A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Second in my highlighter series is the highly regarded NARS Albatross (£19.50).

Albatross looks an almost pure white in the pan (as the name would suggest!) But when swatched, gives the most beautiful pale gold sheen that flatters most skintones pale or dark.

My one observation would be that it’s quite easy to go overboard with this highlighter.  Instant disco ball.  I generally use a fan brush to pick up the powder before sweeping lightly over my cheekbones.  I also use this on my cupids bow, tip of my chin and on the brow bone.  It’s a beautifully versatile product that I whole heartedly recommend!

I’m in hospital today, finally having a little operation that I’ve waited 10 months for… I’m nervous!  Wish me luck!

To make me feel better, this is what I need when I come out (which will hopefully be this afternoon!  I did say it was a little operation!)

Some Hello Kitty plasters ($9) for sore bits…

Elemis Exotic Frangipani Monoi Moisture Melt (£29)

This has been on my radar for a couple of years… but when there’s bills to pay and small baby’s to feed… it always seems like an indulgence too far.  But if I’m gonna have new holes put in me, I reckon I’m allowed now.

Essie Sag Harbor Nail Polish (discontinued) from the North Forks collection.  It’s a greyed out pale blue… I think I’d either love it or hate it.  I’ll find out soon… it fell in my eBay basket last night *whistles innocently*

Mario Badescu Calma Mask (£15.50)

Packed full of skin-calming and nourishing ingredients, an ideal pampering present.

Shu Uemura Eye Shadow Beige 800 ME (£14.50) is another one that’s been on my “Should I/Shouldn’t I?” list for about 6 months.  Last time I was at the Shu store in Covent Garden I came *this* close to picking it up… until they found they were out of stock BOO!  I have no excuse now that Beauty Expert carry the Shu Uemura line – well, apart from the small issue that they DON’T HAVE THIS ONE!

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I am SO gonna milk this *rubs hands together*…

Way back in mid-March, I promised you chaps a whistlestop tour of my highlighter collection… and then I forgot to do it!  Well, after a bit of nagging, I’m back on the case!

So, here we go…

I love highlighters, I think that if used carefully they instantly add luminosity and freshness to a weary face.  They help you go from a daytime to a nightime look in an instant and are hugely versatile products that are happy to be dusted/blended over various bits of your face/body.

I have quite a few highlighters and I thought I’d share the ones that I own… swatches and close ups are always useful right?

So let’s get started with…

MAC MSF in Perfect Topping.

From the Sugarsweet collection, this now discontinued MSF can still be readily found on blog sales, discount online websites and ebay (though, be wary of fakes as always).

On my skintone, Perfect Topping is a shimmery warm golden peach/pink… it’s fairly pigmented so I tend to only use it across my cheekbones or a quick dusting over my collarbone.  It’s a bit sparkly to use liberally, but I love it regardless.

Stay tuned for NARS Albatross!

I haven’t got a side by side swatch comparison and I’m not claiming this dupe discovery as my own (a quick Google search threw this up) but it’s been said that Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Soft Rose is a colour dupe for Chanel’s Rouge Coco in Mademoiselle.

Is it?

It’s pretty darn close!

I’ve got a full lip swatch post coming soon(ish) of all the new Revlon Colorburst shades… I’ll try and get it live by the end of the week.  I don’t believe the Colorbursts are out in the UK yet… so cool your heels lovely ladies, they’re a-coming!

What d’ya think?  Close enough?

I’m chatting about the rise and fall of nail polish today!

If you give a stuff, come and check me out!

Hope you’re having a lovely Sunday x

I didn’t buy it… it was on my list, but I thought I’d better try it at the counter first.  The SA applied it on me and warned me that some of her more cool-toned ladies felt that the colour turns a bit orangey on them.  She wasn’t wrong.

Here it is after I got home 3 hours later… great long-lasting wear by the way:

Please excuse the expression… it’s like a cross between really smug and “eugh, I’ve just stepped in a dog turd but I better keep smiling anyway”.

I loved that Mademoiselle isn’t at all frosty or even glossy.  It’s just a beautiful, sophisticated creamy lipstick.

However, I was expecting a medium pink that leant slightly towards the neutral/brown.  This is much more brick-like on my complexion.

Not only that, but I found the formula pretty drying… something that I really hadn’t been expecting.  All the reviews I’ve read (and I’ve read a LOT) celebrate how moisturising they find the Chanel Rouge Coco formula.

Look at the state of my lips after 3 hours.

You can also see how corally the shade turned against my pinky/blue tones.

I would go back to try Camelia or Gardenia (which I think would be my best bets for a pink) but I think they’re both a bit frosty for me.

Sigh… I really wanted to love it badly.

If I said I didn’t like this polish very much… I’d be being kind.

I actually don’t usually dislike polishes, I can make most formulas work for me with a bit of adjustment in how I paint… either that or the colour is so lovely that it redeems itself once on my nails.

I’ve fallen out with this Eyeko Purple polish and no amount of chocolates or flowers is gonna smooth over the cracks in our relationship.  So what’s wrong with it?

It drags at the cuticles quite heavily… it’s painfully slow drying… it’s gloopy gloop city… it bubbled on the second coat and after all that, the colour is blah and easily dupable in a better formula.

Actually, this feels like Eyeko polishes of old… if I were you, I’d stick to the pastels.

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?

My dislike for “innovation” in beauty products is fairly well documented, so it’s nice to come across a product that is innovative in a proper science-y way (rather than a “stick a battery in it and make it buzz” kinda way).

Fake Bake have come up with what they’re calling a “Self Tan Revolution” and it involves something rather interesting…

Now, I did a “Home Economics” GCSE at school many, many years ago…  It taught me lots of valuable life lessons.  How to bake Cheese Scones & a great Spinach Gratin… how to avoid Scurvy and perhaps most importantly, I learnt about the importance of vitamins and what ‘orrible things might happen to my eyeballs if I were to become deficient.

One of those vitamins was a little fella called Vitamin D, also known as the “sunshine vitamin” because our bodies are able to produce significant quantities of it with the help of sun exposure.

Vitamin D helps our bodies absorb other minerals and nutrients such as calcium, obviously essential for healthy teeth and bones.  There have also been studies in recent years that suggest links between disorders such as depression and a lack of Vitamin D.

But what’s this got to do with self-tanning solutions?

Well, the bods at Fake Bake have incorporated Vitamin D into their tanning range of products and treatments, mimicking the body’s natural ability to create the vitamin through the skin.

I know that in theory, it’s no different to incorporating anti-aging or anti-cellulite ingredients into products, but it’s good to see something so obviously beneficial in a non-superficial way being introduced into a product that’s used by so many.

And I bet my Cheese Scones are better than yours.

Available until midnight tonight, Nails Inc. are offering a lucky dip.  5 polishes for £15, that works out at £3 a polish!

I’m very tempted, but a bit worried about getting a envelope full of ‘wine’ coloured polishes… I don’t like maroony, clarety shades.

Are you tempted?  The 4 year old in me loves lucky dips!

So, last week… or was it the week before?  I’m getting old… they’re all starting to blur.

Anyway… I hit up The Makeup Artist Boutique mid sale and treated myself to a couple of Yaby bits that I’d had my beady eye on.  I’ve heard lots of (mostly positive) things about the makeupartist-designed brand and wanted to check it out for myself.

Here’s what I bought.

for swatches and some quick first impressions… read on…

Read the rest of this entry »

…gloop, gloop, gloop.

After a while (not even that long in all honesty), the quick-drying saviour that is Seche Vite starts to lose it’s magic.  The formula thickens, goes stringy, straggly and gloopy.  Quite literally, it becomes unusable and you end up turning the air blue after it ruins the manicure you’ve just spent the last 40 minutes applying.

There is a solution, although it comes at the cost of having to buy another product.

Enter Seche Restore…

Seche Restore is a thinner designed to breathe life back into not only your bottle of Seche Vite, but other polishes that thicken over time.

Taking the dropper, pull some of the thinner into the chamber and simply drip about 6 drops into your bottle of Seche Vite.  How many drops of thinner you need to add will depend entirely on how gloopy your Seche Vite has gotten.  I needed to add quite a few… (more like 14/15 overall).

The thinner liquid will kinda sit on top of the Seche Vite, so you need to take the bottle and gently roll it between your fingers, encouraging the thinner to mix with evenly through the top coat.

And you’re done!  Check consistency until it’s as you remembered it.  If it still seems gloopy… add a bit more!

Now… the *other* trouble with Seche Vite…

Why is the brush so darn stumpy and what am I supposed to do when the level goes below it huh? huh?

I bought my bottle of Seche Restore on eBay and paid around £8 for it inc. postage.  I’d rather not have to… but the bottle will last me a hell of a long time and I’m sure I’ll put it to other good polish-restoring uses aswell… now where did I put those gloopy Ciates?