A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Indulge me, I rarely do haul posts.  But I’m really loving the things that I picked up this week.  And just look how restrained I was at my local CCO (the MAC).

At the beginning of the week my Stila bits turned up from CheapSmells.. oh! I haven’t included my Stila Topaz Kajal in the photo!  Oh well, I got that too… But anyway, look at that lovely taupe (bottom left).  That’s Stila Cloud, a very cool toned shimmery silver taupe.

I finally took the plunge and ordered a Shu Uemura IR Beige 800 eyeshadow… I was struggling between the IR and ME versions, but felt the ME version swatched a little too pink for me.

I also took advantage of the Barielle BOGOF offer and picked up two colours from the Spring Wildflowers Collection (A Bouquet for Ava & June Bug) and two from the Summer High Steppin’ Collection (Belly Dance & Electric Boogie)

Hmm what else…

Oh, I nabbed Clinique’s (relatively) new High Lengths mascara that I’ve had my eye on for a little while… super funky alienesque brush!

Finally, I was (semi) well-behaved in my local CCO on Friday.  I don’t have a MAC counter near me… so I usually target the MAC stand quite heavily when I raid the Gunwharf CCO.  I picked up: Melon pigment, Blonde MSF and Femme-Fi eyeshadow.  Pat on the back for resisting Moon River from the Grand Duo collection and Flower Mist Dew Beauty Powder from the Ungaro collection.  (Please don’t tell me I NEED those two items in my life… I totally bend to peer pressure!)

What have you bought this week?

No idea when this is coming out over here… or even IF it’s coming out, I’m still sulking over the missing Wildflower Collection.  Maybe we can expect this next Winter, who knows? *shrugs*

That aside… High Steppin’ is Barielle’s Summer 2010 offering.  Mostly metallics which aren’t generally my favourite finish unless they’re formulated well enough to avoid streakiness but I’m pretty keen on some of the colours and I like that they’ve included some of their glittery numbers too.  I’m a big fan of those.

Enough chatting, have a looksie…

So here’s the lowdown, shade by shade…

Electric Boogie: Inky Blue with teal glitter (yes please!)

Slow Motion: Light metallic Lavender (possibly… if it’s edgy rather than sugary…)

Freestyle: Metallic mint with Silver Glitter (hmmmm….. not sure… maybe)

Passion Pirouette: A grape metallic purple (I’m nodding furiously)

Night Moves: Sparkling metallic silver (meh….)

Belly Dance: Nude taupe with shimmer (ewwoooogah! as Leila says in a fit of enthusiasm!)

So that’s half the collection in my shopping basket if and when it ever gets released over here.

What do you think?

Barielle Wildflower SPRING Collection…. c’mon c’mon c’mon it’s nearly Summer already… hurry the *bleep* up!

Spring is coming, can you feel it?  The evenings are just starting to get the teeniest bit lighter and I for one, am pretty darn excited about it.

Beauty-wise though… Spring, for me, is the dullest season collection-wise.  I don’t really ‘dig’ pastels… they wash me out.  I have to wait nearly a whole year for my favourite to come round again – A/W FTW!

My Spring blues were lifted somewhat though when I saw this post on Cosmetic Candy.

To put it simply, Barielle’s Spring 2010 Wildflower Collection looks hawt.

Comprised of 6 shades, it’s screams: “Hey, I’m doing Spring… but I’m doing it my way!”

The stand-out shades for me are A Bouquet For Eva, June Bug and Daring Dahlia.

Myrza’s Meadow captures my imagination, but I can’t imagine it looking good on my skintone.

Here’s how Barielle describe them:

A Bouquet for Eva – A cool Caribbean blue
June Bug – A teal with fuchsia glitter
Blossom – An opaque peach
Daring Dahlia – A deep fuchsia with a hint of silver metallic
Snap Dragon – A metallic sea foam green
Myrza’s Meadow – A light lime green with silver glitter

Barielle Shade’s polishes are available to buy from the Barielle UK Website and are priced at £8.00ea.  No sign of the Spring Wildflower Collection yet though… Hurry up Barielle, it’ll be Summer soon!

Any of them on your radar?

First of all, look how indecently sunny it was on Christmas morning!  After a week of snow and ice, I appear to have woken up in Barbados.  Typical.

Barielle Decadence is the final polish that I was sent by the company.  I wasn’t actually going to show you this one, ‘cos it’s a proper bright jeweled green and I thought that my skintone would do it absolutely no favours.  However, I was looking for something Christmassy and this caught my eye.

Application (as with all the Barielles I’ve tried) was a dream.  It’s a 2 coater and practically applied itself thanks to a smooth formula.  I can’t quite tell if it’s a metallic or a shimmer… I think I’m gonna call it a bit of both.

Check out my glitter tips!  Does this constitute ‘nail art’, have I dabbled for the first time without really meaning to?

Yah, that’s me… Polished Princess…

Is it a bit bogey?

It doesn’t make me feel very princessy… although as greens go, it’s not too bad on my skintone.  Not like OPI Sit Under The Apple Tree which still makes me feel nauseous when I think of how bad it looked.

I didn’t hide my nails whilst wearing this, which can only mean good things!

It applied as beautifully as the other Barielle’s I have been sent to try.  I really think this one would *sing* against a more olive complexion.  But I’d definitely wear it again, it also has a Christmassy vibe going on…  I have a red nail art pen…. I’m sorely tempted to get “creative”

So, I’m not a big glitter fan.  I’m really not.  I don’t mind how it looks (as long as it’s not rainbow coloured)… but the thought of the removal process makes me want to stick forks in my eyes.

Barielle sent me a couple of shades for review, and I may have physically shuddered in a glitter-induced repulsion when I saw this one.

I mean look…. it’s chunky!

However, the polish itself is a beautiful mid-toned blue, infact it’s quite an unusual combination… I’ve never seen blue and copper combined like this in a polish.  Website describes it as gold, but it’s definitely a more rose gold/coppery colour.

I am *so* on a blue kick since that George beauty.  And this Barielle shade is doing nothing to quench those flames!  B-e-a-utiful!

I don’t like the rough feeling that glitter polishes leave and despite a top coat… my mani still felt bumpy but there’s no denying the blue/copper combination works.

I’ve waited ’till removal before writing up this post, and removal was just as horrible as I had anticipated… in the end, I poured some polish remover into the cap of the bottle and soaked each finger individually before I developed RSI from all the wiping.

These Barielle’s are probably some of the longest-wearing polishes I’ve used.  6 days in with this one and I have absolutely no tip wear.  Application was fine, with no issues at all.  I don’t know if glitter polishes tend to have more or less issue with application than normal?  But this was good.

Are you a fan of glitters?  Any removal tips for me? Liking this one?

I’m *nearly* over the whole matte top coat thing… a couple more mani’s then I’ll be able to move on.

This is Barielle’s Shades range in “Grape Escape” – It’s gorgeous.  It’s actually better glossy… but well, I’m a mattifying sheep.

Application is smooth – this is 2 coats.  No issues to speak of, perhaps a touch slow drying… but nothing a quick-dry top coat doesn’t fix.

Desperate to check out some more colours… looks like they have a lovely A/W collection out at the moment.  Let me introduce you…

Putt-E-On-Me – Classic clay

Blackened Bleu – Black with turquoise glitter

Lava Rock – Black with red pearl swirl

I don’t even like glitter and I’m salivating at the thought of the black/turquoise one!

L-R: Putt-E-On-Me, Blackened-Bleu, Lava Rock.

Check out the range at Barielle