A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Is it glitter season yet? Is it? Is it?

It is, isn’t it?

The lovely Sirvinya bought me this glitter-tastic Pure Ice nail polish in Cheatin‘ while she was on her travels to the U.S. last year and I’ve used it as a layering polish a couple of times – it looks absolutely beautiful, as I’m sure you can imagine, over both blue and purple shades… injecting that little bit of OHGODGLITTER into any manicure you desire.

The above swatch shows three, fairly thick coats – it’s not the best worn on it’s own and I’ll probably stick to layering with it but I thought you might appreciate a swatch while I’m slowly going through and re-organising my polishes.

Which reminds me, how do you organise yours?  By colour or brand?  Too. indecisive.

Most people dream in black and white.  I dream in red holographic.  Or, at least… I dream OF red holographic.

This isn’t a bad attempt at it, but it’s doesn’t quite cut the mustard in the same way as Glitter Gal’s incarnation of red rainbows.  The holographic is there but it’s very sparse and subtle.  That’s not to say that this isn’t a very pretty red polish with a hint of holo, because that’s precisely what it is.

I bought this one a couple of months ago and sadly I’ve only gotten round to swatching it now that the weather is too overcast, dingy and downright depressing to get any holo effect to show up – but, you get the idea.

Catherine Arley polishes are best gotten hold of via an eBay search, they’re pretty inexpensive.

Q: Why did the elephant paint his toenails red?

A: So he could hide in a cherry tree!

No, I didn’t break into a smile either.

Daft jokes aside, if you’ve always been looking for an elephant-coloured nail polish, your search is over. Elephant walk is an odd blue/grey shade that does indeed remind me of Dumbo.  The silver shimmer clearly seen in the bottle, is distinctly lacking once on the nails, which is a shame because I could really imagine it making a difference.

As things stand, it’s a nice two-coater but ends up reminding me of a poor-relation to something like Butter London’s Lady Muck.  Sigh, I wanted that shimmer in it!

Nevermind, at least you heard a really shit joke today.

China Glaze Elephant Walk is available to buy instore at Sallys or online at BeautyBay.com, priced at £6.95

Tell me a really bad joke!

I don’t really know what it is that I like so much about these rich browns that look like absolutely nothing in the bottle, and tbh, not that spectacular in my swatch… but there’s something so rich, almost decadent about them when the light hits them in a certain way.  They make me feel slightly edgy amongst the yummy mummies in the nursery playground, but not in a “look at me” kinda way, which is, let’s face it – how I like it.

Plus, the shine on this one was a dream… as you can see – super high gloss  in two coats which made my talons look effortlessly polished to within an inch of their badly manicured lives.

Do you like brown nail polishes?

China Glaze Call of the Wild is available to buy online at BeautyBay.com, priced at £6.95

* press sample

Shade-wise, this is the Dita Von Teese of vampy reds.  It’s not hugely unique or as spellbinding as Ms DvT (oh look, that spells “deep vein thrombosis!” *Beavis laugh*) but it is a rather lovely darker red creme that flatters cool skintones very nicely indeed.  If it were a lipstick, I’d probably marry it.

Adventure Red-y (yawn name) isn’t very adventurous but it does offer coverage like the canopy of the Amazonian rainforest, opaque in two coats, it’s an impenetrable fortress for those pesky VNLs.

Good but standard Autumn nail colour fodder.

China Glaze – On Safari Collection: Adventure Red-y is available to buy online at BeautyBay.com, priced at £6.75

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China Glaze I Herd That is a densely packed copper glitter that reminds me of a shiny new penny, the kind that you pull out of your purse, only to drop it straight back in because it’s just too blinging to part with just yet.  That’s normal right?

The clear base and finer-than-usual glitter gives this polish a less “chunky” feel than you might imagine and the photo below shows three coats applied without a top coat.

I Herd That is the second glitter in the collection, and the warm-toned cousin to “I’m Not a Lion” which I reviewed yesterday.  A great Autumnal glitter if ever I saw one.

China Glaze I Herd That is available to buy online at BeautyBay.com, priced at £6.75

* press sample

Are you feeling Autumnal yet?  Where did the sun go?  Why is it getting dark so early?  Come back happiness and light, come back!!!!!

It’s not coming back.

So, like a flitty shape-shifter, I shall instead focus on the positives of the change of season.  Chunky knits, cardigans (oh, how I’ve missed a nice cardy!), 100 denier tights and solidly constructed boots.  How about a bit of glitter to go with that?

Oh go on then…

I keep thinking that I’m gonna have to bite the bullet and get myself a bottle of that uber-thick top coat to go with my glitter polishes… Gelous is it?  I do like a good glitter but I like to see it fully-trapped inside a smooth resin, like a prehistoric mozzie in an amber jewel.  Or something.

China Glaze’s I’m Not a Lion is a 2/3 coater – three coats should give you a practically solid finish.  The glitters are a pretty mixture of cool and warm, with a predominantly pale gold appearance from anything other than under a microscope.

China Glaze I’m Not a Lion is available to buy online at BeautyBay.com, priced at £6.95

* press sample

If Kalahari Kiss is a Caramac bar…. then Desert Sun (sticking with the confectionary theme) would be a… a radioactive Daim bar?  It’s like caramel, gone a bit nuclear.

Desert Sun is a dirtied orange, very Autumnal and kinder to us cool-toned skintones.  It reminds me a bit of those giant orange slugs!  You know the ones I mean!

Now that I’ve completely put you off the actual colour, I should say that the formula on this one was nice, opaque in two coats – none of that runny but thick crap, it’s just thick.  But in a good, spreadable way.  Two coats are shown without a top coat.  I know, glossy right?  I’m liking this formula.

China Glaze Desert Sun is available to buy online at BeautyBay.com, priced at £6.95

* press sample

Today’s NOTD features a new shade from the China Glaze On Safari collection, it’s an unusual one for me to pick out to wear… warm-toned nudes are not my cup of tea, even though this one does actually look quite like a cup of tea.

Look.

Or as my ma would call it, “gnats piss”.

Ok, it’s not really very tea-like after all is it?  I got carried away with that one.  Still, it’s a pretty edgy choice for my tastes and I kinda like it.

The formula was good, better than CG’s summer offerings which were all-at-once watery and thick – this one applies smoothly with a good amount of pigmentation that provided full opacity in just two coats.

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss is available to buy instore at Sallys and online at BeautyBay.com, priced at £6.95

What do you make of the shade?  Would you wear it?

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Going a bit ga-ga in the search for a lovely green polish to see you through the drearier months?

Green isn’t a colour you’d usually associate with the final weeks of Summer is it?  We’re used to seeing the shade fill Spring collections and lead the way when it comes to the pastel trends but put that thinking aside because I’ve found a rather lovely green that will work beautifully for the more subdued months ahead…

Introducing, Marks & Spencer Limited Collection Polish in Leaf.  A dusty green creme that will set you back just £3.50 for an 8ml bottle.

Two coats will achieve opacity from a formula that doesn’t need chasing around the nail to get it to lie smoothly.  For the shiniest of finishes, you’ll need a top coat but don’t let that put you off because this mini-marvel packs a punch when it comes to pigmentation.

Marks & Spencer Limited Collection Polish in Leaf is priced at £3.50 and available both instore and online at marksandspencer.com

Have you tried any M&S polishes since they revamped the line?  How do you find them?

Following on from my previous post introducing the new Carolyn K London Nail Paint shades, as promised, I’ve swatched the next trio set available, the Brights.

Lara

Huby

Alenoush

The formula, so far, seems to be consistent across the range… very opaque (two coats has done the job on every shade so far), a little bit runny (don’t overload the brush or you’ll curse), and a very glossy finish.  Lara looked a bit dated in the bottle and I wasn’t expecting to like it on my fingers but the gold micro-shimmer gives it a lift and a popsicle-esque edge.  Huby is a repeat from the Darks collection, a smokey grey/teal creme, and Alenoush is a lovely red jelly with a squishy finish that gives good coverage with just the tiniest hint of translucency, juicy!

Of the trio, Alenoush is my favourite – in my world, you just can’t beat a good red.  And this is a good red.

Carolyn K London Nail Paint Brights Collection is available exclusively at PowderRooms, priced at £12.99 for the trio

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I’m not the world’s most patriotic type, I’m more into grumbling about our nation than celebrating it, which I realise makes me sound like a bit of a miserable git but it’s not like that – well, not entirely anyway.  However, you can’t help but have been a little soul-stirred into some imaginary flag-waving this Summer with the close of our rather successful ‘limpics.

And judging by Alesha Dixon’s brit-inspired limited edition nail shades for Avon, she felt the same way.

Red Reveal and Inky Blue are the two latest inclusions to the Avon line of nailwear pro+ shades.  The Avon Beauty and Empowement Ambassador said of these two shades:

Everything British is a hot topic for me right now, what with the Jubilee, the Olympics and of course my first year on Britain’s Got Talent! I’ve always been proud to be British, so when hand picking my own fabulous limited edition Nailwear Pro+ colours there was no contest to these gorgeous red and blue shades.

Here they are swatched, with a sprinkling of totally-in-context gold (29 medals baby!) just for good measure.

The gold glitter, incase you’re wondering, is the lovely I Herd That* from China Glaze On Safari (Autumn 2012) collection.

Avon Nailwear Pro+ Alesha’s Limited Edition shades of Inky Blue* and Red Reveal* are available to buy online at Avonshop or from your local representative, currently priced at £3.50 each.

Did your nails get all patriotic this Summer?

* press samples