A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Let’s have some festive nail candy!

China Glaze Love Marilyn from the Eye Candy 3-D Glitters Collection is a bonafide contender to be my Christmas Day nail polish.  Does anyone else meticulously plan their Christmas Day manicures?  It’s a little bit of a Christmas Eve tradition of mine to super-bling it up in honour of the big day!

I’m thinking I might wear it as a french tip though over a red cream (something like Butter London Come To Bed Red).

The above photo shows 3 coats for a full coverage over a bare nail.  Removal is a total pig and I did get a fair bit of chipping from this one despite a top coat.  But you know, it’s easier to forgive these things when it’s OMGGLITTERREDCHRISTMASPOLISH.

I bought this on eBay from the U.S. but if you wanna buy on these shores, you can nab it from www.nailpolishdirect.co.uk priced at £5.95

Do you have your Christmas Day mani sorted out?

Regardless of what your birth certificate says, Christmas is the one time of year we can wear an unadulterated amount of glitter on our nails and not feel even slightly embarrassed of ourselves.

Avon Nailwear Pro in Violetta Sparkle is a festively-themed combination of purple and gold – it also conveys flashes of red when under the right lighting – but it’s mostly about the gold.

Application was fine and the above shows three coats.  I found the brush a touch long and thick but what you sacrifice in precision, you make up for in speed of application.  It also dried quickly despite the three coats.  It’s a hair grainy thanks to the glitter but a single coat of topper smoothes that out nicely and gives a needed boost to the shine that really brings out the sparkle within.

I’ve only had this on for two days, but so far no chips and considering the vampy colour, only very minimal tip wear (the above photo was taken just now).

Currently priced at only £3.00 on the Avon website, it’s making me want to explore the other sparkly shades in the Nailwear Pro Sparkle & Shine lineup!

* press sample

Nubar, your duochromes make my world a prettier place.  Nubar Wildlife is beautifully named as it twinkles between an earthy brown and foresty green depending on which way the light catches it.

The formula builds nicely after the first coat and the above photo shows that two coats were needed for an opaque finish, really impressive stuff.  I did get a teeny chip on my thumbnail after a day, which is unusual for me – but when a polish is as pretty as this one, you can forgive it nearly anything.

You can keep your Models Own Beetle(notveryjuicy)Juice polishes, these Nubars are still where it’s at.

Buy Nubar Wildlife online at BeautyBay.com, priced at a bargainous £5.50

How late am I on this trend?  I’m like your Gran when she discovered the button for the interwebz.

OK, well I’m not really late… but I’ve only just got around to photographing a mani with the Boots 17 Magnetized Nail Polishes.  I’ve decided that my favourite way to wear them is with a matte top coat which decreases their lasting power by about five years… but I dunno, they just suit the whole matte finish thing quite well.

I get some real inconsistencies with these magnetic polishes, one hand will often come out perfect… or even just three fingers in a row.  Then I completely get a dud one, despite not doing anything different.  Does anyone else experience that?  So frustrating!

Also… as an aside, I’ve been re-organizing my nail polish collection, which, let me tell you, is far less fun than it sounds.  I originally had them arranged by colour but I’ve changed it to brand and it’s made me realise that Essie is a very under-represented brand in my stash.  Better get myself in check and start nail-blog hopping to find some gems to lust after!

Boots 17 Magnetized Nail Polish in Grey is priced at £5.99 and available online or instore at Boots.

Love the name of this cheeky little number!  Butter London’s Frilly Knickers is a definite contender for a super-cool Christmas polish.  It’s a low maintenance sparkler with more bling than your Christmas lights.

Please excuse my yellow nails (yuk).  Over bare nails, it doesn’t look that incredible, although it’s still a pretty touch for those that prefer a sheer sparkle.  However…

Layer a single coat over a black or dark base and you’re cooking on turbo-powered gas!  A multi-hued, multi-faceted gem of a polish that magically saves shitty manicures with a single stroke.

I heart my Frilly Knickers.

Butter London Frilly Knickers is priced at £11.95 and available online from Powder Rooms.

You can’t polish a turd but you can roll it in glitter…

Ta-da!!

Well, it’s not exactly subtle is it?  A warm brown base colour with a whole heap of chunky holo glitter embedded like sparkly shrapnel.  It needs a top coat to get rid of the grittiness and three overall coats to achieve full opacity.

I like it, but not as much as I thought I was going to.  Apologies for the no natural daylight photo – colour is accurate but the holo is obviously looking a little underwhelming.  You need proper sun for that kind of bling and we’re just not getting any at the moment.

What do you think?

China Glaze Mahoganie is priced at £7.99 and available online from RadiantBabe-Beauty.

I’m usually fairly decisive about nail polish but I really can’t make up my mind whether or not I love or loathe this one from Leighton Denny’s Autumn/Winter Atmospheric collection.

Astronaughty is beautiful.  Let’s get that out of the way first… I’m not denying that it holds that special something to elevate it above the ordinary.  It’s described as an intense plum with sizzling red shimmer – and I have to say that I don’t ‘get’ that.  To my eye, it’s more complicated.

Firstly, it’s not intense.  The above shows three fairly thick coats and although not instantly apparent in the photo… there’s a whisper of sheerness that will remain for at least another coat.  Not that there’s anything wrong with this, but it gives a more smokey effect than the wham, bam intensity you’d expect from the description.

The red shimmer is also quite copper-y red which leans a touch yellow on my already yellowed nails — something that makes this polish really intriguing but ultimately not massively flattering on my nails.

I’ve experienced a bit of tip wear with this one but no chipping.  Ngggh, I just don’t know about this one!

Leighton Denny Astronaughty is available to buy online priced at £11.00

* press sample

No, my nails aren’t this long anymore – this was back in the day when I hadn’t abused them to within a millimetre of their poor, peeling lives.  Although looking at that length now, I think I’ve gone off it a bit… funny how our tastes change constantly isn’t it?

My tastes haven’t changed for Butter London’s beautiful Artful Dodger though.  When I was a little girl, I distinctly remember wanting to be the Artful Dodger… it’s not that I had a penchant for petty theft, I just thought it was a cool name.  Still do.

Artful Dodger is a super-pretty blue that feels a little different to my other squillion blues in my blue drawer.  Yes, I have a blue drawer.  What of it?  It manages to feel light, airy, a little frosty but somehow calming and mediterranean at the same time.  Plus, the beautiful BL cream formula is a dream to apply, something that of course, always helps.

Butter London Artful Dodger is priced at £11.95 and available to buy online at PowderRooms.

Another from Leighton’s Autumn collection is Meteor Match, possibly the most intriguing in the bottle but how does it translate onto the nails?

Meteor Match is an unusual silver-ed, icy blue with a hint of both purple and green.  Not quite strong enough to be described as a pure duochrome, though the tendencies are definitely clear to see.  As if those elements weren’t enough to be getting on with, Meteor Match also contains a pretty scattering of silver glitter that compliments the icy blue tones beautifully.

A little on the sheer side, I needed four coats (some fingers were ok with three) to achieve the opacity that you see above.  The formula was on the watery side, though not difficult to work with… just reminiscent of other pale duochromes that lean similarly sheer.

I’m not 100% sure how I ultimately feel about Meteor Match.  I think I’d class it as a “nearly awesome” shade.  For me, I’d love that purple duochrome to have been a hair more apparent on the nail and the formula, a little more opaque.  Either way, it’s still a very pretty, if non-commital shade and mega-props for being something a little different.

Leighton Denny Meteor Match is available to buy online priced at £11.00

* press sample

It’s undoubtedly their duochromes that set Nubar apart from the competition and I’ve got a very pretty one to show you today.  Indigo Illusion is a liac/blue/green/grey infusion of colour that dances on the nails depending on the amount of light hitting it and from what angle it strikes.

Three smooth coats will ensure a fully opaque finish from a brand that is fast becoming one of my favourites.  No top coat in the above image either.

Nubar Indigo Illusion is available to buy online from BeautyBay.com and is priced at £5.50 with free delivery.

If you invented your own duochrome polish, which colours would you include?

The third polish in my mini Zoya haul was Neeka from the Fall 2011 Smoke and Mirrors collection.

A pretty purple/grape polish with gold sparkle, this wasn’t as dusty as I hoped.  Not that there’s anything wrong with the base colour but I expected something a little greyer from Zoya’s description of the shade.  Never mind, I’m not adverse to any kind of purple on my nails!

The formula of this was very similar to Yara and I achieved excellent coverage with two coats.

Zoya Neeka is available to buy online from Beauty4Nails-Body priced at £7.99

Let’s kick off the week with another nail polish swatch, again from Leighton Denny‘s new Atmospheric Collection.  Your Planet or Mine? is a beetle’s wing duochrome that displays mostly teal with flashes of vivid purple around the edges.  It scores extra points for providing such good coverage after two coats.

Duochromes are notoriously sheer and after a single coat, I thought this one was heading in the same direction.  Thankfully, the second topping pulled it all together and I was done.

If you love this kind of colour-shifting gorgeousness, you might also want to check out: Ciate Starlet and SpaRitual Health, Wealth and Happiness – both of which, provide similar effects but with enough differences between all three to warrant purchases.  Enabler? Moi?

Leighton Denny’s Atmospheric Collection is available to buy online priced at £11.00