A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Originally, I only wanted Diva of Geneva.. but I kept seeing tantalising swatches of Glitzerland that made me think what a wonderful Christmas polish this would be… and that just perhaps, it wouldn’t be too warm toned for my skin.

I was right!

The formula is good, not too thick nor too thin and 2 coats are fine for a quick polish.  I did three for a perfect finish.

Super sparkly, Glitzerland is a proper ‘hey look at my nails’ shade.  I kept admiring and angling them against the light to view the individual sparkles that combine to create a lovely foiled finish.

Cool-toned ladies… this is a gold you can wear.  Very pale and as subtle as gold can be!

Love.

It’s the last one!  That’s it!  You’ve seen all 6 of the new Barielle Style in Argyle polishes from the Autumn/Winter collection that I was sent… Cowl of the Wild is probably the most on trend shade from the collection.

A ‘propah’ greige/mushroom/taupe blah blah thingamibob.  Am I getting bored of these yet?  Not on your life… though I do think I’m starting to accumulate a couple too many.  I prefer these mid-toned mushroom shades to the darker YDKJ ones.

I think the stand out delight from this new Barielle collection is just how truly creamy they look on the nails… perhaps it’s the warm chocolatey shades, or maybe it’s just the formula, but each is a delight to look at in that aspect.

I’m not so keen on the fact that each shade needed 3 coats for a good finish.  None of the shades are particularly pale… I would have prefered them to be 2-coaters… am I fussy?  Only a little.

The penultimate shade from the Barielle A/W Style in Argyle collection, and I have to say… it’s my favourite!

And I don’t really know why!  I generally REALLY dislike ‘wine’ type shades…. but this… it’s just so flattering on a cool skintone and totally screams Autumn to me.  Lovely.
I’m getting tired of saying this.. but once again, 3 coats for a fully opaque finish.  For a range of such dark colours… I would have prefered to be done in two coats with most of them… but at least the formula throughout is consistent, glossy and smooth.

This is the fifth in the series of six that I was sent for review consideration.

The Style in Argyle collection is available to purchase online from the Barielle website priced at £8 each.  Though currently, the Spring/Summer and Autumn collections are available on a “buy one get one free” basis, rendering them a bargainous £4 per polish.

Continuing with the Barielle A/W Style in Argyle collection, we’re just over halfway through and can you guess what today’s shade variation is?

Can you?

That’s right!  Brown!

Ohhhh how I long for a green.  Not that this isn’t a rather lovely brown…. look how glossy it is!  This is with a top coat, but that never guarantess super-gloss like this…. the polish underneath has to want to play ball to get this almost glass-like finish.

Barielle’s Unraveled Rust is described as a ‘burnt rust creme”…. though it’s not really all that rusty in my opinion.  More of a vampy chocolate.  Three coats again are needed to achieve that perfect finish.

Not my colour… too clashy and obnoxious against my skintone… but on the right person, this could be a real conversation starter (in a good way!)

Barielle’s Aura Angora is an opaque, creamy mustard.  It’s more wearable than I thought it would be, though I think it would suit shorter fingernails better.

Formula throughout the collection is consistent, three coats needed to achieve that perfect finish but all provide a high gloss shine.

Barielle’s Tight Knit is described as “a purple brown crème” and is one of my favourites from the collection.  It’s one of the few that particularly flatters a cooler skintone though still encapsulates the warmth and cosiness that this set delivers.

3 coats are shown above and I had no issues with application.  The cremes from the Style in Argyle collection are all glossy in their finish and don’t require a top coat to achieve this.

Barielle’s Cashmere or Loose Me is described as a “Soft brown with copper pearl” and it’s the only shade from the new Style in Argyle collection that gave me application issues.

You can see the dragging near the cuticles?  This is with 3 coats… I’m not happy about that, though to be fair, it was less noticeable in real life than it is in the picture.  What I do love is the ‘copper pearl’ – it gives an added dimension, something that I’ve come to expect from Barielle’s polishes.

The copper pearl isn’t visible in the above photo (though it is on the nail), so I’ve taken a photo of the bottle which shows the effect well.

This is the first in the series of six that I was sent for review consideration.

The Style in Argyle collection is available to purchase online from the Barielle website priced at £8 each.  Though currently, the Spring/Summer and Autumn collections are available on a “buy one get one free” basis, rendering them a bargainous £4 per polish.

Be still my beating heart.

It’s perfect.

To celebrate ELLE’s 25th anniversary, the magazine has collaborated with Mavala to bring us a unique Limited Edition nail shade and I’ve been sent a sample to show you.

I die…. I really can’t overestimate just HOW much I love this colour.  Grey meets Purple (Grurple!) in the perfect spot under the raincloud and they do a little dance as the sun goes down.

3 coats to achieve the above finish, although 2 will do for an opaque result.  The third coat covered over a couple of drag marks that developed at the base of the nail.  The finish is glossy and creamy… add a shiny top coat and you’ve got a beautiful glass-like cream that looks perfectly smooth (even on my slightly ridged thumbnail).

Tip wear sets in a little too quickly for my liking, but you know that I’m probably going to forgive it everything because of the shade.

Mavala’s ELLE (£3.95) launches today (1st September 2010) and is exclusive to John Lewis stores.

I keep reading China Glaze Ingrid being described as a taupe or a greige.  I’m not pedantic over shade names… hell, I’m always getting corrected for describing them a bit squiffy, but Ingrid looks like an out and out brown to me.  Brown with gold micro-glitter.

It’s stunning, but the gold glimmer warms it up a bit too much for my skintone.  You can’t see the gold very well on my nails thanks to the overcast skies, but it’s clearly visible in the bottle.

I found Ingrid to be quite thin and three coats were needed to reach the above finish.  It’s a really lovely twist on the whole brown/greige/taupe (I’m so tempted to add ‘shitfingers’ – your fault Karleigh) and may be a great choice for those of you who find the trend leaves their skintone looking a bit flat.

Have you tried Ingrid yet?

From the Autumn/Winter 2010 Vintage Vixen collection, Bogie (named for Humphrey Bogart) is a must have.  No really, go and buy it NAO!

I don’t usually like frosts, but this is metallic enough to bring it up to date and stop it from looking like you’ve raided your Mum’s nail polish box.

It reminds me a little of my Dior Silver Purple from last Christmas… though is a bit less gun-metally (metally, totally a word) and more purple.

I’ve already worn this twice in a row and die-hard nail fans will understand that that’s QUITE the accolade.

A very, very pretty polish for Autumn/Winter.

I buy 80% of my polishes from BeautyZone2007 on eBay who I’ve had a faultless experience with so far.

This one goes out to Charlie from LadyoftheLane.

Eyeko Chi Chi is a rosy pink which leans slightly toward gold.  The glitter particles are chunky and suspended in a sheer pink base.  3 coats to achieve the opacity shown above though you could also layer this over a pink creme to achieve the same effect in less glitter coats.  It’s girlie, but the rosiness (rather than pink) stops it from being too juvenile.

I must be into a bit of S&M with these 3 coats, my eyes are watering at the thought of the removal already (where’s my tin foil).

You’ll need a top coat to even out the rough finish from the glitter.  I did one layer and it’s still rough (though not scratchy) to the touch.  It reminds me a little of Butter London’s Rosie Lee although I don’t think the glitter is quite so dense or the finish so foiled.

Eyeko Chi Chi is priced at £3.50 from the Eyeko website who offer worldwide delivery.

When I was in H&M last week, my attention was diverted (as always) by the polishes on display.  I already own Goddess on Stage (a TDF purple) and just looking at the bottle, I could tell this was gonna be a knockout.

I wasn’t wrong!

Envy Me is a beautiful, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL shimmering emerald green.  It practically dances on my nails.

Opaque in one coat, it needs two for a flawless finish – the formula was not that far off being perfect.  All for £2.99 – is that even legal?

My photo is pants, I need to find a window which doesn’t have so many smaller panes of glass in it… the reflection really screws with the overall look.  But anyway…

If you haven’t tried the H&M polishes yet, why not?

I also picked up Spending Cash with Carl which looks like a royal blue version of this and Grey Sky which looks like a shimmery putty grey.

Do you have any H&M favs?