A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

This striking pewter polish is from the Orly Birds of a Feather collection that was released for this Autumn/Winter.  It’s a beautiful grey with silver flecks that gives it a stunning metallic effect without the usual brushstroke issue that actual metallic polishes present.

Fully opaque in two coats with absolutely no application issues, this is a cracking polish for Autumn/Winter and one that I recommend you have in your collection.  Flawless.

Orly Sea Gurl is available to buy online at BeautyBay.com, priced at £6.95

* press sample

When these polishes were first released, I saw so many positive reviews online and the thing that spoke to me more strongly than the words accompanying them, were the pictures.  I was reading all this good stuff about how amazing they were and all I kept thinking was “but your nails look really bad”.

Case in point…

MyFace Cosmetics Lil’ Bling* nail polish in Pink Champagne is an uber-metallic, high shine polish which benefits from a quick drying time and an opaque finish.  Despite such a pale colour, I was done in two swift coats.  On my hardy nails, wear was average with tip wear setting in on the 3rd day and no chips.

All good things from a high street nail polish that costs less than £6.00.

But the problem is, there just ain’t no denying that it makes my reasonably un-ridged nails look like McCoy’s Man Crisps.

On ridged nails (or my toenails) this could get a whole lot uglier.

MyFace Cosmetics Lil’ Bling polishes (£5.99) come in 16 different shades and are available online at MyFace Cosmetics or instore at Boots.

Do you have any polishes that are awesome in nearly every way bar the most important?

.

P.S. see my perpetually peeling index fingernail?  Anyone got any awesome ideas to solve that problem?

* press sample

I promised some decent swatches of some of the goodies that my beautiful friend Julia sent me from her home country, the Philippines!  Is there anything more exciting than surprise swap parcels from far away destinations?  Errr NO!

By the way… check out the backdrop, same location but finally entered the 21st Century and got ourselves some of that new-fangled double-glazing stuff – here’s hoping this Winter will feel warmer than the last!

Ok, so back to the 4U2 I-Pro Professional Eye Make-Up Palette in Contemporary (what a mouthful!)…

Nicely packaged in a sturdy plastic housing that feels secure and substantial… it opens to reveal a large, clear and distortion-free mirror and 8 vibrant, shimmering eyehadow shades.

The shades all lean toward the pastel, so this will make a perfect choice for some fresh, Spring looks.  All pans have a texture like butter with a colour payoff that matches our own Sleek Makeup offerings.  The difference being that I don’t get the same amount of fall-out with these shades as I do with the Sleek eyeshadows.

And some swatches (on bare skin)…

Aren’t they lovely?

Colour me jealous… I want this brand to be accessible in the UK!  Who says we get all the best stuff? *sulk*

I believe (after conversion) that this retails at around £13 a palette?  You get about 2.5g of product per pan which works out at around £1.60 per eyeshadow.  I do love an economical purchase!

Are you currently lusting after anything from foreign shores?  Spill the beans!

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.

Ever since reading a recommendation by the lovely MakeupByKaty, I’ve been intrigued by these little pots of shimmering shadows.

Bourjois have always been my favourite high street brand and I knew that as soon as I’d read about them… I was going to be parting with some of my hard earned cash at the very next opportunity!

I picked up three shades for around £6 each:

#31 Molecule D’or – A true gold

#37 Blanc Chrome – Iridescent White with pink reflects

#35 Gris Platine – A dark steel grey

I’m not much of a fan of the applicator, it’s quite tricky to wield and apply with any precision… but it’ll do in a pinch, otherise I recommend swiping some of the product onto the back of your hand before using a brush to transfer onto your eyelids.

The product dries very quickly to a budge-proof finish, so you need to work quickly… I haven’t managed any great successes with using this anywhere other than on the lids for a metallic look.  If I try to blend the shades out into the crease, I find the overall effect to be a bit patchy.  Probably because of that fast drying time the product ends up setting more opaque in the areas I’m slower at reaching.  Does that make sense?

Overall, I do love these… and I have my eye on two more… I can’t remember the names, but one is more chocolate-y and the other is what looks like it would be a lovely beige lid wash (especially if I can sheer it out quickly!).

Have you tried these and do you have a favourite high street brand?

I awoke to a surprise parcel last Saturday…

Courtesy of a very sweet friend, this beautiful chocolate milk of a nail polish now holds pride of place in my collection.  I’d been lemming Zoya Pasha for the best part of a year and with such long-term longings inevitably comes a touch of pedestal placement!  I have to say, it didn’t disappoint.

3 coats for a smooth finish, Pasha is a silvery milk chocolate with a slight metallic sheen.  It applied beautifully with no dragging at the cuticles, my only slight issue was with a couple of bubbles which I think had more to do with my impatience at wanting to see it applied, like NAO! as opposed to any formula problems.

I’m so happy to finally have this in my hands, thank you liloo – your generosity delighted me and I may have been bitten by the Zoya bug!

So, Tsunimee and I were bitching on twitter that we didn’t really like metallic finishes to our polishes, and of course… that same day one of THE MOST BEAUTIFUL metallic nail polishes EVER showed up in my little ASOS haul.

It has that Quality Street wrapper quality doesn’t it?

Of course I had to apply it immediately…

I love it. And this photo… does not do it justice.  In real life, it looks like someone has foiled my nails with this glorious jeweled ruby red.  It’s perfect.  It looks like there are brush strokes in the image… which is hugely unfair, because I’m squinting at my fingertips now and I just can’t see any.

You pop off the clunky square ‘lid’ with a sharp tug and it reveals an altogether easier to manipulate round handle for application purposes.  Unfortunately, the brush is a STUPID thin thing, like in my Orly polishes… but other than meaning it needed about 5 strokes to cover the nail bed, it didn’t cause me any issues.

Application was *nearly* spot on.  Opaque in the first coat, I needed to go back in for a second just to tidy it up…. however, I did experience a couple of bubbles on 2 nails, which sucked especially as I know I wasn’t applying it too thickly.  Still, it’s so beautiful I don’t really care.  Plus, when the polish had dried (very quickly I might add) I could barely see these two bubbles… but I needed to mention it as bubbling isn’t something I usually experience with polishes.  Longevity is amazing for a metallic, I’m on my 3rd day (with no top coat) and it looks as good as new.

This was my first Butter London and I’m smitten.  They’re not cheap at around £10 each, but I want more…

What are your Butter London favs?

As part of my Dior haul, I also purchased the Dior Sparkling Liner in the Xmas ’09 LE Shade Sparkling Purple.

I actually had no intentions to pick this up until I swatched it on the stand… oh my.

It’s a beautifully iridescent purple liner with a brush that ensures a precision fine line.  It’s massively pigmented and perfect for winter.

Look at that… it just glows and reminds me of stained glass.  I’ve been pairing this up with grey shadows on my lids and have worn it once or twice on it’s own with lots of black mascara.

I’m so pleased I picked it up!

I think I paid around £20.  Do you wear coloured liners?  Any preferences or tips on shade selection for a chick with grey/green eyes?

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?

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”

Another Mavala NOTD, and my favourite shade so far… Magnolia

Of course, the connotations of Magnolia are dull, dull, dull but I love how gentle this is, perhaps it’s a little ‘safe’ for most – but I think it’s feminine, soft and sophisticated with it’s satin finish.

As with the other Mavala shades I’ve tried, this applies beautifully.  1 coat and this would make a lovely french manicure application, 2 or more to build up on opacity.  I think this was 3 coats.  A nice smooth fairly thin formula (which I love) and quick drying (but not so quick that I can’t go over with a couple of strokes to tidy up my application).

This is love, what shade shall I go for next?!

As an aside, you may notice that my cuticles are looking a little dry (well, you probably won’t notice – but they are!) Any recommendations for something I don’t have to apply a 100 times a day to keep them moisturised?

I’m loving these Mavala Minis (5ml), so great for impatient types like me who never see the bottom of a standard sized bottle before it’s gotten too thick and unuseable.

This is Glasgow #29 a fab silvery lavender metallic shade.  It’s a little streaky (as with most metallics) but not enough to bother me in the slightest.  It applied as easily as a creme with no dragging at all.  This was 3 thin coats.  Drying time was decent aswell.  I’m very, very impressed with this range and will be checking out some other colours!

These Mavala Minis are on offer at £3.19 a bottle at Richard John at the moment (although they do that annoying p&p thing where they think it’s a good idea to charge you higher p&p the more money you spend with them *sigh*)

This is my first experience with the Mavala brand, anyone else tried their products?  What are your thoughts?