

Guerlain Spring 2012 Collection - Ecrin 4 Couleurs 12 Les Aqua Swatches and Review

There will be two 4 colour eyeshadow palettes as well as one 6 colour eyeshadow palette released with the Guerlain's Spring 2012 Collection and I have #12 Les Aqua to show you today.

As the name shows, this palette contains blues and greens. You get a silvery white highlighter, a turquoise shade, a teal-blue colour as well as a grey shade with subtle blue shimmer. The highlighter is quite frosty, so might be better for inner corner rather than brow bone highlighting. The teal and turquoise shades are a lot less frosty, mainly just shimmery, but not glittery, the teal especially has a lovely sheen. The grey shade is quite matte but it has some very fine blue shimmers that are more apparent in the pan than in swatches. I haven't worn them yet, I only just received the palette yesterday and this morning was too manic for complicated make up looks, but from past experience Guerlain eyeshadows are very smooth, long lasting, they don't crease or fade. These shades are all well pigmented based on the swatches.

If you thought this was similar to the Holiday 2011 palette #10 Les Ombres de Nuit then you're not wrong, however these shades are definitely lighter and less frosty (except for the highlighter shade). I've included a side-by-side comparison photo and swatches at the end of this post, be sure to scroll all the way down. There's also a blue palette that I don't own which could be similar, but that doesn't have a highlighter shade.

The palette is the same as all the other 4 colour palettes, housed in a gold coloured shiny compact, you have a mirror in the lid and a double ended applicator is included too. You get 7.2 g which is pretty good and these retail for £37 at the moment, but I'm pretty sure it'll be more come January.

See lots more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Givenchy Phenomen'eyes Paillettes Glitter Topcoat in Plum Sparkles

I wore this mascara top coat in my previous post, so I thought I'd show you in a bit more details. It's part of Givenchy's holiday offerings and comes in 3 shades: Plum Sparkles, Gold Sparkles and Black Sparkles.

Givenchy Phenomen'eyes Mascaras are one of my favourite ones, so I was hoping this topcoat would have the same qualities, but sadly, no. I tried wearing it on its own, but the formula is too runny/thin for that and it hardly made any differenc to my lashes. On top of another mascara it adds some very hardly noticeable sparkles, but no volume or length. The sparkles were just not obvious enough to justify paying £20 for a topcoat, so I'm quite disappointed with this product. I haven't tried the gold shade, maybe that's a bit more blingy, but this plum shade is certainly very subtle.

Otherwise, it has the same brilliant brush as the regular Phenomen'eyes mascaras and you get 7 g which is a good size for £20. I think I will just stick to my regular Phenomen'eyes mascaras, they have never disappointed me.

See more pictures after the jump!

FrontCover Eye Popping Eyeshadow Palette Review and Swatches

Every year with Christimas comes a new bunch of limited edition FrontCover sets and I usually can't resist and end up buying a few, despite already owning a good number of them (you can check out my collection in this post). As there's usually a 3 for 2 offer in Boots, I often end up with 3 of these sets at a time. This year, among others I purchased the Eye Popping Eyeshadow Palette which I'm going to show you today.

Housed in a plastic two-tier compact you find 18 eyeshadows in pretty much every colour of the rainbow. They are all quite frosty, so if you like your matte eyeshadows, then this is not the palette for you. A couple of them also have small glitter in them, although it's not too obvious, especially as those are the darkest shades. The top tier contains 12 eyeshadows in blues, purples, greens and a couple of highlighter colours, and the bottom tier contains 6 pink/peach/brown shades arranged in a slightly different format like a shimmer brick. You get a double ended brush and a small face/blush brush as well, plus there's a nice large mirror in the lid.

The fact that there's a face brush next to the 6 pink/peach/brown shadows made me think they're also intended to be worn as blush, swirled together as the strips are too narrow to be used alone, but to be honest, they are way too frosty for that. I did try to recreate the look on the cover and used the bottom 6 as blush, but it did not look very good. And they're too dark for highlighter, so I would stick with them as eyeshadows.

Pigmentation-wise the shadows are pretty good, some better than other, but the bright ones really do pop and the dark more matte (well with glitter) ones aren't too chalky either. Over UDPP they didn't crease or fade at all. There was some fallout during application but not while worn, so I was pretty impressed. All in all you get 23 g which is massive for £16. The case is rather heavy, so that makes it less travel friendly, but it's not bulky and you get so many shades that you really don't need much else. The brushes provided are pretty naff, but that's normal with sets like this I think. What's great about FrontCover sets is that you get useful hints and tips on how to create certain looks. I have tried to recreate the cover look and will be posting my FOTD pictures soon. The cover is pretty cool actually with the image changing from open to closed eyes depending on the angle you look at it, I can't for the life of me remember what it's called, but I'm sure you know what I mean.

There are lots of pictures including swatches after the jump!

My Mac Glitter and Ice Collection Haul

Every year Mac ropes me in with their mineralize eyeshadows, so of course once again I have given into the temptation and purchased half their holiday collection. Do you want to see what I got? Here it is!

Packaged in shiny silver outer boxes (which are fingerprint magnets) and white plastic compacts and tubes.I think it's pretty nice, certainly makes a change from the usual Mac packaging. I ended up buying all the mineralize eyeshadows, both beauty powders, three lipsticks, two dazzleglasses and all 3 paint pots. I have close-ups of everything below, plus swatches of the eyeshadows, so keep reading.

Just want to mention, Winterized mineralize eyeshadow was super hard to find as it's been showing as sold out/out of stock on every website and none of the counters I tried had received it (same thing happened with Rare Exotic mattene last month actually), but I managed to order it from Mac mail order directly. It's very pretty, so I'm glad I tracked it down.

I also bought a few sets from Ice Parade and Dazzlephere! collections, but I didn't include them in here. I bought all 3 crush metal pigment sets, the mineralize brush set and also Rocking Iced Delights Nail & Lip Bag which contains Kanga Rouge lipstick that is absolutely beautiful. I also picked up Hot Gossip lipstick which is included in one of the exclusive face kits and Trax eyeshadow which is included in the Sultry Snowglobe eyeshadow palette, both of them are permanent. Phew! I'm all Mac-ed out.

Did you pick up anything from Mac's holiday offerings? Let me know in the comments!

See more pictures and swatches of the mineralize eyeshadows after the jump!

Bobbi Brown Black Ruby Sparkle Eye Palette Review and Swatches

After buying a lot of Bobbi Brown palettes last year, I swore I won't be tempted by any of them this time around, but since I love her Sparkle eyeshadows so much, I gave in and picked up this little beauty.

The Black Ruby Sparkle Eye Palette contains 4 sparkly, almost cream like eyeshadows in the following shades (left to right, top to bottom): Pink Rose, Crushed Silver, Black Ruby and Onyx. The eyeshadows, as the name suggests, are very sparkly, but it's not chunky glitter at all, just very very sparkly shimmer. They apply slightly sheer, but they're buildable and there isn't much fall-out from them despite all the shimmer. There's some during application, but I didn't experience any after that for a good 10-12 hours, but then that's usually the time when my make up starts to melt off my face anyway. There certainly wasn't any shimmer on my face, lips, etc. I used Urban Decay Primer Potion on my lids as a base and there was absolutely no creasing even after 10-12 hours of wear.

For £34 you get 8 g worth of eyeshadow which is reasonable I think, especially considering that Bobbi Brown single eyeshadows cost £15.50 each and they're only slightly bigger than the ones in the palette at 2.8 g. You also get a teeny tiny eyeshadow brush with the palette, but in all fairness, it's so tiny, I can't really be bothered to use it. There is also a mirror in the lid of the palette.

I will post the FOTD I did with this palette tomorrow, so be sure to check back. For now, I'll leave you with lots of pictures and swatches.

Guerlain Holiday Rouge Automatiques 169 and 170 - Review and Swatches

The last two products from the Guerlain holiday collection left to review are the new Rouge Automatique lipsticks. The two shades are 169 Flirt D'Un Jour and 170 Nuit D'Amour. They couldn't be more different, with 169 being a barely there pinky nude and 170 a very vampy blackened purple shade. Although 170 is nowhere near as dark when applied as it looks in the tube. It's more of a sheer wine colour in the swatches, of course it is buildable and can be quite dark if you need it to, or just a purple stain if you are scared of dark lipsticks.

I like them both, but I think 170 is my favourite.I'm not really a nude lipstick kinda gal. But I do really like the pink and blue sparkles in 169, and it is a nice glossy lipstick. 169 doesn't last as long as 170, probably 2-3 hours, whereas 170 lasted more like 3-4 and it faded into a nice stain on my lips. Neither of them are as creamy as most of the Rouge Automatique lipsticks I own, the formula seems a little less creamy and the colours are less opaque, but with 170 I think that's not necessarily a bad thing.

These lipsticks are priced at £24.50 and they're 3.5 g each.I bought mine from Debenhams, but they're also available from other department stores.

I have managed to do lip swatches for 170, but unfortunately I don't have any for 169. However you can see some arm swatches as well as lots of other pictures after the jump!

Guerlain Ecrin 4 Colour Eyeshadows in 10 Les Ombres de Nuit - Review and Swatches

The Guerlain holiday collection also includes a limited edition 4 colour eyeshadow palette, Les Ombres de Nuit. It comes in the same style as the fall eyeshadow quads, housed in a gold colour case inside a black pouch and black box. This product doesn't have the teal-black zebra pattern on the inside of the box or the teal satin lining to the pouch, but it does have teal inside. The shades are pearly grey-white, pearly teal, pearly medium blue and matte black. 

The pigmentation is excellent, the eyeshadows are buttery soft and have great colour pay off, even the matte black shade which can often end up chalky - but not in this quad. The grey-white shade works well as a highlighter, although it is a bit frosty, but it would look nice in the inned corner of the eye. I love the teal shade, it is absolutely gorgeous and the blue is stunning too. I created a really nice smoky teal-blue look with this quad and the eyeshadows stayed on all day with no creasing or fading. (No photos though sorry, it was a busy day.)

The quad is priced at £37 and you get 7.2 g of eyeshadow which is quite a decent size actually (makes it cheaper gram for gram than Mac single eyeshadows for example). You also get a decent sized mirror inside the compact which is always a plus and a double ended foam applicator which is not going to get any use from me, but maybe some people would find it useful.

Have you bought this eyeshadow palette yet? Are you planning on indulging? Let me kow in the comments!

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Guerlain Vol de Nuit Perfumed Shimmer Powder

I love Guerlain's shimmer powders and I always get compliments when I wear them. They are very glam, yet quite subtle and very elegant. I usually spray it on my hair, decolletage and arms (not my face as that would be too shimmery even for my liking) and I just love the very fine shimmer. They don't come cheap at neary 50 quid, but they do last a long time (unless you use them every day which would be rather over the top) and they are pure luxury.

This year's offering is Vol de Nuit, a beautiful gond shimmer powder in a gorgeous teal bottle. Guerlain says this is their first scented shimmer powder, but I'm pretty sure the other ones are scented too, so not sure what that's all about. Still, it smells lovely and the shimmer looks divine. The bottle is modelled on their vintage Vol de Nuit frangrance bottle and has a puff that you squeeze to spray some powder. It looks great on the dressing table just like a bottle of expensive perfume.

I have to say though I was very surprised by how tiny the bottle was, it fits in the palm of my hand! Product wise you actually get a tiny bit more than last year at 17.5 g, so I guess it's just how the bottle is. Instead of having lots of glass around the bit that contains the powder, the whole bottle is just much smaller. I was also surprised to see how small it was because the box is massive as usual. Oh and the inside of the box has the same teal-black zebra pattern as the highlighting powder and the Meteorites.

The retail price is £49.50, so pretty steep, but this is a real luxurious treat, so if you like your shimmer-glimmer on a night out, you will love it.

See lots more photos after the jump!

Guerlain Meteorites Perles de Nuit

Continuing with reviewing the Guerlain holiday collection, I have the gorgeous Meteorites powder to show you today. This year's limited edition Meteorites come in a teal container, but are the same design as last year's holiday meteorites and also the new permanent shades. The teal colour runs through the whole collection and the outside black box has the same teal-black zebra pattern on the inside as the Parure de Nuit highlighter powder.

Inside we have the powder balls in different sizes and colours: pink, white, gold, orange and silver to correct, illuminate and even out skintone and give radiance. At first I was slightly disappointed with these pearls because I had read that these limited edition Meteorites were going to contain green/blue pearls, but it appears they had been replaced by the orange ones for whatever reason. I still love them and they're still very pretty, although they don't seem that special. Anyway, that's just me.

The Meteorites cost £36 and for that money you actually get 30 g of product which is pretty good. These powders last for absolutely ages. Plus they are so pretty and smell so gorgeous.

I haven't provided a swatch photo as Meteorites don't really show up in photos, but you can see me wear them in the full face picture in this post (make sure you scroll right down to the bottom). The silver pearls seem to be slightly glittery and you can see some glitter on my face, although that was a lot less noticable in person.

I'll leave you with lots of product photos after the jump!

Guerlain Rouge G Lipstick 26 Gardner Swatches And Review

As promied here's my review of the new limited editon (although I'm not entire sure if it is, please correct me if it's not) Guerlain Rouge G lipstick in 26 Gardner from the Guerlain holiday 2011 collection. I have to admit, at first I wasn't too interested in this lipstick (well, at first I didn't even know this was part of the holiday collection actually). I prefer my blue based reds and this is more of a brown-red/brick red shade, but it has really suprised me because it actually looks really nice on me.

It has the usual great Rouge G formula, it's really creamy, pigmented and long-lasting, and of course comes in the wonderful Rouge G case. I have reviewed many of these lipsticks, so I won't bang on about this, just show you some swatches and let you make up your mind. In the swatches below I only swiped it once on my arm, so you can see how pigmented it is. Although it didn't last through lunch, but without eating and drinking it lasted for a good 4 hours on me.

I do need to mention the price though as sadly it is very high at £28.50 (ouch!), but you really do get a very luxurious product for your money. Also with a long-lasting lipstick like this, you don't need to touch up too often, so shouldn't be afraid of using up your lipstick too quickly. But still, £28.50 is a lot of money for one lipstick, so that's definitely a negative. But it is the only one I can think of, and I still love Rouge G lipsticks very much.

See more photos including swatches after the jump!

My Guerlain Holiday 2011 Collection Haul

As you know by now, I love Guerlain. So I'm pretty sure it comes as no surprise that I single handedly managed to purchase the entire holiday collection as you can see below.  

Check out all the product reviews by clicking on the links below!
Parure de Nuit Highlighter
Guerlain Rouge G lipstick in Gardner
Guerlain Meteorites Perles de Nuit
Guerlain Vol de Nuit Perfumed Shimmer Powder
Guerlain Les Ombres de Nuit Eyeshadows
Guerlain Holiday Rouge Automatique lipsticks

Feel free to let me know in the comments if you've purchased anything from this collection yet and how you're liking it.

Guerlain Parure de Nuit Holiday Highlighter and Blush

I've been really excited about the Guerlain Holiday collection and have a feeling that I will probably end up picking everything up. The first product I have is the Parure de Nuit Pressed Powder and Blush. This gorgeous peacock feather patterned powder is a blush and highlighter in one, it appears that if you use the brush in a diagonal direction over the 3 red blobs, you get more of a blush than if you go the other way. I am told however that it is still a subtle blush and will probably not show up much on darker skin tones other than as a subtle highlighter.

I have to apologise though because I have not swatches this one myself yet. You know what I'm like with pretty powders... I will get around to it eventually, or not, we'll see. There are a few swatches around, so I'm sure you'll be able to find some. But for now, let's just stare at this beauty, shall we?

The powder comes in a shiny black compact (same as the spring blush - reviewed here) and you get 10 g, so it's a pretty generous size. It has the same gorgeous parma violet scent as the Meteorites which I really love. I don't know it's retail price (I got mine from eBay), but I'm guessing around £43-£45. I'll update this later once I have the price. You get a lovely teal coloured brush in the compartment below the powder which matches the inside of the velvet pouch the compact comes in as well as the inside of the box. Very cool. It seems the whole collection has a teal theme, have you seen the gorgeous container the Meteorites come in? Can't wait to get my hands on those too!

I'll leave you with some more pictures. If you have tried this powder, feel free to let me know in the comments!

Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol. 4 Is Now Available On Debenhams.com!

Urban Decay's newest eyeshadow palette is now available on debenhams.com priced £46, but with 10% off on all beauty it's actually only £41.40. Plus you get 500 bonus points if you have a Debenhams Beauty Club Card, so basically that's another £5 off. Get it while stocks last! (10% sale ends today, Friday 9th September.)

For more information on the palette click here. And don't forget to let me know if you've bought one.

WANT IT! Guerlain Holiday 2011 Collection - Belle de Nuit

Guerlain is one of my favourite beauty brands and I always look forward to their holiday collections because they usually are very very pretty. It's the same again this year, Belle de Nuit is just a simply gorgeous collection. Once again the promo picture features the ever beautiful Natalia Vodianova and the collection is all about sparkles. (Although her face does lok a bit odd in this picture, don't you think?)

To find out what products make up the collection, continue reading after the jump!