A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I’ve got another classic polish on the blog today, can you tell I’m starting to make some headway through my stash of untrieds?  I’ve got a long way to go but it’s been fun reminding myself of all those impulse purchases that got bought… moved from place to place before being lost and relegated to the back of the drawer!

Essie’s Glamour Purse is from their Fall 2011 collection, and while some may call it a taupe… I’ll stick to my usual description of greige.  I tend to favour these cool-toned greiges over their warm-toned taupe counterparts, they simply suit my skintone better.  Essie is probably one of the least-represented brands in my collection, I used to hate the stick-thin brushes that took an age to cover the nail bed – thankfully these were changed to a wider style sometime last year but I’m yet to have a love-affair with the brand.

The formula was ok, a little thin perhaps, and it needed three coats to fully eliminate some streakiness.  It dries to a beautiful finish… reminds me of a milky hot chocolate.  And when has that ever been a bad thing?

Essie Glamour Purse is priced at £7.82 (in the sale) and available to buy online at beautybay.com

Sadly not my town, or my country but Essie Weingarten, she of polish conoisseur’s Essie fame has just opened the brand’s first nail salon at hair salon Samuel Shriqui in New York.

Purdy ain’t it?  The couches are even dyed in shades that match the polishes!  The salon carries a staggering 250 shades, which may well sound like a dream come true for some.  The indecisiveness would actually kill me (if the nail techs didn’t kill me first).

In my town, the only place to be seen getting your nails did is McDonalds, while your mate tenderly feeds you your McChicken Sandwich to prevent smudges, at least… that’s how it appeared to be going down last weekend in So’ton town centre.  Who says us Brits aren’t a classy lot?

If you’re lucky enough to find yourself pounding the streets of the Upper East side, you can find the new Essie flagship salon at Samuel Shriqui, 35 East 65th Street, N ew York.  Manicure prices start from a very reasonable $32 (£20).

Essie Armed & Ready is from the Spring Go Overboard collection and one that I picked up owing to it’s beautiful golden shimmer as perfectly demonstrated by The PolishAholic in her great swatches.  Can I get the golden shimmer to show up?  Can I bollocks.  I’m putting it down to the fact that she lives in Orange County, CA and I’m currently staying in Shitsville, NBA (Newcastle Brown Ale).

Despite the lack of golden glitz, Essie’s Armed & Ready is still a very nice army green, a dirgy khaki if you will.  It also applies in a single coat if you get the brush fill right, you definitely don’t need more than two coats before whacking on your quick-dry topper.

I wish I could give you some beautiful shimmer shots, but in lieu of those…. have a look at just what I have to put up with while I’m trying to blog – it’s a wonder I actually get any bloody posts written…

I’m heading home today (after my fortnight at the in-laws), have had a lovely time but it’ll be nice to get back into my normal routine!  Hope all my lovely UK/Commonwealth peeps enjoy the Jubilee Weekend! x

Essie Limited Addiction came out a couple of years ago and I picked it up alongside some of it’s partner releases, Sew Psyched and Merino Cool, you remember that collection?  Lush wasn’t it?

I don’t own very many Essie polishes, and I don’t really like this one.  As a red, it just misses for me.  It’s darker-toned with a not-entirely-creme finish.  You may be able to tell that despite the three coats shown in the photo above, the overall look isn’t quite uniform?  It’s a little sheerer and more jelly-ish in some places and whenever I look down at my fingers, it just looks a little… untidy.

If you’re looking for a more work-appropriate red that isn’t all shouty and screamy though, this may well be the one for you.

Essie Limited Addiction is priced at £8.50 from BeautyBay.com

Ok, so these aren’t necessarily ‘moody’ but I didn’t know how to describe them.  I love blue polishes and wanted to do a comparison post showing some of the blues in my collection that are a little different to the norm.  A little greyer… a little more… stroppy.

Some of you were also keen for me to elaborate on potential dupes for Butter London’s new Lady Muck polish.  I’m afraid I came up empty handed on that score!

1. Essie – Sag Harbor
2. Eyeko – Rain
3. Butter London – Lady Muck
4. Butter London – Victoriana
5. Barielle – June Bug

A close up so that you can see the finish of each polish.  You can see that the HTF Essie Sag Harbor and Eyeko Rain are definitely quite close in appearance.

Yesterday I was also asked about the differences between BL Lady Muck and Victoriana.  Hopefully you can see that they’re worlds apart.  Barielle June Bug?  Well that’s just a fun odd ball!  Incidentally, I wonder what’s happened to Barielle’s Spring/Summer collection… anyone know if there is one?

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What are your favourite ‘odd’ blues to wear?

I’m so late with this, I mean who cares now right?  We’re all onto the Christmas releases!

I care though!  I cracked this bottle open for my recent jolly up to London and although it didn’t turn as many heads as Essie’s Sew Psyched did… I felt all sophisticated a grown up in this shade!

Please excuse the photo, have finally managed to borrow a point & shoot that doesn’t hate my computer… but, it’s not fabulously colour-accurate.  In real life, Merino Cool is a touch more mauve.

3 coater and a touch slow drying.  I had a duvet imprint on my thumb all weekend despite a quick dry top coat and reasonable length of time before throwing myself in my pit after painting!

This photo has also prompted a nail chop!  Whilst I do love my nails being long… the above is a touch too long for practicality!  The number of times I’ve caught them on something and literally HELD MY BREATH as I glance down expecting to see that I’ve torn one right down to the cuticle… that’s when I know that they’re just not manageable anymore!

Anyway… I haven’t forgotten that I promised a comparison of my mauvey toned greige shades.  I will do one v. soon, I’ve just had another camera knock-back this morning from a company that I wouldn’t recommend to my worst enemy (SimplyElectronics).

Thanks for sticking with me, I can see why proper ‘togs have camera backups now!  Alas, for me… I’m just a dabbler and Mr. L would infact kill me if I even contemplated the word ‘backup’ when talking about cameras.

Crappy Monday everyone! xx

I bought two polishes from the new Autumn/Fall Essie collection.  Sew Psyched and Merino Cool.  Merino Cool was a bit of a no-brainer for my dusty mauve/grey loving fingers… but Sew Psyched took a little leap of faith.

I was hoping that the grey tones in this would soften the green to something special.

And they do!

A two coater with a sprinkling of silver shimmer.  The shimmer is barely noticeable… but does lift the colour a little in direct sunlight.  I personally don’t think it benefits much from it’s inclusion and quite like my dusty colours to look flat anyway.

No problems with application and normal wear time make this a hit for me.

In UK mainstream outlets, Essie Sew Psyched is priced at around £8.50 and available online from BeautyBay

The other evening, after painting my nails in Essie’s Wrapped im Rubies… it ddn’t take me long to decide that it was a dull, dull colour…

…but I’ve changed my mind.  It’s not dull, it’s just not Summery.

Application was a teeny bit awkward, it seemed to remain sheer in certain places on the nail and I experienced a tiny bit of bubbling on my thumb.  To be fair though, I was in more of a hurry than usual… so it could well be down to my application skills (or lack of them on this occassion).

I’m on my 2nd full day of wear and tip wear is barely noticeable.  I did dent one nail despite my quick dry top coat, so it seems to be a slow dryer… deffo crack open the seche or alternative.  Essie Wrapped in Rubies is a beautiful bronzed-red with flecks of gold from the Winter 2007 collection… perfect for Autumn.

Shame it’s May!

I broke ’em while bowling at the Sleek MakeUP do last week *sniff*

Still, every cloud and all that… it gave me the opportunity to break out a nice nude in an attempt to elongate my fingers.

Essie’s Jazz is just that.  A great nude!  It’s slightly ‘dirty’ toned which I love!  It just gives it an edge.

Formula was fabulous… 2 coats gave plently of coverage and the quick-dry glossy finish meant that I didn’t need to top coat it at all.  A super mani for lazy sods like me!

Do you prefer nude polishes on long or short nails?  I can never decide which looks best!

A cool toned, slightly dirty lavender bursting with iridescence but no sparkles.

Opaque on 2 coats, but needs 3 for a really good finish.  I like it, but I don’t love it.

The formula is good and fairly thin.  It’s easy to apply with no streaking or dragging.  Longevity is fine too with minimal tip wear and thanks to the paler shade you barely notice it anyway.

I think I’d like it to be a little grungier, a little dirtier – it’s a touch princessy for me!

…stays in Lon… usually comes home with me in a lovely iconic yellow paper bag 😉

So, I was up in London on Saturday for the wonderful Aussie Project Angel event (more details to come later..) and saw lots of lovely things to add to my stash.

Ok, well I didn’t get *all* these bits in London.. the Stila stuff I ordered a couple of weeks ago and turned up today so thought I’d throw them in.

I went on a bit of a lipstick buying rampage – and had to be physically restrained from buying another Shu one that I had my eye on.

On the left, the unmistakable Lingerie Pink… and on the right, the lovely Shu Rouge Unlimited BG907.

I had no intentions of buying Lingerie Pink until I tried it on out of pure curiousity at the counter.  Instant love.

I first saw the Shu one when I went to the Maybelline Event last month and have lusted after it ever since.

How pretty?! – L-R: Pound Cake, Strawberry Sorbet, Baby Cakes

Kryolan Supra Color Black Greasepaint recommended to me by LondonMUGirl.  First impressions… wonderful to blend eyeshadow over compared to UDPP, but it starts creasing after 3hrs 🙁

L-R: MAC Woodwinked (been on my wishlist a LONG time), Kryolan Matte Highlight (got this by accident after SA put the wrong eyeshadow in my bag… grrr.)

Well, that concludes my first proper “haul” post… hope it wasn’t too dull.  I enjoy reading about everyone else’s newest acquisitions, but everyone is different so apologies if this was a boring read – move along, I’m done now!

Oh, and the Stila can wait ’till the rest of my order turns up 🙂