A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

…only a teeny haul!

It was 3 for £12… and there were 3 further colours I was tempted by, but I’m not convinced of the quality so held off splurging further until I’d given these a try!

L-R: Mouse, Peacock, Factory Grey.

I wore Peacock to the Sleek event, and whilst I love the colour… I wasn’t too enamoured of the formula which was a bit gloopy.

I would have a NOTD for you but I fractured 2 of my nails whilst bowling (of course) so have given them all a much needed prune instead!

Have you tried the American Apparel polishes yet?

I know some of you don’t dig the grey/beige thing, but every greige polish I’ve picked up thus far has suited my complexion beautifully, so I’m hooked.

This is Nails Inc’s latest offering: Lennox Gardens (£15)… and I’m in lurrrrrve.  Well I would be… if they took the stupid ‘crystals’ off and lowered the price by a fiver.

Sludgey poo in a bottle or the epitome of understated elegance, what d’ya reckon?

These little pots of loveliness are currently enjoying a bit of a resurgence in popularity, and so they should.

I own 4, yes I can count (just about)… but couldn’t find my ‘Flatter Me’ shade for the photos – boo!  Above, from left to right are: R.S.V.P (a peach shade), Skinny Jeans (an oh-so-popular pewter) and My Date’s My Brother (a girly pink).

The heavy glass jars seal well, ensuring that your product stays in the best condition for as long as possible before eventually (like most cream products) becoming a little drier and harder to work with.  So don’t forget to screw the lids on as tightly as possible!  The usual cutesy kitsch Benefit design is apparent on both the outer box packaging and the glass jars.  I think I’m in the majority when I admit to being a perpetual fan of this 50s style design.  A lot of brands try to mimic the Benefit styling, but none pull if off quite so well in my opinion.

L-R: R.S.V.P, Skinny Jeans and My Date’s My Brother.

The creams pick up well on a synthetic brush like a concealer brush or simillar.  I mainly use my creaseless creams as an allover base which is why I prefer the paler, more neutral shades.  I only use Skinny Jeans if I’m doing a smoky eye.  My favourite of all the Creaseless Creams I own is R.S.V.P, it’s a beautiful peach that works well as an allover wash with a taupe shadow (powder) blended into the socket line for some definition.

As their name would suggest, these things don’t crease.  Infact they don’t budge an inch once set, which means that any other shadows you apply ontop also hold fast.  Benefit Creaseless Creams hold a dear place in my collection and I’m always on the hunt to add some new shades!

Are you a fan of cream shadows?  What are your favourites?

A mostly cool-toned FOTD bar a hint of peach on the lids.

It’s crazy how much of my eye makeup actually disappears when I open my eyes…. which kinda begs the question, “Should I walk around with my eyes shut?”

Face:

~ Max Factor Second Skin Foundation in Creamy Ivory (thanks Jen!)
~ Stila Sheer Pressed Powder in Light

Eyes:

~ Urban Decay Drink Me, Eat Me on the lid (from the AiW palette)
~ Urban Decay Vorpal in the crease and outer ‘V’ (from the AiW palette)
~ Stargazer Cake Liner in Brown on the lashline
~ YSL Singulier Mascara in Black

Lips:

~ ELF Runway Pink with a slick of…
~ …MAC Please Me ontop.

Looking for an amazing holo with more sparkle than should be legal?

Look no further…

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm is an awesome display of holographic loveliness set in a dark charcoal base.  Think OPI My Private Jet but kick the holo up a notch and lower the price by about £5.

Application was fabulous, 2 coats will work very well, but I did three for a flawless finish.  Despite being full of sparkle, the polish is smooth to the touch and has a beautiful glossy finish without need for a top coat.  If this weren’t enough, longevity is a little bit mind blowing.  I’m on the 5th day and I have barely noticeable tip wear.

Seriously, just buy this polish.

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm is available in the UK from FlashyNails and will set you back a measly £3.00

Who’s Wearing What is a discontinued China Glaze shade that I picked up on eBay.  I do like my greyed out purples and this fit the bill perfectly:

It reminds me of a more muted version of OPI’s ever popular Done out in Deco.  I love my durgy colours and this one fits nicely into my ever-growing collection.

It’s a 3-coater to look it’s best and unfortunately it’s a slow-drier, definitely needing a coat of Seche Vite to finish off.  The creme finish is gorgeous, very glossy and smooth.  I’m pleased to have picked up this shade while it’s still available!

It’s stronger and less pastelly than Orly’s Bon Bon, so may suit you well if you’re darker toned too!

A lovely greyed-out lavender.  It’s one of them dirty colours… I love me a bit of grunge.

This is my first Orly polish and I’m torn.  I found the formula easy to work with… a little thin, but I don’t mind thin polishes as long as they dry quickly and evenly, which this did.  The above shows 4 coats… 1 more than I would have preferred… but it’s ok.

However, I dislike the brush intensly.  It’s super thin and bendy.  Maybe I’ve been spoiled by the OPI Wide Brush that covers a nail in 3 clean strokes… this took about 6/7.  I think I can live with it, but only because of the thin formula.  Painting thicker polish with a brush that weedy would be a nightmare.  Are most Orly polishes fairly thin?

Longevity has been fine… medium amount if tip wear, but no chips.

What do you think of the shade? Are you a fan of grungey colours?

Introducing Blizzard.  This is such a fab shade… it’s not a grey, it’s not a black.  It’s a pewter.  A true metallic pewter, and I love it.

It has just a hint of subtle sparkle to lift it and is almost futuristic looking on my nails.  I don’t own a shade quite like it.

Application was fine with no major issues to speak of, perhaps a touch uneven on the first coat.. but it needed more than one anyway.

Blizzard is one of HJ Manicure’s winter shades aka, The Snow Collection.  If you haven’t already, head to the website to check them out, you won’t regret it!

I have the cutest little swatch chart here that HJ Manicure provided along with the polish (for potential review) and I’ll see if I can capture it in an image for you to see.

There are so many shades on there that I’m now lemming like a demon incuding the most ah-mazing looking sparkly yellow.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ‘sparkly’ yellow for another nail polish company, have you?  Oh, and if you like your pinks (like me) Bauble from the Festive Collection also looks divine, as does Champagne and Cracker… oh and Daylight, a fab looking Grurple – (that’s grey/purple incase you were wondering).  Aqua looks like a potential Spring diamond too….

Can you tell I’m getting excited looking at my swatch chart?  I need to get it online for you guys to drool over too!

I’ve just ordered 2 shades from the website in those cute little 5ml bottles that I wish ALL companies would employ!  Watch this space for some more HJ Manicure reviews!

A beautiful gun-metal silver/grey metallic with more than a hint of purple.

Applies beautifully with absolutely no brush marks.  Needs a top coat to achieve a great glossy finish, wear has been very good.

It’s a fabulously winter-y shade and my first Dior Polish, I’m very impressed with the quality!

What are some of your fav Dior polishes?

Here’s that FOTD I promised showing the GOSH Smoky Eyes Palette I was sent.

Remember the one?

No, sorry not that one… I meant this one…

*alright, stop bitching about their crap stock imagery already*

Anyway, I was semi pleased that it wasn’t hugely pigmented as I find the Sleek MakeUP Graphite palette so hard to work with.  Although I was unsure if I would get much payoff from that light grey (2nd from right) at all…

And I was right! (which makes a change).

I do really like this for a non-overpowering smoky eye.  It feels more grown up, more genteel and sophisticated than the Sleek Graphite Palette.  Unfortunately, I got nothing from that pale grey shade at all.  I applied it in the crease and blended upwards but you just wouldn’t be able to tell.

I hereby class this a “nearly” palette… “nearly” good, but no cigar.

I was very excited to see the promo image for this latest GOSH collection which has been out for a little while now.

The eyeshadow palette in particular caught my eye:

*sigh* Such beautiful taupes…

Unfortunately for me, the stock image looks nothing like the product.  Way to go Mr. GOSH product photographer/retoucher.

This is what the palette really looks like:

Black to White… hey, where did my lovely taupes go?

I can’t really bitch too much – I was sent this by the nice people at GOSH.

Well I can bitch, ‘cos that’s what I do when I don’t like something… so yeah… where the hell was I?

Oh yes, it’s often helpful if the promo images reflect the actual product, don’t you think?

Let’s have a look at the packaging and see if the palette can redeem itself.

Oooh, a tutorial.  I’m a sucker for these and always happy to receive some inspiration and direction!

This is really nice, sturdy casing… good job!

2 eyeshadow applicators and a big mirror… all good stuff.

How about the actual shadows themselves?

Disappointing really…

They feel chalky and they’re simillar to Sleek shadows in as much as they’re quite soft and crumbly.  Shadow dust will fly everywhere when picking up the colour with a brush.

That’s where the Sleek comparison ends.  Unlike Sleek these give very little payoff in terms of colour.  Wanna see?

That third grey from the left is a real bastard to get much out of. *swipe, swipe, swipe*.

Having said that… hand on my heart, I don’t mind at all in this instance.  I usually err on the side of heavy-handedness when it comes to applying eye shadows and with a palette of this nature, my looks usually end up all black and not much else.

The Sleek Graphite palette is a real bugger for this as it’s *so* pigmented I generally look like I have a pair of black eyes after using it.  This, on the other hand gives me the chance to build up the colour and stop short of Panda.

However, for most… I’m sure that this lack of pigmentation is not a good thing.  And if it were a palette of different shades, I’d most likely agree with you.

One more thing I will say though, is that it does state that you can use these eyeshadows wet… I shall give it a go and be back with a FOTD, you never know… it could be amazing – eternal optimist that I am!

I’ve heard great things about the nail polishes from this collection.  In general, I find GOSH Nail polishes to be *awesome* but I’m still dipping my big toe into the world of glitter polishes and don’t need another black so didn’t pick either of these up.

The Gosh Bright n’ Black Collection is available to buy from Superdrug and the eyeshadow palette is priced at £8.99

How have you been finding the collection?  Have you tried any other GOSH eyeshadows?

Now that I have discovered a complete adoration for grey nail polishes, I’ve got my beady eye on Mavala’s upcoming release.

The City Greys Collection is a great trio of no-fuss cool toned greys.

From L-R: Berlin, New York and Minsk

I’m thinking edgy, I’m thinking sophisticated… I’m thinking possible first attempt at Ombre Nails.

Hope they’re lovely and glossy and not semi-matte like the last collection.

After a bit of googling, I came up with this image – pretty no?

They’re due to be released early November so not long to wait!  Any upcoming polish collections setting your heart a-flutter?