elephantJuice... all made up

Hum ho NOTD

2010-08-08T15:32:00.001+01:00

My nails are naked right now, but this is what they were wearing until yesterday!

After the craziness of my last konad, I wanted something a little more subtle. To be honest, I was a little meh about this at first, but longer I wore it, the more it grew on me! It’s a bit of a mess, but that’s what happens when you do your nails at 11pm in bad lighting.

The base is e.l.f. Desert Sand nail polish, and I am loving this colour! It’s a rather elegant nude beige, and is a bargainous £1.50! The quality is pretty ok. It’s a little thick on application, but that’s nothing a little thinner won’t sort out, but it did only last about 4-5 days before huge chunks chipped off on the left hand. Although in all fairness my nails do get quite a bashing at work.

I used the konad m57 plate and a black polish to stamp one of the lace designs across the base of the nail, and I really like the contrast of the dark lace against the pale base colour. It’s quite simple, but I like it.

In other nail news, I’m seriously lemming the new Estee Lauder Surreal Violet nail polish. Hopefully I’ll get my grubby little mitts on this soon :)

Free MAC! Thanks Back 2 MAC :)

2010-07-20T13:33:00.001+01:00

Of course all of that depotting means lots of B2M!

I’m really not a lipstick person, I feel much more comfortable with balms and glosses. I have quite pigmented lips, so I don’t feel too naked without any colour on them as long as they’re moisturised. Still, if there’s free make-up going, I’m there.

When I toddled off the my MAC counter with my 6 empties, I had visions of walking away with Pink Nouveau, or Creme Cup or some soft bubblegum pink colour, but after hearing that I wasn’t a big lipstick person the lovely make-up artist suggested I look at the Slimshine Lipsticks. There wasn’t a huge selection, but I picked out Gentle Simmer and I think this might be an excellent “trainer lipstick”.

I can’t find these on the MAC website so I assume these are discontinued and they’re just phasing them out at counters, which is a shame because this is a lovely product. It would also explain the pretty poor colour selection at my counter. It gives a pretty sheer glossy wash of colour, and almost feels like a solid gloss but not as thick. You don’t get a whole lot of product compared to the normal line of lipsticks, but the packaging is just so elegant. Plus, I think these could be an excellent segue into the grown up world of lipsticks for me!

Bare lips on the left, Gentle Simmer on the right. Clearly it doesn’t give a whole lot of colour, unless maybe you have paler lips than I do, but it does add a lovely moisturising gloss. Personally, I like that it’s not intensely pigmented as it means that I can reapply this without the need for a a mirror.

This is not my first lipstick, but it is definitely the first I’ve ever brought home that I actually like using. I’m so sad that they’re discontinued! I think I might have to pop back and pick up a few more of them before they disappear forever.

Zebra NOTD

2010-07-12T19:18:00.001+01:00

The Essie came off at the weekend, and on went this bit of tacktastic fun :)

Holographic rainbow zebra print using my new m57 plate. Inspired by a video I saw on youtube. So so tacky, but I love it! I thought The Boy would hate it, but apparently it’s too ridiculous to hate :)

The index finger is the only one that seems to have printed properly. The fourth finger is totally botched! I somehow totally misjudged where my nail actually was and managed to miss both ends of the nail with the stamp. I tried to restamp the tip with a little extra stripe, but my total lack of spacial awareness shone through loud and proud and I stamped it in the wrong direction! Doh. Lesson for next time: don’t be lazy and try to restamp, fill in the missing stripes with more polish and a nail art brush. The holographic polish also washed out the definition between the pink and the purple stripes, but ah well.
The cast of characters:
- Barry M in Turquoise
- 17 Lasting Fix in Parma Violet
- Barry M in Strawberry Ice-cream
- 17 Lasting Fix in Orange Soda
- OPI Standing Room only
All topped off with the zebra print from the Konad m57 plate in the black polish.
It’s quite ridiculous how happy these nails are making me! Over the top colourful 80s tack! Definitely to be repeated. They remind me of My Little Pony and Jem and the Holograms :)

NOTD: Essie Van D’Go

2010-07-10T23:38:00.000+01:00

I convinced myself I didn’t need Van D’Go when I first saw it, but after seeing it on Lollipop26 I caved! I refuse to pay the ridiculous UK retail price for these, so I headed over to enchantedbeautyspot on ebay for a little 3 polish haul (I picked up Chinchilly and Mink Muffs too!).

The pros?

I absolutely love this colour. It’s a bit brighter than I expected, but it’s a gorgeous milky peachy pink. Perfect for spring/summer.

The cons…

This stuff is awful to apply. It took me three coats to get a decent even finish. I was trying to go for 2 thin coats, but the first coat went on insanely streaky, the second and third coats covered the streaks but then ended up looking a little bumpy and uneven. Thankfully the Seche evened it out a bit, but the whole process was hard work!
As much as I love this colour I’m not entirely sure that it suits my NC15 skin tone. It’s definitely a colour that would look fantastic with a tan.

NOTD: Eyeko Tea Rose

2010-07-07T09:28:00.001+01:00

Confession time – this isn’t what I’m wearing on my nails at the moment! That honour goes to Essie’s Van D’Go which arrived in the post yesterday and promptly wound up on my nails immediately :) But I’ll blog about that tomorrow!

This is the Eyeko Tea Rose polish ('”for Country nails”!) which I was sporting last week (I’m a little behind :)).

I can’t quite decide about this colour. It is pretty, kind of a dusky blue based pink, but there was just something about it I wasn’t quite sure about. To be honest, I think the main reason I bought it was because I like the name! The formulation of this wasn’t the best, it’s a bit too thick but that can be solved with a bit of thinner I suppose. On the plus side it’s very opaque and one coat would do the job. There’s a bit of tip wear in the photo, which was only taken after one day of wear, but it had taken a bit of a bashing at work!

All in all, decidedly “meh”!

There is a new Eyeko nail collection due out sometime this summer which I’m looking forward to. I’m loving the look of the Rain polish and I’m glad to see Pastel making a comeback!

China Glaze haul

2010-07-02T21:22:00.001+01:00

I’ve been very bad and done 3 nail varnish hauls from eBay in the past couple of weeks… 2 are still in transit, but one has arrived so here’s a super quick show and tell.

China Glaze Thunderbird and Flying Dragon and Essie matte about you.

I’ve been wanting a matte top coat ever since I saw this post by Laquerized so off I toddled to get my mitts on one. I love the subtlety of the gloss against the matte for a bit of sneaky nail art :)

matte about you is a strange off white colour in the bottle.

Of course I had to get it on straight away, so I whacked it on top of the Barry M Nail Paint in Mushroom that I’ve been sporting as a one coat swatch on my thumbnail for the past few days.

Apologies, it’s rather messy, but I was just having a bit of a play around :) I’ve been reading a lot of negative comments about Mushroom, but I actually really like it! I think it looks even better with the matte coat on top, the colour dulls down slightly to a nice creamy brownish taupe.

(Thunderbird on the left, Flying Dragon on the right)

Again, sorry for these sloppy swatches! They are sans base and top coat.

Thunderbird is a gorgeous metallic cherry red. It’s quite a classic timeless colour. To me, it’s the colour of how Dorothy’s ruby slippers would look without all the glitter :)

Flying Dragon is a really interesting colour though, a kind of deep berry purple with blue micro glitter shot through it. It dries matte, and the glitter isn’t that apparent on the nails. It went on quite well, but streaky, although perhaps that’s because I didn’t use a base coat. I had to use 3 or 4 coats to get an opaque finish, but on the plus side it dries very quickly.

So there’s my little snapshot into my latest haul! I’ll post proper NOTD pics at some point :)

Ins and Outs 1

2010-07-01T20:18:00.001+01:00

I love reading these kind of posts on other blogs, so I’m jumping on the bandwagon! They do say imitation is the best form of flattery :P

INS

Passing my exams - yay! Done with uni, although I always say that, and then go back for more :) A masters might be on the cards some time in the future…
The sun - finally! It doesn’t seem to be as prevalent this week, but it’s still warm and that’s what counts in my book :)
Palmers’ Cocoa Butter with SPF 15 – the regular Palmers’ Cocoa butter has been my daily staple for years and I’ve been wanting to try the SPF version for a while now. Whilst I’m vigilant with the facial sunscreen (daily SPF 50 on my face, thank you!) I’m somewhat lax about body sunscreen in general daily use. I have a separate SPF for my body but I regularly forget to use it, and when I do remember it either leaves the dreaded hideous white cast on my skin or is gross and oily. Until I find the perfect sunscreen this stuff is a must!
Lush’s Lemony Flutter cuticle cream - I’ve bypassed this many times in Lush, and I don’t know why because this stuff is amazing! Gorgeous buttery texture, not greasy, sinks in easily, lovely zingy scent and nice moisturised cuticles! What’s not to love :) review to come…
Getting packages in the post - Essie Matte About You and couple of China Glaze polishes arrived today – will blog about them tomorrow!
Exercise – having whinged endlessly about how I need to shift quite a few pounds to The Boy I’m finally getting off my arse and doing something about it! I’ve been doing the Davina DVD’s and the Windsor Pilates circle workout every day this week so far and although there’s been no weight droppage yet, I’m definitely feeling more energised!

OUTS

Waiting for international delivery to arrive – I’ve ordered an m57 Konad plate and yet more nail polishes from the US via ebay and I’m being very impatient waiting for them to arrive.
Not being a student any more – I’m going to miss that student discount!
Job hunting – need I say more?!

MAC love, depotting and palettes

2010-07-01T12:19:00.001+01:00

I’ve been obsessing with the idea of depotting my MAC for a few months now. I’m always late on the bandwagon and I never really used to understand the appeal of palettes… why on earth would anyone want to deface their MAC and faff about with all that depotting nonsense?! But I started buying MAC about 8 years ago and having managed to amass over 50 eye shadows in that time, the tide has finally turned on my palette ambivalence.

The anal side of me has always kept my MAC shadows alphabetically aligned in their boxes, but of course the problem with this (aside from the fact that it takes an absolute age to pick out your shadows and unbox them!) is that they’re all shut away and I can’t see what I have or what colours I can mix and play around with, and therein lies the beauty of the palette!

The Boy was heading down to London a little while ago, so I batted my lashes and asked him to pop into the MAC pro store and pick me up some palette goodness. I could have ordered these from the MAC website, but a) I’m a little stingy when it comes to delivery charges (even though the MAC delivery is really reasonable!), and more importantly b) if I send him to the store, I don’t have to pay for them :P

There are loads of tutorials on youtube showing you how to depot eye shadows. There are basically two options – with heat (either open flame or hair straighteners) or no heat. I went with the no heat method, as messing around with open flames and burning plastic fumes for 50 odd eye shadows just didn’t sound too appealing. I used Koren from EnKoreMakeup’s tutorial, but essentially you’re popping the plastic insert out of the casing, cutting away a small piece of the insert so you can get a little alcohol in there to loosen up the glue, and then the pan just eases out. In the mean time you can pop the outer casing on some straighteners so that the heat can loosen up the glue on the label, which you can then peel off and stick to the bottom of your pan! Job done!

I did have to resort to the candle flame method for 2 of the shadows as they were in the old MAC casing with the screw top lip, and I’ll just say that I’m glad I didn’t have to use the flame for the rest of them! If I had to recommend one, it would definitely be no heat. It’s a tad fiddly, but I think it’s easier, straight forward, a lot less toxic and pretty quick, although it is a little messy because of all the glue that holds the eye shadow pan in the plastic casing. Word of warning though, depotting seems quite fun at first, but after the 7th eyeshadow it becomes pretty boring. Doing 56 of these suckers was not fun, it took me 2 days in all, but it was so so worth it!

I did start off trying to organise these by colour, but I soon got bored!

Neutrals/browns/most commonly worn at the moment shadows.

Golds/pinks/purples

Greens/blues. I have realised through doing this that I have far more greens and blues than I know what to do with!

Shadows I didn’t know where else to put, or that just wouldn’t fit anywhere else!

The only casualty of the whole affair, Femme Noir. It cracked as I was prising it out of the pan, so I clumsily tried to repress it without using alcohol. It looks a little mangled, but it’s holding up well so far! I was too lazy to repress it properly, but if it starts crack again I’ll give Kandee’s fab re-pressing method a bash!

NOTD: Eyeko Vintage and Konad!

2010-06-29T22:41:00.002+01:00

First foray into Konad stamping over Eyeko Vintage Polish.
Pretty much all of the Eyeko polishes have done the blogging circuit, so I think everyone’s seen this polish already, but it’s fast become one of my favourites. It’s a muted jade green, and reminds me a little 1960s kitchen cabinets and appliances! It applies nicely but there was still a little bit of visible nail line showing through after 2 coats. A third coat might have removed that, but I think it’d have deepened the colour a little too much… hum ho.
And then Konad over the top… My first konadicure :P I’ve been wanting a Konad nail art stamping kit for a while now, and I’ve finally got my grubby little mitts on one!

OK, it’s a tad more faux-nad than Konad, but it’s essentially the same thing :)
For reasons still unknown to me, the Boy was talking about nails and my obsession with wanting a stamping kit with a colleague at work who said that she had one that she wasn’t using any more and was willing to let me have it! For free! So kind, especially since I’ve never met her. I’ll have to make her a “thank you” cake the next time I’m baking.
It comes with a few “special” polishes, a small stamp, scraper and three stamping plates. A little investigation revealed that these are the same as the Konad plates and are the m3, m5 and m15. I have no idea what this kit cost, but I think it might have come from the pages of the laminated book of dreams (Argos, for the Bill Bailey uninitiated). There are plenty of Konad kits floating about on eBay though. Of course as soon as the Boy brought it home I had to start stamping right on top of the Eyeko Vintage!

I used the m15 plate and the stamping was more straight forward than I thought, although I think the alignment will definitely take a little practice. I managed to line up the flower just how I wanted it by sheer fluke for the first stamp, but it rapidly went downhill from there!
I’m really loving this for adding a little bit of fun to my nails. I feel a tad limited with these plates as aside from the m15, I don’t think I would have chosen these plates. The ever popular m57 plate is winging its way to me as I type though, so I’m looking forward to having a play around when it arrives.

NOTD: Rimmel Beige Style

2010-06-10T12:38:00.001+01:00

I spent all day yesterday with my gorgeous baby goddaughter and her mum and sister, so I didn’t get around to posting the NOTD yesterday, but here it is today!

I’ve been a fan of Rimmel polishes for years. They have a great selection of colours, they’re cheap and they’re pretty good quality so they tick all the boxes in my book! Plus, they’re on offer 3 for 2 at Boots and Superdrug at the moment, and who am I to pass up a bargain :)

This photo is making my miss my nails! I’ve had to cut them since I took this photo because the tips of the nails on my index and middle fingers were in a shocking condition and kept splitting. *sob* Thankfully, my nails are quick growers so I’m hoping they’ll be back to a nice length in a couple of weeks…

Back to the nail polish. I love this colour, it’s a great warm toned nude. The polish has a very subtle pearlescence to it, but this barely shows up on the nails, and instead just gives a lovely sheen.

I used 2 coats of this with my now beloved Seche Vite on top for a gorgeous nude colour, but had to slap on a third coat on my poor broken-nailed middle finger because the botched teabag repair job I did was making things a little patchy. Not a big fan of the third coat (you can see it at the top of the photo), it ended up looking far too thick and slightly ashy.

Application was good, the polish went on nice and smooth, apart from the botched middle nail I mentioned earlier! The lid of the Lycra Pro nail polishes boats a new maxi brush for “mistake free application”, which is essentially a flatter, wider curved tip brush. I was pretty sceptical about this at first, but after giving it a whirl I have to say, I do like this brush! While I can’t say that it’s 100% mistake free, it fact that it is flat and wide does make the application easier.

I’m not convinced that the polish would last up to 10 days, it started chipping after about 3 which I think is not bad for the price.

Nail Haul!

2010-06-08T16:36:00.001+01:00

The boyfriend was on holiday from work for the last couple of weeks, so I’ve been MIA spending time with him, but I did manage to find time to squeeze in a little shopping here and there. So surprise surprise… more nail polish :)

What can I say, it’s an illness!

First up, Barry M Nail Paints in Strawberry Ice-cream and Mushroom.

They’ve got a bit of a Neapolitan ice-cream vibe going on here. It’s 2 for £6 on the nail paints at Superdrug at the moment, so when I spied the elusive Mushroom sitting on its lonesome on the shelf I snapped it up. It’s quite a milk chocolatey browney colour, not entirely unpleasant. I haven’t swatched these yet so I’ve no idea what they look like on, but I think they’re really pretty in the bottle.

I also had one of those £5 off Boots No.7 vouchers, so I got the new Beanie colour for under £2 which was pretty bargainous.

This is quite a dark brown taupe colour. I thought it looked quite similar to the Eyeko Posh Polish, so I did a little photo comparison when I got home.

It’s less milky than Posh, and probably just a couple of shades darker. Again, haven’t tried this yet, but will let you know when I do!

I was also in need of some new base coat, so picked up some Rimmel goodies as they were on 3 for 2.

I have the older version of the base coat, which was a 3 in 1 base coat, top coat and strengthener. They appear to have upgraded this to a 5 in 1, but for the life of me I can’t figure out what the extra 2 things are! But it’s cheap, good and accessible, so I’m sticking with it. Since it was 3 for 2 I also got the 60 second polish in Grey Matter, and Beige Style Lycra Pro polish with the new maxi brush. I’m wearing Beige Style on my nails at the moment, so probably a NOTD post coming up tomorrow.

I ordered a few more from the internet, so that’s probably going to be my last nail haul for a while, partly because I have no more room for any more, and partly because I promised the Boy I’d stop buying nail polish if he stopped biting his nails to stumps! I’m still lemming quite a few (I spied the Barry M Coral Nail Paint at the weekend – serious want!) so we’ll see how long I last…

Currently loving: Bourjois Baume de Nuit Night Lip Balm

2010-05-25T22:24:00.001+01:00

I am obsessed with this lip balm at the moment. It is the Bourjois Baume de Nuit Night lip balm in Rose nacré. I’m not sure how readily available this is since I picked it up for a bargainous £1.49 from my local discount beauty/make-up store, which is usually the home of the discontinued. I’m almost positive it’s not available at the regular Bourjois haunts but I have seen it online occasionally.

Although it calls itself a night lip balm, I’ve been using this obsessively day and night since I got it. It’s a pretty baby pink with quite a soft buttery consistency. For some reason I assumed it would have a rose scent to it but I think it’s unscented, although there’s a faint whiff of something sweet.

It swatches quite sheer, and when applied it just slightly tones down the natural colour in my lips giving a gorgeous plumping sheen. It feels really moisturising, and I’m loving laying this on quite thickly before bed as a night treatment, which has been leaving me with lovely soft smooth lips in the morning.

If this wasn’t discontinued, as I’m pretty sure it is, it would be perfect. If you can get your hands on it, snap it up, and if you don’t like it send it to me! I know I shall be heading back into town this week to pick up as many back ups as I can lay my hands on!

NOTD: Barry M Nail Paint in Berry Ice-cream & Seche Vite Review

2010-05-17T12:55:00.001+01:00

Barry M Nail Paints are a fab nail varnish staple. Berry Ice-Cream is one of the new colours that they’ve brought this year and it is a gorgeous creamy lilac which I have already received a few compliments on! Application-wise it applies well and it’s not too thick.

I used 2-3 coats of the Barry M leaving about 10 minutes between each coat, and topped it off with my tiny little mini of Seche Vite which I blogged about here. Seche Vite is fabulous. I was incredibly dubious about how fast it would actually dry, but it seems to have such a huge cult following and I keep hearing it’s virtues, so I gave it a try and was amazed that within a minute my nails was touch dry! Up to now I’ve been using Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri Speed Dry Drops, which are a bit rubbish in the fast dry stakes to be honest. It does smell deliciously of almonds and marzipan though so I’ll continue to use it as a cuticle oil, but it has wholeheartedly been usurped by the Seche Vite.

As much as I’m loving the Seche Vite though, it’s not all sunshine and roses. This stuff goes on thick, and perhaps it was the fact that I was using such a mini bottle with such a mini brush, but I found it quite difficult to apply without leaving a few streaks and visible brush strokes. Also, although it might be touch dry within a minute, you do still need to be careful as it’ll be a little longer before it’s completely dry and dent/ripple proof. I applied this an hour before going out to see Dinosaur Jr on Friday (who were amazing!) and there are a couple of little dents on my left hand where I’ve bashed the nails against something. Still, it’s a while lot better than wafting your hands around and waiting for hours for your nails to dry! It’s holding up pretty well too. I’ve had this on for three days now, and there’s no chipping and just a little tip wear, which is pretty standard.

All in all, the answer to whether I would repurchase this is a resounding yes. A full size bottle will be whizzing its way into my bag the next time I’m in town, along with the Seche Vite thinner!

Sleek Neon palette

2010-05-16T15:30:00.002+01:00

I picked up the Sleek Neon palette the other day because I thought it looked quite fun. And fun it is, but it’s definitely not the most wearable Sleek palette out there.

I did a quick swatch and as usual with the Sleek palettes they’re all very pigmented, although some of the matte colours (the white, yellow and neon green especially) are a little chalky.
At first glance the bright colours can look pretty intimidating. I used to play around with wearing a lot of brights when I was younger, but I seem to be gravitating towards neutrals these days, so at first I was at a complete loss over what to do with this palette. With my exams all over now I had sweet FA else to do, so I decided to have a bit of a mess around with it to see if I could come up with anything wearable using the colours in this palette only. A little while later and I ended up with this…

Face:

MAC Prep & Prime Face Protect SPF 50
Lily Lolo mineral foundation in Porcelain and Warm Peach
Barbara Daly for Tesco concealer in Fair & Medium blended together
ELF HD Powder
Eyeko tinted cream to contour

Cheeks:

Eyeko tinted cream
Topshop Cream Blush in Neon Rose
Eyeko 3 in 1 cream to highlight
ELF Warm Bronzer

Lips:

MAC clear lipglass
ELF Super Glossy Lip Shine Spf 15 in Candlelight

Eyes:

ELF Eyeshadow Primer as a base (I hate this, but I’m trying to use it up!)
Neon green (bottom row 4th from left) packed all over the lid
Shimmery green (bottom row 2nd from left) blended into the outer corner and crease
Shimmery grey (bottom row 2nd from right) lightly patted over the neon green to tone it down slightly
Darker blue (top row, 2nd from right) blended into the outer corner and outer third of the crease and under the lower lash line
Matte black (last shadow on the bottom row) in the outer corner and blended very slightly into the socket and under the eye
A little more of the neon green in the centre of the lid
Sleek kajal in Nocturnal (black) along the waterline
Sleek Ink Pot in Dominatrix (Black)
No7 Extreme Length mascara

I’m quite happy with how it turned out. It’s certainly not a day look, but I’d be pretty comfortable wearing this on a night out. I haven’t played around at time with my make-up for years, but I enjoyed messing around with this look so I might have another go with some of the other colours the next time I’m feeling bored!

The Littlest Polish

2010-05-15T15:26:00.001+01:00

I was perusing the nail polishes in Fenwicks last Sunday when I spied this:

It looks quite normal there, so here it is next to the Nails Inc London that I dutifully bought 2 diet cokes (yuck) for:

It is the littlest polish I have ever laid eyes on. This thing is weensy! A mere 3.6ml. I am a complete sucker for all things miniature, the boyfriend has often had to physically restrain me from the travel sized aisles in drugstores (I kid you not), so there was no way I could possibly pass up this pint sized cutie!

I keep hearing such wonder stories about Seche Vite, so now I can try it and get my mini jollies at the same time. Fun. :)

Topshop make-up mini haul

2010-05-13T12:52:00.001+01:00

I popped into Topshop when I was in town at the weekend to check out their new make-up line that everyone surely knows about by now. On the whole I think it’s a nice collection, but I only ended up walking away with two things.

Neon Rose on the left, Pinch on the right

To be honest, I wasn’t too sure on the packaging when I first saw the pictures but I think it’s growing on me. It’s cute and quirky. I was there on a Sunday morning, and it was a lot quieter in store than I was expecting it to be so I did spend quite a bit of time playing with a few of the products and testing them on the back of my hand.

The cheek and lip products were for me, the standout products of the line. I liked the cream to powder formulation of the blushes, and decided on Neon Rose quite quickly, but it took me forever to decide between Pinch and Flush. I went for Pinch in the end, but depending on how much I like them and how well they wear I might go back for a few other things.

The other face product I really liked was the Sunbeam Highlighter. It was a lovely smooth gold highlighting powder that gave a really pretty glow. At the time I decided I had enough highlighters, but Sunbeam keeps popping back into my head so perhaps that’s a sign that I should go back for it :)

That was pretty much all that caught my eye in terms of face products. The eyeshadows were pretty, but nothing too special. The Jackdaw duo and Smoulder duo were about the only things that I found interesting there. I liked the Sunstar trio too, but wasn’t quite willing to splash out the £8 for it.

I did really like the lip products though. I didn’t really pay much attention to the lipsticks since I’m more of a gloss girl, I think Desert was the only one I bothered swatching. The glazes and glosses were pretty but not outstanding, although I did like the Antique Glaze and the Nude Gloss.

I did however love the Lip Polishes. The pots were adorable and they were a gorgeous glossy, creamy formulation. The swatches on my hand felt like they’d be really moisturising without feeling too heavy on the lips, and they were all very pigmented. I really wanted to get one, but I was quite disappointed by the colour selection. They have a lot of strong, pigmented colours in the line but I wanted something a little softer, almost nude-ish or baby pink, so I regretfully passed in the end. I’ll be keeping an eye out for any new colours they might bring out though because I really did love the formulation! I loved the idea of the Balms too. The Rose balm smelt lovely (I’m a little obsessed with anything rose-scented at the moment) but after reading the Yummy Mummy’s recent blog post saying that the rose scent didn’t last I left that on the shelf as well. I’m a lip balm freak and have so many that I probably don’t need another one :)

NOTD: Models Own Fuzzy Peach

2010-05-11T11:59:00.001+01:00

I’ve been obsessed with the idea of peach nail polish ever since I laid eyes on these peach Hunter wellies (they look a bit hideous, but they’re such a pretty colour in real life!), which I think are an awful colour for wellies but an amazing colour for nails. So when I saw Fuzzy Peach in Boots a few week ago, I thought I was finally going to have the nails I’d been obsessing over.

No such luck.

This is pretty, but it’s not the colour I wanted it to be. It falls very much into the orange camp of the peach world, and while it’s nice I had hoped it would be softer and creamier.

Oh well, the search continues… I think next on the list is Peachy Keen from China Glaze.

The tackiest thing I own…

2010-05-10T12:20:00.001+01:00

It’s an established fact that Stunning by Katie Price AKA Jordan is an almost exact replica of Miss Dior Chérie. For years now I’ve been a hands down Chanel Coco Mademoiselle girl, but I’ve always quite liked the Dior fragrance although it’s so sweet that I’ve never been completely convinced that it suited me. So when I saw Stunning online for a mere £9.99 with free delivery I sucked up my celebrity fragrance pride and ordered it.

This smells amazing for a fraction of the price of the Dior, but it is beyond a doubt the tackiest thing I own!

I never even realised that perfume came in plastic bottles until I got my grubby little mitts on this! Personally, I don’t think this is a perfume to toss in your bag for a quick re-spritz when you’re out and about purely because the lid doesn’t stay on very well and I don’t fancy the entire contents of my bag becoming coated in this stuff. although that might just be a problem with my bottle. I don’t think I’d pay the RRP for this, but I can’t really complain much for less than a tenner :)

If you don’t mind this beacon of tack, then it’s worth getting. I got mine (30ml) for £9.99 from thehut.com but it looks like they’ve put the price up to around £15 now. It’s always going for less than RRP online so it might be worth a shop around. Alternatively, I hear that Next Diamonds is a pretty good Miss Dior dupe in slightly less tacktasic packaging for a bargainous £12 for 100ml, but I’ve not had a sniff yet so can’t vouch for that.

NOTD: Nails Inc. Mink

2010-05-08T16:39:00.001+01:00

Another NOTD post! Think I need to mix things up a bit here :)

I’m currently wearing the Nails Inc Mink polish that came free with this months edition of InStyle. I only picked up the Mink, and to be honest I was starting to think that this colour was a myth because I couldn’t find it anywhere! I eventually managed to track down two and promptly pounced on them both, and I’m so glad I did because I love it. It’s a gorgeous kind of mushroomy/taupe colour with pink undertones.

It goes on a little thick, and I think I’ve managed to make a right mess of it (really need to kick that bedtime nail polish habit) but I think this may be one of my new favourites. It reminds me a little of OPI’s Over The Taupe, which is high up on my Covet List but unfortunately I don’t own it yet so I can’t do a comparison. I’ve had it on for about a week now, and there’s a fair bit of chippage going on, thanks mostly to a particularly vicious tussle with the sellotape on a package I got in the post. I should have just admitted defeat and gone for the scissors, but I guess I was feeling particularly lazy/stubborn that day :)

I’m not really that bothered about collecting the other two Nails Inc colours, but if I see another Mink I’ll definitely be snatching up another backup!

Shoes!

2010-05-04T13:04:00.001+01:00

I wrote this post last week, and just realised I forgot to publish it! Oops. Better late than never :)

I’m in the midst of exam time, so just a quick post to show you my latest shoe haul from Primark! I haven’t really been in there for a while, but popped in on a whim and ended up with these lovelies…

These nude studded flats are my favourites. I’m not usually a fan of frills, but I am going through somewhat of a minor obsession with studs at the moment! They were only £8, and were my size and the only pair in stock, so quite clearly it was meant to be :) I think these will be on my feet a lot this summer.

They had these in a few other designs, including red stripes, and the hoarder in me wanted them all! I settled on just the blue though. For now…

A bit boring, but a complete bargain at £4. I was in desperate need for some plain black flats that could be dressed up or down and didn’t cut my feet to shreds like every other pair I own. I think these pretty much fit the bill. They also came in a kind of nude ballet pink which I am seriously coveting, and probably will go back to get very soon!

NOTD: Eyeko Nude polish

2010-04-29T13:18:00.001+01:00

This is a very pretty peachy nude. This photo is actually from Sunday, but I was filled with Exam Fear, and blogging just seemed to be an act of procrastination too blatant even for me!

I really love this colour, I think it might well be a new favourite. The only downside is that I found the application a little streaky. Although that might have something to do with the fact that I foolishly decided to apply it late at night, in bed, whilst watching the Predator double bill on FilmFour! I don’t think the dim bedside light really helped much, because this is quite a sheer polish. My bedtime polish routine (it happens more often than I’d care to admit!) seemingly works a bit better with more opaque slap dash colours. To be fair, it did dry quite quickly though. There were definitely no tell-tale bed sheet imprints in the morning, which is always a plus!

I applied 2 coats initially, but in the morning it looked slightly patchy so I went for a third. I actually prefer the colour from 2 coats though. It’s pretty subtle, but the third coat really deepened the peachiness which made it seem less nude to me. It started to chip a bit after a couple of days, but that might be down to my inept night time application. All in all I’m pretty happy with this, although I think I’ll reserve complete judgement until I’ve tried applying it in more sensible conditions :)

Sleek procrastination!

2010-04-24T17:44:00.001+01:00

I know I’m probably a little late to the party, but I’m currently loving the Sleek palettes!

I popped out yesterday to pick up the new Sleek Kajal liners and check out the new £1 Make Up Academy range from Superdrug, and came back with both the kajal liners (2 for £7 at the mo in Superdrug!), the original Sleek palette, Storm palette and Bohemian palette and the new Berry Ice Cream Barry M polish. Phew! The boyfriend should not let me make-up shop without supervision. It’s probably a good thing that they didn’t have the new £1 range in yet, otherwise who knows how much more I would have come away with!

Not only that, but this morning my Eyeko order arrived with my Graffiti pen liner, 2 more polishes and the raspberry fat balm, which I have been wanting to try for forever! I think I really need to hide my credit card now…

I reeally should be revising, but with all these new toys to play with I just had to do a quick FOTD!

I seem to have lost my neck! No matter.
Face:

Lily Lolo mineral foundation in Porcelain and Warm Peach
YSL Touche eclat
MAC Soft and Gentle MSF

Cheeks:

Lily Lolo South Beach Bronzer to contour
Eyeko raspberry Fat Balm on cheeks (Just got this this morning, but based on first impressions only I think I’m going to love this on the cheeks this summer!)

Lips:

NYC tinted lip balm in Sugar Coated

Eyes:

ELF Eyeshadow Primer as a base (not a fan of this primer)
Pretty much all the shimmery browns and neutrals from the Sleek Storm palette on the lid!
Black shadow from the Sleek palette on the outer corner and blended slightly into the socket
Mid brown matte shadow from the Sleek palette along the lower lash line
Bobbi Brown eyeshadow in Black Plum along the outer lower lash line
MAC Kitschmas pigment on the inner corner and the centre of the lower lash line (I never knew what to do with this before, but I think this may be favourite inner corner highlight ever! I think I might devote a separate post just to this!)
Eyeko Graffiti eyeliner pen in Black along the upper lid (I love this!)
Sleek kajal in Odyssey (purple) along the waterline
Max Factor Masterpiece Max mascara

This is the first time I’ve used the Sleek palettes, but so far I love them! The shadows are so soft and easy to blend and so pigmented! The black shadow in my Storm palette is a little broken, which is annoying because it’s contaminating some of the lighter shadows, but other than that I can’t fault these palettes! The kajal liners seem nice. I love the colour of Odyssey, it’s less harsh than black and the purple really brightens up the eye. I’ll probably do a proper review when I’ve had a chance to play around with them a bit more, but so far so good!

NOTD: Revlon Nail Enamel in Minted

2010-04-21T16:55:00.001+01:00

These mint green pastel colours are pretty ubiquitous at the moment, and I have to say, I love this colour! It’s perfect for spring.

I’m generally a fan of Revlon nail polishes. They’re a little pricey for a drugstore polish, but they have some great classic colours (Revlon Red is a big favourite), the formulation is really smooth, and I find that they don’t chip as easily as some of the cheaper polishes. I’ve been wearing Minted on my nails for a week exactly now, and only minimal chipping has started to appear on the tip of one index finger, and I think that’s partly due to the fact that I use my fingernail to pick of stickers and prise back lids and things! Minted went on my nails really well. The first coat was a little patchy, but it was all sorted out by the second coat.

Next on the nails is probably going to be Nude Polish by Eyeko. I took advantage of a 10% discount code last week to get my hands on these colours. Unfortunately the set of four for £10 was sold out, so I picked these up separately. I did use my Ambassador code to get a free surprise gift which turned out to be a Line and Shine Eyeliner pencil in Rock Star. Black glitter liner at one end, and silver liner at the other – looks quite fun! (My code is E8356 if anyone else wants a surprise gift with their order - enter it in the Ambassador box at the checkout. I think you have to spend £10 or more though)

I haven’t had a chance to try these out any of these yet, but at a glance Vintage Polish seems very similar to Revlon Minted, but with bluer undertones rather than green. It might be a while before I get to test it out though, Nude’s definitely next in line!

I think another Eyeko haul might in the pipeline soon. I’m loving the look of Tea Rose and Posh Polish (not sure how I missed those when I was on the site last week!). I also really want to try their Fat Balms and have been hearing good things about their new Graffiti Eyeliner pens – roll on payday!

E.L.F. haul

2010-04-13T21:50:00.001+01:00

I’ve been wanted to get my hands on some E.L.F. make-up for a while now, but have always been very sceptical of the quality vs the price.

I finally decided to dive right in and take advantage of a free shipping code, and I have to say I’m impressed!
This is actually the product of two orders. I have loved the look of the Candy Shop Lip Gloss Tins for a looong time, but I wasn’t too sure about the quality, so I just ordered the pink one in Candy Fix and the four brushes (from L-R contour brush, small angled brush, powder brush and complexion brush) for my first order. The delivery was pretty quick, and I was impressed enough that I went ahead and placed a second order (eyeshadow primer, warm bronzer, complexion powder and candy shop tins in Frosting Fanatic and Crazed Coconut in case you were wondering).
Now I’m usually of the opinion that it’s better to pay a bit more for a brush as it’s an investment and you get what you pay for, yadda yadda, but at £3.50 each these brushes are a pretty decent purchase. They feel well made and sturdy, and to be honest they feel a much better quality than some more expensive brushes I’ve bought in the past. They’re a lot fuller and softer than I was expecting, but I’m going to hold off on saying much about performance as I’ve not had a chance to give them a proper trial yet. The only one I’m a little disappointed with is the complexion brush, and that’s nothing to do with the quality of the brush and everything to do with the fact that I was envisioning a nice huge fluffy brush, and this is a little on the small side. Ah well, the quest continues.
I’ve not really tested the other products, but I have been wearing the Candy Shop Lip Gloss tins like crazy ever since I got them.

I love these. I love the kitsch design, the smell, the flavours, I just love them.
I would say that they’re kind of in between a balm and a gloss. They are marketed as a gloss, but personally they feel on the lips a lot more like a balm, although I wouldn’t say they’re as moisturising as a true balm.
My overall favourite of the three is Candy Fix. I'm going through a little obsession with sugary/bubblegum cool pink lip colours at the moment (a la MAC’s Pink Fish lip conditioner), and this is exactly in that vein. It is quite sheer, but more pigmented than I thought , and definitely more pigmented than the other 2.
Coconut Craze is definitely the most sheer. It goes on clear with tiny tiny particles of glitter that add a subtle pretty shimmer rather than all out disco ball glitter.
Frosting Fanatic smells amazing, almost caramelised, but it’s probably the least wearable for me. Unless you apply the lightest of layers you will probably end up with crazy bronzed gold lips, so whereas I like to pack on the Candy Fix for that pink tint, I have to be really careful about being light handed with Frosting Fanatic. And light handed is not something I tend to be with lip balms and glosses. I do think that this might look really pretty layered over a nude lip, but I’ve yet to try it out. Maybe later on in the week.
In short, Candy Tins get a big thumbs up. I’d definitely repurchase Candy Fix. I’m quite tempted to collect all 6 flavours, but I’m going to resist. For now, anyway!

Intro & Products I’m using right now…

2010-04-12T22:51:00.001+01:00

Thought I’d kick off my new make-up/beauty blog with a Products I’m using right now tag, inspired by Dazzledust25’s fairly recent post. And it has the added bonus of avoiding the awkward “Hello world!” post :) So here goes…

Shampoo: Naked Care Mildness Unadorned Sensitive Shampoo / Rescue Intense Care Shampoo

Conditioner: Naked Rescue Conditioner / TIGI Bed Head Brunette Goddess Conditioner

Styling products: L’Oreal Elnett hairspray

Shower Gel: Dove Triple Moisturising Body Wash

Body Moisturiser: Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula

Deodorant: Nivea Deodorant Pearl Beauty

Fake Tan: Johnson’s Holiday Skin on legs only

Cleanser: Lush Angels on Bare Skin and Ultra Bland

Exfoliator: Lush Angels on Bare Skin and Dark Angels

Primer: No7 Shine Free Makeup Base

Foundation brush: Bobbi Brown Kabuki brush

Concealer: Laura Mercier Secret Concealer under the eyes, and Barbara Daly concealer for face

Powder: Lancome Matte Finish Loose Powder

Blusher: Lily Lolo mineral blushes

Bronzer: Lily Lolo Waikiki bronzer

Highlighter: Benefit High Beam and MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle

Eyeshadow base: Urban Decay Primer Potion

Eyeshadows: MAC Naked & Melon pigment, Satin Taupe and Pure brown eyeshadow brick

Eyeliner: MAC Blitz & Glitz Fluidline

Curler: Shu Uemera

Mascara: Blinc

Lipstick: None

Lipgloss: ELF Candy Shop Candy Fix lip gloss tin, Lancome NYC Chelsea Coffee Juicy Tube

Nail Colour: Revlon Posh Pink