A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I went to one of those Christmas in July press days yesterday.  Plenty of well-dressed ladies, canapes and nonchalant expressions.

Being neither well-dressed nor seemingly able to contain my excitement when surrounded by makeup THAT’S NOT EVEN OUT YET!  I felt a little out of place.  I wasn’t even carrying a designer handbag.

I may also have let out a little uncontrolled squeal when I saw the OPI Holiday 2010 Burlesque Collection due out at the end of November.

‘Ave a look!

Rising Star – Lustrous glimmering gold.

Ali’s Big Break – Glowing Red Shimmer

The Show Must Go On – Deep Pink Shimmer

Teasey Does It! – Burgundy Shimmer

Drool! Check out the duochrome shimmery goodness of Teasey Does It! and The Show Must Go On.

Extra-Va-Vaganza – Orange Glitter

Glow Up Already! – Green Glitter

Simmer and Shimmer – Blue Glitter

Bring on the Bling – Golden Glitter

Glitter-ama!  These bear more than just a passing resemblance to the Alice in Wonderland glitters… I’m thinking OPI know a good thing when they see one.

Sparkle-iscious – Multi Coloured Glitter

Show it and Glow It – Purple/Fuchsia Glitter

Let Me Entertain You! – Fuchsia Glimmer

Take The Stage – Warm Orange Shimmer

How perfect are these for Christmas?

I KNOW it’s only August, and you’re a bit over the Xmas posts already.  But how could I not show you these?

I only wish I’d had the balls to swatch them all.  But I think that perhaps sitting cross-legged on the floor painting each nail a different spangly colour would have been a step too far.  Don’t think I wasn’t tempted though.

You’ll be able to purchase the collection from LookFantastic.com – I’ve already earmarked a couple!

Any of them calling your name?

I suspected it from the moment I twirled the bottle between my fingers…

…Stargazer #155 (£2) is a very nice match for the cult O.P.I shade I’m Not Really A Waitress (£9.95)

INRAW was the first OPI I bought back in the day and is probably the only bottle of polish I’m even close to finishing.

If I look *really* closely, I’d say that Stargazer #155 is the teeniest bit more cherry toned than INRAW, but there’s barely anything in it.

#155 is opaque in two coats and applies smoothly with a decent brush… not too thin and no straggly long bits.  Quick drying but affording just enough time to work the polish to the edges of the nail bed.  It benefits from a glossy top coat to bring out the sparkle within the polish.

And a comparison with the OPI…

I prefer the Stargazer.  I’ve always had an issue with tip wear with this particular OPI (see my review from last May) and the Stargazer is outperforming INRAW in this instance by a huge amount.  No tip wear at all until the 3rd day.

Did I find a good dupe?  I’m usually pretty crappy at dupe hunting, so I’m kinda chuffed with myself!  Simple things and all that…

It is love.

I was hugely excited to find OPI – Absolutely Alice in my latest parcel of goodies, although I can’t pretend I’d forgotten I’d ordered it… I have been pacing like an expectant father ever since handing over my Visa deets!

Absolutely Alice is amazing, a true blue and the sparkles? Oh my… the sparkles are breathtaking.  I couldn’t stop twirling the bottle in the light, watching the glitter dance and flash blue and silver.  Fantastic.

Photographed in daylight..

Photographed in artificial light.

Photography doesn’t really capture the sparkle that emanates from this polish, but the hue is true to life and you can see how great the coverage is from 3 coats.  The glitter is suspended in a sheer jelly base, so I’m pleasantly surprised at the opacity I was able to achieve.

Dear god, I’m not looking forward to removal.

Do you like it? I’m trying to stop myself from buying OPI – Mad as a Hatter, but  I know I’m gonna cave when I see you UK girls start swatching it…

Screw it, I’ve just ordered it.  Man I’m a good enabler!

EDIT: Rhamnousia reminded me, I forgot to say… This definitely needs a couple of coats of top coat to make it bearable to touch!  Gritty glitter!

EDIT EDIT(!): You can purchase this online in the UK from Lena White

EDIT EDIT EDIT(!!): How many edits can I get on a post?

Ok… shouldn’t really add this but before you think I’ve gone completely mad.  Let me explain something about focus.

You focus to achieve optimum sharpness within an image.  That is a given right?  If your focal plane is off, you will achieve blurriness, but a pleasant side effect of blurriness is a little something called ‘bokeh’.  Bokeh is the technical term for the out of focus areas in a photograph and a very pleasing aspect of Bokeh are the discs of light that appear at the source of any highlights in an image…. it could be true light sources or reflections that cause this kind of bokeh.

Are you with me?

See the discs?  Every reflect from the sparkle on my nails are causing those… so you can see that from tip to base it’s sparkle-rama *admires nails*

But yanowot?  I don’t feel like a child in this polish.  And we all know that I suffer ‘hand-hiding’ syndrome if I feel at all silly in a polish.  But this shade and sparkle makes me feel amazing.  High praise indeed, but I realised it was true this afternoon, before this edit.  I simply couldn’t shop showing off my fingers when I was in the supermarket.  I was rocking it!

I’ve just ordered OPI’s ‘Absolutely Alice’ from the upcoming Alice in Wonderland collection (already available in the US – I think us UK folks get it at the end of Jan).  I love my blues, and this glitter bomb of a shade caught my eye last month.

I was tempted by Mad as a Hatter aswell but I wanted to get my hands on some Orly shades so cooled my heels for now incase I’m like SO OVER glitter in a few weeks time.

I’ll put my hands up and say that on the whole, I’m kinda disappointed by this collection.  The Alice in Wonderland theme surely opened up an amazing prospect for some off the wall shades and this feels a little like an opportunity missed you know?  I mean.. 4 colours, and 2 of them are reds.

Any of these caught your eye?

Released as part of the Holiday Wishes 2009 collection (like SO last year sweetie!) I’m still rocking this one on my nails, clinging onto the last vestiges of Christmas before the total bleakness of pre-Spring sets in.  Wow, that was cheerful.

This is a beautiful bronzed shade flecked through with multi-coloured chunks of glitter of irregular sizes.

Application was Lipglossiping-friendly and it has so far lasted 6 days without a top coat.  Tip wear is moderate and it hasn’t chipped at all.  Removal? Don’t ask… I’m too scared to do it.  Perhaps I’ll just leave it on ’till next Christmas!

Did you buy any of the Holiday Wishes Collection shades? I really wanted Merry Midnight and Holiday Glow aswell but they were out of stock by the time I got round to buying 🙁

Yeah, it’s green… I don’t “do” green, but when I was getting my hair cut I saw the salon were offering two bottles for £10 and I didn’t want any more reds/pinks.

After 4 coats (yes, 4) I surveyed my new fungal fingers and sighed.  I don’t “do” green.  It was time for bed, so I resigned myself to the fact that I’d be wearing it the next day (of which I spent the majority hiding my nails).

It’s a very yellow green, like a muted chartreuse…it applies nicely and dries fairly quickly.  As I noted, it takes 4 coats to achieve opacity and dries with a glossy semi-sparkly finish.

The following evening I didn’t have time for a full mani, so in the hope of toning it down a little, I applied a coat of Nail Tek Foundation II to give it a matte finish.  The photo shows the mani after mattifying.

Nail Tek Foundation II works really well as a matte top coat, although I find that it definitely needs a squirt of quick-dry spray ontop as I had difficulty keeping it smudge free.

Do you wear greens?  What are your favourites? And do you say “ohpee” or O.P.I? (I’m sure I’ve asked that before)

A cheapie I picked up from the clearance stand at Sallys (anyone else make a beeline for that little stand?)

Moon Over Mumbai was released as part of the OPI Indian Collection and was one of the first ultra light greys on the market.

It’s a very pale cold grey with a slight shimmer.  I’d call it a pale pearl grey… very lovely!

It’s unfortunately (for me) rather sheer.  The above shows 5 coats and it’s still not fully opaque, although close enough.  Longevity is VERY good though… 5 days and counting with no top coat! (I’m so lazy)

Are you a fan of greys?

A lovely, lovely nude that’s a dream to apply.  I enjoy being able to get away with keeping nudes on my nails a bit longer, especially this one which only suffers minimal and even tip wear.

#

The perfect wine red for cool toned gals like me.  I always forget just how much I love this shade until I rediscover it in my little box of polishes.

A solid 2 coater, hardwearing and glossy with a lovely shimmer.

I have a slight problem with nail tip wear with this polish though, you might be able to make out on the tips of my ring and little finger in the above photo which was taken the morning after application.  I’m guilty of not wrapping my polish over the tips of my nails though, it always feels like such a sloppy thing to do.  Does it really aid longevity on the tips?

Anyone care to share their ‘classic’ faves?