L’Oreal Color Riche Nail Collection

You all know how I love my mini polishes, so I was really excited to learn that L’Oreal Paris have recently launched a fantastic new range of mini nail varnishes. The Color Riche Nail Collection comprises 41 new nail shades perfect for every summer-time mood!

 (With flash)

Left to Right: Insolent Magenta 504, Cafe St Germain 109, Divine Indigo 609, Boudoir Rose 204.

 (Without flash)

I was kindly sent a little selection to play with and I absolutely adore them. First of all they are mini (collective awwwww), though despite their size they do feature a large flat brush, which makes application super fast and easy. All the colours I have tried were pretty much opaque in one coat too, so perfect for painting on the go.

Once again I was desperate to try these out as soon as they landed so I had to borrow a nail or four from a friend ;). The above shows just one coat of polish. Pretty!

Color Riche Polishes are available from Boots for £4.99 here.

Have you tried the new L'Oreal Color Riche nail polishes? Which are your favourite shades? xxx

Sketchy Melon Tutorial

This tutorial came about while I was playing around with a few different eyeshadow colours. I decided to mix a shimmering peachy melon with a deeper, matte blackberry accent. What do you guys think of this combination?


Products used:

Avon Ideal Flawless Foundation (Light Pink)*
17 Blush First Kiss*
MAC MSF Pink Porcelain
Avon P401 lipstick*

UDPP
MAC Paint Pot Fresco Rose
MAC Melon Pigment
MAC e/s shale, sketch, shroom
Max Factor Liquid Effect Eye Liner Black*
L'Oreal Carbon Gloss Liquid Liner
Black shadow from UD Naked
Eyeko Skinny Brush Mascara*
Lashaholic lashes LA03*

This is not a sponsored video. Products marked with * were given to me at events or sent for review consideration.

If you would like to see more of my makeup tutorials please subscribe to my YouTube channel here. Thank you for watching my lovelies! xxx

MaxFactor Fantasy Fire... My take!

MaxFactor's Max Colour Effect Mini Nail Polish in Fantasy Fire has been causing quite a stir on the blogosphere! Apparently the colour is a dupe of a long discontinued Clarins polish, but I'm not easily swayed by the hype and wanted to try it with no preconceptions.

Seeing this polish in real life I can assure you the photos really don't do it justice. The warm purple base is brought to life with a true rainbow of shimmer. The holographic effect is beautiful, with sparks of red, gold, blue and green lighting up the polish at different angles.

 (With and without flash) 

However, on application I did find that the polish was very sheer. I am not terribly patient when it comes to nails so a polish that dries quickly and is opaque in one or two coats is essential. Fantasy Fire needs a generous three or four coats to reveal it's beauty, and though I do love the colour and think it was worth the effort, it does require a little tenacity.

The above shows the polish after three heavy coats and as you can see the colour is still a little sheer. Luckily, the shimmer hides the majority of the nail bed, so it still looks pretty spectacular!

In addition to the polish I was sent a little nail art kit so that I could recreate Zarra Celik's Purple Leopard designs. I am no nail art maestro, but I try my best! What do you guys think of my attempt?

If you want to create your own or a similar design you can follow Zarra's tips below. It really is so much quicker and easier than I had imagined! Even the bf was impressed with my left handed efforts :P. 

Fantasy Fire is selling fast, and is already going at 3 times the price on ebay! Luckily, new stock has been added to stores and I have found it for £3.99 in Superdrug and Boots.

What do you think of my leopard design? Have you tried MaxFactor's Fantasy Fire polish? Are you tempted to try it? xxx

Beauty Marked Sketch

On Saturday one of my work girlies was celebrating her birthday in Soho so I popped in for a few cocktails. As I had been on the go all day I decided to quickly amp up my makeup for a fun night out.

As I was in a bit of a rush I didn't have a chance to write down everything I used (bad beauty blogger!), but I was mainly playing with a few products from my collection to create a deep, sultry plum smokey eye and a nude nip.

Skin:

• NARS Sheer Glow foundation (looks great in photos) mixed with Dior Forever (lasts well).
• Bobbi Brown creamy concealer.
• ELF glow powder (it's not very shimmery, so works great as a setting powder when you want your skin to look radiant).
•  YSL Afrique bronzer
• NARS Angelika Blush

Eyes:

• MAC Macriviolet fluidline (as base)
• MAC Beauty Marked e/s (on lid)
• MAC Sketch e/s (in crease and lower lashline)
• Blackberry pigment sample (on centre of lid for a little shimmer)
• MAC Shroom and Vanilla e/s (as highlight on brow bone)
• L'Oreal Carbon Gloss liquid liner
• Eyeko Skinny Brush Mascara (£15 here)
• Lashaholic LA03 Wispy Strip Lashes (£7.95 here)

 Lips:

• MAC Creme d'nude
• Clarins Instant Light lipgloss 02 Apricot Shimmer (£10.80 here)

I love the look of a red based purple as I think it makes all eye colours brighter and more vibrant!

What do you guys think of purple eye shadow? It can be a tricky one to work with, but it is one of my absolute favourite colours! What are your favourite eyeshadow colours? xxx

Royal Manicure

Unfortunately my nail painting skills are nothing to write home about, but I do like to have a play around!

In the colder months I tend to stick to a darker palette of nail polish, but it's always fun to change it up a little bit every now and again. I am a big fan of the new french tip - namely glitter, but unfortunately glitter is not work friendly so has to be reserved for the weekends. So instead of creating a gold tip I decided to make a bolder statement.

OPI Plugged in Plum and Nail Star nail art polish in gold.

I like the idea of the design, but my shaky hands have somewhat failed in the execution. Practice makes perfect...

What nail polish colours are you wearing at the moment? What are your favourite nail designs? xxx

Acceptable In The 80's

I've got love for you if you were born in the 80's!

This weekend I celebrated one of my best friend's birthdays in true retro style - at a roller disco. Although we were only babies in the 80s, we decided to pay homage to the era in full fancy dress. My budget outfit was put together last minute - a Mango leotard, pleather leggings (yumm!), fluorescent pink tutu, leg warmers and fishnet gloves (ebay).

 

For makeup I took inspiration from a plethora of 80s music videos and decided to wear clashing colours - lilacs on the eyes (BarryM dazzle dust all over the lid and up to the eyebrows!), fuchsia pink strongly contoured cheeks (MAC full fuchsia blush) and bright pink lipstick (BarryM lip paint in no. 146).

To complete the look I used L'Oreal carbon gloss liquid liner and my new favourite mink lashes from Velour (You Complete Me - half price sale for $29.99 here).

Instead of opting for a crazy 80s perm, I decided to create a modern interpretation of big hair. I kept the natural curl in my hair and added lots of volume and texture by blow drying my hair upside down, back combing, and fixing with Tigi Bed Head Candy Fixation Sugar Shock Bodifying Sugar Spray (£10), which not only smells amazing, but also gives great hold without making the hair feel crispy and dry.

We had a fabulous night of skating and dancing and somehow I managed to stay upright throughout... though the same can't be said for my friends! Although we were celebrating a twenty-something birthday we had so much fun pretending to be teenagers in the 80s!

Are you a fan of the 80's? What's your favourite fancy dress? xxx

Work It Out: Fit and Flare

Taking advantage of the 20% off offer at Dottie P's on VFNO I popped in to pick up a couple of dresses from one of my recently discovered brands - Closet. I absolutely adore the deep, crisp purple shade of this dress and the cute fit and flare style. A more wearable (in the length) and ladylike version of the skater dresses that have been replicated by a number of brands in a rainbow of colours.

 Dress: Dorothy Perkins (£42), Patent Belt: Ted Baker, Patterned Tights: M&S, Boots: DP

As much as I like the colour and cut of this dress the fit wasn't as I had hoped. The waist sits much higher than I would like, which makes the little pocket flaps stick out, rather than fall flat on the hips. This does look a little unflattering as it makes you appear wider rather than creating a 'cola bottle' silhouette.. you win some, you lose some. So to create a better shape (and make it more work friendly) I paired this dress with a fitted, single button black jacket from Zara to cinch in the waist.

During the day I paired this outfit with patent and suede heels from DP. These are high, but comfy due to the t-bar strap, and at only £35 (here) they make a great bargain ;).

This is a fun outfit to take you from day to night - happy Friday my lovelies!!

Are you wearing flared dresses this season? What colours are you adding to your winter wardrobe? Have you tried Dorothy Perkins' Closet range? Any pieces you would recommend? xxx

FOTD

Today I wanted to play around with my makeup. Since I have been obsessed with warm purples and plums lately, I thought I would do a more dramatic version of the last look I posted. I love these colours for green eyes :).

Face: Dior Forever Foundation spf 25 (I love the way this really grabs on to your skin and stays all day)

Copious amounts of MUFE concealer (because it is that time we all know and loathe, when my skin just hates me!)

MAC MSF natural

NARS Laguna

MAC well dressed blush (my all time favourite)

 

Eyes: MAC painterly paint pot as base

MAC e/s dazzlelight on the lid, shale in the crease, with fig1 and beauty marked to deepen crease and on lower lashline, vapour as highlight

MAC blacktrack fluidline

Lancome Hypnose mascara 

(If anyone has tried the new one please let me know what you think).

Lips:

ArtDeco lip primer (love this and review coming soon)

L'Oreal Contour parfait lipliner in rose vintage 668

MAC Creme cup l/s

What do you guys think? Is this too dramatic for the day, or do you love mixing it up with smokey eyes every now and again?

xxx

Matte nails- Nubar

When I first heard that this season brings with it a trend for matte nails I was excited. After all, it is something fun and new to try, and a great excuse to buy more polishes. I was therefore happy to be given the opportunity to try out the new Modern Matte collection from a brand I had not previously heard of- NUBAR.

These polishes are described as eco friendly because they are free from formaldehyde, phthalates and toluene as well as being carcinogen free, suitable for vegetarians or vegans (not quite sure what they mean by this), and not being tested on animals (yay!).

I received one of their four polishes in the shade Vital, a beautiful deep purple, somewhat similar to one of my all time favourites OPI's plugged in plum.

This polish is very richly pigmented and is opaque after just one coat, though I found that two coats gave it a much deeper colour. It was also a little streaky at first, but with two coats it seemed to even out. The best thing about it was the drying time. It was dry to the touch within a matter of seconds and set in a couple of minutes, which is great for me as I am always doing my nails in a rush. Also, even though the finish is matte it did not look dull as it has tiny flecks of shimmer to give it dimension.

 

Sounds great right? However, one of the most important things for me in a nail polish is longevity, and this one unfortunately did not live up to its promise of a 'chip resistant formula'. After application in the afternoon it started chipping within a few hours, and by the time I had finished preparing dinner  some of my nails had barely half the nail polish left on. I am glad they say this polish is suitable for vegetarians as some of it probably ended up being a 'special' ingredient in my Thai green curry yesterday.

Overall, I would say that for £8 this did not quite live up to my expectations. I loved the super fast drying time, the colour and the unusual matte finish, but it just chipped far too quickly. However, I am determined to make it work so I shall try to invest in a good matte topcoat to improve its lasting power and shall report to you all.

The Modern Matte collection and other nubar nail polishes are available at www.beautyshed.co.uk.

Do you guys have any recommendations for a good matte topcoat? What do you think of matte nails, is it just a passing trend?

New YouTube series: Best colours for your eyes- GREEN eyes

Anyone can wear these colours, but I think they just make green eyes look extra vibrant :).

Summer Smokey Blue and Purple- Dress Inspired

I was inspired by this dress to create a fun summer smokey eye look using predominantly BarryM dazzledusts :).



Products used:
UDPP
NYX jumbo pencil- lavender
BarryM dazzledusts- V.I.P., No 34, No98,
MAC sculpt and shape- bone beige/ emphasize
NYX jumbo pencil- baby blue
Barry M dazzledust No 20
MUFE No.100 double ended cream liner
Urban Decay Electric 24/7 liner
L'ancome black liner design
Covergirl lashblast mascara
Teehee.. Maxie was being tortured by my camera flash... he looks so eeeeeeviiiilll!!

Hope you are all enjoying these beautiful summer days :)
xxx

Friday night purple

This is what I wore on Friday night for my friend's birthday party.
For my hair I used the babyliss conical wand.I had to order one off ebay after watching lollipop26's video!! I made the curls a little tighter as I knew it would be a loooong night and I did not want them to drop out too quickly. A ton of hair spray ensured that they were still in pretty good shape when I went to a housewarming party on Saturday, so I'm pretty impressed :).I used:
Maybelline dream satin liquid foundation (review coming up, but I love this so far!!),
MUFE lift concealer
MSF natural in medium
Nars laguna bronzer
Nars angelika blush
MAC moon river grand duo as highlight

UDPP
MAC violet pigment, scene, print, carbon, vellum and vapour e/s.
MAC blacktrack fluidline
L'Oreal voluminous mascara

BarryM 101
Trifle lipglass

Lilac Awakening

A fun spring look using shimmery green and purple :)