2010 January | Lipglossiping

January, 2010

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

MEZAYA – Water Based Nail Colours

I received a press release a few days ago alerting me to a store called ToxicFreeBoutique.

To be honest, I didn’t pay much attention to the email. As soon as I saw the name of the store I was all “yeah, yeah… organic… dull… where did I put the biscuits…”

It was only a few days later at about 2 in the morning, when any normal person would be tucked up in their bed that I remembered the email and opened it up to have a look at what ToxicFreeBoutique was all about.

As it happens, it’s far more interesting than I initially gave it credit for.

They have bath tea bags! Tea Bags! For your bath! I love it, it’s quirky and cute and I want one. I love all things ginger (except cats), therefore “phew” has my name written all over it.

The website is kinda sucky (sorry, but it is) but I was well and truly snared when I read the following…

Mezaya water-based nail colours are an innovative concept to traditional polish. If you are used to traditional polishes you will immediately notice some differences. Mezaya polishes do not have the potent smell usually associated with nail polish.

Wait.. what? Non-stinky polishes? Admittedly, I’m not hugely knowledgeable about nail polishes… I love ‘em in a very shallow un-learned way. But this is news to me! Not only that, but the day Mr L. doesn’t nag me about the smell painting my nails creates, is the day the world will fall of it’s axis. This sounds like it would give my ears a welcome rest from his “GOD, that stinks!” declarations.

Of course, I’m sure there are other “health” type benefits from toxic-free nail polish… but meh, whatever… just stop the nagging already.

My 3 favourites from the collection: L-R: Pink Tea, Navy Angel, Big Kisses

They also have some transluscents… but they just annoy me. If I wanna see my nails, I just won’t wear polish.

I also have to give the company props for the images… it’s nice to see “swatches” of shades next to the product information. How many times have we been disappointed when a colour has applied NOTHING like how it looks in the bottle? Too many, that’s how many.

Also… for the love of God. Tell us! Is it a cream? is it a sheer? metallic? There’s honestly not many things that annoy me more than getting home a gorgeous opaque (in the bottle) shade only for it to take about 12 coats to achieve opacity on the nail. So thank you for including the finishes in the description Mezaya. Kudos.

Something had to go and spoil it though didn’t it… I looked at the price. £12.95 for a 10ml (not even your standard 15ml) bottle of toxic free polish. And then they want £3 to post it to you. £16… for a 10ml bottle. That’s 26 of your US Dollars… for a bottle of nail polish. That doesn’t even smell of nail polish

They’re a bit too rich for me, even if they would work better than earplugs.

Posted in Nail Polish, Nails | 11 Comments »

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

Nailene So Real False Nails – Review

Back in the days of stumpgate, the wonderful Sirvinya kindly offered to send me a spare pack of her Nailene false nails that she’d received for review purposes.

I was tragically distraught at the state of my tips and would have ripped the packet out of her hands given half the chance. Living a good many miles away from her she was saved that fate and I had to sit on my nails instead, waiting (impatiently) until the postman dropped them through my letterbox.

I’m not used to false nails, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve donned a set of these. I remember one occasion, I’d not long met my soon-to-be husband… we were young and cavalier back then. He lived over 300 miles away from me and we’d sneak weekends together whenever we got the chance. My 19yr old self obviously wanted to look my best, and I invested in a set of falsies (nails not tits) from Superdrug. I remember they were red. *roarrrr*

They kept falling off. Before my coach had even arrived in County Durham, I’d re-stuck them on about 50 times. The weekend was wonderful… we laughed, played Super Mario, drunk Lambrini and ate many slices of Salami pizza (you’ll be pleased to hear I’ve retained my classiness). I was demure, elegant and altogether rather swishy. That is until his mother told me a few years later that she’d found at least 6 of my stick-on red nails tangled in his bed sheets and thought her son had developed a “thing” for ladies of the night.

So, that was my very short lived affair with false nails… it was over as quickly as it had begun and I haven’t even considered them since. Until now.

These sounded as if they’d be easy to apply… but judging from the instructions, I could tell that removal was gonna be a pain in the backside.

I was right on both counts! I had no problems with application, no air bubbles, no visible glue, and boy do these buggers stick! I couldn’t resist doing that thing before removing them… yano, the ‘lifting’ thing.. seeing how much strain I could put on them, waiting for that satisying popping sound as they broke free from my nail bed. In hindsight, I’m freaking grateful it never came. I mean, what the hell was I thinking? It’s like spot-picking… you know you shouldn’t, but that doesn’t stop you.

Here they are in action:

They look… false, don’t they? Mannequin hands… I didn’t like how they looked on me. I have quite narrow nails, and these made my hands look pretty chunky and squat. Sizing was the issue, I couldn’t find one narrow enough to fit my index fingers properly. Can you tell? In the first picture I think it’s obvious that the index fingernail is too big. Not only that, but although it seemed to just about fit on the nail bed, I noticed that it started to hurt the cuticles about 12hrs later, so it was definitely too large.

Removal was… tedious. Worse than tedious. I soaked as instructed. What I failed to realise was that my Sally Hansen Nail Polish Remover was coloured blue. 10 minutes of soaking later, I emerged from my dip bowl with blue fingers up the knuckles. And they stayed that way for a couple of days. I think I preferred stumpgate.

What can you take away from this review other than the fact that I’m an idiot who was once mistaken for a prostitute?

Well, the nails are fine… if you like the look of them. They’re easy to apply, a bitch to remove and might not suit you if you have narrow nails. Look… I could have just saved myself about 3204 words right there.

Nailene So Real False Nails are available… actually, I’m not sure where they’re available in the UK… Boots? Superdrug? If you’ve seen ‘em let me know so I can update!

Posted in Nailene, Nails, Reviews | 9 Comments »

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

A few new NYX Round Lipsticks!

Can’t. stop. buying. these. lipsticks.

Seriously, at under £2 a pop you can afford to experiment, and although the Cherry Culture swatches are pretty naff… Google is your friend.

I bought 3 more with my last haul. Actually, I think I bought 5… but 2 were Ronald McDonald reds so I gave them to someone who would look less like a serial killer in them.

These are the 3 I kept:

And here’s what they look like swatched “ON MAH FACE!”:

NYX Paris is my favourite, it’s a perfect pink for me… not too warm, not too cool. Love it! It’s glossy and smooth and doesn’t highlight my sore bits.

NYX B52 is a touch warm for me, but it’s not too bad. Doesn’t look much like I expected it to, it’s a little darker on my skintone than I thought it would be. Texture is great though.

I don’t understand this pout… is it even a pout? What AM I doing? Anyway… ignoring the stupid expression, NYX Power is akin to Revlon’s Pink Pout but without the dryness. It’s not a total dupe, but it’s the nearest I’ve found for my skintone (yes, I know MAC Angel is a well-known dupe, but not on me).

Posted in Bargains, Hauls, Lip Colour, NYX Cosmetics | 20 Comments »

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

IMATS London 2010 – I’m here! I’m here!

Well… I hope I am.

This post has been scheduled from earlier in the week… and by the time it pops up on your blogger page or in your google reader I’ll hopefully be hammering down the doors to Alexandra Palace shouting “Lemme in!”

Hey! Interesting fact… did you know that the world’s first public broadcasts of television were made from Alexandra Palace in 1936? No… see, never feel guilty lurking about on Lipglossiping.com… it’s not just about the makeup. You get an educashon here too

So anyway, IMATS!

Word on the grapevine is that IMATS London 2010 has outsold any other show in IMATS history. It’s gonna be busy! Which is why I’m there when the doors open, ‘cos heaven forbid OCC runs out of lip tars before I get my snout to the counter. I will not be held accountable for my actions I tell thee!

I’ll be tweeting ‘live’ from the show like the sad git I am, so if you wanna read what I’m getting up to and see some shoddily taken iPhone photos along the way, then make sure you’re following my twitter feed!

Much love, me xx

Posted in Rambles | 5 Comments »

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Bobbi Brown Metallic Long-Wear Cream Shadows

I bought some Bobbi Brown Metallic Long-Wear Cream Shadows a couple of months ago and thought I’d share my thoughts on them…

The packaging is lovely, nice heavyweight glass jars…. they feel substantial and chunky!

Brown Metal

Starry Purple

Starry Night

Goldstone

Antique Gold

The swatches…

Disappointed is my feeling on these. They look beautiful in the jar, truly. But they’re *so* sheer… the swatches show a good number of swipes to get them pigmented enough to photograph.

I love the idea behind them, and I do wear them… I wear them underneath simillar toned powder shades and the only purpose they really serve is to add a bit of sparkle. You also have to be really careful not to end up with glitter all over your face when applying these. My favourite is Goldstone, which unfortunately, is the biggest glitter dropper of all of them.

I’m simply left with the feeling that they could have been so much more.

Do you own any of these? How do you wear them? Any tips to make me love them?

Posted in Bobbi Brown, Eye Shadow, Hauls, Reviews | 6 Comments »

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland Palette – Evening Look FOTD

Earlier in the week, I posted a Day Look with the new Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland Palette.

Here’s my “Evening Look” to complete the set.

Apologies for the graininess in the shadows of the image, it looks like I have the beginning of a green-tinged beard. My flash kept crapping out on me ‘cos I was too lazy to find a new set of rechargeables, so it was pretty underexposed and then lightened when I edited it. And that’s never a good combo.

Anyway – crap photography excused…

All shades blended like a dream.

Can you see spot any great evening combos in the palette?

Posted in Eye Shadow, FOTDs, Palettes, Urban Decay | 17 Comments »