A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

With all this Chanel vs. BarryM nail polish dupe talk… how could I possibly have resisted CHARGING down my local Superdrug as fast as my fat little trotters could carry me (ok, I drove) before scooping up a bottle of BarryM’s new nail polish sensation Dusky Mauve to compare for myself?

Well I couldn’t.  Hence this post – duh.

So is it?  Isn’t it?

It most certainly is.

BarryM’s Dusky Mauve Nail Paint is a practically perfect dupe for Chanel’s Paradoxal – I’ll let the photos do the talking.

When Bazza met Coco… *cue music*

The only teeniest, tiniest difference between the two is that I feel the BarryM version may have a touch more sparkle in direct sunlight… but I’m not even 100% confident on that.

If you had wanted to indulge in Chanel’s Paradoxal but couldn’t quite stretch to the £16.50 required to do so… put those pennies towards the £2.95 dupe of the year and head down to Superdrug for BarryM’s Dusky Mauve instead.  No one will be able to tell the difference.

If your local Superdrug/Boots are out of stock, don’t forget that you can also buy BarryM’s Dusky Mauve Nail Paint online from the BarryM website which ships internationally.

Completely inspired by Kellie at BigFashionista, I had a go at applying the BarryM Instant Nail Effects over Models Own 25 Carat Gold to get a more feline interpretation!

Close up… it’s not that leopard print-y, but from 3 feet or further, it works REALLY well!

This stuff really is nail art for the completely unartistic (i.e. me!)

But enough of all this!

Who are my two lucky winners from this weekend’s giveaway?

The gods over at Random.org have spoken… and I’m pleased to announce that…

Elizabeth/Makeuptini

Estelle/StellieStellina

… are the lucky winners, I shall email you this evening for your addresses ladies!

Thanks for entering everyone, with over 180 entries in 48hrs, I can’t tell you how much I wish I could afford to give away more bottles.  Instead, I shall wish you all the bestest week ever xx

From Lip Butters to Body Butters, Body Scrubs to Shower Foams… Body America’s range of bathroom goodies will be hitting the mainstream when they land in the new House of Fraser Apothecary from the middle of this month onwards.

A little birdy also told me that the Body America Body Butters come from the same creator as the much-loved Body Shop Body Butters… interesting…

But this becomes even more interesting when I tell you that a 200ml jar of Body America Body Butter will set you back a trifling £8 compared to £12.50 for The Body Shop equivalent.  Now you’re talking!

The entire range is described as 72% organic and comes enriched with certified organic Aloe Vera juice to naurally soothe and protect the skin.  The lineup is available in four flavours:

~ Vermont Va Va Voom: Green Apple, Maple and Blueberry
~ New York Cheesecake with an Edge: Vanilla and Strawberry
~ Toast to the Coast: Ocean and Grapeseed
~ Southern Belle: Peach and Mango

I fully intend to make a beeline for the Vermont Va Va Voom range…. Maple?  Oh god yes.  Now if only it came with pancakes too…

Like a moth to the proverbial flame, I found myself in my local backwater Boots yesterday afternoon and they had just put out their latest delivery of BarryM.

Being the dedicated beauty blogger that I am *cough* and remembering that some of you are struggling to source this for yourselves, I thought I’d pick up two of the new Instant Nail Effects Nail Paints for a quick giveaway!

And when I say quick, I mean QUICK!

Answer this question in the comments below:

Which polish would you choose as a base coat underneath the BarryM Instant Nail Effects?

.

RULES
~ Two winners (winning 1 polish each) will be picked at random early next week
~ Giveaway closes at 11.59pm this Sunday (you have 48hrs – ish)
~ Open worldwide

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Good luck!

I scoured high and I scoured low for this little bottle of Barry M Instant Nail Effects… it’s seemingly harder to acquire than the proverbial gold dust.

When I first saw it on Yinka’s blog… I didn’t think I was gonna like it.  I like NEAT nails and I’m not hugely into nail art.  Not really… I just like polished tips that add a bit of interest.  Instant Nail Effects looks haphazard… indeed it is.  It’s messy, it’s random…

But I kinda like it!

What I didn’t like was that I slapped a glossy top coat over it.  Next time I’m gonna keep the crackle matte.

Is this a new idea?  Nooooooooo…. these crackle polishes have been around for years, but as far as I’m aware – it’s the first time it’s been brought to the UK high street (correct me if I’m wrong!).

Wanna know how it’s done?  Watch the official BarryM tutorial video on how to make the Instant Nail Effects work for you here.

Do you like the effect?  I think the general consensus is that it works best over bold, pale colours… think bright pastels!

If you can source it on the high street, Boots are currently offering two BarryM polishes (including this one) for £5, otherwise you can purchase online from the BarryM website for £3.95 a piece.

I like these Bobbi Brown Illuminating Bronzers… they’re lovely for fair skin types who quite like the idea of bronzers but just don’t really know how to make them work.

I own a few…

Antigua, Maui and now Bali Brown.

In hindsight, I should have probably gone one stop paler and plumped for Aruba, but never mind… I like a challenge!

Bali Brown is a golden bronze that stops short of looking dirty on my skintone.  It is a much warmer bronzing shade than I’d normally dare to reach for, but with a light hand it warms up my complexion without looking too bronzy!

It contains a fairly subtle sparkle, so as with my other Bobbi Brown Illuminating Bronzers.. I wouldn’t use this as a contour shade.  We aren’t even close to disco cheeks territory though… this is safe to use with a little bit of reckless abandon.  A little bit, I said.

I’ve just had a thought… is it ok to wear bronzer in the Winter?  I’m one of those people that need a hint of colour on their cheeks to avoid that “freshly dug up” look.  Will I be commiting some kind of cosmetic faux pas dusting this on my cheeks once the clocks go back?!

I mean… I just freakin’ spent £23.50 on it, so I’m gonna rock it through wind, rain and snow regardless.  I just won’t tell anyone when I’m doing it 😉

Do you bronze regardless of the changing seasons?

I’ve got an exclusive 20% off discount code for my lovely readers to take advantage of Barielle’s brand new Holiday Hustle Nail Collection!

If you want to take advantage of the promotion, simply use code lipglossiping (lower case) at checkout.

The code is good for 2 weeks from today and when I checked a few days ago (I’m on holiday now), it was working store-wide!

Let me know if you succumb to temptation!  I’m a nosey sod!

Witt-Woo! (that’s a wolfwhistle btw!)

Barielle have done it again, that thing I love ’em for… the twist on the normal.  The eclecticness of collections that ensure there’s something for everyone.

Taking a generic creme and adding something special to it… they give their shades an edge.  Something that makes you want to own them regardless of how many dupable colours you have.  MY. ONE. DOESN’T. HAVE. FUCHSIA. GLITTER. IN. IT. etc.. etc..

Woah right?

Elle’s Spell looks positively enchanting…. Gelt Me To The Party looks like it may be the goldiest gold ever and Coalest Day of the Year is a new take on the Winter charcoal/black shades no?

Wrap me in Ribbon… again, I don’t think I have a pink *quite* like this, it makes me think of Christmas baubles!  If there’s one shade that I’m DEFINITELY lemming this Christmas… it’ll be Jess’ Champagne Toast.  I love it when Barielle do the contrasting glitter like that!  Snow Day… probably not so much, a pale green metallic?  Nah… not for me thanks.

5 out of 6 eh?  That’s pretty good going!

Come on Christmas, come on Christmas!

P.S – I’ve got a special 20% off code for you tomorrow, so if you fancied purchasing a few of these shades… that’ll be the time to do it!

I requested some better pictures of a few pieces from the upcoming Boots (Strictly Come Dancing) Strictly Fab-U-Lous releases, ‘cos frankly… mine were shiteous.

Strictly The Lip Gloss Collection, RRP £6

Strictly Come dancing Look Books: Stunning, Beautiful, and Latin, RRP £10 each (I think these were my favourite!)

Strictly Fab-u-lous Lip Collection, RRP £12.00

It’s back on our screens proper from 1st October I think… Strictly is such a guilty pleasure for me.  Keep your X-Factors… I’m all about the sequins!

Any of you bright-eyed sparks noticed the MASSIVE bargain you can bag in Superdrug at the moment?

In my 2 nearest stores, there’s a huge basket near the tills… full to the brim of Batiste Dry Shampoo Sprays.

Choose between: Original, Blush and Tropical (possibly Boho too – can’t remember!).  Sadly no coloured varients or I would have cleared the lot!

I wonder if they’re repackaging?  Curious!

Back in early July, I attended a Boots Press Day featuring all the Christmas goodies they have in store for us this winter – it seemed silly to tell you about it back then… but with Strictly heading back to our screens next month, I figured that now would be pretty darn apt!

Enjoy some craptastic iPhone photos of some of the Strictly Come Dancing themed gift sets we can expect to find instore.

One of the dresses from the last series!

Cosmetics Palette – £20

Large Vanity Case – £TBC

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s the last one!  That’s it!  You’ve seen all 6 of the new Barielle Style in Argyle polishes from the Autumn/Winter collection that I was sent… Cowl of the Wild is probably the most on trend shade from the collection.

A ‘propah’ greige/mushroom/taupe blah blah thingamibob.  Am I getting bored of these yet?  Not on your life… though I do think I’m starting to accumulate a couple too many.  I prefer these mid-toned mushroom shades to the darker YDKJ ones.

I think the stand out delight from this new Barielle collection is just how truly creamy they look on the nails… perhaps it’s the warm chocolatey shades, or maybe it’s just the formula, but each is a delight to look at in that aspect.

I’m not so keen on the fact that each shade needed 3 coats for a good finish.  None of the shades are particularly pale… I would have prefered them to be 2-coaters… am I fussy?  Only a little.