A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

The soon-to-be-released Black Palette from US eyeshadow maestro’s Urban Decay is an altogether darker affair than the recent Naked set…

The Black Palette includes 6, 1g eyeshadows, 1 mini 24/7 eye pencil in zero and a mini eyeshadow primer potion in new ‘shade’ Eden.  We haven’t seen Eden on these shores before so I was excited to be able to take a look when I received this sample last week.

The packaging is compact.  There’s been complaints about how cumbersome some of Urban Decay’s palettes are and they’ve clearly listened to the fans.  There are no hidden drawers or slots for your car keys.  Barely an inch of wasted space… infact, the included UDPP (Urban Decay Primer Potion) sits seperately from the palette once taken out of the exterior packaging.  The Urban Decay Black Palette is thoroughly portable if you need it to be.

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I took delivery of my Urban Decay Book of Shadows III yesterday!  Well… when I say ‘took delivery’, whoever Debenhams use as a courier left it in one of my hanging baskets.  In the rain.

Why I oughta! *shakes fist*

When I realised, I squealed… wrung my hands for a bit and then got Mr. L to open it while I peeked between my fingers anticipating a very soggy palette.  Thankfully, it had been double wrapped – phew!

It’s a case of image overload I’m afraid… put me in-front of a pretty palette and I get a bit carried away.

Now available online at Debenhams, The latest in the Urban Decay Book of Shadows series follows in the tradition of some rather nifty package design.  It’s another Pop Up!

UD <3 NYC – Check out the embossing on the lid… a fabulous homage to New York City!

Oh, did I mention it lights up?!

Want to see more pictures including close ups of the shades and swatches?  You gotta read past the jump… I can’t flood the homepage with the photos!

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You thought you’d seen all the palettes Urban Decay had to offer this Autumn/Fall/Winter?  Not yet you haven’t!

Introducing the antithesis to The Naked Palette…

Calling all rock chicks, Urban Decay have another new palette coming up and this one’s for you! The Black Palette (£23) is your antidote to spring pastels and summer neutrals.

Inspired by an era of explicit unbridled rock, Urban Decay’s The Black Palette is sure to unleash your inner Alice Cooper in no time!

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The Black Palette by Urban Decay allows even the meekest in the karaoke bar to own their inner rocker.

Conjure up your dark side with our six black-based shadows.  Create unlimited smokey-eye combinations that boost your confidence level to ‘no shame.’  Five shadows reveal veiled color shifts of blue, green, purple, gold and silver, and the sixth is pure deep black.

Whether you want deep coverage, or smudged out sheerness, these rich and velvety, unadulterated shades can party all night long and still look walk-of-shame worthy in the morning.
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Let’s take a closer look at the shades that will be included:

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BLACK DOG – A deep matte black
BARRACUDA – Black with silver shift
JET – Black with deep shimmering purple shift
SABBATH – Black with deep shimmering blue shift
COBRA – Black with shimmering gold shift
LIBERTINE – Black with deep shimmering green shift

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The Black Palette will also include a deluxe mini of Eden Eyeshadow Primer Potion (a matte finish nude eyeshadow primer) and a 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Zero.

Ohhh, I do love me a good smoky eye!

Urban Decay’s Black Palette (£23 or €33) will be available from September instore selected Boots, Debenhams & House of Fraser Stores and online at the usual Urban Decay stockists.

Ordinarily… not a lot… a bag of Twiglets and a can of Rio Tropical.

But log on to Wahanda today, ‘cos they’re changing all that!

If you’re lucky enough to live near London, Birmingham, Manchester or HOT new Wahanda location LEEDS, then you can bag yourself £20 worth of treatments for a measly £2!

None of the links above are affiliated… though if you’d like to use my personal link to sign up (it bags me a £5 Wahanda voucher, you can do so here).

I’m going for this deal, I need my roots doing… with the voucher, it’ll cost me £10!  Could I love Wahanda’s Mob Deals any more?  Seriously…. I’ve never experienced such indulgent pampering in my life!

My final polish from the Urban Decay Summer of Love Nail Set.  I don’t know what took me so long to give this one a spin… look how beautiful it is!

It’s golden without being brassy… bronze without being orange.  It’s quite hard to describe.  A metallic finish that looks beautifully smooth on the nail.  I wasn’t expecting this to suit me, but it suits me very well.

3 coats to achieve a full, opaque finish.  I think this may be my favourite from the set.  I’m truly surprised by how much I love this one!  Longevity on this was also the best… 5 days before I even saw tip wear.  That’s pretty amazing no?

Ugh, I die when I look at that picture… it captures it well… how can it be so metallic and bronzed yet understated.  If I could buy this in a large size bottle, I would.

I’ve attached links to the other polishes from the set including the overview… if you haven’t seen them already – check ’em out!

Urban Decay Summer of Love Nail Kit – Overview
Aquarius NOTD
Magic Bus NOTD
Hashbury NOTD
Woodstock NOTD
Love Love Light NOTD
Psychedelic Sister NOTD
Shine On NOTD

Love Light…

Totally a layering shade, so I thought I’d just see how many coats it needed to achieve opacity.

I got to 4 and I’m just about there…

One of the best applicators of the Summer of Love set, this glides on the nail and dries quickly.  Once opaque, it’s a beautiful pale gold shade with a lot of sparkle.

It’s feminine without being too floaty.  I like it more than I thought I would on initial inspection.

Sadly it has chipped in two places along the cuticle edge which is rather odd, I think it may have more to do with a heavy handed application of top coat though… which renders that last statement rather useless.

I’ve got one more shade to show from the Summer of Love kit.. I know it’s practically old news now, but I’m determined to get them all blogged for swatch purposes!

Incase you live under a rock and haven’t heard about Wahanda‘s mob deals, listen up!

Every night at midnight, when the clock rolls over to a fresh new day… something exciting happens at Wahanda HQ.  The elves get busy and the mailing list fires up, shooting news of a new Wahanda Mob Deal directly to your inbox.

What is a Wahanda Mob Deal?  I hear you ask…

In a nutshell, it’s a pretty nifty health/beauty related deal at a crazily discounted price.

In April, I paid £2 for £20 worth of Spa and Beauty Treatments at HQhair and Beautystore, which enabled me to get a £45 haircut for the grand sum of £27!

As if that wasn’t good enough… I’ve just snapped up another Mob Deal, paying £20 for a Haircut & Blow Dry, plus Hair Treatment & a glass of wine at Lisa Shepherd.  Value? £88.  That’s a saving of 77%.  OMG!

Anyway, this post isn’t just to gloat about my bargains… much…

I wanna alert you to a new Mob Deal going up on Thursday that has been very much the talk of the town in recent months.  I don’t want to spoil the surprise too much, but let’s just say… “You’re gonna need a bigger boat”.

If you do sign up, I would be extremely happy if you used my link: http://www.wahanda.com/love/lipglossiping

I get £5 off any purchases I make on their site if you buy anything after signing up through that link.  To make this a bit fairer though… please feel free to post your own personal Wahanda invite link in the comment below and we can all keep our fingers crossed that we get some extra money off what are some fab pampering deals!

I’m having a bizarre relationship with this nail polish from the Urban Decay Summer of Love nail set… When I first saw Hashbury, I was a little bit in awe.  In the bottle, it looks ah-mazing.  Cadbury purple with masses of micro-shimmer…

Then I swatched it on one nail and couldn’t have been more disappointed.  It was watery, sheer and jelly-like.  It still is two of those things.  After 3 coats, I can get a pretty opaque finish, though it still looks more jelly than cream.  Nothing wrong with a jelly, but if you’re anticipating a nice opaque purple shimmer…. the effect is lessened with a jelly-ish finish.  I like it more than I did, but still not as much as that initial WOW factor.

Final verdict – Could have, should have been great but isn’t.

I know I’m being a tad harsh, it’s still a rather lovely purple… and although the formula is terribly thin, 3 coats isn’t bad and it has the most beautiful high gloss finish.

Anyway, I’m all up in the air about this shade… I can’t decide.  What do you ladies think?

Check out my other swatches from the collection:

Aquarius
Woodstock
The Whole Kit
Psychedelic Sister
Magic Bus

Another from the Urban Decay Summer of Love nail kit (£17.50)

Magic Bus is a hot, firey orange creme.

3 coats… but for such a vibrant, bright colour… I’m a little disappointed that I can still make out my nail line… I think it could do with being a touch more opaque.  Despite this, in all other aspects… the formula was pleasing and easy to use.  Drying time was average and tip wear/chipping minimal.

A true summer shade that my fingernails will see again before Autumn descends.

Check out my other swatches from the collection:

Aquarius
Woodstock
The Whole Kit
Psychedelic Sister

Slowly making my way through the Urban Decay Summer of Love nail kit (£17.50) and I’m currently sporting Psychedelic Sister!

Described as a bright coral, but it isn’t.  It’s far too red to qualify as coral.  However, it’s a beautiful shade of red meets salmon pink.  It shouldn’t work, but it does!

3 coats (as most of these seem to need) for a good finish, my one complaint is that I’ve got more tip wear than normal AND a chip *sharp intake of breath* on only my first full day of wear.  Can’t count, that’s two complaints… oh well.  You can see the chip on my index fingernail and the tip wear on the middle.

I don’t usually get chips, soooooooo it’s something that is noticeable when I do.

See my other swatches from the collection:

Aquarius
Woodstock
The Whole Kit

Some of you ladies have your Summer of Love nail kits now, how are you liking them?  Have you spotted them in Debenhams yet or is it only some Boots that have put them up?

A stand out from the collection, Aquarius is a beautiful metallic mermaid teal that screams summer!

Application was sadly a bit of a PITA, you need at least 3 coats to achieve a good-looking finish owing to a slightly patchy formula that seems to apply extra-thinly in some areas despite care and concentration!

However, once applied… it’s a beautiful hybrid finish with just as much shimmer as metallic.  I doubt it’s a hugely unique shade, but I imagine it will be the jewel in the collection for many.

See my other swatches from the collection here and the Urban Decay Summer of Love Nail Kit as a whole, here.

Now that I’ve had some time to play with the products I chose to bring home with me from the Une Natural Beauty blogger unveiling, I thought I’d share my thoughts on some of the pieces and a little FOTD with them.

Une Natural Beauty is a new brand with “natural formulas for a natural result, for a natural style”.  It boats impressive eco-credentials and with prices ranging from £4.99 – £13.99, it’s accessible to all.  This is all well and good, but how do the products perform?

I chose 2 eyeshadows, a creme blush, a lipstick, 2 eye pencils, a brush and a concealer.

I didn’t like the shade selections for the base products, so I left those alone.

Let’s start with the Une Multipurpose Brush.  It’s goat hair, and a little scratchy.  It’s densely packed and the most perfect shape for sweeping blush onto the apple of the cheeks and outwards.  It just fits my cheeks brilliantly and totally stops me from applying too low or too high.  I’ve also experienced only one or two shed hairs.  Priced at £7.99, I’m pleased with it.  I’d love it to be a little softer, but hey, it’s less than a tenner.

Glimmer Eyes Shadow G02 is a neutral cream shadow with shimmer.  It feels greasy and although the shimmer is indeed beautiful, it invariably ends up in the socket line less than an hour after applying.  I’ve tried with UDPP underneath and setting with eye shadow ontop.  I’ve decided that the best way to work with this is to pat a tiny amount near the tear duct for a subtle sparkle and resign yourself to a bit of creasing.  I’m cool with that, but I just can’t work with this as an allover lid shade.

Sdumato Eyes Shadow S23 is a matte aubergine.  It’s quite… powdery and kicks up a lot of dust when picking up the product with a brush.  It’s not the best matte I’ve worked with in terms of pigmentation but it’s buildable and the texture is pretty soft.  Lasting power over a slick of eye primer is fair.

Overall, I think the eye shadows that I’ve tried here are overpriced at £8.99 each.  That’s a lot for a high-street mono eyeshadow, at least £2 too much in this case.  Though you do get a fairly generous 1.8g of product, they just haven’t blown me away.

Une Natural Beauty’s Breezy Cheeks blush in B02 (£8.99) on the other hand, has.  It’s a beautiful mid-toned pink (leaning towards mauve) cream blush to powder formula.  Applies like a dream with my fingertips and blends beautifully, leaving a subtle colour that is pink without being too flushed.  It doesn’t have the most amazing staying power, but I can get through most of the day without needing to reapply.  I’d absolutely repurchase this product.

A quick note about the packaging…

Slidey mobile phone of 3 years ago-esque.  I reckon it’s a brave choice… love it or hate it, it does what it’s designed to do which is be easily recyclable.  It’s a little chunky, but not particularly cumbersome.  I’m a fan.  It has that slidey satisfaction thing too… yano when you close a drawer?  And the last couple of cms glide to a satisfying stop?  This does that.  By the way, I’ve left the peel-off stickers on… underneath, the surface is mirrored… generously so!

All the eye pencils from the range are reasonably priced at £4.99 each.

The Sfumato Eyes Pencil in S23 is a color match to the Sfumato Eye Shadow I mentioned earlier.  An earthy aubergine shade.  One thing that I adore about the Une Natural Beauty range is the colour selection.  I’m all for creating a collection based solely on natural and muted colours, and I think that this has been done exceptionally well here.

However, some of the formulas, just don’t work for me.  I understand that a lot of the products are sheer in support of the natural beauty ethos, and I commend that.  Infact, I’m often a fan of more sheer products (especially in darker shades) as I can be heavy handed and prefer the option to build colour rather than desperately try to remove it once overdone!

Unfortunately, I’m finding the Sfumato Eyes Pencil is just too hard and sheer.  It drags across my lashline and doesn’t deposit enough colour to make the uncomfortable application worthwhile.

The Glimmer Eyes Pencil in G13 is sadly even harder.  Such a shame as it contains the most beautiful and fine-particled glitter… I adore how it looks.  Infact, once on… it’s more comfortable than my NARS glitter eye pencils, but what a total drag it is to apply.  Pun intended.

The Skin Glow Pencil in G01 is slightly more expensive at £6.99 and is the most perfect colour match concealer for pale cool-toned ladies I’ve seen on the high street.  It’s creamy and soft and applies really nicely.  I’ve been using this around my nose and in the corner of my eyes to highlight and lift areas where I’m naturally more shadowed.  It’s a great pencil that fills a void in my collection.

My only wish is that it were chunky.  I’ve only used it twice and already it needs sharpening.  I’m literally gonna go through one of these every few weeks if I use it daily.  Bigger please!  More product for the same amount of money, thank you!

Finally the lipstick, Une Lip-Toned Colour in L02.  Love it.  It’s a beautiful nude… a proper nude, not one of your concealer-lip nudes.  It’s creamy and glossy without being too sheer.  No hint of frost, just proper ‘my lips but better’ goodness.  A makeup bag staple done well.  Priced at £7.99, it’s what I’d expect to pay.  Another definite repurchase!

Finally (are you still with me?!), my Une Natural Beauty FOTD.

Eyes

~ Une Natural Beauty Sfumato Eyes Shadow in S23
~ Une Natural Beauty Glimmer Eyes Shadow in G02
~ Une Natural Beauty Sfumato Eyes Pencil in S23
~ Avon Super Shock Mascara in Black

Face

Une Natural Beauty Breezy Cheeks Blush in B02

Lips

Une Natural Beauty Lip-Tined Lip Colour in L02

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Une Natural Beauty is a huge brand launch and I’ve only delved into a tiny percentage of the 25 new products and 148 shades.  It’s a varied review with a couple of stand outs and a couple of disappointments with one or two “OMG this could be awesome if only they…” thrown in.

Une Natural Beauty is available in the UK online and in selected stores at Boots.  It should be rolling out into Superdrug from September 2010 and launching in Irealand sometime in August.

Let me know if you’ve tried anything from the range yet!