Taking A Little Break

I need a break for the moment, just a few days to get my head cleared.  I've let a few things get on top of me lately and I need to get everything sorted and relax a bit.  I love blogging, but it's hard to write when I'm not feeling particularly jolly.  I will sort out the giveaway winners this week, I'm going to do it by hand and let Kizzy pick the winners out of a bowl.  Things will be back to normal in a few days, just thought I'd let you all know that I've not disappeared. xx

Debenham's Sale

Ooh before I forget!  Not only has Debenhams got the Naked Palette back in stock and on sale at £28.80 here with free delivery, but there is a sale across the whole beauty department!  Right now you can pick up the Urban Decay 24/7 Anniversary Set for only £54!  With free delivery to boot, total bargain!  You can pick it up on sale here.



Am I Dreaming?

Last night I spent ages trying to hunt down something I thought I saw online.  In my head it was a primer that was £4.50 ish.  I swear I saw it in an email or online somewhere, but after going through my internet history and googling like a madwoman, nothing came up.  I'm now convinced that I actually dreamt it up, maybe because I was reading cosmo late at night an saw a big add for the new Witch Skincare range.  It sounds interesting and something that I'll probably try out, but that wasn't it.  I remember looking up the ingredients and thinking "my skin might actually like this".  I think it was a dream, a really mundane dream. 

If this is actually jogging anyones memory, can you please let me know!

Today is really busy, we're meeting with a possible new bassist, I have housework to do and I need to package up some things and get to the post office.  Speaking of post, nan got back back from her holiday at crazy o'clock this morning.  She had a great time, but the rest of my Cherry Culture order hasn't turned up.  The first lot came over a week ago and I ordered it all exactly at the same time.  I never received a shipping notification from them either.  Hhm getting concerned.

If I don't get a chance to pop back on here later Kizzy and I both hope you all have a great weekend!



Any idea what I'm talking about primer-wise?  In my head it hasn't been released yet but was coming out soon.  Have you picked up any of the new range from Witch?  Do you think you might?  It does sound quite enticing, but I'm going to have to do the whole ingredient reading thing again which gets old fast.

Cheap Thrills Thursday: Nyx Lipsticks & Liners

After feeling a tad ripped off from the Nyx stand at IMATS, I thought I'd take advantage of Cherry Culture's 20% off sale and get my hauling on.  Some of you probably know about my slight fear of buying from outside the EU, so it was that I made 3 simultaneous orders to keep my packages below that ominous £19 that will attract the attention of customs.  Only one has turned up so far :(  but I did use my grandmothers address and she's away atm, so hopefully they'll be waiting for when she gets back.

I love the round lipsticks!  I think the texture is brilliant, really silky and they just glide on.  My nan tried a couple out and described them as oily, but in a pleasant and comfortable way.  The pigmentation was pretty good all round, except for Sash which was quite sheer.  I love how there is a huge variety of shades in different finishes, but I wish there were some shade descriptions or accurate swatches!  I hunted down lots of online swatches of these before buying and still ended up with a few rather overly frosty shades.



Thalia: rosey neutral, no shimmer

Sky Pink: shimmery baby pink, veering towards frosty

Fusion: deep fuschia with slight blue flash, no real shimmer, more of a lustre finish

Echo: nude medium beige, no shimmer

Doll: medium rosey pink-brown, almost a mlbb, no shimmer

Sash: frosty sheer pale pink, will look better layered

Pandora: shimmery violet, veering towards being frosty

Circe: similar to Echo but lighter and more peach toned



The lip pencils are nice, very pigmented and come in a great range of shades.  It's a lip pencil, so I guess not much of a thrill, but some of these colours are actually pretty awesome.

Current: deep wine based mauve, not the red I was expecting (this is the long pencil)

Pinky: bright clean pink (this is the long pencil)

Fuschia: deep blue based pink

Hot Pink: very bright, almost neon pink

Nude Pink: peachy pink

Peekaboo Natural: similar to Nude Pink but deeper and less pink

Nude Beige: medium brown beige

Here's a colour corrected pic courtesy of Nero Photosnap.  Looks a bit odd but the colours are pretty accurate and you can easily see the difference between those pinks.



round lipsticks cost just $2.50 here

long lip pencils are $1.60 here

slim lip pencils are $2.50 here

Shipping to the UK was very reasonable, this whole order cost just $10.05 which is equal to about £6.20 and they even threw in a free lipbalm.  You can pay with paypal which makes things nice and simple too. 

Hows that for a cheap thrill?  Sadly not something you can pick up on the high street (not if you live in the UK anyway), but I think the extra bit of effort and the wait is worth it for those fab colours and cheaptastic prices!

An order for 4 round lipsticks including shipping to the UK comes to $19.43 which is approximately £12.  Wait until Cherry Culture offer one of their frequent sales and hopefully we can get that total to under a tenner.  4 lippies for around the price of 2 weeks worth of cheap thrills.  Beauty math = treats :)

NOTD Misa Wine Burgundy

I've not posted a proper notd in forever!  For those who don't know, I've suffered with onycholysis the last few months, which in my case means that 3 of my nails have separated from the nail bed.  I've been treating them very carefully and have cut off any areas that weren't attached, whilst I pray to the nail gods that this is only temporary.  I'm pretty insecure about my nails now and avoided posting photos until recently.  With the assumption that nobody's bothered about not seeing my index finger (I doubt you'd want to atm) I shall try to post more notd pics again.

Let's move onto the polish :)

This had been sitting in my untrieds for ages, I used to wear red polish almost constantly and as a result I'm a bit uninspired by them now and don't go for reds that often.  Last night I just had a hankering to have something dark, dramatic and red on my nails and I grabbed this beauty.  What a fab polish!  It went on like buttah!  2 coats of perfection, as opposed to my usual 3 for total opacity.  It's a deep red with slight brown undertones (I guess that's what burgundy is right?).  At normal viewing distance it looks like a rich creme.  Close up and in bright light, a glowing shimmer comes out to say hi.  I can't decide if it's a creme with subtle shimmer, a shimmer or a metallic finish.  All that matters is it's a stunner that's making me feel quite cheerful and glam.

natural daylight

flash

I think this might be discontinued now but I don't think it'd be hard to find.

What are your feelings about red polish?  Do you like it bright and cheery, glittery, or deep and vampy?

Nails Inc Launch Royal Wedding Limited Editions

2 crystal cap polishes will be released alongside the Royal Collection, which is a set of 4 limited edition shades with gold caps.

Royal collection £25

4 limited edition glossy nail polishes to nail the regal look.

 



'Will' Union Jack crystal nail polish £15

 

Our bestselling crystal cap just got better! Glitzy and wonderfully British, this is the perfect gift.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Kate' Sapphire crystal nail polish £15

 

Inspired by Kate's stunning engagement ring, this beautiful sapphire crystal cap is a must have for your dressing table!

 
 
You can sign up for the waiting list here
 
I don't think I will personally.  I'm not keen on the lack of info regarding the actual polishes and I'm not buying anything just because of a crystal cap.  The pale colours don't look like my sort of thing, otherwise I might have considered the set.
 
A bit more interesting then commemorative china, will you be getting anything from the Royal Wedding Collection?
 
*images and info courtesy of  nailsinc.com

Product Fail

Edit: I tried again quickly with the shadows.  Scroll down for pics.
I don't usually post about things that I don't like, but this is so bad that I thought a warning might be in order.  I'm talking about the Accessorize Back Stage Hot Smudge.  It comes in a pretty cardboard compact, that has too much packaging to product ratio, with a duo applicator that has the standard sponge on one side and a useless brush on the other. 

I'm pretty cautious about what I spend my mullah on, I have tons of products and know what works for me, but I thought that if these were any good they'd make a nice addition to my festival make up bag; it would have been dead handy to throw on a quick smudgy look.  Sadly they are rubbish!

notice the absolute waste of packaging

I bought 2, why?! Black Cat comes with a sparkly charcoal shadow and a black liner, Back Stage comes with a deep shimmering khaki shadow and black liner with green sparkles.

Doesn't that look like it should be pretty? (please ignore the bad photo, I found it so difficult to capture this well as the sparkles are so tiny)

Wanna see just how crap these liners actually are?

Huge macro photos of skin are so flattering no?

Back Stage is on the left and Black Cat on the right.  I did umpteen layers for this and it's still a patchy hot mess that went on terribly (using my own brush, the one included is a floppy piece of uselessness).  These might make ok bases to go under shadow, I've not tried it yet, if not they're going in the bin.

The khaki shadow in Back Stage is quite nice, not particularly unique, I'm sure I have about 3 dupes in my stash, but it's ok, pigmented and blended well.  I didn't use any base or primer under it here and went pretty light handed.

This was the only pic that wasn't so awful that it wasn't fit to be seen by anyone.

Black Cat is on the right.

edit: later on I tried out the shadows again, using the shimmering charcoal from Black Cat on the lid and the khaki from Back Stage in the crease.  This came out much better and gives a good idea of the pigmentation. No primer was used.

The Black Cat shadow is alright, but trying to use it all over and without primer was a mistake.  It wasn't easy to blend and looked messy.  In the pan it reminded me of Creep from the Urban Decay Naked palette so I thought I'd do a quick comparison.

Creep is on the right, you can see they aren't even close.  Creep is much darker and the shimmer is much more subtle.  Black Cat has a fair bit of silver going on. 



You can buy Black Cat here and Back Stage here for a fiver each, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Doesn't the mascara look pretty?  Should I waste any more money trying it out?  I'm such a sucker for cute packaging.



Have you tried these yet?  Did you manage to make them work for you?

Accessorize Illusion Nail Polish Collection Swatches & Comparisons

Put the kettle on and get comfy!



When I first saw these polishes in Superdrugs, I was so excited that I picked up all the duochromes (the others are glitters and not very exciting ones)!  At £4 each and buy 2 get 1 free, how could I not?  Actually, I thought I'd picked up all the duochromes, but I somehow missed Aztec!  Luckily I found it a couple of weeks later (it's not in the bottle pics as I took them before I bought it).  They are so pretty, the same finish as the Orly Cosmic FX and Mac Disney Villains collections- those dupes which seem to have been polishes of the year for most companies, it's like grown up sophisticated glitter.  These are really similar to the Orly's, with that same uber sparkly duochrome (except for Bronze which is the odd man out as it's a smooth duochrome metallic).  4 of them are dupes, 2 real dupes and 2 that have slight differences.  Find out more and see comparisons after the swatches.

All swatches are 3 coats, some could have gotten away with just 2 but 3 gave more depth and coverage.  No base coat or topcoat was used, apart from Purple Dream which was a full mani.  All of these had great application, dried quickly and felt smooth.

Purple Dream: inky blue to violet to pink

Pink Spice: bright pink to amber to orange

Purple Passion: deep purple to pewter

Mermaid: green to turquoise though the green shows only in very low lighting

Electric Blue: bright blue to purple to pink, typically  my camera refused to capture it nicely

Aztec: pink to bronze to green

Bronze: pink to bronze to green in a smooth metallic finish, lighter than Aztec

Just to see how close the dupes actually are, I did a quick 1 coat swatch of everything on a piece of white paper (this is a handy trick if you're struggling to describe a colour, it makes it much easier to see).  I could see some differences on the paper, but few were visible on the nails side by side.

• Mermaid is an exact dupe of Halley's Comet (how many incarnations of this polish have we seen now?)
• Electric Blue is an exact dupe of Lunar Eclipse
• Purple Passion is an extremely close dupe of Out Of This World, the difference being the duochrome shift when you hold them very close to light. Out Of This World turns avocado green and Purple Passion turns to a sort of deep pewter with a green tinge. Also the base of the Orly is ever so slightly more of a blue-ish teal.  On the nail the difference is hard to see.
• Aztec is a close dupe of Space Cadet. Space Cadet has an ever so slightly lighter base. When you hold them close to light, Space Cadet shifts to a bright chartreuse whereas Aztec shifts to bright green. On the nail the difference is very slight.

• Pink Spice is meant to be a pretty good dupe for the much coveted Mac Bad Fairy, I don't have Bad Fairy to compare it with though so I tried OPI The Show Must Go On.  The OPI is deeper and brighter.
• I've heard Purple Dream is a dupe for Orly's Galaxy Girl but it's not remotely close.  Galaxy Girl has a green shift whereas Purple Dream shifts blue/purple/violet/pink.  A closer dupe of Galaxy Girl is Misa Embroidered Emerald (though it's not as glitzy) or Urban Decay Bruise, sadly both are htf now.  I couldn't find anything in my stash that was similar to Purple Dream.
• I couldn't find a dupe of Bronze but I'd guess Nubar might make one.  I used Misa Foxy & Folksy as a comparison of sorts, not at all similar but you'll see why I did it when you come to it.

In the comparison swatches I've left the Accessorize polish on the 2 outer nails with the comparison swatch on the central nail.

 Aztec with Orly Space Cadet in the middle.  Space Cadet is a touch brighter and the green flash is more yellow based.

 Electric Blue with Orly Lunar Eclipse in the middle, perfect dupes to my eyes.

 Mermaid with Orly Halley's Comet in the middle, perfect dupes.

 Purple Passion with Orly Out Of This world in the middle.  Very close but the Orly has more of a green flash.  In the bottle the Orly looks more pink, but that doesn't translate onto the nail.

Pink spice with OPI The show Must Go On in the middle.  The OPI is deeper, has more red in it and is more vibrant.  Cousins but not dupes.

Bronze with Misa Foxy & Folksy in the middle.  Not remotely dupes, but the pink is slightly similar.  It was the only thing in my stash that even vaguely reminded me of Bronze.  Can you see where I was going with it? 

Really subtle differences that no one would notice, much cheaper and easier to find in the UK, though you do get only 10ml whereas Orly give you a generous 18ml. You can pick them up on the Accessorize Website, in selected branches of Superdrugs and sometimes they have the odd 1 or 2 by the till in Accessorize stores.

Cheap Thrills Thursday: Nail Decals

I picked these up ages ago, took a quick photo, then promptly shoved them in my helmer and forgot about them!  I love nail stckers, they are so easy to use and come in some really cute styles.  I've seen some fab decals from a lot of bloggers, but very little from the UK.  Why?  Because seriously our selection is shit.  There's barely anything to chose from to begin with and what there is is never what I want.  Until I saw these beauties in Superdrugs

Andrea Fulerton Boutique Nail Tatoos

This is the only thing I've bought from the range so far, I'm sure I'll be trying some of the polishes at some point though.  Cute and simple skull and crossbones in a matte silver finish, kind of like the matte side of tin foil.

£2.03 in Superdrug, how's that for a cheap thrill?  They come in a few other designs too, I think the chains would make great accent nails, but the skulls are definitely more my thing.  Have you tried any of the Andrea Fulerton range yet?  What did you get?

I had to stay in and wait for the electrician today, so I've been on a swatching frenzy, trying to finish off a post I've been working on.  The sun kept hiding though so it's still not quite finished!

Prestige Skin Loving Minerals Sunbaked Mineral Bronzing Powder 03 Pure Shimmer

I saw this in Boots and thought it looked a bit like a MSF, I've never tried one and have been craving shimmer on my cheeks recently so thought I'd give it a go.  It's normally £9.49 but had £3 off the other day so it was cheap and cheerful instant gratification.  It comes in 3 shades but I chose the lightest, a slightly peachy flesh tone with pale yellow marbling, I wasn't so keen on the yellow though so I chose one with the least marbling - I kind of regret that now as when it's all blended it's really pretty!



It's got quite a nice list of ingredients, nice to see shea butter 3rd on the list, but I do spot carmine in there too so not vegan friendly.

This is the same swatch in different lighting.

Left to right: blended, yellow marbling, main base colour.

Look how pretty it is blended!  I'm such a tool for not getting one with heavier marbling.

Here it is all blended together and applied heavily with a big brush.  It gives a really nice finish that can be either subtle or really ott.  It's also got great adhesion, which was important to me after struggling to get Elf's Gotta Glow to stick to my face.

Have you tried Prestige before?  What to you think of these shimmery powders?  I'm lusting after Rich Bronze, one of the other shades.  I'd never tried Prestige but I also picked up an eyeliner which I rather like.

Apologies for yesterdays lack of posting, my friend woke me up and decided to spend the day with me.  I'm rushing out to see everyone today- late as usual!  This week is really busy but I'm going to try to keep up and hopefully will get Cheap Thrills Thursday out tomorrow. X

I'm On Bloglovin'

Follow my blog with bloglovin

How did that happen? I just saw a comment from one of my readers Nicola saying she follows me on it.  You know me, I haven't a clue about all this stuff, I'm just learning as I go along.  So I've signed up and hopefully all will become clear.  I'm not entirely certain what Bloglovin' is but heyho.  Anyone wanna tell me?

I also added pages below the header with a few little bits n pieces.  The most interesting is a shopping tab which will have links to all the different places I've shopped online, with a brief summary of how good the experience was, how long shipping took, etc.  Might be handy, particularly to other UK readers who like to shop internationally.

Hope you've all been having a fab weekend, we've been having a Dexter marathon today so my boyfriend can get caught up.

Thanks Nicola for pointing out that Pretty Punk is on bloglovin!

xx

First Tape Mani: Blues & Silver Using Misa & Flormar

I ordered a ton of the Catherine Arley holos from BeautyCosmetic.Biz and finally picked them up on Friday when I met my mum for lunch.  The polishes were all really cheap, 29 polishes cost me £39 including shipping from Bulgaria, so whilst I made my order I thought I'd chuck in some of the Flormar neons they had for sale too.  They aren't actually neon at all, but they are nice bright cheerful creams so not a total disappointment.  I put on number 2 last night, a nice glossy bright baby blue.  It took 3 coats but they all went on smooth and glossy and left no vnl, they did pull slightly from the tips though.  I decided I fancied attempting a tape mani, so today I finished it off with this. 



I used a vintage Misa Silver Explosion (sparkly dark silver foil) and Misa On The Edge (navy creme), both in 1 coat over the Flormar.  The edges aren't as sharp as I'd like, but not bad for a first try.  I also had some top coat issues and managed to get silver sparkles everywhere.  None of that is very noticeable though and looks great, unless you look extremely closely.



Sorry the photos are a bit of the dark side, it's a dull and dreary day here in London.  You can really see the sparkly foil finish of Silver Explosion though. Those wrinkly bits are dried top coat that was refusing to clean off, my fingers aren't actually that dry.

What do you think?  Are you any good at tape manis, any tricks you've got to share?  Or is it a bit much for you?

Do you mind these 3 fingered manis?  I have painted all my nails, but my index fingers and right ring finger are still a bit of a horror and I don't want to gross you out.  I've also cut back down to nubbins as the rest of my nails were getting to that stage where they curl in and I think that might be what caused the lifting in the first place.