A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

If you wanted to target a specific segment of the UK demographic on a Saturday afternoon… say, fashion and beauty-conscious ladies in their twenties, where would be a really bloody obvious place to look?

In fact, when I think about it, I’m surprised it hasn’t been done before…

What hasn’t been done before?

Why, the launch of affordable beauty studios in Primark, of course!

Love Beauty Nail & Brow Studio by Monika Mohindra (sister of brow-guru Shavata Singh) will launch as a one-stop beauty destination in selected Primark stores nationwide.  The studios will offer treatments which include: eyebrow threading, lash extensions, mini-manicures, and creative nail art… all at what they like to call “New York Prices”.

You may remember my feelings on having any kind of beauty treatment done in public (I’m expecting Love Beauty to pop-up booth stylee somewhere between the vest-tops and the jeggings) but I can’t deny that for many, it’s a bloody brilliant idea.  Picture the scene… you’re trying on a billion dresses to find the perfect one for tonight’s party when you notice your eyebrows are looking kinda Bert (Sesame Street-esque), what you gonna do about it?  Call in at a billion salons on the way home, hoping that one has a walk-in appointment available?  Nuh uh.

Hell, if you’re very lucky, by the time you’ve been threaded at Love Beauty, the queue at the tills may even have subsided… it’s genius!

What do you think, will you be trying it?

Follow @lovebeautybymm on Twitter for more news on openings and some sneak peeks of the new studio set-up at Manchester, which launches on Monday!

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I bought the Kryolan Supra Color to use as a base for my mineral eyeshadows which tend to apply sheerly without a solid base not to mention the fall out if they don’t have something to sitck to!

It’s basically a black grease paint.  Upon opening, it has a clear layer of grease ontop which I ‘patted’ off with a piece of kitchen roll until I got to the black stuff below!

As you can see by the swatch above, it’s a very deep and pigmented black which applies smoothly.  You can use a brush or your finger to apply, I’ve been using a synthetic flat shadow brush to apply which seems to work really well.

I then pat my mineral/loose eyeshadows ontop of a thin layer of the Supra Color.  The shadows stick really well to the Supra Color with minimal fall out and even more impressively, I’ve discovered that I actually do have some blending ability!  It is SO much easier to blend out eyeshadows over this base than it is over UDPP.

Here’s the finished result:

Unfortunately (and as I mentioned yesterday) my eyeshadows start to crease after a mere 3 hours 🙁  UDPP holds them firm for at least 9 hours on me.

The picture below was taken after 3 hours wear:

What a shame huh?

JoBetterDays & GraceLondon both recommend I try it over a little UDPP.  I’m really hopeful that’ll make the difference because my GOD I don’t want to give up my new-found blending abilities!  Imagine… colour that lasts AND looks fantastic!

Not too much to ask… is it?

The wonderful Sophie @ MeLoveMakeup put me onto these, so I can’t claim any credit for the discovery.  Go check her out and give her some love… she’s had an operation this week and is feeling a little sore.

Primark have dabbled in cosmetics for as long as I’ve been shopping there, usually with very shoddy results (well, what can you expect).

I picked up 6 of these little pots for a grand total of £3.  You get two colours together in one bag and the bags are £1 each.

On closer inspection…

Swatched (without base):

Initially these looked promising, the colour payoff isn’t too shabby and the colours are blatantly rather pretty.  I’d question the longevity as the shadows had practically faded into non-existence with one swipe of a baby wipe.  I definitely wouldn’t bother applying these without a good sticky primer.

Have you tried these or any other ‘Primarni’ cosmetic offerings?  What do you think?

Yes it’s ridiculously cheap, yes it’s a lovely colour for pale cool toned skin.  No I won’t be applying it again unless I develop a masochistic streak.  5 coats…. 5 coats of colour (with another base coat inbetween), I kid you not and I can still see through my nail tip if I hold my hand to the light!

I have another Opia polish in Navy and that’s an absolute dream in terms of opacity (almost a perfectly smooth 1 coater)- so for a solitary £1 it’s always worth a punt if you see a colour you like.  Unfortunately, I can’t find any reference to the name of the shade of this polish.

Above image shot with the flash popped up.

Application was really easy due to the consistency being so thin and transparent.  If you like sheer polishes, I would totally recommend this.  If you don’t, steer well clear of this shade.