A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I suck.

I caved.

I totally caved on ASOS and picked up both Illamasqua Jo’Mina and Baptiste…

Illamasqua Jo’Mina is a vibrant lilac creme.

It doesn’t looks bad against my complexion, but in my opinion… would suit darker skintones better.  I found the formula easy to apply but prone to a little streaking.  It needed a third coat to even out patchy areas though it dried quickly and to a high gloss finish.

At £13, it’s an expensive polish (though I paid half that in the sale).  I can’t say I would have been delighted with it had I paid full price.  I need to reswatch, but I’m interested to directly compare it to my Barry M Berry Ice Cream… I think this is a little darker and more vibrant.

Do you have Jo’Mina? Love it?

It’s glittery, gritty and a whole load of bling.

I just dunno…

Applied over the top of a bog standard dark base, 1 coat… this stuff is pretty dense.  One thing that annoys me about glitters is their often uneven application.  Yano, 2 pieces of glitter at the nail tip 43843243290 at the base.  The good thing about this polish is that it gives you long enough to ‘push’ the pieces around and ‘place’ them before it dries.  The bad thing?  Well, that also means that it taes a little while longer than I’d like to dry.  I know, contrary right?

This mixture of gold and silver glitter a.k.a BB Sands comes from the Lancome Spring 2010 collection though it kinda screams Christmas to me.  I’d love to layer this over a cream/nude base to see if I get a different look from it… but removal was such a pain in the backside that I’m honestly not sure I can be arsed.

This photo does not do the polish justice.  It’s one of those that needs a good dose of direct sunlight to light up the sparkles contained within the shade until they simply glow.

A beautiful deep plummy red with more sparkles than you can shake a stick at.  Simple gorgeous.

Wear was around the 3 day mark before the inevitable tip wear began to make it all look a little tired.  Application was great, 2 solid coats to achieve a great finish.

What can I say?  It’s a little pricey at £12.50 for 5.5ml. I paid half that in the beauty sale in Harrods a couple of weeks ago.  It’s a wonderful shade for Autumn though and is still available online at HoF.

Yep, it looks different on the nail to how it looks in bottle.  I much prefer it on the nail too!

In reality, Barielle Belly Dance is cooler… more violet toned than it appears in the bottle, making it slightly more unusual than initial impressions suggest.

Application was good, a little thin but only 2 coats to achieve opacity.  There’s a hint of silver sparkle which gives it an extra-glossy looking finish.

I like this shade a lot and wear has been great… 3 days, no chips – a little tip wear which isn’t that noticeable because of the nudey shade.  A great everyday polish that has sophistication without being high maintenance.

My first Color Club polish!

Color Club are a cheapie US brand that don’t seem to be afraid to manufacture some truly fashion forward shades!  I picked Uptown Girl from the Spring 2010 collection ‘cos I’m a sucker for purples… and even more of a sucker for dusty purples!

The brush is neatly cut, but one of those older fashioned small round shaped ones that take 5748957894 strokes to cover your nail.  If I ruled the world… all nail brushes would be flat and wide.  Because of the brush it did mean that I had to be careful of streaking… 3 thin layers of polish ensured a smooth, even finish.

I’ll definitely be heading back to eBay to pick up some more Color Club shades, but there’s so many to choose from – I’m a little bit overwhelmed!

Do you have any CC favourites?

Eyeko Saucy polish, the other limited edition release alongside the new Rain polish.

Saucy is ONE HOT RED!

One of the thinnest formulas I’ve used in a long time, I was sure that it was gonna be a sheer streaky mess until I reached my third coat. I was wrong. Not only is it hot, but it’s a one-coater.

The above shows one coat.

This was gonna be a staple toenail colour for me, one coat means I only have to suck it in and stretch my self stupid for a single run through.

Thing is though, I said ‘was’. Saucy polish stains like a MoFo – and I’m not base coating my toenails.

Eyeko Saucy Polish is currently available as part of a set of three priced at £8.50

If you want to buy either Saucy polish or Rain polish individually, I’ve had confirmation that you will be able to do so from next week.

A new limited edition polish release from Eyeko…

Rain Polish is a rather delicate smoky blue/grey amalgamation.  It’s instantly clear that a lot of thought has been put into the colour selection by the addition of a subtle amount of shimmer that really lifts the shade and stops it falling into the familiar pale blue trap of looking flat and chalky.

Application was a touch tricky, the formula felt fine…. nicely balanced, but on application it dragged a bit unless I was super quick.  The best way I found to prevent this was by applying thicker coats than I would normally… which then has the knock on effect of taking longer to dry, so I probably wouldn’t wear this without the addition of a quick dry top coat.

It reminds me of Essie’s Sag Harbor from last year’s North Fork collection but with less shimmer.

Do you like it?

Looking on the Eyeko website, I’m only seeing it available as part of a set of 3 (priced at £8.50).  Hopefully they’ll make it available as an invidual shade ‘cos it’s a fairly unique one.

Last year, they were everywhere and they divided opinion.  Some loved ’em, some hated ’em.

What am I talking about?  Matte Nails of course!

17 Nails Xtras Matte Top Coat Polish 8ml (£3.99) from Boots is due to be released in September and I’ve got a sneaky peek for you!

Well… finally!  A really, thoroughly decent matte top coat with great availability and a price tag to match!

It may a little late to the mass market to be considered the height of fashion, but this budget matte top coat from 17 Cosmetics is gonna be a hugely popular seller in my humble opinion.

It applies a true matte finish, none of this satin semi-matte nonsense.  So far, I haven’t noticed it accentuating any ridges or imperfections in the polish application underneath and it dries fully in minutes.  Actually, that’s my one caveat… you need to apply the top coat quickly as it will dry rapidly.  Once you realise this, it’s not a problem as the polish glides on smoothly anyway.

After wearing for a couple of days, the matte finish does get slightly shinier… more satiny.  But I haven’t noticed an increase in chipping or tip wear as a result of topping up my standard manicure with this little gem.

£3.99?  You’ll want to get this!  Hurry up September!

My final polish from the Urban Decay Summer of Love Nail Set.  I don’t know what took me so long to give this one a spin… look how beautiful it is!

It’s golden without being brassy… bronze without being orange.  It’s quite hard to describe.  A metallic finish that looks beautifully smooth on the nail.  I wasn’t expecting this to suit me, but it suits me very well.

3 coats to achieve a full, opaque finish.  I think this may be my favourite from the set.  I’m truly surprised by how much I love this one!  Longevity on this was also the best… 5 days before I even saw tip wear.  That’s pretty amazing no?

Ugh, I die when I look at that picture… it captures it well… how can it be so metallic and bronzed yet understated.  If I could buy this in a large size bottle, I would.

I’ve attached links to the other polishes from the set including the overview… if you haven’t seen them already – check ’em out!

Urban Decay Summer of Love Nail Kit – Overview
Aquarius NOTD
Magic Bus NOTD
Hashbury NOTD
Woodstock NOTD
Love Love Light NOTD
Psychedelic Sister NOTD
Shine On NOTD

Soleil indeed…

Paul & Joe‘s Soleil is a juicy tangerine shade from Spring 2009 (though still available online).  It’s a shimmery jelly shade with a few golden sparkles thrown in for good measure.  Oh… and let’s not forget the typically beautiful Paul & Joe packaging *swoon*

I was on the hunt for a juicy but non-neon orange and this fits the bill perfectly.  The above shows 4 coats with a topper of Seche Vite.  I think it could probably do with a few more bits of sparkle, as you can see it’s only really my middle finger that managed to attract any gold specks.

Is orange a shade that you’re into at the moment?  It’s not a favourite on my skin tone, but nothing screams Summer quite like it!

Beautiful shade, great looking finish, 2 easy-to-apply coats and truly, truly inexpensive at £1.50 a bottle.

Which is why the terrible wear breaks my heart.

This is how it looked at the beginning of the 2nd day.  It didn’t look much better halfway through the first day either (I just didn’t have my camera with me).

*sigh* what an unadulterated shame.

Love Light…

Totally a layering shade, so I thought I’d just see how many coats it needed to achieve opacity.

I got to 4 and I’m just about there…

One of the best applicators of the Summer of Love set, this glides on the nail and dries quickly.  Once opaque, it’s a beautiful pale gold shade with a lot of sparkle.

It’s feminine without being too floaty.  I like it more than I thought I would on initial inspection.

Sadly it has chipped in two places along the cuticle edge which is rather odd, I think it may have more to do with a heavy handed application of top coat though… which renders that last statement rather useless.

I’ve got one more shade to show from the Summer of Love kit.. I know it’s practically old news now, but I’m determined to get them all blogged for swatch purposes!